With the announcement of the upcoming addition of “Hero Talents”, there have been celebrations and disappointment that the player base experienced when reading the details that are to be what make up the enjoyment of our time spent on the game that we play. Personally, I was very excited with the anticipation of new talents that either amplify current abilities or add new ones to hopefully improve the gameplay of my characters. That was until I saw that the “Hero Talents” were specialization-locked.
I have played the game since the original Vanilla and have seen my fair share of ups and downs for classes/specializations. I think the addition of “Hero Talents” can be great but under the current set conditions will have the largest disparity in class/specialization meta groups and strengths/weaknesses that I have ever witnessed.
From how they are set to be only available to two specs I foresee two complications that do not sit well with me for either PvE, PvP, and or RP content.
Meta Shrinkage: The meta is already small groups of strong-performing class/specialization compositions that players reference to what is good for completing content for rating/ranking. With it already being a small group of classes/specializations, adding “Hero Talents” that are limited to two specializations is going to further shrink the number of classes/specializations that are in said group.
Class Fantasy/RP Destruction: Some players have delved into the world of roleplaying their characters in-game or have class fantasies that they try to embody with transmogrification and emotes. With the restriction of two specializations only having access to a given “Hero Talent” tree they have the potential of being not available to the chosen specialization that the player has selected and they don’t/won’t play the other specializations.
The solution that I would propose to deviate from having such issues among the player base is fairly simple. Don’t lock “Hero Talent” trees behind specializations. We already have talents and abilities locked behind specialization and am not looking for more to be locked behind them. Allow the player to select which “Hero Talent” tree they would like to have, whether it be for output or aesthetics.
I am curious as to what others think and or have solutions for the new upcoming “Hero Talents” in The War Within.
Hero Talents are just themed extensions of spec trees with some overlap. Effectively Talents+ as to keep the talent distribution through the current trees the same.
I don’t really see it as a problem as they are just making mini-specializarions inside current specializations.
From the RPer perspective, Brakkarion fits perfectly as a Ruby Adept, given I even theme his Disintegrate as fire even if mechanically it isn’t. Thing is, I make adjustments to talents based upon content I am engaging in and it has no real impact on the RP flavor, and considering he isn’t fond of the “Scalecommanders” the fact one of Dev’s hero trees is Scalecommander… Well, let’s just say he will have a separate RP spec if it is the better choice numbers-wise.
The biggest problem with Hero Talents is that they haven’t finished with the current talent trees.
Instead of doing Hero Talents, Blizzard should scrap that idea and instead spend their time actually fixing the half-broken talent system they added this xpac.
A bunch of class and spec trees are just a total mess.
But “we fixed our massive screw-ups” isn’t sexy marketing, so they won’t. All of their “design decisions” are marketing first, gameplay second.
Avatar, Shadowstep, Shadowdance, Stormbolt, Shockwave, Incarnation, Convoke, Jadefire Stomp…etc only about 50% of special abilities are specialization locked and some of these are in the right side of the tree(specialization tree).
For example on the RP my Warrior, I only play Arms and have been RPing as a lightning-wielding force of steel Thane Vendrek Thunderforge Defender of the Khaz’Modan Mountains. As well as I have been heavily eyeing the Mountain Thane talents for PvP but do not have access to it as Arms.
I said most talents are specialization locked, not abilities. They are effectively just extensions on these specialization talents which are already specialization locked.
The idea of them is to build on top of and enhance your abilities. If they weren’t locked to certain specs then they would have to be based solely on class wide abilities. Those are the bland abilities for most classes. That doesn’t seem as fun. And hero talents already don’t seem very fun.
I like the idea of them, a little extra flavor to each spec that isn’t necessarily exclusive to one spec. However, in application, it really comes down to the talents themselves I suppose.
I think my and many other’s lack of enthusiasm for them just come from disappointment. The name “hero talents” and their unveiling as a headline feature promised much more than I think they were ever supposed to. Our expectations were set far too high.
I have no beef with them existing. But I will most certainly pick my hero specs and barely touch them again after that. Much like regular talents.
Many Hero Specializations would need to be reworked to include abilities for the other specialization (or specializations in Druid’s case) for them to work. Take a look at Hunter’s Dark Ranger; Black Arrow doesn’t work with Survival. Then see Druid’s Keeper of the Grove; Guardian and Feral with treants? Even some of the smaller Hero Talents would need to be adjusted, like Warrior’s Mountain King’s Strength of the Mountain that only affects Shield Slam (Protection), Bloodthirst (Fury), and Rampage (also Fury).
With artifacts there was a specific build to be best numerically.
With azerite powers there was a specific build to be best numerically.
With corruptions there were specific ones you needed to be best numerically.
With covenants there was a specific one you played to be best numerically.
Hero talents will be the same. Your not gonna get any choice in the matter.
Whilst I agree, the reason they are doing this is probably to stop people from making weak characters. One of the top complaints from MMOs that have been skill based with no inherent classes is that the average player struggles to understand synergies between skills. I think this was a reason given for getting rid of the original talent system, too. If the WoW team don’t offer linear progression then people will probably complain when Dark Ranger does nothing gameplay wise for Holy Priest, etc.
Just another layer of complexity, more ways for average players to make wrong decisions by being unwilling or unable stay on the hamsterwheel, thus leading to a greater power gap between top players and everyone else than ever.
What an odd suggestion. If you’re not having fun because you’re confused and don’t seem to be making progress on any level, stop caring about the game completely, and just pretend you’re having fun.
