tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post4686372099477228170..comments2023-06-19T10:45:56.724-04:00Comments on Player Versus Developer: Specs and Character CustomizationGreen Armadillohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15564045048380177626noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-59763725670573737872009-08-06T06:49:12.814-04:002009-08-06T06:49:12.814-04:00I prefer it when the points are something that hel...I prefer it when the points are something that helps you round out your character, not something where "Thou shalt spend points for these talents, or be considered gimp for all time!"<br /><br />For example, had a blast on my EQ2 Necro when I specced into the healing branch (I believe it's the Animist branch). I wasn't a main healer, but I could definitely throw in a bit to help if the healer was getting overwhelmed.<br /><br />Same with my Feral Druid in WoW in TBC. I took Nuturing Instinct so I could shift out of cat form and toss around a few heals. Again, I wasn't a main healer and I didn't do it often, but in a few cases it was just enough to prevent someone from dying when I wasn't being beat on.<br /><br />That's one reason I fell out of love with my Feral Druid, though. I didn't feel like I had as many cool options. There seemed to be a big push from the developers to make Feral Cat and Bear almost completely different specs. I went balance, and just didn't love the character as much.<br /><br />So, I'd like to see a focus on talents that give characters something beyond the usual, instead of having a bunch of "required" talents that have to be bought. I think LotRO does this pretty well, in that the different specs are more like flavors rather than massively different roles; my healing-specced Runekeeper can still belt out the damage, for example. But, my Balance-specced Druid in WoW was never going to be even a good backup healer (especially before healing and damage were combined into the same stat).Brian 'Psychochild' Greenhttp://www.psychochild.org/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-6676590265576786852009-08-03T15:56:59.240-04:002009-08-03T15:56:59.240-04:00I'm going to come off like a broken record her...I'm going to come off like a broken record here, but I think this all comes down to the specificity of WoW-style endgames. I like having talents to pick while I'm leveling up. They give me goals to look forward to and I like the little play changes they invoke. It isn't until you reach the raiding game (or PvP if that's your preference) that players need to eke every last point of DPS out of a build. Then as the developers balance the game around players having certain statistical capabilities, you may find yourself at a disadvantage if you don't use the most optimal build.<br /><br />TLDR Version: Talents are great for leveling, but bad for raiding.Marty Runyonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08456700794989273981noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-62810341984397489782009-08-03T15:14:39.161-04:002009-08-03T15:14:39.161-04:00I sympathize with Rohan's perspective but I th...I sympathize with Rohan's perspective but I think GA has a point to. The difficulty with utility talents is making them meaningful in the game without making them OP in the game. I actually thought the Rogue Q&A on that point was interesting.<br /><br />Spending talent points should have meaning. But if they don't have meaning in a raid setting, where do they. I think it's very difficult to create a utility talent that has uses in questing or PvP without that talent being used in raiding, at least as the game is currently designed. <br /><br />In addition, there is the problem Xtain raises which is too many choices. <br /><br />Yo man, it's hard.DeftyJameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11789593033625206881noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-25780482578720415372009-08-03T11:26:23.661-04:002009-08-03T11:26:23.661-04:00Customization isn't the only use that the tale...Customization isn't the only use that the talent trees have, however. They also allow the character to differentiate between specs and thus playstyles. Consider that without the core talents in the Discipline Priest spec, Blizzard would have to design a whole new class to give players access to that method of healing. Druids, Paladins, and Shaman are also good examples of this.<br /><br />There's also a limit to the number of meaningful choices a player ought to be dealing with, especially for a game that, at least in some way, needs to cater to people who aren't going to do a lot of testing and research. Can you imagine if all 71 talent points represented an agonizing decision to make? There would be no experimentation simply because the number of viable specs would be ridiculous.<br /><br />So to me, each tree represents a set of core talents that define the playstyle of the spec and then X number of options that allow you to customize your utility or situational capability.Xtiannoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-80542183138432589222009-08-03T09:13:46.440-04:002009-08-03T09:13:46.440-04:00Even utility talents may end up being 'right&#...Even utility talents may end up being 'right' or 'wrong'. Imagine iceblock as a talent again and then imagine a boss which does a 99% health AoE every 5 minutes. Without the talent you're relying on healers keeping you perfectly topped off and not taking any damage at all before the AoE; with the talent, just iceblock through it. Clearly this is a rigged example, but you could imagine things like a mob that does a total aggro dump randomly but is untauntable, making deep wounds useful for getting a tick after the drop and iceblock useful for accidental frostbolts too soon.Klepsacovichttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07915576683657376929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-826986957606858027.post-4087914522950733262009-08-03T08:24:18.132-04:002009-08-03T08:24:18.132-04:00I wouldn't be so sure of this. It's a ver...I wouldn't be so sure of this. It's a very common view, but I am not certain it is correct.<br /><br />Take a look at the warrior Protection talents. There is a core, but there is also a great variety of possibilities, and many tanks have slightly different specs emphasizing different aspects.<br /><br />However, I imagine this is different for DPS, where the different possibilities can be theorycrafted out, and the best option chosen.<br /><br />I suppose that argues for a core of DPS-increasing talents, surrounded by many utility talents. Since the value of utility talents is less tractable than pure DPS talents, there would be greater variety in which talents are chosen.Rohanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09090769681887119989noreply@blogger.com