As promised I'm packing the more theoretical or philosophical aspects of my thoughts on World of Warcraft talent builds into this separate post. A reader directed me to the blog of a mage friend who is cancelling WoW, giving as one of his reasons the introduction of spec toggling. Quote: "To my mind, specs are an essential part of the "RPG" half of "MMORPG." They help to differentiate characters and define a character's personality." In other words, your talent build defines your virtual identity, and being able to switch quickly between specs destroys that identity.
I understand the idea, but I don't really agree with the sentiment. I'm always in favor of giving options, and let the players decide whether they want to take up or not those options. For example I feel strongly about the identity of my WoW priest as a healer. I tried shadow, and didn't like it at all, because it goes against that feeling of identity, of who that priest is. But I wouldn't ask Blizzard to remove the shadow talent tree from the game, or quit the game in protest because it is in.
In this context it is important to notice that talent builds in World of Warcraft affect different classes differently. If I can dual spec my frost mage into a fire mage, or build any other spec for him to switch to, the identity of my mage as damage dealer will never change. Whatever spec I have on the mage, he will never be the tank or the healer of a group. That is one reason why I said in the previous post that choosing a spec for my mage was easy: It didn't involve a choice of identity. I'd need to be much deeper into roleplaying before it would matter to me whether my mage hits his enemies with fire or with frost. For me, and most other players I'd guess, choosing a mage spec is simply a question of variations of style and efficiency. Maybe one build with more arcane is slightly better for very long fights like those in raids, maybe another build is slightly better for PvP. But however I spec him, the mage will always remain a ranged damage dealer with some crowd control elements. And very few groups or raid groups will kick me out for having "the wrong spec", because there isn't really a wrong one.
For the warrior and priest choosing a talent tree is more difficult, because there is a possibility to change your identity through talent builds. A tank and a fury dps warrior do not play the same role, don't have the same identity. And there is a risk of choosing a "wrong spec", one that excludes you from some part of the game, or seriously gimps you. You *will* meet groups or raid groups who don't invite you because of your talent build if you are a warrior or a priest. "You're a shadow priest? Sorry, but we need a healer." Yesterday there were several people in general chat complaining that they couldn't find a tank for their groups, because so many warriors had succumbed to the lure of Titan's Grip. Now several people tell me that protection warriors and holy priests are now much better for dealing damage after patch 3.0, so there is less of a problem of choosing a spec which is good for groups, but bad when you can't find one. But then of course that opens up questions about the use of the other talent trees. I think we will always remain in a situation where certain specs for these classes are more optimal for certain activities and less optimal for other activities. If Blizzard really introduces the promised spec toggling in a patch next year, classes whose identity is more strongly linked to their talent build will profit from having an easier time when switching from one mode of gameplay to another.
I do have less experience with playing other classes in WoW, but I can only imagine that identity is even more of a problem for more hybrid classes, like druids or paladins. I hear a lot of complaints about overpowered retribution paladins now actually being able to tank, heal, and deal damage at the same time. I have no idea in how far these stories are true, because I don't PvP much in WoW. But I can see the problem of rushing towards an enemy on a PvP battlefield, seeing he is a paladin, and not knowing what identity to expect. Is the guy a tank, a damage dealer, or a healer? My strategy towards him might be different depending on his role. With a druid at least I see what form he has. How much of an identity problem those hybrid classes have depends probably from one player to another. But at least a druid should already have experiencing in switching roles, even mid-fight, so the option of a second talent build won't cause him much of a problem.
Overall I think that introducing spec toggling will be a good thing. It won't solve every conceivable problem, but it will give players more options. And that more options are needed is not a question of identity, but a question of how useful different roles are in the different modes of gameplay. I prefer having a game in which you can do different things, solo and group, PvE and PvP. Being effectively excluded from some parts of the game because you play a class with a strong identity, which is useless for certain activities, is a bad thing. I'd rather have the culture shock of having to live with a different identity when e.g. I'm suddenly a melee dps class in PvP instead of being a tank in group PvE, than to have no useful role in PvP at all, or being forced to pay lots of gold to assume that other identity. As a warrior and priest I can see the advantages of dual specs more clearly than somebody playing mostly a mage can. For my mage the talent switch will be more or less fluff, for my warrior it solves some of his fundamental problems.
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