Dual spec thoughts

I was reading on WoWInsider that dual specs will not necessarily be in patch 3.1. Part of me thinks that would be a pity. The other part says "it doesn't matter anyway". Apparently patch 3.1 isn't expected before March 2009, and even if it had dual spec included, it would be too late to help me leveling my characters. My Priest just hit level 76 yesterday, and by March I'll certainly have both the Priest and Warrior at level 80. Maybe not the Mage and the Death Knight, but I don't see the Mage gaining a lot of utility from the dual spec feature anyway. I guess most of the people who are against the dual spec feature are playing one of the classes it doesn't help much. Most Warriors and Priests I know would be delighted when it was introduced. Well, it might still help at level 80 for soloing daily quests etc., but I'd much rather have had it already for leveling up. Unfortunately leveling in WotLK is too fast. And with "too fast" I mean you spend just one month to get to level 80, and then nearly 2 years *at* level 80, unless you play a *lot* of alts.

At least if Blizzard takes more time to implement this feature, there is a good chance that they get it right. Everyone has a different idea of how the dual spec feature should look. Personally I hope that it isn't *too* easy to switch from one spec to the alternative. I wouldn't want to be able to switch while in a raid dungeon, depending on what boss we face. And I'd especially wouldn't want my frost Mage to be able to instantly switch to fire Mage while in combat and just having noticed that the mob I'm fighting is resistant to frost. So my proposal would be to do the switch with the help of a class switch NPC, found in every major city, including Shattrath and Dalaran. Doing the switch only at the class trainers would be tad annoying, as there aren't any in Outlands or Northrend. If spec switching would be too easy, raiders would be under some pressure to choose two different raid builds, and still end up with no build for soloing. So having to travel to a city to switch specs is better.