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WoW: Dual Spec Overview
MMORPG.com World of Warcraft Correspondent Jonathan Ellis writes this overview of the Dual Spec feature for Blizzard's World of Warcraft
Last week, Blizzard finally released some solid information on the long-awaited dual spec feature in the form of this interview with infamous Senior Game Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street.
The interview is a good read and pretty thorough, but the main points can be boiled down to the following:
- After a one-off cost, players will be able to switch between two different talent specs for free.
- This will be done at a Lexicon of Power.
- Scribes will be able to make and sell portable Lexicons, for on the fly spec changes.
- Dual specs are only going to be available at max level. More on this later.
- You will be able to save action bars and glyphs to a spec so that they change when you switch.
- A Gear Manager will launch alongside dual specs, so you can easily change your equipment. This will also be useful for resist gear, PvE and PvP gear switching and role-play outfits. Rumours that it will require a phone booth are, as yet, unconfirmed.
- Hunter pets will be free to respec. In addition, hunters will be getting a long-cooldown spell that will allow them to access their stable remotely.
Okay, okay, it wasn't boiled down that much. More like slightly simmered. It saved you clicking on a link and reduced your chances of RSI, so don't complain. What does all this mean to us, the players? The most obvious benefit is that hybrid classes will be able to switch between DPS, tanking or healing specs with ease. If you've ever had to fork out hard-earned gold on respeccing to meet the needs of your raid group and then spent even more to go back again afterwards, you'll appreciate this feature. Getting instant action bar, glyph and gear changes at the same time is a much-appreciated bonus.
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Never again!
Hopefully, it will encourage players to try out roles that they wouldn't have otherwise looked at. I'm a raiding retadin and I love bringing the holy smack down to Kel'Thuzad and his cronies, but I can't wait to flex my healing muscles. I don't have the gold spare to be able to respec at will, so I'm really looking forward to this aspect of the dual spec feature.
Even if you're dead set on staying with your current spec, there are many times that a quick change is welcome, especially if you're a tank. The number of tanks required for each boss in a raid varies and being able to switch to a DPS spec if you're not up on a one tank fight like Heigan is a valuable boost to your raid's damage output and stops you feeling like a bit of a pansy compared to your DPSing brethren.
An alternative use will be having a solo spec to go alongside your raiding or grouping spec. Many specs, though this mainly applies to healers, perform poorly on their own. I know plenty of people who spend a fortune switching between a DPS spec for daily quests and a healing one for their evening raid. Again, lots of gold saved and added convenience.
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Now you can go from this...
Another group that will benefit massively from this change are those who enjoy PvE and PvP. Specs can varywidelyy between the two aspects of the game, even for the same role (try comparing a PvE healing priest spec and a PvP healing priest spec) and pure DPS classes usually have one talent tree that favours PvP while the others are better for PvE.
Unfortunately, it's not all fluffy clouds and phat lewt. Many players were anticipating being able to switch between a levelling spec and an instance spec, which is clearly impossible if the feature is restricted to level 80 characters. At least half of the healers on my friend list respecced for levelling in Wrath, which made finding a healer for instances a pain and reports from the early days of the expansion confirmed that it was a wide-spread problem. In the interview, Ghostcrawler stated that the restriction was in place to avoid confusing lower-level players, but critics of this move argue that it's too difficult to learn an entirely new play style at level 80 (bear in mind that's a full twenty levels higher than the original cap) and that it would be more beneficial for people to be able to experiment with different roles as they level.
I tend to agree with the latter viewpoint. Even experienced players may not have a clue how to play a different role effectively. Someone who knows their way around the game is likely to pick a good levelling spec, race to 80 and then switch to a raiding spec. Not having any experience tanking or healing could be disastrous when combined with many players feeling that they're entitled to raid or run heroics the moment they ding 80. Imagine going in for a major heart op and finding out that, up until yesterday, your surgeon had been a dentist.
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...to this in a flash (of light).
Thankfully, Ghostcrawler states that it isn't set in stone and they may consider expanding the feature. If I was to bet my Jawbone on it, I'd say that it will be made available to lower level characters by the time it hits the live realms. The other problem with dual specs, the one that will cause much wailing and gnashing of teeth and guild drama for years to come is the issue of loot. Historically, loot priority has gone to a character's main spec. You may be healing tonight, but if you usually tank, you get a shot a tank gear. As soon as dual specs come in, most hybrid characters will have two specs that they could equally refer to as their main spec. I can see more casual guild and raiding groups having all kinds of problems as people frequently switch specs to grab as much gear as they can.
Guilds which use DKP systems may also run into trouble. Hybrid classes that are frequently asked to switch will want to build up two sets of gear, spreading their DKP thinly, while players who stay in a single role will be able to build up DKP rapidly, leading to a gear imbalance. A player may be able to switch between healing and DPS with ease, but if neither of their gear sets are up to the standard of the single role players, they may find themselves left behind as the guild progresses through content. New raiders may find it harder to get gear as existing guild members build up two sets of gear instead of one.
Although there are problems with the dual spec system as it has been proposed, I have yet to hear anyone complaining about the feature itself. WoW has become an incredibly varied game, even at the endgame stages, and it's good that Blizzard are taking steps to encourage players to experience as much of their world as possible.
Their will be a gear manager along with the dual spec feature. I was hoping for that, some sort of dual paper doll, one for each spec. That way you dont have to carry 2 set of gears. I hope it works like that. If they allow dual spec BUT you still need to carry 2 sets of gears or go back to town and hit the bank to get your other set of gears, that would be bad.
As always when the infomation is taken from the test server the infomation may change.
Some changes since the article was written.
* Characters level 40 and up may now use the dual-spec system.
* The cost to activate the ability is 1000.
* The ability no longer requires a Lexicon of Power.
* Switching specs has a 5-second cast time. It may not be used in combat, or in battlegrounds or arenas.
* There is no cooldown on switching specs.
This may change as well!
You are indeed correct. Blizzard slipped in a good few changes since I wrote the article. I'll definitely do an update when dual specs hit the live realms.
The Resto Shaman in me says this is a great thing.
The Hunter in me says it's a kinda bad thing.
For hybrids this is great, now we can DPS/Heal and some of us Tank.
But the DPSers can still only DPS. Sure they can do a tiny bit more damage, but for anything other then raids nobody will care. When I have a full group and need 1 more DPS do you think I care if it is a Hunter or a Elemental Shaman?
Ah well. Not complaining about the dual specs, just think the pure DPS classes need a buff to make them worth playing.
But for a class, say a warrior, it will be great! no need for respec cost etc, they can tank as and when its needed. Hope this will solve the shortage of tanks...
Wtf? 1000 Gold? I don't have a level 80. So... I have to, what, buy gold if I want to dual spec?
I make about 60 gold a day off hides selling to my guild so.. about 15 days to hit 1000 gold. No biggy. Well that and some of the gear is worth that much.. well was. With this whole dual spec I can see the whole item markets going out the window.
Mind you in a good way!
1000 gold at level 40 is just brutal
...hell now i have a choice. Get dual spec for my priest (55 currently) in order to flick between dungeon and level specs or get an epic mount
What they are basicly doing is making it so that someone who already has a level 80 can do this for their lower level alts.
That way we get the lower cap and the people using dual specs are far less likely to be confused.
Of course people like me have been saving for a while... I have a lot of alts that are going to need this.
80 Shaman, 76 Hunter, 75 Druid, 74 Warlock, 72 Death Knight, 72 Mage, 55 Priest.
For me its a choice of dual speccing everyone or getting another epic flying mount. Not a easy choice. Epic Flight form for the Druid would rock.
I know most people seem to be looking forward to this feature, but does anyone else out there just feel as though it is further taking away individuality by expanding everyone's possible roles? Certain classes that can be "anything" benefit greatly from this (Druids, Paladins) but others that can really only do 1 thing (DPS) are already underrepresented (rogues), are going to slide even further off the radar.
I dunno, I just think I'm getting old.
I know, there just wont be any poor Rogues left in WoW! /sarcasm
All joking aside (yes, I was joking, not trying to be brutally obnoxious, which is rare on this site), Rogues are still a very fun class to play! And this is coming from someone whose main is a Warlock. [Another fun class] I don't think Rogues are just going to fall off the radar. I just don't see it happening. Especially because I see so many of them on a daily basis!
I just went over to warcraftrealms and pulled the data for level 80s.
They have a average report of 248,728 active level 80s for each class.
The following shows the percentage of average from highest to lowers.
DK - 145%
Pally - 130%
Warrior - 109%
Druid - 101%
Hunter - 100%
Mage - 98%
Priest - 91%
Shaman - 80%
Rogue - 74%
Warlock - 72%
So yeah by and large this is going to be good for classes already overrepresented while doing little for the classes lagging behind. There is a reason my Hunter has been being played less and less.
And again, I think the DPS classes need a major buff or the hybrids need a nerf. Easy for me to say, my main is a Resto Shammy. All the dual specs will do for me is let me solo without fights taking 3 years.
Plate wearers or any class that can self heal should never put out as much dps as a rogue/mage. DPS rolls have been taken away from DPS classes because thats all they do and other classes with more armor and hp can do it just as well. With dual spec, pure DPS classes will find it even harder to get a group.
II am a very causual player, have one level 80 priest, this would mean being able to play heals for instances and not just doing daily questing or solo when I play.
As someone else pointed out that is not really true for people who Raid. There the tiny DPS bonus pure DPS classes get is valued. Also few people will be willing to build up 2 sets of raid gear.
Of course if you happen to be part of the 75% or so of the player base that does not raid....
Over the last year or two Blizzard has been slowly making the game all about Arenas and Raiding. And as arenas bore me to death and raids take WAY too much time, it leaves me and others like me with just 5 mans. Now as a Resto Shaman 5 mans are not a problem, but several of my friends play DPS classes and I feel their pain and would like to see things better balanced.
Shrug. Sooner or later a new game will come out that will pull me away and even more importantly my friends.
"Over the last year or two Blizzard has been slowly making the game all about Arenas and Raiding. And as arenas bore me to death and raids take WAY too much time, it leaves me and others like me with just 5 mans. Now as a Resto Shaman 5 mans are not a problem, but several of my friends play DPS classes and I feel their pain and would like to see things better balanced."
I will agree with you on arenas, but to say that Blizzard has been making the game all about raiding is incorrect. In actual fact, they've done quite the opposite. When the game launched, raids were pretty much the be all and end all of endgame content. Over the years, they've lowered the maximum raid size from 40 to 25, made all endgame raids available to groups of 10 or 25 players, added heroics difficulty to 5 man instances, introduced daily quests and lots of other solo/small group endgame PvE content, as well as introducing badge systems to allow people who don't raid access to epic quality gear.
God I hope it changes. I rerolled on a new server and I play a Druid. I don't think I need to say more. People rarely can afford their lvl 30 mount, much less 1000 spent on dual-specs when players still need normal and elite flying plus the mounts to go with them. On a non-new server, this isn't a problem, because people can sell things and be rich by lvl 20, but on a new server, this is extortion!
Pure classes can dual spec between a PvP and a Raiding build. I thought that was made clear already. Or an Arena build and a Raid build, whatever.
Pure classes can dual spec between a PvP and a Raiding build. I thought that was made clear already. Or an Arena build and a Raid build, whatever.
It was very clear, of course from what I have seen most people dont really PvP much. The proof is in how everyone would farm AV for honor.
If they wanted to PvP there would have been far more people in WSG or AB. But at any given time there were 2x-4x as many AVs running as WSG or AB. And with a much larger number of players in each AV.
And what was the single most common tactic in AV? Zerg to the end ignoring the other team. Whoever finishes off the NPCs first wins. Woo....
Having said that, I think you have still missed that the benifit is still almost all for hybrid classes. For example a Pally who wants to raid as DPS will be able to use his 2nd slot to PvP. Or if he wants use it to fill in as a Healer or a Tanker.
While a DPSer can use his first one as his Raiding build and the 2nd one as a PvP build. Or if he wants to fill in as a Healer or a Tanker..... Ummm he can roll up a Pally.
Am I trying to say DPSers will get nothing out of dual specs? Of course not. What I am saying is the benifit is MUCH larger for Hybrids then pure DPS classes. And again, My main is a Resto Shaman. This is all goodness for me. I just like a fair game.
The game is fair. If you want to benefit from duel spec on a class that can tank and heal, then roll one. No one is stopping you. (Go recruit a friend and level at triple xp to 60...i did that with my wife and it was awesome).
They were originally going to make this a lvl 80 ability. So lvl 40 people who couldn't afford it couldn't do it anyway...if they lower it for those people who can afford it, then Blizz MUST hate the poor guys...right!
Personally I think each class should have several advantages over the other classes. But then too many people whine. Who was it that was complaining about rogues not being a good class? Have you ever done PVP? Those guys have skills to keep you stun locked until you are nearly dead. If they have any help at all, you're toast! No other class can keep you stun locked that long. Priests can fear/mind blast you til they run out of mana. The other day i watched a 70 priest in lvl 70 epics defeat a lvl 77 DK 3 times in a row. The DK was wearing mostly blues and despite having TWO silence abilities, the lower level priest won each time....but so many people complained about the DK's DPS ability that they nerfed it. See...you want a fair game? Then the game maker should make only one class. *NOT*
Quit being rediculous and complaining about everything. I love playing my DK, my Paladin and my Rogue. Duel specing is an answer to prayer for duel classes. How many time my Tank had to respec cause they needed heals? when you factor in talents and glyphs, it gets expensive. 100g each time. When you are trying to get in a heroic dungeon and cannot find a healer and a Pally tank duel specc'd healer switches for you...how much will you still complain?
Honestly I wish I could triple spec or even more. I like to PVP, raid, heroic and even just quest with my wife for gold. I cannot do all that on my Paladin. So i play my DK and my Rogue (i also have 1 of each of the other classes as well because I like them all).
As far as the raid loot goes, I can definately see this being something the community will hav to rethink. I've been a prot paladin since lvl 65 but I switched to heals a few days ago because I could never find healers. Last night I got invited to a guild raid to heal. I was the only healing paladin so i got 4 epic peices..was awesome. But..I couldn't even roll on the tank gear (not that i'm complaining) because I was specc'd holy. With duel spec, I can switch to tank when I want. Tanks are in demand too...getting gear is required to be useful in high end dungeons. having someone flexible enough to fill in as heals/dps or heals/tank would save many a raid from having to quit when someone doesn't show up....but that means that the duel specc'd person NEEDS to be geared up well for both specs. I'm thinking that guilds will require people to roll 'main spec' for whatever they are in the raid that night...but who knows?