Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Talent Thoughts...I know it's Beta still

The fun part about complaining about talent trees during a beta period is that they are sure to change, which means that you'll get multiple opportunities to complain. Yay for multiplaints (multiple complaints in Newspeak).

I've got a problem with Shaman talents. The FACT is that with the exception of Feral Druids, which have a total of 44 possible talent choices in their tree, all Shaman trees have more talent points per tree than all other class/spec combinations. Elemental has 42 choices, Resto 43, and Enhancement 46!!! (Unholy DK's have 43, but they're all stupid, so they don't count).

The mean accross all classes & specs is 40, the median is 41, the minimum is 37 shared by Ret Pali, Shadow Priest, Affliction & Demo Warlock and the Balance Druid. 37 compared to 46. Given the new "reduced" talent trees, 9 added talents is HUGE! This means less of a chance to spec into a secondary tree, and more of a need to place just about everything in your main tree. 9 talents!!! In my oh so very humble opinion, all trees should have between 38-41 possible talents, no more no less. Less means greater customability into a secondary tree, more means less (and by extension the need to pick up "mandatory" main spec talents). Choices here Blizz, that's all we're asking for, it's what you promised.

"You don't have to put 46 talent points in your Enhancement tree" said one make-believe Blizzard official. "You couldn't even if you tried, you'll only have 41 talents to play with anyway, leaving you with 5 remaining talents to spend on shower curtains and lolli-pops."

Uh, if there was ever a case of a particular tree to demand that some talents be made passive abilities, it's the Enhancement Shaman. 46 compared to 37 for those stuck up little Ret Pali's! AAARRRRRGGGGGGHHHHHH! I'm a bit peeved. __________________________________________________

On a similar but unrelated note, I've had to postpone my raiding activities. What's worse, I was 32% away from my Kingslayer the other night, but the night reinforced what I had known for the past couple months, that my physical pains and disability just wouldn't allow me to sit for 3-4 hours at a time in a focused manner in a raiding situation. The pain was just too much, and so I had to stop.

But I'm content, mainly because during the LK fight I did everything perfectly. Before ever seeing the fight I wondered why people lamented upon hearing the word "Defile".../laugh...now I know. Curiously, I'm not sure what's so hard about getting and staying out. Maybe it's because after about 2 or 3 runs it just clicked for me and I knew what to do. All the while healing the tanks and the raid in heroic fashion. But for many of the DPS in the group, they were still struggling with defile recognition and movement. It's weird now, I feel isolated from my guild, a sort of traitor. Well, traitor is NOT the right word for it, but a sense that I let them down for sure. If I were in a true "Hard Core" raiding guild I know that I'd be flying solo right now.

I suppose it's a credit to the sociality that exists among my guild members that nobody has come down hard on my case. I suppose that they understand why I had to stop, that I need to try and rehab my body enough to where I can play with them again. I've been afraid to get on vent, I'm not sure how everyone will react. I still play a little bit each day, trying to slowly get my last piece for my 4-T10 set, but it's always quiet when I get on. I've switched my healing set for my range DPS gear that I've been storing up slowly and can run around dungeons doing 4-5K easily. I'm pleased about this considering I've only played Elemental for a total of 45 minutes before this change.

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I'm still angry about the talent point disparity, I wish that all trees would be somehow equal in the number of available talents. I understand a deviation of 2 or 3 between trees, but not 9!!!! If I could just get a 1 on 1 with GC, and be sure that he was listening, I'm sure he would understand and grant every wish like the genie he is.

2 comments:

Tesh said...

I'm still annoyed that we're supposed to be locked into completing one tree before we tinker elsewhere. That's too restrictive for my experimental ways.

Gronthe said...

@ Tesh: Couldn't agree with you more. If people want to play "the wrong way", as Blizz puts it, let them. I've got two kids and for the most part allow them to create their own talent builds. What they come up with is hilarious, but they have fun with it...so let them play that way!!!

As an aside, even if I didn't play a Shaman, the disparity is too great between the Enhance tree and most all others. If they're going to keep the 41 point system, a bit-o-trimming needs to happen there.