Dragonflight is fast approaching and the prepatch available since October 26 has already initiated some changes, and this is particularly the case for the talent trees.
Indeed, the trees had long since disappeared, at the time of Mists of Pandaria, in favor of a much simpler system, which had persisted until now, authorizing the player to choose one talent among three, during certain climbs of level. A system which had the advantage of being very accessible, but which severely limited the possibilities of customizing its gameplay.
Dragonflight suddenly marks the return of talent trees with many branches. A throwback quite strongly requested by gamers, but a rather surprising choice as gameplay systems in video games tend to be simplified.
Two trees per specialization
Each character will therefore have access to two talent trees: one common to the class (in this case in my case Hunter, for example) and another which corresponds to the chosen specialization (so here Beast Mastery).
The trees will be available from level 10, where you choose your specialization. From there, 1 point will be awarded for each level crossing. Note however that there is no choice in the tree where to spend the points. You receive one point for each tree one after the other.
This means that at level 60, you will have 51 points to spend (26 in the Class tree and 25 in the Specialization tree). At level 70 in Dragonflight, this will therefore be 61 points (31 + 30).
The PvP talent system initiated in BFA is however still present, allowing you to choose 3 distinct Talents.
Why these changes?
The developers have spoken several times about the subject of talent trees and the reasons behind all these changes. By the admission of Ion Hazzikostas (Game Director), they had lost certain aspects when the talents had been simplified on Mists of Pandaria, and more particularly the feeling of progression and improvement when one gains a level.
The team therefore had several objectives in mind:
- allow players to switch talents easily to suit activities
- provide more flexibility and a return to "hybrid" character possibilities
Such changes also imply important consequences for the balance of the game. A subject that has always been particularly discussed in the community (but this is the case for all games). Lead Combat System Designer Brian Holinka gave some answers about balancing.
For him, balancing is a social issue, where each player must know what he can bring to the group and where he must feel comfortable with his own choices. And with the multitude of activities the game offers, it's a huge job to monitor the classes and see how they behave with each other. Even more so with the addition of the new Evocator class.
In use, I must say that these changes are rather interesting. In any case, I appreciate being able to play a little more as I want, even if it suddenly takes more time to develop your trees. The possibilities of adapting are thus more numerous... even if in the long term, we risk seeing overall the same fashionable builds come back anyway.
And you, does it change the way you play?
