Does MoP really offer player's more choice in talent specialization?

[La]

there are some talents for all classes in the different tiers that make you go "yeah, there is no other choice I HAVE to have that", and there are others that make you go "wow, I really don`t know which one to pick". I like that a lot.

[ati87]

Does MoP really offer player's more choice in talent specialization?: yep. In theory.

Until EJ discover the best ones. And everybody, and their mothers, will copy them . So, nope, in a couple of weeks every hardcore raider and every wannabe raider will have the same talents.

Here we go, 729 combinations x_D. It never ceases to amaze me how how brainwashed are you, really, guys ...

You will most likely switch talent based on the boss encounter.

If I as a warlock are going to fight a add heavy fight I will take the talent that replaces drain life with a aeo drain life, and not the CD heal or the single target heal.

If I'm going to do a fight where the boss is going to use single target attacks on random players (usually it is frostbolt) then I will go with that talent and if that isn't the case I will go with the talent that allows me to move while casting.

Bottom line is that their is a general best overall choice, but depending on the difficulty of the right you may want to change talents depending on the encounter. Because some talents will become totally pointless during some fights. As a warlock I wouldn't want to choice a minion dps increase talent during a fight where my minions survival chance is minimum.

[Jersovic]

I guess people don't pay attention to their middle school math classes.

Think of the new talent system as a permutation.

There are 6 trees with 3 choices per tree. That's 3 to the 6th power or 3x3x3x3x3x3. That comes out to 729.

MEANING there are 729 different ways to have a talent tree per class. Are all of them viable? Somewhat. There will be instances in raids or pvp where one way will be better per situation but your tree will come down to personal preference. There will no longer be, "If you don't spec this way, then you won't do max damage, healing, or surviving" like there is now.

Is it okay to not like the new system? Sure, change is scary to some people. Can you honestly say there is less choice? Only if you don't understand math AKA ignorant.

http://www.mathsisfun.com/combinator...mutations.html

I guess people don't pay attention to their elementary school reading classes.

I clearly stated that this was a change that I WANTED, so stop saying I don't like the new system, and that "change" scares me.

PS. 729 different ways does not = 729 viable ways. This reminds me of Jay Wilson talking about unique, custom builds in Diablo 3 being in the thousands, when in reality every single person had to use the exact same base build in order to progress through Inferno.

[Bristae]

Are you even on the beta, or atleast the PTR? It's not sad... the talents were awful! There's was no choice but to choose specific cookie-cutter builds!

The lazy argument is old and weak... stop using it because you do not like the direction WoW has taken! MoP is by far NOT lazy!

And just a heads up... it seems you're bored of the game and probably trying to find reasons as to why you hate it!
Quit or take a break.

He already has... notice his signature... He is a GW2 fan.

[Nomanis]

It makes it clearer what your choices are, but I think it offers a simpler talent system, rather than offering more choice.

[Cirque]

My biggest issue is that the "choices" are so meaningless, I don't really see why I should care at all. Since every talent is supposed to be equal, why would I bother to care and "pick"? I logged in on beta and after the cumbersome "speccing", which really was a "i don't know, jeez, they're all 3 pretty much the same"-experience, I went to the glyph section. Lo and behold, same issue. Tons of glyphs, and of none of them I see why I should bother to care. None make a difference, most aren't even all that "fun" (I admit, I'm tired of Blizzard redefining "fun" for us all the time) or interesting either. I simply don't see WHY I should care when NONE of the choices will affect my performance in any way, it will just SLIGHTLY change the way I play in that I may use charge if I'd taken that talent, or sprint if I'd taken the other talent.

You create choice by giving options - lots of them. Obviously they completely missed the mark with this system. The same problem aroused when Cata launched. They wanted more choice, so they made SMALLER trees and still mandated to have 5 talent points per tier. I was completely confused, this was so contradictory. Even back then on forums I advocated 3 points minimum per tier, as that at least would allow some CHOICE (in the fun/utility talents).

The only way in which this system may be a slight improvement, is PvP, but even then I foresee cookiecutter specs a-la SL/SL of the TBC days, where a certain combination of talents clearly outweight the random "personal preference". However, if it does work out as intended, PvP can only benefit.

PvE however, though of course, those utility talents are, very situationally, very useful, however, the system only seems to numb it down.

[pb0000]

For the most part Role(Heal/Tank/DPS) x PVP/PVE will determine your spec. Hybrids will have almost no choice since one talent will usually favor a specific spec or be a inconsequential choice either way.

[bot v2.38beta]

I guess people don't pay attention to their elementary school reading classes.

Is it okay to not like the new system? Sure, change is scary to some people. Can you honestly say there is less choice? Only if you don't understand math AKA ignorant.

Was in response to your

After checking the Rogue subforum, almost everyone seems to believe that Talent selections are already set-in-stone, and that there is really only one viable spec.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generic_you

Isn't understanding context clues to know if someone means the generic taught in like 5th grade?

729 different ways does not = 729 viable ways

There really isn't anything stopping talents from being viable atm. It's a matter of perspective. Like I've been told by many pvp Rets that, "Burden of Guilt IS THE OBVIOUS CHOICE noob!" When I really like being able to use Repentance. Are both viable in pvp? Sure, but they are both situational. Many people think BoG is a must have because they have wanted a snare and see how good it is on a team without a slow. I play with classes that have non talented slows, thus I am free to use Rep or Fist.

The difference of percentages are so low that other things like latency, spatial awareness, graphical lag, personal response time, etc play a bigger role in dps/heal/survival than taking the "lesser" spec. Blizzard has also said that if it turns into "every single person" with the same build, then they will re-tweak the numbers. There isn't supposed to be a general be all best best.

---------- Post added 2012-08-12 at 06:36 PM ----------

My biggest issue is that the "choices" are so meaningless, I don't really see why I should care at all. Since every talent is supposed to be equal, why would I bother to care and "pick"?

Because each one will change the way you play your character in a slightly different way. They aren't about "take this is you're dps because it will increase your damage" anymore.

I foresee cookiecutter specs a-la SL/SL of the TBC days, where a certain combination of talents clearly outweight the random "personal preference"

Then you don't understand. No big deal but you should stop making predictions on something you don't comprehend 100%.