Bring back vanilla-style talent system?

[Granyala]

That's the point. It was way better that way.

BS. They could just as well have removed talents entirely. Wouldn't have made any difference at all.

The new system is much cooler. I can actually think which talent might be better for certain tactics.

[juzalol]

I personally enjoy games where you can pick stuff often. e.g. after every level you end up
picking a talent, attributes or whatever. If there are a lot of options and freedom it's even
better.

I also like games where you can't switch stuff around all the time. I dislike the current talent
system in WoW and even more in Diablo III where all your choices are meaningless.

I enjoy building my character. Obviously in games where there are a lot of choices and they are
permanent your first character is far from "optimal", but if the process of leveling up is long it's
more acceptable and often the optimal build is not required.

I'd rather call myself "Feral Druid" than just a Druid.
I'd rather call myself "WW barb" than just a Barb.

[dejec1989]

only thing I liked about the old talent system was mage ap/pom/pyro pew pew.. that was it. I'm glad blizzard changed it to this, now we can think about what we want rather than look it up on a website and it say "this, this, this, this and this" you use anything else and your a noob...

This game is about playing how you want too and this system is a step in that direction.

[Paulosio]

In the old system if I wanted to do battleground i'd have to competely redo like 41 talent points 1st... Now I can just spend 30 seconds changing a few talents and i'm set.

Now im actually deciding which talents I want to use depending on encounter or if i'm doing PVE or PVP. On my hunter I now regularly make use of nearly every talent we have depending on what i'm doing.

[Seiken3]

No, the WotLK system was far better.

This.

Really loved the idea of having to spend a certain amount of points a tree before being able to spend them on other places. Or if anything - that you will get a good buff if you spend at least a certain amount of points in the tree, making any player with common sense wanting to get the buff.

[Kraenen]

vanilla talent trees were much better. they offered a lot more combinations and specializations and made the game a lot more immersive.

[Reyzzz]

Current system is way better than anything in the past (not saying current talents are good or interesting; some are though).

The old system was retarded as everyone and their mother had the same build as the guy who wrote the post on their class's forum on EJ.

[Jaylock]

Knowing your class = Googling your class spec of choice, apparently.

Besides the fact that almost 90% of all Vanilla talents were useless and the other 10% were mandatory. I just don't get what's more fun about a system like that compared to a system that rewards choice and offers no real bad alternative. (And incase your answer is "but now anyone can pick the right spec and not fail!" isn't that kind of the point of video games? We left the Nintendo era of nearly impossible video games years ago, why haven't you caught up yet?)

OR, Knowing your class = playing around with different specs, learning the talents, figuring out what works and what doesnt, figuring out what is "a pvp talent" and what is a "pve talent".

If you were specd well back in vanilla - cata, sure you could have "herpa derp" went online and looked at "cookie cutter" specs, but players who really knew their class, specd correctly for the situation they were in, showed it with improved DPS, Heals, and tanking ability.

[Granyala]

I enjoy building my character. Obviously in games where there are a lot of choices and they are
permanent your first character is far from "optimal", but if the process of leveling up is long it's
more acceptable and often the optimal build is not required.

Ugh.. I had to delete my Neverwinter Nights character mid game because as an RPG noob I totally wrecked him.. Haha

To be honest: What you want is difficult to impossible to implement in an online multiplayer with content designed around close to optimal performance, speak Heroic progression raiding.

If you were specd well back in vanilla - cata, sure you could have "herpa derp" went online and looked at "cookie cutter" specs, but players who really knew their class, specd correctly for the situation they were in, showed it with improved DPS, Heals, and tanking ability.

Erm no. Not as a shadow priest. There was 1 option, everything else was a DPS loss and thus unacceptable. I know I raided with silence and peeps bugged me about it. But since I was one of the best Spriests of the server at that time no one could really QQ about it. ^^

[Daskapital]

Spending 5 points in Arcane Explosion just so it would be instant. Yeah weren't them the days?

[IxilaFA]

OR, Knowing your class = playing around with different specs, learning the talents, figuring out what works and what doesnt, figuring out what is "a pvp talent" and what is a "pve talent".

If you were specd well back in vanilla - cata, sure you could have "herpa derp" went online and looked at "cookie cutter" specs, but players who really knew their class, specd correctly for the situation they were in, showed it with improved DPS, Heals, and tanking ability.

Not true one bit.

How many different viable talent specs were there in Vanilla - Cata? Usually 1 cookie cutter spec that was already researched and min/maxed for ultimate performance by theorycrafters, and maybe 1 or 2 specs that took away a bit of the max and spent it elsewhere to give you additional functionality. Most of these alternate specs were not accepted by heroic raiding guilds and you were usually laughed at unless you could vigorously defend your talent choices. And why would anybody "play around" with their talents and spells when you could just google it and know how to play your class in 5 seconds? One can argue that the current system actually encourages knowing your class better because there no set-in-stone guides on what spec to pick. There are very few guides online at the moment that can give an exact spec for a Mistweaver or a Holy Pally, and that's because each spec has legitimate advantages and disadvantages depending on changes in your specific raid situation or playstyle. So I've had to craft my own talent specs for each fight and figure out what works and what didn't.

And no, people who really knew their class back in the day didn't change their specs for each fight. They had a min/max spec that gave the best possible performance and dealt with the shortcomings in their raid. I played a Resto Shaman from late BC to the end of Cata and every Shaman I saw and raided with had the exact same spec as myself, and that's because we got it from the same spot as thousands of other players: Elitistjerks or Wowhead or whatever.

[ShadowJester]

The Mists system is the best, by far. The number of options it adds, is pretty great. Granted of few of the options are a little lackluster compared to others, but overall it gets an A. My only concern is how it will be changed in upcoming expansions, with level increases. But honestly going back to Vanilla would honestly kill such a large amount of class/spec diversity it would be sad. Only go forward with the talent system, never go back. If had worked they wouldn't have changed it.

[Kraenen]

Not true one bit.

How many different viable talent specs were there in Vanilla - Cata? Usually 1 cookie cutter spec that was already researched and min/maxed for ultimate performance by theorycrafters, and maybe 1 or 2 specs that took away a bit of the max and spent it elsewhere to give you additional functionality. Most of these alternate specs were not accepted by heroic raiding guilds and you were usually laughed at unless you could vigorously defend your talent choices. And why would anybody "play around" with their talents and spells when you could just google it and know how to play your class in 5 seconds? One can argue that the current system actually encourages knowing your class better because there no set-in-stone guides on what spec to pick. There are very few guides online at the moment that can give an exact spec for a Mistweaver or a Holy Pally, and that's because each spec has legitimate advantages and disadvantages depending on changes in your specific raid situation or playstyle. So I've had to craft my own talent specs for each fight and figure out what works and what didn't.

And no, people who really knew their class back in the day didn't change their specs for each fight. They had a min/max spec that gave the best possible performance and dealt with the shortcomings in their raid. I played a Resto Shaman from late BC to the end of Cata and every Shaman I saw and raided with had the exact same spec as myself, and that's because we got it from the same spot as thousands of other players: Elitistjerks or Wowhead or whatever.

Vanilla gave you more choices though. Now you just press a button and it gives you your entire spec.

[Justignoreme]

OR, Knowing your class = playing around with different specs, learning the talents, figuring out what works and what doesnt, figuring out what is "a pvp talent" and what is a "pve talent".

Yes and now knowing your class and what's best for any given situation be it world pvp, arena, BG, dungeon, raid, high movement fight, low movement fight, defensive fight etc. means you need to know a whole lot more than "the internet sez I should put talents heer cuz simcrafts"
Experimentation, trial and error, and so on have returned and playstyle and situation all matter with your choices. On my rogue I use anticipation as 90 talent for pve but I use shuriken toss for questing/pvp while versatility I haven't found any niche for. I used to only use anticipation until I saw how good ST was for kiting and putting damage on a target at range while rooted/snared

---------- Post added 2013-01-15 at 10:51 PM ----------

Vanilla gave you more choices though. Now you just press a button and it gives you your entire spec.

Ya, but there were a ton of "wrong" choices, a lot of no-brainers, and no room for utility. Experimentation was frowned upon because there wasn't any "support" from simcrafts (useless anyways).

[Adam Jensen]

A million times no.
What we have now is soo much better than:
-wee 2% more of (insert random lame stat)
-ONE build for an entire X-pacs cycle. (I literally never touched my Spriests talents after hitting 80,85)

And you forgot, retarded talent points like wand damage and Lacerate.

[shise]

It was the best system by far, the problem is about having to switch every single time.

Now it's as cookie cutter as never before... in general we have 1 or 2 good talents and the other or other two are plain crap.

I used to have up to 12 free talents to spend on my priest in wotlk and bc, even had some free to spend in bc.... now I have like...1 or 2.

[IxilaFA]

Vanilla gave you more choices though. Now you just press a button and it gives you your entire spec.

Did it really give you more choices? Vanilla didn't give you any more choices than the option to take a canoe across the Pacific or take a jetliner. One is a clearly wrong option that will probably lead to immense tragedy while the other will be quick, painless and relatively effortless.

[Deleted]

The vanilla trees at least showed who knew their class and researched it.

Yeah right - NOT - you sir just made the joke of the day...
for every class there was only one per se spec back in vanilla ... you didnt had it u didnt raid....

the current talent system is not perfect but better then everything we had before

[Raldazzar]

I love the freedom and flexibility of it now.

I also love the unpredictable nature in pvp. in pvp previously.. if he was say an arms warrior you were facing, you knew his entire toolkit. now when you fight one.. he could have second wind.. or enraged regen. or he could shockwave you, maybe a bladestorm! has he got avatar?.. sure there are what some would call 'optimal' builds, but its not guaranteed. and I love that. you can never bee 100% sure what spells the enemy has till they use them. creating exciting pvp moments alot more often. rather then rigid you pop X, so i pop Y. scenarios.

[Wilian]

Did it really give you more choices? Vanilla didn't give you any more choices than the option to take a canoe across the Pacific or take a jetliner. One is a clearly wrong option that will probably lead to immense tragedy while the other will be quick, painless and relatively effortless.

I can think of atleast 5-6 different routes to go with Paladin talents in 1.12 with all of their own function and viability at the very least.