31 points compulsory= increased homogenization

[Seethe]

I have been trying to play around a bit with different speccs in the cata talent trees. My biggest problem is that you HAVE TO use 31 points in one tree, which basically makes hybrid specs impossible, and gives you no chance to play around. They say that they want to counter homogenization, but with these changes, there will not be much theory crafting since there are maybe 1-2 points that will differentiate people using the same spec.

Is this really a good thing? All resto druids will use the same spec. ALL enhancement shamans will use the same spec... I find this boring since there is no room for optimising your spec and using different specs depending on what your specific role is.

agreed

[taek]

The hybrid specs don't exist because Blizzard stopped them from working, purposefully. There have been plenty of hybrid specs that worked well in the history of the game, the WOTLK DK DPS hybrid at launch is only 1 example.

Perhaps not with diverse classes like Druid & Paladins where each tree is radically different in purpose, but with Warlocks there many long discussions of different specs and slight variations pre-WOTLK.

But in the past Blizzard actually built synergy into the different trees by design, they're 180 from that at this point and actively discouraging tree hybridization.

The only argument i've seen for the move towards homogenization is the "newb friendly" angle, and that's solved easily by letting newbs simply pick a spec (and there is a template that's filled out for them) rather than individual talents. More experienced players can go deeper and pick out individual talents. The two layers of basic/advanced access is pretty standard for anything.

[Rio]

Socialism. Communism. Get used to it.

[AlexGrey]

It's not true that all classes using that particular tree will use the same EXACT talents everytime...because play-styles and encounters differ a great deal.

Lets not forget.... 10 classes to choose from, 3 talent trees = 30 'paths' you can go. That's a ton of variety, son.

[Will]

with these changes, there will not be much theory crafting since there are maybe 1-2 points that will differentiate people using the same spec.

It doesn't matter how complicated blizzard strive to make the talent trees - you will ALWAYS see tons of people running around with the same cookie-cutter specs. Thank theorycrafting and Elitist Jerks for that. The way I see it, nothing changes, except scrub players may push a little more damage in randoms as they have less room for error in speccing. No complaints there.

[pzijderv]

It doesn't matter how complicated blizzard strive to make the talent trees - you will ALWAYS see tons of people running around with the same cookie-cutter specs. Thank theorycrafting and Elitist Jerks for that. The way I see it, nothing changes, except scrub players may push a little more damage in randoms as they have less room for error in speccing. No complaints there.

total truth, people already have the same specs

[Dreamless]

It doesn't matter how complicated blizzard strive to make the talent trees - you will ALWAYS see tons of people running around with the same cookie-cutter specs. Thank theorycrafting and Elitist Jerks for that. The way I see it, nothing changes, except scrub players may push a little more damage in randoms as they have less room for error in speccing. No complaints there.

Precisely this. With the added fact that with every talent choice now -not- necessarily having to be a dps increase, the customization is definitely there.

Most talent trees have extra points to fill in which won't contribute directly to dps, but can be added to some of several different utility or fun talents.

Is it at the best possible level yet? No. But then, this change is very, very new.

Cutting out the weird hybrid specs which exist solely to try and break game balance is a smart move by Blizzard; it allows more increased ease of balancing.