World of Warcraft's Cataclysm expansion is quietly shaping up to be almost more of a sequel than a traditional expansion. We already knew that they would be replacing the existing game world with a new one set six years in the future from the game's original launch. Earlier this week, in a story that no one on my blogroll has commented on because of the uproar over RealID, they announced a change that may have equally major implications - a complete overhaul of the game's talent system.
Under the new system, Blizzard is essentially replacing WoW's 10 classes with 30 sub-classes.
The state of the trees
The modern WoW talent system gives players one point for every level starting at 10, for a total of 71 points by level 80. These points are divided amongst three trees that are unique to each class. The final point in each tree requires 50 points spent, so typical builds take 51 or more points in a single tree and split the remainder amongst the low hanging fruit of other trees.
Philosophically, talents are about specialization, rather than alternate advancement (as seen in EQ2's AA system or LOTRO's traits). Every character of a given level has the same amount of talent points, which are granted automatically upon leveling. The cost of spending 51 points in a tree is not getting the abilities that cost 21+ in the other two. This approach creates two issues.
The first is that tree-defining talents must be placed deep in each tree. Anything in the first 20 points can be obtained by other specs. For example, melee Enhancement Shamen currently cannot get the ability to dual wield until their 31 point talent at level 40, because the other two specs of Shaman are spell casters. No other caster can dual wield, and it is not worth the bother of balancing around exactly one spec combination of one class (e.g. Elemental caster Shamen who happen to have taken Enhancement with their leftover points) carrying around two spell power weapons.
The consequence is that a leveling enhancement Shaman needs to use a 2-handed weapon for their first 39 levels. Many classes need to wait as long 60 levels to obtain 51-point talent abilities that will be the core of their damage rotations at level 80. If you care about new and low level players, which everyone does these days, that's way too long to make players wait to actually play their class.
The second issue is one of balance. The addition of even a single talent point allows specs to reach previously unattainable 21-point talents in their off-trees. Worse, each tier has to be more powerful and more defining than the previous tier if Blizzard does not want players to start going with hybrid 2-3 tree specs. It's hard enough for Blizzard to balance a role for each of the existing 30 trees without worrying about the prospect that some obscure 41/30 spec will turn into an overpowered/broken combo.
What is changing
Under the new system, players will effectively choose a sub-class - one of their existing talent trees - before spending their first talent point at level 10. Choosing the subclass will immediately grant a previously exclusive talent ability that will not be purchaseable by the other subclasses for any amount of points, even if the next expansion adds a thousand of them. For example, the melee Enhancement Shaman will immediately receive the dual wielding ability, along with a previously 36-point off-hand attack.
Speaking of points, there will be way fewer of them. No tree will go further than 31 points (down from the current 51), and players will receive only 41 points by the new level cap (down from the current 71). To further constrain things, players will not be allowed to spend a single point outside their chosen tree until they have spent 31 points in the main tree. Effectively, players will have a mere 10 discretionary points to divide between the two off-trees and/or additional points in their main tree.
The end result is a dramatic reduction in the range of customization options at players' disposal. The variations between specs of a subclass will be much more akin to the variations on a theme in EQ2 subclass AA trees. The theory is that, in exchange, each subclass can be more unique and better balanced against the other 30 subclasses.
Why and How
All these problems were well known, but Blizzard's initial plan was to ignore them and blaze ahead with five more talent points for the five new levels. To be honest, I didn't think they had the nerve to mess with something so fundamental. Perhaps they didn't until they actually tried the traditional tree revamp and were unsatisfied with the results. Apparently reaction to an initial preview of the new trees was enough to steel their resolve to burn the system down and rebuild it from scratch.
In the short term, this will be a mess. We are probably no more than four months from the retail launch of the expansion, in a public, no-NDA closed beta. It is almost certain that the system will need some work at launch, and I'd imagine that Ghostcrawler and his team won't be getting much sleep during that time. In the long term, though, this change could have a huge positive impact on the game.
The fact is that a wide open system means that most of the options will be bad, and the few unexpected gems may be in line for balance nerfs. In exchange for that limited freedom, the developers can improve the experience for the subclasses that are left. The new system will also do a better job of scaling with future expansions, which might only add 2-3 additional points. Either way, this is one change that looks to live up to the Cataclysm name.
Trials of the Defiler
My road to the defiler
The defiler is notoriously one of the worst solo leveling classes in EQ2, to the point where the standard advice is to start as or betray to its good-aligned counterpart, the mystic, and switch back at the level cap. I'd actually considered a Mystic when I was trialing melee-spec priests back in the day, but I went with the Warden instead in large part because the Mystic's wolf is a ghost wolf, and I'm not that impressed with its appearance.
In the interim, I've tried half a dozen of EQ2's caster subclasses (the fury druid, and all but the coercer amongst the mages) but none of them have really stuck with me. If you've played a WoW mage, "root+nuke" simply feels inferior to "nuke and incidentally root as a bonus effect". I was interested in field testing either a defiler or a templar (which also has a reputation for poor DPS) because these two healer classes rely on spells for DPS but do not have traditional root/kiting tools. The defiler gets a nice looking black wolf and a giant spear, and is available to evil races at creation (I've been avoiding Tolkien races, I already have a Fae, and the Froglok hopping animation looks atrocious with runspeed enhancements), so Defiler it was.
Woes of a low level priest
As advertised, the DPS is pretty bad at the low levels. In particular, all priests really suffer for DPS in the thankfully-brief level 6-10 range, because their spell lists focus on healing at a time when most characters are going to be trying to get by on solo DPS. (The game's next patch will supposedly add another attack for all healers in this level range to try and improve this situation.) Your damage spells consist of a DOT and a nuke, each of which has a cooldown. If you aren't aware that casters can autoattack in between spellcasts without losing casting time or that you can combo those two spells together with the poorly described "heroic opportunity" for a bit of additional damage, you might actually find yourself failing to kill under-conned mobs. (This was my experience on my very first day in EQ2.)
Fortunately, the pampered Narache is not my first character. I had Samarya, who is going to be a Woodworker, craft the new guy some pikes. Lyriana produced some jewelry, a mastercrafted ranged slot item, and all of the spells (including a few key mastercrafts) for the trek to 20. I was aiming Narache himself at the Armorer profession, so I powered him through the crafting tutorial and promptly crafted a full set of Defiler-appropriate chain armor. I also picked up my first AA to acquire the dog, who serves as a reasonable off-tank and DPS. Though a more DPS-oriented class would be even more impressive in that setup, suddenly DPS was no longer an issue.
Overall, I like the flavor of the Defiler as a caster class. The pet is an effective addition without requiring micromanagement or making the actual character feel like their job is to provide support for an NPC. If attacked by multiple mobs, I can make a point of attacking a different foe from the one the wolf has chosen, relying on group-wide cures or damage wards to heal us both. Maybe it won't scale well into the higher levels, especially if I'm unable or unwilling to keep twinking it out in the best gear. Then again, quest content doesn't take any huge jumps in difficulty until Kunark, and level 68 would make this far and away my most successful EQ2 alt to date.
Most of all, I think it's unfortunate that a relatively unique class, which is actually well-desired in groups besides, is hamstrung by being given low DPS in the name of "balance". Unlike the melee healers, this type of character doesn't get to just add most of its possible to DPS for free while simultaneously healing (remember, in EQ2 you can autoattack at no penalty between casting, including casting heals). I don't know who exactly wins by having the classes balanced in this way, but people who are missing out on the Defiler because of the bad solo reputation are clearly losing out.
Independence Bonus Weekend And The Role of the AA
When the July 4th holiday in the US falls on or adjacent to a weekend, you can count on two things:
- Lots of offline plans (e.g. painting our dining room, which is now yellow, while not painting the dog, who remains non-yellow despite her mischievous curiosity)
- Bonus experience in games like EQ2 and DDO
The difference between this and previous EQ2 bonuses is that this time, I'm actually at both the level and the trade cap on my main. Typically, I use this sort of time to grind away at tradeskills on my alts, but that seemed relatively pointless since my army covers all of the gear and spell-crafting trades up to levels that are substantially higher than my highest alt.
So, I decided instead to simply use the time "normally".
Regular activities, bonus rewards
I've never paid much attention to bonus AAXP, but this weekend convinces me that I should. Lyriana gained 8 AA, hitting 184 (significant because I can now respec without having to juggle trees to keep the TSO endlines) from some routine questing, a few misc dungeon runs with the guild, and a PUG that made it as far as the second named in DB (which was as far as I needed to go for the epic weapon questline update anyway).
I can start to see a bit of why long-time players, especially the more group oriented ones, are frustrated with the way that the EQ2 AA system works out. I've been 90 for a bit, and did most of my leveling via quests, and I'm still 66 AA from the maximum AA cap. Zippy bonus weekend gains are great, but they also call attention to the fact that I can expect a greatly diminished rate of advancement going forward as I chew through one-time bonuses for quests and the first pass through each dungeon.
Then again, the sad part is that I can see the remaining places to spend my points, and I don't see anything on the list that will really change the game. The 250 AA sound like a lot, but every tree has its useless branches. With a fair amount of room to go, I already have the most significant abilities. Each additional AA ding will take proportionally longer, while adding less and less power until I'm left with just about everything that I would actually want. It would be nice if the way you build your AA's had a greater effect on your character, but I'm guessing that they're having a hard enough time finding niches for 24 subclasses without giving each one two or more AA spec variations to play with.
World of Warcraft's forthcoming expansion was originally going to include a "Path of the Titans" alternate advancement system, which was axed before the beta to some degree of outcry. Seeing how this type of mechanic is playing out in EQ2 today, I'm not convinced that WoW is missing out.
- Lots of offline plans (e.g. painting our dining room, which is now yellow, while not painting the dog, who remains non-yellow despite her mischievous curiosity)
- Bonus experience in games like EQ2 and DDO
The difference between this and previous EQ2 bonuses is that this time, I'm actually at both the level and the trade cap on my main. Typically, I use this sort of time to grind away at tradeskills on my alts, but that seemed relatively pointless since my army covers all of the gear and spell-crafting trades up to levels that are substantially higher than my highest alt.
So, I decided instead to simply use the time "normally".
Regular activities, bonus rewards
I've never paid much attention to bonus AAXP, but this weekend convinces me that I should. Lyriana gained 8 AA, hitting 184 (significant because I can now respec without having to juggle trees to keep the TSO endlines) from some routine questing, a few misc dungeon runs with the guild, and a PUG that made it as far as the second named in DB (which was as far as I needed to go for the epic weapon questline update anyway).
I can start to see a bit of why long-time players, especially the more group oriented ones, are frustrated with the way that the EQ2 AA system works out. I've been 90 for a bit, and did most of my leveling via quests, and I'm still 66 AA from the maximum AA cap. Zippy bonus weekend gains are great, but they also call attention to the fact that I can expect a greatly diminished rate of advancement going forward as I chew through one-time bonuses for quests and the first pass through each dungeon.
Then again, the sad part is that I can see the remaining places to spend my points, and I don't see anything on the list that will really change the game. The 250 AA sound like a lot, but every tree has its useless branches. With a fair amount of room to go, I already have the most significant abilities. Each additional AA ding will take proportionally longer, while adding less and less power until I'm left with just about everything that I would actually want. It would be nice if the way you build your AA's had a greater effect on your character, but I'm guessing that they're having a hard enough time finding niches for 24 subclasses without giving each one two or more AA spec variations to play with.
World of Warcraft's forthcoming expansion was originally going to include a "Path of the Titans" alternate advancement system, which was axed before the beta to some degree of outcry. Seeing how this type of mechanic is playing out in EQ2 today, I'm not convinced that WoW is missing out.
Canada Day Resolutions For 2010
It's Canada Day, when PVD traditionally honours the home and native land of Stargrace, the guys from LOTRO Reporter, and the moose that was promised to us by Ghostcrawler with a look back at the old New Year's Resolutions.
How have my goals from January worked out, and what am I expecting for the rest of the year?
Pre-Cataclysm WoW
Step 1 is well underway, as Greenraven has moved from level 65 to level 77 and completed the Wrathgate. I still plan to hit 80 so I can solo the group portions of the Thrall/Nagrand storyline, and I will of course check out the pre-Cataclysm world events. Malygos may or may not happen, basically, he will have to come up as the weekly raid boss on a week when I happen to be subscribed to WoW so that I can attempt to PUG him.
Two new goals here:
- Northrend Dungeon Master on Greenraven, thanks to the magic of the random group finder (I'm already more than half done, and would like to complete this before 80 if possible)
- Outland Dungeon Hero on Greenwiz, soloing all of the dungeons just to say I did it
LOTRO
EQ2
New resolution here is to complete the "Epic Repercussions" questline, which will grant Lyriana the previously raid-only buff from the Mythical upgrade to her epic weapon. That aside, I generally haven't been big on setting specific benchmarks for success in EQ2 and I don't see any reason to start right now. I've been happily wandering in and out of Norrath from time to time and doing whatever I feel like doing for over a year now, and I expect that to continue for the rest of 2010. My specific goals might also get tweaked based on the expansion announcement coming up later this summer.
Post-Cataclysm WoW
Other Games
DDO, which was not on my watch-list, has managed to leapfrog its way to the front of the pack and is now my fourth major MMO. I've had a lot of fun so far in Stormreach, though (for reasons that are long enough that I should make another post out of them), I might very easily have half a dozen characters halfway to the level cap before I have a single character to DDO's level cap.
Other MMO's on my watch list include Runes of Magic (I'll get to it eventually, really), Allods Online (the cash shop fiasco only mattered because people thought it was a good enough game to be upset over), and Star Trek Online (mostly because the prices on surplus retail boxes are bound to drop down to impulse buy levels eventually). The Agency might get a look on the PS3, and perhaps I could take another crack at converting my wife to Free Realms if the game finally makes its long-overdue arrival on the console.
Upcoming MMO-watch aside, the PS3 has been a bit of a disappointment. We did indeed get Rock Band, and it did indeed rock, but that hasn't turned into a weekly activity. I never really got into Dragon Age, with DDO filling the niche I'd expected that game to occupy, and thus I haven't even really considered other PS3 RPG's like FFXIII. I did enjoy Uncharted 2, and expect to play some other games in the cinematic action genre (e.g. Assassin's Creed, Arkham Asylum), but that's a comparatively expensive habit that I haven't had the time or money to budget for ($60 MSRP on a game that might run 10 hours at best).
The Blog
That aside, I remain grateful as always to my readers for putting up with me, and adding insightful discussions that I don't always have enough time to acknowledge. I've learned a fair amount from all of you over the years, and I think that it has helped me both with the blog and with writing in general (always a good skill to have).
Happy Canada Day and best of luck for the rest of the year!
How have my goals from January worked out, and what am I expecting for the rest of the year?
Pre-Cataclysm WoW
1. Get Greenraven, my Horde Warrior, to level 80 and complete some key questlines that may not survive the Cataclysm (notably the Nagrand Thrall/Garrosh story and the Wrathgate).
2. Try to kill Malygos on my mage, to complete the Champion of the Frozen Wastes title.
3. Check out the pre-Cataclysm world events.
Step 1 is well underway, as Greenraven has moved from level 65 to level 77 and completed the Wrathgate. I still plan to hit 80 so I can solo the group portions of the Thrall/Nagrand storyline, and I will of course check out the pre-Cataclysm world events. Malygos may or may not happen, basically, he will have to come up as the weekly raid boss on a week when I happen to be subscribed to WoW so that I can attempt to PUG him.
Two new goals here:
- Northrend Dungeon Master on Greenraven, thanks to the magic of the random group finder (I'm already more than half done, and would like to complete this before 80 if possible)
- Outland Dungeon Hero on Greenwiz, soloing all of the dungeons just to say I did it
LOTRO
4. Finish the quests of Mirkwood on Allarond.I've done many, but not all, of the quests of Mirkwood, and I did complete the newly soloable portions of Volume 1. Unfortunately, the surprise announcement that there will be no new content until the free to play revamp arrives is probably going to keep me away from Middle Earth for most of the rest of 2010.
5. Complete as many of the game's epic books as possible. (The entirety of Volume 1, the pre-Moria epic books, are supposed to be soloable as of February's patch.)
6. Level a new Runekeeper alt through the re-vamped leveling content (currently through the Lone Lands, slowly expanding outward in each book patch).
EQ2
7. Try to finish Lyriana's fabled epic weapon questline (that's the non-raid version).Resolutions 7 and 8 have been completed, and 9 was nebulous enough that it too has technically been satisfied.
8. Bring Lyriana from 80/80 to 90/90 with the new expansion.
9. Possibly mess with one or more alts.
New resolution here is to complete the "Epic Repercussions" questline, which will grant Lyriana the previously raid-only buff from the Mythical upgrade to her epic weapon. That aside, I generally haven't been big on setting specific benchmarks for success in EQ2 and I don't see any reason to start right now. I've been happily wandering in and out of Norrath from time to time and doing whatever I feel like doing for over a year now, and I expect that to continue for the rest of 2010. My specific goals might also get tweaked based on the expansion announcement coming up later this summer.
Post-Cataclysm WoW
10. Get Greenwiz to level 85 with the new expansion.No updates here since Cataclysm has yet to launch. With today's rollout of the closed beta, I'm guessing that a 2010 release, and resolution number 10, are nigh certain. Anything else will have to wait and see.
11. At a minimum, try a Worgen Druid and a Goblin Shaman (the two classes I have the least experience with in retail WoW) through their new starter areas, which always tend to be well-polished.
12. Tourism on one or more other alts (either the new races, or perhaps Cheerydeth the third).
Other Games
13. Watch for developments in FFXIV, possibly trying the game out if I like what I'm hearing.My interest in FFXIV is greatly lessened by the revelation that it will barely run on my current machine. In principle, I could attempt to play it on the PS3 instead, but this has definitely moved down to "wait and see" status.
14. Perhaps try one or more other games - Runes of Magic is probably the only one that jumps out at me, but we'll see.
15. My Christmas haul included a new PS3, and I intend to put it to good use this year. We also got the New Super Mario Bros for the Wii, and I'm having fun carving out some time to play that with my wife. Hopefully that, and/or some other joint gaming tradition (perhaps Rock Band), can continue.
DDO, which was not on my watch-list, has managed to leapfrog its way to the front of the pack and is now my fourth major MMO. I've had a lot of fun so far in Stormreach, though (for reasons that are long enough that I should make another post out of them), I might very easily have half a dozen characters halfway to the level cap before I have a single character to DDO's level cap.
Other MMO's on my watch list include Runes of Magic (I'll get to it eventually, really), Allods Online (the cash shop fiasco only mattered because people thought it was a good enough game to be upset over), and Star Trek Online (mostly because the prices on surplus retail boxes are bound to drop down to impulse buy levels eventually). The Agency might get a look on the PS3, and perhaps I could take another crack at converting my wife to Free Realms if the game finally makes its long-overdue arrival on the console.
Upcoming MMO-watch aside, the PS3 has been a bit of a disappointment. We did indeed get Rock Band, and it did indeed rock, but that hasn't turned into a weekly activity. I never really got into Dragon Age, with DDO filling the niche I'd expected that game to occupy, and thus I haven't even really considered other PS3 RPG's like FFXIII. I did enjoy Uncharted 2, and expect to play some other games in the cinematic action genre (e.g. Assassin's Creed, Arkham Asylum), but that's a comparatively expensive habit that I haven't had the time or money to budget for ($60 MSRP on a game that might run 10 hours at best).
The Blog
16. Stick with a reachable goal of 250 posts in 2010. 17. Sadly, my work schedule has made it hard to keep up with my blogroll and commenters. I'd like to do a better job with this next year, but we'll see what time permits.Work situations have been busy, and 250 posts may or may not happen this year (I'm slightly behind pace, 116 at the halfway mark). I never seem to have the time to be proactive about seeking out new blogs, answering comments, etc.
18. Once again thank all of my readers for putting up with me, and wish all of you the best for the new year.
That aside, I remain grateful as always to my readers for putting up with me, and adding insightful discussions that I don't always have enough time to acknowledge. I've learned a fair amount from all of you over the years, and I think that it has helped me both with the blog and with writing in general (always a good skill to have).
Happy Canada Day and best of luck for the rest of the year!
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