Cataclysm Talent Tree Analysis (Post Mortem)

With the release of Cataclysm the talent tree system has seen a complete overhaul by implementing a 31 point system over the 51 point trees. Now Blizz wants to recap. Heres a summary of what "they" said.

THE GOOD

-Its condensed
-Specialization at Level 10
-Each spec feels unique
-Mastery implemented and works
-Talent choices aren't always clear cut
-The game is as balanced as its even been

THE BAD

-Undertuned or Uninteresting Talents
-Novice players might miss out on key Talents like Raging Blow
-Not enough tough choices for spending talents
-Can't figure out a way to make spending points in other trees more viable
-Talents that just modify but X% chance to do whatever thingy


OVERALL

I think that Blizz has made improvements to the far beyond what it had done with its previous iteration of the talent system. However they still managed to fall short of my expectations. I was promised great things with the new talent system. Marvelous things!

Credit where its due. The new talent trees are condensed and removed a lot of what had cluttered the old 51 point trees. The ability to specialize your at level 10 is amazing and gives you the feeling like you have progressed your character. And true while every spec feels unique it isn't anything that groundbreaking. However I can appreciate the desire to make changes to increase the differences between the specs. Mastery was added to the game but I don't see it as adding interesting to the game other than another stat to manage on your characters inventory. I collect stamina items I get more hit points, I collect more mastery items I get more.. well I guess I do more dps, kinda like strength.. only different.

One of Blizzards positives is that Talent Choices aren't always clear cut. I hate to break it to you Blizz but this is a negative. You got it all wrong. Choosing talents should be fun and feel like playing a video game. It shouldn't feel like someone just handed your a pop quiz and yelled "Suprise!" It should be fun and doable. By doable I mean not requiring you to thumb through talent trees on elitistjerks till you find the right one. If your video game requires a bachelors degree in looking shit up on the internet it probably needs some work. New players can potentially miss out Raging Blow which is a key talent for warriors. Something critical for gameplay being made an "option" rather than a necessity is pure stupidity.

I seem to forget but didn't Blizz tell us that we wouldn't be getting anymore boring talents or talents that modify X% thingy. Actually I remember quite well they said those words almost exactly. I see a game being developed like Diablo 3 by Blizz where they have countless cool fucking abilities. I saw a trailer where a wizard rained frogs from the sky. Can we have this guy come and give the WoW team some ideas please? Because obiviously they have run out of ideas for what would make talents fun.

What do you think of the talent system? Leave a comment here or head over to http://us.battle.net/wow/en/blog/2878505#blog to tell Blizz what you think.