Dual Specs - some solid answers finally

[Arcdelad]

[blizzard]Talent Dual Spec Q&A with Ghostcrawler
With the next content patch, we will be introducing a number of additions and changes to the game. One new feature in the works is the ability to set up two separate sets of talents, or "dual spec". While the complete feature may not be immediately available in the Public Test Realms (PTR) and specifics are still liable to change, we wanted to go over some questions with Senior Game Designer Greg "Ghostcrawler" Street to find out more.

Nethaera: What is dual speccing?
Ghostcrawler: Dual speccing is the ability to save two separate talent specs, glyphs, and action bars.

Nethaera: Why are we allowing players to dual spec after all this time?
Ghostcrawler: We really felt like this was a great way to increase the flexibility available to players and encourage them to take part in more aspects of the game. To use just one example, some players like to participate in both raids and Arenas, which is awesome behavior that we want to promote. But, there are some talents which are more useful in one part of the game than another. Currently, players have to pay respec costs and go through the process of setting up the desired talent spec and action bars whenever they switch.

The new system makes this a much more logical process, saving on time and cost and allowing players to easily move from one aspect of the game to another.

Nethaera: Who will be able to use it?
Ghostcrawler: Players who have reached the maximum level will be able to set up dual specs.

Nethaera: Why do players need to be max level in order to do this?
Ghostcrawler: We didn't want to burden lower-level players with extra complexity as they're working to level up and learn their class. But if the feature proves popular we might consider expanding it.

Nethaera: How will you be able to set up a dual spec?
Ghostcrawler: Players will be able to visit their trainer and pay a one-time fee to be able to use it.

Nethaera: How do you switch between specs?
Ghostcrawler: Players will be able to switch between their talent specs by visiting any Lexicon of Power provided they've paid for the ability to have a secondary spec. Lexicons of Power will be available in major cities, and inscribers will also be able to create a new item that summons one. Anyone can purchase this item, but it requires a ritual of several players to summon it for use by the party. It's similar to a repair bot in that it will exist in the world for a short duration. It's important to keep in mind that you will not be able to switch specs while in combat or Arenas. While you won't be able to switch your spec without the Lexicon, you will still be able to look at your secondary spec whenever you want to.

Nethaera: Will solo players have the ability to switch their specs outside of the cities or will they still need to visit a Lexicon of Power?
Ghostcrawler: Solo players will still need to go into the city to visit the Lexicon of Power to switch their talent spec or will need to get together with other players to summon one in.

Nethaera: Is the item that allows you to summon a Lexicon of Power reusable, or is it used up?
Ghostcrawler: We haven't made a final decision on that yet, and will be evaluating how it works on the PTR.

Nethaera: Can I respec only one of my talent sets, or will I need to respec them both if I reset one?
Ghostcrawler: When you reset your talents, it will look at the spec you currently have in use as the talent set you want to change.

Nethaera: Will you be able to switch gear easily to match your spec?
Ghostcrawler: At the same time we implement dual specs, we will also be setting up a gear system. The feature is called "Gear Manager." It can also be used to just swap weapons or trinkets or put on that tuxedo to strut around town. It will not automatically switch your gear when you change your talent spec, but it will allow for an easy gear change between them. The feature may not be fully functional immediately in the PTR, but we'll have more information to share about it before too much longer.

Nethaera: What about hunters? Often their pet talents are set up to match the talents of the hunter. Will they be able to switch their pet specs as well?
Ghostcrawler: We will wipe the pet talents. However we are going to remove the respec cost for pet talents so that players won't feel like they need to jump through an additional hoop to respec their pet. In addition, we are going to provide hunters a new core ability to let them remotely access their stable on a long cooldown. This way if their exotic pet heads off to the stable, they will be able to get a different pet. We hope to be able to discuss this new spell in more detail when we get a little further along.

Nethaera: Will you be able to change your Glyphs as well?
Ghostcrawler: Glyphs will be tied to each talent spec so that if you switch between them, so too will the Glyphs. You'll notice the UI will have changed a little bit so that the Glyph panes show up alongside the Talent panes now that they are associated.

Nethaera: What about hotbars? Will players be able to save them for the talent spec they're running?
Ghostcrawler: Yes, you will be able to save hotbars and use them with your talent specs. It just saves your bars at the same time as it saves the glyphs and talents. If you want to switch to your other action bar, you will need to change specs.

Nethaera: Is there a way for players to choose their talents without them being saved? Currently, once you spend your talent point, it's spent unless you pay the respec cost again.
Ghostcrawler: With the dual spec feature, we are going to allow players who respec to configure all their talents before they get saved. They will be able to allocate the points, then choose if they want to use that as their spec, rather than needing to carefully diagram out their talents ahead of time. This will allow players a little more freedom when deciding on the talents they want to pick and avoid costly mistakes.

Nethaera: Will players be confined to only setting up two specs?
Ghostcrawler: We will be launching the feature with just two specs, but depending on how we feel it works out, we might consider additional specs in the future.

Nethaera: When can players expect to try out dual specs?
Ghostcrawler: Players will be able to try out the dual spec system on the Public Test Realms when they are made available. This has been a pretty big project with a lot of people working toward making it a reality in the game. We'll definitely be watching the feedback and looking for ways of making sure the system works the way we all envisioned it to.
[/blizzard]

Source: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/dualspec.html

[Tony]

Wow, that's gonna be sweet! Looks like they are taking talented, closet gnome, and some features of bartender and implementing them into the game. With so many of us customizing our interfaces, its good to see that Blizz is realizing how powerful and helpful those addons are...

[Lynette]

I love it.

I anticipate many, many bugs when this goes live, however. 

[Gutboy]

[blizzard]Talent Dual Spec Q&A with Ghostcrawler

Nethaera: Is there a way for players to choose their talents without them being saved? Currently, once you spend your talent point, it's spent unless you pay the respec cost again.
Ghostcrawler: With the dual spec feature, we are going to allow players who respec to configure all their talents before they get saved. They will be able to allocate the points, then choose if they want to use that as their spec, rather than needing to carefully diagram out their talents ahead of time. This will allow players a little more freedom when deciding on the talents they want to pick and avoid costly mistakes.

[/blizzard]

Source: http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/underdev/dualspec.html

Jeez, where has this been all my life? (Besides Blizzard's own online talent calculator I mean....  )

GB

[Rocknlock]

It will be nice as long as it doesn't cost much to switch inbetween the specs. having to go to a major city isn't helping anything though, so I hope the inscriber item will be reuseable.

[Arcdelad]

im hoping that the "summon" portal aspect of it will mean people cant swap fight to fight....im hoping this is used in raids when someone needs to swap tank-dps, tank-heals, or dps-dps+talent build that adds something to a particular fight...

if we have to stop, summon a lexicon, respec, wait for the person to be ready in between every pull itll suck lol

[Gutboy]

im hoping that the "summon" portal aspect of it will mean people cant swap fight to fight....im hoping this is used in raids when someone needs to swap tank-dps, tank-heals, or dps-dps+talent build that adds something to a particular fight...

if we have to stop, summon a lexicon, respec, wait for the person to be ready in between every pull itll suck lol

I'll be very happy to gear up and prepare so that I could go on any raid as fury or prot, but switching boss-by-boss does not appeal to me. (Unless Blizz creates 10-tank fights in a later patch or something...  )

GB

[Haderach]

i see it useful if a tank DC's and you have a dps that can switch over for the fight if you want to keep going and no one else is around, so instead of calling it or doing it a tank down, you just lose 1 dps and can keep going

[Arcdelad]

i think its a brilliant idea for tanks and healers - for trash we often need more tanks then we do for boss fights, or some fights require more healers (KT) than others, so letting us bring in capable healers or tanks that can DPS when not needed is a good thing...

[Gutboy]

It opens up whole new worlds of loot drama though.... 

GB

[Jarekai]

While I like the concept, I wonder what this will accomplish for hunters since our specs are more of a personal preference versus a role change. Aside from the issue they mentioned about pet talents, what would be the point of dual-speccing with one for DPS and the other for...DPS? Variety, I guess.

[Lynette]

While I like the concept, I wonder what this will accomplish for hunters since our specs are more of a personal preference versus a role change. Aside from the issue they mentioned about pet talents, what would be the point of dual-speccing with one for DPS and the other for...DPS? Variety, I guess.

I could envision dual spec being an asset for hunters when raids require some CC, which is rumored to be the case for Uldar.  We might actually see hunters trapping again.

i think its a brilliant idea for tanks and healers - for trash we often need more tanks then we do for boss fights, or some fights require more healers (KT) than others, so letting us bring in capable healers or tanks that can DPS when not needed is a good thing...

Without a doubt, I think this is the biggest positive out of this as far as raiding is concerned.  For Naxx 25, we carry 7 healers during the continuation run - primarily just for the last 2 bosses.  It would be nice if 2 of those healers could be dpsing until we hit Sapphiron, then summon the lexicon and swap to healer.

It opens up whole new worlds of loot drama though.... 

GB

It shouldn't effect loot distribution.  Folks still can only roll need on main toon, main spec only.  Open rolls will still be handled as they have always been, with offspec rolls perhaps being a bit more active.  Only real change I see is there should be fewer items being DEd - which is a good thing.

[Air]

Inscribers will be able to make portable lexicon's of power now.  I think it's gonna be similar to a warlock health stone / summoning stone, you'll need the inscriber and 1-2 people to summon the lexicon.  Once summoned, player's will be able to change spec's at will. 

For 5 man's, they may not be able to respec at will, since not every 5 man is gonna have an inscriber in the group.  So players will need to hearth to a major city to respec.  Now in raid's, there will most likely be an inscriber that can drop a lexicon at will before/after most fight's.

What's interesting though is that they stated that player's were going to be able to change spec's during combat also.  And clearly thing's have changed.  I don't mind though, respeccing before and after fight's is just as good.

[fiere redfern]

What's interesting though is that they stated that player's were going to be able to change spec's during combat also.  And clearly thing's have changed.  I don't mind though, respeccing before and after fight's is just as good.

Being able to respec during fights wouldn't make sense - you can't swap out gear, aside from your weapon, so what would the point be? lolprotdpsgear ftw?

[Arcdelad]

i dont think an inscriber will need to be there...it mentions an item USABLE by anyone, not just usable by an inscriber....im sure inscribers, though, are going to make a killing putting these up on the AH though....