Breakfast Topic: How many times have you changed your talents?
by Chris Miller 
Feb 21st 2007 at 7:00AM
With the new talent trees and the challenges of leveling, I've had to adjust my talents several times. On my warlock, I did a post-2.0 build before the expansion pack that was very heavy demonology, a leveling build that was heavy affliction, then I tried multiple builds for post-70, settling on a hybrid 40/0/21 build similar to my old raiding build.Fortunately I'd had my old raiding spec for a very very long time, and my cost to switch everything now is up to just 30G. How many times have you unlearned your talents lately? What's your re-spec cost up to?
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Talents
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Twinny Feb 21st 2007 7:34AM
40/0/21? ORLY?
i see that you are spec'd into afflication which is your choice, but is ruin really worth it? considering you wont be nuking all that much with that many dots?
is skipping a 41 point talent worth it for a 21 point?
i was thinking more along the lines of :
5/35/21
all the benefits of soul link, demonic sacrafice, demonic knowledge, instant corruption, shadow burn and ruin...
makes for a good pvp set and great pve.
overall from respec'ing at 70 i have spent 200+ gold..
Brim Feb 21st 2007 7:56AM
Druid:
1-58 Full feral
58-64 Full resto
64-66 Full Balance
66-70 0/20 Feral/41 resto
70 33 balance/0 feral/28 resto
angeldevoid Feb 21st 2007 8:15AM
14+ times
Up to 50g once, and then afew more times after they added the cost degrade feature.
I think I'm back up to the 45 mark after dropping down to 30.
Evan Feb 21st 2007 8:17AM
on my mage...i dont know how many times i have respecced, from fire to arcane, to frost, to hybrids...my cost is 50g and has been for a while lol. but after it all, i always ending going back to frost.
Petre Feb 21st 2007 8:39AM
Well, I respecced Furey (Warrior) pre-BC simply because my guild wasn't raiding and I had never done it before. Switched back to Arms (I love big heavy hitting 2-handers) for leveling. Changed at 70 to include some tanking talents for my guild. Changed again and went full protection.
So four times since the 2.0 patch.
Duggie Feb 21st 2007 8:32AM
1-52 full shadow spec on my priest
53 switched to holy
53.01 switched back to shadow after taking 5 minutes to kill one mob!
53.02 another respec after realising i cocked up when selecting shadow specs.
Total re specs 3.
No idea of cost to respec now (lvl 65)but have no intention of changing.
My rogue however has specalised in every type of weapon and eventually went bankrupt due to respec costs.
Seper Feb 21st 2007 8:54AM
I started to spec resto from 10-45 then tried balance (for moonkin) for about 30mins and then went back and respecced. Ive been resto ever since. It costs about 15g now to respec. (55 druid)
Matt Park Feb 21st 2007 9:03AM
Once - went from elemental to enhancement at 30.
When I get into my 60's, I might consider speccing resto, but that depends.
Mats Feb 21st 2007 8:58AM
I have re-done my talents 4 times. Once when I hit 60 (clearing up some leveling errors) Once when I was deep in raiding and threat became a problem (into demonology) then redid them into affliction when 2.0 hit, and redid them at 70 to adjust for leveling errors once more.
Also:
40/0/21 is a not a good speck for raiding. (Living in the pre-BC world) You will get more damage out of Unstable Affliction then Ruin will give you on those few Shadowbolts you get to throw out. And with 40 debuffslots and 25man raids, you will be focusing more on recasting debuffs then you will be on casting shadowbolts.
rocketscientist Feb 21st 2007 9:11AM
"40/0/21 is a not a good speck for raiding. (Living in the pre-BC world) You will get more damage out of Unstable Affliction then Ruin will give you on those few Shadowbolts you get to throw out. And with 40 debuffslots and 25man raids, you will be focusing more on recasting debuffs then you will be on casting shadowbolts."
This spec is ideal for raiding, simply because I have more flexibility. While DoT's do more damage over a longer period of time, a lot of the things I've seen/done/read about concern extensive and repetitive trash pulls. And Ruin > DoT's for trash that dies in 8 seconds.
I did spec for Intensity, I may drop that now since I'm not using Hellfire or Rain of Fire anymore (Seed of Corruption all the way).
Destructive Reach is one of the most overlooked farming talents. If you can find mobs that are -5 to farm, you can generally kill them before they touch you just with an incredible amount of damage gear, shadowbolts and max range.
Jamus Feb 21st 2007 9:30AM
Is there a cool-down time on respec payments?
In other words if I respec today, and then respec again tomorrow I would expect to pay gold. What if you wait 9 months or so between respecs? Does the price still go up?
Sylythn Feb 21st 2007 6:00PM
I used to pride myself on having never needed a respec...but after playing Demonology up to 54, I realized I was playing an Affliciton lock with Demonology talents...so I switched. Then I respecced for raiding at 60 - then again for leveling in Outlands...all variants of heavy Affliction. And then there was the time I decided I didn't need Shadowburn...we don't talk about that time.
I tried respeccing my rogue to freshen up the gameplay, but I still didn't take to it and eventually just quit playing him.
With my pally I'll have a respec from full ret to hybrid holy/prot once I hit 60 or so.
I'm happy with my hunter being MM at the moment, so I doubt I'll respec there - but you never know.
My highest cost, 20g...I balk at anything higher and usually wait for the cooldown.
A_B Feb 22nd 2007 11:43AM
On my 65 Pally and 46 Shaman, I've never respecced for a fee. I've taken advantage of the few times Blizzard has messed with the talent trees and made changes, but I've never paid to respec.
freehugz Feb 21st 2007 10:19AM
Druid
10-22 Full Resto
23-60 Resto/Feral
Then I tried tree, then back to Resto/Feral
60-68 Full Feral
68-70 Balance/Resto
Acceptable Risk Feb 21st 2007 10:31AM
I've respecced and paid for it once when going from a leveling to endgame build. Then I used the free talent refund from 2.0 to spec to a new tree. I suspect I'll respec once more when I hit 70.
Michael Feb 21st 2007 4:14PM
1-60 Hybrid Warrior, mostly Arms
60 Protection
60 Arms/Protection 31/5/15
60 Protection/Fury 0/20/31
60 DW Fury 10/31/10 (roughly)
60 Arms/Protection 31/5/15
2.0 60 Protection
2.0 60 Protection (respec due to low rage from prior build)
TBC 60-69.5 Arms/Protection
69.5 (yesterday) Tank 12/5/44
I have few complaints. The warrior trees force you to make some really tough decisions. Being a Tank means zero PVP. Full Tank means its a grind to grind. We are so gimp untill we get the right gear. On the other hand I get to smash things :)
Strongmark on Arthas Feb 21st 2007 10:57AM
I have been thinking of switching my talents recently. When I started this character, I didn't fully understand the talent tree, nor did I know what I wanted to do with my warrior. I am starting to finally see what direction he is going in and how I like to play him, so I will be respeccing very shortly. I am hoping it won't cost me too much, but I honestly have never changed them except for when they were reset in the last two months.
Deusirae Feb 21st 2007 11:45AM
Started Ret Spec and stayed with it all the way. Will continue to remain Ret. I have re-talented in order to fix the Holy points I spent, but I've only done it twice (once pre-BC and once after).
My Warlock will respec after I get her to 41 available points. My Rogue has never paid to respec, but I have changed her up a little into Combat and love it. Druid was Feral when I started and I am glad that I kept him that way.
You can probably see the pattern here. I chose a tree and stick to it. I work with what I can in a tree and make my character the best that I can with those specs. I will always plan out my build on a Talent Calculator before I even touch a button. I do realize that, like with my Warlock, you may want to go so far in on tree and then switch over after you have new talents available to you.
metaphyzxx Feb 21st 2007 2:33PM
I tossed points around poorly when I first started (I was one of the launch w/o beta noobs), So I was well into my 20's before I learned to have a purpose to specc'ing my priest. Then went shadow. Then went holy, then went back shadow (took too long to kill anything). Back holy as I got near 60 (pre-bc). In the interim, there was the occasional botched point assignment, requiring respecs
I actually had to borrow $$ from my guild at one point to respec. I make it a point to pay it forward from there...
Gridneo Feb 21st 2007 12:04PM
Um... Change My Talents? You're Kidding Right?
I was forced to redo mine twice--2.0 and Druid Patch--I still don't know/think I've ever used that first initial free respec? Or is there such a thing? What happened to planning out a character? It's not that difficult. I've been satisfied, and my guild let me raid Feral Tier1/2...