A literally talentless player
by Mike Schramm 
Jan 7th 2008 at 5:30PM
This guy is either a clueless newb or an obvious troll (I lean towards a bit of trolling-- it's too perfectly designed to provoke a response), but either way, he claims that he didn't just forget to use his talents, he actively chose not to. That's right-- he claims he can go all the way to 70 without using talents at all.Even if he is kidding (and he must be, right? the talents you choose are based on your own "skill and merits"), what would that be like? Could you imagine going to 70 without Nature's Swiftness or Vampiric Embrace or Tactical Mastery? I guess it's possible, but unless you just wanted to prove you could do it (hey, people have done crazier things), how hard would the game really be without talents? By definition, no talent is necessary for the core gameplay-- the whole point of having three trees is that you can go without the other two you don't choose. But is it possible to build a viable character using no talents at all?
Troll away, talentless player. But thanks for making me consider something I'd never thought of before: just how much do the talents you choose govern your gameplay? And if you didn't have any of the talents that you have, how much would your game player differ, or suffer?
Filed under: Rogue, Analysis / Opinion, Fan stuff, Talents
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Matthew Jan 7th 2008 5:35PM
Yeah, this is a pretty obvious troll. So I guess this guy is reading this post and exulting now...
Robert H Jan 7th 2008 5:44PM
Or crying because nobody can see his trolling due to the armory maintenance :)
Kesh Jan 7th 2008 5:42PM
Talents do affect gameplay, in that a particular selection will favor a certain style of play. Drain-tanking on a Warlock, for instance, requires a certain set of talents to be viable.
That said, yeah, he's just trolling. Even if he did make it to 70 without talents, he's obviously trying to get a rise out of folks for the sheer fun of it.
Zhalseran Jan 7th 2008 5:44PM
It wouldn't be that hard. If anyone has ever tried doing something they aren't specced for, then it would be the same way, except for all 3 trees. So next time your online pretend your feral druid is balance or that your enhancement shammy is elemental. With the right gear its not hard at all.
Chris Anthony Jan 7th 2008 5:47PM
I don't think I'd want to do it, but it's pretty absurd to ask whether it can be done: of course it can be done. The mere existence of different specs demonstrates that no single talent is necessary to make it to 70.
-Chris A.
http://www.etherjammer.com/blog/
maxbliss Jan 7th 2008 6:36PM
This one time, I did not realize that my shaman had gotten a free respec from Blizzard. I played nearly a week with zero talents.
Did quite well too. Finally dinged and lo, I had all these points to spend.
Talents are a way to customize your abilities, not a requirement for advancement.
Mainman Jan 7th 2008 5:54PM
This would be pretty doable with a Paladin, playing in the Retribution leveling style. You'd only have to sacrifice a couple of abilities/auras, and it would take a bit longer to solo a mob, but it's definitely a reasonable idea.
Then again, it's not an achievement that can be tracked very easily (If at all). Any old 70 character could pay for a respec, not spend any talent points, and claim to have done that same thing. Only the person playing in this way could guarantee they'd do it honestly (short of a group of people monitoring their Armoury profile around the clock).
Seopthi Jan 7th 2008 6:00PM
Before BC a friend of mine didnt know that there are more talent trees,,so he had all his talents at arms tree:)
Calybos Jan 8th 2008 8:16AM
I don't know, I think it's an interesting idea. Maybe some players aren't that interested in calculating percentages and leveraging for max efficiency--or maybe he's played so much he's gotten jaded and wants a challenge or change of pace.
I can tell you from doing computer documentation: If the system allows for it, someone's gonna try it eventually.
shoan Jan 7th 2008 6:03PM
I went to like lvl 40 with out using talents and when i hit my unstable affliction on my lock I stopped speccing for lack of knowing what i want to spec so I can see this very easily. This game really is not that hard to play with out talents. And Im not trying to be a troll. Its just not that bad not using talent points. I even find my self going 6 levels sometimes before i even go and train my skills. It can be quite fun to turn up the difficulty on the game at times.
Hayze Jan 7th 2008 6:14PM
For the record, a friend of mine did level a priest to 41 with no talents at all. I don't know if he wasn't aware they existed or what, but he hadn't spent a single point.
PeeWee Jan 7th 2008 6:18PM
*yawn*
Been done before. Gutrot was the first (to my knowledge) to do a seriously gimped 1-70 run. Everyone else is just lame excuses to get attention.
Green Armadillo Jan 7th 2008 7:16PM
Seriously, if a naked warrior can get to 70 with no weapon skill points to prove it, it's pretty safe to say that just about anything is possible.
ailyak Feb 12th 2008 10:51AM
Hayze said...
For the record, a friend of mine did level a priest to 41 with no talents at all. I don't know if he wasn't aware they existed or what, but he hadn't spent a single point.
This sounds like me. I came back to playing my alliance 60s after BC came out and couldn't for the life of me understand why it was so different on the alliance side. Took me far too many levels to realize that certain classes had had their talents points returned to be sepnt for free.
/blush
Krick Jan 7th 2008 6:56PM
I ran Shadow Lab the other night with a shaman who had all 61 talent points in Restoration. I've never seen a player with every single talent point spent in a single tree before. Is this a common build for a Resto Shaman?
...
Krick
http://www.tankadin.com
Ezzy Jan 7th 2008 7:10PM
If you are a raiding Resto Shaman it usually is 0/5/56, but it isnt unheard of to have 61 points in the tree. If you pvp then it can vary depending on play-style.
Ngnsewa Jan 7th 2008 6:32PM
I have a rogue alt that I play rarely. On one such occasion I was having lots of trouble killing anything. Despite there being a large break from the last I 'rogued' I know there was a problem.
Took me a while to remember a recent patch had reset all rogue talent points O_o
It makes a huge difference, but if you were 'dedicated' enough you could lvl without.
CauthonDM Jan 7th 2008 7:20PM
It would be perfectly possible to level without spending any talent points. It would just take a bit longer, but would be no different to me levelling my druid 1-70 full resto.
I also sat around at 70 for a few months with 12 unspent talent points, although admittedly that was following a respec after I'd levelled. I just didn't have any real use for the extra points at the time, although rest assured that I've since used them up.
Thorgrim Jan 7th 2008 8:29PM
As far as full specs go, it also isn't hugely unusual to see 0/0/61 frost mages and 0/0/61 resto druids.
dakotareese Jan 7th 2008 9:12PM
How is this different than Naked Hunter- a feat that was highly praised on this very blog?