All characters to receive free respecs in patch 3.1
by Alex Ziebart 
Mar 23rd 2009 at 4:00PM
This may seem obvious considering how many changes are coming with patch 3.1, but we've been asked the question enough that I'm glad to finally see a confirmation on it: Yes, characters of every class will have their talent points refunded when patch 3.1 hits, Ghostcrawler says.Reading further into his comments, however, it looks like the amount of changes happening to the talent trees may not be the reason for the free respecs, but rather the result of it. The free respec actually seems to be something that was necessary when implementing Dual Specs, and they went ahead and did some extra fixing and cleaning because of that.
That sort of makes sense, in the past it seems like they've mostly tried to target a few classes at a time rather than making heavy changes to all of them all at once. Patch 3.1 has hefty changes for every single class, and I don't remember very many content patches that had such widespread class changes. One way or another we would all need to respec after dual specs went in, so they saw an opportunity to make some additional changes and they took it. I'm okay with that.
Filed under: Patches, Analysis / Opinion
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
Joe Mar 23rd 2009 4:09PM
I'm glad they are giving all classes a free bee; besides, we can test the 'are you sure' option out.
Now, off to check out the talent builders for my two specs!
Thanks for the info gang :D
Murdax Mar 23rd 2009 4:14PM
Well I kinda expected the talent refund but what about the glyphs are they going to reset those as well and make persons rebuy them.
Kemikalkadet Mar 23rd 2009 4:23PM
Why would they?
Bigpappapump Mar 23rd 2009 4:15PM
What about all the gold spent learning talents from my trainer that are being done away with. Will there be a refund for that?
Im a DK were getting many deletions
elvendude Mar 23rd 2009 5:41PM
Skills that you've already trained are still trained. When you respec into it, you get back all the levels of it you've trained in the past.
Now, if I skill is being deleted from the game completely, I think you're just out of luck.
Jason Mar 23rd 2009 4:25PM
I doubt they will refund/remove the glyphs you are using. What if you want to continue using them? You don't want to have to re-buy them.
Bigpappapump Mar 23rd 2009 4:47PM
Alot of talents and glyphs are going away so you cant continue to use them
jerzz80 Mar 23rd 2009 4:31PM
ZZZZZzzzzzzz.............
Free respecs? Really? wow.......
The respec Tax is the saddest thing in WOW today. They tax you a sizeable amount of gold to rebuild your talent tree. So, instead of havign a systam where players are more free to test hings out and learn and grow, we have a system where you better look up the Cookie cutter specs cause it will cost you a Tax for not getting it right.
Boooo Blizzz BOOOOOOO
Vassal Mar 23rd 2009 4:54PM
It's a way to keep prices from inflating.
Well, that didn't work out so well.
Eternauta Mar 23rd 2009 5:48PM
@ Vassal
Inflation doesn't exist in WoW.
Aladek Mar 23rd 2009 6:03PM
@ Eternauta
That's because Bliz has so many gold dumps.
But here's an example for ya, on a new server a stack of ore might cost 25s, but once everyone gets to level 80, that same stack of ore might be closer to 1g. That would be inflation. the availability of gold has increased, so have the prices. It just isn't implemented by NPCs.
Fiery Mar 23rd 2009 4:48PM
Do Mages really need a free re spec.
Theres been what...small changes to 3 talents?
Random_Tangent Mar 23rd 2009 5:02PM
If you read the article, you'd know that the talent reset was necessary in order to implement the Dual Spec system.
Coik Mar 23rd 2009 5:34PM
Well, considering that every TtW/Fire and FFB mage is going to have three more talent points to spend, it's a nice gesture. :)
Paugu Mar 23rd 2009 5:03PM
They implimented this for a just cause. I love it, since I specced WRONG the first time I went on PTR, there were new changes I liked, and disliked. All in all, it's a very good thig to put this in, especially for the 1-70 charecters, they need to switch from DPS to Tank, Tank to Heal or Heal to DPS a lot.
Sunny Mar 23rd 2009 5:27PM
Anyone know if this counts for frozen accounts too? I assume it would but you never know for sure... I'm taking a break from the game and I'm not sure if I'll be back before or after 3.1 hits.
elvendude Mar 23rd 2009 5:46PM
In the past, global talent resets have affected everyone. So, a character exists, they should have their talents reset.
(If I were Bliz, I would probably just delete the folder that has everyone's talents saved. =)
Muoteck Mar 23rd 2009 5:47PM
Yes, frozen accounts get free respec as well.
yokumgang Mar 23rd 2009 6:00PM
"Patch 3.1 has hefty changes for every single class"
Mhm. Look at the list of DK changes.
Now look at the list of Mage changes.
Mhhhhhhhm.
elvendude Mar 23rd 2009 6:03PM
Brand-new, still being balanced and tweaked class versus a class that's been around for four years and has been tweaked a number of times? Yeah.