BlizzCon 2011: Screenshots of the new Pandaria talents for all classes
by Matthew Rossi 
Oct 21st 2011 at 7:52PM
If you wanted to look at the new talents that will be debuting in Mists of Pandaria, I would hope you followed our liveblog of the talent system overhaul. The short version is you get to pick 1 talent from a pool of 3 talents every 15 levels. By the time you hit the new level cap of 90, you will have 6 talents. Each set of talents does the same thing, more or less, in different ways.
Now, for your perusal, we present a class by class gallery of the new talent system as it stands today. Remember this is subject to change, alot, before Pandaria, launches.
Make no mistake, this is a significant game changer for everyone. This is the dawning of unparalleled flexibility in personal customization choice. Arms warriors with Shockwave, fury warriors with Bladestorm. This is the biggest change to the game since reforging.Now, for your perusal, we present a class by class gallery of the new talent system as it stands today. Remember this is subject to change, alot, before Pandaria, launches.
There are no tree examples for the upcoming Monk class yet. Galleries of each class's talents after the cut.
The nws is out -- we'll be playing Mists of Pandaria! Find out what's in store with an all-new talent system, peek over our shoulder at our Pandaren hands-on, and get ready to battle your companion pets against others. It's all here right at WoW Insider!Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Blizzard, News items, BlizzCon
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 7)
RetPallyJil Oct 21st 2011 7:56PM
I'm not sure how this is giving us MORE choice.
Antropine Oct 21st 2011 8:02PM
It isn't meant to give us more choice, it is meant to streamline the system. So they can balance things consistently.
Azizrael Oct 21st 2011 8:06PM
Because if they balance it right (big if, admittedly) you're picking from three equally viable options at each stage. Right now you choose Ret Pally and then there's very little room for manoeuvre.
Sunaseni Oct 21st 2011 8:07PM
Wrath system: You've got one cookie cutter spec.
Cata: You've got one cookie cutter spec. And if you're lucky, your tree has some free points to put into a few talents.
Pandaria: You've got no spec. Here's some talents. Knock yourself out.
Sacrilege Oct 21st 2011 8:15PM
I haven't looked at all the trees (like paladins, I don't play them, so I wouldn't relate to the options available) but this system DOES seem like its more customisable for people than the current system.
Lets say you were levelling a rogue. You could go Sub for the sweet Shadowstep move, but then the bottom Sub talent (Shadow Dance) seems lacklustre. Killing Spree sounds far better, but to get it you need to be Assassination and you lose Shadowstep!
Under the Pandaria talent system, you're able to pick which of the three options at each stage suits your preference. Warlocks can choose to pump up their demons or just make them expendable to power up themselves, rogues can choose whether they like a Cheat Death option or constant small heals as they dps, and so forth.
Noyou Oct 21st 2011 8:29PM
This is too early to say anything definitive, but it feels like we are getting 11 new classes.
Socialcockroach Oct 21st 2011 8:24PM
Actually, it really does give us more choices. Before, you had your talent points but only a few could be moved around, depending on your specialization. Sure you could choose different talents in your given tree, and a handful of another, but many were still pretty mandatory and only give the illusion of choice. Now there is no such thing as a "spec" as we know it currently. Instead, you choose out of those three options which you feel fits your play style best. You want to be a warlock who has extra powerful demons but also has a lot of life leach? Easy... just pick the talents that support that. This will mean that each individual player could be quite a bit different than another.
Snuzzle Oct 21st 2011 8:25PM
It needs a lot more work, that's for sure, but if you look at a lot of the pure classes' talents that's the feeling you should get from all of them. "Wow, should I take Awesome Talent or Equally Awesome Talent?"
Right now, it seems like they have a lot of kinks to work out with hybrid classes. For example, in the druid tree I can see a lot of "This is a resto talent. This is a tank talent. This is a DPS talent." That is what they want to get away from.
thepiratester Oct 21st 2011 8:41PM
jumping the shark
when your favorite show starts to flag and go downhill, as when Fonzie jumped the shark on water-skis. We all knew that Happy Days was on its way down then.
< insert Blizz >
loop_not_defined Oct 21st 2011 8:42PM
@Sunaseni
You still get specs. The talent system now operates separately from specs.
Drakkenfyre Oct 21st 2011 8:45PM
It's looking a whole lot like the Diablo 3 talent trees.
I am not liking it. In the Mage tree you eventually choose between Dragon's Breath and Blastwave.
Let me repeat that. Two spells you used to get for being Fire now you have to choose one, and can never get both of them.
I am sure other things will be like that.
Frankly, I am sick of Talent tree redesigns. I understand it's hard to balance, and the stripping-down of Cataclysm was a good thing, but every time we get an expansion, it's "here's another version of the talent trees!", and the entire system is redone. By the next expansion, it's going to be the same thing. "We identified problems with the current one, and we're redoing it. No cookie-cutter talents this time, we promise." Give it up, I am sorry to say, but there is no way to keep from having cookie-cutter talents. Something is always going to be better than something else, and unless you get to the point where all choices are equally bland, it's going to be picked. Stop trying to fight the system, and just go with it. I would rather have cookie-cutter builds being most popular than a never-ending redesign of talent trees.
Sunaseni Oct 21st 2011 9:01PM
"Let me repeat that. Two spells you used to get for being Fire now you have to choose one, and can never get both of them."
But on the other hand, Drak, you can get Cauterize as Arcane/Frost, as well as Presence of Mind as Fire. Remember 3-minute mages? They're back. In Pog form.
loop_not_defined Oct 21st 2011 9:04PM
We still don't know what abilities the specs will bring by default. Blizzard will have to add new stuff to the specs...looking at Warriors, they've pulled a *lot* of the talents directly from existing specs.
Suzaku Oct 21st 2011 9:05PM
Sunaseni: Actually, you still have specs (Druids even have four specs now).
Specializations and Talents are now two different things, they even have their own tabs on the interface. You still pick a spec and get unique abilities for it, they're just no longer tied to talent points. Some of the old talent abilities have been made baseline for the class, others can only be trained by certain specs.
Pretty much all the interesting talents are still around. It's just that a lot of them are obtained via "leveling and training", instead of spending points in a specific tree. And then there's the new "themed tiers" of talents in addition to those, that let you choose from one of three abilities (linked by a theme) every 15 levels.
loop_not_defined Oct 21st 2011 9:18PM
I'm honestly glad they're doing this.
At the end of Wrath, talent bloat was a real thing that needed to be dealt with. So Blizzard introduced the Cata system...which was just as susceptible to talent bloat as the previous version. Give it another expansion or two, and we'd be right back in the boat.
This new system might actually resolve a lot of these problems, and the fact that it's bringing back some hybridization is just icing on the cake.
Minstrel Oct 21st 2011 9:23PM
@Drakkenfyre
"Give it up, I am sorry to say, but there is no way to keep from having cookie-cutter talents. Something is always going to be better than something else, and unless you get to the point where all choices are equally bland, it's going to be picked."
I think you're presenting a false choice, that either there must be an optimal choice or else everything must be "equally bland." We can dispel that notion immediately by looking at the class system...is their an optimal class or are all the classes "equally bland?" Perhaps you or someone else DOES feel all the classes are bland, but it's successful because most people feel that they all have enough vitality (and they are all equal *enough*) that your choice of class comes down to play style, not selecting the one theory-crafting has deemed optimal.
Talents *could* be the same way. Is it hard to equalize talents? I'm sure it is. But they *could* be equal and awesome...they don't have to be bland to be equally powered.
Skyrei Oct 21st 2011 10:10PM
Personally, I love change.
I love the feeling when something ive been doing for years feels new again, and blizzard i think is great at doing that and, i like the new talent tree design for this reason, and how it will allow me to get things in combination with other things that wouldn't have been possible before.
However, i do not like how simple it is, Its too simple... it makes me think if i were to go to 'Interface' in WoWs menu there would be a new category called 'talents' and on the right there would be a check box labeled "Beginner Talents" and and checking it changes our current talent tree into this one. That's what it feels like.. at least to me
Jack Mynock Oct 21st 2011 10:49PM
@Drak
Is it really that hard to readjust to new talents once every couple of years? Keep in mind that these trees or even the whole system is subject to change over the next several months to a year. The big Cata talent revamp wasn't even decided on or revealed until pretty late in the development cycle, so I wouldn't get too worked up on day one.
This new system might be the end of the cookie-cutter spec, at least as we know it. I see a lot of changing talents to suit each particular encounter, so there may an optimal spec for each fight. Can you call it 'cookie-cutter' at that point? This all assumes they don't change their mind about letting us change talents on the fly.
@Ret
In the current system you have talent points which are basically required to perform well, and these make up most of the trees. Most specs don't have more than a few discretionary points. Plus, those points have only a handful of places where they be spent. The new system gives you six points that can each be spent in one of three places. This is obviously far more choices.
loop_not_defined Oct 21st 2011 10:57PM
@Jack
I might be misunderstanding you, but Blizzard said these new customizable talents would probably be like glyphs, where you can change them while out-and-about, but not in combat. So no more running back to town to respec (at least atm). :)
thedoctor2031 Oct 22nd 2011 1:05AM
It really does seem to add more choice to the matter on a fight-by-fight basis. Okay, yes, one selection of talent trees is probably going to be much better than another for a particular fight while fulfilling an individual role. But another thing is, how do you know that raiding will be similar to it's current form? It might be a lot more involved than just killing the boss and avoiding the avoidable, healing through what isn't.
Today as a MM hunter, I could tell you 36 talents they picked if they do decent dps. Possibly more. You might respec slightly for a certain mechanic on a certain fight but for the majority of the time, your spec is very static. But with this new system, I might think, hmm, is there a lot of movement and I won't be able to hardcast aim shot as much? That means I will be doing more arcane shot focus dumping, better spec into Venom Tipped as I won't be needing extra focus. Is there a spell I need to interrupt or is there an add I need to stun? Silence shot or intimidation, boom done. I'm in a PvP situation, do I want a heal after disengage, a mini-deterrence, or a speed boost? All have value, it just depends on how you play.
With recent expansions, I saw talents as pretty much forced on you to be competitive. You picked a talent tree, not your individual talents. And even then, one spec was always a lot better than another and so you always picked it. All good players of your class did the same thing. Now I feel like I have a choice based on what I want to do or based on how I play. I won't necessarily suffer a dps loss because I made a choice others might not make.
It still needs some testing to figure out just how everything works. Even with this model, we might get some general cookie cutter talent picks but at least you have MORE choice than before.