Sunday, April 21, 2013

Fourth Spec - An Intriguing Possibility

While Cataclysm dramatically changed the way that the talent system worked, it was Mists of Pandaria that truly took a wrecking ball and built up something new. If you're a very new player, you might not know how the old system worked. Talents were very different. There were far more of them (most of them passive effects,) many had multiple ranks, for you to invest multiple points into them, and all talents were considered part of a particular talent tree. Essentially, you had three big trees (corresponding to each spec.) Every level (or in Cataclysm, every other level) you would get a new talent point to invest in the various talents in the tree. The more points you put into a particular tree, the more talents would become available there, so in order to get the spec-defining talents, one had to invest the majority of their points into the corresponding tree.

Back then, Druids had only three specs: Balance, Feral, and Restoration. Both tanks and melee dps would go into Feral. The only thing that differentiated the two was on which talents within the Feral tree one spent their points. For instance, a Bear druid would invest in talents that granted dodge and armor, while a Cat druid would invest in things that increased damage done.

With the Mists redesign, it would be impossible to have Feral druids distinguish themselves as tanks or dps. So rather than simply making Feral Druids equally capable tanks and melee dps, they simply put together a new spec, recreating the Feral Tank spec and renaming it Guardian.

However, this fourth spec for Druids has been the inspiration for much speculation and wishful thinking. Why could the other classes not have a fourth spec?

Introducing new specs to existing classes would be an interesting challenge. On one hand, creating a new class from scratch requires a great deal of iteration and development - not only to figure out the basic mechanics and then to differentiate three specs from that basic design, but also to figure out the lore and aesthetic of the class. By sticking to existing classes, you would still be able to keep them looking like the classes you already made, but just find a different way for them to embody that look.

On the other hand, giving a new spec to all the existing classes (save Druids, probably, who got there first and frankly don't really have much of a new place to go - they have all the bases covered) would mean far more new specs than the three that would come with a new class. Additionally, while there are some classes just begging for a new spec (Death Knights could get a ranged caster spec) others might need some serious thought (Monks, for example.)

Still, if Blizzard could pull this off, it would be quite cool, and possibly shake things up in a really fun way. So without further ado, let's speculate! (Wait, one more ado. I'm going to limit myself to a single new spec per class, just to keep this from becoming a George R. R. Martin-sized saga. I'm sure there are some ideas that would be good - such as Rogue Tanks - that I won't be able to touch on.)

Priests:

Exorcist - a Holy Damage caster spec, Exorcists would be more about direct damage than Shadow, but might have a mirror-image version of Shadow's Orbs. There are a bunch of abilities that are only really used by healers with Atonement that could easily be repurposed as the central nukes of the Exorcist spec, like Smite and Holy Fire.

Mage:

Battlemage - an intellect-based melee spec, Battlemages would have a passive armor buff and would still mostly be casting spells, but they would be instant-cast and they would have a SP to AP conversion passive, similar to what Mistweavers have, I believe.

Warlock:

Demon Hunter - I know, I know, I'd rather have a fully-fledged Demon Hunter class, but barring that, a Demon Hunter spec could take the idea of Dark Apotheosis and run with it, making it a fully-functional tank spec. Demon Hunter could gain useful bonuses from their pets similarly to how a Brewmaster has the Ox statue. Void Walkers could grant protective abilities or Imps might help round up adds.

Druid:

Don't need one, they already have Guardians.

Rogue:

Shadow Hunter - I know, lots of "something Hunters," but bear with me. Shadow Hunters would use ranged weapons, but still function similarly to melee rogues, using various CP-builders and finishing moves. The distinction would be a greater use of Shadow abilities, perhaps using their distance to dip in and out of Stealth easily (though that does kind of tread on Subtlety's turf.)

Monk:

Lorewalker - some kind of ranged caster spec. The aesthetic here is actually the easy part, as you could use the Red Crane as your main motif. Lorewalkers would have a fast-paced rotation.

Hunter:

Warden - Wardens would gain many melee abilities, attacking with their polearm or staff.

Shaman:

Primal - a tanking spec, using a lot of pre-existing abilities that Shamans already have, like Rockbiter weapon, and using shields (not sure how we'd deal with the fact that tanking shields have strength on them.)

Warrior:

Commander - a spec that involved humanoid pets or something... I don't really know. One could do a ranged warrior spec, but most of the bases are covered here already.

Paladin

Authority - a ranged spec using intellect plate. Much of the groundwork has been laid in Holy's damage abilities.

Death Knight

Necromancy - I realize that Death Knights' aesthetic is totally built around their three spec, and that Unholy is already the pet-centric spec, but you could have a ranged caster spec (again, using that pesky spellpower plate) that focuses on summoning multiple types of undead - perhaps sharing Unholy's permanent ghoul, but mixing in skeletal warriors that would be temporary and perhaps bringing forth a bunch of banshees as well - essentially, it would be the spec that has constantly got an army of the undead around them.

This could be a nice complement to new character models if that's what we get in the next expansion. As I've never designed a video game before, I can't really say how difficult it would be to implement a fourth spec across the board. Nonetheless, it could be great fun.

No comments:

Post a Comment