Skill tree specialize??Follow

Sorry if this has been covered somewhere else or even if its a nonsense question (ie I have no clue what Im talkin about hehe) but Ive read on the WoW druid message boards (yeah not exactly the best place to get true info I know) and people were talking about the skill trees and specialized (druids specing in feral instead of healing) and saying that the spec system was horrid. My question is how does it work and can you change specs (or has they system been changed so that you can get all the talents or skills or whatever exactly they are called) It would help if I could play in Beta but I would have been DLing the game for 20 days to get to play and I doubt OB lasts that long (curse you county dialup). Well thats all I really wanted to know (again sorry this post is kinda random mumbling and probably doesnt make much sense since I havent played yet but I will soon hehe)

A little punctuation and a few character breaks make things much clearer, both of you.

Now, to the subject at hand. Your class has a large pallete of base abilities that every warrior, priest etc. has access to. The "skill trees" actually refers to Talents. Talent points accumulate as you level up, one per level starting with 10. You can spend them to buff your base abilities or (rarely) acquire new abilities. People were probably complaining because the effect of talents is noticeable but small. Honestly I like it that way, and Blizzard likes it because it's easy to balance.

It is possible to change where you spent your talent points. Currently, you just ask your trainer and pay a fee. We've been told the system will be different (more difficult) in retail, probably involving questing, but that's all we know now.

There's a noticeable difference if you spend enough points. However, it's fair to say most groups won't notice where you spent your talent points. Unless you use an ability unique to one tree or another, the primary thing people will notice is how well you do your job; while talents help at doing your job, they don't dictate it.

Let's take one of my favorite spells, Earth Shock, as an example. As a shaman, I use Earth Shock to interrupt enemy spellcasters, so I rely on having it available quickly. Thing is, the spell is on a 6-second recast timer (along with all Shaman shocks). I can pay talent points to reduce the cooldown timer on my shocks by a full second (a long time in WoW). Will my group notice this 5-talent point investment? Almost certainly not. But *I* will notice it, because I'll be able to survive situations that would kill me otherwise. By the same token, the group probably won't notice that I spent points on reducing my shock timers, but they'll notice that I off-tanked the spellcaster add while they dogpiled his buddy.

Talents don't majorly change the face of the game. They do provide those little extra edges that can mean the difference between life and death in questionable circumstances.