Wow Talent Calc For All Patches
Yeah but so was SM/Ruin until Naxx40 gear then sac a succy with DS/Ruin. Cookie cutters emerged almost immediately, especially after the vanilla patch by patch class revamps. Or even worse the hybrid classes that were only viable in one spec (ask your vanilla raiders where DPS warriors, Tank druids, and DPS priests were for example).
Nostalgia just hit me. I just found this site who has the talent calculator for the beta version of WoW. The same model was also used in patch 1.0 and further on. A subreddit about the video game World of Warcraft. Chat /r/wow Discord. Vanilla Talent Calculator. Especially after the vanilla patch by patch class revamps.
I prefer the modern system to be honest, the cookie cutter specs were the go-to from the second someone sat down and figured them out and any 'variation' was just being suboptimal. I remember there was an article on WoW Insider a while back calling TBC the 'golden age' of hybrid specs. People seem to forget that while it was technically true that you could create unique specs across all three tiers, the reality of being a competitive raider precluded doing so. For example, if you wanted to raid in TBC as a warlock your best option was to spec far enough into Demo to get DSac than put the rest in Destruction. If you applied to a raid with any deviation from this, your chances of getting a spot were significantly reduced. EDIT: Found. Pretty sure hybrid in this case would preclude Warlocks from even being mentioned.
Retribution Paladin
Shaman, Druid, Priest, Paladin and maybe Warriors were 'hybrids'. They could all fill more than 1 role in a raid, but you rarely had more than 1 of the 'off-spec's'. I didn't read the article you are potentially referencing but I really don't think TBC was the hybrids golden age. Back then everyone was worried about the hybrid dps tax, and only took the non healing specs because of a specific raid buff or debuff. Certainly compared to Vanilla it was a big step up for hybrids. Still far from the breadth of choice you have today.
I think he was getting at hybrid specs, eseentially your non-cookie cutters not the hybrid classes in general. A hunter with a smattering of Surv/MM/BM would have been considered a hybrid (or bad if i was doing the recruiting) spec.
Hybrids in the sense of multi-role players have never had it better than they do in MoP in my opinion. The skill cap on some (kitty druid for example) can be astoundingly high, but they don't really feel like jacks of all trades or something I would be adverse to outside of a buff for my raid comp. This was fixed both my shortening the hybrid tax and expanding buff parity/availability. I know in cata I was not shying from feral kitties, boomkins, dps shammys, etc. But he was discussing/referencing that back in the day a non-specialized/optimal spec was often passed off as a 'hybrid spec'.
Let's link this thread at anyone who whines about bringing Vanilla raiding back. I would not inflict these talent trees on anyone. Did they bring out the BC talents a few months before BC?
Because I don't even remember these trees and I had an orc hunter at 40 when BC came out and I know I wasn't one of those noobs that didn't even realize we had talents (was still a noob though.) I do remember looking at trees on my paladin as well (he was 35) and picking holy because 'holy shock looked like good dps ability' lol. Also thought I saw Avenger's Shield but maybe that was after BC came out.
There have been quite a few patches that tweaked talents; including some complete redesigns of certain class-trees. The official site has the original patch notes: Warrior + Warlock Hunter Druid Paladin Priest Mage + Shaman Rogues I might have missed some in there too. Wow.Hunters really DID have Lacerate.
Actually,looking at Surv tree back then,imho it was kinda possible for melee hunters to do.some dps. I was looking at that too. The Survival tree was a melee tree. I'm actually checking out how the Survival tree is a big contradiction. It was a melee and trap tree.
Isn't the biggest point of traps is to gain distance from your target? No need for that when you are meleeing. 'Twas a survivability tree, as the name implies.
Marksmanship
You need to be able to defend yourself when people get up close and personal and you need to utilize your traps. Don't bother trying to get the old trees to make sense, heh.:-P. I vaguely remember Precision in the paladin prot tree.
And after looking at it I really think Blizzard wanted Shamans to tank, but scrapped the idea without fixing the talents. Taken from Blizzard's own: 'While they do not excel at any one aspect of their repertoire, they function passing well when performing most tasks called upon by a party.
Need a support healer? Looking for a secondary tank? After another damage-dealer? Have an empty slot that needs someone to support the group in general? The Shaman can provide.'
Balance Druid
And that's still up right now. I vaguely remember Precision in the paladin prot tree. And after looking at it I really think Blizzard wanted Shamans to tank, but scrapped the idea without fixing the talents. Taken from Blizzard's own: 'While they do not excel at any one aspect of their repertoire, they function passing well when performing most tasks called upon by a party. Need a support healer?
Looking for a secondary tank? After another damage-dealer? Have an empty slot that needs someone to support the group in general? The Shaman can provide.'
Fac simile delega. And that's still up right now. It may as well also say: 'Need someone to serve the raid Kool-aid? Do you want some wolves to pet? Do you like getting larger? The Shaman can provide.' Taken from Blizzard's own: 'While they do not excel at any one aspect of their repertoire, they function passing well when performing most tasks called upon by a party.
Need a support healer? Looking for a secondary tank? After another damage-dealer? Have an empty slot that needs someone to support the group in general? The Shaman can provide.' And that's still up right now.
I tanked quite a few instances while leveling, and have also tanked a few heroics. I think we do just fine as secondary tanks.even better once we get our mini-taunt thingamajig.