World of Warcraft Cataclysm: New Talent Trees

The new talent trees are one of the most major changes introduced by Blizzard in preparation for the Cataclysm expansion.

From a recent patch, Blizzard have introduced a number of major changes as players await the latest expansion, Cataclysm, due to be released in December. One of the most major changes is the alterations to talent trees, spells and abilities.

New Talent Trees

The new talent trees show a player what different roles their character can fulfill by giving an overview of the talents and showing their specific mastery talent. The most major change is that the number of talent points a player receives whilst leveling has been greatly reduced. A player will get their first talent point at level 10 as before and then every other level until 80, at levels players don't get a talent point there will be new abilities to learn.

Choosing a Specification

Another major change to talent trees and points is that a player must select their class role as soon as they get their first talent point. Some players would have a mix of talent points, Death Knights could be mainly Blood spec but have enough points in Unholy to have a permanent ghoul minion for example. Now the majority of the player's talent points have to go into one spec, a player needs to put 31 talent points into one spec before they can put them in another spec. This means players take on a class role early in the game, which can always be changed by unlearning talent points and putting them into a different spec.

Spells and Abilities

Some classes have lost spells and gained different ones, and the major reduction of the talent points available has allowed players to have almost every spell in a specific spec. 

These talent tree changes are the biggest made in this area by Blizzard and will take some getting used to for long-time players.