The cost of reseting your talent choices while leveling in World of Warcraft: Forever has been a hot topic since the launch last week. But not everyone is one the same side of the argument, with some thinking the initial cost of 1 Gold is too high, and others arguing that it’s making players commit to their choices.
The Argument: The High Cost Is Limiting Player Experimentation
With the initial respec cost at 1 gold in WoW Forever, and incrementally increasing to a max of 50 gold, many players have taken to the WoW forums and Reddit to express their frustration. The common thread is that the high cost (especially at lower levels) is limiting their ability and desire to experiment with different talent builds.
In response to the above thread, Reddit user Infamous-Solution781 laid out their concerns with the current respec cost:
- It punishes people who want to experiment, rather than look up guides.
- No option to tweak your build to overcome challenging content that you’re struggling with.
- It punishes people who make mistakes when choosing talents.
- It punishes people who want to explore separate roles in their class.
- It locks players into their specialization, rather then their whole class.
Another user agreed and chimed in:
Players have also taken to the official WoW forums to share their issues with the system. The forum user Azers said: “1g for initial respec? Touting all the cool new features and abilities but severely limiting a players ability to access these for leveling is a huge miss.”
The Proposed Solutions
It wasn’t all complaints however, as many users had their own ideas for how Blizzard could change the system. Some thought it should be free, another suggested a “free respec coupon every 10 levels”. One user suggested that it could be tied to character level, and increase as you reach higher levels:
Most of these solutions are specifically targeting the discomfort of respeccing while leveling, as gold is much more scarce at lower levels.
The Counter Argument
Of course, not everyone agrees that the cost is too high. In these same threads, many players came to the defense of the cost, saying that while 1 gold feels very high at level 10 or even at level 20, there is very little reason to actually respec at levels that low. Druids with 10 points in the Feral tree can still heal the Deadmines, as user NogerDEnO put it:
Many other users said that the friction involved in changing your spec actually requires you to improve at the game. If you’ve made sub-optimal choices, you’ll have to adapt your gameplay to still overcome challenging content. Keeping the friction also incentivizes players to learn more about their class, read their talents and engage in the community to learn from others.
One user highlighted how something feeling right and actually being right isn’t the same thing:
Promote Player Agency or Reward Player Skill?
In the end, the two sides disagree on the fundamentals of what the game is supposed deliver. Should the game:
- Allow players the agency to adapt their gameplay whenever they see fit, OR
- Reward player skill, either by choosing the “right” talents or force them to improve when their talent choices are limiting them.
The introduction of dual spec will already alleviate the pressure of wanting to play two different roles, but for now the friction will remain when wanting to change your talents. Blizzard has been very responsive to community feedback before, so if you feel strongly in either direction about this topic, get online and share your opinions!
