talent-calculator
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Borderlands 2 skill tree calculator now online
Posting about skill tree/talent calculators is really more of a Massively jam, what with such things typically being the fare of massively multiplayer online orc/spaceship simulators and everything, but in Borderlands 2's case, we'll have to make an exception.Calculators like the one seen above are now available on the game's official site via each character's individual page, which can be accessed by surmounting the age gate and clicking on "Characters." We went ahead and spec'd out our siren, and we don't mean to brag or anything but that build up there is 100 percent guaranteed to be the most efficient, powerful build for the class.Either that, or we randomly slapped it together in about 12 seconds.
Mists of Pandaria says bye-bye to cookie-cutter builds
I had no idea that talents existed in vanilla WoW. I wasn't really stupid -- I just didn't know what talents were or that they were something I should be getting. I expect they were detailed somewhere in the instruction booklet that I didn't bother reading before I started running around Azeroth. I was finally clued in to their existence around level 40 or so on my first character, when a friend asked what spec I was putting points into. My blank "... points?" response garnered an immediate lesson on talent trees. Talents received a massive overhaul between Wrath and Cataclysm, one that saw a vast majority of talents culled and the trees themselves shortened considerably. It took a little time to get used to the changes, but in the end, the changing of talents wasn't really as huge a deal as I thought it'd be. Choosing talents on a character is still just as easy as it used to be. Don't worry so much about what you pick while you're leveling, and when you reach 85, you'll find plenty of sites online that will tell you the best stuff to grab at max level and why. Which is sort of the problem, isn't it?
Mists of Pandaria: Monk talents revealed
Our friends over at WoWHead have compiled a working talent calculator with the monk talents. While one talent is missing (and is defined as "mystery talent"), it seems Blizzard is well on its way to finalizing the list of talents. Level 15 (Affects Roll) Intuition Celerity Momentum Level 30 (Affects Chi) Mystery Talent Ascendance Jiny'u Cider Level 45 (Affects crowd control) Deadly Reach Charging Ox Wave Leg Sweep Level 60 (Affects personal movement) Beguile Dematerialize Tiger's Lust Level 75 (Affects survival) Ring of Peace Rushing Jade Wind Chi Cocoon Level 90 (Damage and healing abilities) Chi Bind Chi Sphere Chi Torpedo While the talent list isn't set in stone, it's nice to at least have an idea of what types of spells and talents monks can choose. Now that the information is out, which talents do you plan on taking for your monk? Any guesses as to what the Mystery Talent might be? It's open warfare between Alliance and Horde in Mists of Pandaria, World of Warcraft's next expansion. Jump into five new levels with new talents and class mechanics, try the new monk class, and create a pandaren character to ally with either Horde or Alliance. Look for expansion basics in our Mists FAQ, or dig into our spring press event coverage for more details!
Lichborne: New Mists of Pandaria talent updates for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. As I'm sure you've heard by now, Blizzard treated us to a nice new chunk of news this past week with an update to the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator. Death knights received some new talents and new skills as well as adjustments to old ones that definitely deserve some analysis. We'll start by looking at the talent tiers, then move on to some of the new modified skills we're seeing in this build. Level 15 begins our journey with a couple pieces of very welcome news. Outbreak is back to a general class skill, once again taking its place at level 81 for all three specs. In its place for tier 1 talents is the old-school Unholy Blight, in all its AoE glory. That's right, you can once again have that awesome semi-permanent damage aura. Alas, this welcome change is accompanied by the similar removal of Corpse Explosion in favor of Vile Spew, an ability that will explode an undead minion for AoE damage and disease infection.
Mists of Pandaria talent calculator updated
The Mists of Pandaria talent calculator has received another update, according to a tweet by Community Manager Zarhym. Preliminary exploration into the calculator reveals that some new talents have been added, though we haven't gotten any details on just how many classes have been tweaked. However, Zarhym also stated that we'll see more details about these changes in a update to be posted shortly, so keep your eyes peeled. And until then, be sure to check out the talent calculator for your class, and see what the new talents have to offer! Edit: Community Manager Kaivax has posted some clarifications on the changes to the talent system. Shaman and hunters, you may not see a lot of changes on your trees just yet, as they are still being worked on. And all classes should be aware that spells or mechanics not listed may be either automatically rolled into your class or available as a glyph. Follow after the break for the full post from Kaivax.
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Talents in Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Care and Feeding of Warriors, the column dedicated to arms, fury and protection warriors. Despite repeated blows to the head from dragons, demons, Old Gods and whatever that thing over there was, Matthew Rossi will be your host. Last week, we talked about the Mists of Pandaria talent calculator and the class and spec abilities it reveals. This week, we'll be discussing the new talents and their general design philosophy. One of the design changes for Mists that I've found compelling is the removal of "idiot talents." These are the talents that you simply have to take. A protection warrior without Bastion of Defense isn't really a prot warrior; at the very least, he or she is a bad prot warrior. Now, while I applaud the intent of the talent changes, that doesn't mean I love each and every one of them. However, since it's still patch 4.3 and we won't see these talents in game until patch 5.0 at the earliest, it's hardly time to panic (or applaud, for that matter). These talents are divided into six tiers, one at each 15 levels from 15 to 90. Three talents are available at each tier, meaning that you can take any one of each three per tier for a grand total of six talents at level 90. Unlike current talent specializations, none of these talents are restricted to a role; an arms or fury warrior can take Shockwave, for instance, or a protection warrior could take Bladestorm. Oh, come on. Tell me you've never wanted to pop Bladestorm while tanking.
Lichborne: Mists of Pandaria skills for death knights
Every week, WoW Insider brings you Lichborne for blood, frost, and unholy death knights. In the post-Cataclysm era, death knights are no longer the new kids on the block. Let's show the other classes how a hero class gets things done. Hot on the heels of our analysis of the Pandaria talents, Blizzard has now released an entire talent calculator for the expansion that lists not only the talents, but the new passives and class skills everyone will be getting as well. Today, we will take a look at the new stuff that death knights get, the good, the bad, and what it says about the direction of our class as we head for patch 5.0. Since we've already discussed the talents, we'll focus mostly on the class and spec-specific skills. The first thing I figured I should do is point out the new stuff. Alas, we have yet to see a new level 87 skill. However, we did receive a new level 81 skill (likely as a replacement for Outbreak) in the form of Control Undead. Much like a Warlock's Enslave Demon, this allows the death knight to make an undead mob his pet for up to 5 minutes.
The Light and How to Swing It: Latest holy paladin preview for Mists of Pandaria
Every week, WoW Insider brings you The Light and How to Swing It for holy, protection and retribution paladins. Every Sunday, Chase Christian invites you to discuss the finer side of the paladin class: the holy specialization. Feel free to email me with any questions you want answered, like why paladins are so awesome. The official Mists of Pandaria talent calculators were released by Blizzard recently, including a list of each talent tree's abilities. By diving into the skill list and analyzing the talents, there is a lot of information available. Most of the information is old, as we learned about many of the changes at BlizzCon and in the developer question and answer sessions. It's hard to draw any concrete conclusions from the talent preview because the Blizzard team has stated that everything is still up in the air. Since the information is still in a pre-alpha state, I can guarantee you that what we're seeing today will be changed dramatically by the time Mists of Pandaria is released. While we can't make any firm predictions, we can gain some insight into the direction that holy paladins are headed, and we can offer feedback to the developers on that direction.
Raid Rx: Checking out level 90 talents
Every week, Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poohbah of World of Matticus and a founder of Plus Heal, a discussion community for healers of all experience levels and interests. Catch his weekly podcast on healing, raiding and leading, the Matticast. That new Mists of Pandaria talent calculator is out. Had a chance to look through it? You might've been alarmed at the fact that several key spells appear to be missing from the list of skills and such. Not to worry, though, since Bashiok clarified that it was still under development. Anything missing is (hopefully) unintentional. A few classes are given previews of new skills trainable past level 85. The classes that don't have their stuff created yet are presumably still being worked on.
World of Warcraft: Cataclysm Friends and Family Alpha client leaks
Despite what we presume are Blizzard's best efforts (they lasted pretty long this time!), the Friends and Family Alpha client of the upcoming World of Warcraft: Cataclysm expansion has leaked out into the world, and the forum denizens over at MMO Champion are busy digging through it for all kinds of spoilers. They've uncovered maps and screenshots for both revamped Old Azeroth zones and the new high-level dungeons, as well as pictures of the new Goblin and Worgen starting areas. Additionally, they've got information on new achievements and abilities, and the completely revamped class talent calculator now active in the alpha. Keep in mind that, as closed alpha information, none of this is official, and most of the stats are likely to change before the expansion actually releases later this year. All of this information would have come out soon anyway, as Blizzard is planning an open beta on this expansion soon (things are a little busy right now with some other testing), and is slowly releasing information officially as well. But if you want to gorge yourself on spoilers before dinner starts, head on over and feast, my children, feast! [via WoW.com]
Wowhead unveils new talent calculator
The talent calculator was Wowhead's original feature, and it's been a good friend through WoW's development. So it is with a heavy heart that I announce that Wowhead is shutting down the talent calculator. Nah, just kidding: they released an awesome new version today. The new version of the Wowhead talent calculator, in addition to looking even spiffier than usual, has a few added features: Glyphs, like the MMO-Champion calculator has had for a while (but prettier, of course) Auto-updating URL - no more need for a "link to this" button "Restore" button will reset a calculator if you got there from a link and then altered it All talents are now updated for patch 3.1, as well. The pet talent calculator has gotten the same treatment as the main talent calculator, with auto-updating URLs and a Restore button. The only thing I don't like about the new talent calculators is the way you select your class/pet family; it used to be a text list, and now it's an icon grid, which I find harder to use quickly, especially in the case of the pet calculator. But it's a small complaint.
WoW Rookie: Do you have talent(s)?
New around here? WoW Rookie points WoW's newest players to the resources they need to get acclimated. Send us a note to suggest a WoW Rookie topic.Are you a talentless n00b? It's really ok to admit it here, among friends -- you wouldn't be the first player in the world to have overlooked (or been completely befuddled by) talent points. Just take a peek at this post about a player who purposely skipped training his talent points, just to see what would happen. If you read through the comments after the post, you'll find plenty of players who missed training their talents along the way, either through not knowing that talent points existed or after becoming paralyzed by the sheer variety of choices.The talents you choose for your character can completely change the way you play the game. Your "spec" (specialization) is determined by where you've distributed your points among the three talent trees available to your class. So-called "hybrid" classes such as Druids or Paladins take on entirely different roles depending how they are specced: tanking, DPSing or healing. For other classes, spec is more of a flavor tool that determines how your character goes about doing his or her thing.
Try a Wrath of the Lich King talent spec on for size
Blizzard is making it easy for you to start planning for the launch of World of Warcraft's Wrath of the Lich King expansion. The official WoW website's talent tree calculator now represents the current WotLK build's talent trees for all classes, including the new Death Knight prestige class.You can try on all sorts of new specs taking into account the talent tree changes and new abilities coming in the expansion, which is due out later this year.The most interesting aspect to this is the ability to really explore in detail what kinds of abilities are available to the Death Knight. The information has been public for a while but if you haven't been following every single interview, it's cool to be able to go to one place and interact with what's there.
Playing with talent calculators
Now that the NDA has been lifted from the official Alpha testing, and Beta is beginning, there's some real information out there about what the various classes' talent trees might look like. Of course, anything is subject to change, but it seems as though some classes, hunters and paladins in particular, are getting a much-needed overhaul. If you'd like to play around with your could-be future talent tree, both Wowhead and MMO Champion have updated their talent calculators to reflect the information revealed from the Alpha once the NDA lifted. When you're bored with that, you can head over to the official Beta forums and surf around.
Wowhead releases Wrath talent calculators
For some of you, it may strike you as a little early to be thinking about your level 80 talent builds - especially given that Wrath is still in alpha and everything we think we know about it may change - but I say, it's never too early to theorycraft. That is why I'm pleased to report that Wowhead, having gotten a chance to play some Wrath at WWI, made talent calculators for the Wrath alpha talents, including Death Knights. Now we can play with our shiny new builds to our hearts' content. Paladins and Hunters have not had their talents implemented in the beta yet, so you won't find them there, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time. Inveterate priest fan that I am, the first thing I did when I got my hands on this was make a build for my holy priest, and this is what I came up with: 14/57/0. Yes, I'm finally excited enough about Holy to spec away from Improved Divine Spirit; Guardian Spirit just looks too good to pass up, at least in its current form. As far as my Rogue goes, it depends on how Murder Spree ends up working, but I'm thinking either 21/50/0 (Cold Blood combat, yay!) or 20/51/0. Death Knights I still can't quite get my head around, but it sure is fun to play with their talents.
AoC feats calculator released into the wilds
World of Warcraft's various talent calculating applications have always been an essential item in every player's toolbox. An empty talent tree is rife with possibilities; who do you want to be, and how might you become that awesome person? Most importantly: how much longer will you have to grind before you finally get Silencing Shot? Talent calculators helped you figure all that out.We don't doubt that a similar tool will be just as important for players of Age of Conan. Neither did Ten Ton Hammer; that's why the folks there released a fully functional feats calculator to coincide with with AoC's public launch. All the classes are there, everything seems accurate, and the interface is pretty good; it's a great tool. Go forth, fledgling barbarians, and calculate your paths to greatness!
Character planning in World of Warcraft
The building of a character in World of Warcraft can be just as painful as balancing a budget by hand without a spreadsheet. The number-crunching side of the game where you have to figure out hit ratings and mana regeneration rates and dodge percentages is something that few people can say they really enjoy. This is especially true when you are nearing the end-game in WoW and you can't just count on your fingers anymore. What if there was a tool that let you play "what if" games with your character (or your planned character) to see how different combinations of gear, talent points, gems, enchants, and even buffs would affect your character? Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, that day is here.Chardev.org is not only a fantastic web application, it also has a gorgeous user interface that is simple to use. You can either build a character from scratch or import your existing character from the Armory. Once you've made it that far, it's as simple as pointing-and-clicking to swap out gear, switch gems, redistribute talent points and add or remove buff effects. The display of thirty-five essential statistics remains fixed on the left side of your screen during most phases of editing process. At the present time, it only supports gear from level thirty and up but that's no real drawback. There are way too many customization options on this site to describe every one. You really need to experience it for yourself.The Chardev site is a dream-come-true for people who enjoy playing with numbers, but hate doing the math. Check it out!
Updates for 2.3 already rolling in
In anticipation of the patch, many addons, calculators, and the like are already being updated. Wowhead's talent calulcator, which affected the evolution of Blizz's own calculator, has been adjusted for 2.3 and is now live. While you're waiting for the servers to come back up, why don't you go ahead and play with it? If you are the type to get your legwork done ahead of time, then don't forget to check the websites for your favorite addons. Curse already has their patch 2.3 portal up, and several have already been made Tuesday-ready. Gazmik Fizzwidget has also been busy, having already posted updates for his wares. They are not only compatible with the new patch, but have had some spiffy tune-ups. Hunter's Helper has itself a new pet skills database, and AdSpace has new vendor recipes. We also say goodbye to Trackmenu, our beloved and invaluable hunter addon that Blizzard will finally be integrating into the default UI. Stay tuned for more information on updates for 2.3, as they're bound to be rolling in all week.
Patch 1.12: Rogue Talent Calculator Live
A new talent calculator showcasing the rogue changes went online today. With it, of course, comes plenty of speculation about possible new talent combinations and viable builds. I don't think the combat build I've been putting together with my own rogue has changed much, there are more viable options in the assassination and subtlety trees to pair with it. Decisions, decisions....
New Talent Calculators Online
Everyone seemed to complain that the talent calculators on the official web site were slow and difficult to use. The talent calculators on Wowhead seemed to be favored by nearly everyone I encountered, with their slick design and layout. Blizzard has taken note of this when redesigning their own talent calculators, which are now online. I find Blizzard's borrowing from community projects interesting (note also there are several features that are awfully similar to CTRaid Assist coming in patch 1.11) - any other opinions?
