dual-spec
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Dual specs currently cost 1000g
Hot off the PTR, the current price for Dual Specs is 1000g.Many thanks to Dustin for sending us the screenshot of the process (see a larger version). You can see that the NPC gives you a little background about the feature, and then the confirmation box comes up asking if you're sure that you want to spend all that gold.Obviously, this is the point where you click "Accept" and dance around for joy that you now have two specializations.We'll have more about the exact mechanics and workings of dual specializations as the day goes on. In the mean time, check out the WoW Insider Guide to Patch 3.1 and the PTR Patch 3.1 Patch Notes for more information. Patch 3.1 brings us Ulduar, dual specs, significant changes to all the classes, and more! We've got you covered from top to bottom with our Guide to Patch 3.1.
Totem Talk: And you will go forth with dual specs to conquer
First up, bad news: the Glyph of Windfury Weapon now does not add the additional attack power. You can panic now. This is bad enough that I'll be devoting all of next week's column to it.Dual specs are coming at long last! What will this mean for shamans? Shamans come in slightly behind other hybrids but are still capable of fulfilling two different DPS roles (melee or caster) as well as healing. What spec combinations can we expect to see? Which will be the most popular or the most in-demand? It's fairly easy to expect that shamans who raid at either the 10 or 25 man level (especially the 25) will be expected to have restoration as their dedicated off spec, especially now that unified spellpower means that they may well be able to heal reasonably well in elemental gear with a few changes.While enhancement gear isn't even close to as good for either elemental or restoration play, it's still likely that enhancement shamans who raid will be expected to choose restoration as their offspec, since in either case (elemental or enhancement main specs) shamans 'switching to benefit the raid' would most likely be asked to backup heal. However, it is possible to imagine an enhancement/elemental offspec for specific boss fights that are more suited to melee or ranged DPS: the shaman simply switches over to whichever spec allows him or her to contribute the most damage. Gear will of course be an issue.Let's look at some possibilities.
Encrypted Text: Dual specs will make Rogues twice as deadly
Every Wednesday, Chase Christian of Encrypted Text invites you to enter the world of shadows, as we explore the secrets and mechanics of the Rogue class. This week, we look at the upcoming dual spec feature and what it means for Rogues.If you've been keeping tabs on what everyone's favorite crab has been disseminating to the community, you're familiar with the upcoming Dual Spec feature in patch 3.1. In an interview between Nethaera and Ghostcrawler, he goes into all the details of how it is planned to work and what to expect in terms of functionality. There are still a few unknowns, but for the most part it seems like they're ready for us to start testing it on the upcoming PTRs.Rogues are one of the 4 classes that are considered to be "pure" DPS, as we have no other role to play besides damage dealer. While Mages and Warlocks have very different PvE and PvP specs, for most Rogues it's just choosing between daggers and everything else. So how can we take advantage of this feature to its fullest? Read on for a few ideas I have for the new dual spec system come 3.1.
Shifting Perspectives: The dual-specced Druid
Every Tuesday, Shifting Perspectives explores issues affecting Druids and those who group with them. This week, in the interests of keeping our writer away from editors of the opposite faction on PvP servers, we examine dual specs. Between lollygagging here at WoW Insider Central and engaging in some extracurricular indolence, I've often wondered where I'd take the column after finishing the bear pre-raid post. I could write something on how to theorycraft the highest-HPM tree, I thought, or get around to testing whether weapon skill has an unintended effect on bear threat. Look at the potential return from Eclipse procs as a function of fight mobility? Argue whether it's worth it to take Feral Aggression in a hybrid feral build? Or compose an entire column as a mockument to T.S. Eliot's most famous poem:Q: Let us go then, you and I --A: No.All good ideas. But then we received the following missive from that enemy of all that is good and right in the publishing world, the editor:MEMO: To all WoW Insider class columnistsFROM: You know who.TEXT: Write something on how your class will deal with the upcoming dual-spec system in patch 3.1, or Dan "One-Eye" O'Halloran will "remember" where he left his whip."Well," I thought. "That sounds like a good idea too."
New PTR announcements [Updated]
A couple of new things about the Patch 3.1 PTR this morning for you all. Dual specs, character copying, premades, downloading, vendors, and PTR release; it's like our own version of lions and tigers and bears, oh my!Premade Characters No plans to have them be available. This doesn't completely rule them out, but Blizzard is usually pretty upfront with us if they're going to allow us to make some premade characters. Dual Spec is not finalized There is a lot of QQ already about dual specs and how they will work. We've seen everyone under the sun now tell us that the system isn't finalized. That means that the level 80 requirement for dual specs is still the way it'll be, but that could change in a heartbeat.
The best of WoW Insider: February 10-17, 2009
Lots of great news from the World of Warcraft this week -- we learned more about the big patch 3.1 update coming to the game, as well as the dual spec system. And someone (we aren't yet sure who) kept melting something called the Ice Stone, in one of the more hilarious bugs of the Love is in the Air festival. Good times -- learn more by reading these popular posts from Joystiq network site WoW Insider. News The Ice Stone has melted!Confusion reigned over a world event bug this week: what was the Ice Stone and who forgot to put it in the fridge? WoW Insider's guide to patch 3.1Everything you need to know about the game's next content patch, continually updated. Dual spec Q&A with GhostcrawlerOne of the game's devs lets us in on the plans behind the much-awaited dual spec feature. Voidwalker raid tanking going awayWarlock pets tanking? Blizzard is putting the kibosh on that. Jeff Kaplan leaving World of WarcraftThe game's last original top dev heads off to Blizzard's new MMO. Features The Queue: Change we can believe inYou've got questions, The Queue has your answers. Encrypted Text: Why the 3.0.9 Rogue changes were necessaryThe latest bugfix changes get discussed in our Rogue column. WoW Rookie: Level 80 -- now what?You've done it -- you've finally hit level 80, but you're not sure where to go next. Let the WoW Rookie help. Please give me something to grindBlizzard has gone out of their way this expansion to make leveling and questing as varied as possible -- which is why Alex just wants to do some mindless grinding. Officers' Quarters: Dual spec, double loot?How to deal with the dual spec system while dealing out loot to a raid.
Will dual specs eliminate the tank or healer shortage?
Reader Patrick commented recently that I was a doofus (well, no, he didn't actually say that but I sort of felt like one after he pointed out what I missed out on) and that I should mention how dual specs will eliminate the tank or healer shortage. With players who play classes that can tank or heal able to spec freely between either of the two, will this sufficiently eliminate the lack of healers or tanks for instances? Even with the addition of a new tanking class, there are many occasions where players find themselves looking for a tank. With the great improvements to hybrid class' DPS, it's also been just as hard -- maybe even harder -- to find healers for groups. It's extremely common to see healing-capable classes spec for DPS like Retribution Paladins, Enhancement (or even Elemental) Shamans, and Balance or Feral Druids. The question then is if the option were available, would these players choose healing or tanking as another spec? It seems almost certain that players who can will spec either to tank or heal as their other spec in order to easier find accommodation in groups. Are dual specs really the answer to the perceived tank or healer shortage? Ghostcrawler mentioned that the healer shortage was due to players not yet hitting 80 and were using leveling (i.e. DPS) builds. But now that more players are at max level, we still seem to see the same class roles being sought after in the public channels. The truth is, if players don't enjoy healing -- or tanking, for that matter -- they won't necessarily spec for it. Even if they did, they probably won't appreciate being pigeonholed into the role more often than they're allowed to play the spec they truly enjoy. While the new feature of Patch 3.1 will open up options for players, will it be enough?
Blood Pact: What dual specs mean for the class
Welcome to another edition of Blood Pact! I'd held off writing one because we've got a surprise for you guys as a new, better, shinier Warlock columnist is coming on board to give you the all the infernal goodness (or badness, if you prefer) you need. But since it looks like he's caught up at the cleaners trying to get that brimstone smell off his robes, I'm sneaking into his office and filling in for this week. Today, we're going to talk about dual specs. You've probably heard of it. All the hybrid classes are squealing with girlish delight at the prospect, but even Warlocks have a reason cackle maniacally. For one thing, dual specs means more versatility for anyone, whatever class you play. In our case, it's the flexibility to deal a slow, painful death; a fiery death; or a torturous death through demonic beatdown. What can I say? That's what Warlocks do. We kill things. Dual specs, more than anything, simply means we get to choose how.
The Queue: The patoot edition
Welcome back to The Queue, WoW Insider's daily Q&A column where the WoW Insider team answers your questions about the World of Warcraft. Alex Ziebart will be your host today.Hey, everyone! How did you all hold up over the last week? A whole week with Adam? Did you miss your ray of sunshine? No? Oh... well, that's okay. I'm back anyway! If you don't read Ask a Lore Nerd, I was more or less out of the office the last week moving into my swank new apartment, so that's why I haven't been around. It's all good now though, so Adam and I are back on our rotating schedule.We also have a cool little guest appearance from our resident Death Knight Daniel Whitcomb, so that'll be a treat! Hopefully!Cholestria asked...Are there any titles I can achieve with my level 1 bank alt? She has an outfit from the Brewfest and usually participates in any of the holiday she can, but all the titles seem to require some leveling. Is there any title she could get without leveling?
Dual specs at low levels
We heard a ton of news about the incoming dual spec feature last week, and for the most part, players were pretty thrilled -- besides the fact that we're finally getting the option to have two specs at once, we're also getting the much-awaited ability to preview our specs before they're saved, and the official Itemrack functionality that we've heard about for so long. But there was one thing Ghostcrawler said last week that hasn't sat well with many players: that we'd need to be max level before training for the dual spec feature.For many players, the main reason they wanted dual spec was to be able to switch between "leveling" and "grouping" specs, and obviously if you're already max level, you won't have much need for a leveling spec any more (more likely you'd be switching between "solo" and "raid" or "PvP" specs). Ghostcrawler's stated reason for requiring a max level was that they didn't want lower level players to be confused by having access to more than one talent spec too early, but as Zarhym says, Cvarto makes a good point: if a player uses only one spec for 80 levels and then gets the dual spec feature, he/she may not have enough experience with different specs to have any clue about how to choose another one.
Officers' Quarters: Dual spec, double loot?
Every Monday Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership.Ever since Ghostcrawler's Q&A session last week, it seems like everyone wants to talk about dual specs, so I might as well give in. A few readers have written me to ask how I will handle loot distribution in this crazy double-speccing future. Does having two easily switchable specs entitle a player to double the loot? One reader details his struggle to formulate a fair and effective system:Dear Scott, As I'm sure you're aware by now, Blizzard recently stated that dual specs are definitely in the foreseeable future. This brings a huge dilemma on raid loot distribution. How do I distribute loot when everyone can use it now? The issue was brought up on our guild's forum recently, and I had not even thought about the possible ramifications til now. Is there any good solution? Let me give a little run down of my thoughts so far.[. . .]One officer suggested that we up the amount of DKP people can earn on a boss and let everyone bid on the item if they could use it in their dual specs. My thoughts were that this would highly inflate the DKP of the "pure" classes seeing as they only need one set of gear so would be bidding on only half as many times as "hybrid" classes. And that would not be fair to those who play hybrid classes but for the sole purpose of DPS. Also, it would open up the floodgates on tier tokens. If everyone had the right to roll on whatever they could use, they'd be bidding on more than one tier token, possibly alienating the newcomers who could afford said token but just didn't have enough DKP to outroll the weekly raider who already has that tier item for another spec essentially making loot distribution less even across the board.
Spiritual Guidance: Your dual spec questions answered
Every Sunday (usually), Spiritual Guidance will offer practical insight for priests of the holy profession. Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. Welcome to the delayed, dual spec edition! Dual specs will be here soon! What specs will you be going for? The marching orders have been given. With the green lighting of dual specs in the upcoming 3.1 patch, Priests of any discipline will be faced with an enormous decision that dwarfs the question of going Holy or Shadow (and Disc)! First, a brief history lesson. For the longest time, the healers struggled with questing. Soloing and doing dailies was a monumental effort due to the of our spec to Smite those that would oppose us! In Burning Crusade, our offensive spellpower was raised to so that it became a fraction of our healing spellpower. In Wrath of the Lich King, these become consolidated into one overall stat. We cried out that respec costs cut into our dwindling money pouches. Mistakes in one point were often costly. It wasn't fun having to switch from raiding to PvPing or farming. We ached for a method that allowed us to switch roles without the headache. Blizzard listened and they gave us dual specs! So, now what? How do you, the Priest, figure out what your second spec should be? If you're a tried and true healer who loves the thrill of healing in any environment, then you may wish to consider both a raiding and a PvP spec. If you're the type of player who prefers the ability to do some solo action, then you might opt for a healing and shadow type build. If you're not into PvP or that interested in doing any solo work, then a healing and healing spec may be up your ally.
Lichborne: On Dual Specs for Death Knights
Welcome to this week's installment of Lichborne, where we're preparing to head further down the rabbit hole that is patch 3.1. With the details about dual speccing becoming clearer, it's probably about time to start thinking about how it will affect Death Knights. We're probably a little luckier than many classes in that all of our trees are pretty solid for either tanking or DPS, but at the same time, some trees are better than others for certain roles, and you're definitely going to want to switch out some talent points for optimal performance in either role. Some Death Knights have actually been experimenting with "hybrid" DPS/Tank builds up until now, but with dual specs, it'll be a lot easier to just dedicate your time to one or another and go from there.Essentially, There's 3 major ways I see most people going with dual specs: Tank/PvE DPS, Tank/PvP DPS, and PvE DPS/PvP DPS, depending on their interests. The complications will probably come in deciding which combination is right for you and your raid, and which trees to focus on.
Arcane Brilliance: Dual-speccing your Mage
Each week, Arcane Brilliance brings you a wealth of Mage news and information, an unhealthy amount of incredibly biased commentary, a sprinkling of unnecessary and entirely random pop culture references, at least one unapologetically hateful and frequently childish comment about Warlocks, several examples of poor spelling and questionable grammar, and the occasional wildly inappropriate fart joke. I apologize in advance.Patch 3.1 is allegedly bringing with it one of the most significant changes the game has yet seen: the dual spec system. Players have been clamoring for the option to switch between specs freely as long as players have been clamoring for just about anything, so this new system promises to make a lot of people very happy. I'm a little excited about it myself. I may or may not have taught my two-year how to say "dual spec." I think she believes it to mean "when I say this, Daddy starts smiling and talking a lot." I also may or may not be secretly training her to be a tiny Warlock-killing machine. "OK, kiddo, this button here is called 'Counterspell.' Go ahead, push it. Now blow up the Gnome with the ugly doggie over there. Good job!" I believe Warlock-hate is something that can only be taught at home. I'm not trusting the school system to instill those values in my kids, that's for sure. And, yes, I'm a terrible, terrible parent.Ahem. Back to dual specs.Though the system will undoubtedly be more exciting to hybrid classes, we Mages will still benefit greatly from ready access to two different talent specs in our own special pure-class way. No, we can't switch roles like a Warrior or Druid will be able to--no matter how we spec, we're always going to be DPS--but having a different brand of DPS at our fingertips to switch to when the situation calls for it will be more significant than you may think.So what, exactly, will dual specs mean for Mages? Click on the magical orange text below and we'll discuss the possibilities.
The Light and How to Swing It: What dual specs mean for the class
So. Dual specs. More than any other class except, perhaps, for those freakish shapeshifting Druids, dual specs will have a great impact on Paladins. For one, it will save a lot of money on respec costs. I spend at least 600 Gold a week on respecs and re-glyphs, toggling back and forth between my raid and PvP specs. It also allows players to diversify their roles in a raid. At a glance, the feature has a lot of potential and should greatly improve the experience for all players regardless of class.What do dual specs mean for this Paladins, anyway? For a hybrid class that can fill the three archetypal roles in the game, it means a lot. Healers can become tanks, tanks can become DPS, DPS can become healers... anything, really. It's simply a matter of toggling the proverbial switch both in the game and mindset. You can even bring PvE and PvP specs into the equation, expanding the Paladin's options considerably. When dual specs kick in with Patch 3.1 (fingers crossed), let's take a look at the delicious possibilities that open up for the class.
Raid Rx: Will dual spec affect your healing squads?
Raid Rx has returned from retirement! Every Thursday (usually), Raid Rx will help you quarterback your healers to victory! Your host is Matt Low, the grand poobah of World of Matticus and a founder of PlusHeal, a new healing community for all restorative classes. This week I explore dual specs and the effects it will have. The dual spec Q&A was posted earlier in the week and Mike's got a nice summary listed. Let's get right down to it. How does dual spec capability affect raid healing?
WoW Insider Show live tomorrow afternoon on Ustream
We've got a good show planned on the podcast tomorrow afternoon: we'll welcome back Michael Sacco (formerly "Belfaire" on the official Blizzard forums), and, after long last, we're welcoming Matthew Rossi back onto the show -- we just couldn't ignore the demand after he posted that badass picture of himself the other day. And speaking of pictures, the pic above is put together by Michael at Galefire, from Turpster's little illustration we posted last week. How awesome is that?We'll talk about all the biggest stories of the past week, including patch 3.0.9, the dual spec news, and the Love is in the Air event. Our Facebook page is less than 100 fans away from our goal of 4,000, so odds are that the new Turpster song is really close. And as usual, we'll answer your emails and hold our unofficial pre-show and aftershow, so be sure to come a little early and stay a little late. It all starts at 3:30pm Eastern tomorrow (20:30 GMT) over on Ustream, and we've also put the streaming dealy below the cut on this post, too, so you can just click through below to listen and chat if you happen to be around. See you there!
The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Dual spec madness
Dual specs. What will they mean for warriors? The short answer is, we'll all have two specs. However, I'm fairly sure if I try and stop there and go get a sandwich that Dan will come to my house with an army of trained marmosets. I don't want that, you don't want that, and Dan doesn't like to travel with the marmosets, so let's just spare everyone the trauma. It is my opinion that when dual specs are implemented, almost all warriors will be expected to spec prot for one of their specs. We don't really have a tank shortage anymore with tanking generally more fun for everyone and there being four classes that can do it, but since warriors have one tanking tree and two dps trees, it's unlikely (possible, but unlikely) that we'll see a lot of deep arms/deep fury dual specs. Those of us with more than one warrior might try this on one of them, mind you. Of course this is all complicated by the state of warrior talent trees at the moment. Since protection is one of our strongest talent trees for both PvE and PvP content and arms is underperforming in both, it changes what specs you might select. I'm going into this analysis of the feature and its uses assuming that arms will be buffed to be a valid option for a dual spec.
Forum post of the day: Great idea, poor implementation
I'm still moderately excited for dual specs on my level 80 characters, it should be handy for switching between raids/instances and dailies. Cvarto of Proudmore began a thread about poor implementation about only allowing level 80 characters to use this feature. He fears that players will level as a single spec and have to relearn the other options for their class once they hit level 80.GC's reasoning is that MMOs are overwhelming for new players to learn without working with two specializations. Cvarto contends that it still more difficult to learn a completely new aspect of the game, such as tanking, at level 80. I'd like to add that most players have little patience for inexperienced tanks and healers at max level.
Dual spec Q&A with Ghostcrawler
var digg_url = 'http://digg.com/pc_games/WoW_Dual_Spec_information_revealed'; Nethaera has posted an interview with Ghostcrawler about one of the hottest anticipated features coming to the game: the dual spec system. Players have asked for the ability to switch between two specs for a long time, and GC has finally laid out some real information about how it might work. Some of the interview we've heard before (that glyphs and hotbars will be saved, and so on), but there are quite a few bombshells: You'll have to be max level to use the dual spec system, and you'll have to pay a one-time fee (not yet specified) to the trainer to use it. Blizzard has apparently cemented how it will work: you'll need to be at a Lexicon of Power to change out your spec, or Inscribers will be able to make one (maybe reusable, maybe not) that will be summonable by "a ritual of several players" (no number given yet). Respeccing will change only one set, so if you want to respec both specs, you'll have to pay twice. We'll be getting a "Gear Manager" that will let us quickly and easily change out gear, either for the two specs or just to "strut around town." (This is the official Itemrack we've heard about.) Hunters will be able to respec their pets at will, and they will get a new long cooldown ability that will let them remotely access their stables. Players who respec will be able to configure their talents before they are saved. And while the system is starting with two specs, Blizzard is considering adding more in the future. Wow. GC says we'll see this on the PTR when it's ready to go (which sounds to us like the patch 3.1 PTR, but no guarantees there, either). Unfortunately, not all of this will be out right away (the Gear Manager specifically is marked as "not quite ready"), but it sounds like Blizzard is aiming to go all out with the dual spec feature and make sure everyone gets what they want.
