Blizzard will likely offer free respecs before Wrath
by Mike Schramm 
Aug 19th 2008 at 4:00PM
I finally logged in to the Wrath beta for the first time last night, and frankly, was a little disappointed. Like a lot of players, I really enjoy seeing content live, and playing around on the beta feels like I'm somewhere i'm not supposed to be -- things are not done (it's a little unnerving to see a Blizzard game without impeccable amounts of polish on it), and there's no flow yet from the old world to the new -- you're dropped into Northrend and it's like you've jumped forward a few months in game continuity. Something is missing.But having been to the strangely buggy future, I can tell you one thing so far. Blizzard will do something they haven't done for almost two years now: every character will very likely get their talent points back around the Wrath of the Lich King release. Sure, it probably seemed obvious to most, but this is a bigger deal than you might think -- free respecs used to be a pretty common occurence, as almost every patch, Blizzard would refund talent points to at least one or two classes. But that was changed right around the last expansion, as Blizzard has opted for smaller class changes rather than content patch revamps. We haven't seen a talent point refund in a long time.
If this release is like last time, we won't necessarily see our talent points refunded upon installation, but rather around a big content patch right beforehand. If you were planning on respeccing for Wrath, you might want to wait a bit -- while respecs still aren't free all the time, we are apparently getting one done for us.
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Talents, Wrath of the Lich King
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 3)
Nick S Aug 19th 2008 4:09PM
well, that'll save a couple of hundred gold. yay!
luchifer Aug 19th 2008 4:10PM
It is a beta Mike, you are supposed to test the content in the beta and find bugs.
Ryan Aug 19th 2008 4:10PM
Of course they will refund talent points. With all the changes to the talent trees, it would be impossible for you to be able to keep the spec you currently have without arbitrary reassignments from deprecated talents to newly implemented ones, or from talents that went from 5 points to three or two.
Sef Aug 20th 2008 4:29AM
Spot on, Ryan. Blizzard only ever refund talent points when the new tree is incompatible with the old one. Obviously that used to happen with every class revamp and with the release of Burning Crusade. The new WotLK tree is the same, so of course a free respec is in order. It's not that they're being generous, it's because there's a serious technical reason why the talent data won't carry over to the new content.
Ichthus Aug 19th 2008 4:11PM
Last freebie was the ret paladin revamp, wasn't it?
Bill Aug 19th 2008 4:13PM
Umm...don't get me wrong, I appreciate anything free but...this would have been a big deal pre-bc but with 70's getting 10g a pop for daily's I don't think I'll put off any respec's hoping for a free one.
Just my .02
Bill
Jensaarai Aug 19th 2008 5:10PM
This. A saving of 100g is not really noteworthy anymore, if ever :/
Jay Aug 19th 2008 4:13PM
Wow, has it really been two years already :s
Dammerung Aug 19th 2008 4:24PM
I doubt that I will hold off on respeccing either. Even at the cap of 50g the cost is easily made up after an hour of dailies or even less. Not worth waiting even a week for a free one.
Andostre Aug 19th 2008 4:25PM
It's unclear why you're predicting that we'll get a free respec. Because of something that happened in Beta or because they did it before TBC?
Ella Aug 19th 2008 6:53PM
I am wondering this as well.. Mike, why are you announcing this news without any source to back you up? I want to see a blue poster confirming this. Getting a free respecc just for logging in to the beta doesn't say a thing about the live version. However I do believe we will be getting 1 free respecc due to major talent changes. But that's just me "guessing".
Malkeior Aug 19th 2008 7:27PM
He's basing it off of significant changes to talents, talents have been removed, some have been increased/reduced in cost and new ones have been implemented. Blizzard would probably like to save themselves a headache and wipe everyone's talents than trying to cram their current talents to the right(wrong) places.
Kaylek Aug 20th 2008 9:44AM
Common sense.
Because there's no other possible alternative. The trees have gotten such a significant overhaul (with many existing talents removed completely in favor of new ones) that it wouldn't be possible to keep your current spec.
Thus, you'll be given your talents back to spend on the new trees.
Hurode Aug 19th 2008 4:26PM
I've always thought that resetting the respec cost when Wrath hits would be the best idea. Doesn't matter how many times you've respecced or how much it costs for you to, reset the cost of it for all characters back to 1g and then let it work back up over time, just like a new alt.
ironblade Aug 19th 2008 4:27PM
what talent window is that for arms warriors wow beta? or is it the new wotlk talent window... looks confusing :S
Rihlsul Aug 19th 2008 4:29PM
Mike,
As man in charge, shame on you for failing to cite *anything* to support your good news.
Thander Aug 19th 2008 7:05PM
It is not "news". Just a blogger's opinion on what he thinks will happen. This is a blogging website.
Vidi Aug 20th 2008 8:42PM
When has Mike ever done anything the right way?
Lightning4 Aug 19th 2008 4:36PM
One theory is that there is going to be a huge world event to break into Wrath. This is evidenced by a certain thing Garrosh Hellscream happens to mention over in Warsong Hold.
Froosh Aug 19th 2008 4:35PM
"Impeccable amounts of polish"
What games are you playing?
Also, with all the pretty substantial changes to alot of current talent trees they pretty much have to refund some points, mainly some talents just being taken out and replaced with something.