#0 - May 26, 2010, 12:04 a.m.
Okay, spotlight over, it's time Blizzard reduced the cost of dual spec to something more manageable for lower levels, newbies and rerollers.
For a start, the benefits of having a dual spec are quite massive. It means there's more healers, more tanks and more DPS in the dungeon finder. More LFG Dungeon Finder gear is used, and less wasted.
I don't actually understand WHY Dual Spec is priced as such. 1000g is fairly nominal to a level 80. You sell better junk, do dailies, sell stuff and work your high level professions, so 1000g isn't a massive dent in the wallet - especially as the money from questing is very nice. But to level 40s, it's nigh unreachable.
Duel Spec is largely a given for any main or significant alt character at 80 so they can enjoy PvP and PvE or different roles within those two, but if 1000g isn't a massive cost at level 80, why is it so high that it's out of reach for level 40s who arguably need the tanking/healing specs because their gear doesn't hold enough weight to fulfill an instance role properly? Try generating rage in Arms Spec, or tanking as Balance!
Buying a riding skill and mount used to be a big thing. Financially it no longer is (I paid for my Journeyman with a stack of Copper Ore!), but it's still exciting... having a duel spec is just as significant. You get to experiment with your class at your own pace instead of respecing every other day running up costs that still aren't level relative (i.e STUPIDLY a level 17 character can run up respec bills of 50g a time.) Not only is that stupid, but by having a duel spec at 80 and not before (for a lot of financially poor players) it simply means that you're bombarded with 71 talents and the expectations of however many players that you know what you're doing? Why not learn along the way?
Imagine if said Shaman/Druid/Warrior had the finances (50g, 100g maybe 200g) at level 40 and could learn their dual spec early. They would pick up things at a better pace, they wouldn't feel stupid having the wrong talents and more importantly they would have the talents to do their Dungeon Finder job properly.
I know what YOU might be thinking.. that spamming sunder armour isn't hard, and that Druids hitting Ctrl-F1 instead of F3 is a matter of an inch of finger movement... but it's not the point. The point is that 1000g is a stupid price to pay for a system that is now at the heart of the game. There would be less wipes, people happier and more knowledgeable about their class, more dungeon runs (people have the confidence in their correct tanking talent tree) and people have more fun.
I honestly can't see why lowering the cost isn't something Blizzard haven't done already. Old timers on a realm already have a nice wad of cash, so dual speccing isn't a problem for them at any stage, but for new people who want to explore the other sides of their class, they're hindered. You might argue that asking new players to learn another side of their class at only 40 levels in is tough, but they'll only be doing one at any given time.. it's not like they'll be changing 5 times a dungeon! Also for players who reroll on a new realm, getting that kind of money up isn't easy, and they could be contributing to the Dungeon Finder experience much better if they weren't blocked from Dual Spec. (i,e. I'm happy to heal, at least I would be if it didn't cost me 1000g that I can't afford.
It's time to reduce the cost of Dual Spec. There simply isn't a downside to doing so that doesn't have a more profitable upside. People don't have to use it if they don't want to, and it could still be a figure that people work for (200g, say)
What do you lot think?
