In the early days of MMOs there were no "do overs" when it came to making choices. Your class was your class, and your abilities were your abilities. If you wanted to change those choices, that's just too bad. Over the years developers have softened their implementation of character advancement, gradually allowing more and more forgiveness for mistakes and experimentation in terms of talent trees, abilities and powers. Some of these systems have been much more outlandish than others. For example, Tabula Rasa allowed players to make complete copies of their characters at certain points in the leveling process to allow them to more easily experience the game's branching, and mutually exclusive, skill trees. Rift allows players to mix and match souls on the fly, combining to create a nearly limitless number of skill combinations.
Probably the most common implementation of this concept however is referred to as the "dual spec," a system whereby players are able to level up two parallel skill trees and switch between them outside of combat. In a recent PvP oriented Community Q&A, Gabe Amatangelo made the following statement:
Gabe Amatangelo
Dual Speccing is something we want to add soon after launch.
Understandably, this created a bit of an uproar on the official Star Wars: The Old Republic forums, where opponents and supporters of a dual spec system sounded off from their respective corners. Magicmix summed up the opinion of a large group of players:
I know people will compare it to WoW, but honestly, having the ability to use a DPS class when you're doing PvP, and a healing or tank class for PvE would be very beneficial and worth utilizing.
I know some will say, "That's what alts are for" but I for one prefer to play my main character's class in every way possible and I hate having to create multiple alts just to get that little extra kick.
I also agree that having the dual spec stay within the Advanced Class makes the most sense. It would make me really happy to be able to have a healer and a DPSer without having to log in and out of the game.
This is not a universal opinion however, far from it. Some people feel that giving too much flexibility to players diminishes the impact of having different classes and roles. Norr felt that way, and wrote the following:
Personally I'm against even dual specs. I know some people will cry out that you can't have a raid spec that can also PvP, or a healer spec that can also DPS, and they're right, you can't have a spec that's brilliant at all of them. But you can hybrid half way.
Don't like giving up some DPS to heal? Then make a second char or return to town and pay to respec several times a day. The extra time/cash you spend earns you the right to be 2% more kick ***.
Me? I prefer diversity, something that dual specs and on the fly respecs kill. If you can always use the best cookie cutter build you might as well remove talents now.
Many other players are somewhere in between, some wanting the flexibility, but not necessarily looking to swap between different skill sets at will. Radon_Antila feels that not only would it be a detriment to players, but also that there would be long term consequences to the game world as well.
See, this is where I personally draw the line. I am never against the ability to reallocate points within the AC, and if dual speccing only means having the ability to 'save' and 'load' a customized spec from the trainer, then it is a convenience that I would wholly support. It would allow players to go from PVE to PVP and back, but only after doing the content that spec was designed for.
When dual speccing means the ability to change play styles on the fly, what happens is that players will simply switch to whichever spec makes the specific encounter easier (hence the potion I quoted), and effectively never try a specific encounter with the resources their current spec has. In turn, this makes content development take this phenomenon into account, further ensuring that future content will be based on "players will use the easier spec," and not design encounters that would challenge players by virtue of forcing them to think on their feet.
By crafting the advanced classes in the manner that they have, BioWare has created a system that I feel screams for a dual spec mechanic. Allowing players to fulfill multiple roles within a group, and providing a way for players to swap between those roles without an excessive time or currency expenditure will not only give players a high degree of flexibility, but will synergize incredibly well with the companion system. Imagine you're playing your way through a world with a DPS companion when suddenly you encounter a group quest, and another player. The two of you group up, but try as you might between the two of you it's just not possible. Instead of having to either give up or trudge all the way back to a respeccing NPC, you can potentially jump to a healing or tank spec, and swap to a healing or tanking companion to support your mini-group.
On a larger scale this can come into play in Flashpoints or Operations. Say your tank or healer has to drop out, and you only have DPS players in reserve. Without a dual spec option, you will need to give up, or go in undermanned. With a dual spec option you can have someone change to fill the hole in the group makeup, and continue on. Above and beyond the material and mechanical benefits this decision gives to players, it represents another example of BioWare allowing players a great deal of leeway when it comes to The Old Republic. That's something I very much look forward to.
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Posted 11/12/2011 4:51:24 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 5:23:42 PM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 4:32:18 PMChoices without consequence are meaningless. If you can undo something as many times as you like, it's not really an important choice - actually you don't have to choose, since you can have whatever you want, anytime you want.
If we now allow one single character to be multiple specs of a class - what's next? One character being able to switch in between multiple classes? One character being able to play both sides and switch from imp to rep and back? One character being able to do all story choices?
All those choices don't only make the player feel important (as he gets to choose) make your character feel individual (defined by your choices) - they also add to replay value. You can play the game again with a different character, a different story, a different class, a different spec... with different choices.
If you remove those choices and allow to switch everything - then every character becomes the same.
Some people want to play only a single character - that's fine. But they don't want to miss out on content, so they believe every content in the game should be available to their character. And that's not okay with me. Those are the same people who get bored when they hit max level, first cry for more "high end content", and then leave the game - because they have more fun starting a new character at level 1 somewhere else, than continue playing their high level char.
I believe - once you hit max level and your character does not progress any further - the game actually stops being a real RPG.
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Posted 11/11/2011 11:11:15 AMThe problem I have with the idea of dual specs in general for TOR it that I will be playing Maurader, so I'll have the freedom to spec DPS... or DPS. Any sort of dual spec system would make me feel inferior to Juggernauts who will be able to switch between a tank build and a DPS spec (that does just as much damage as either of my specs).
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Posted 11/11/2011 5:25:15 AMI enjoy playing a bounty hunter. I shouldn't have to level 6+ bounty hunters just to enjoy every aspect of being a bounty hunter. That means leveling a Powertech tank (shield tech), dps (Advanced prototype) or dps (firebug)...a merc dps(firebug), dps(arsenal), or healer (bodyguard)...or any hybrid in between.
Be realistic people...leveling and going through the same story 6+ times over is a waste. I'd rather level 6 different classes. You level to be a bounty hunter not an AC tree. Go ahead and argue but all bounty hunters will get the same story...
Complain when they allow people to have 6 specs. People that spend all the time leveling a class deserve to enjoy multiple aspects of that class.
Giving us 2 specs out of 6+ is fair. If people want everything, then yes, those players deserve to roll 6+ bounty hunters and I'm sure they'll enjoy it.
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Posted 11/11/2011 5:15:39 AMMost people against Dual spe actually use arguments against re-speccing itself.
Dual spe adds convenience to re-speccing and the former is conditioned by the existence of the latter.
Talent trees call for re-speccing and call for dual speccing. If people are against, they better argue against the AC's and talent tree design.
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Posted 11/11/2011 5:08:36 AMAs others have mentioned, removing hurdles for tanks and healers can only be a bonus for the community as a whole. These two roles are the hardest to fill in most groups, so why not have a system that makes it easier for people to spec into tank and healer roles?
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Posted 11/11/2011 4:47:06 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 3:40:05 AMOr rather, I like people who would normally spec only dps, to be able to have a tank or healer offspec.
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Posted 11/11/2011 3:18:22 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 3:05:58 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 2:45:21 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 1:21:33 AMI'd also like the option to change your Advanced Class. I want a way to experience each AC at max level and decide which best fits my play style without having to start a new character. I don't think you should be able to switch ACs on the fly though. Switching your AC should be something that's very costly, or perhaps have a lengthy cooldown.
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Posted 11/11/2011 1:12:47 AM- View User Profile
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Posted 11/11/2011 12:27:04 AM