I feel it would have significantly enriched the RPG aspect of the game and provided much-needed diversity if the developers had introduced unique sub-specializations for each spec, rather than combining two specs together. This approach, while certainly demanding more development time to flesh out all the specs, would have offered players a deeper, more personalized experience.
The current hero talents on the beta make me feel as if I am being steered down a predetermined path, thus diluting the distinct identity and flavor of my chosen specialization. It is a convergence of playstyles, two becoming one. In a way, all of us will be hybrids now. And it is not like we have a choice whether to invest these extra talent points we receive in furthering the knowledge of our chosen spec… no! we have to invest them in the new tree.
Incorporating distinct sub-specializations would not only cater to a variety of playstyles but also deepen the lore and thematic elements of each class. Currently in DF talent trees, many distinct paths, such as a fire-based Elemental Shaman versus a lightning-based Elemental Shaman, are crammed into one tree. It feels like they are trying to cover all bases at once. Sub-specs would consolidate these unique playstyles into their own dedicated trees, providing clearer and more specialized paths for players to follow, as well as offering new unexplored or barely-touched ones.
Below I shall provide some examples of sub-specializations to some specs I have chosen.
Arcane:
Chronomancer (time magic)
Netherweaver (creatures from the nether)
Runemaster (ancient symbols and glyphs)
Enhancement:
Stormbinder (wind and thunder, one-handed)
Earthbinder (tank, terrain manipulation)
Affliction:
Plaguebringer (more dots, more akin to current playstyle)
Soulswinger (lol) (drain playstyle, spectral minions etc)
Shadow:
Voidweaver (more blasts, procs, void creatures, insanity resource etc)
Mindbender (psychic control, mental agony, more dot oriented)
Discipline:
Barriers and more about proactive shield setups
Atonement-focused
Balance:
Celestial
Nature
Unholy:
Plague (diseases and damage over time)
Necromancer (also some DoT action, but less so. more about command over the dead and summoning, death magic)
Mistweaver:
Spirit energy (channeling, ancestral spirits and a lot like old-school MW)
Chi and Fistweaving (more about healing over time and fistweaving, rolling in and out of melee range, etc)
What do you think? Feel free to add your ideas about your favorite classes and specs!
edit:
Some additional ideas I came up with. The names are not final, of course. I shall also attempt to come up with a subspec-defining spell which should be the main visual indicator that we are dealing with a particular subspec.
Currently on beta, a lot of hero talent trees lack that visual prowess that was promised. I know it is still a work in progress, but the past has demonstrated that even if players make some noise about it, it often falls on deaf ears.
There are two more points I would like to highlight:
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Hero talents should not require certain spec talents (and thus certain paths to be taken in the spec tree) to function. Since we are so close to TWW release and this has been brought up since the alpha I doubt we will see some changes there. More talents should be made baseline in every class tree. The mandatory number of talents that one has to take before progressing further is also another limitation that I identify as choreographing players to play a certain way, effectively providing us with an illusion of choice.
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Each character has a set amount of talent points to spend, but currently different specs have vastly varying number of talent nodes to choose from, as well as vastly varying amounts of so-called dead-ends in the tree and/or connections that make no sense whatsoever. The whole system needs more polish and at this point, two-point nodes should be done away with completely.
Anyway, here are some more ideas:
Elemental:
Tempest (lightning-based)
Flamecaller (lava and fire)
Restoration Shaman:
Tidecaller (water-based, more about aoe healing and hots)
Earthwarden (more about mitigation, strong direct heals and of course the earth shield)
Holy Priest:
Seraphic (angels, area of effect healing, hots)
Vengeance:
Soulwarden (soul energy, self-healing, spectral defenses)
Felreaver (more chaotic, more damage oriented