We all know WoW is a game with an extensive API which has, over the years, opened the door to impressive analytics tools that has enabled players to know with decent accuracy what the best talent build is for each spec.
As a result, it’s common for players to go to WoWHead or Icy Veins as a first port of call on understanding what talents they should be taking.
My question is then, in what ways, if any, do you deviate your build from the accepted ‘best’ build, and why? Do you find certain talents more fun or easier to perform well with?
Personally, I opt for Calling the Shots over Unerring Vision as I feel like I can have Trueshot ready for more packs in M+.
unfortunately for most cases , wow just has one good thing. the “bis”. i wish it was more like other games but that probably has to do with vertical progression. i usually can only change one or two talents without creating a bigger mess
In several or many ways I imagine, since I’ve never looked at such things . I pick what I personally feel is fun/good. The day someone else pays for my subscription, they get to tell me how to play, but not a moment sooner.
I’ll avoid big major cooldown abilities where possible because I hate the idea that classes should have damage windows and extra abilities in general if it makes it feel more bloated for myself.
The current talent system is nice to do things your way. The only thing that really screws with it is if a tier set requires an ability that you dislike or don’t want to have to press in order for the tier set to feel useful.
Its the reason why I don’t currently play Shaman, I’ll make one for remix to play.
I usually take a quick look for builds on wowhead or icy veins, pick the one I almost like, and then switch out the talents I don’t like/hate.
ie: Breath of Sindragosa
I don’t care what they’ll do with BoS. I’m NEVER gonna play anything that has BoS in it. I just hate it.
I still use Ice Block. I’m not aware of any other mages that do.
Its ability to not just reduce damage but stop EVERYTHING no matter what it is… it’s just really nice. Also, I consider it a defining spell to such a degree that I downright think especially frost mages not having it is a crying shame. I honestly don’t think getting rid of it should be possible.
I think most people just use the new talent because the top use it, and the top uses it because they have literally everything planned out and play near perfectly, so they don’t want to lose the few seconds of uptime.
At first i usually dont even look up what im supposed to run and just go with whatever i feel like. Then after a while and maybe when going into a bit harder content i’ll look up the best builds. But i always adjust them to my liking. Im not a very good player so i know i wont manage to get as much out of the optimal talents as i should which means it would be a waste. Like primordial wave mentioned above. I’ll avoid it if i can cause im not good at using it. I also usually run healing stream instead of cloudburst cause im not very good at preparing and setting up my cloudbursts.
With my Shadow priest I can’t usually stand mind spike - mind flay seems so class defining. Even though in pvp I get shadow locked and mind spike would still be castable. I also take talents which give me more “ghosts” as I love the visuals even if it’s not meta.
Well I play open world so half the talents they pick tend to lean towards being useful in a group setting or require you to have the mob up longer than 10 seconds. Even their levelling guides are for dungeons, it’s quite annoying, so I usually read the “whys” behind the decisions and go “Yeah nah that doesn’t apply to me” and pick what I enjoy. More solo survivable stuff, mostly ST and a lil bit of AoE.
On my holy priest, I’m using the Restitution final-row talent, which allows me to come back to life after dying and turning into a Sprit of Redemtpion, once every 10 minutes. It’s a Cheat Death, basically. None of the guides recommend it and it’s also not used in the popular Archon builds. But I think it’s great! It has saved me and my group so often when pushing in M+.
Divine Word is commonly recommended, but I hate using it, because it’s an extra button and it doesn’t feel good to use. Also, I don’t think it’s actually all that valuable in M+. Yeah, more healing burst can be nice, but with the tier set, I feel it’s not necessary. I guess it’s better in super high keys, but I’m just doing weekly chill 10s.
. I pick what I personally feel is fun/good. The day someone else pays for my subscription, they get to tell me how to play, but not a moment sooner.