Introduction and Overview

Well, everyone, it looks like the WoW 3.2 PTR is now live. So its time to get this show started.

Firstly, a little about myself. I have played WoW casually, on and off, since the beginning. I have a max level enhancement shaman in mostly iLvL 200 purples. And I enjoy the theory of the game almost as much as the game itself!

So what is this blog all about? Basically, I intend to use the availability of pre-made characters on the Public Test Realm (PTR) to experiment with unconventional talent specialisations ('specs') for classes which I, myself, can't be bothered levelling to 80.

World of Warcraft is currently a wonderfully diverse game. Although its 10 basic classes compares poorly to some games, in reality, there are at least 34 different way to play the game. Call them play-styles, call them 'aesthetics', at its core each one relies on a certain distribution of talent points and abilities to make it very different from other specs in the same class. At no other time in WoW's history have so many variations been officially supported by Blizzard and made raid-viable (that is, in a Player vs Environment setting - PvP balance is a whole other story).

Let's take a look at the current distribution, shall we?

Tanking Classes (Total: 6):
Protection Warrior
Protection Paladin
Feral Druid ('Bear')
Blood Death Knight
Frost Death Knight
Unholy Death Knight

Healing Classes (Total: 5):
Holy Priest
Discipline Priest
Holy Paladin
Restoration Shaman
Restoration Druid ('Tree')

DPS ('Damage') Classes (Total: 23)
Arcane Mage
Fire Mage
Frost Mage
Beast Master Hunter
Survival Hunter
Marksman Hunter
Assassination ('Mutilate') Rogue
Combat Rogue
Subtlety ('HaT') Rogue
Demonology Warlock
Affliction Warlock
Destruction Warlock
Arms Warrior
Fury Warrior
Retribution Paladin
Blood Death Knight
Frost Death Knight
Unholy Death Knight
Feral Druid ('Kitty')
Balance Druid ('Moonkin')
Elemental Shaman
Enhancement Shaman
Shadow Priest

Arguably, as Ghostcrawler said in the recent Mage Q&A, the Elementalist a.k.a.Frostfire Hybrid spec represents a new, 4th aesthetic for the Mage class, bringing the total to 24.

Alot of these specs had to fight hard over many years to get where they are today. And this blog if going to look at (at least) 3 more candidates that currently aren't being officially supported, taking them for a joy ride to see if they are able to join this august company.

Until then,