For the new expansion “The War Within”, World of Warcraft has announced new hero talents. We will tell you what this means.
The major features of the next WoW expansion “The War Within” were revealed at BlizzCon 2023. Besides the story and the new areas, one feature especially caught attention: hero talents. Because they promise to make your characters even more unique and thus assume particularly heroic roles.
What are hero talents? You collect hero talents for a new talent tree that will be available in The War Within. Each specialization can choose from 2 different hero talent trees, a class always has 3 available, hence there are overlaps. An example using the warrior would be:
- Protection: Mountain Thane and Colossus
- Fury: Mountain Thane and Slayer
- Arms: Colossus and Slayer
Exceptions exist only for druids and demon hunters, as they have a total of 4 or only 2 specializations.
These talents are intended to cater to certain fantasies of well-known “extended classes”, as one knows them from the Warcraft pen & paper. This includes abilities like that of a “Dark Ranger”.
How many hero talents are there? On your journey from level 71 to 80, you will receive a total of 10 talent points, one with each level-up. Gradually you will unlock all talents from the tree.
In the preview graphic, 11 talents were displayed, however, it might be possible that you get the first talent practically “for free” with the choice of the tree.
This does not mean that in the end every “Dark Ranger” hunter has the same talents. Many talents are called “Choice Nodes”, where you have to choose one of two options – just like you are already familiar with from the previous talents.
What do hero talents do? Besides new and improved abilities, the choice of hero talents should also slightly adjust the appearance of the characters. For example, if a warrior is a “Mountain Thane”, then some of their abilities have a bluish glow and thus look different from the abilities of other warriors. This is meant to create visual differences.
Is this “Borrowed Power” again? A question that arose immediately was: “Is this Borrowed Power again?” Whether these hero talents are just a feature for the upcoming expansion and then disappear again and one loses their power – like with artifact weapons or covenant abilities. Blizzard has stated that hero talents are to be a new “Evergreen” feature – they will remain relevant even after the expansion and are an integral part of your character.
More information will be available in the coming hours and days, as the “Deep Dive” into the new game systems is still on the Saturday schedule of BlizzCon.
What do you think of the idea of hero talents? A cool idea to customize characters even more? Or would you have preferred to see new lines in the old talent trees?
