The time as come...

THE PATCH IS HERE!!!

OK, enough excitement, I haven't gotten to play it yet, and I can only imagine how long it's going to take to install it once I get home today. I'm so glad they let us download it ahead of time. I'm going to be struggling with my patience as it is, but if I had to wait to download it today too I don't think I'd make it.

I guess I can't really say anything about the patch yet, so I'll save that for tomorrow, or sometime later if for some reason I don't get to play tonight.

In other news, lets talk about talent specs, and more specifically being able to switch between two different specs. Sounds interesting to me, and is definitely something I would love to have on some of my characters, but given what stage of the game some of them are at right now it won't help them out much.

I think my druid gets the most benefit from this. I have always wanted to try out a boomkin, but I love being feral so much that I don't want to spend the gold just to try it out because I know I will be switching back.

There are more than a few concerns that I have about this being implemented though. I'm not saying I wouldn't welcome this change with open arms, but there are some things that would need to be looked at in detail to make it work seamlessly.

First, it may not happen to everyone, but different specs require different gear sets, and with my playstyle I really don't have time to go hunting for another set of gear. I'm hoping they can make this leveling friendly by giving more variety in quest rewards, giving us a chance to fill gear slots for many more builds. Other than that, maybe a higher drop rate on greens.

Next, what happens when you level up? I guess that brings into question how the spec switching mechanic actually works. If you just hit a button and it changes, then I guess you spend the talent point in one spec, switch and spend it in the other spec and you're done.

Along those same lines is, what happens to your action bars when you change specs? Some of those skills come from talents, and we all know that when you respec those certain skills disappear from your action bar. It would get pretty annoying having to rearrange your action bars every time you respecced.

Right now they have a mechanic built in that changes your main action bar depending what form you're in. This applies to switching to shadow form on priests, shapeshifting on druids, and changing stances on warriors.

I guess I'm just hoping they use this same mechanic when you change specs, as your main skills are probably going to change depending on which spec you're using, and hopefully your talent only skills will come back without having to drag them back on again.

I'm also hearing that they will make this spec change unavailable in arenas. Seems like a pretty obvious choice, as it would basically be changing your team composition in the middle of a fight.

I think the biggest impact will be for instances and raiding. No longer will your spec determine whether you get a spot. You can just say "oh we don't need more DPS but we need a healer? Let me get my healing gear then!" Even easier for shamans or priests since spell power affects damage and healing spells. I might even try out some instances myself at some point if I can just switch my spec to fill out a group.

I look forward to seeing how this works in the future, and I think it will make a huge difference, not only for me, but for people with any playstyle that want some extra freedom in the way they play their character. I just don't look forward to carrying around a second set of gear, my bags are full as it is.