I have this weird obsessive compulsive disorder when it comes to role-playing games. This means that I don't play as many RPGs as I would like to, but the ones that I do play, I spend ridiculous amounts of time with. One thing is that I absolutely have to do every possible quest and sidequest in a game, at least to the extent that it is humanly possible. The other aspect of it is that I feel an obsessive need to build the perfect character. In some role-playing games this is a simple enough task -- just gathering up or skilling up all the available spells and abilities. In other games however, such as World of Warcraft, this involves making difficult choices with regard to the talent tree.
For those who aren't familiar with the game, WoW offers nine different character classes, but these are further customizable depending on how you allocate your talents, which become available starting at level 10. You're awarded a talent point for every level you gain thereafter. I actually didn't even begin spending my points until around level 16, as I was so leery of spending them unwisely. The game actually lets you blow up your character and reallocate all your talent points, but you must pay gold for the privilege, and the price becomes grows at an exponential rate each time you do so.
At first it didn't seem that the choices you make in the talent trees would make much difference, but once you play for a while, you begin to see that it actually makes a huge difference. A Warlock who chooses to spend most of his points in Affliction, for instance, places much of his power in the "DoT" or damage-over-time spells. The ability to do damage quickly is lessened, for the ability to do steady amounts of damage over time, at minimal mana cost. My Warlock is currently spec'ed out in Destruction primarily, which means I can do heavy amounts of damage in bursts, with the tradeoff being that I burn up mana fast, and end up drinking more liquids than Britney at a Las Vegas night club. Except that I regain mana from my drinks. She just ends up in tabloids married to childhood friends.
Anyway. Since I play on a PvE server that doesn't require me to worry about doing a lot of damage quickly in duels against other players, I'm beginning to think I should rethink my talent point distribution, so as to minimize downtime in between fighting mobs. But then again, switching to Affliction would probably make me less of a damage dealing machine when grouped with other players. I spent hours yesterday reading on various WoW-related forums about different talent builds, and speculating on what redistribution might be best. In the end I haven't come to any real conclusions, and I'm simply paralyzed on the decision making process, leaving me stuck with what I know is an less-than-ideal character build.
Now if you've actually read up and reached this point with me, you're either as obsessed with World of Warcraft as I am, and/or you feel me on the strange, obsessive desire to build up the "perfect" RPG character. In either case, it's pretty clear that I am a candidate for some type of therapy. But then again, those sessions with the psychiatrist would take precious time away from WoW, so that just won't do at all.
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