How to spec for patch 3

Now that the test realm is live, I think it's ok to start looking at possible talent builds — although we won't look too carefully at the talents themselves, because they're bound to change. A quick glance at the current trees reveals some tough choices.

One of the difficult decisions we will have to make is whether to pick up meditation. If you spec the standard 14 points into discipline to get this in patch 3, you will find yourself short of points in the shadow tree. Even if you skip inner focus, spending only 13 points, it will not be possible to max out the top of the shadow tree. Here's the best I could do.

We loose silence, we skip improved shadow form, we struggle to find points for twisted faith, and we fall short of lolspersion.

The big question is: how good is improved spirit tap? It's difficult to tell, because this talent has only been tested in the Wrath beta, where spirit is more prevalent. Our crit rate isn't terribly good and shadow power will almost certainly be nerfed. But we can take a risk, and skip meditation, in which case dispersion might be a small compensation. And if we take three points out of discipline, suddently you have to question the value of what's left. I think we should keep improved power word: fortitude, but we can loose improved power word: shield. So that gives us another six points to play with.

Perhaps we could spend them like this. Max out twisted faith, pick up dispersion, and then go back for silence. I know this wouldn't be everyone's choice but I find it situationally useful. The alternatives aren't too great — two points would probably have ended up in improved shadow form for pushback protection, which frankly will be of equally situational utility.

Unless anything drastic happens to the talent trees during testing, I'll probably be using one of these builds come patch 3. The second build can do a little more damage through twisted faith, but it's longevity is in serious doubt.

If you've got any other ideas, please let me know.