This post was, oddly enough, prompted by Age of Conan rather than WoW. But you get a similar situation in WoW as well.
Most hybrids I know maintain multiple sets, even if they have one main spec and one offspec. So what do you do if a single non-repeatable quest gives rewards for both main and offspec?
Obviously most people choose main spec. But what if the main spec upgrade would only be a slight upgrade, and the offspec upgrade is a large upgrade?
One theory is that you should keep your main spec as advanced as possible, even if that hurts your offspec. Another theory is that you should use quests to advance your offspec. Your main spec will get better rewards in instances and group content. After all, it's much easier to get healing items while you are a healer, rather than fight with DPS for DPS items.
(Note that I am only talking about situations where questing would provide roughly equal rewards to instance loot. Like levelling or maybe the Quel'Delar questline.)
The specific incident that started me thinking about it was from Age of Conan. My main character is a level 35-ish Conqueror, which is a 2H or dual-wield class. I'm playing as a 2H Conqueror. There are two group quests in a chain. Both reward good 2-Handers, with the second one being slightly better than the first. But the second quest also offers a choice of a really good 1H, which would be a larger upgrade for that set of mine. Yet, I'm not likely to ever actually use those weapons. The 2H would be used all the time.
Unless, of course, I decided to respec.
Ah well, just getting a group going in Age of Conan is pretty hard, so this might be a non-issue in the end.
Just to comment on getting a group going. You really have to work to get a group. On the plus side though groups are extremely resilient and people don't give up after wipes.
ReplyDelete1. Ask guild.
2. Ask friends.
3. Ask in the LFG channel.
4. Do a player search on the appropriate level of player (eg 28-35 for Black Castle). Sort by level, highest first. Then send each one a tell "hi, would you like to join us for Black Castle?" You can select the text the first time you type that, control-c, then control-v to paste for all the other tells. Find tanks and healers first, if none of the level appropriate tanks want to come no need to bother anyone else.
I get groups started approx 80% of the time.
Also, if you're on Wiccana, look up the Hyborian Courier Network!
ReplyDeleteI tend to view upgrades form a meta-perspective.
ReplyDeleteMy main spec definitely gets first dibs, but if my off-spec is lagging behind, it gets some loving.
For example: I won the Battered Hilt a few months back. At the time I had a ilvl 245 healing 1h for Holy and an ilvl 232 2h for Ret. Even though Holy is my main spec, I did the Quel'dalar quests and took the 2h reward.
Of course within 2 weeks I won the 2h off of Morrowgar 10man, and I still haven't replaced my healing weapon yet.
But I still don't regret the decision I made. :)
In situations like that while levelling I always just choose the main-spec option.
ReplyDeleteHow many times do you switch specs while levelling? I guess that depends on how you level. If you're the dungeoneer, having 2 specs geared for the content at your level is great.
However, most people these days just level up solo, occasionally grabbing a partner or two if they need a harder quest done.
But.. that is also part of being a Hybrid. Making the choice. Which.. of course, is your choice.
If the scenario you presented were to happen, I'd keep it for both specs (WoW at least allows for this) and when it gets eclipsed in the main spec just keep it for off spec.
ReplyDeleteHowever, if I'm playing my off spec more frequently, that effectively becomes my main spec. For example, my Pally is technically Holy as main spec, but I haven't used the Holy spec in at least 4-5 months. For me, my off spec --Ret Spec-- is my true main, so I gear accordingly.