The way I read the new class descriptions, was that you gained all the abilities possed by the merged classes. Where the "WoW talent tree" came into play was what skills you wanted to specialize in, as dictated by your feat selection. That concept really doesn't bother me depending on how it handled.
If specializing in one 'tree' over another is just a difference between being good and being better, then it will work out well. If the make it so that a specialized character is so poor at his alternate list of abilities that it is barely viable, then I don't thiink the merger will have resolved anything.
The "Druid of the Storm" and the new "Barbarian" both sound like much better classes to me then the origonals. The old Stormcaller was just too one-dimentional, and the Druid was just a steaming pile of unneccessary code
All the old Rogue classes were pretty good as they were, now they just sound even more insane; Barbarians not only do massive melee/AoE damage but they have the best stun-locks and disorients too!!
That class will be nerf'd in the first few months of launch gauranteed.
As for the new Dark Templar, they sound like a much better class as well. I couldn't see much use the old Temp and Zeal could offer a group as there were already 2 other melee buffing classes that were better at melee and an entire archetype full of better healers. The new Templar's method of fighting remains the same as before; one-handed melee combined with life-drain and life-drain heals, but they also have the Zealots aura buffs. The combination of melee, healing and buffing will make them much more viable for groups. (I've noticed that some people have commented on the Zealot being scrapped, but that's not true; it's their Auras that were carried over into the new Templar)
The only class merger I'm not so sure of is the new "Guardian." To me, the old Gaurdian was set up as the perfect tank while the Halberdier was more of the perfect off-tank. The difference between their roles being that the Guardian had more raw blocking and defence, which is better suited to holding the attention of a powerful enemy, while the Halberdier had AoE which was much better suited to collecting the aggro of large numbers of "weaker" enemies. Maybe it's just because my previous MMO experiences have taught me that "Tanks" require more Min/Maxing then any other class role (because designers tend to basis the content on how strong a character "could be" instead of someone who is average; at least as far as end-game content is concerned) that I hace a hard time visualize a "Guardian" being viable in his role without a high level of specialization. Thus defeating the purpose of merging the classes for the sake of diversity.
P.S. Anyone else notice that there were no race restrictions listed in the priest trees anymore?
