Official Discussion: Helm's Deep NDA Drop.

[Beaniemooch]

Not true. You are welcome to put points in out of spec slots! I did and found that it actually works better for some classes than others. My hunter, for example, blew when i tried to do much than a little out of spec. My RK, however, did rather well dipping into all three lines. (Depends a lot on which line you spec in, of course.) In either case, you will sacrifice some effectiveness in your specialty in exchange. Play around and see what likes you.

I tested the minstrel and so that's where my feedback focuses. This out of spec doesn't work well in my opinion. If you are in the dps/red tree the opening traits in the yellow and blue tree are increased crit healing, Soothing Voice to increase your healing output, Anthem of Composure (which you'll need for power return in red), Anthem cooldown and improved Inspire Fellows. You would have to spend at least an additional 10 points to get to the 2nd tier and nothing there was exciting either. T2 of the yellow tree does have increased tactical mastery, but by then you're hurting for points even if you skip some things in the dps line. Anything outside your main traitline costs 2 points rather than 1.

Rally is not available for yellow or red traited minstrels. That's a hard choice if you're trying to be hybrid of any kind.
Call to Greatness is available in yellow line as the capstone.
SoS is only available in blue line, not yellow.
TS is only available in blue line, not yellow for a hybrid healer/dps build.
DPS for a red traited minstrel is lower than currently on live, and your self-heals are lower. Still good enough for landscape...
Currently Cry of the Chorus gives 3 healing buffs in yellow but 3 power buffs in healing stance.
The Melody of Battle buff shows up in the Melody/yellow line but gives a damage tick in the healing stance.
Melody is no longer our healing/null stance, it is yellow POS line.
Resonance is our healing/Watcher of Resolve stance.
Call of the Second Age has become a general skill in all trees.

In general the blue/healing line is very OP and boring. If you need more than 3 skills you're doing it wrong in this build. With the legacy and points in blue line Triumphant Spirit cooldown is at 45 seconds and a general skill in place of Inspire Fellows - and it hits for a routine 5-10k at level 85. Chord is very OP with the hots, and Bolster Courage procs a group heal routinely for about 3k in my experience. Those 3 skills alone could be put on 1-2-3 buttons and just watch The Big Bang Theory for entertainment while you play. You don't need skill now, they have in my opinion dumbed it down to the lowest common denominator they could think of.

Yellow line doesn't seem to be as effective at healing or dps as it should be. You can't rez in yellow line, you don't have TS in yellow line, and your dps is not up to a real contribution. All in all I don't see a use for this line at all going forward, and that's a shame.

Red line is underpowered and has less self-healing ability than currently on live. If you go to the moors expect to heal groups or leach because you're not going to be able to solo the way you could before. As for being a viable dps class in groups, you will never be taken if anything else is available.

The class feels very unfinished for only two weeks to release. There is a lot that needs to be addressed and not long to do it before this goes live. I'm sure the changes will need to continue but at the moment it's very sad to me. I disliked losing half my skills at any one time as I tended to use them all situationally, whether raiding, instances, moors, solo playing, or just kicking back with friends in a mixture of any of that. I feel like half a character and not recognizable as the minstrel I have played for 5 years.

As for big battles, I also would compare them to a skirmish rather than a raid. As a minstrel I can't heal NPCs, and my fellows (if I'm in a group) don't take damage. I am left either clicking on items or talking to NPCs to tell them what to do, or trying to dps. Since I love to raid and heal, and I never enjoyed skirmishes ala Thangulhad, it's a huge disappointment to me. My tank friend was unable to pull aggro off the NPCs for more than a few moments and we both found they needed little help from us. We felt rather unnecessary. No, they're not exactly skirmishes, but they're definitely not raid content or instance content and I am extremely disappointed if this is the direction of the future. I don't enjoy them at all.