Dual-spec buyers report blank action bars after switching specs or relogging

At 20:40 UTC on 11 November, a player called Pumpkin opened a thread on the EU forums titled "Fix dual spec bug". Their first post began: "Every single time I swap spec to heal a dungeon I have to put ALL my abilities back on my bloody bars." Pumpkin wrote that at level 40 they had to choose between their mount and paying 50 gold for dual spec, a choice players were already arguing about the week before.

By the next day, four more players had described bars emptying after they bought dual spec, in that thread and two new ones. When we read all three threads, and a fourth about a different dual-spec problem, on 12 November, nobody from Blizzard had replied to any of them. This is what each player says.

What players say disappears

Asked whether they used Blizzard's default bars, Pumpkin answered "No addons on at all", called it "a well known bug" and said it also wipes a Druid's cat and bear abilities off the bars. The player who asked said it was the first they had heard of it: the couple of people they knew in game with dual spec hadn't mentioned any problems.

Drachenlard replied: "Same for me after buying dual spec. Full empty action bars", also without addons, on Blizzard's default bars. The next morning, Pumpkin wrote that it was "still happening", with all spells removed from the bars when relogging or respeccing. Poho said that for them it "seems to be action bar 6 and 7", when relogging as well as when respeccing.

Two players opened threads of their own on 12 November. Bostafani asked Blizzard to say when it fixes "dual spec making our bars blank after relogging sometimes", calling it "a major chore", and added: "I'll play when its announced as fixed." Buzzern wrote that since buying dual spec, all their spells are gone every time they log on, and that swapping spec also clears all their action bars.

A different problem

Nylle's thread describes something else. They say they bought dual spec at level 40 but have no option to switch: they need to visit a trainer to learn it, but can't, and are now "down 50G". That is a missing switch, not empty bars, so it doesn't add to the action bar reports.

The addon suggestion

In their latest post, Pumpkin wrote that "There's an addon workaround that seems to work atm": ActionBarSaver: Reloaded, with the command /abs save 1 once your spells are back on your bars. That is one player's suggestion. Pumpkin doesn't say whether they have used it themselves, nobody in the thread reports trying it, and we haven't tested it.

What these reports don't show

These are five players describing their own characters, and they don't agree on what empties or when: all of their bars, only bars 6 and 7, or the bars after only some logins. Nobody in the threads gives a cause, and we haven't reproduced it in the game, so we can't say how common it is, what triggers it, or whether a fix is coming. The 50 gold is what Pumpkin and Nylle say they paid.