Possible 4th specs

[Jujudrood]

TL;DR - I want 4th (or 3rd) spec options for all classes next xpac instead of a new class or new race.

This topic isn't new or fresh, but I think it's worth mentioning, especially after the AMA and the recognition of Gladiator stance being fun, but not being optimal baked into Prot.
With a new xpac in the works, there have been questions on if we get a new class (just got one in Legion) or a new race (not since MoP).
What I am hoping for is that they expand the current classes and add a 4th spec to each, not necessarily a 'hero spec', but an additional option.
Sure, this represents tons of issues with Legion in and of itself, but doesn't adding a new class and, to a much lesser extent, race do the same, given our order halls and such?
But the 4th specs would become accessed at level 111 (effectively skipping over the past xpac restrictions) and open the door to more class variety, such as:
- Warriors 4th spec being a true Gladiator build, with a complete talent set for damage with sword and board, instead of the WoD hacky tank/dps hybrid.
- Monk 4th spec could be more range-centric around using jade lightning to give them an additional DPS flavor while still revolving around chi and resource
- Paladin 4th spec could be a ranged holy avenger spec based around components similar to holy shock, but as a true DPS and not a 'I have nothing to heal so here's some damage' type of thing
- Rogues could get a tank spec using dodge/parry to avoid damage and the use of 'shadow' mechanics to reduce damage (major cd could be shadow clone that absorbs X damage, would be fun), all while using dual-wield, something that you don't see currently
- Mages 4th spec can be time-altering to mend wounds/reverse damage style of play as a healer
- DH could just get a 3rd spec and I'd be happy because I don't care for the playstyle of either, but that's my opinion and I'm sure others disagree

Sure, Druids already have 4 so they get the short end of the stick here, but it will add more variety for the existing ones and kinda catch them up in versatility somewhat.
There's also the argument over spec tuning and how 'imbalanced' it is right now and how it's basically been that way for a long time and adding even more specs will just exacerbate the balance issue.

So anyway, what 4th spec options would you support/want to see for each class?
Do you hate my examples? Tell me why.
Do you have ideas for other classes and what they could do? Tell me why!
Do you think 4th specs are dumb and should never be mentioned again? Share!

[Immitis]

everytime people pose this question and say "druids dont get shit" they instantly discredit their argument, blizzard will NEVER give every class something and tell one class to go fuck itself, EVER.

4th specs means 5th spec for druid which inevitably leads to people asking for 5th specs. not gonna happen

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ESPECIALLY if said thing is an expansion feature. could you imagine if when the class mounts were announced if they excluded warlocks, dks, dh, and paladins?

[Deleted]

TL;DR - I want 4th (or 3rd) spec options for all classes next xpac instead of a new class or new race.

Oh look, it's this again...

This topic isn't new or fresh

Damn right!

but I think it's worth mentioning

Damn wrong!

But the 4th specs would become accessed at level 111

This is not a good idea. While it would help with balancing issues etc, it would make the rest of the previous game feel incomplete, as Druids have their fourth spec from the beginning, so why not everyone else too (except of course Demon Hunters).

Do you think 4th specs are dumb and should never be mentioned again?

Not dumb, just discussed to death already and until there's even a HINT of them coming, no point discussing them over and over and over and over again...

[Jaylock]

4th specs means 5th spec for druid which inevitably leads to people asking for 5th specs. not gonna happen

You're wrong. Druids already have a 4th spec. So adding a 4th spec to every class would be just righting the ship. What other ways can / should druids play? They already have, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healing, Tanking. No other way to play.

[FelPlague]

fourth specs yes it is a cool idea but we run into some issues on some classes

what would the DH third spec be? you dont give an example? demon hunters lore is VERY limited is their issue, they simply use glaives, and demonic power to empower themselves, they dont use ranged weapons, they are not casters, and allready they get very close to demon hunters, for example a warlock tanking spec would be cool as the fourth, but the issue is, it would overstep into demon hunter, the classes we have now are allready starting to get tightly knit, like your example of paladin fourth spec would literally just become priest, the only difference between priest and pally right now is range/melee, making pally a ranged dps spec would just be over doing it

the mage spec would be cool, a chronomancer healer


i like some of your examples like mage and warrior, but the others like paladin and demon hunter wouldent really work well, and the monk one just seems lame also yes we do see dual weilding dodge/parry based, demon hunter tank

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everytime people pose this question and say "druids dont get shit" they instantly discredit their argument, blizzard will NEVER give every class something and tell one class to go fuck itself, EVER.

4th specs means 5th spec for druid which inevitably leads to people asking for 5th specs. not gonna happen

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ESPECIALLY if said thing is an expansion feature. could you imagine if when the class mounts were announced if they excluded warlocks, dks, dh, and paladins?

and druid, they had class mounts allready (the flgiht forms)

[Deleted]

I believe that more variety is good in a RPG. But i am biased towards none-competetive gameplay.

[FelPlague]

You're wrong. Druids already have a 4th spec. So adding a 4th spec to every class would be just righting the ship. What other ways can / should druids play? They already have, Melee DPS, Ranged DPS, Healing, Tanking. No other way to play.

mage has 3 ranged dps specs, so druid could get another one of those, would be cool to have a class with 2 tanks specs, theo nly one like that was death knight in WOTLK where they had 3 tank specs, unholy for magic, blood for when you are fully geared in ICC and frost the rest of the time







4th specs yes they sound cool, but i feel a bonus tree would be better system, you get a second tree that all specs get to choose from, maybe this talent treee is like a one from the old days where you choose small stat/spell bonuses for example warlock we get a tree like this


First three like 1: more crit 2: more haste 3: more mastery
Second 1:your attacks have a chance to explode on impact doing aoe damage 2: your attacks have a chance to empower you demon pet for a short time
Third 1: attack exploding chance increase 2: attacks exploding more damage/demonic empowerment causes them to burn for a small dot aoe around em 3: chance to empower increased
Fourth 1: explosion has chance to make next spell guaranteed explosion, this explosion can proc another guaranteed one 2: Empower/explosion has chance to refund soulshard 3: Empowered demon will transform, becoming a stronger version of itself
Fifth 1: Your chaos bolt/unstable affliction/call dreadstalkers become chaos storm, unstable blight, Dreadstalker swarm, making your attacks do AOE around your target 2: Your chaos bolt/unstable affliction/call dreadstalkers become Chaotic beam, unstable void, call dreadfeind, doubling the cost, but massively increasing the damage


so on so forth, people can go down the tree as they like

[Yelmurc]

I think a 4th spec would be the way to go. I'd even go so far as to say get rid of talents so its less work to balance. 4 Specs and glyphs for spell visuals and animations should be plenty to customize your character.

My Idea's

Death Knight - Necromancer - You'd have to pull out the pets from Unholy and make that spec more about disease's and spreading those diseases. Then give Necromancer pets and ranged casting spells.

Hunter - Dark Ranger - This should be a dps DOT style spec that lets people have more of a dark ranger feel to it.

Rogue - Shadow Hunter - A Rogue spec using Polearms or throwing weapons that use black magic to damage their enemies

Shaman - Earth Warden - A Shaman Tanking spec that allows you to create earth barriers and such.

Warrior - Blade Master and Gladiator - Like your suggestion above Gladiator should be a spec. I also like the idea of Blade Master and wouldn't mind if Arms was renamed Blademaster and given some of those abilities like mirror Image

Warlock - Fel Healing Spec - Drain the life from your enemies and heal your allies. Maybe even bugs them with fel power.

Priest - Witch Doctor - Not sure how this one would work I just like the idea of a Witch Doctor spec for my Troll Priest.

[Dawon]

No way in hell! Imagine the exponential issue you'll create in balancing shite with a 4th spec for every class!? It will just go ape-shit bananas with both pve and pvp balance.

Better just slim it down to 2 specs per class and instead add a new class... it's just too much bloating in classes now, every class tries to be some jack of all trades and everyone "must have the same:ish toolkit"... we're already too alike so bringing a 4th spec for each class will only make that class even more alike another already existing spec!

Less specs and more distinct classes, ftw!

[Gemini Soul]

They have trouble balancing the ones we have now, a majority would play the top dps spec anyways for their class so adding a 4th would be pointless.

[Dartz1979]

I think a 4th spec would be the way to go. I'd even go so far as to say get rid of talents so its less work to balance. 4 Specs and glyphs for spell visuals and animations should be plenty to customize your character.

My Idea's

Death Knight - Necromancer - You'd have to pull out the pets from Unholy and make that spec more about disease's and spreading those diseases. Then give Necromancer pets and ranged casting spells.

Hunter - Dark Ranger - This should be a dps DOT style spec that lets people have more of a dark ranger feel to it.

Rogue - Shadow Hunter - A Rogue spec using Polearms or throwing weapons that use black magic to damage their enemies

Shaman - Earth Warden - A Shaman Tanking spec that allows you to create earth barriers and such.

Warrior - Blade Master and Gladiator - Like your suggestion above Gladiator should be a spec. I also like the idea of Blade Master and wouldn't mind if Arms was renamed Blademaster and given some of those abilities like mirror Image

Warlock - Fel Healing Spec - Drain the life from your enemies and heal your allies. Maybe even bugs them with fel power.

Priest - Witch Doctor - Not sure how this one would work I just like the idea of a Witch Doctor spec for my Troll Priest.

I love those suggestions

[Shammyrock]

I don't want a 4th spec for every class just because we end up with shitty suggestions like Mage tanks.

That said you could make a Shaman tank work pretty well theming around earth.

There's a rogue/Hunter hybrid that could be fleshed out more than the talent hunters have.

[clevin]

I believe that more variety is good in a RPG. But i am biased towards none-competetive gameplay.

The problem with this idea (OP's that is) is that it leads to LESS variety. Quick, what's the real difference aside from superficial things like spell effects and names, between existing casters and a ranged spell casting monk or paladin? It's the same issue with adding classes. At a certain point you either steal things from one class and give them to another or you split hairs ("A necromancer isn't PRECISELY like an unholy DK because....")

It's trivial to have 2-3 characters at max level so you can easily have different characters to cover each role. Want more variety? Level more characters.

[FelPlague]

I think a 4th spec would be the way to go. I'd even go so far as to say get rid of talents so its less work to balance. 4 Specs and glyphs for spell visuals and animations should be plenty to customize your character.

My Idea's

Death Knight - Necromancer - You'd have to pull out the pets from Unholy and make that spec more about disease's and spreading those diseases. Then give Necromancer pets and ranged casting spells.

Hunter - Dark Ranger - This should be a dps DOT style spec that lets people have more of a dark ranger feel to it.

Rogue - Shadow Hunter - A Rogue spec using Polearms or throwing weapons that use black magic to damage their enemies

Shaman - Earth Warden - A Shaman Tanking spec that allows you to create earth barriers and such.

Warrior - Blade Master and Gladiator - Like your suggestion above Gladiator should be a spec. I also like the idea of Blade Master and wouldn't mind if Arms was renamed Blademaster and given some of those abilities like mirror Image

Warlock - Fel Healing Spec - Drain the life from your enemies and heal your allies. Maybe even bugs them with fel power.

Priest - Witch Doctor - Not sure how this one would work I just like the idea of a Witch Doctor spec for my Troll Priest.

yes lets change unholy AGAIN
also the dark ranger and shadow hunter sound like they would overlap with shadow spec
earth warden would be cool
the warrior one sounds fine
f...fel healing spec? wut?
would witch doctor not just be resto shammy?

[Deleted]

fourth specs yes it is a cool idea but we run into some issues on some classes

what would the DH third spec be?

There are options once you throw lore out the window. I mean if cows can be paladins, then DHs can get a proper Demonic spec which is still a melee spec. Rogues and warriors have no problems having multiple melee specs, DHs can do it too.

[Yelmurc]

yes lets change unholy AGAIN
also the dark ranger and shadow hunter sound like they would overlap with shadow spec
earth warden would be cool
the warrior one sounds fine
f...fel healing spec? wut?
would witch doctor not just be resto shammy?

Well Unholy is fine as it is but people really want a Necromancer class. I say if we are talking specs here it makes more sense just giving DK a Necromancer spec instead of having to expand it to a whole class.

The Dark Ranger and Shadow Hunter are somewhat the same I agree. But a lot of people want to be a Dark Ranger and I feel Shadow Hunter has more to do with stealth than with Ranged attacks.

The Fel healing idea is when I saw the Warcraft Movie. Thrall in that movie was born not breathing and Gul'dan sucked the life from a deer and revived Thrall with fel magic. This spec should allow you to drain enemies to fill up a magic bar then use that magic you've drained to heal and buff your party.

Witch Doctor I feel is more tilted toward shadow magic than a restoration shaman. Though like i said I have no idea how it would work.

[Maischou]

Not going to happen at that broad a level. For one, the ensuing balancing nightmare would only exasperate the already exaggerated hate on current balance. Literally, they would be adding the equivalent of four new classes should they add an extra spec to each class. Second, diversity would actually go down because you would have most roles and playstyles regardless of chosen class. Choice would matter less. Choice is important.

I'm willing to bet on Blizzard trying to work in healer/dps combos like Discipline on select classes. Namely, Monk fistweavers and Shockadin healers, possibly replacing a Mage spec with a healing variant. I haven't the slightest idea why you would want a ranged DPS spec for monks. Fistweavers were extremely popular and removed only because they couldn't work them into the mistweaver spec, a very similar argument to why gladiator stance was removed.

[FelPlague]

There are options once you throw lore out the window. I mean if cows can be paladins, then DHs can get a proper Demonic spec which is still a melee spec. Rogues and warriors have no problems having multiple melee specs, DHs can do it too.

what? demon hunters allready have a propper demonic melee spec... i am not talking about "multiple melee specs" but what would those specs be
also anyone who beleives in the light can become a paladin, why is it such a big deal that cows can be, i mean goats can be

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Well Unholy is fine as it is but people really want a Necromancer class. I say if we are talking specs here it makes more sense just giving DK a Necromancer spec instead of having to expand it to a whole class.

The Dark Ranger and Shadow Hunter are somewhat the same I agree. But a lot of people want to be a Dark Ranger and I feel Shadow Hunter has more to do with stealth than with Ranged attacks.

The Fel healing idea is when I saw the Warcraft Movie. Thrall in that movie was born not breathing and Gul'dan sucked the life from a deer and revived Thrall with fel magic. This spec should allow you to drain enemies to fill up a magic bar then use that magic you've drained to heal and buff your party.

Witch Doctor I feel is more tilted toward shadow magic than a restoration shaman. Though like i said I have no idea how it would work.

yes, a necromancer spec would be much more likely then a necromancer class, but it would need to revamp unholy again, and just after it got revamped, so i dont see this happening next expansion, maybe the one after that, because revamping it, then revamping it again?
yes you can heal people with the fel, but you cant heal light users, and it has alot of consequences for doing so
yeah witch doctor would be weird, what you are saying is you want a shadow priest healer spec?

[Deleted]

Yeah just separate the two. After we kill KJ / defeat Sargeras, DHs have an identity crisis and some give in to their demon within and stay in Meta constantly and some separate from their demonic influence and become a weapons master without ever going in meta.
Come on, this isn't such a stretch of the imagination.

[clevin]

Well Unholy is fine as it is but people really want a Necromancer class. I say if we are talking specs here it makes more sense just giving DK a Necromancer spec instead of having to expand it to a whole class.

The Dark Ranger and Shadow Hunter are somewhat the same I agree. But a lot of people want to be a Dark Ranger and I feel Shadow Hunter has more to do with stealth than with Ranged attacks.

The Fel healing idea is when I saw the Warcraft Movie. Thrall in that movie was born not breathing and Gul'dan sucked the life from a deer and revived Thrall with fel magic. This spec should allow you to drain enemies to fill up a magic bar then use that magic you've drained to heal and buff your party.

Witch Doctor I feel is more tilted toward shadow magic than a restoration shaman. Though like i said I have no idea how it would work.

Your mistake, in these arguments, is 'people want..'. Designing a game on what people want is usually a mistake that means the designer has no real vision for what their game should be. In a game with any sizable player base you can find people who want almost anything. That doesn't mean it's a good idea. Knowing when to say "no" is a vital skill for designers to learn.