What Spec will you be playing 5.4 and why

[TheBGreene]

The majority of the fights I will be going Affliction with some Demo sprinkled in there where its needed. I just do not think that Destro has the current tools to compete unless something major changes in the next 2 weeks, which i just don't see happening.

[Deleted]

im going to be afflic for the majority of the fights by far, it is looking much stronger than the other specs atm but it is early to tell tbh, a lot can change from now and until the release of 5.4.

[Ccrraasshh]

I'm hoping destro gets some buffs because i didn't play it at all this tier which sucks. I guess we'll see, plenty of time left

[Bonkura]

I'll be trying all specs on most encounters first week of normals. I don't really care what spec I'm playing but I'm hoping Demo will be strong because of its mobility.

[Ravoks]

To answer the question; I'll play whatever spec is demanded for the fight for progression.

However, I'd rather play Destruction.

[Hatelocker]

Assuming they make destruction viable I am hoping to run affliction/destruction. My hope is that with the change that haste no longer causes rppm trinkets to proc more often will hurt its relative value. This way I can gem straight mastery for both specs and just reforge for mastery>haste>crit and perhaps have to do some small changes to reach an important haste breakpoint (my guess right now is 9778 for when I go affliction). I haven't seen any 5.4 math yet but that's my pipe dream.

[Werst]

Destro has few pros other than being straight forward. AoE it suffers due to MF only working on RoF not F&B. Its set bonuses scale poorly (ICD on ember filling up crit buff...long RNG odds on the conflag crit). Its about even vs aff for working well with trinkets. Execute range aff or demo will win, especially with that soulfire damage bonus. Starting burst aff typically wins with demo not far behind if its svc grim'd. My feeling is 2x target demo still wins sustained though the havoc glyph will make for strong cleave burst. Right now the strongest thing I see about destro, even IF it gets fixed (and that's a big IF), is that it would offspec from demo with similar itemization.

Demo with a crit build has numbers (presuming they fix the CW bug of the T16 set) but has problems with T16 trinket interaction while the T15 ones are faceplanting. The inherent mobility will give demo a big edge over aff in terms of not wanting KJC the way aff does. Demo has solid control over when it uses its damage moreso than destro/aff which seems to be another "not on paper" advantage. The soulfire set bonus will make demo execute as hard or harder than affliction. AoE will be strong with MF if the encounter calls for it and far more mobile AoE than affliction.

Aff has numbers no doubt. Its itemization is straight forward. Even with minimal crit you have nearly full uptime on the set bonus though the haunt one feels like an afterthought. A higher haste aff with HL will have very strong survival in pve....not so much pvp due to channeling being a bigger lie than the cake. Aff opens hard, executes hard, and has a affdots minigame lol. The soulswap change makes multi target short duration damage easier to do. MF + seed is decent though I'd still probably go demo for any aoe centric fight unless being in aoe range was risky. Aff can use the cleave or multistrike trinkets easier since it doesn't rely on pet damage (guardian) like demo does. Only real downside is that by my understanding it will not be compatible with demo in terms of itemization.

I'm not fretting too much though I groan a little still blowing a coin weekly on meg/council for hydra/wush that don't exist for us. If we can get 2x specs that share itemization well enough we don't have to regem constantly (I can live with reforge) that would be nice. I doubt any one spec will be the "everyfight" spec. Obviously as a progression raider I will run what is strongest. In the terms of a bad commercial:

"As a progression raider I don't get to choose what I play often but when I do I prefer ________"

[xskarma]

I always play Affliction if I can, and with it looking good for 5.4 at the moment I don't see a reason to not play it as my main spec. Offspec is a harder point. I've not been very succesful at my Demo play attempts, I like the spec, but it's been 50/50 that I still do better in Affliction, even if the fight is more Demo friendly. So I'd rather have a Destro off spec.

I'm not pessimistic about a Destro buff yet, but it's been annoyingly long in the making, that's for sure. If in the end it doesn't happen, then I'll likely switch to Demo off spec, though god knows how I'll do in that with my Affliction gear. Maybe between my less then stellar Demo play and Destro's alignment with Mastery Affli build will mean I'll still keep Destro, even without buffs.

No idea if I'll actually use Destro in that case then though. =/

[Elise the Seeker]

Afflic/Demo till they give us a compensation for rain of fire.

[iru]

Mainspec will be affliction, seems like it will be strong (for now) and I like it the most anyway. It should also feel better with the changes between dot damage and MG/DS.

Going with destro offspec, still hoping for some buffs for it. Might have some problems with the different stat weights between affli/destro but I'll probably only use destro on quests and timeless isle and something else and affli for raids.

Not touching demo cause it's just an awful spec

[varren]

Probably Aff since a lot of the fights seem to have low-medium health adds which Aff seems to excels at with the new Soul Swap (destro too but its numbers are just too low atm).

UVLS Demo too RNG now with new RPPM change and no EA glyph to be viable for progression IMO. Maybe Crit demo will be OK after numbers pass but Aff is still better at killing adds faster (which it seems almost every fight has).

[Ccrraasshh]

Bump - Has your mind changed now that patch is coming out tonight?

[valax]

Mainly Blood DK as i am the guild's main tank but this time around i'll have to cycle with others in flex mode so yeah i'll get even the offspec to kick ass

[Deleted]

Bump - Has your mind changed now that patch is coming out tonight?

I actually see no reason to even have an off-spec currently if you main Affliction. I think it looks simply the strongest on every single fight. Of course there might be unexpected things on Garrosh heroic, just like on Raden Destruction was suddenly amazing because of its unusual mechanic with the Essence of Anima.

[Deleted]

To answer the question; I'll play whatever spec is demanded for the fight for progression.

true for me

[rijn dael]

Whatever gets me bosses dead in minimum /facedesk'ing.

That said, I am specced affi-destro, and reforged for 13737haste for wednesday, as I didn't find much on ptr where I would choose demo over affi. Will vary as I see results.

[Goretex]

I've been lvling my lock got him to 89 before server shutdown lol. I like destro's damage but demo's playstyle is just way more fun, it's too bad demo's damage isn't all that great. I haven't even touched Aff yet.

[Deleted]

I will be switching from Guardian mainspec to offspec, and from Feral to Balance as DPS-spec since we dont have no boomkins in raid atm. Still only 519 in Boomkin-gear but will be feral until I've collected enough gear for it.

[Deleted]

i understand why people in HC guilds wants the "best" spec, to make sure that the guilds progress. I also understand that most people like to be the "best deepeeesssss" and that is the way they have the most fun. For me, i allways goes with the spec i like the best, unless its horrible on all fights. Im ok with doing medium dps ( only playes LFR since i dont have the time to be a real raider anymore; 2 kids, 1 wife, 1 fulltime job)
so when i play, ill just have as much fun as possible

[Yubarl]

Affliction has always been my spec. So I'll be sticking to that... Also some of the current changes sound pretty amazing. I can't wait to try them in arenas.