Ranged DPS - where to find them?

[Deleted]

I really dont remember this shortage of ranged dps before wod, apart from hunters maybe.
In other expansions, there was mostly problems with recruiting healers, sometimes tanks.
On my server, guilds mostly need range dps, sometimes an odd healer.
So, whats with people dont want to play ranged dps? Whats changed?

[des1234]

As follows:
1. start Fresh BRF group on a tuesday
2. Beat them down with a stick as you have 30 dps queueing for your "Need Healers & Tanks then g2g" group

[Advent]

Let me try to summarize it here. Blizzard made an entire expansion where they took away mobility tools from ALL range dps specs except hunters. A lot of those players probably don't like that fact that, essentially, popular and engaging gameplay ENDS for range dps whenever you have to move.

[L3fty]

Let me try to summarize it here. Blizzard made an entire expansion where they took away mobility tools from ALL range dps specs except hunters. A lot of those players probably don't like that fact that, essentially, popular and engaging gameplay ENDS for range dps whenever you have to move.

Yeah, as much as I don't want to agree, I do. I recently began playing my ele shaman more often and I can honestly say hanz+franz mythic made me want to gouge my eyes out. Being able to cast lightning bolt on the move was a fundamental part of the class/spec and without that it feels so_stop_and_start. Literally on the 'stamper phase' I pretty much gave up trying to DPS and just survived.

It is very dissatisfying playing ranged classes that require repeated movement. Watching your toon stutter and limp around the boss just to squeeze off casts can be the deal breaker. Perhaps that is why you are finding it harder. WoD for ranged has been quite rough. Then again, perhaps melee deserve their time to shine given that MoP was World of Rangedcraft (lolwarlocks).

[NoClueWhatToDo]

Yeah, as much as I don't want to agree, I do. I recently began playing my ele shaman more often and I can honestly say hanz+franz mythic made me want to gouge my eyes out. Being able to cast lightning bolt on the move was a fundamental part of the class/spec and without that it feels so_stop_and_start. Literally on the 'stamper phase' I pretty much gave up trying to DPS and just survived.

It is very dissatisfying playing ranged classes that require repeated movement. Watching your toon stutter and limp around the boss just to squeeze off casts can be the deal breaker. Perhaps that is why you are finding it harder. WoD for ranged has been quite rough. Then again, perhaps melee deserve their time to shine given that MoP was World of Rangedcraft (lolwarlocks).

You know you can stand in between belts and still avoid stampers, pop tarts? Stamper going to drop on the right belt? Slightly move to the left and it doesn't hit you. Very little movement in that fight if done correctly.. Unless you are talking mythic.

[L3fty]

You know you can stand in between belts and still avoid stampers, pop tarts? Stamper going to drop on the right belt? Slightly move to the left and it doesn't hit you. Very little movement in that fight if done correctly.. Unless you are talking mythic.

Yeah, was talking about Mythic

[BergErr]

Probably all taken because none wants melee.
Our melees have already been told to get ranged alts.

[Liandryl]

I personally went from my feral to my mage because I wanted to play my mage and the group needed 1 and yes I love my mage, but the melee have almost nothing to worry about other than dps on most fight. The best example would be hans and franz for me. With my mage, it took some time to get used to the move you gotta do which are not that bad if rng isnt your enemy on this fight, but with my rogue did I even care about such a thing ? not even close.. I just ran all around and kept following the boss no problem, it was easy and even fun, which it is not as much on my mage for this type of fight.

[wink-]

There really is no reason to have any other ranged classes besides hunters. They can bring all the buffs, they have the best T17 4pc, they can bring lust. They can skip a lot of mechanics thanks to deterrence. We run 4 hunters in our 18 man. Obviously you need 1 lock for summons, but I am going to have our elemental shaman and 2 mages roll hunters as well. Once we get everything on farm and out gear the content, we'll switch up for sanity.

[BergErr]

There really is no reason to have any other ranged classes besides hunters. They can bring all the buffs, they have the best T17 4pc, they can bring lust. They can skip a lot of mechanics thanks to deterrence. We run 4 hunters in our 18 man. Obviously you need 1 lock for summons, but I am going to have our elemental shaman and 2 mages roll hunters as well. Once we get everything on farm and out gear the content, we'll switch up for sanity.

Why would u have mages go to a class that performs worse in almost every aspect?

Stack locks and mages, win game.

[Pyrophobia]

Why would u have mages go to a class that performs worse in almost every aspect?

Stack locks and mages, win game.

And then why do you think world first guilds stacked boomkins and hunters as oposed to mages and warlocks ?
Maybe they should follow your advice.

[Linesk]

I noticed a HUGE surge of warriors with WoD. Might partially be due to people wanting to play a class that fits in with the xpac. Also, warriors were really amazing when Warlords dropped, so that might account for some ranged switching over as well.

My raid group alone went from being mostly hunters and mages to being mostly hunters and warriors, ha.

[Saybel]

And then why do you think world first guilds stacked boomkins and hunters as oposed to mages and warlocks ?
Maybe they should follow your advice.

I'm pretty sure WF Blackhand kill had Mages and Warlocks. 2 of each if I recall correctly.

[BergErr]

And then why do you think world first guilds stacked boomkins and hunters as oposed to mages and warlocks ?
Maybe they should follow your advice.

They probably had their reasons. That was 1month+ ago though.

Most kills still had atleast 2 mages and warlocks.

[Sard]

Let's see...
1) thousands of 10 man SOO guilds now trying to become mythic 20 man guilds. You already have your 2 tanks, need 1 or 2 more healers but have to go from 5 dps to 13-14.
2) a year of SOO lfr making it clear that playing a pure dps who must sit in hours long dps queues sucks.
3) no more mobility for mages/locks/other non hunter ranged.

Of course there are not enough mages and warlocks.

[Kelathos]

Personally... I love Death Knight.

But in SOO we nearly had 100% melee dps. For my guild's sake, I switched to Boomkin. If there wasn't a need for ranged, I'd switch back to playing the class I actually love. Nothing replaces being able to dps on the move... AND the insane burst damage. It's a personal loss to not play a melee class.

Melee is more fun!

[nightfalls]

If anything I feel it's because melee are unusually bad this raid versus even Highmaul.

So guilds all want a mostly ranged roster. End result is that most range will have a guild, so it's going to be harder to find them. Not a question of supply changing, just now demand is unusually high so you get a shortage.

[goblingirl]

I really dont remember this shortage of ranged dps before wod, apart from hunters maybe.
In other expansions, there was mostly problems with recruiting healers, sometimes tanks.
On my server, guilds mostly need range dps, sometimes an odd healer.
So, whats with people dont want to play ranged dps? Whats changed?

This happened because they changed raid sizes.

In MoP, you did heroic raids with 10 people (at least, that's how the majority of guilds did it, there weren't that many 25 man raiding guilds left). That required 2 tanks, 2 full time healers, one healer/dps switcher, and 5 straight up dps.

Now, you do mythic raids with 20 people. That requires 2-3 tanks, 5-6 healers, and 12-14 dps.

Roughly the same number of tanks are needed as before, even though end game raid party size is doubled. Tanks are now in oversupply at the mythic level, leaving the player to change to healer/dps.

Roughly twice as many healers per tank are required as before, since the same 2 tanks can carry 5-6 healers now instead of 2-3. This seems to be working out okay, since there were enough healers via consolidation to take up the slack.

Roughly 2.5 to 3 times as many dps per tank are required as before, since the same 2 tanks can carry 12-14 dps now instead of 5. At mythic level there is definitely currently an undersupply of dps in general, and especially of ranged dps.

Eventually, probably by late in 6.2, this will all equalize out as people reselect roles and/or change characters/classes to find a spot they like to play. However, we're not quite there yet, as evidenced by the heavy dps recruiting going on. Unfortunately, Blizzard is likely to change things AGAIN for the next expansion, because they can't ever seem to let the community settle and leave well enough alone.

[TheWindWalker]

Roughly the same number of tanks are needed as before, even though end game raid party size is doubled. Tanks are now in oversupply at the mythic level, leaving the player to change to healer/dps.

It should also be noted that out of five tanking classes only Druids have access to a ranged spec. Two of the six healing specs have no ranged spec, either. If someone tanks/heals as a Paladin or Monk, they'd have to start over and go through Pug Hell to get a ~heroic geared ranged toon ready after abandoning their non-ranged class.

Homogenization panic aside, I really think every tank class should have a ranged spec if only to make the entire class more attractive.

[Tyze]

There is aloooot of Hunters now. I mean, alot.

Healers is bigger problem imo.