Legion ww single-target dps (long-term)?

[Beingbob]

So I've always liked ww as a spec; being fun, a bit challenging, and not very RNG-dependent, but I've held off maining it because I prefer to dps and have been reluctant to pick a main with only 1 dps spec, and because it's traditionally been the master of council fights and I like being strong single-target. I understand ww is overall very strong right now although the main appeal is still AoE, but then again it looked very good at the start of WoD as well.

Is it likely that ww will continue to be strong for ST throughout Legion (factoring in that Blizz has said they won't be as quick to balance this time around due to artifact investment), or is it another case of ww always being good at the start of an expac and then falling off due to weaker scaling than other specs?

[Gib Lover]

From fresh 110 to where I'm at now (835 in mythics) I am always the top DPS with very rare exceptions. I have seen my damage steadily increase as my gear gets better, and the sims I've seen at ilevel 840 WW is still top 10 (I saw it as high as 5, as low as 7 on two different charts).

It's fair to say it will be a perfectly viable spec at least through the first raid tier.

[Babylonius]

So I've always liked ww as a spec; being fun, a bit challenging, and not very RNG-dependent, but I've held off maining it because I prefer to dps and have been reluctant to pick a main with only 1 dps spec, and because it's traditionally been the master of council fights and I like being strong single-target. I understand ww is overall very strong right now although the main appeal is still AoE, but then again it looked very good at the start of WoD as well.

Is it likely that ww will continue to be strong for ST throughout Legion (factoring in that Blizz has said they won't be as quick to balance this time around due to artifact investment), or is it another case of ww always being good at the start of an expac and then falling off due to weaker scaling than other specs?

WW didn't start Mists strong, it was relatively poor except at AOE, and got steadily better as the expansion went on. WW started Warlords as the definition of over-powered, because of huge buffs the week before. Those buffs were reverted, and then some, and WW fell toward the bottom but climbed back toward the top during BRF and HFC. The problem was that the public view of WW never recovered to match how strong WW was in the hardest fights of the expansion.

WW will be fine in single target, but its specialty is multiple targets. If you prefer a "single target first" spec, then WW isn't for you. There is also the relative volatility of having only one dps spec, as you mentioned.

No one can see the future, and a thousand things can happen between now and then, so its impossible to say anything long term.

[Beingbob]

WW didn't start Mists strong, it was relatively poor except at AOE, and got steadily better as the expansion went on. WW started Warlords as the definition of over-powered, because of huge buffs the week before. Those buffs were reverted, and then some, and WW fell toward the bottom but climbed back toward the top during BRF and HFC. The problem was that the public view of WW never recovered to match how strong WW was in the hardest fights of the expansion.

WW will be fine in single target, but its specialty is multiple targets. If you prefer a "single target first" spec, then WW isn't for you. There is also the relative volatility of having only one dps spec, as you mentioned.

No one can see the future, and a thousand things can happen between now and then, so its impossible to say anything long term.

Thanks for the great reply, that helped a lot. Feel free to delete the topic if you'd like btw, I see I should've perhaps posted in the ww sticky instead