Originally Posted by
aere1985
That's partially true. Each of the 3 specs had it's moment in the limelight in WoD with some overlap. Some of that was due to scaling, some to do with buffs/nerfs/"fixes" and also tier set bonuses had a big impact.
In HFC MM was King in most fights, BM was very strong in 1, maybe 2 depending on your raid setup. Most of the reason for this was that the fights played to MM's strengths (single-target burst).
SV was competitive until it was broken by 6.2 (Multistrike affecting Serpent Sting & Serpent Sting losing the initial big tick with a Multi-Shot), clearly to move people away from playing it to pave the way for Melee SV, a rather cynical approach to the issue but I can understand why they did it, doesn't mean it was right though.
What a lot of these threads about Melee SV boil down to is that many people liked the old SV and are sad to see it gone. They also clearly feel that the new MM and BM don't fill the niche that they have lost in SV (fully mobile, DoT-based, pet-user but not pet-reliant). I hope I'm not mis-representing their views here (since these views are not my own), I'm just attempting to paraphrase the views I have seen.
I also believe I am right in saying that if MM (the marginally closer of BM & MM to 6.1 SV) could achieve a similar playstyle via talent selection (and not be sub-par as a result of these choices) then the need would be met since (I hope) it is not simply the name of the spec that matters but they playstyle.
This appears to have been somewhat the design intent in Legion, with Black Arrow, Lock 'n' Load & Explosive Shot (albeit with a lot of re-design) all part of MM talents now. Sidewinders also has a distinctly 6.X SV feel to it's design too. What all of this tells me is not that SV has been a failure but that MM & BM have been.
BM is widely derided (rightly imo) as un-engaging, lacking in complexity & with acres of boring downtime. It might meet some of the designer's intentions regarding class fantasy but fails spectacularly from a playstyle perspective.
MM, if I am right about design intent, was meant to play like old MM or old SV depending on talent selection but talent choice is simply not a thing in MM at the moment and even if it was, they haven't done a good job of capturing either but especially not with regards to 6.X SV.
To summarise, I think the design intentions were;
1. Keep BM mostly as it is
2. Make MM play somewhat like old MM or old SV based on talent choices
3. Create new Melee SV
Essentially 4 specs in 3. It didn't work for Feral hence Guardian. It didn't work for Gladiator Prot warrior (well, it did before nerfbat).
It feels like part 3 is the only bit they got right albeit with a lot of bugs & new-spec teething problems.