Universal gearing (What if you had the power)

[Ardae]

what about this idea. Give each class in each spec multiple different main stats. Instead of making us feel cookie cutter and stuck in this BiS mindset, give us to power to customize or character how we feel fit. Take out specializations and make us think a little. Remember back in the day when hunters used to roll on everything... because everything was viable? make more classes like that it makes the game feel like you actually have to do some number crunching to be good.

EX
Bears- Agility increases crit and dodge, strength increases AP (with a multiplier) and hit. Int suddenly becomes a mitigation stat because it increases the amount of healing done to you and spirit provides Hp5 with a DR.
Holy pallys- you want a piece of cloth gear? well sure! you can totally use it, I mean after all its got the right stats and technically speaking your role is not going to make cloth any less beneficial than any other piece of gear.
DK tank- see that sexy piece of leather gear? well its a hell of a lot lighter than your bulky plate... why not trade it out and take a hit with your damage reduction over physical damage but in the mean time maybe your mitigation will go up due to your new found maneuverability!
Basically you would see a trickle down effect with gear, it might mean a bit more cloth gear on the other end of the spectrum but that's ok. Oh and while we are at it give me the ability to put the points back in the trees how I want them.

TL;DR THe universal gearing idea has just as much probability to fail as it does to succeed. People don't always want to be made to think for their class. But if this went into effect it would lead to a restructuring of talent trees and a lot less complaining when it comes to balance issues. Its a theory crafters dream and a casuals nightmare.
Please be constructive with responses... this is just my idea and its really not worth your time to flame something that we will never see implemented... it just makes you look angry and nullifys your response.

[Twilightdawn]

So like vanilla, BC, but not just for dps and heals and it won't make much sense?

[Ardae]

more along the lines on vanilla but more like if they developed the idea and nurtured it. Oh, and healing and dps could totally get props from it. Like I said it would require restructuring of classes but totally doable.

[underdogba]

The problem with this overall idea is that it's generally mathematically impossible not to inadvertedly (or advertedly) create a situation where certain configurations become totally mandatory for maximum performance, thus crowding out any other choices, which puts us in a situation just as arbitrary as we are today.

For example, take your DK tank idea. Suppose it turns out that the avoidance gained by wearing leather provided more average damage reduction than the armor inherent to wearing plate. Then suddenly wearing all leather becomes mandatory, and the only thing that you've done is create numerous new ways for players to "do it wrong". while gearing for performance is still just as restrictive.

The robustness of systems your idea would require to create non-trivial outcomes is probably beyond the capabilities of the dev team. Right now they can't even accomplish that with a handful of secondary stats per spec.

[Ardae]

The problem with this overall idea is that it's generally mathematically impossible not to inadvertedly (or advertedly) create a situation where certain configurations become totally mandatory for maximum performance, thus crowding out any other choices, which puts us in a situation just as arbitrary as we are today.

that would hold true for the most part but what if mechanics in/of fights called for a variation of these classes. one fight would be super physical based and one would be spell based. one might require alot fo dadge where on might require parry to stack a cool debuff. i see where you are comming from and it makes sense but we are assuming the everyone will blindly follow what tehy are told to do or see to be effective. (which in many cases is true)

[parkerlynne]

Or if once again non cloth healers like the stats on cloth better then there will be an insane amount of people rolling on the cloth gear. I'll use my 25m as an example: 1 holy pally, 1 resto shaman, 2 resto druids, 5 priests, 4 mages, 1 warlock all wanting some cloth gloves because of the ideal stats on it. That is 14 people who could 'conceivably' want a certain item.

Your idea sounds like everything before the end of wrath when they added in specializations to keep people in their armor class. Plate was the only safe class to play, anything below it was liable to have heavy competition trickle down. It also is unfair to those at the bottom, casters especially. There is no way that agility/strength could ever be morphed into something helpful for them whereas you'd like to make leather/mail/plate interchangeable and that once again only reallllly benefits the plate wearers and to some extent mail wearers since leather bound people (here's lookin at you rogues and kitties) have only leather and no other options to get their needed stats but would be gaining competition on their gear from the higher armor classes.