Best thing about Classic = Suboptimal Specs are fine

[Nomads]

I see a lot of people here worrying about suboptimal specs and what-not, but I honestly don't think it's going to be a big issue in Classic.

One thing I'm looking forward to is since it is a finite game, meaning there will eventually be no progression, people will care less and less about whether someone is super, number-crunched, optimal spec to bring to a raid because 1)Most people will eventually out-gear the raids and just continue running them for the rep, off-spec pieces, or that one item they missed, and 2)People will eventually know the mechanics of every boss fight like the back of their hands, so they can do them with sub-optimal specs and gear.

Sure, at the start, when everyone is trying to rush through the content first and gear up, they will want only the optimal specs, but eventually Boomkins, Shadowpriests, Bear tanks, Pally tanks, cat dps, BM hunters, ret dps, arms dps, etc doing all this stuff.

Eventually the pressure to be at break-neck progression level will be gone entirely. People will be able to play the game how Blizzard probably originally planned it to be played.

[Clozer]

You are so wrong mate. You can complete nearly any content with any class in current wow but people still only invite fotm classes.

And in classic there was no balance at all. You won't see any spot if you play a shit spec. Just get over it. It's the way it will be.

[Necroxis]

Any spec is fine, even now. Nobody is telling you what to play unless you're doing end game.

Which was the same as Vanilla.

Be a boomkin or a dps warrior all you want. You're probably not going to get many guilds who want to run BWL/AQ seriously to let you join them (Since people will very quickly be able to determine how bad they are comparatively), but do what you will.

I'm also not sure why you think people aren't going to rush to get to 60 and start getting their .5 sets asap.

[PaladinBash]

Those specs have to suck and have to be hated by everyone for the true experience. I'd suffer through YEARS of that again for the Day of Ret in Patch 3.0 so these kids that talk about how shit Ret is now can understand the true terrible nature of the spec and how satisfying it felt to dunk on shitties with it.

[Erwarth]

Try bringing a fire mage to Molten Core and say that again

[bloodykiller86]

haha no

/10char

[Nomads]

Any spec is fine, even now. Nobody is telling you what to play unless you're doing end game.

Which was the same as Vanilla.

Be a boomkin or a dps warrior all you want. You're probably not going to get many guilds who want to run BWL/AQ seriously to let you join them (Since people will very quickly be able to determine how bad they are comparatively), but do what you will.

I'm also not sure why you think people aren't going to rush to get to 60 and start getting their .5 sets asap.

You're assuming 0.5 sets will even be in at launch. They weren't added until almost Naxx in Vanilla WoW. But on another note, I'm not sure what getting 0.5 sets has to do with sub optimal specs.

[Charge me Doctor]

It's not exclusive to classic, suboptimal specs are fine indeed, it's players who act retarded over stuff like that, and in classic you'll have the very same players. But there are more variables to this, if classic will have low population there will not be much to pick from. Difference between "optimal" and "suboptimal" depends on content you are doing. There are many things to consider - but bottom line is, playing sub-optimally being fine is not exclusive to classic wow, it is (and was) always like this. It's just players put their expectations from others way higher than it used to be

[Necroxis]

You're assuming 0.5 sets will even be in at launch. They weren't added until almost Naxx in Vanilla WoW. But on another note, I'm not sure what getting 0.5 sets has to do with sub optimal specs.

...because Classic WoW is using patch 1.12 as its base, which is the last major patch before BC and after Naxx was released.

I brought up the sets because for some reason you seem to think people aren't going to be rushing to get to the end of the game based on the end of your post.

[Gardoc]

You are so wrong mate. You can complete nearly any content with any class in current wow but people still only invite fotm classes.

And in classic there was no balance at all. You won't see any spot if you play a shit spec. Just get over it. It's the way it will be.

Enjoy your elitist guild full of toxic people, but stop spreading misinformation. My experience from retail and private server is completely different, when I got invited to my first raid, I was fresh max level. I didn't have any build, I just put points in talents I liked. My friend got invited even though he wasn't even max level yet, he dinged while the raid was forming. Vanilla raids are for 40 people, they can bring suboptimal specs and it won't be a problem. Some people still play this game to have fun.

[Nomads]

...because Classic WoW is using patch 1.12 as its base, which is the last major patch before BC and after Naxx was released.

I brought up the sets because for some reason you seem to think people aren't going to be rushing to get to the end of the game based on the end of your post.

Nope try reading again. In no way was that even implied in my post.

Also, 1.12 doesn't mean all content will be released. They could very well do progressive release of content on the 1.12 patch (itemization and talents being 1.12, but only MC in the game). This is what all the private servers have been doing since Nost.

[quite an expert in wow]

Enjoy your elitist guild full of toxic people, but stop spreading misinformation. My experience from retail and private server is completely different, when I got invited to my first raid, I was fresh max level. I didn't have any build, I just put points in talents I liked. My friend got invited even though he wasn't even max level yet, he dinged while the raid was forming. Vanilla raids are for 40 people, they can bring suboptimal specs and it won't be a problem. Some people still play this game to have fun.

Can we for once stop by saying that people that play a game in a more effecient way, are not having fun? Just because you refuse to put any effort into anything, doesn't mean you're having more fun. Honestly, you're just a tool in my books. Why half-ass and get the least out of it?

Anyways, nobody can predict the future but back in the days for the casual guilds you could play most specs. Those guilds were also stuck on the same Molten Core bosses for months though. The more serious guilds thought more about what comp would be better. Something that's only reasonable and only to blame the developers for not making each spec useful in some way.

[Nitros14]

Try bringing a fire mage to Molten Core and say that again

No such thing as Fire Mage. There's just Mage in classic. You can spec to make your fire spells more effective but any mage can cast Frostbolt.

[Gardoc]

Can we for once stop by saying that people that play a game in a more effecient way, are not having fun? Just because you refuse to put any effort into anything, doesn't mean you're having more fun. Honestly, you're just a tool in my books. Why half-ass and get the least out of it?

Anyways, nobody can predict the future but back in the days for the casual guilds you could play most specs. Those guilds were also stuck on the same Molten Core bosses for months though. The more serious guilds thought more about what comp would be better. Something that's only reasonable and only to blame the developers for not making each spec useful in some way.

I'm not saying people who play this game seriously are not having fun. But these people don't usually go on forums to tell people they will never get invited to raid no matter what.

[Kynario]

They were in 2004/2005.

Good luck coming back into the game with many people having a 2019 elitist mentality. :/ They won't allow it.

[Moonsorrow]

Any spec is fine, even now. Nobody is telling you what to play unless you're doing end game.

Which was the same as Vanilla.

Be a boomkin or a dps warrior all you want. You're probably not going to get many guilds who want to run BWL/AQ seriously to let you join them (Since people will very quickly be able to determine how bad they are comparatively), but do what you will.

I'm also not sure why you think people aren't going to rush to get to 60 and start getting their .5 sets asap.

Sorry mate, disqualified. I agree with you that boomkin was weak, but Fury Warrior happend to be one of the best DD in late AQ/Naxx gear only capped by the threat your tank can generate. And in difference to today the amount of tanks necessary for certain bosses varied very much, so you had lots of warriors that were only used to tank certain bosses and had to do damage the rest of the time. In addition, while leveling it is defenitely easier to tank as weapon or fury warrior with just a few points in def...

[Erwarth]

No such thing as Fire Mage. There's just Mage in classic. You can spec to make your fire spells more effective but any mage can cast Frostbolt.

Try bringing a 17/31/3 Mage to MC over a 0/20/31 and say that again.

[Super Kami Dende]

I raided up to 4Horsemen as Ret in Vanilla. Not all Guilds are full of elitists.

[Gungnir]

You can definitely bring some suboptimal specs with you if they bring good utility or overall buffs.
You can for example bring a Ret paladin or Enhance shaman granted they have the Nightfall axe and the other class-based utilities they have.

Ele shaman and Boomkin are the two I'd be a bit hardpressed to find a good fit for as they have a lot of problems in LONGER raid fights.
Sure boomkin brings 3% crit, so I suppose you might bring one for the harder DPS checks in Naxx and drop him in the fire mage group.. but Ele does have to compete with Enhance that'll just be overall more efficient, do more damage and debuff the boss with Nightfall.

[Gangresnake]

Reality check : Suboptimal specs were "ok" because people were clueless about what's good and what's not, pretty much no one knew what was optimal and the content was piss-easy anyway so a lot of leeway was allowed

When the playerbase of 2018 get their hand on Classic server you can bet your ass the optimal specs will be theorycrafted, simcrafted, and figured out in a week