Do you chase that Meta Rainbow?

[Great Destiny Man]

Boils down to whether fun the class is fun to play and whether it performs well. If it's only meeting one of those conditions there's a bit of leeway, otherwise it's time for a reroll.

Right now I'm about 80% convinced I'll end up rerolling for SL (as the spec I want to play feels clunky as shit) but it's entirely dependant on what tuning happens. Gearing up a secondary character alongside my main feels like the safest option right now.

[Krimzin]

Gotta chase that neon rainbow.

lol was thinking that when I posted it

[Tesshin83]

The "meta" in WoW is just people copying what people see the top players doing.

No reason to chase that.
Play what you love and do it well.

The game isn't tuned to be hard enough to stop you.

Well said.

[Biomega]

Yes and no.

I don't like playing certain classes, especially plate melee. But among the classes I do like, I will very often choose to main the one that is currently performing the best.

[javierdsv]

Played Enhance shaman since BC so no, I chase something different.

Lol, right in the feels.

[vulfrika]

Do you chase good graphics, high fps and fast & stable internet?
Same answer: playing a vastly inferior build in an online game takes enjoyment away from the game the same way bad graphics or lag does.

[Trumpcat]

I play the best performing spec of my main class (Mage), but I don't switch classes chasing whatever is fotm.

In that regard I chase the meta - aiming to squeeze the best of my class that's been my main since vanilla.

[Krimzin]

Do you chase good graphics, high fps and fast & stable internet?
Same answer: playing a vastly inferior build in an online game takes enjoyment away from the game the same way bad graphics or lag does.

This is the typical meta player answer. Your self worth as a player is based solely on your DPS. If you cant be top dps you feel like you are not a good player.
Your enjoyment is solely based on beating other players on DPS meters.

[Tyris Flare]

This is the typical meta player answer. Your self worth as a player is based solely on your DPS. If you cant be top dps you feel like you are not a good player.
Your enjoyment is solely based on beating other players on DPS meters.

Not necessarily that you aren't a good player, but that you are being carried which feels awful.

I actually wish more people were self-aware enough to realize how much they are sandbagging, heh

(note, that does not mean changing spec with the wind, just trying to put in that extra effort)

[Unholyground]

lol was thinking that when I posted it

I grew up in the country so country was on all the time haha.

[Zantera]

No and I do my best to avoid meta-players because I dislike that notion.

[Tradu]

This is the typical meta player answer. Your self worth as a player is based solely on your DPS. If you cant be top dps you feel like you are not a good player.
Your enjoyment is solely based on beating other players on DPS meters.

No, on being as useful as I can be to my guild. My competition in terms of DPS is all the other people playing the same spec, so there's no advantage there.

[Wries]

I would like not to care for meta but ever since Ion hit his head and prior to BFA announced that "you knoo whaa, maybe sometimems you should bring the class before the player" they design the classes in a more unique way for every patch to the point where thinking about meta has started to feel pretty important.

Sure you could push score/rating with non-meta and be happy that you're still facing a challenge albeit in lower brackets. But yeah.. lower score, lower rating, it's not that fun.

Then there are those funny people who play something decidedly non-meta, usually never-rerollers, and then they get pretty far and go "look I could do it", neglecting that the rest of the team simply had to make their class choices _around_ their stubborness. But I digress because mainly I'd want to blame the design team catering to "classes feel less unique if so" which was such a non-issue of expansions past.

[tehealadin]

Not necessarily that you aren't a good player, but that you are being carried which feels awful.

I actually wish more people were self-aware enough to realize how much they are sandbagging, heh

(note, that does not mean changing spec with the wind, just trying to put in that extra effort)

By that logic though, 2 dpsers get carried, only 1 carries their weight, no matter how tight it is.

I mean I'd take the point if you mean being miles behind the others, barely able to beat the tank. Though that would almost certainly be a skill/gearing issue, not a spec issue, at least in most cases.

When I do M+ on my boomy, I rarely top the meters overall. Usually top em on boss fights, rarely on trash pulls. However interrupts and other utility imo make up for it, I've saved a few wipes with a well placed treant spawn, a well timed typhoon or a quick BR. However when I don't top them, I am never a million miles off of the top. I would certainly refute the suggestion that I'd just been carried and made no meaningful contribution. My io isn't amazing, 2.3k, however it isn't shit either, best I've timed is an 18 (yea, I know it isn't a 28), however despite what many will say, it is pretty darn hard to carry someone to a timed +18, in most runs you need everyone firing on full.

And in raids I am usually in the top 3 in my guild, details usually gives different numbers so it can be hard to be sure who tops it.

[Boricha]

I've always had a desire to both feel optimized and become good at the games I play. I don't like being a burden on other players, and trivial content becomes boring very quickly for me. That said, I do look for classes/specs that are both strong and fun. I won't play a boring spec just because it's good.

[Mashingspoon]

I dabble in every class basically, but I've mained a warrior for 12 years and I don't plan on stopping. I do really enjoy a lot of classes and I struggle to find the time to play a lot of them, I really wish they'd stop with ten million systems per expansion so I can just get gear and go in on my Unholy dk, warlock, Prot/holy pally, survival hunter, and ele/resto shaman. I miss wotlk

[munkeyinorbit]

Are you the type of player who always plays whatever the top spec is, regardless of whether you like it or not. Is being in the top DPS a huge concern to you? I play pretty much all dps classes and bounce between multiple in any given expansion. I still always have my favorites and usually at least one is the current meta. In BFA, I played a Havok DH. It had solid damage but holy hell was is boring to play. A drunk one arm leprechaun could be top dps with a Havok DH, but I just couldn't play for long, kept nodding off . I kept going back to Fury and WW monk.

Will all that said and since they are changing top specs so fast on almost a daily basis, how are you choosing a main?

You must be doing casual content. If you played meta why would you play DH?

I play hunter and one other since the boosts come out. The boosted character has been ele, mage and lock. All my alts are max level and I have no boost so I'm still undecided.

- - - Updated - - -

Nope. But performance goes hand in hand with my enjoyment though. I'm perfectly happy with mage and it would take quite a lot for me to move from it. Then again I also hate arcane with a passion so even if it's top dps I won't touch it unless ofc the difference is too big to ignore.

Same reason why I don't grind regardless. I like gaining power but mindless grinding is something I won't do and I managed perfectly fine in BFA even if people claimed the grind was mandatory.

Some people also claim that the earth is flat. I'm with you. I play what I like. That's why I only play BM hunter now. I've played BM exclusively for a hunter since Legion. The same I've only played ele, arcane and destruction. As long as I find them fun I'll stick to them.

[MoanaLisa]

No, I'm not.

[Xosimos]

I always just play what I like. As long as my DPS isn't shit, I'm fine with whatever.

[Niratias]

I've played almost all the different classes during different expansions.
Vanilla-Cata: Rogue, Warrior, Shaman
MoP: Monk, Mage
WoD-Legion: Paladin
BfA: Demon Hunter, Druid, Hunter

Only 3 classes left, Warlock, Death Knight and Priest. I plan on playing all 3 in Shadowlands, regardless of what the meta says.