Blizzard says that Dracthyr Evoker COULD get a third spec, but it won't be a tank....

[Selah]

I'd argue that if they're going to get a third spec then they should probably do a 3rd spec for DH at the same time because that class does have seniority.

[Ghanir]

TL;DR having more options when it comes to any given role, tank or otherwise, does indeed impact whether you'll see non-traditional X-role players pick up X-spec, at least casually.


Across all the expansions I've played I've primarily played Retri Paladin and a little Holy Paladin.. until Legion where I completely swapped out my main to Druid and kept my paladin to the bare minimum (reaching max lvl and checking out order hall campaign).
During BFA I decided to actually have 2 playable characters at max lvl and besides my Druid being my main I picked up Demon Hunter as my alt, and I very much played tank on it even though I primarily played dps.

The reason for this is because back when I played Paladin nothing about the protection tree drew me in (doesn't help it just wasn't good in vanilla/tbc in most peoples eyes, or so was the perception at least), and when I swapped to Druid I swapped to it primarily to change from having played Retribution (melee dps) for so long I wanted to go back to healing and the Druid had been on my mind for several expansions at that point.
I picked up Balance as my back-up since dps'ing is always nice and relaxing in comparison to healing (imo) and so I now covered 2 of the 4 roles available (I tried Feral as well as Guardian and none of them clicked with me).

The reason I picked up Demon Hunter was because of how fun they looked to play, and after leveling it up in BFA I decided to have it as my primary alt instead of the Paladin, and while I didn't have any particular interest in tanking after testing it out it actually felt fun to play and I happily swapped to tanking on my Demon Hunter when needed (and some times purely because it felt fun to play).

So saying that adding additional tank-specs won't change the amount of tank players, or people willing to tank, is absolutely false.


Going back on the topic about people wanting the Evoker to get a 3rd spec as tank I have slowly shifted my interest about the Evoker itself getting a 3rd spec and am more interested in Blizz introducing a 2nd Class to the Dracthyr (Dragon Knight or w/e the name doesn't matter at this point) being the in-your-face, mighty and stalwart knight to the cunning, meager-but-deadly Evoker.

[Unholyground]

I don't trust BLZ because DH still has only 2 specs.

I have a feeling they're going to add another Demon Hunter spec in a future expansion. Once Illadin absorbs the soul of Sargeras he will have more to teach upon his return.

[Nymrohd]

I have a feeling they're going to add another Demon Hunter spec in a future expansion. Once Illadin absorbs the soul of Sargeras he will have more to teach upon his return.

I wish they just added a bow spec that had strong mobility to make up for the lack of a pet to DHs. They come from elves and elves are first and foremost archers.

[Unholyground]

I wish they just added a bow spec that had strong mobility to make up for the lack of a pet to DHs. They come from elves and elves are first and foremost archers.

Glaivebow's also exist in lore, a bow that functions as a glaive, for gameplay reasons it would just be a bow and have a bunch of Demon hunter only models that incorporate the glaive look.

[fenixazul]

I cant see that, they are really having issues balancing and making classes unique since we have already 12 classes, most of them with 3 specs , aside the DH

In fact, they were not able to give a third spec to the DH, I cant see them giving an extra spec to this new class.

[huth]

So saying that adding additional tank-specs won't change the amount of tank players, or people willing to tank, is absolutely false.

Your example doesn't fit. You had a tank spec on every of your characters, yet you only started playing it in BfA. That doesn't suggest the issue was specs.

It's also rather anecdotal. Overall statistics contradict your claim. Relative number of tanks hasn't significantly changed. Your personal experience isn't really all that relevant.

[Nymrohd]

I would say a tank spec is very useful to a class for reasons other than tanking instances. Tank specs are among the best specs for soloing old content and doing current old content, including rares. People who would never want to tank a dungeon or raid still switch to their tank spec to solo a rare when there is no one there.

"Tank spec" pretty much means strong defenses, usually solid CC that sacrifices some dps (though some tank specs can do solid dps with CDs up so for soloing old or current content when travel time between pulls means you always have dps CDs means the sacrifice matters little) in ST and often can match dps specs in AoE (or surpass them by virtue of being able to pull far more than they can).

[Ashina]

If this is legit and it's a second RDPS i'm on board, even if the Dracthyr look ridiculous.

A rdps/rdps/healer class is the dream.

[Nymrohd]

Would also enjoy a second rpds spec but I would hope it is a pet spec if so.

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Would also enjoy a second rpds spec but I would hope it is a pet spec if so. Maybe a dracolyte who is entrusted with the care of a young whelp or drake and adventures with them. Could even tie it to the story that way and explain why it is not available from the start; during the expac perhaps the dragons unearth a huge number of young whelps that they cannot care for so they entrust them to the Dracthyr.

[confety]

didnt they show deep breath as a spell? it seemed to me that the black dragon themed spells would be in the rdps spec

[Ghanir]

Your example doesn't fit. You had a tank spec on every of your characters, yet you only started playing it in BfA. That doesn't suggest the issue was specs.

It's also rather anecdotal. Overall statistics contradict your claim. Relative number of tanks hasn't significantly changed. Your personal experience isn't really all that relevant.

It does because I also said Protection and Guardian didn't click with me, but Vengeance did when I tried the Demon Hunter out in BFA.

About your second point are you trying to contradict the fact that I said I decided to pick up a completely new role when I found a spec that actually was to my liking? That's my whole point about new specs can make non-traditional players of that role pick up said role.

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If this is legit and it's a second RDPS i'm on board, even if the Dracthyr look ridiculous.

A rdps/rdps/healer class is the dream.

Is it? Would love to hear your reasoning for why having two ranged dps specs on a healer class is necessary. Is it to make the black dragonflight feel more prominent in the dragon-class package? Prob. best to hold off on that request until we more know about their first ranged spec and how included all the dragonflights are within its core gameplay.

[Nymrohd]

Is it? Would love to hear your reasoning for why having two ranged dps specs on a healer class is necessary. Is it to make the black dragonflight feel more prominent in the dragon-class package? Prob. best to hold off on that request until we more know about their first ranged spec and how included all the dragonflights are within its core gameplay.

I'd say because having a second dps spec available is a safety net; if you make evoker your main and one of the dps specs is very undertuned you can still use the other one. While it is not a concern for everyone, it is part of the reason why many people pick pure dps and warriors; it gives them alternatives. As for the healer, off the top of my head, fast queues without the responsibilities of tanking.

[Velerios]

I'd say because having a second dps spec available is a safety net; if you make evoker your main and one of the dps specs is very undertuned you can still use the other one. While it is not a concern for everyone, it is part of the reason why many people pick pure dps and warriors; it gives them alternatives. As for the healer, off the top of my head, fast queues without the responsibilities of tanking.

This is something we long saw on priest with it's healing specs: Holy was mediocre at best, but Disc was top of the line. Thanks to buffs to holy, it's now competitive, so yes, having another spec would be good.

[huth]

It does because I also said Protection and Guardian didn't click with me, but Vengeance did when I tried the Demon Hunter out in BFA.

About your second point are you trying to contradict the fact that I said I decided to pick up a completely new role when I found a spec that actually was to my liking? That's my whole point about new specs can make non-traditional players of that role pick up said role.

The point is this is your personal story and isn't applicable to anybody else. As far as evidence goes, that means it's worthless.

[unbound]

It really isn't. The problem is not a lack of classes with tank specs. We have plenty. The problem is a lack of people who WANT to tank. I know I certainly don't wanna tank, even when I play classes with the option to. Tanking involves a level of responsibility I am not willing to bear, and I know for a fact that there are many who view tanking as I do. I do wish mages and locks could get a healing spec though, and I think rogues and hunters should get a tanking spec so that every class has a non-dps role as an option. But a tank spec is not NEEDED on Evokers.

Completely agree.

I haven't seriously tanked since Wrath. I've only tanked since them when I was leveling with my wife (usually with her as healer). Dealing with pugs is anywhere from fine to complete annoyance. I've had people get mad because I wasn't mass pulling 1/2 the instance. At least as a dps, you deal with a *lot* less nonsense.

Same goes with healing (although I find healing less annoying). Plenty of options available. I don't heal a lot because of the annoyance. Tanks that think I can save them from pulling 1/2 the instance or dps that stands in bad. Not quite as annoying as tanking, but can be exhausting enough to step away for a while.

If people want more tanks (and healers), then people need to either stop being toxic or call out the other people being toxic to them. That is how you fix tanking and healing.

[Kyriani]

Yea tanking requires a certain balancing act. You have to be able to judge how much you can handle pulling and how fast based on what you and your healer can handle. And your healer will vary much of the time if you're pugging/random queuing. Then you have to deal with people not liking the speed at which you pull. Newer tanks can be put off from tanking after they find people running ahead, pulling extras that the new tank isn't comfy with, and/or berating them for being "slow".

For me I like to heal and play ranged dps. I'm not a fan of being in leadership roles and melee doesn't give me the same field of view that being at range does. I have to move less as ranged than melee a lot of the time. I can also jump into just about any content as ranged dps or heals without worrying about much beyond "don't stand in bad".

Tanking just checks off all my "do not want" boxes. It's melee, you have to worry about positioning, you have to know all the fight mechanics and sometimes there tank specific mechanics you have to worry about (like in the jailer fight), you're basically the party "leader" by default, impatient party members can pull extra if you aren't going as fast as they'd like, and then barrage you with insults when things go tits up. So yea, I'll give that a hard pass.

[Ghanir]

The point is this is your personal story and isn't applicable to anybody else. As far as evidence goes, that means it's worthless.

wdym it isn't applicable to anyone else? You telling me I am the only one in the world that didn't find any of the older X spec for Y role but tested out a newer class and found that their X spec for Y role meshed with me better than the older ones? Are you sure?

People are sitting here saying that introducing new specs for a role, in this case tank, doesn't lead to more ppl queuing up as that role. And I am literally sitting here saying that is what I did after they introduced the Demon Hunter.

[Clawsout]

An int melee spellsword would be neato

[Echo of Soul]

A second ranged spec would be nice. We're still at the same number we were before survival was taken away. We have a lot of catching up to do to the melee