Hypothetically removing one spec from pure classes and added a tank/healing spec?

[valax]

The only viable thing to my taste is the warlock demon tank , the others don't really make much sense in terms of gameplay : you don't raise a mage/rogue to heal , can't really see a hunter pet as a real tank

[Ferocity]

It won't work and will piss off a lot of people. Currently LFR = 1 hour wait time for tanks. With 1 more tank it would become >2 hours. 1 more healer could make healers' queue more long.

Sry but I am quite pragmatic. But what would make spec more interesting, that would be reintroduction of talent trees (as in MoP we no longer have them), which were serving exact this purpose, make tanks healers out of classes-specs, which weren't supposed to compete with others, but which could help during questing or doing 5-men. Ench shamans, boomkins (sic), demo warlocks were all could tank some 5-men preCata.

Also Allods Online had interesting design for healing warlock. You dot up enemies, nuke them to get their blood, gather this blood in special reservoir to heal your allies.

[Squirl]

BM tank could be cool. They would have to add a mechanic that makes the pet more easily controllable, though. Something would be required to make healing pets easier too.

I propose mounting the pet! You could also combine the HP of the pet and the Hunter. That way you can heal the Hunter and still keep the pet alive. Let the pet tank (so it uses the pet's mitigation rather than the Hunter's), give some active mitigation, make all threat generated by the Hunter go to the pet and then quintruple it (5x; don't know if that term is correct)... it could be cool. Probably won't happen, but it could be cool.

[Slowpoke is a Gamer]

Lore does still hold a modicum of importance in this game.

Arcane healing, Rogue tanking... those would destroy that last modicum. This is like saying Draenei should be okay with Warlocks.

[Dawnseeker]

Depends how much of a tank and what kind of healing you're talking about, if you throw 'support' in with healing then say a mage with the ability to cast powerful frost barriers and arcane wards on people (perhaps even a cauterize wound ability to remove bleeds) would possibly count as a healer especialyl in a raid setting where they can use the mitigations and a prper healer can be there to restore any lost hp, similarly using powerful wards to tank would be a possibility especially with the active mitigation style we have, work to throw up barriers and wards faster than the boss can tear them down.

Warlock tanks ofc, perhaps throw in rogue avoidance tanks (which were able to tank instances in classic, levelled up with a rogue friend who tanked while I healed).

Love that idea Squirl with the pets, ride your rhino into battle, closest we could get to proper mounted combat!!

Thought alot about spreading the tanking around for 5mans atleast to kill the queue time, (gogo shammy and lock tanks).

[Deleted]

There's already enough homogenization going on. Even on a hypothetical scenario, it bugs me that everyone could do everything.

[Lilija]

I doubt people who enjoy those particular dps specs playstyle would be happy about it...

[openair]

Alright hypothetically speaking and basically because I'm bored at work on a Friday, if blizzard removed one of the pure dps specs and added a tank or healing spec, how would you like to see it shake down?

Not that I hate these specs or even want to see the end of pure class, but hypothetically speaking, what would you find interesting.

IMO there is no reason to 'remove' a dps spec from pure classes to allow them to fill either heals or tank.

Druids received a 4th spec in MoP. Balance, Feral, Guardian, Resto. Every class should receive a 4th spec. Then the ops idea can become reality without people who enjoy those dps spec losing them and the new fourth spec can be something that could fit with lore. Instead of 'arcane healing' we could have battlemage tanks.

[Deleted]

I'd rather see a 4th spec being added to classes. Like for instance priests getting a DPS spec that focuses on holy damage, rogues getting a ranged spec (with an emphasis on throwing weapons to not make it another hunter), hunters getting a melee spec (should kind of a hybrid between an arms warrior and a rogue imo), DKs getting a more pure necromancer spec that could use int plate instead of str plate.

[Deleted]

Rogues should get a bard spec for healing

I was going to say exactly the same thing about hunters

I wouldn't play it personally but I did love the sound of warlock tanking in the beta, shame it never happened.

[Dedweight]

you don't raise a mage/rogue to heal , can't really see a hunter pet as a real tank

Why not? Sure with the current gameplay and mechanics it doesn't make sense at all but rogues could be effective evasion tanks(we've all seen this happen I'm sure), mages could work as healers(think Dragon Ages Spirit Healers), and I've seen hunter pets tank enough things that that isn't too far fetched.

[rogueMatthias]

Hunters
Hunters used to tank in dungeons all the time back in the old days, even early in BC they would. I don't know why it was never made viable for endgame tbh

Rogue
Make them the experts at dodging hits. feint could decrease damage for the whole party too, They're already ok at replcement tanks when a tanks being ressed and especially mobs with aoe. Just work with that as a base. Mix in some crazy kiting.

Mage
Screw healing... Have a mage tank, freezing their own blood to prevent bloodloss and keeps building up layer upon layer of ice armour and ice shields and barriers to avoid damage.

[Silver-Fox]

Interestingly I always thought beast master hunters, via their augmented pets, and demonology warlocks, through their demon form, could be decent tanking specialization. However with that comes the withdrawal of their damage capabilities. It would be too huge of a move to have Warlocks and Hunters, and the other classes, re-specialize to another spec for damage or keep their current one but learn and adapt to a new role archetype.

Still good ideas I think. Maybe better for something along the lines if we ever saw a fourth spec or revision making all class quintessential hybrid classes in some shape or form I guess.

[Rheckameohs]

I can see shaman tanks being fairly lore-friendly. They rely on imbuing themselves with earthen energy to shrug off incoming attacks, have totems that taunt, etc. I would say they could equip plate armor as a passive ability and rely on strength instead of agility and intellect, but that's a bit of a long shot.

"Earthborn." That's a good name for it. Earthborn shaman has a nice ring to it.

Screw healing... Have a mage tank, freezing their own blood to prevent bloodloss and keeps building up layer upon layer of ice armour and ice shields and barriers to avoid damage.

Kinda sounds like Frost tanking in Wrath.