Can The Next Class PLEASE Be ONE Spec?

[Zantos]

I do think they should make the next class a ranged dps for its dps spec(s). However, if you look at the number of melee dps specs vs ranged dps specs in the game, the gap is pretty small. 13 melee vs 11 ranged dps if my count is right. So while things are tipped towards melee, by the same token back in vanilla there were like 8 melee specs and 12 ranged dps specs, so it's not that surprising they've focused on melee for new classes, but next one really should be ranged.

Well, for ranged, you can only count the ranged classes as 1. Why? Because 1 spec is the best and the others suffer. So they will typically migrate towards one. Or a second if its good for a certain roll.

but, best case, 14 melee, 11 ranged. But ranged are so much more prefered and the last 3 classes added have given us melee.

[Florena]

Well, for ranged, you can only count the ranged classes as 1. Why? Because 1 spec is the best and the others suffer. So they will typically migrate towards one. Or a second if its good for a certain roll.

but, best case, 14 melee, 11 ranged. But ranged are so much more prefered and the last 3 classes added have given us melee.

Maybe the top X% of guilds only care about the meta but people can play any spec they want, I'm not going to pretend that a bunch of specs don't exist just because others perform better in endgame. Those options are still there, especially with the OP comparing the game to FFXIV where you can level all jobs one character and theoretically limit options even more to just whichever eight jobs happen to be in the meta that patch and ignore the rest if suboptimal specs/jobs suddenly don't matter to the game.

[matrix123mko]

No, I want three or four of them.

[Zantos]

Maybe the top X% of guilds only care about the meta but people can play any spec they want, I'm not going to pretend that a bunch of specs don't exist just because others perform better in endgame. Those options are still there, especially with the OP comparing the game to FFXIV where you can level all jobs one character and theoretically limit options even more to just whichever eight jobs happen to be in the meta that patch and ignore the rest if suboptimal specs/jobs suddenly don't matter to the game.

Its not just the end game meta that suffers from the unbalance. Even casuals would realize that "hey, this spec blows. Lets try another". Even when I did LFR you would see that all of the locks or mages would Mainly be one spec. The one that was top at the time. That is why I would personally only count lock / mage / hunter as 1 since you can only really be one and the over all theme is the same. Same for dks and warriors.

[letssee]

are u kidding, if the next class is NOT three specs then fk it all.
i swear if its another class lke the dh with only 2 specs......

[Wildmoon]

I don't care anymore. I don't like the current system of specs in WoW. They feel more like templates you choose rather a path you craft with for your character. Blizzard rightly indentified the problem that the old talent tree have too many automatic and boring choices but their solution was bad.

[Florena]

Its not just the end game meta that suffers from the unbalance. Even casuals would realize that "hey, this spec blows. Lets try another". Even when I did LFR you would see that all of the locks or mages would Mainly be one spec. The one that was top at the time. That is why I would personally only count lock / mage / hunter as 1 since you can only really be one and the over all theme is the same. Same for dks and warriors.

The options are still there and I'm not going to discount them because some people chase the FOTM even in casual content. They're still there, and still perfectly viable at least outside of high end content. So I see no reason to pretend they don't exist just because some people bandwagon to others.

[Selah]

Yes, lets strip players of being able to choose a few different play styles and roles in groups. That'll go over very well.

Sarcasm aside, balance has always been rough for any MMORPG. Nothing is going to change that. It's far better to just give players a little bit extra class fantasy and roles to fill than to just pigeonhole people into one play style forever.

[Nnyco]

What about no. Dh already feels weird with just two specs.

[RobertMugabe]

Isn't it funny how classes used to have way more complexity and specs and yet the game was more balanced and more fun than it is today?

tbh if they want to keep the simple gameplay and simple choice of talents, then I don't mind more classes

[Razzako]

So basically, less player choice in an RPG game? You're part of the reason this game is shit nowadays.

[Queen of Hamsters]

Then go play FFXIV, this is WoW.

A one-spec class would be a major fuck you to people wanting to play it, since it'd more likely than not be limited to DPS.
The balancing might be difficult, but there's a reason why all classes are viable even if players are staring at percentages.

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Isn't it funny how classes used to have way more complexity and specs and yet the game was more balanced and more fun than it is today?

tbh if they want to keep the simple gameplay and simple choice of talents, then I don't mind more classes

More specs...? The game has more specs now than before with new classes and an added spec to an existing class.

And more complexity? It went from zero complexity to similar to today, just more spells in a spellbook. I recall the balance discussion having been ongoing ever since I started playing. I also remember using the same amount of keybinds back then as now in combat situations. Class gameplay is worse for sure in terms of fun, but that came down to design in synergy of abilities and the GCD.

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That's what I miss most about Vanilla wow. Every class had ALL their abilities.. They weren't stuck with only "Frost spells" or what have you. I played a warlock during Vanilla and it was soo neat being able to have access to soo many abilities, and then your talent tree would make some stronger than others. Bring this back blizz!

MAKE AZEROTH GREAT AGAIN!

And then let's be honest, how many abilities were actually used in combat situation in order to maximize output?

Yeah, exactly. Having a ton of abilities in a spellbook =/= they were all used.

Don't make Azeroth retarded again, there will soon be servers preserving that crap for those whom it may appeal to.

[Schattenlied]

Perhaps my original idea isn't great at all. I would, however, love more customization across all current classes.

Just because I am a destruction warlock does not mean that I forgot how to utilize crippling shadow magic. Same goes for mages and every other class. There should absolutely be more crossover in abilities.

Thanks!

This is what I want.

The problem isn't that classes have 3 specs, the problem is that each spec feels like it's own class, instead of being someone who specializes in a specific part of the class they are a part of... Just because someone specalizes in Frost magic doesn't mean they forgot how to cast Fireball, or Arcane Explosion.

As far as I'm concerned, most of a class' abilities should be baseline, like it was from vanilla to wrath, with specializations improving the abilities meant for that spec, while not removing the ones they don't specialize in (and occasionally using them for procs, like Frost mages used to do with Fireball, Brain Freeze used to let them cast Fireball instantly). Those abilities they don't specialize in aren't useless, they have situational uses, those situational uses give the classes depth, make the moment to moment gameplay more interesting, they allow a DPS to tank for 10 seconds when the MT dies, they allow someone to pick up offhealing when the healers are overloaded, and they make PvP immeasurably more interesting.

[Puxycat]

The next class will be caster/ranged either void themed or necro. I hope for a proper necromencer.

[Nurdan]

I'd love to see Blizzard implement FFXIV style professions and classes into WoW. To allow you to level up all professions on a single character, and to switch between all classes available to your race on that single character (obviously you'd have to level each one up from level 1).

Blizzard has neutered many professions over the years (hello engineering) because some of the stuff it provided was simply too good. But if every character had access to all professions, why would it matter if one is the best profession for, say, PvP? It's not like you'd have to choose between, say, engineering and blacksmithing, you could easily have both.

As for classes, I always liked alts. I had two max level characters in vanilla and countless lower level ones. By WotLK I had four max level characters. In Cata it increased to six. Today I have pretty much every single class at 100+, except priest who is like 93 or something. But my main character, the first one I ever made, has always been the dearest character to me and I could never really abandon the character, even in expansions where I really disliked how that class (or a specific spec of that class) played. It's the one where I'm exalted with like 90% of all the factions in game, one with by far the highest /played time, one that always gets leveled first when an expansion comes out, etc. With FFXIV class system I could "freely" abandon the class if I no longer enjoy it but still keep the character and all of the character's legacy achievements.

But this would not mean the end of alts, though. No single race has access to all classes, sometimes you want multiple characters to deal with raid lockouts (e.g. if you're farming ICC for the mount or whatever), mission table rewards, etc.

[xindralol]

what’s required is a pure dps class. # of specs doesn’t really matter but all this hybrid bullshit is becoming bland.

[Fred Skinner]

I would like the necromancer class next. With one spec being a melee who utilized a few risen dead as tank but otherwise uses death magic. With another one being a tank spec which is done on range, by controling dead and using them to tank, while the necromancer himself has pet heal spells and support abilities, and the kind of risen creature defines the focus of the tanking abilities (magical tank, aoe tank). And last but not least a ranged damage dealer, who can rise an army of dead (not like the DK spell, but you need to rise single dead corpses, and they stay until being destroyed), and who deals more damage as more undead he rose. While those undead would be easily killable.

[RangerDaz]

WoW can't have a class with a single spec that isn't DPS.

If a class has a tank or a healer role, it needs a dps as well, especially for questing.
I wouldn't mind if the new hero classes started to be 2 specs each, but 2 is the minimum number.

[Gasparde]

Wtb a class with 3 tank specs, or 3 healing specs.

[Triceron]

I'd say the problem is more in the design that made spec become classes in all but name instead of, well, specializations inside a class.
The old talent system was infinitely superior, and you kept this feeling you were of the same class, just with an emphasis on such and such abilities.

I agree with this. The removal of the old talent tree and the focus on making each spec its own define kit has spread out to 36 individual classes to balance, all grouped under 12 broader 'themes'. Classes don't feel like classes any more.

But that's sort of the nature of the game. They can't exactly roll back to Vanilla with what they have right now. It's already too well defined and the balance hinges on the current setup.