Do people actually like classes in BFA?

[Loeko]

Not a big fan of the current specs. Classes are too limited to their rotations, that are often very similar, and rarely offer any chance to do impactful choices and potentially mistakes. Current specs are for me the least unique and the most hand held that WoW ever had. I hope that Shadowlands brings us back to classes that value the choices of the players more than how well they can chain a rotation.

[Tolfor]

And I'm betting they're simply going to prune classes even more, now between specs instead of overall.

What's it like being so miserable and paranoid all the time?

[Biochem92]

I'm trying to sort this out. I personally thought classes felt awful in BFA.

At Blizzcon we got no major announcement regarding reworking of classes, and it seems like a lot of people congratulated Blizzard on that....so does that mean people are happy with the classes in their current iteration with some old abilities thrown back on top?

After all, if they were to do a major talent revamp - which would be required in order to make classes feel more like classes and less like specs - wouldn't that be a "revamp" that these same people are congratulating Blizzard for NOT announcing?

I don't really understand how they take focus away from specs if they don't completely shake up talents, but no one seems to want a rework?

Resto druid/Brewmaster monk are very good, the rest of the classes im not sure about but considering in my keys over a +10 I only take about 1/6 of them they need more than some work. I wont even bother with Warlocks or Shadow priests.

[kaminaris]

I really loved Legion MM hunter and for some odd reason they decided to revamp it and make fucking terrible and ruining the enitre expansion for me.

This was absolutely the worst iteration of hunter ever, especially sidewinders, good lord, let this never come back again. BfA isn't worst one, Legion was.

Also, GCD changes are very good. Having ton of macros was retarded because everything was off GCD so people were just putting some spells together and done, forgot about existence of these spells.

[Morgaith]

Classes feel like shit, especially with a gcd on every cd.

[Orwell7]

The problem with class design is:
-specs are really too similar
-requires no thought to play solo, no "big moments", nothing
-comparing "classes" or "specs" cannot be done without a vacuum - your spec + the encounter you're trying to defeat -> this has to be fun in one piece

Basically in BfA they removed _THE_ most RPG-ish element of the game - to be / to feel more powerful. Or.. you are more powerful, but in a different way than previously.

What we have now that are challenging? Mythic+ and Mythic raids
M+ is against a timer
M raids are testing your 0.2 sec reflexes

What we need is the core RPG "difficulty", where you need to MASTER YOUR CLASS and then to a lesser degree, learn the encounter. Not the opposite.
In previous expansions classes/specs were so different you needed to re-learn the game to play another. Now if you defeat M Azshara, you can defeat her with any class, because the encounter is hard, not the classes.

[Grimbold21]

I'd say that there are people who enjoy the current state of classes.

But if I were to say which group is numerically superior - and this obviously informed by my own biases - I'd say there are more people not liking existing class design.

Personally, right now it's a question of what feels the less worse. I have 4 classes that i can play with, spread through 6 characters (2 shamans, 2 paladins, 1 priest, 1 warr). I stopped playing my prot warrior cause protection paladin just feels less cumbersome by comparison, although it does feel rather bland. My 2nd and holy paladin I don't play as much cause it feels lackluster. I don't enjoy the premise of the melee healer nor the azerite trait focusing on spreading holy shocks. I tried building a spec around Light of Dawn but it's been rather meh.

Enhancement while not terrible, has little room for maneuver. If you don't pick the niches, you're bound to be spamming stormstrike, not to mention that the rework of Maelstrom just turns into a Lightning based warrior. If I wanted to played an energy based spec, I would've picked one. Resto shaman is quite enjoyable simply for its aoe capabilities. Holy priest is quite amusing as well due to the diversity of its toolset, but it I think it requires extra effort to deal with group damage.

So yea, based on those experiences, I'd say the state of classes feel meh and uninspiring.

[Seradi]

“Class” is a broad term. I don’t play classes I play specs. I play Outlaw, Balance, and Havoc. I couldn’t tell you how the other specs in those classes *feel* to me but I know that I’m enjoying the ones I listed.

[Grimbold21]

LOL no. Classes were and are horrible since Beta. Why do you think so many people stopped playing - and why so many people went back to Classic and aren't playing retail?

And I'm betting they're simply going to prune classes even more, now between specs instead of overall.

That isn't a good argument, to be fair.

I have rose-tinted glasses as much as the next guy, and claim TBC to be the best thing in WoW, but despite the current state of class design, there's no way that vanilla class design is better. Modern iterations are simply too dynamic.

[evertonbelmontt]

Destro and specially Afflic is the worse I've seen from Warlocks. Demon is okay.

The only thing keeping me as afflic is the theme. The damage certainly is there but god shadowbolt SUCKS.

Hope 8.3 brings me joy again with Drain Soul.

[gd8]

So you never played MoP or even wod.

skipped both actually but I've played everything else

[Firefall]

It completely depends on the spec. Imo overall and on average class design goes Cata = MoP > Legion > BoD > WoD >>> Wrath > BC > Vanilla. With Cata and MoP representing the best design with the old and new talent system. So BoD is passable, but unsatisfying.

[Unholyground]

Some specs are awesome and some are terrible.

[Ryzek]

I enjoyed Disc Priest, All 3 Mages specs, and Demo Lock.

[Exkrementor]

I play 10 chars and like most of their specs. class design and balance is better than it's ever been

This has to be a troll. Play literally every other expansion and you get better class design. Even WoD had better classes. Remember WoD arms warrior? That shit counts for at least 3 bad specs and WoD is still better than BFA.

[Sithalos]

They just need to take shit off GCD again. That alone would fix most of the problems I have with BfA's class design.

[Morg]

I tank a bit
I enjoy prot war and pal
The other four are horrible experience to me, dh is alright but it has big issues.

I enjoy glimmer pal but I see them getting rid of it
Other heals are quite bland

Dps
Fury isnt bad, I don't mind fire mage or frost, and rogue goes well.

The rest could do with a lot of work.


My biggest issue is they changed very little from legion to BFA, a third expac with the same class design is going to get really fucking dull.
There whole claim that azerite would make specs feel different was bullshit. The new system in SL isn't going to change how anything is played. At least teir sets gave a small amount of variability per patch

[Drusin]

I enjoy playing every spec. I haven't played the healers much though if I'm being honest. All the tanks and all the DPS are cool though.

[Sorrior]

I haven't played wow since like mid legion. I should look and see how enhancement shaman is doing now.

Still very squishy i have noticed..i miss wrath era enh..pandaria was ok i believe but wrath was so much fun as enh

[Simca]

Holy Paladin is fun. That's partially because the build we're using is OP as hell, does huge numbers, and feels very fast and fluid. Only downside is that you have to stay in melee range or it falls apart a bit.

Protection Paladin is about the same as always (moderately fun). Basically nothing has changed with them for several expansions in their core rotation, and no changes even outside that for BFA.

Retribution Paladin is moderately unfun. The rotation just feels weird and clunky. It felt a lot better in Legion, mostly because of tier bonuses and legendaries that made it tolerable to play. All of those effects were just removed rather than integrated.

BM Hunter is fun. Having a 100% mobility ranged spec is an absolute joy to play in combat. I can fulfill my desire to strafe back and forth on top of other raid members to bait mechanics onto them while still doing full damage. Rotation is fairly simple but feels fluid. I like juggling Frenzy with well-timed Barbed Shots. I feel pro when I can get 99% Frenzy uptime on a fight. The only real issue is that playing the specialization very well doesn't really matter for much. The DPS difference between a top player with 100% Frenzy uptime, and somebody just mashing Barbed Shot on CD is like less than 2%. Basically, there's a decent skill cap in playing the specialization, but having skill doesn't really matter with the current tuning.

MM Hunter isn't fun. It feels terrible to play and went from being highly mobile to having almost zero mobility.