Anyone NOT that hyped for 'return to class'?

[Dorthonion1]

Just theoretical as I probably won't play Shadowlands.

I am levelling a frost mage and I enjoy the feeling I am 'frost'. Personally I don't like the idea of getting fireball since I like this feeling of specialisation. I DO think classes can be a tad more complex, just because a) they are too simple (though not that simple as people seem to think) and b) it gets boring having the same spells all the time, I miss getting new spells in expansions. That said, I like the idea of shattering throw for warriors (I used to play/play a warrior a lot), it doesn't 'feel' like it should be a spec specific ability and it's cool and adds depth, complexity and possible counterplay (PvP perspective).

I don't like the whole covenant system as usual there has to be some grindy new feature to boost playtime, it's artifical complexity just like azerite traits.

I think each spec getting maybe 2 or 3 new talents, as well as maybe ONE or TWO spells made classwide will be fun, but I don't want spec homogenization, I like spec identity.

[TheVaryag]

Just theoretical as I probably won't play Shadowlands.

I am levelling a frost mage and I enjoy the feeling I am 'frost'. Personally I don't like the idea of getting fireball since I like this feeling of specialisation. I DO think classes can be a tad more complex, just because a) they are too simple (though not that simple as people seem to think) and b) it gets boring having the same spells all the time, I miss getting new spells in expansions. That said, I like the idea of shattering throw for warriors (I used to play/play a warrior a lot), it doesn't 'feel' like it should be a spec specific ability and it's cool and adds depth, complexity and possible counterplay (PvP perspective).

I don't like the whole covenant system as usual there has to be some grindy new feature to boost playtime, it's artifical complexity just like azerite traits.

I think each spec getting maybe 2 or 3 new talents, as well as maybe ONE or TWO spells made classwide will be fun, but I don't want spec homogenization, I like spec identity.

How long did you play WoW? This needs some context, If you haven't played before the era of Cataclysm I can understand you being skeptical of the idea of "Class" as you've never truly known what a class is, but rather a spec with a few doodads shared among the class. Go to classic, that alone will teach you what a CLASS truly is, not a spec. And hopefully Shadowlands will do a good job at returning class identity.

To me, as someone playing 15 years It feels shit to know I've had over 50 abilities and then am restricted to 15 per spec and the other 5 were removed. It felt like my class was butchered, standardized and according to analytics and data alone, was streamlined, not due to player feedback or criticism.

[Gungnir]

As I've played since WoW launch, I am DYING to get back to class identity rather than spec identity.

The last two expansions since their whole 'spec identity' shtick has been the worst expansions thus far when it comes to class design and I don't think that's a coincidence.

[Amaterasu65]

Well those spells that come back to all specs, like fire blast or AE or frostbolt, are situational. You'll probably almost never use them in a raid, but they'd come handy in PvP, tagging mobs or finishing mobs without casting a lot (fireblast/ae).

If they want to feel classes feel good again they need to fix talents and spells on every spec. Some talents are completely useless, others are boring, we're playing the same way since Legion, but in a worse way than then. They need to spice them up somehow, Covenants aside.

[keelr]

I have a 120 or 110 of every class in the game and I rly liked the new 'spec defines the gameplay' idea but I don't care much so if ppl get back what they want, even tho i don't understand why they want that so much, I'm happy about it. For me class identity is this: rogue has stealth, two melee weapons, immoral abilities; paladin is a warrior, who looks like warrior if u look at him but he is actually using the powers of the light in battle; mage is using different kind of magics etc. I think with giving the specs some unique looks, the whole class identity is not lost at all.

tldr: its good as it is now but idc if old things coming back

[Arcene]

I do have to admit I'm somewhat sceptical.

When I play Mage I'm a Fire Mage without distinction, I don't play the other specs at all and I feel like the addition of some of these spells seems superfluous... don't get me wrong Arcane Explosion seems nice for a spammable and patented Stealth-B-Gone option but I am without a doubt and unequivocally a fire mage.

I did play a bit in BC and I didn't really know what I was doing but even there I just went full fire tree and only put the fire spells on my bar.

Not sure how much I'm going to enjoy this but maybe if we get some unpruning of abilities that disappeared in the past.

[d00dles]

I have seen some outlaw rogue posts that are less than enthusiastic about poisons returning. I'm pretty sure there are Shamans who feel the same way about totems. Afterall, its one more GCD for them to press.

But what do I know, I don't play those classes.

[Rootsbum]

Im not «hyped», as we dont know enough yet.
Some speccs will have more benefits, like firemage being able to slow enemies with frostbolt and arcane explode people out of stealth.
Being a frostmage with a 2 sec cast fireball with a short fireDOT wont be as impactfull.

Healing-speccs mat be more enjoyable to DPS in, and tank-speccs may feel like its more fun.

Survival-hunter and DemonHunters: I cant see how they can unprune thoose.

But quite a few speccs will be more fun and have better utility

[Well]

For me, there's two sides of this:

The good side where stuff like Alter Time comes back, as in an ability that provided the player with added value on the meters, gave off a sense of mastering your class and was not used by most mages (or was not even keybound). Or stuff like Eyes of the Beast, which is purely cosmetic and just fun, had no reason to be removed and its removal only substracted from playing a Hunter.

The bad side where they just bloat our spellbooks with useless crap like fireball for a Frost mage. It's just useless and will not be used. I do not want it to be available. Fire Blast for Arcane is okay because it gives you something to do when running and need to fill a global for instance.

Bottomline for me is, only give back what would make sense in some scenario. Do not bloat.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I have seen some outlaw rogue posts that are less than enthusiastic about poisons returning. I'm pretty sure there are Shamans who feel the same way about totems returning. Afterall, its one more GCD for them to press.

But what do I know, I don't play those classes.

I can somewhat understand totems (not really agreeing though), but the bitching about poisons? That's just a buff you apply to your weapon every 30 minutes..

[ReD-EyeD]

Depends how they do it.

I just prefer having ~33 classes instead of 11

[Solence]

Its clearly just them systematicly removing stuff over the years just to bring it back as a "new" feature of an expac. I call it lazy and it clearly shows that they dont have the manpower in development they used to have anymore.

[Aeula]

I’m not. I’ve always identified as a ret before a paladin and that’s how I like to keep it. Prot and Holy are dead specs to me, I don’t play them and I don’t want to. I hope they don’t bring back things like the hybrid tax or other archaic classic wow stuff.

Going from 36 classes to 12 is a downgrade.

[Daedius]

Ditch Void Form + Insanity Mechanic and I'll be happy.

[Fistfighter]

I am not

I want 36 streamlined aesthetically pleasing classes, not 12 cobbled messes with tons of dead buttons

[Kumorii]

Giving back some class defining abilities to be used cross spec is all well and good...
But if I have abilities that will be useless due to my spec choice, then it's no point.

Worst case scenario is getting 1 spec instead of 3, but I'll doubt that happen.

[Gungnir]

I’m not. I’ve always identified as a ret before a paladin and that’s how I like to keep it. Prot and Holy are dead specs to me, I don’t play them and I don’t want to. I hope they don’t bring back things like the hybrid tax or other archaic classic wow stuff.

Going from 36 classes to 12 is a downgrade.

I don't know about you but I sure as hell enjoyed Ret more before Legion rolled around.
Actually having offhealing capabilities and Sacrifice is a lot more iconic to what a Ret paladin is instead of being a yellow warrior.


Sure, you ended up getting 36 "classes" with Legion and it's spec identity, but in return they were extremely shallow compared to what they once were.
I also don't think any of the spec revamps with Legion ended up being even a moderate success outside of Arcane mage, UH DK and Enhance shaman I suppose.



I also don't understand people who try to argue that Blizzard shouldn't give us back options and abilities we used to have due to "bloat".
If you are only doing raids and notice that there are certain tools you never use, you don't have to put them on your bars. It just boggles my mind that some people who just raidlog and don't actually do any other content wants to actively shit on other people because they can't be arsed keybinding an ability or choosing not to keybind it if they have no use for it.

[Buttercream]

yeah I'm thrilled to be mushed together with all the other hunters with no real identity to either of the specs..Why don't people get it's a step backwards instead of forwards. Why even have specs at all..why even have classes..just give everybody the same thing

[Gungnir]

yeah I'm thrilled to be mushed together with all the other hunters with no real identity to either of the specs..Why don't people get it's a step backwards instead of forwards. Why even have specs at all..why even have classes..just give everybody the same thing

That's facetious at best, WoW have had class identity in the forefront during its prime both subscriber-wise and gameplay-wise long before we moved to spec identity.

[derpkitteh]

in some ways.

i think it should have been left as it is, but used cosmetic effects to bring back the feeling of using other spec's spells. because i do think it was kinda ridiculous to be pronounced archmage in legion, when legion was the beginning of mage gameplay not reflecting that title at all(an archmage is a master of all schools of arcane magic).

but at the same time, sub rogue having shadow magic to separate it from the other two specs was good. shadow priest dropping almost all light was good. destro being full on fel assault was good. none of this should be changed.