Anyone NOT that hyped for 'return to class'?

[justandulas]

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.

The game was overall better when hybrid classes paid the tax. That’s a fact. Wasn’t better for hybrids but the entire point of hybrid is jack of all trades but master of none

The day hybrid classes started topping meters was a sad day in wow history.

[Makorus]

It doesnt even make sense with the Spec-Choosing system we have now. It made sense with the old Talent system, but now you literally pick a spec. You are still a mage, sure, but you are literally a Fire Mage.

[Zora-Prime]

hopefully it triggers the scrapping of the current talent system we have now and makes them create something new that doesn't suck balls.

[Dilbon]

Not looking forward to the possible return of ability bloat.

[Kaver]

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.

Right now Fire mages can use frost nova and Iceblock... I don't see anybody complain about that.

It's not about losing spec identity. You will still feel like a Frost mage because most of your abilities will still be based on frost. It's just about giving back the mage some iconic abilities (like all specs have frost nova and iceblock right now) especially in relation to utility. It's very nice for a Fire mage to still have some frost abilities so they can slow their opponents. But they will still feel like a Fire mage. At the same time, it's also nice for a Frost mage to have for example Arcane Explosion as an instant AOE spell. You will still feel like a frost mage.

[justandulas]

The only way specs work that are their own unique classes is if it’s like swtor where, once you pick one, you can’t ever go back

As long as respec exists, then the old ways of talent systems and classes needs to return

[Thage]

Hyperspecialization makes my character feel like an idiot savant. There's no unification between the three specs that makes them feel like specializations of the same baseline discipline, it feels like my character is deep in the low-functioning end of the autism spectrum who has a full-on, blue-screen mental meltdown at the thought of stepping outside their extremely-defined box. When I retrain into another spec, somehow even the most basic spells are completely forgotten because again, my character is a blithering simpleton who can't handle something so complex as weaving a fireball as a master of the arcane.

Spec hyperfocus has robbed classes of any kind of baseline that helps characters feel grounded in all three specs, which is extremely jarring when switching specs. It doesn't feel like I'm shifting my specialization, it feels like I'm retraining myself from scratch and discarding everything I knew five minutes ago.

"I don't like it/it's not a direct DPS increase, so it's wasted dev time/a waste of spellbook space" is the kind of thinking that led to the utter shit-show that was class design in Warlords of Draenor.

[Donald Hellscream]

I am not overly hyped no, I like the clear distinction between the specs, although getting stuff like anti-magic zone for blood dks would be a nice utility/mitigation cooldown to have in raids and dungeons.

[Shammyrock]

cant say I'm that fussed, but overall it seems like something that's padding out the expansion rather than a full blown feature, which worries me about how much is actually in this expansion

[Monoxide]

I've played since vanilla, and I am uninterested in a return to class rather than spec. I have really enjoyed the focus on spec identity.

I also see no point in bringing back dumb spells nobody will ever use just for "flavour" or nostalgia. Classic exists for that reason.

(also, like the OP, I'm probably not coming back for Shadowlands... unless all the people I play with who left in a mass exodus in early BFA return. Nearly all of them are not as it stands so far)

why did they leave during BFA? the game is so amazing and has "30+ classes"

sounds like a utopia

[Advent]

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.

Enhancement shaman was NOT made better by its redesign. It turned a once unique play style into the same build/spend style nearly every other class now uses.

[Kalisandra]

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.

I want my mage to be able to cast Fireball and Frostbolt. I'm not impressed with having a mage who can cast all of one non-arcane spell (frost nova). They don't feel like a mage, a master of magic, these days.

[MrKnubbles]

Some classes, like Mage, make sense to be strictly spec based. Classes with multiple roles, like Paladin, make more sense to have overlap.

[Ethule]

Honestly I'd be more hype is they went back to caster dps using mana. This was such a stupid idea. This isn't Diablo 3 not every class needs it's own resource gen/depletion. Oh balance druids not longer use mana they use Astral Power. Oooh Shamans no longer use mana they use Maelstrom Power.... oooooookay bro. #MakeManaGreatAgain

Secondly, I can't wait for Earthshock to not be the corner stone of Ele dps... like wtf was that shit. Hey you know that shock that your class uses to interrupt and doesnt do very much damage? We are going to give that only Ele and make it a Finisher... jesuuuuus.

I dont see them going back to mana even though I'd like it but I cant wait for the return to class because that means that maybe just maybe Ele will feel like Ele again and Enh will feel like Enh again. Also haven't been a fan of Balance since Wrath/Cata. I though the eclipse system was fine but with every new xpac come the inevitable overhaul to Boomy. Lol

[CoastGrowler]

I wouldn't say "hyped". More like curious, as I still think Blizzard is going to find a way to f this up like all of their otherwise good ideas. And yes, I'll probably play through it. They haven't delivered two terrible expansions in a row so far. It can't get worse than this one right now.

[BB8]

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.

Exactly this, I like spec identity and have for each spec a different char.

[msdos]

They'll never be able to return to the true hybrid fantasy, which is vanilla enhancement shaman. This right here is all about fun and freedom.

Enhance from 1-59 you utilize everything in your spell book. Lightning bolt, chain lightning, the shocks, the totems, the heals, everything.
It was perfected by WotlK, other than forcing them into dual wielding.

They can't do actual hybrid anymore, I don't think they're capable of managing it. By hybrid I mean something that can do 2-3 roles simultaneously. Their classes are confined by their own identity if you ask me.
Like why not just delete Elemental and roll Resto and Ele into one spec which is just Tempest. All your offensive spells empower your heals, all your heals empower your offensive spells. Same thing with disc/holy tbh.

I think it's because of mythic raiding you can't have stuff like that because they are too concerned about DPS balance and tightly tuned mechanics over people having fun with their class.

[Ryme]

I think spec fantasy is important and it's been awesome having some many varied ways to play, but I don't see why this has to cost class fantasy at all.

[Gungnir]

Enhancement shaman was NOT made better by its redesign. It turned a once unique play style into the same build/spend style nearly every other class now uses.

Ah yes, the unique playstyle of 'press the cooldowns'.
Don't get me wrong, as a Ret paladin I also miss those days because we're stuck with FUCKING COMBO POINTS since Cata and will be stuck with it until the game dies.

However, as a resource system, Maelstrom is a lot more dynamic and modular than most others and the new Enhance doesn't feel ass to play.
Thus, in my eyes, it's one of the more successful Legion revamps because every other spec just start feeling like shit to play by comparison.

100% agree.
I am not dramatizing the change but I WANT spec identity. I don't want fireball shooting frostmages or warriors with 23984234 abilities. Again... listening to the loud minorities is a very bad idea.
Will play it anyways but prbly not enjoying those mixed spec stuff

Alright that's fine, here's how that's going to go down.

Let's say you play a fire mage.
You've got the good ol' handy fireball, fire blast, pyroblast, flamestrike etc. All the nice ol' fire spells.
You haven't got ice block, since that's frost. You haven't got frost nova since that's also frost.
You're not allowed to have blink, conjure refreshments, teleports, arcane intellect, invisibility, polymorph since that's all arcane stuff.

You're not allowed to have Rune of Power, you aren't allowed to have Mirror Images, you can say goodbye to Ring of Frost and Ice Ward.


Now tell me which spec will be favoured for raid, PvP and M+ content when you are going balls deep into 'spec identity'.

[Low Hanging Fruit]

Guys.. the expansion was probably only featured so heavily this year because its not a good year for Blizzard so they had to prop it up with pre-orders. Expansion looked like it was easily late 2020 at the earliest. I would imagine next BlizzCon you will actually have some reasonable information to go off of for this. But right now you just got the billboard and a carefully crafted business plan to snag peoples money a year plus in advance of product.