Most enjoyable ranged spec so far?

[Tyfo]

What is the most enjoyable ranged spec so far to you? Are there any that you enjoyed despite thinking you would hate it? Or vice-versa?

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Personally, I am enjoying elemental shaman a lot less than I thought I would. Same with balance druid. I'm enjoying affliction warlock a lot more than I thought I would since I absolutely despise multi-dotting, but it's actually kind of relaxing.

[bloodwulf]

I have admittedly not played Balance or Spriest on beta. But i have played Hunter/Lock/Mage..

Affliction feels good. Its snappy and has really strong burst potential. The changes have basically improved everything about the BFA Affliction lock, and that seems to be a common belief among higher end locks (which i am admittedly not).

[Tyfo]

I have admittedly not played Balance or Spriest on beta. But i have played Hunter/Lock/Mage..

Affliction feels good. Its snappy and has really strong burst potential. The changes have basically improved everything about the BFA Affliction lock, and that seems to be a common belief among higher end locks (which i am admittedly not).

What do you think of mage and hunter in comparison to the affliction lock?

[bloodwulf]

What do you think of mage and hunter in comparison to the affliction lock?

Affliction stands out to me because how drastic it is improved over BFA.

As for hunter, BM is still good, not really changed at all but fine. Marksman is better but still missing some fundamental redesign to make it toptier. Mage is mostly fine mechanically. Fire has to spread the ignite dot manually with Phoenix Flame but that isn't that bad, the problem with mage is they gained so much power from the borrowed power of BFA (Corruption and Azerite Traits) that they feel gutted right now on Beta. I was intending to main Mage this go around but between disappointing covenant abilities and just feeling limp, i am leaning back towards Lock.

[infinitemeridian]

Both Aff and Destro look really good.

[muto]

Affliction feels okay with the changes, though Darkglare feels out of place without Deathbolt.

Demo plays the same just slower without the haste. Same with Destro.

Shadow feels like dogshit. Devouring Plague feels out of place, and one of the builds you can go makes your Mindbender do like 30% of your damage which feels bad. Also two of the Covenants seem extremely bad in pve. Venthyr and Necrolord.

[Sunslayer]

Weird so many voted "Beast master" when every single shred of what I've seen is that Beastmaster is rated very very low on which ranged to play.
Affliction is rated very high.
Apparently, Beastmaster is like watching paint dry while you afk and let your pet beat the hell out of everything.
That sounds fun!?

[FossilFree]

Beast mastery is really fun, regardless what the haters think. I'm surprised by affliction ranking so high though, I mean thematically it is cool sure it always has been, but man what a dumpster fire in BFA.

[Tyfo]

Weird so many voted "Beast master" when every single shred of what I've seen is that Beastmaster is rated very very low on which ranged to play.
Affliction is rated very high.
Apparently, Beastmaster is like watching paint dry while you ark and let your pet beat the hell out of everything.
That sounds fun!?

Full freedom of movement will probably always score high! The worst thing about BM going into SL is the 6 seconds revive cast time.

Beast mastery is really fun, regardless what the haters think. I'm surprised by affliction ranking so high though, I mean thematically it is cool sure it always has been, but man what a dumpster fire in BFA.

It seems from some videos that Malefic Rapture alleviates a lot of the problems that affliction has in M+, which I guess is what people really want.

[kaminaris]

whuuuuuut, affliction over demo? Lol no.

[Specialka]

I thought MM was toptier damage wise in SL currently ?

[Doffen]

I've heard boomkin is more like it was back in the day(wotlk/cata?) in SL, if that's so, I might pick that. Boomkin as it is in BfA is just not that fun to play. Though I am still going for Arcane Mage which I have been since WotLK as main alt/spec in Shadowlands, but hope they fix the ramp up people complains about atm.

Have not tried any myself so can't vote :< Beta plz.

[Cosmic Janitor]

I still like the basic idea behind frost and fire, but I haven't played with it myself to see how it actually feels yet. Affliction seems to have gotten some changes that aim to address some of the m+ concerns and demo is still demo, so a servicable new-age spec with no fat and just enough meat on it's bones. Destro and arcane are the same old boring shit from what I've seen. I can't stand elemental and I dislike the ping-pong balance shit so that killed the spec for me entirely. I'm curious how the shadow changes will pan out.

[Gaidax]

I thought MM was toptier damage wise in SL currently ?

That's meaningless, nothing is tuned at all and won't be until end of beta and even then there will be more tuning first weeks of Shlands too.

Right now it's totally wild and will be so for next several months.

[Specialka]

That's meaningless, nothing is tuned at all and won't be until end of beta and even then there will be more tuning first weeks of Shlands too.

Right now it's totally wild and will be so for next several months.

For sure, that is why I added currently. And I hope it stays that way. A 100% mobile 3 button specs should not be top tier that easily.

[Soon-TM]

OT: does anyone have some thoughts about mage specs that aren't fire? I know fire is all we talk about on live, but I was kind of hoping either frost or arcane would make a return. BfA fire makes me want to tear my hair out except for how big the numbers are.

Arcane has a fundamental flaw in the sense that for a supposedly bursty spec, it has to spend SIX gcds doing basically nothing but setting up the burn phase... at which point isn't even burning, but barely a singeing. Besides, losing Displacement really feels like a kick in the nuts, and while AT is nice, it is really no replacement.

As for frost... Oh dear, !@#$ is literally broken, and not exactly in the ZOMG OP sense.

[Mardux]

What is the most enjoyable ranged spec so far to you? Are there any that you enjoyed despite thinking you would hate it? Or vice-versa?

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Personally, I am enjoying elemental shaman a lot less than I thought I would. Same with balance druid. I'm enjoying affliction warlock a lot more than I thought I would since I absolutely despise multi-dotting, but it's actually kind of relaxing.

I’ve loved shadow since legion. Having to fight time, mechanics, gear, and your other raid members (who always seem to run straight at you with shit following them while you’re at 40+stacks) meant there was little room for error. It made not screwing up feel that much better.

Sadly, those days are pretty much gone once SL drops.

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Arcane has a fundamental flaw in the sense that for a supposedly bursty spec, it has to spend SIX gcds doing basically nothing but setting up the burn phase... at which point isn't even burning, but barely a singeing. Besides, losing Displacement really feels like a kick in the nuts, and while AT is nice, it is really no replacement.

As for frost... Oh dear, !@#$ is literally broken, and not exactly in the ZOMG OP sense.

For as much as people say arcane is bad, you’d think it would reflect as such in logs. Yet it sits midpack or higher for ranged dps for the majority of the fights in mythic nya.

[Tiev]

Beast mastery is really fun, regardless what the haters think. I'm surprised by affliction ranking so high though, I mean thematically it is cool sure it always has been, but man what a dumpster fire in BFA.

Can you explain why? It feels very basic to me in BFA. What gets you going about it?

[Soon-TM]

For as much as people say arcane is bad, you’d think it would reflect as such in logs. Yet it sits midpack or higher for ranged dps for the majority of the fights in mythic nya.

I was speaking about Arcane in SL beta. And at all rates, the problem is Arcane isn't a numbers one (which would be easily fixable), but rather more complicated. It's akin to spriests in BfA: decent, even good numbers, but mechanically broken - and that part is getting worse, not better, in SL beta.

[Rubon]

Affliction, Frost and Elemental. Genuinely surprised people are going for Beastmaster, which is like... 5 buttons.