Replace DPS specs with tanks/healers.

[Triceron]

This is simply not the case. Right now, you can't incidentally play a tank or healer while advancing your main if playing a straight DPS. There doesn't need to be a guarantee they would, even of only a small proportion played tank to speed their queues on their DPS main it would have a measurable impact.

Like I already said, when I play a DPS only class, I am queueing as a DPS when I would otherwise be tanking or healing at least some of the time. It is a flat reality that a nonzero amount of people would play support roles on all classes if they existed. What percentage of players that would do so is pure speculation. Everyone claims "no one wants to tank, that's why noone tanks", but what they mean is "I don't want to tank".

That assumes that anyone/everyone who plays a Tank-viable class as a DPS would be capable and willing to Tank whenever they wish because they have a Tank-spec available to their class. That is not true at all. Let's be clear that Mages, Warlocks, Hunters, Rogues and Shamans lacking a tank spec are not the root cause of the Tanking problem. This is nothing more than an easy scapegoat; an ill informed excuse.

You need to have the gear. You need to have the experience. You need to have the mere willingness to tank. It's not just given to you from merely having the spec that allows you to tank. Someone maining as DPS will very likely continue to play as DPS if that is what their toon is meant to be. If they are brought in the raid to Heal, then they are maining as a Healer. if they are brought in to tank, they are maining as a tank. A Paladin who is queuing as DPS is not queuing as a Tank or Healer. That's how it works. The reason why there is a tank shortage is because of this reason; not that there's a lack of tank options but because even if there is a tank option, people are choosing to refrain from tanking.

A majority of Tank-viable Class players are not using them to Tank, even if they have full access to those specs. That is simply a fact of the matter. Anything else here is really merely an excuse.

[Kiria]

This is the most stupidest idea I've read today... I mean seriously... changing someones spec to something completely different to what they dont want to play will cause people to quit... stop making such stupid suggestions.

[Delekii]

That assumes that anyone/everyone who plays a Tank-viable class as a DPS would be capable and willing to Tank whenever they wish because they have a Tank-spec available to their class. That is not true at all. Let's be clear that Mages, Warlocks, Hunters, Rogues and Shamans lacking a tank spec are not the root cause of the Tanking problem. This is nothing more than an easy scapegoat; an ill informed excuse.

You need to have the gear. You need to have the experience. You need to have the mere willingness to tank. It's not just given to you from merely having the spec that allows you to tank. Someone maining as DPS will very likely continue to play as DPS if that is what their toon is meant to be. If they are brought in the raid to Heal, then they are maining as a Healer. if they are brought in to tank, they are maining as a tank. A Paladin who is queuing as DPS is not queuing as a Tank or Healer. That's how it works. The reason why there is a tank shortage is because of this reason; not that there's a lack of tank options but because even if there is a tank option, people are choosing to refrain from tanking.

A majority of Tank-viable Class players are not using them to Tank, even if they have full access to those specs. That is simply a fact of the matter. Anything else here is really merely an excuse.

No, it doesn't. It assumes some will.

As always, a solution doesn't need to solve the entire problem or apply to the entire population for it to be worth doing.

Some people would do it, so the argument to the contrary is moot. Whether or not enough would do it to be worthwhile is a case for research, but it is a fact that a nonzero number would.

In a pure napkin math sense, you would expect over time for the number of people tanking/healing on dps specific classes to approach that of current hybrid classes, minus some form of overhead for those people who specifically play those classes to avoid the possibility of tanking or healing.

So, if it were the case that all classes were equally represented (a case we couldn't make without seeing the outcome of such a change, but for argument sake) you would expect a relative increase of approximately 3/9 or 1/3 of the supports we have now, minus whatever overhead you want to attribute to the previously mentioned group, plus whatever proportion doesn't play those classes specifically because they aren't hybrid.

Something near to 1/3rd increase compared to now in the fullness of time would be a relatively good guess.

[Ielenia]

Do not add additional specializations to balance. Do not add new classes to balance.

Remove one of the Mage specializations (arcane is the least popular, so remove arcane) and implement a Chronomancer healing class.

Remove Elemental or Enhancement and replace it with an Elementalist tank specialization.

Remove Survival and replace it with a Medic healer.

Do not add a Necromancer. Make one of the DK’s specializations a Necromancer caster specialization.

Remove a rogue specialization and replace it with an evasion tank centered around mobility and avoiding damage.

I’ll let you guys get creative with Warlocks.

This way we aren’t seeing an endless stream of new additions for the balance team to struggle with and inevitably neglect due to difficulty with sheer volume of specializations.

How about... absolutely none of that? Changing a ranged spec into a melee spec was controversial enough (looking at you, Hunter) but changing the role of a spec? Fuck that. In every way possible.

It doesn't matter that some specs are "least popular", there are still people that likes them, and there is absolutely zero reason to change their roles. More healers and more tanks won't make for more tanks and healers in LFG. If anything, we'll see less of those classes in LFG. Not to mention FOTM changes from expansion to expansion and even from patch to patch. So arcane mages might not be as popular as fire and frost right now, but maybe in Dragonflight they'll be the best spec.

[Triceron]

No, it doesn't. It assumes some will.

Some is not enough to fix the problem, and the data is very clear on what people are playing.
https://wowleaderboards.net/statistics/popular/specs

Look at Demon Hunters. We're looking at 78% of DH players playing as Havoc, with only 22% shown to be Vengeance. How likely are all those players willing to tank? If they were all willing to tank, then that percentage would be higher, and we wouldn't be running into discussions about there ever being a shortage of tanks.

So, if it were the case that all classes were equally represented (a case we couldn't make without seeing the outcome of such a change, but for argument sake) you would expect a relative increase of approximately 3/9 or 1/3 of the supports we have now, minus whatever overhead you want to attribute to the previously mentioned group, plus whatever proportion doesn't play those classes specifically because they aren't hybrid.

Something near to 1/3rd increase compared to now in the fullness of time would be a relatively good guess.

Except that's not how it works at all. People choose what they want to play and they stick their guns unless there's a significant enough reason not to. Just because there is an option doesn't mean people will take it.

The only way your math works out is if the problem stems from an overall lack tank and healer options. Yet if we look at the data for Tank specs of Classes capable of Tanking, then the Tank spec tends to be the least played. Just look at any data on Tank percentages being played overall.

If we average all Tank-viable classes, all Tanking specs have about a 22% Tanking participation rate.
On average of all Specs, all Tanking specs make up about 17% participation rate.
If every class had a Tank spec, we may see the current 17% rise slightly towards the 22% as we see with all Tank Viable averages, and that's about it. We're talking about an overall 5% potential increase in participation rate if we add a Tank spec to every class. This would be a FAR cry from your numbers.

And we know that tanking overall hasn't actually shifted much higher than the 17% overall Tanking participation average over the past decade. We know this because we've seen this happen every expansion that's added a new class - each and every new class we've had is Tank viable, and the average Tank participation was not significantly increased cumulatively. You'd think that with more Tank specs available, there would be an influx of more tanks, but that's not true because what is actually happening is there is a finite amount of people who are willing to tank who are already actively maining as tanks, and having more Tank options merely provides this same pool of players more options to pick from, rather than it actually getting Pure-DPS players switch their mains to Tank.

If more tank options actually significantly increased the participation rate, then I would completely agree with adding more. The problem is, the data we have doesn't lie. You can look at Tanking averages from Vanilla all the way up to Shadowlands, and see that the overall Tanking participation averages has always been low, and continues to stay at an under-20% average. The actual percentage of Tanks has not actually increased much at all. What having more Tank specs seems to suggest, through the data we have, is that the same pool of players (the under 20%) are merely migrating from one spec to another, rather than are we seeing any significant increase in participation rate. We have the data showing us how every Tank spec tends to be the least picked of all specs for any class capable of Tanking.

Even if Mages, Hunters, Warlocks and Rogues all get Tanking specs, there is little evidence for those Specs to have any significant participation. Yes, more people would be trying Tanking overall, but what matters is the people who choose to main them as Tanks, and that is the actual source of the Tank shortage, not the diversity of Tank options overall.


With that being said, if we want to see Tank averages improve, then we need to address the actual problems with Tanking. The game has designed the role to take on too many responsibilities and require too much effort in order to be effective. It's not user friendly, it doesn't have room for error. It isn't a role that is easily accessible for most players. There are plenty of discussions, articles and videos outlining the actual problems with Tanking over the recent years, so the best way to address this issue is to take the actual problems into consideration, rather than merely correlate that the issue will resolve itself if we increase diversity for the sake of appealing to an audience that isn't interested in Tanking in the first place. Cuz honestly, people wouldn't be maining PURE DPS classes if they are remotely interested in Tanking. Players have no interest in tanking if they deliberately main a Pure DPS class. If they had any interest in Tanking at all, they would main a class that is Tank Viable. Tanking isn't just a side hobby you pick up, it's something you have to commit to.

[Seezer]

Do not add additional specializations to balance. Do not add new classes to balance.

Remove one of the Mage specializations (arcane is the least popular, so remove arcane) and implement a Chronomancer healing class.

Remove Elemental or Enhancement and replace it with an Elementalist tank specialization.

Remove Survival and replace it with a Medic healer.

Do not add a Necromancer. Make one of the DK’s specializations a Necromancer caster specialization.

Remove a rogue specialization and replace it with an evasion tank centered around mobility and avoiding damage.

I’ll let you guys get creative with Warlocks.

This way we aren’t seeing an endless stream of new additions for the balance team to struggle with and inevitably neglect due to difficulty with sheer volume of specializations.

Remove deez nuts from yo mouf

[Baine]

And why do people not want to do that? Oh right, the dps community with 0 patience and scream gogogogogogo. The same people that cannot understand that a tank has to learn to get the routes right, or a healer has to get the healing down.

Well, for me, it is just I like to kill stuff in game. Support role do not interest me.

[cordrann]

Lets take it a step further, just let every class tank, rdps, mdps, and heal with functionally identical spells that have different skins!

[username993720]

Do not add additional specializations to balance. Do not add new classes to balance.

Remove one of the Mage specializations (arcane is the least popular, so remove arcane) and implement a Chronomancer healing class.

Did you miss the Evoker's preservation specialization? It is healing spec encompassing Bronze Dragonflight's Chronomancy.
The only option left for Mages is lightning, which would be a DPS spec.

Remove Elemental or Enhancement and replace it with an Elementalist tank specialization.

Why remove? Add a tanking Earth specialization.

Remove Survival and replace it with a Medic healer.

Medic healer? More fit for a Tinker.

Do not add a Necromancer. Make one of the DK’s specializations a Necromancer caster specialization.

Unholy is already the necromancer spec.
Want a caster specialization? Add first generation of Death Knights spec.

Remove a rogue specialization and replace it with an evasion tank centered around mobility and avoiding damage.

Add a fourth one with a buckler.

I’ll let you guys get creative with Warlocks.

Void Warlock.

[Kiria]

Lets take it a step further, just let every class tank, rdps, mdps, and heal with functionally identical spells that have different skins!

Oh wait didnt people complain about this originally?

What did they call it.... OH YEAH, Homogenization.