4th Spec this, 4th spec that... What about...

[Jujudrood]

Instead of a full 4th spec, they implement...

Multi-Classing

Now, sure, not a new idea, as many many other games have done it, but it would fit just fine in today's world.
Once you hit a certain point/benchmark/gate/whatever, you can choose a second class.
That class will respect race restrictions and remain within your Armor Class tree.
Once you unlock it, you visit your class trainer to swap over to it, then you get the full kit as that Class.
Yep. Simple, yet straight forward stuff.

So a Troll Mage could opt for a second Class of Priest.
Now that player can be either Mage OR Priest, but only one at a time.

But, what's the difference from every other thread about Multi-Classing and every other game that does it, you may ask?
Bake in the Druid 'Affinity' talent methods into this as well.
That means that, while this player is a Priest, they get access to select Mage spells, and vice versa.
I think the Druid Affinity ability works well as it fits thematically with their class being a 'jack of all trades'.

Expanding upon that to let players be a second Class with cross-over sounds like it could be interesting, add new playstyles, weave in situational/rotational abilities, and basically just freshen things up a pinch.
Because you stick within your Armor Class, you don't need a full new set that can only be used with a single Class.
Weapons may change, sure, but we already have that today and many classes share already within their AC group.

Now that Mage above would have access to Renew, Heal, and maybe Shadow Word: Pain, for example (one baseline ability from each spec).
They won't be as strong as they would be if they were the Priest/spec themselves, just like Druid Affinity spells aren't as strong either, but they would be additional options to weave in, with renew/heal being a self/other backup (both useful for solo and group activity when you may range your healers) and SW:P could even be weaved in rotationally because, even though it doesn't tick as hard as a Spriest's one does, it's still an instant cast DoT for on the move, etc.

Of course, they would need to be careful with the crossover abilities to make sure you don't inadvertantly give someone too much utility or otherwise create a bigger balance problem, but more so some general yet basic thematic abilities for crossover to mix it up a bit and add some situational flavor.

Anywho, what do you think of an Affinity-style application to Multi-Classing?

[Rivex]

Sounds to me like you should play FF: XIV

[DranightKM]

Well if class sets make their comeback, which seems likely, this wouldn't really work

[tyrlaan]

Speaking as a fan of the concept of multiclassing... I don't really see it ever coming to WoW. The game is far too steeped in a fusion of the healer/dps/tank trinity and min/maxing for it to work.

[Rune B]

Agree with tyrlaan. I also like the idea of multi-classing and even kinda miss the old hybrid specs (at the very least), but WoW is pretty set in its ways. Today WoW is essentially not 12 classes but 36, and they share lore in specs making 12 class lores basically. It would also be terribly difficult to balance. Although more freedom in character creation is something I desperately crave.

[fikcrim]

I've tried it in FF14, and while it sounds great in principle, the reality was that when I wanted to level up a new job, I barely had any quests to do, because I did those with the main job and had to rely on repetitve levequests. What that looked like was picking up the same 4 repeatable quests, walking to the area in which the mobs would spawn, activating the quests and then killing the same mobs again. Either that or just plain mob-grinding. The game's quests aren't even interesting for a first playthrough, muss less an additional one to level another job. Combine that with the slow combat and it was a nightmare.

WoW however has a lot more content. You could easily level up one class and then have tons of quests to do to go back and level the next. Even dungeon spamming is a good alternative to level up. However, the question is, what for? You know the downside of multiclassing? There really is no reason to roll an alt. And WoW has tons of different races. You'd rather level up all classes on one character than start a new one, and that's a shame because they keep adding more and more cool races.

So I would say, no, let's not do multiclassing.

Even the idea of having certain spells from your second class and "merging classes" seems awful, as it would most likely only force people to take certain combinations and it would be a horror to balance. And imagine the following. You're a Mage and you pick Warlock as your second class as that happens to be the optimal choice as a DPS mage. Now they balance some thing around and all of a sudden Priest would now be the optimal choice for synergy with your class. What now? You can't switch classes so you are stuck. And if they allow you to switch your second class it would force people to level up a new secondary class all the time. It's a nightmare.

[Daevied]

That would be a nightmare to balance

[lunethzero]

I mean if theyre too lazy to make the first 3 specs fun and interesting why would they even think about a 4th?

[Jujudrood]

Well if class sets make their comeback, which seems likely, this wouldn't really work

True enough, but they could be the exception.
Get Mage tier, cool, you can use it as a Priest for the stats, but you also need Priest tier if you want the bonuses.
It would be kinda like back in Wrath-ish days, where each spec had its own tier, but isntead of needing 3 (or 4, for druids), you would need just 2 different sets.

I think that if we were to experiment with the way specs work in WoW, the natural idea would be to go for hybrids specs within the same class rather than multiclassing by perhaps adding a couple of talent rows where you can keep a pure spec path or choose something from the other two specs.

This was also kind of my thought as I typed it out; effectively use 'Affinity' just across specs.
It sounded fun to actually get a second Class, then be able to toggle between the two.
I mean, we are already the highest rank of our orders, so what more can we learn about our chosen professions?
Learning a second one seems like another path of growth and progression.

Speaking as a fan of the concept of multiclassing... I don't really see it ever coming to WoW. The game is far too steeped in a fusion of the healer/dps/tank trinity and min/maxing for it to work.

This is true enough to the point where you would see people saying "well, you MC a Mage to Priest for PVP, but to Lock for PVE" and having more or less cookie cutter paths.
I think the ability to be something else entirely (a new Class) would give more flexibility to play, let people play the way they want without an entirely new alt, and ultimately get more mileage out of our current characters.

[hynx]

sounds to me that the mmo that you really wanted to play was Rift. that game has exactly what you are suggesting.

[Draeth]

In fifteen years, the most radical changes Blizzard has ever made to class design in this game have been:

-Changing the talent system from a tree to a set of unconnected choices.
-Adding 1 spec to 1 class
-Adding alternate resources to specs that didn't have them.

They are never going to radically alter the definition of the class framework like this. They're just not. They don't make large, architectural changes like that to anything in this game, they're not brave enough to risk alienating their existing playerbase.

[Nnyco]

Four specs are fine but in to the classes where it fits, they definitly shouldnt go the legion way where we had a class hall for everyone just because everyone should have one.

[zlygork]

if multi-classing consisted of simply having more spec choices to switch into, that'd be my dream come true. I could finally play a class that I enjoy leveling/questing in at the same time as I play a class that I enjoy M+ (healing) in.
If you want to actually mix the spells that are available at the same time, think that people still act like a 5% dps difference is important to anyone not running for world first.

[Triceron]

I'd rather have Class Skins.

- You avoid any major balance issues
- You avoid Spec bloat
- There are no unseen factors in exploitative gameplay combinations
- There is more lore to explore
- More aesthetics options, more lore-based identities being realized

I really like the T&E take on this concept. Stuff like Worgen Fury Warrior being the 'Frenzy' Warrior, allowing you to use bare-hand attack animations; or Kul Tiran Shamans being Tidesages and Blood Elf Fire Mages being Blood Mages.

[Hastis]

Please no if you want multi class game play something diffrent

[ercarp]

No, because then they won't sell as many level boosts.

[Gomelus]

Ion has said they want to focus less on spec and more on class identity
They want to make the specs feel less pruned
There is a need to make sure specs have more options to deal with specific circumstances so it's not so easy to have specific specs have overwhelming advantages in certain encounters.
And from an RP perspective, many NPCs who seem to be the pinnacle of their classes freely use the abilities of more than one spec.
And yes, Legion made us the best of our spec, the next step really should be to be more well rounded within our class.

I think making it so you have a primary spec and can also have significant skills from a second spec has a lot of potential. It would have to be done very carefully or it could fuck PvP a lot but there is a lot of potential there.

Maybe the get get an idea or two from classic, that you're, for example, a shaman SPECIALIZED in elemental combat / enhancement / restoration. Meaning you get the full kit of shaman but the spec you're at the moment gets boosted somehow, but you're still able to do the other stuff in an emergency. I just realized this while playing classic. I was enh spec (mostly because it's the fastest for leveling), but I could actually tank or heal if the pull went sideways.
The easy way would be something like giving a X% bonus (or -X% penalty) in your chosen spec / offspecs. That way, you're actually a shaman, stronger in some aspects and weaker in others.

P.S.: SHAMAN TANK SPEC WHEN