I doubt it would come with the next patch. But stranger things have happened.
Interesting.
Because I was ret back during TBC. And I remember for my supportive abilities, I was told simple terms, my options were either reroll prot or holy and actually contribute to things, or learn to enjoy solo play as ret.
I suppose you if you have such happy memories as the token enh shaman. But it was absolutely miserable as one of the lolrets out there, and I suspect many others felt the same way.
I wouldn’t contest that. There were, like, five specs that were actually decent. Most survived their transition into modernity with their identities intact. Shaman did not. We were robbed of our mechanical niche and, while our theme always remained strong, we haven’t had an identity ever since. That’s why I hopped over to Evoker after 20 years (and a brief stint as a DK tank) - the only thing more appealing to me than the support role was being able to play as a dragon.
Even so, I would have still preferred that the support role survived modernization. Honestly, I’m willing to bet that it would have if damage meter addons were as sophisticated as they are today and were able to actually attribute damage numbers coming from support abilities to the support class itself.
It’s more than just a numbers game though. The game would need to a fundamental design shift, one where all encounters and dungeons would have to be adjusted and accounted for.
It’s completely possible Blizzard just won’t care about that and do whatever they want anyway, but that opens the door to them screwing up immensely.
Completely depends on implementation. We’re not going to be getting EQ Shaman or DAoC Skald. As much as I loved both, they don’t fit into modern WoW. If it’s just a FFXIV Dancer or Bard equivalent (which, in all likelihood, it will be), which is simply chopping off tip of your damage meter bar to add to someone else’s, nothing needs to change.
Honestly, I hope it’s somewhere in the middle. They should be viewed as essential in a raid. Mythic should be balanced around having one.
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A few years ago, I posted this, too:
It would just check so many boxes for me to be playing as a draconic support class. Not everything in that concept aligned with what we eventually got, but what they came up with does scratch a lot of those itches.
Whatever form it takes, I am looking forward to it.
They will utterly screw this up…
Sigh failed class brought to you by lizzard
It’s not a good idea to make a bad move just because you’ve done it before.
Since it was such a bad move, I guess there wouldn’t be much of an issue changing the spec again afterall…
A lot more of an issue than just adding a fresh one that’s built exactly for what they want instead of taking away one people have come to enjoy.
Support role has always been healer in Blizzard games. They 2 words are interchangeable.
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Categorically false.
Amen brother, I want 2 hand big axe windfury crits back.
Lol ok Dwight Schrute
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the truth comes out…this is a final fantasy andy arguing semantics in here…
all makes sense now 
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I have never really understood people who want WoW to become FF. Like, if you want to play FF, go play FF. I don’t, so I play WoW.
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You do realize I was trashing FFXIV, yes?
no, not really…
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You’re simply proving my point that the limited perspective of only having played WoW limits your imagination regarding what is possible in the genre.
And you like it like that.
But yeah, FFXIV’s support classes are barely as effective as WoW’s support classes were at launch. It’s not design that they should seek to copy. But it is likely that they will, as it is the easiest and least disruptive route.
oh yeah? like what?
what are modern mmo’s doing so well that they can’t last longer than 5 years?
WoW should def learn from those alright…