There’s an interview somewhere with a developer (I’d wager Ion, but I can’t recall who specifically) that discusses the role. In short, they found it difficult to assess how effective you were in the support role and thus moved away from the role until it was finally codified out of the game’s structure with WotLK. In other words, when your role is to enable your allies to do your best and try to get your enemies to perform at their worst… that doesn’t show up on the meters. It’s more intangible. And given how metric-driven WoW has become, both from a developer- and player-perspective, that wasn’t something that they wanted to continue with.
Most people that enjoyed the role simply stopped playing, because their playstyle was no longer supported.
Yep. I would personally bring Enhancement into the Support role. Make a Captain spec for Warriors with the Gladiator playstyle. Maybe get Ret on board…
Tanking didn’t feel quite right for Evokers, due to being an up close role, while the Dracthyr theme revolves more around ranged breath weapons and winged mobility
But then…
This is the perfect creation that blends the best of humanity and the best of dragon kind that can channel all the powers of the aspects. the Dracthyr were created by Neltharion, the original black aspect long ago, and I think pursuit of that perfect experiment is what we’ve seen guide Nefarian and other black dragons in their experiments in creating chromatic draconids and others all trying to replicate this original superior type of dragon. In terms of the roles that made sense for them, part of it is when we think about wings, we think about the physical attributes of a dragon, that almost speaks to movements, attacking from a distance, breath weapons, things like that, and by definition tanking in World of Warcraft means being up in front of your enemy, having them strike you in the face, and that the fantasy just didn’t feel quite as on point there. This class is initially only going to have two specializations, there’s certainly room in the future to add a third, but for now range dps and healer is where we’re focused.
Paladins and shaman used to be support roles but people only brought 1 shaman and 2 paladins to get all their buffs so people wanted some better dps in those roles to get into groups more which meant we lost that role.
“Support” was basically every class in Vanilla that wasn’t a Warrior DPS, Warrior Tank, or Druid healer.
Warrior dps was best because they scaled and were most reliant on gear, so warriors always topped the charts if I recall.
Everyone else was just there to dispel, interrupt, and do mechanics as well as keep helpful buffs up so the warriors could keep zugging.
I think most unique classes were just brought to raids because of the buffs they offered the group, like paladin blessings and shaman totems.
You weren’t actually inviting them for their dps or healing, rather the buffs and support they offered.
Obviously WoW has moved away from that, and now everyone can contribute in one of the three major pillars (tank, heals, dps) in a competitive way on every class.
I’m still skeptical that they’ll add an entirely new spec in the middle of the expansion.
But, IF it happens, I see it being something that functions in a similar vein as Disc Priest. You do some healing and some DPS, but the majority of your role is buffing/shielding your allies and debuffing the enemy.
The datamined dialogue combined with “Edict: The Adamant Vigil” doesn’t sound like a tank spec to me. It sounds more like a commander/support role that stands at mid-to-long range buffing and debuffing.
i liked playing mana battery shadow priest in bc, with my + shadow damage taken debuffs to enemies that made warlocks hit harder. i’d quite like to see a proper support spec and might actually play it. it could be interesting and original and would certainly appeal to a different group than a dracthyr tank, which would appeal to people who already play tanks.
Honestly, a “flex” slot would probably be the only solution. But it should nevertheless the preferable to have that support role instead of DPS.
But this is all academic. This is never going to happen. We had the support role. It was removed. WoW grew into something that doesn’t support the support role at all.
Support pace is methodical and generally slow.
WoW is fast-paced.
Support gameplay is often passive and strategic.
WoW gameplay is active and tactical.
Support prioritizes the collective.
WoW is individualistic.
Support success at their role is measured subjectively.
WoW success at a role is measured objectively.
As much as I love the Support role, it being my preferred role in the MMO space to this day… it’s completely at odds with the game WoW has become.
Hey now, leave enhancement alone. If they are going to add ‘support’ roles, they can do it as a fourth spec same as druids have fourth specs, not mess with existing specs to ruin them for players that enjoy them like happened to survival hunters or old demo warlocks.
Enhancement is a synonym of support. Outside of the odd foray into DK tanking and now Evoker healing, Enhancement has been my primary window into WoW. I rolled it specifically it was pitched as the offensive melee support specialization. Slowly, but surely, that was chipped away from me. These days? It hardly has an identity anymore. Shamans as a whole, and Enhancement specifically, completely lost what made them mechanically unique. I would welcome, with open arms, a return to what I first envisioned the class would be when I was reading about it pre-beta.
I suspect that if they add another spec, it will be a trinity spec with a twist.
For example, Priest has a DPS spec and two Healer specs. Discipline is a healer with a twist, but still a healer, capable of filling that role for group content.
My bet would be that, if they add that “support” spec, it will fill the role of a healer, but in a different way than Preservation. Probably with a bigger focus on buffing allies, but still a healer. It might be the case that’s actually a DPS spec, though, with a focus on strengthening allies, but intended to fill a DPS slot and perform accordingly (perhaps a little smaller on pure raw DPS, considering it can buff other characters).
Who cares what the word means lol. Enhancement is a good spec that is commonly played and enjoyed. It wouldn’t make any sense to rip that away and turn it into something completely different. Enhancement is a successful spec, leave it alone. And with all the changes to Ret, no chance they’re going to just toss all that and start over again too.
