Many people believe that WotLK is when the game started to decline, me included. That’s when Blizzard started to experiment and significantly change its design philosophy, and started down the road that led to WoW becoming the very different (and many would say inferior) game that it is today.
Yes, subs peaked during WotLK, but, IMO, that can probably be attributed to the massive momentum created by vanilla and TBC. They went steadily downhill from that point on, before resurging with the introduction of Classic.
IMO, the best way for Blizzard to keep that resurgence in subs is to not go down that road again, at least not before its time. Let TBC be TBC. It’s a vastly superior game than anything these current devs are capable of coming up with, IMO, so they shouldn’t change it unless absolutely necessary (e.g. drums, Seal of Blood, etc.).
Dual spec is wholly unnecessary. Vanilla was a huge success without it. TBC will also be a huge success without it. Don’t tamper with a tried and true formula unless you have to, IMO.
One is you claiming a spec to a raid leader, the other is a complete change to the loot system within the game itself entirely. But you already knew that.
Dual spec coincided with the game’s greatest point, Wrath of the Lich King. WotLK’s sub count is only beaten by WoD but that was a temporary peak on the expansion’s release. Meanwhile, WotLK had a sustained 11.5 million subs through the whole expansion.
What if we stop making up restrictions on players enjoying the game?
How does someone playing two specs hurt you in any way? How does it take away from your enjoyment?
I honestly don’t think they will add Dual spec, but I really hope that they will. Personally it will add enjoyment and longevity to the game. If it does happen, no need to do it any different than what we had in Wrath really.
The restrictions are wanted to limit inevitable abuse of dual spec in raids. That is my only concern, otherwise I have no issue with dual spec. Without restriction, serious TBC raiders will have two raiding specs and that wasn’t what original TBC was like.
Think of it like a board game with rules. Changing one rule may make it more “fun”, but now the game plays differently. Some people don’t want it to play differently. Because there is a competitive aspect to raiding (world first, server first, dps logs, etc.) people who are serious about raiding will use the tools available to them to optimize their character.
People who want dual spec usually want it for something outside of their primary pve role. There is a way to provide that with some restrictions so the raiding “rules” of TBC are preserved.
I think what would be nice… is if Blizz put out a beta and said “Hey guys… we want to test out Dual Spec and see what effect it has” and see how it works out since right now the arguments are all hypothetical saying that it will or wont “destroy” the meta and the essence of TBC.
To be clear, I think that unrestricted dual spec will make TBC raiding easier. If you can swap to any two different specs whenever, I can plan for the two best specs for that raid. I have to make fewer compromises beacause I have two specs to choose from instead of one.
That doesn’t mean bosses will necessarily be trivial, but it does make it that much easier.
It changes the meta and original TBC experience.
I think if it is added, it will at least require a rested area to swap. That will probably be enough to deter most from constantly spec swapping, but I can see the top 1% of guilds doing it for WF, but not speed clears.
I know i had this debate with you yesterday about it I agree it should have some restrictions like the rested area one. But i still think it should be tested.
One can stomach dailies for only so long. As someone who was a raid healer and eventually discovered that ret was way more fun, I had to respec quite a bit. That actually contributed to me hating being a healer.
This time through, if we get the option, I’d dual spec prot and ret. Prot for dungeons and raids. Ret for everything else. If we don’t, I’ll likely just stay ret. Sure, I might not raid as much, but it’d also be one less tank out there.
“The meta” has already changed the game. Anyone thinking we’re gonna get anything close to an “authentic TBC” experience is either stupid, or delusional. It’s not Blizzard that would be at fault. It’s the player base at large. Before Classic even launched, folks were had already mapped out what race/class/spec there character will be, how to level it, what professions, etc etc. The meta gaming nonsense trashed the “authentic experience” of Classic. We’ll see the same crap in TBC.
And how does having Dual spec change any of that? If everyone has access to it, and META heads are going to META, then in the end the results will be the same for that small number of players who are fighting for those speed run times.
META, by definition, doesn’t care about how things were or how things were intended. It only cares about being faster and stronger.
People keep saying how it will change the META, but not one person has explained how that negatively affects anyone.
15 years of hindsight will change the TBC experience.
Alliance Paladins with Seal of the Martyr will change the TBC experience.
Going through the Dark Portal on launch day with Naxx geared Draenei and Blood Elves will change the TBC experience.
The Soon to be announced change to Drums will change the TBC experience.
I agree it should have some restrictions like the rested area one. But i still think it should be tested.