This game is broken now. This was a mistake
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It’s fine. Just needs some more tuning.
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Shoulda been a tank spec 
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i 100% agree. delete aug.
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it should have been a tank spec for sure. It basically is for how survivable it is just without any taunting capabilities.
I just wish they didn’t feel the need to nerf dev so much to push people towards aug initially. They havn’t brought dev back up and it still feels like as s comparitively even though the damage is better, the class overall just feels like it lacks everything.
I wish they could fix evokers but they are too far along now. This is how it will be.
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No you are 
Seriously . - .
- High Armor
- Strong Self-healing
- Multiple instant heals
- Big absorb
- Casts on the move so it can position bosses like Melee tanks
The only things I would change if it was a tank spec would be:
- To make Eruption/Upheaval faster casts or usable while moving even w/o Hover.
- Some Silence/Kick protection so Aug Tanks aren’t easily shut down in PvP. Like making the Volcanic school part physical so it can be used when Silenced and making Volcanic school unable to be kicked.
- Ebon Might becomes a self-buff Augs maintain primarily for defense like Shield Block/Spikes/Ironfur/etc. (Can have offensive component.)
- Some sort of aoe CC that’s good at gathering enemies, like Kerrigan’s conal grip from HOTS.
Evokers are performing well…
Dev is performing fine and hasn’t been nerfed considerably at all. Aug is performing much better and like any other multi-dps spec, the weaker one will be less preferred. This is exacerbated by the extra survivability Aug offers. Additionally, they needed to launch strong or they wouldn’t get enough data on them.
So true, being able to weather aoe/environmental damage and being able to tank direct damage and tank busters from mobs and bosses are totally the same thing. Just run with a hunter and rogue and get all threat redirected, problem solved.
Nope, if it had even 10% of the toolkit Aug currently does and was a tank, it would be far more toxic and required than Aug is even now. The tank camp has never had a single good/complete concept(because caster tank makes no sense in this game) for it nor a reason other than “cause I want one”.
While I don’t prefer Aug, I’m glad that they are trying new things and ironing them out considerably in a mid-tier patch where the only thing it’s truly affected is higher average io scores and more forum tears.
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This can be said about people who want support. “The support camp has never had a single good/complete concept(because booster support makes no sense in this game) for it nor a reason other than “cause I want one””.
This statement itself presumes Aug is well put together and is a good design, which given present circumstances/opinions seems…debatable.
There’s a difference between trying and failing to do a new thing, and trying a new thing completely ignoring the circumstances around it, the environment it will exist in, and the effect it has on things around it. Personally, Aug falls into the latter, not the former.
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I wouldn’t disagree with anything you’re saying, but the simple fact of the matter is that Aug is a support (barely, it’s more of a symbiotic DPS) and it’s not a tank, and no amount of posting or wishing will change that.
Aug undoubtedly needs work to fit into the game as we approach a new season where the balance will be far more consequential than it is now. I don’t feel it’s nearly as far away as some do, but I’m willing to concede that that point is subjective.
At any rate, spending time endlessly posting about a tank spec that will never come is not productive, and if anything, detracts from real conversations about how the spec can work in the long run.
EDIT: sorry, this is Guyhugeman, I’ve main swapped and forgot I was on the sham.
This is a bit of a reductive argument.
- Survival Hunter was a range spec, until it wasn’t
- Frost DK was a tank spec, until it wasn’t
- Demo Warlock was themed around metamorphosis, until it wasn’t
Just because something is, doesn’t mean thats how it always will be or always should be. For example:
I don’t think Aug should be in the game, because I don’t think a balance can be achieved that allows it to exist anywhere close to what it currently is. And that’s not it as a spec, that’s Aug as a concept.
A big part of the conversation of how Aug will exist in the future, is how supports will work in the future. Do they all have similar kit to Aug? Do they all boost? Do some debuff? How do you ensure half of a raid group isn’t all support of boosts and debuff types, exponentially increasing the effectiveness of the team? How do you make them distinct from each other? How do you ensure they don’t overlap? Do you balance considering that people are gonna throw tons in their group? Should other classes be nerfed because they could benefit? What can other non-supports do as far as their encounter-to-encounter rotations that doesn’t allow them to exponentially benefit from supports? What about utility, Aug clearly has a ton. Should other dps not have utility to ensure supports have a defined kits? Are dps just damage pushers without even kicks so supports can have those to define their existence? Should normal dps/heal/tank get CC, interrupts, knockbacks? Should supports be the only ones with those? If not, whats the split? 60/40? 20/80?
If you balance considering supports are in a given group, does that mean you have to have supports in a group? If you do the 1/1/1/2 groups where you role require supports, that means you’re waiting on 4 distinct role types to queue. Given the wait time for normal dps trying to find tanks or healers, now they’ll have to wait on a distinct support to join as well? Or if they have some flex thing where the group gets buffed if a support isn’t available, wouldn’t that be an indication everyone is weaker just because this arbitrary role exists?
Based on other games, they make supports work by making them performative supports. Technically yes you’re buffing people, but in the 1-2% department. They’re not hugely impactful, just enough to say that you’re buffing people. Should that be what supports are here? Would people accept that? Given how much people get upset when Aug gets overall nerfed by 1%, I don’t think so. If that’s the case, are we just playing a balancing game to placate people who want supports?
If Aug is the draft of what supports are in the game, then we shouldn’t have supports is my take. Its design is fundamentally flawed, and personally supports are an archaic concept from a time when designs had to force certain playstyles to be engaged with. The argument for a tank spec mostly being an attempt to salvage a poorly considered idea that is Aug.
2 Likes
I can’t speak for others but I personally I like Aug. I didn’t want to tank so the tank spec idea never had apppeal to me. I also felt there would be a good chance that we would’ve replaced a tank spot in raid or M+ which would make things more toxic for the community. As for Preservation, I’m just not a healer so that was a no go. Devastation I don’t mind so much but Aug is just funner for me. Basically Aug came at the right time for me and boosted my willingness to play WoW as other classes/specs I’ve played just didn’t vibe with me. I’m a support at heart so it was just what I was looking for. On another note though. When Deva came out a lot of people didn’t and still don’t like Devastation saying it’s boring or something was missing, hell the forums where filled with complaints. Things like that. I feel Aug fell into a good spot for those that didn’t want to heal as Preservation and found Devastation equally not as appealing. This may show abit when you see how many Augmentors are out there in game now. But I don’t know, I’m just one dragon but a very happy one now.
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Reminds me of prot pally from vanilla 
Personally I think Augmentation just released way too early.
I don’t think it was a mistake introducing support play style, although it did really kill Devastation and Preservation specs, more so what I was upset with as I loved Preservation.
But I think releasing one “Support dps” spec with zero competition from other classes was a wrong move, essentially it created a vacuum forcing Evokers to play Augmentation to even be considered in higher end content.
The issue outside of obvious tuning is it needs competition, it needs other support specs to help balance it off, each support spec should have strengths and weaknesses that they provide to the group, other then just get a Augmentation Evoker.
This would at least create a little more flexibility especially when it comes team composition, another issue is that Augmentation brings everything that Dev and Pres bring. Solid Damage through buffing Allies, Strong Defensives and a cheat death, even solid off healing and lust. Why would you bring the other 2 specs?.
Their needs to be more distinct changes between specs, Fury of the Aspects (Lust), should be Devastation only, it’s dps focused, Preservation should instead get a Brez with the focus on bronze aspects, rewinds time to when they were alive or something, while Augmentation is more defence focused.
But seriously if nothing changes the PuGing scene is an absolute nightmare outside of playing Augmentation.
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Ah these kind of player opinions have been since wow began and still going.
Nothing’s changed.
DK was a mistake
DH was a mistake
Paladin taurens
(Insert race class combo here)
Growing pains nothing more. Play what you like, but remember that attacking others fun will leave you open to your fun being attacked.
Aug is new and has some balance issues to fix. It’s fun and engaging. Try it out.
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I enjoy playing aug more than devestation tbh.
I think a) Aug is fun, and b) I’m actually impressed with how well they handled a buffing spec mechanically, but I think in the long run it could be problematic particularly in 5-mans, because it buffs the capabilities of the tank and healer in ways that no other spec can do. We’ll see what happens to the meta next season though…
Having only one support spec and not even testing the role in any capacity was destined to create a toxic spec.
It’s required in PvE and toxic in PvP. They either need to go all in and release several new support specs in 11.0 or make Aug a support spec in a sense how enhance is one.
100% agree
Bumping. This still holds true. Rework Aug into a tank spec or delete the spec.