No one is complaining about multiple pieces. If azerite gear traits changed when you switched specs - you’d still need all the other gear with different secondary/primary stats along with new trinkets.
A lot of people are complaining that they have to keep multiple pieces.
What else is there?
Managing multiple specs is about managing multiple sets of gear. The only way to simplify that is to make all specs within a class share everything including stat priorities.
The cost to reforge those items. To the OP’s example - what benefit is there to charge people for taking on roles that are needed to “fight bad guys”? (i.e. playing the game.)
There’s already plenty of time and costs associated with doing so: secondary stat gear, consumables, weapons, etc. - why add 1 more thing to the long list of costs when switching specs without penalty was a major benefit in Legion?
It’s a gold sink and makes choices matter. Having to make choices is an important part of games, mmorpgs more then some.
You can choose to play multiple roles and reforge your gear each time, you can choose to carry multiple sets of gear knowing that your offset will likely not as good as your primary set, or you can choose to focus on a single role and not worry about it.
These are the same choices that players have had to make since Classic. Though it’s much easier to maintain multiple specs now with how the stats on gear works now then it ever was.
Did you forget that at the very beginning managing multiple artifact weapons was a very costly and very difficult task? It was made easier towards the end, though even after all that chances are either your artifact weapons weren’t at the same powerlevel or the legendaries were missing for your secondary and third spec.
There are already plenty of choices we have to make. How is adding this choice - and it’s gold cost - beneficial to the game? The flip-side is that it helps the community with providing better able tanks and healers.
In the analogy that the OP made - the choice is there also, but what’s the benefit to the community by charging those people?
The op is comparing real world to virtual world, bad analogies are bad. In the real world there are other costs to doing what the OP is describing beyond monetary.
But the reforging cost benefits the economy. It also benefits those who choose to focus on a role. Those who want to tank will gear up and spec as a tank. Those who want to heal will do the same.
Removing the cost doesn’t mean there will suddenly be more tanks and healers pugging.
Can you elaborate on this?
If I don’t have to pay to reforge - I have more gold to buy flasks/potions/food etc. thus, benefiting the economy.
If I focus on a given role - if someone else can switch more easily to a different role to complete content; I’m able to play the game more efficiently.
In the state where costs are incurred - I can’t come up with benefits in either of those cases.
There is no reforging cost if you carry spec specific gear. Reforging is only a problem if you’re trying to make one piece fit all circumstances. If reforging was the only option, I’d agree - but there are three options: live with substandard azerite traits, carry extra gear, or reforge.
To your second point, it was not like that with Legion; in fact i’d argue it was the opposite. Legion was very multi-spec unfriendly. Legion had legendaries, for one, that were spec specific. It had artifacts that required specific farming dedication to level up. BFA is a multi-speccer’s dream compared to Legion.
You didn’t answer his question - what’s the benefit to the community? Legion tier set bonuses changed when you switched specs - what was gained by removing that ability in BfA?
The question is flawed. How can we “add one more thing” when nothing was added?
Reforging isn’t a requirement, we have 2 other options. It’s actually added value functionality, not an added requirement. You could not reforge legendaries, for example. You couldn’t reapply your artifact traits to another spec’s artifact. It’s a net new option.
Secondly, we have several fewer barriers to spec swapping than we had in legion, as I described.
The question is pretty direct- what’s the benefit to the community? You mentioned 2 - and Diesel asked for elaboration and gave examples to the contrary.
I’m interested in hearing your counter examples.
Yeah I don’t see how there’s anything wrong with the question. Seems like a perfectly legit thing for Blizzard to have considered when making their decisions.
Can you qualify this?
You asked about “one more thing”
I showed you how there are “two less things”
There isn’t one more thing.
Agree to disagree guys. I didn’t evade the question.
Yeah the question is: how is the cost beneficial?
You haven’t answered that - nor can you. You’re not Blizzard.
It’s not intended to be beneficial. It’s a cost. Not only is it a cost, but it escalates based on repeated use. It’s clearly intended not to be used frequently.
I’m not sure you’re clear on how discussions work. Did you think Blizz was going to spoon feed an answer to you? You wouldn’t like the answer.
Yeah but there’s no value in that cost that makes sense. The game charges players- to restrict them from playing roles that are needed to complete content. Why have the cost to those willing to take one for the team?