So, Classic has happened. We have seen what it’s like, and we now know what it will most likely be like if Blizzard ever makes a hypothetical fresh set of Classic servers. The one thing that I have been thinking about is if class specs that are not that viable in raids will be playable now. We all have laughed at the idea of a paladin tanking BWL or AQ40, survival melee hunters dealing melee dps, oomkin balance druids and elemental shamans dealing range dps, etc etc; but since we have see just how easy Classic really is (besides Naxx), are these specs now viable or at least playable in end-game raids?
(Disregard the fact that some server/world first guilds will ban these specs from being playing in hardcore raiding sessions. Let’s just say hypothetically that there is a guild that wants to just experience the content and not push for all that hardcore stuff.)
There have been people raiding with those specs since phase 1 of classic, and throughout all of actual Vanilla. Of course you can raid with them. You just need a guild that’s cool with it.
I’d like to think that fresh classic servers would have a much more open minded community. With the initial launch of classic, everyone wanted to clear content, and then they wanted to race and speed clear it. I think fresh classic servers might have a bit more of a fun over competition aspect, but of course I could be wrong. I could really see people raiding with just whatever in a fresh classic just for the heck of it.
Niche specs have had raid spots in most guilds from phase 1. Sure theres not a huge amount of them and they’re not as geared as the warriors etc but in general they’re there and have been for ages.
My former guilds server first BWL clear had a spriest,oomkin and hance shaman in it.
Guilds like that are not likely to finish Naxx, but if you’re hunting for a guild you might be able to find a spot if their niche specs are burning out after 15 months of continious raiding.
so it’s harder to quantify that of the tanks viability but it’s really easy to determine if a DPS class is viable. First look at the highest DPS check boss in the game which would be Patchwerk. Assuming you roll 4 tanks and 12 healers and ignore any damage done by those roles that would leave you with 24 dedicated DPS players for the encounter.
Patchwerk has 3,850,000 HP and an enrage timer of 7:00
So given these numbers your raid must put out 9,166 DPS to beat the enrage timer (ignoring non-DPS damage)
So 9,166/24= 382 DPS per person to be “viable”
Just saying I think even the lowest DPS classes are able to pull off this number
At this point, Naxx has been out long enough that the carries in any group are able to destroy it by pure gear received. You don’t need world buffs to clear it, so at this point, bringing one or two meme spec doesn’t even matter, especially if you are doing WB clears. Besides, unless you are speed clearing and can keep buffs the whole, the number of burn fights are low, so the DPS loss of meme specs are mitigated by mechanics.
We had an extra healer so for jokes, one of our shaman put 11 into enhancement for 2h axe with nightfall and earthshocks on loatheb, was more damage than he was doing spamming lightning bolts until his heal was ready and the casters loved additional uptime. No world buffs too.
I’ve raided as feral DPS through phase 5, no interest in naxx. I’ll OT occasionally, but 95% of my dungeon time is cat dpsing. Very gear dependant but i’m usually top 10 in a 40 man.
Yeah they can, but then you are pretty much just throwing the work onto healers making them blow more consumes than they would have to because the kills taking longer.