Short answer, no.
Long answer… There is always going to be a “best” healer. A “best” tank. “Best” DPS. The simplest of these to explain is DPS. If we hypothetically balanced every DPS to deal the exact same amount of DPS, well they still do that damage differently. Some are bursty, some ramp up. There’s still a best option, despite being numerically identical over time. So we rework all the DPS to deal their damage the same way. Well, some of them still bring unique toolkits. Things that people who complain about balance usually overlook. So let’s remove / add those so everyone brings the same tools. Removing is easier, so let’s get rid of lust, bres, augment just… entirely… and any unique CCs, like knockback/knockup, banish, etc.
Now every DPS spec does the same damage, the same way. They each have a 15 sec interrupt, a single target 5 second stun on a 1min CD, an aoe (5 target) 4 second stun on a 2min CD. No buffs, or debuffs like fortitude or chaos brand? (5% dmg from DH). Even so, we’re still not balanced. There’s STILL a best option, despite being almost identical in every way. The complexity of the spec. Admittedly, this would’ve been altered and nerfed heavily by balancing everything, but still some classes might have 3 buttons, some might have 4, and meanwhile the arcane mage is back to just spamming arcane blasts / explosions. So let’s fix that, somehow. Every class has one single target ability, one aoe ability.
Homogenized, boring gameplay but hey, at least it’s “kinda” balanced. Well, except for the melee/range problem. If there’s no cost to playing ranged, it’s just the better option.
And that’s just DPS. Healers and tanks are so much worse.
You can technically do keys with any composition of 1 tank, 1 healer, 3 dps. However, if you’re putting together a PUG group, you’re looking to MINIMIZE risk and MAXIMIZE success chance. Well that’s where being picky is going to do those two things, and what better way to do it than to pick the META classes. As every person who ever posts in a thread like this says, don’t like it, run your own key and invite whoever you want.
The entire point several people are trying to make here is the Exodia comp is just drastically better at all levels. If you timed a 20 with whatever, you would have +2 or +3 with Exodia.
This is what makes the meta vastly more broken than any previous metas. Most of the time you didn’t notice the meta until very high keys and even then, it was only by ~2 levels or so. Some meta specs weren’t even good unless you did huge pulls.
At this point, basically everyone either has rerolled to a meta spec, made a meta spec alt, or knows someone who did AND will tell you how much easier it is at every level. Anyone denying that every key level is much easier as meta is either lying or delusional.
Again that’s the same as it’s been with every meta. Like I don’t understand why people are struggling to understand this. No one is saying Exodia isn’t strong. The meta is “always strong”. You don’t NEED meta until you’re at the top levels of keys.
This is flat out wrong. The meta is always good at all key levels.
You don’t but if you ran the god comp your keys becomes 2 to 3 key level easier. Do doing a 20 is like running at 17 to 18 which is huge and makes your key so much easier. It also allow for more mistakes without a wipe. Remember Aug Evoker also buff the tank and healer by a lot. That’s why Aug eovker is meta
If you want to do a 20, absolutely no–you don’t need that at all.
If you want to do a 30… that’s a different story.
The best comp will always do the highest keys, but some things make all key levels easier. Having an Aug evoker makes healing keys way more chill, since your healer is way more powerful and your tank is tankier.
Having Mass Dispel is suuuuper nice in many keys and particularly this week for bursting.
Having those things makes keys objectively easier, so they will always be desirable. Is it required? No, but if you’re picking people for your key, why wouldn’t you bring them?
tldr: I think you’re asking the wrong question. It doesn’t matter if it’s required. It matters if it’s desired enough to make it harder for people playing other classes to get in.
99% of all M30+ keys are the same god comp, but M25+ and it’s a different story, there are currently more paladin and DH tanks than bear, there are more shaman healers than paladin. And there is actually more enhance, balance, sub, fury and ret than fire mage as DPS.
But that stats are weird, the raider IO site does not even list one aug being played, so I don’t know how accurate those stats or, or where aug sits on the list.
It was the single strongest DPS in high keys prior to 10.1.5 and tied with SP for representation in top end keys. It was already broken at that level, 10.1.5 made it moreso and gave it viability much lower. It was also one of the strongest DPS specs in the game in df S1 for high end keys despite kinda sucking once packs didn’t last long enough for ignite to do work.
Aug Evoker = mandatory because of the primary stat bonus applied to everyone including the tank + dps, bleed removal, multiple aoe stops, etc.
Priest = mass dispel and mind soothe are still mandatory
Healers = holy paladins aren’t mandatory, but if you’re playing the god comp there’s no real reason not to take them. If you aren’t playing the god comp then priest healers come up as being the 2nd most popular healer (gets to the Priest issue above).
There’s more flexibility now with non-meta comps now because you don’t 100% need a mage or hpal anymore.
You’re just not going to make the god comp disappear overnight. You had literally 1000s of players reroll and push high IO and they’re not just going to give up their 3300+ IO rating to go reroll a Warlock or something else that might be slightly better.
It’s absurdly strong, at every key level, for every type of player. That’s the difference this time. Most of the time the meta doesn’t really take off unless you’re doing meta strats and meta pulls too. Some metas still had disadvantages that were just outweighed by their advantages. This comp has none.
There is simply no reason to take anything but the meta specs in any key, any time. And this is after a pile of nerfs too!
What we have here is called a Strawman, kids. Either that or lack of reading comprehension.
Obviously the meta is good at all key levels every season. But those advantages didn’t make a lot of difference until the high keys. The simplest example was Destro being bonkers broken in mass pulls with PI in S3/S4 of Shadowlands but just above average in most keys.
But hey, you’re not arguing with me, you’re arguing the raw numbers and that’s just silly. Every other season it was harder to get the title as an off-meta spec. Now it’s nearly impossible (currently 11 Hunters in range). Previous metas had some weaknesses where you could argue a different spec would fit in well. This meta has none.
TLDR: if you seriously can look at the numbers for this season vs any other and say “it’s just another meta” then you’re too far gone for me to bother with you.
The perfect overlap in utility is hard to beat. Many of the best routes all require mind soothe, and the comp has 2 answers for everything you see in the current dungeon pool.
It’s not fair to nerf classes into uselessness, either, based on an emergent synergy, like many of the commenters in this thread have suggested.
Like most things in life, the right way to fix it is costly. The wrong way to fix it creates technical debt they’d have to repay later.
The support role experiment needs to end. There’s not enough room in the game for it. Make Aug into a true dps and remove all the group buffs, or next season (and every season forever) we’ll need 4 in every raid and 1 in every dungeon team. Adding more Support specs spreads the problem out, but then we’re at 11-12 spots in raid and 2 spots in a dungeon group.