If your class had a 4th spec

Wyrmrest Accord
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…or 5th, for Druids, what do you think it would be and what would be its theme? Would it be something like we have currently where every spec is a different mini-class, or would it be the base class expanding in a certain direction?

Personally, I would love a return of Gladiator Stance from WoD with a talent system similar to prot but with more benefits to shield bashing. I know it’s cheesy and goofy but it was cool to be a sword and shield DPS.

What do you think, Accordians?

Edit: Or 3rd spec, for Demon Hunters.

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In a perfect world, I dream of a Duelist spec wherein combo points are spent on evasive actions and you build them by using Parry and Dodge mechanics in narrow windows.

But I also think I’d settle for a ranged Rogue spec, too. Call it…I don’t know, Stalker, and have it be about launching ranged attacks out of stealth and divvying up melee and ranged.

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A Leywalker themed healing spec, using raw mana for buffs and damage based healing; essentially a mashup of Arcane and Disc with some thematic quirks.

Alternatively a tanking spec based around temporary summons. Based heavily on casting illusions of various kinds for aggro generation and management alongside crowd control.

Addendum:

A proper Battlemage spec would also be nice but I wanted to retain the Mage’s base traits.

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Necromancer.

Vaguely like a BM hunter. Minion focused & ranged. Albeit a ranged spellcaster. If you get a killing blow on a non-elite, level-appropriate enemy, your enemy raises as your minion for a short time.

I can’t type much right now because phone but that’s the gist. May flesh out further later.

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Ranged Survival.

More fleshed out answer later.

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I will never stop wanting a chronomancy-based healing spec for mages. Why waste time healing wounds when you can just rewind them instead? :smirk:

also give rogues a pistol spec you cowards

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Bringing back warlock demo tanking. Class fantasy/concept would be a warlock using forbidden techniques to assume demonic attributes in order to survive damage as a clothie.

How do they differ from a demon hunter you may ask? They’re a caster and their interactions with demonic forms are more sorcerous, based upon their ability to summon/sacrifice their demons as opposed to being one.

Their active mitigation is casting. Whenever they are casting/channeling a spell they take reduced physical damage.

Their other means of preventing damage is through soul leech. Damaging spells will automatically grant a percentage of that damage in the form of shields to the warlock. For as long as they’re shielded, the warlock will benefit from “Harvest Souls” and heal a percentage of their health every second.

They’ll have a number of draining spells, like a drain soul spell that grants 100% soul leech for its damage, and an AoE drain life spell. They’d have a short cooldown (around 40 seconds) that turns incoming magic damage into soul leech and a long cooldown that sacrifices all active demons to convert it into additional soul leech based on the demons’ health.

Which brings me onto the demonic part of the spec. As part of their rotation, the warlock can sacrifice health to summon demons. The demons will attack enemies and part of the damage done to the warlock will be shared to active demons.

Casting the same demon summoning spell again sacrifices the demon. Each demon sacrificed will empower a certain ability for a moment and grant an additional effect, as well as give the warlock a demonic trait appearance based on the demon sacrificed. Succubus will give hooves, imp will give claws, stuff like that. This also applies to the big cooldown spell too. Get some kinda combo for sacrificing all your demons at once maybe. Go full demon and get extra damage for a bit.

And lastly, dark apotheosis for increased armor. Because I miss my wings and it was cool >:C

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2 pistols, like Way of the Gun!!

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Enekie already stated something I came here to say: Duelist! However, I wanted to expand on the idea slightly.

In addition of the defensive actions, what I’d like to see is a class spec that places one negative condition after the other, preferably some that go beyond simply stacking damage over time.

I feel like part of the issue with mechanics and balance in the game right now is that every spec is designed to be as numerically powerful as possible; everything is designed to maximize damage, healing, or mitigation, specifically. Having class specs where you contributed in other meaningful ways than simple numbers would add some variety and viability to the game; a raid would love to have a player who increased the DPS of every attack made against a target by 1%, for example! And I feel like a “Duelist” would specialize in that.

Reduced armor, increased damage from outside sources, increased casting and recharging times, damage dealt to the resource pool instead of hit points, all of these could be game-changers that bring more than just flavor to the current state of things.

That’s what I want to see!

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For Hunter, a spec similar to Trapsassin from Diablo 2. Good at short to mid-range damage and denial that uses bait-and-switch traps and similar effects. It’s what I would have done with the Survival redesign instead of all melee all the time.

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Ranged Holy DPS spec for Priest.

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A hybrid of shadow hunter and dark ranger, absolutely. Both of those need some kind of representation for players, and I would love to have those available.

I’d probably stay marksman though. I’m stubborn and set in my ways.

For my secret backup main’s 4th spec… Remember the warlock glyph that made you a not-demon hunter? That. 100% that. Being a tanky little clothy was a kind of joy I can never put into proper words other than to say I gave up hunter in the tail end of MoP for my tanky lock.

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I would definitely like to have my death knight as a healer, in that case. I like playing healers in dungeon/raid situations, so, healer spec would be my answer.

However, I really don’t think it would fit with the personality of my character or the lore of the class. Additionally, I want each class to maintain their own originality, and NOT do like Rift did, where all classes can have all abilities. (although WoW has probably been headed in that direction over the past 10 years anyway)

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This. Completely agree. Ranged, iconic scythe weapon. Bring it on.

As for my hunter, a more classic ranger type. Survival is a weird mix between ranged, melee, with bombs and stuff. It doesn’t quite feel like a full melee spec.

Instead, I’d like a more D&D Ranger type that can either dual-wield or use a two-hander in melee (maybe as a talent choice?). For those Drizzt fantasy folks out there or the Aragorn fantasy types out there (like myself) who want that play style.

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I think druid is pretty well covered, but for a 5th spec, I’d like to see a nature caster - bringing back Insect Swarm, maybe a renamed old green wrath spell, exploding mushrooms, poison vines, and with some damaging Entangling Roots CD like what Malfurion did in Terror of Darkshire. It could either not have an associated form (like Resto now), or appropriate treant form, or use dryad/Keeper forms. My goal would be to show off a bunch of fun plant-themed attacks. (I forget if Resto druids are Druids of the Grove or Druids of the Branch, but this new spec could nab whichever one isn’t currently being used.)

I’d like to see Priest get an Inquisitor holy ranged DPS spec (maybe allow them to equip/transmog bows so they can look like PotM if they want), and at the same time give Paladins a more weapon-based ranged spec (not sure about the name, though - Castigation? Purification? Dedication?) which could be flavored through talents/glyphs to either be PotM-like or witch-hunter-esque. (While making nelfadins playable, of course.)

For hunter, I’d make a Dark Ranger/Shadow Hunter/spooky magic caster-type spec, which could be flavored many ways based on talents and glyphs, and would probably play pretty close to old ranged Survival. (And also let Survival hunters choose to either dual wield or use a two-hander.)

Shaman would get an Earth-based tank spec. It’d be perfect to bring back the names and themes of old talent tree skills and build on them. Perhaps instead of summoning an Earth Elemental, their big tanking CD is a modified Ascendance where they turn into a graphically souped-up Earth Elemental? (And while it wouldn’t be a good idea, I chuckle at the thought of a hidden easter egg where if a dwarf shaman uses this skill at the same time as Stoneform, they get a debuff of “Too much stone!” and freeze in place.)

While I don’t know how to handle them, I’d like to see a Chi-Ji-themed spec for monks, a battlemage spec for mages, a good old sword-and-board warrior spec (maybe with a polearm-and-shield option, too), swashbuckling rogue tanks, and necromancers whether as a DK spec or a glyph for Demonology warlocks.

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Tactician or Commander. Either name works.

Play on the themes of a leader of an army, eschewing physical glory to better command their soldiers into victory. Instead of being a traditional dps, tank, or even healer, the Tactician focuses on giving his allies all sorts of buffs and whatnot. He does respectable damage, but he also increases the damage of his comrades. He has some healing, albeit a very small amount.

Leading by example, the tactician still dives into battle headlong, but it is his commanding cries and banners of victory that inspire soldiers to succeed. The tactician may take a shield to better weather blows, or to take a great sword to dash his foes to pieces. This new spec is not very good by themselves, and requires a group to operate at their very best.

The talents for this spec are interestingly focused on providing buffs to the Tactician’s solo abilities, smaller group based abilities, and for large group abilities. From being able to cast certain core buffs on a larger group of characters to a long CD of summoning a small army of temporary NPCs bearing banners that you can place, the talents are fun and varied. Fittingly, the Tactician will lead the charge in providing a new role in WoW that isn’t DPS, Healer, and Tank. A ‘support’, if anything.

Following suit, other classes could see getting supports. A mage that bends the flow of time to provide haste and mobility for their team, a bard who can shred the faces of their foes while providing unique combat buffs, and even potentially a warlock who makes you “Drink.” Gul’dan energy increases

And for another spec I’d enjoy, I’d enjoy a gunslinger rogue. Keeping the tricks of the trade, the Gunslinger still fights dirty. They throw blinding powder, they kick, they punch, but they also shoot. Keeping it short ranged because a long distance rogue still seems extremely overpowered, the Gunslinger still focuses on ambush tactics and disruption. What sets them apart from Outlaws, though, is that the Gunslinger has reduced mobility. The Gunslinger trades mobility for range. Built around trick shots and building up fancy techniques, the Gunslinger throws grenades, fires their pistols, and waits for their targets to line up just right.

Different from Marksmen, as well, the Gunslingers don’t focus on single massive shots. They also can’t just sit still. Ducking between melee and range, the Gunslinger wants to keep you on your toes as much as they want to keep on their own.

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I’ve always thought a ranged 4th spec for paladin could be cool. Shockadin is the common one I’ve seen floated, but I think a crossbow/arbalest-focused spec would be more thematic and let priests have their DPS holy spec without paladins treading on it.

It could share holy power with ret and focus more on being immobile and burst-oriented so that it feels suitably different from hunters. Maybe Avenging Wrath has a shorter duration for the spec, but you can move and cast during it, and it trades off a bit of raw damage in order to keep a lot of the utility the paladins have.

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A shockadin ranged dps spec.

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Slams paw down on table.

EARTHEN

TANKING

SPEC.

Seriously, why is this not a thing yet?

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Two words: Spirited Crane Style.

EDIT: No wait that’s… that’s three.