Pretty much like class identity is fine in a raid environment but as soon as you take that concept to a 5 man environment well it just falls apart, the classes/specs that have the least utility based on what Blizzard deems suits their identity are immediately put at a disadvantage and the classes/specs with tons of utility get a massive advantage.
Like so often when I see a post complaining about M+ it’s someone complaining that no one wants to do M+ with them it’s because their main just doesn’t have the ability to deal with certain mechanics, the only viable solutions I can think of are either dumb down 5 man content mechanics so all classes can handle them or scrap class identity and give all classes necessary utility spells to deal with mechanics.
Also if it isn’t obvious neither are probably gonna go down well.
Half the time it isn’t even that they don’t have the tools that’s holding them back, it’s that the tools are mutually exclusive with other necessary tools. Affliction is a great example here, where it has absolutely incredible AoE, easily on par with some of the big boy specs.
But the problem is that those good specs also bring great ST to the table, and Afflictions most important ST talent shares the node with it’s most important AoE talent, so Affliction gets the choice of viable AoE or viable ST but not both.
Meanwhile within the same class, there’s like three talents different between a pure ST build and a build that can crank out huge AoE for Demo and the talents you lose out on for ST are the definition of filler.
Nailed it. All specs are good in some way, those that are great choices are good plus bring something else or often multiple things that are vastly useful in any given situation. This is one of the reasons Aug was so busted when it first appeared.
It comes back to Blizzard designing specs with only Raid in mind. You can go the full AoE route on Affliction and do enough AoE for other specs to cover you by focusing more on ST, Tindral roots are a great example here.
But the “sacrifice half your ST or half your AoE” option doesn’t work when there aren’t enough DPS to cover you in M+.
Like it all boils down to designing utility and damage profiles for a 20 man format where you can design interesting niches without having to worry about utility or other damage profiles because someone else can cover it. But that just straight up doesn’t work in M+.
how is this true whatsoever though. when almost every single person who has the title is playing ONLY the best spec, something is CLEARLY wrong with current design if the other specs + classes aren’t even remotely anywhere near the same # as the BIS spec.
there’s not even 10 of each tank type getting the title right now. that’s genuinely ridiculous and you saying “well its the .1%” so what? why should i have to SWAP classes just to get this title? asking that of someone is insanity when its 100% developers fault for game balance
This happens every time tank damage gets high because VH’s can just kite and take zero damage. Not that I am condoning it, it’s very bad, but just stating why it is the way it is. Pre-nerf Shadowlands Season 1 was like this. Post-nerf and Post-tank buff it made the other tanks viable.
This is how they always ran WoW, sadly. If you are at the top 5% of playerbase doing hardcore stuff, you are ignored. They don’t balance the game thinking on high-end gameplay, ever.
They can’t balance it. Whatever perceived edge leads all the best players flocking there. So a 3% deficit, becomes a 30% deficit (because the remaining players aren’t as good.)
Aka sheep mentality. Got declined from a +11 and I watched them wait in queue until a DH showed up. I personally didn’t care, but thought it was funny they are going full meta comp for an 11.
I honestly think the current QA testers either aren’t up to snuff, or don’t have the bodies to address this.
I also think the current balancing devs are either doing this on purpose or can’t solve the formula they’ve created (or that their predecessors created).
It’s idiotic when they release a build/tuning adjustment and the community figures it out in hours and they leave it up for at least 3-4 weeks when the feedback forums are inundated with something being off.
I’m less concerned about the top .1% as much as I am the mechanical kit available to DH. Would love an aoe stun on my dk. Would love to not have to take capstone talents to make shockwave good on my warrior. Would love an aoe silence on my monk. Would love a pushback on my prot pld. Would love better mobility on my bear. Etc etc etc.
Can’t think of another mechanic that VDH doesn’t have besides aoe snare that rivals grip of the dead on BDK.
Even the cheat death is bonkers when compared to prot warrior.
Making rerolling trivial so there is no real reason to “not” fotm reroll constantly also factors into how the masses change on a dime.
Blizz has done an amazing job at pretty much destroying every aspect of class and spec attachment and progression, they’ve leaned into frequent fotm swapping pretty hard. Warbands are just doubling down.
