With the recent buff to warriors Rallying Cry, making it raid wide, and the announcement of 20man and 40 man raids. I think this is an issue that warrants discussion.
In TBC this problem was obvious. Having to have shamans in every group was ridiculous.
This problem is reborn into classic.
Some notable party only buffs-
Trueshot aura. MM hunters are under performing terribly, yet they bring this useful buff. This is diminished by its party wide restriction. Having to put a range only DPS in the melee group is poor design.
Wildstrikes- This is especially very frustrating. Excluding the space the feral takes, only 4 people can get this buff at a time. In this meta where boss armor is high we are further punished for taking more than 4 melee. Another example is ranged hunters who melee weave. Its even harder to slot them and they usually draw the short end of the stick on the 5th dps who doesnt get the buff.
Do you need to slot tanks in the melee group for additional damage and threat?
Additionally with ferals- Leader of the pack.
Moonkins- Their 3% spell crit buff is party wide. This buff benefits healers and caster dps.
Pally- Auras are party wide.
Warrior- Battle shout is part wide.
Spriests- Vampiric embrace is party wide. Do you want to slot your priest in a spot he can get 3% crit from the boomy? or take a valuable melee group slot so he can heal tanks?
There are plenty of good buffs that classes provide that are not hampered by this party wide restriction.
Some are debuffs applied to the boss where everyone can benefit.
Curse of recklessness. Scorch. Stormstrike.
Some buffs are just raid wide without restriction.
Aspect of the Lion. Fort/Int/MotW/ Rallying Cry.
Now this isnt a complete list of the utility each class brings to raid.
Some may argue that these buffs are classified differently. Thats fine.
Bottom line is these are utility spells that classes bring to the raid.
Everyone wants to benefit from this utility.
The party wide restrictions some spells have make them unhealthy for balance.
This is a very real balance concern.
You can see this live on SoD servers today, where rogues are struggling to find a group. Despite them doing great damage.
Do you slot a rogue, or a warrior who gives 95 AP to other melee?
Do you slot a feral? or a MM hunter?
I can appreciate that party wide buffs add some flavor to classic.
But the logistics are a nightmare. In 20 and 40 man raids, you suddenly need 2/3/4 of each of the party wide restricted classes listed above, or someone is getting left out and made to be the short end of the stick.
It will lead to stacking multiple of the same spec, and other specs being left completely behind.
I am sure there are under tuned specs ( like MM hunters) who will benefit greatly from all these buffs being made raid wide.
If some specs benefit to much, then they can be balanced from there.
Im sure there are players out there who make use of every buff they can get. And others of the same spec who dont get access to those buffs. As things are, when the balance changes come out, its not unilateral.
Aspect of the Lion is a fantastic buff and it is my opinion that many of the party wide buffs should be made to behave as it does. Before things get even more out of hand.
Make it easier on raid leaders to build a team of players, not a team of buffs.
