At first I was skeptical… now I’m having fun and I’m hopeful. Also, wanted to point out a few things about the paladin. The paladin is a unique class for alliance which had various utility abilities to benefit the raid/group. So blizzard’s stance on paladin after classic was to increase the class’s dps, rather than buffing it’s utility. For instance, blessing of freedom has been a staple of pvp in the game, but never really receiving much benefit aside from the ability itself. Cleanse was once a monster of a spell. Blessing of protection saving casters from death for 20 years. Consecration aura allowing casters to continue their barrage of death whilst being interrupted. One great addition was beacon of light which was only available to speccing into holy talent tree. Sacrifice for tanks and pvp. Resistance auras that increase resistance to certain elements/shadow.
These GREAT ideas have been fully abandoned to serve the dps/hps meters. I think it’s a little “near-sighted”, however you want to take that… even perhaps the discussion no one wants to have, to provide great utility/support to a class but keep them at maximum dps simultaneously. I really think paladins/druid/shamans should excel at abilities that don’t show on hps/dps meters and really push for a “bard-like” or support-type class that keeps them interesting.
One thing i notice is there’s a lot of clutch like abilities that may save an entire raid from wipe such as LOH, or Tranquility.
Earthbind totem has been the BANE of 5v5, and any battleground you attend. Such a simple but amazing spell.
Purge is a DEVASTATING ability to a pvp match… what a powerhouse.
In a dungeon group a hybrid class could save the entire group from wiping if skilled. I always invite atleast one hybrid class to join, that way if bad thangs go down I know I can have an offheal or an offtank. Which makes you think about the way original vanilla dungeons were made. The mage class for example… you get dps and utility. An aoe root, blink burst, icelock, spellsteal, mirror image, invisibility. Hybrid classes that were MADE for utility have not recieved the same love over time. All they could do was to add to the utility dps classes already have yet hybrid classes have not improved on utility as raw dps classes in the same magnitude, but instead have improved in damage/healing.
I suppose I agree with the game designer who believed that hybrids should not compete in the same capacity with pure damage/heal classes in which i originally was opposed to for the past 20 years… BUT the utility/buff of the hybrid classes should have improved to make up for it.
Paladin should have improved abilities that would make things such as auras and blessings to make them more than useful to raids/pvp. I’ve heard from elite players that the ability devotion aura is dumb to use in pve/pvp. Why not make it a bit more useful? Perhaps a 50% buff on armor would be sufficient. Blessing of wisdom has been a staple in every aspect of the game. Why not make BOW give a lesser innervate for 5 seconds then apply the standard mps that allows for it’s standard use. That would make BOW a more active spell. Retribution aura has always been a joke of an ability, that eventually became useless, even the talent which is completely useless, add 50% damage to retro aura is looked down upon in raids AND pvp. Bad design. Not bad design of the ability but bad design of it’s evolution.
We can even talk about druids for this scenario, with entangling roots… why make it a one cast and then cancel? Why can’t druids root multiple people simultaneously without canceling the root? They still have to cast it unlike their instant earthgrab totem competitors who wear mail and let’s not talk about the aoe and slow behind it. What makes the druid awesome? Depends what spec you play. BOOMKIN provides massive AOE and burst abilities under a moonkin form that buffs the entire raid with +5% crit. The 5% crit and innervate has never been changed since vanilla. Feral - leader of the pack - increases range AND MELEE +5%. Tree of life, you get the drift. Stagnant utility. Mark of the wild, remained the same. Innervate remained the same.
Hyrbid utility classes have remained stagnant whilst mages/rogues/warriors/hunters/locks gained in utility. This is why you had to increase dps amongst the hyrbid classes otherwise they would have been useless by the 2nd expansion.
