I’ve seen this topic all over reddit, these forums, etc. - but have yet to see any official response from a blue. Can anyone help me with a reference to anything that’s been stated on Blizzard’s behalf?
This summarizes the issue quite well:
Blizzard has stated that they want us to view ourselves as a spec within a class - as opposed to a class that can serve multiple functions/roles for their guild/friends.
Azerite gear reforge costs and the new spec specific traits are all examples of this idea in action.
When the amount of content is so vast, and the need for tanks/healers can fluctuate quite a bit throughout any given week or even day - why would Blizzard want to restrict our ability to serve different functions, while helping out the community by filling vital roles, all while playing all the various types of content they’ve made available to us?
You would think they would force you to pick a spec in addition to your class when you first create your character?
I don’t know - this all seems kind of confusing to me. Most people seem to prefer to blow things up as dps. Tanks always seem to be in need. You would think Blizzard would be adding flexibility and enabling players to take on roles that are needed - they already do so in LFD and LFR; so why go in the other direction for pre-made stuff?
Assuming this is actually the case (though I’d like more of a citation than “one of Ion’s Q&A sessions”), how hard is it to keep a set of Azerite gear for any given spec you want to run? Heck, just running WQ’s will give you multiple pieces. If you need to keep a set of dps head, chest, and shoulders, and one for tanking and one for healing, your STILL miles ahead of the days when we needed a full set of off-spec gear in our bags.
I find that quite ironic when they pruned class toolkits to the point that each spec feels like a different class. It’s getting to the point where it doesn’t seem unreasonable to ask for the ability to choose any 3 specs from the classes with the same armor type (mail, leather, plate, or cloth) on the same toon. Maybe this warrior could have fury warrior, holy pally, and blood dk on the same toon and my monk could have feral druid, outlaw rogue, and ww monk on the same toon.
I also disagree with the 2nd part of the statement where Blizz says they don’t want us performing multiple roles for guilds and friends. That flexibility was really nice and it baffles me why Blizz would change that. Granted, I rarely actually did change roles, but it was nice having that option to easily switch to prot and then equip my tank gear if needed.
It isn’t new when tier sets used to have distinctly different pieces – essentially, completely differently itemized sets – for different specs. Look at BC or WotLK tiers. You collected pieces appropriate for your spec, using either dropped tokens or outright vendor buys using gear currency. The gear looked identical, so at a glance no one could tell if a druid was in Lasherweave Battlegear (feral dps or tank) or Lasherweave Regalia (balance). If you multispecced, you carried distinct sets and paid gold to respec.
They want min maxers to grind multiple gear for each spec to be optimum
That common options for Azerite gear are basically for players who don;t give a dam about min-maxing a spec and just like the means of changing specs without worrying about being optimum.
This was changed in the past - WHICH MADE THINGS BETTER AND THE GAME MORE ENJOYABLE.
Tier sets in Legion were like this.
Once upon a time we enslaved people and they counted for nothing in terms of humans. Then we “upgraded” them to count for 3/5 of a person - and then finally again to be on par with all other people.
Reverting back and counting those people as 4/5 of a person is still regression - although you could make the argument “this is still better than when you used to only count as 3/5 of a person”.
I think the question still stands - What is the Benefit to players and the game to put in such a restriction.
If I’m understanding what Ion says, it’s that the person who is dedicated to one spec should have a benefit/advantage (a few %) over someone who is constantly switching. I think the context there is important, he isn’t saying that players should only be playing a single spec.
I was not a hardcore raider in Legion, nor did I try to maximum multiple specs, so correct me if I’m wrong on this. Wasn’t the main issue early in Legion the horrible AP grind, made even worse when working multiple specs?
Agreed. For the most part Ion is saying its not impossible to switch around a single piece of gear but that its not intended to be the most optimal way. Its the same argument they had for reforging back in MoP.
Even the one who is constantly switching will, in time, catch up to the single spec, they will have just put more gear grinding into that effort.
He also mentions the generic traits and a 5% difference alongside the mention of a rogue - which both relate to dps.
That 5% difference doesn’t translate to tank or healer specs.
It also doesn’t address why someone should be charged gold when they want to be useful as a role that is naturally needed more than dps (with particular emphasis on the tank role).
What is the benefit gained by restricting the ability to switch? That still isn’t clear.
I don’t know if they go into detail, but he basically says it was an intentional decision to restrict switching because they didn’t want players changing their traits for every single fight.
Plenty of players will naturally argue, “Hey, why not?”, and this is a fair question. Not agreeing with one side or the other, but this is how they set it up.
As far as wanting to switch roles, they can, but until they get specific items they won’t be 100% optimal with the press of a few buttons alone.
This is all coming from a casual player though, but I assume the hardcore players will do whatever they need to while wishing it could be easier.
Nope - what I’m saying is “Why can’t a Paladin that normally dps’s switch to tank or heal if their guild needs them to - and have the traits on their Azerite Gear switch (JUST LIKE TIER SETS DID IN LEGION)?”.
Ion gave an example for dps only specs that they would have the option to pick the generic traits which would only be about a 5% dps difference - but this example doesn’t translate to switching from DPS to a tank of healing spec.