While true that tier itself has been auto switching roles for…2 expacs? maybe 3 we had to gem and enchant pieces for each role. Many players I personally know had 3 sets of tier for this very reason. It was a mix of lower ilvl tier for their offspecs usually but still.
Add in trinkets, necks, rings, backs, and belts, with appropriate stats and you could easily get “plies of gear”.
That being said this issue was caused by poor foresight in bottlenecking higher ilvl azerite gear the way they did. A result I suspect of the tier replacement becoming something that all types of content was inherintely balanced around, while I tend to believe dungeons/outdoor was more balanced to accomodate those that had low ilvl/no tier at all in Legion.
The bottleneck was…imho of course…based on notions of drop rates based on Tier having been something that came exclusively from raids and not wanting to over de-incentivize people to do them.
Yes I’ve been doing that since Vanilla and still do it with non azerite gear. But that’s only 3 different secondary stats to choose from, and I can still use one piece of gear in two different specs unless I enchant/gem them.
But now we’re dealing dozens of traits per spec that do specific things and choosing one locks that gear into one spec. You can’t compare it to haste/mastery/Crit.
As I said above, part of it is a UI problem. But the underlying system is inherently frustrating.
By removing the set bonuses that change by spec you are forced to grind the same content over and over again in hopes of getting multiple BiS pcs for each spec assuming you try and play more than one spec per character.
It is no longer get the 6 set pcs and use the 4 pcs that provide best secondary stats. Assuming the is little to no overlap in 1st ring azerite traits you need to farm 9 pcs of gear to do what you used to with 6 pcs. And even more than that if you are trying to optimize your gear between single target and AE fights.
If you try and be competitive in PvP your stats priority and desired stats and azerite talents shift again because crit do less damage in pvp than they do in pve.
So yes gear is an awful grind. I do not get rewarded for my efforts but get badges or marks as a consolation prize i just keep popping quarters in the loot slot machine and hope i win the jack pot.
LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL!!!
Dude, you don’t know what punishment for playing a role is.
I’m a pure DPS. My spec is not in demand for mythic+ dungeons, so I cannot get groups. I cannot heal or tank, so I cannot start groups without asking for help from my guild. I am incapable of playing this game on my terms, and I am completely dependent on other people. I have zero independence.
For raiding I need a raid leader willing to invite me in spite of my demo spec. If I want to pug I need to swap to affliction (which has all of the problems you say you’re being punished for) or I get laughed at and instantly declined.
I have every. single. one of your disadvantages plus an additional role restriction, and in return I get nothing.
Uhm…opening an information source to assist you in judging what traits work well for you gear set by looking at the stacking/interactions/drawbacks of each is very different from just “oh…her der der der…push buttons on panel where it say to” use of cookie cutter builds. If you can’t/won’t see that then perhaps you need a course in logic and/or informational analysis.
I can understand that, but the thing you’re now referring to has nothing to do with the gold cost penalty of changing spec; you’re talking about azerite traits in general, which I agree are absolutely terrible. The trouble is that people keep complaining about homogenization of classes, then complain when there is an in-game penalty for not committing to your spec.
You can keep your condescension to yourself. If you can’t see why I used that comparison in context to the person I replied to, then perhaps it is you that needs a course in logic and/or informational analysis.
My main raiding toon is a shaman. The heals are pretty sweet. There are definitely better healers for m+ dungeons, but they’re good up until the higher plusses. And it’s still infinitely easier to start an M+ group as a healer than as a DPS.
Hybrids just…
I love playing my warlock and it doesn’t feel as though I’m allowed to play her without someone else’s permission outside of warfronts, heroic dungeons, and LFR.
When I play on my tank or any of my healers (yes, even my Shaman) my experience is just night and day compared to my 'lock.
I get they want us to play more. As I would expect for most true players, they wont stop playing just because they no longer had to pay for reforging gear. we play because we love the game. If it wont change I expect it will get to 5000 per on this toon. there seems to be no limit on the 2x cap.
If you are a really good and reliable DPS player, regardless of spec, people will prefer to run with you. I have a warlock in my guild (Thyzok) who is 2nd in NA for warlocks for raider io score.
I don’t think its really that bad to make groups, except on really bad M+ weeks last like week. This week will have a tank shortage because both affixes are annoying to tanks. Last week, no one wanted to run keys and I only got 1 10 done on my main.
As a side note, I first started on Uther back in TBC… Glad I got off that server.
That is what I am getting at. There are players that can play both. That does not mean that we prefer to play as a tank or a healer. On a shortage it would be a half step to wave fee to switch to a tank or healer.
Well, the good news is the fights in Uldir are all tuned really similair for healing requirements, so at least flex healers never need to swap. Take Taloc, for example, you definitely need 5 healers for M Taloc, same as M Vectis. So, at least we have that working for us, they’ve completely eliminated the need for flex healers.