The struggles of finding that 'perfect spec'

Community General Discussion
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After taking some time away (for the sake of my wrists also) and shelving Outlaw permanently (until it calms down), I tried many specs and many outside of my preference of melee combat to see if I could find a new, main spec for TWW.

I’m a versatility kind of guy; I love specs that have balance between their abilities, their talents that effect said abilities, and their cooldowns–Buttons still feel good to press outside of CD’s, there’s a skill curve in understanding how to optimize your build, and a little sprinkle of rng magic to keep a rotation from getting stale.

Something strong in Single Target, but not shabby with cleaving when needed.

So I spent hours learning several different specs to 70, from Arms Warriors to Marksman Hunters to Arcane Mages, and despite all of them having many positives, they just felt like they were missing something.

Arms Warriors: Buttons felt satisfying to press, but a bit boring in the ability department.

Marksman Hunters: Feel amazing during True Shot, but falls off a cliff outside of it.

Arcane Mage: Complex, engaging, but the CD’s… So many CD’s buffing the buffs that buff the buffs in the spells!

Shadow Priest: Great all around gameplay, until you reach their end cap abilities. Why yes, Tentacle of C’thun, pop out immediately trying to kill whelps, but take your time for Razageth. (Side note, I hate Void Torrent. Why would you let us have Mind Spike but then shackle us to THAT).

So… I don’t know. Maybe Ranged isn’t my thing. The problem is that Worgen… don’t have many options in the ‘melee’ category, which is odd considering they’re the ‘Orc’ of the Alliance. No Paladin, no Shaman. Rogue… GOD NO. Shadow Dance is a plague.

Enhance Shaman looks really neat, but the Alliance races that can take it kind of blow. No offense Kul Tirans, if I wanted to play a fat human, I’d go outside and do something. Draenei… Um, the internet is a dark place. Midgets, no. Pandaren? If only transmogs looked good on you and I couldn’t see the pixels fainting as they’re stretched to accommodate your… ‘weight’.

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Ret paladin. Best spec.

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Good news! Shadow Dance is going back to being sub exclusive in TWW.

Also, this.

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If Worgen ever get paladin, it will be my only character.

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Come to the dark side. Warlocks are going to be amazing in TWW. DKs too.

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Enhance is probably the most similar vibe to Outlaw IMO but devs are big stinky right now with Shaman in general so it might be rough going into the TWW unless they somehow pull a hail mary (they wont lmao).

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Outlaw’s APM was insane. I can handle keybinds, but anything is better than Restless Blades and Seven Combo Point Finishers.

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Which spec(s)?

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So the APM isn’t as high and the burst window isn’t as punishing as say Stealth Windows and BTE.

But the APM can be up there and it’s stratified over more buttons. In single-target playing Elementalist build (current meta spec) you have 7 core rotational skills (8 if you’re mindful about WFT and don’t just macro totemic projection into your abilities) and 2 CDs (Pwave + Wolves) and M+ bumps that up to 9. This doesn’t include other utilities and other stuff. It does have a complicated priority system but if you’re good with high APM play you should be able to pick it up. There’s a lot of versatility and skill expression you can do it with it as well (especially in raid). Though the devs are again being big stinky with Shaman so it’s a toss-up as it seems Elementalist Build is somewhat meligned atm.

Another build option is Storm Builds which is comically simplistic even compared to Ret and BM Hunter basically summed up as “spam Stormstrike or cry because Stormstrike didn’t reset” and it’s damage is completely RNG casino gameplay because it’s centered around spamming Stromstrike as much as humanly possible in hopes you get a DRE proc. Assuming they don’t bork the hero talents (which aren’t even full implemented and are riddled with bugs on beta) Stormbringer Hero Talents will add some complexity and agency to its damage profile and rotation but still have a big emphasis on RNG Luck Be My Lady Tonight Or I’ll Be Crawling In My Crawl gameplay.

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Priority lists aren’t a big issue. As for high APM, as long as there’s ebbs and flows (procs and rng), it should be fine. Outlaw was just nonstop plate spinning with little-to-know payoff.

Enhance not really having abilities that reduce CD’s seems like heaven to me.

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Found it. Do I get a cookie?

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It does with mainly Wolves and the tier set makes it so when you cast Wolves you get CDR on Primordial Wave. But the difference is that you pretty much send your CDs whenever 90% of the time even if they are not lined up. You only hold if like say a boss is about to transition and would be unhittable for the majority of the duration. There is a better gain from getting CDR on Primordial Wave over Wolves but honestly you just slam them on CD instead of say holding stuff so can (). You don’t need to do giga brain math things or have rotation rules like with Outlaw where you have to hold Between the Eyes if Shadow Dance has 15 seconds or less on the CD or Vanish has 45 seconds or less on the CD. You just hit that stuff and have fun. There are still options to do some giga brain things you can do but its not required 100% of the time.

Recommend you check out some guides on the rotation for Elementalist and Storm to get an idea of how they. I’d recommend this content creator in particular, he gives a pretty good idea of what the builds are like, the downsides, and what the gameplay is like. They are still relevant even now since we got the tier set and the only change since these videos was some damage increase on some abilities.

Elementalist single target: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bShJmjQdAjU&t=440s
Storm (M+ Build): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t-Xb_YGHKP0

I liked Outlaw rogue coming from Enhance and I feel like you could enjoy Enhance. Deff check it out.

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You didn’t mention DK that I noticed, did you try either of their dps specs? Both are seeing some love in TWW.

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Elementalist definitely piques my interest. Stankie puts out quite the priority list (it could be even bigger since Maelstrom stacks make spell casts instant), but I think it’s quite manageable. Instant cast ranged spells and melee and elemental puppies that determine what you use is very intriguing to me.

I can’t take that spec seriously. If they had a bit less ‘edgy, 90’s teen goth’ and aesthetic options to make them sound less like Darth Vader and get rid of those absolutely silly glowing eyes.

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Whats even worse is when you DO find a spec, it has a chances ofbplaying differently next expac.

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That’s great news! All 3 specs being slightly different flavours of sub was the single worst change for me and made me actually consider permanently shelving my original main from 2004.

Have you considered tanks?

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Didn’t see anything in that post about Windwalker monks. Worgen can be monks now and they are fun! Use different abilities to do combo mastery and they are getting a rework were haste is more desirable and the button bloats shrinking a bit, can be all three specs.

Monk is usually what I have always fallen back to when I don’t know what else to play because it’s really a fun spec to DPS and heal, with the button bloats removal BrM is also looking to be more friendly and fun but still has a skill ceiling.

Heck it may be my main going into TWW been a while and time I return home to my main.

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Just go warrior :+1:

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I find that I run into this problem when I’m getting bored with the game in general, and I’m blaming it on the class and thinking that if I could just find the perfect spec then I’d be having fun again.

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i am really wanting to get my lock back to being aff. i do love my big green fire, but my lock is an afflock in his withered heart.

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