I ask because I recently got an Augmentation Evoker to level 80 and I’ve been really enjoying it. I had some players go off on me saying I will never be invited to groups if I am playing Aug etc… I feel like it could definitely have some utility was the class recently nerfed into the ground or something? I am going to continue playing it because I enjoy it but I genuinely hope that people aren’t going to refuse inviting me etc just because I am playing that spec.
I’m not going to blow smoke up your hole, dude, it’s not great. That being said, if you enjoy it, play it! I still do sometimes for a change of pace. It can do it’s job, just not as well as it used to by any stretch.
And if you have problems getting invited, just make the party yourself and do the inviting. But then also definitely make sure you’re very good with the Aug so you’re pulling your weight ('cuz they definitely are very much on the weaker side).
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I appreciate the response! Yea I have played paladin since like 2004 (pre-BC) so this xpac I wanted to try something new for once. Really got into Aug so I’m trying to main it, right now things seem very toxic if Aug is even mentioned, even seen people telling other people to kill themselves solely because they want to play Aug, it’s a bit over the top xD I don’t post here often but I really wanted to find out what’s going on. You’d think there was a serious scandal or something.
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People take their gaming a hair too seriously if you ask me. It’s a game, fun’s supposed to be the purpose, not a second (or sometimes third) job.
But yeah, Aug’s rough but doable. If you remember one of the several times the devs really didn’t want people to play Demonology warlock, and they basically cratered it while they cooked in the background…it feels like that. It’s there, it technically works, but is objectively the worst DPS out there presently. I’d be shocked if they didn’t come out with a rework or at the very least a large numbers adjustment sometime within the next handful of patches.
Aug is the lowest DPS in the game among DPS specs and it’s not even close.
Aug brings strong utility to M+ if you really know what you’re doing, which is why Aug is still considered valuable in M+ but they are no longer ‘mandatory’. This said, a good chunk of Aug’s performance will depend on how well your teammates perform. Dev evoker is currently doing very well by comparison, which is why most Evokers have gone Dev.
As long as you aren’t doing cutting edge content, everything is still perfectly viable. Unfortunately if you are trying to pug higher M+ or pug heroic raids, yeah you might get some rejection because the perception of Aug right now is that it has been nerfed into the ground.
In my personal opinion, I feel like Blizzard is unsure how much of Aug’s damage profile should be buffing others and how much should be personal DPS. With their buffing capabilities nerfed, I feel like Aug should be doing a bit more personal DPS - especially in single target. When I’ve played my Aug, I felt fine doing AoE pulls but single target feels absolutely miserable.
It will always be objectively the worst DPS because it’s not a DPS class. It’s a support class that ramps the DPS of others instead of focusing on its own. Blizzard simply has no way within their systems currently to show that in the UI other than some words on the Specialization selection screen.
With regard to 5 man content: The spec was recently nerfed for that content with their primary group buff no longer applying to tanks or healers. They are still fine for that content, but no longer considered “Meta” so it may take a bit longer to get invites if you are not creating your own groups.
For 10+ man content they are largely unchanged.
aug is in a horrible state, I really wouldn’t recommend it at the moment. in M+ a tank can do more damage than you. and aug’s unique utility isn’t that strong anymore.
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Let’s put it this way, Aug is supposed to be the support spec, one would think it shines in Raids above all, since it’s the ultimate team-based PvE experience.
On the RWF, not one single team in the top 10 is running Aug… all teams have at least 1 Destro though. The best players in the world, who are looking for every edge possible, cannot find enough value in Aug to run it.
It’s basically a support spec that cannot add enough value to justify itself over just being the straight up damage dealer spec of the same class.
Better that than forever locked in by default just by existing.
I think there is a way to make support specs work… they just have to commit. This whole “we’ll try 1 support spec, make it stupidly OP and then force everyone to wait around for someone playing a support spec for the least played class” approach really poisoned the well. They felt they had no choice but to Demonology it with insane nerfs, under the justification “We’d just prefer you not play Aug right now.”
Roll out a support build for at least half the classes - doesn’t need to be a new specialization, but use the talent system to allow 1 spec of each chosen class to have the ability to spec support… give up considerable DPS to give Aug-like buffs… and I bet the issues with Aug/Support in general go away.
They can’t make support specs work. They can create another support spec to force variety but balanced as something functional? no, it won’t.
Support specs existing is like trying to balance healer dps.
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You don’t have to balance the support spec with DPS.
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They bring dps, and should be balanced as dps.
Else, you can just make them healers.
IDK tank and healers bring DPS as well… should they be balanced as DPS too?
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their dps is not the primary focus, but as support it would be.
Else, you’d define them as a tank or healer.
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DPS wouldn’t be a supports primary focus. It would be supporting.
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On paper, sure, that’d work but the problem is the system here isn’t set up great for it. What the support actually puts out in reality is going to depend greatly on how good your party is. If your party’s looking a little light in the DPS, your contribution as said support is going to be abysmal.
So what they chose to go with is not a true support, it’s in fact a bad-to-mid DPS that provides some support. The amount of support they used to provide made them very nearly mandatory in high end content, and more than covered the fact that their damage was lackluster.
Nowadays it’s support has been cratered, but their DPS hasn’t been commensurately buffed to cover the difference. It leaves you with a bad-to-mid DPS that provides very little support.
Result is people are wanting one of three things, and imo all three are valid roads to take: 1) Convert it to the first int-based tank. (I’m of this camp, I think it’d be neat and should have been to begin with.) 2) Raise it’s DPS to be comparable overall to other specs (probably the easiest route, here, considering it’s already labeled a DPS). 3) Add more support specs to other classes (I’d imagine DH could do with a 3rd spec), but this would lead to a whole rats nest of balancing issues I’m sure.
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so what does a support do in your mind? Like all the supporting functions (dispel, interrupt.) Are part of other roles.
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Support improves the abilities of others - others do more damage, tank does better tank, heals does better heals.
So they contribute… DPS.
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