Just curious, see the argument that it would break encounters. Was wondering if encounters where built around it in WOTLk.
It would be a “nice to have” gift to the players from the devs. Like the chronoboon.
3 Likes
I would not say the encounters were designed around it more that they were designed with it in mind if that makes sense.
The only two fights that really stand out would be valithria and the ToC arena.
For the most part every 25 man raid in WotLK ‘requires’ 2 tanks
1 Like
I wouldn’t say designed around but there were a couple of fights where my tank partner would go dps as I could solo tank without issue but it wasn’t a hard requirement or anything.
2 Likes
the ones that have been crying about encounters were built around dual specs were trolling off the deep end. for one, you couldn’t just swap specs on a moment’s notice- you still had to go to the trainers.
4 Likes
every fight is designed for dual spec because even in vanilla you could hearth to sw and respec and get summoned back. Dual spec is just convenience
6 Likes
You definitely could swap on a dime (it was a long cast then it sapped your mana), and that was the meta for offtanks and flexible healers. I don’t think raids were necessarily designed with this in mind, but it was the meta play and content was nerfed or not based on guild’s successfully doing it.
1 Like
Honestly, this is one of the stupidest arguments anyone makes against dual spec.
3 Likes
if i’m wrong, then i’m wrong; i could swear i remember having to run back to trainers when it first came out for 1k gold though.
1 Like
So you’re saying the ability to hearth and get summoned straight back had no bearing at all?
1 Like
bearing to what?
1 Like
This is false. You only had to talk to the trainers to reset one of the two specs, you could switch them anywhere as long as you were outside of combat and not engaged in a boss fight.
1 Like
Super sweaties would go respec for certain boss fights dual spec or not.
It’s a weak argument.
6 Likes
The simple answer is no, there is not a single fight that is designed around dual spec in wrath or ever. No fights have any more role switching going on than anything in TBC.
2 Likes
It was not.
https://www.bluetracker.gg/wow/topic/us-en/15973677341--blizzard-gc-quote-and-balance/
We will not be balancing around the existence of dual-spec. The example I used was a case we already have – multiple tank fights, then single tank fights, then multiple tank fights. We didn’t design that around dual-spec. We assumed you’d probably have an OT who tried to do dps on Saph. Dual-spec gives them a way to do better dps.
This is one of the reasons though that we think it’s important to keep pure dps slightly elevated.
Mostly, though, dual-spec is a convenience factor. You can already run back to town and respec in the middle of a raid, and plenty of people did that already (and hated it).
So no. It wasn’t a balancing concern because they explicitly tested without relying upon Dual Spec and they still deliberately made encounters knowing that some Prot Warrior would be swinging away on Sapphiron without much to do. Dual Spec helps, but it was never a point of inflection or concern.
Key takeaway for dual spec: convenience
2 Likes
where
This and “conversate” trigger an inconsolable rage.
Irvine, California.
As a druid, you should be very familiar with “bearing”. I’m sure you do “catting” and sometimes “treeing” too.
I would guess that in pre-dual spec raids, they attempted to include a variety of types of encounters so as to give various classes/specs a chance to shine and show their value. I don’t think they intended for people to swap specs mid raid. If anyone did, they thought their 50g deterrent would make it rare. Once it became clear that players were going to do it anyway, there was really no way to put that genie back in the bottle. At that point, they just made dual spec a regular part of the game and moved into the “bring the player not the class” philosophy. At this point, spec builds variety within a raid were no longer a consideration because they assume people will respec to whatever is needed. In some ways, this may have allowed them to “take the gloves off” and no longer worry about making things achievable without a specific classes/specs present.
WOTLK fights were definitely not designed around it. Some guilds would utilize it to add an extra tank or healer for certain fights, but it wasn’t always necessary to do so. If dual spec wasn’t a thing any guild worth your time would fund your respec for raids and summon you back (just like a good guild in TBC should)
Of course them paying for your respecs isn’t something they’d do for going from PVE to PVP and vice versa. But my guild back in og TBC definitely covered my respecs when I was needed for healing raid content vs my main DPS spec.
Dual spec was definitely leaning more toward convenience than integrating into raid design.
1 Like
I don’t think any fight is designed around dual spec, like what would you even do to design around that, require one tank, then 8 tanks?
It was just a bad faith argument from people against dual spec lol