Exactly, sometimes i prefer burning my opponents to a crisp with fire spec, sometimes i prefer freezing them to death with frost, and other times i prefer nuking them with arcane!
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In regards to specs. Can Frost Mages get an option to summon a flying boat that shoots cannons like Jaina gets?
She speced into arcane for that…
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Personally, the only mage spec I enjoy is arcane. /shrug
But I know I’m the minority and this is the class most people would want to be removed, while I wouldn’t shed a tear if they removed frost. But just because someone doesn’t enjoy something doesn’t mean others don’t, so why remove any of the classes?
Also, mages aren’t the only pure DPS spec, so why are they the only ones you take issue with?
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I love HOW arcane works.
I just hate that it sucks solely because of mana shorts.
Its just stupid to have a spec that is THAT harsh on micromanaging mana.
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I enjoy playing ranged more than melee and I enjoy the class fantasy element. However I find 3 dps specs less compelling than one dps spec with other spec options. I would rather do multiple role with my mage than level a mage and then level other classes.
Again, I don’t hate any particular spec but 3 ways to do the same thing seems redundant. Especially given it is far from chart topping performance. If you are limited to only one role your performance should be compelling and in the mage case it is not.
Over in the mage forums there are tons of “what’s the best spec” kinds of posts. Implying, they don’t care about a particular spec they just want numbers. Thus 3 ways to do the same thing isn’t really compelling if people gravitate to the biggest number as their choice driver.
I’d love to see a Battle Mage spec (Sword in one hand, spell in the other) or a Healer Mage spec (use Time-spells to reverse wounds).
Like Elisande was (she “healed” herself several times during her boss fight.
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Well the game originally didn’t really have true ‘specs’. Yes you talented into one main one most of the time, but you still had access to the other specs spells.
For example, say you wanted to go down the fire tree while leveling. You’d still open up on a mob by using some rank of frostbolt to slow it, then use fireball for damage.
Some of that still exists as all mage specs have access to frost nova, ice block, and blink. Now you don’t go down a tree anymore, the spec you pick just auto does it for you in the background.
I am not a fan of pure dps classes. I feel like it limits my options for getting into groups, as well as roles in general to play.
IMO every class should at a minimum have either a tank or a heal spec, and then 1 or more dps specs.
For the current pure dps classes (and this is just my personal thoughts/opinions):
Mage - I would say turn Fire spec into a Lightning, with lightning / electricity themed (I can already hear the shammies crying). then turn Arcane into a healing spec, using some of the fire spells (e.g. cauterize) for healing, as well as arcane magic in general. e.g. turn back time to reverse damage. Overall, I think it would be cool if it were to play like a disc priest, as far as preventing damage and healing through dps or whatever (not a pure heal class). Alternatively, could do it as a combination heal/support spec, where the mage doesn’t do damage, but still shields/heals, but also provides temp buffs, like mini timewarp buffs.
Hunter - Turn Beastmaster spec into a viable ranged tank class. The tank pet would have beefed up tank skills/stats, better AoE/damage mitigation, etc. And the BM dps would basically be nerfed since it would be a tank spec. So the skill set would be more about managing your pet(s), not so much shooting arrows or whatever.
Rogue - Evasion tank FTW.
Warlock - Could turn demo spec into a ranged tank class, similar to what I mentioned for BM Hunter above. Alternatively, could do a heal by dps type heal class, similar to disc or what I mentioned for mage above. But focus on DoTs that leech and convert to HoTs, etc.
Yeah, the “flavor of the month” mentality is a problem, and has been for a while. M+ has contributed to that somewhat, as direct throughput is a measurement of success. I liked the days of BC and Cataclysm dungeon content, where you had to CC mobs and different classes had different abilities to facilitate that or to help out in clutch situations.
Nowadays some elements of niche class toolkits have returned, but you can’t just cobble together a group with a shaman tank to run dungeons or a mage “tank” for a specific raid and go, everyone has given roles and people are just looking for the biggest numbers they can get for a situation. Do you need mobility or burst? Cleave or single-target? AoE or survivability? These are the reasons I never did high-end play; I like a challenge, but I like overcoming that challenge with my chosen class or spec, not with what everyone else would want me to level, gear up and play for optimal performance.
All that’s a playerbase issue, though, not a design issue. There’s no way to ever completely normalize DPS across the board; someone will always be on top of the meters, and someone else on the bottom. Would it be cool if we all had more options? Sure. The Warcraft mage’s “class fantasy” doesn’t, I think, suit well to the vibe of a healer per se, maybe a “tank,” but the lore versions of protective mage-bubbles are always supposedly moments away from collapsing every time they’re used because of story reasons, so I don’t know if that fits, either. But I’m always going to favor giving more options, not taking them away. 
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Mage is the only dps only class in the game where each spec plays vastly different to each other. No other class can claim that.
OP doesn’t understand and likely should just go back to playing the brain dead classes.
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I can get behind this; I play less pure-DPS classes because they don’t have the option to be a more supportive role. Don’t get me wrong, I love my hunter and rogue, but it’s more alluring to main a class that can swap to support if necessary to help out a dungeon group, or get a spot in world content.
I mean, I actually main as heals, but having options is the thing that’s alluring. 
Well, yeah, canonically mages in WoW don’t use lighting or electricity, not that I’m against sharing the coolest spell effects in the game and all, but I’d probably just leave Fire as-is. Arcane is probably the least visually appealing of the mage specs, as Arcane Missiles is the only spell that has a really cool effect (Arcane Blast just kind of “warps” the space around what you’re aiming at with a purple rune thrown in for good measure, and the AOE sphere-pulse is nothing to write home about), but the gameplay of just blasting things to shreds with pure magic is cool. If we’re going to add heal or DPS specs to different classes, I’d rather do just that–add them–and go from there. Fans of Combat rogues are still upset that Outlaw replaced it outright, despite the similarities, and I can totally understand that (even if I do like Outlaw better).
Timewarp “un-damaging” instead of direct healing, protective barriers for absorbs, or cauterizing flames are all interesting mechanics for a mage healing spec, though. Maybe a “mage healer” could use spells from all three DPS specs, just not be the master of them so lorewise they’re not as powerful as other mages in terms of damage, just able to use them in conjunction with one another to heal and buff their allies? Just an idea.
I don’t think that “ranged tank” is ever going to be a viable design archetype, for a couple reasons. It’s not that the idea isn’t cool, having a warlock who summons a Pit Lord, say, to do their tanking for them, or just Metamorphoses into a demon to do it themselves (though to be honest, changing into a demon never seemed to me like the apex of “controlling” demons as a class archetype, but maybe that’s just me). Is “Metamorphoses” a verb? I digress.
In any case, though, the pet AI in WoW has never been up to the task of providing anything other than clutch “keep that add off the healer until someone battle rezzes the off-tank” situations. Repositioning a pet is not nearly as responsive as repositioning your actual character, and in fights where the ranged have to regularly move for some dynamics and the boss has to be repositioned from time to time as well would be difficult. Also, pets don’t actually gain aggro the same way actual tanks do; they basically just repeatedly taunt the target instead of regularly generating more threat passively. It could be retooled, but positioning, responsiveness, and interface downtime would have to be taken into consideration just to get it off the ground.
Rogues as “evasion” tanks, however, would be cool as heck. Monks have their “stagger” mechanic, but otherwise operate similarly to rogues in that they are more nimble and lightly-armored than other tanks. Maybe a “luck” dynamic that mitigates some damage for a time like Stagger does, or just relying on dodge/parry with cooldowns like Feint, Cloak of Shadows and Riposte (albeit on shorter actual cooldowns than their current equivalents) would be neat. Again, I don’t think we should cannibalize any current spec for this (even if two out of the three specs use daggers and are generally stabby stealthy ne’er-do-wells on the surface), but the addition of another spec isn’t something I’m fundamentally against if it fits with the theme of the class.
While we’re asking about class-themed additions, though, can I get an axe-and-shield tank spec for my shaman class? Shamans have never been full-blown tanks, but during Cataclysm I had some literal tanking abilities including damage reduction, threat increase, and fun like that. Just saying.
I think the last thing anyone wants to see is entire specs pruned.
OP, mages are about elements and yes thier playstyles are completly different. If this was about hunters when they had 3 ranged specs i understand, hence why survival became melee. Mages need 3 ranged specs unless we are talking about battlemage.
I actually like pure DPS specs. Out of 3, there’s bound to be one I like best. Also, when the unavoidable ‘let’s rework classes each expansion just for the sake of change’, happens, I can see which spec I like best after my previous favorite was gutted.
Example: in legion i mained warlock. Played demo for a few months because I liked its rotation best. Then maintaining the right levels of haste became too tough so I swapped to affliction. In BfA I didn’t like affliction changes, so I swapped to destro for the awesome new animations.
Similar with mage: I like the build/spend style of play over kiting or reacting to procs , so I play only arcane because I don’t care enough for the other 2 specs.
As for one DPS spec classes: I hate the playstyle of DPS priests and demon hunters, so I’m stuck into disc and tank, even though I don’t want the responsibility of healing/tanking in group content. Which just means I’m not taking those alts into group content, or if I do and swap to DPS specs, my DPS is miserable due to lack of practice.
OP’s problem seems to be ‘I don’t like my raid leader wants me to swap specs based on latest number tuning, and would like only 1 DPS spec so I don’t have to swap’. The counter argument to that is: what if that 1 DPS spec is underperforming? Now you can’t change specs, but maybe you’ll be benched. Since the raid leader is so concerned with performance to ask you to change specs, it’s just as likely they’ll bench you if your only DPS spec is not as good anymore.
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Apparently they have different playstyles, but I don’t believe them.
hmm what about a battle mage (melee) spec?
Would DPS classes really notice if we cut out a few specs? We all know how you play, we can see it when you accidentally hit enter before smashing your rotation, and it always looks like 12311231231231231.
I think the case could be made for two specs being deleted. I think of the three, only FIRE is a clear DPS only spec. Frost, as it was originally anyway, was a hybrid dps and cc spec, useful in dungeon and raids because of their ability to freeze melee in place and sheep casters (non demon anyway). But once blizzard started making cc pretty much unnecessary in dungeons and raids, frost lost its value.
Arcane I never liked… mostly because while it could dump out damage for skilled players, it was pretty difficult for an average player to keep from going OOM.
So unless Blizzard decides that CC will once again be part of the wider game, get rid of frost as a dps spec and make it a tanking spec. And then make arcane a healing spec. Both hybrids mind you… capable of doing just enough dps to solo quests and what not, but ideally suited to step in and tank or heal in dungeon groups effectively.
Not sure how it is on your server, but on mine average wait time for dungeons is about 45 minutes because of a lack of tanks and healers (though I assume that is due to how much harder it is to tank and heal due to the poor dungeon etiquette that is common these days).
So yeah… let’s revamp two mage specs ![:sunglasses:](https://d38bqls1q93fod.cloudfront.net/en/wow/images/emoji/twitter/sunglasses.png?v=6" ":sunglasses:")
I’m not opposed to the notion but I’m having a hard time seeing how it’d be easy to make it unique from enh shaman