My 2 cents. when you are learning an instance, you want everyone to be a raid spec. Because raid specs make it so much easier to learn. Most high end guilds are raid spec while learning and once they got the new instance down, they go back to their PvP specs.

It is simply easier if your 2 main tanks are prot spec, if your off tanks are fury specced for maximum damage, if your rogues are specced for maximum damage and not PvP, if your druids are specced for healing (you might have one specced feral and one moonkin for the added benefits to other melee or casters and if they have the gear for it, but not usually), if your priests are specced for maximum healing efficiency, if your paladins are specced for maximum healing efficiency and at least one preferrably 3 with kings, if your mages (once past MC/BWL) are combustion specced and not POM specced for maximum DPS, if your hunters are specced for trueshot aura and entrapment, if at least 2 warlocks have improved imp and the others specced for maximum dps.

You might say well a few people doesn;t make much of a difference. The problem is, very few people want to be "raid" spec. If you let anyone who wanted to spec how they likes, 60-70% of the raid would not be optimalluy specced. All these things start to add up fast. Suddenly your DPS suffers, or healers mana starts running out. Once you have an instance on farm, these things rarely happen, as everyone knows what to do. But when you are learning, encounters can go way longer, more healing intensive, or maybe difficult to get DPS on target very well, because people are not always doing exactly what they are supposed to be doing. Maybe that rogue is taking AoE damage he shouldn;t and now needs heals. Maybe you ahven;t gotten the idea fully on how to control adds and don;t get the time on boss you should be getting for your DPS. Now the fight is taking longer because of miscues and your healers are getting low on mana.

Optimal spec make it easier to deal with these miscues. I guaruntee most top guilds enforce some level raid spec during these times. Doing stuff like having a Paladin DPS Patchwerk does not help the raid progress and that then has to be made up for either a loss in healing or DPS somewhere else. That is probably a paladin that is not optimally specced for healing, so even with all heraling gear on, he won't be as effective as other paladins equally geared.

It simply comes down to, if you want to progress faster, you go raid spec. If you are not as concerned, then you don't, but you will progress slower, because every mistake is amplified by your classes inability to overcome them as well as a raid that is fully raid specced.

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