This isn't anything new though. There were Mage and Lock tanks in BC and I was spec hopping like a mad man on my Mage in BC due to elemental resistances/immunity. Not to mention that getting specific types of gear (2pc T5 for Arcane...that takes me back. OMG the Lightning Capacitor in Kara!) drastically improved one spec over another.

I haven't played dps in a long time (healer now) but yeah...this just isn't anything new or surprising. Part of the reason I ditched dps was because of the rollercoaster. Prefer to play Arcane? Too bad, Fire is the shiz this tier. Suck it up and change specs.

And there were hardcore raiders keeping different gear sets back in Wrath too, before Cata brought in mastery. With all that said, what percentage of the player base, who play pure classes, actually go the extra step and have custom gear for each spec? I don't think a lot of them do. I certainly haven't seen many dps requesting gear they already have just to use for optimizing an offspec's different stat weightings. I think this is more a hardcore raider thing and that it's a meager percentage of the population.

I wouldn't say this is anything like hybrid. Not only the gimmicky fights (as I mentioned the Mage/Lock tanks in BC, or a Rogue being a sponge, etc) but being Resto Shammy and getting Enchancement gear...lordy. It's easier when Elemental is the offspec but even then you have a completely different tier set w/bonuses to go after which pure classes don't have to deal with.

Though honestly I'm not complaining as it's part of why I can never go back to playing a pure class. Hybrids just have a higher replay value imo. Already outfitted my Resto Shammy? Well, lets get to work on Enchancement! Fun, fun.

Reply