New spec for each class?

[Muffasa 2]

Hello everyone, I would like to give a quick thank you to Icy Veins as the website is wonderful and very helpful.

In each expansion Blizzard likes to introduce a new race and sometimes a new class. While the new additions are fun and change up the game a little, I was wondering what if in the next expansion, each class got a completely new spec? As much fun as playing a totally new class can be i can't help but wonder at just how much fun it would be to play my favorite classes in a completely new way. It would be a new direction for blizzard to head in but i think something like this could make a lot of players happier and possibly draw more in.

I'm curious as to what others think about this idea and if you think its a good idea i would like to know what new spec would u want for your favorite classes.

Some possible specs I would like to see one day:

Mage- A kind of Dark Energy spec where you manipulate the physics of the battlefield, possible aoe could be creating a black hole in an area that hurts creatures and slows them more the closer they are to the center.

Paladin- A sort of holy rdps caster spec. Smite your enemies from afar.

Hunter- Maybe a melee spec, fighting side by side with your pet would be pretty cool.

Priest- An anti shadow rdps spec, dpsing with the power of holy instead of shadow.

Warrior- A 2h tank spec would be kinda cool, sorta like a blood dk

Rogue- Maybe a rdps spec, make throwing weapons their ideal choice

While the possibilities are endless, its not easy and takes a lot of creativity to come up with 11 specs (basically the same as 4 new classes). What do you guys think? What have you always wished your favorite class could do?

(Just to clarify I have not been able to find any information about Blizzard considering this or any similar idea, pretty much me just day dreaming with too much time on my hands, lol)

Edited February 5, 2013 by Muffasa

[Mit213 20]

Go go tank shammy!

[Chibrius 2]

Rogue evasion tank. It needs to happen =P

[NightShade 14]

Could be very interesting. I know that with warlocks they implemented an ability for demonology speced locks to tank some as well. Would definitely be interesting to expand on.

[Muffasa 2]

Some good ideas, guess everyone wants to tank lol.

[Pandariah 6]

I would frickin' squee with delight if Paladins had a caster DPS spec. Suddenly there'd be less frustration if caster plate dropped, seeing how two specs could then use it... Gah, that'd be awesome! XD I can even think of spells, ways to cut corners for production... SO excited by that thought! Many of those ideas are cool, and Blizzard would garner a great deal of praise by doing so. I feel like brainstorming now. And drawing. >.>

[NightShade 14]

Had a couple more thoughts, a druid dps spec where you summon beasts and plants for your damage abilities. Make them work like dots. Summon a swarm of crows for a bleed, maybe some thorny vines for some poison damage dots and something like the DK bloodworms for a health siphon type dot. Then have a pet of some type of elemental beast or plant that was permanent but no longer have the ability to shapeshift except for flight form or travel form. Be kinda like a warlock that uses elements and nature.

Another wold be a DK type of heal spec. Dual wielding intellect weapons and intellect armor. Still keep the rune system and runic power but allow certain combinations of runes to cast different heals. two blood runes would be a large single target heal. two frost runes would be an aoe burst heal and two unholy runes would cast a type of siphon aoe heal where you siphon the health from a target and heal the party with it over time. Death and decay would cause less damage but also heal party members standing in the effect area and death coil would also be able to heal party members for a certain amount. A single rune would cast a smaller heal and a couple combinations could even be made for the ability to heal but most all of the damage abilities would be reduced by 85% while in the healing presence.

[Muffasa 2]

Healer dks would be pretty interesting. I like the mention of gear, new specs getting added could mean less gear going to waste. Nothing more disappointing then downing a boss and no one able to use the loot.

[Mutterkorn 8]

If i recall it right, somewhere sometime i read something about a hero class, just like the dk, but as a healer.

I am not talking about DKs becomming healer, but a new class.

[Zagam 1,982]

I came up with a theoretical DK build for Unholy that would use Plate Intellect gear. It would essentially be a plate caster. Just take the Unholy design and model it as a caster and things start to look pretty sexy.

Frost Fever and Blood Plague would do the same thing, just DoTs that would need to be maintained.

Soul Reaper would just need redesigned for a caster, but imagine the possibility with the animation (think Soul Reaper from the Lich King!)

You'd still have your sweet minion and gargoyle, but they'd scale with Int instead of Str now.

Scourge Strike and Fester Strike could be redesigned to have a range and possibly change the name to Scourge Blast or Fester Blast

Death Coil is already ranged.

Blood Boil could be reworked to act like Enhanced Shaman's Fire Nova where damage spurts out from an existing DoT.

It would be sexy as hell and would give some diversity to Frost and Unholy.

[Soultrain 7]

I likes the idea of DKs back in wrath where you could pick and spec to tank. It allowed for more diversity and choice in style. Instead of a generic cookie cutter. Shaman tanks would be awesome. Reduce the CD on earth elemental and make it a sort of threat/damage reduction CD. Turn fire nova into a sort of blood boil. With the use of totems shaman tanks would be very very interesting

[mulpet 0]

I like the dark energy mage idea, and always thought that a mage who manipulated gravity and dark matter as a tank spec would be cool. Really though, what I would love to see is the ability to multi class. Maybe as you level you get to pick and chose between the two specs you specialize in to create a really unique character. I know logistically this would be a nightmare as they have a hard enough time balancing the classes as they are, but a fun idea anyway.

[daD 0]

<sarcasm>I think new healing specs for hunter and warlock would be kinda cool.</sarcasm>

[Muffasa 2]

Even though it was said with sarcasm, a healing lock spec would be pretty cool. They could have it where u put a bunch of dots on the target, not doing a ton of dmg, but healing the raid for something like 500% of the dmg caused, in addition to manual single target heals. It would be sorta like a priest's atonement ability.

[Cruzan 71]

Even though it was said with sarcasm, a healing lock spec would be pretty cool. They could have it where u put a bunch of dots on the target, not doing a ton of dmg, but healing the raid for something like 500% of the dmg caused, in addition to manual single target heals. It would be sorta like a priest's atonement ability.

You get cookies from us. What more do you want?

Shockadins please! Maybe more emphasis on light with prismatic themed abilities. Still need to keep a holy theme overall though.

I feel like Demonology should've been a mandatory caster/melee class with demo form being melee. No need for a fourth spec, just change one of the three! The combo of using your charge to switch to meta and your portal to get back to ranged after you switch out could ensure you are where you need to be depending on the form you're in. Makes for some interesting mechanics to deal with which could give more complexity to a faceroll spec. The spec is almost like that already during AoE trash, but for single/multi-target bosses it'd be cool to have 2-3 melee abilities to have to utilize instead of a ranged instant-cast button to spam...........................................

[daD 0]

I came up with a theoretical DK build for Unholy that would use Plate Intellect gear. It would essentially be a plate caster. Just take the Unholy design and model it as a caster and things start to look pretty sexy.

Frost Fever and Blood Plague would do the same thing, just DoTs that would need to be maintained.

Soul Reaper would just need redesigned for a caster, but imagine the possibility with the animation (think Soul Reaper from the Lich King!)

You'd still have your sweet minion and gargoyle, but they'd scale with Int instead of Str now.

Scourge Strike and Fester Strike could be redesigned to have a range and possibly change the name to Scourge Blast or Fester Blast

Death Coil is already ranged.

Blood Boil could be reworked to act like Enhanced Shaman's Fire Nova where damage spurts out from an existing DoT.

It would be sexy as hell and would give some diversity to Frost and Unholy.

This is an incredibly awesome idea! Dark paladin+Lock spec is just TOO awesome x)

[GothFvck 0]

Yes, shaman  tanks. A sort of  "Earthen Barrier" or simply "Barrier"  spec.

I'd  like to see  some sort of imbue  that can work on shields and/or  off-hands. I imagine  it would be much like Enhancement but with some tweaks and more mitigation.

We don't have  a chain mail tank  yet and I think it  actually makes  sense for a  shaman  to be up  front as a barrier between a destructive monster and their  friends.  Certainly more  so than some of  the other  classes. I see no reason  why  a rogue would be fulfilling this roll, especially. Sure  the gameplay might be fun but does it really make sense with their class description? I don't think so.

 

Ooo maybe they could keep an earth elemental with them at all times as a personal  off-tank. That could be very interesting if they could get it to work properly. Same with being able to either DW or 1h+shield. Maybe this could be the chance to bring back 2h play but not give them SS  or LvL  and keep those Enh abilities.

[jpru2001 1]

Rogue evasion tank. It needs to happen =P

 

my crowning achievement in WoW was a Marrowgar win where I evasion tanked the last 10 seconds or so after tank died.  I was guild hero for at least a few weeks lol.

[SparkSovereign 61]

Yes, shaman  tanks. A sort of  "Earthen Barrier" or simply "Barrier"  spec.

I'd  like to see  some sort of imbue  that can work on shields and/or  off-hands. I imagine  it would be much like Enhancement but with some tweaks and more mitigation.

We don't have  a chain mail tank  yet and I think it  actually makes  sense for a  shaman  to be up  front as a barrier between a destructive monster and their  friends.  Certainly more  so than some of  the other  classes. I see no reason  why  a rogue would be fulfilling this roll, especially. Sure  the gameplay might be fun but does it really make sense with their class description? I don't think so.

 

Ooo maybe they could keep an earth elemental with them at all times as a personal  off-tank. That could be very interesting if they could get it to work properly. Same with being able to either DW or 1h+shield. Maybe this could be the chance to bring back 2h play but not give them SS  or LvL  and keep those Enh abilities.

The easy solution is to put them on agi staves/polearms like bears/brewmasters (incidentally balancing the number of strength tanks and agi tanks).  Putting them on int shields would be all kinds of weird, and require too many secondary changes to set up, I think.

 

The real question is how you give them the toolkit.  The Rockbiter Unleashed Fury effect could be used to cover taunt and some active mitigation (it's really strong though).  Suppose they use Earth Shield, and that gives them the rest of the standard tank stance buffs (-10% damage taken, +25% stamina, etc).  The Lava Lash + Fire Nova setup from enhancement makes for good (well, good enough) AoE threat.  Now comes the hard part; what on earth (pun!) do they spend their time doing?  I feel like Elemental's Clearcasting could be a good component here (specifically, the healing buff part), but besides the ubiquitous "maintain flame shock and earth shock debuff"... um... actively mitigate, somehow?  Does Lightning Bolt give them some sort of magical conductance thingy?  Does their AM have a CD, or a resource cost?  Do they manage resources somehow?

 

That void there is why prot warriors are getting a talent that makes them a DPS spec (simple change, done) but they aren't just diving ahead with a shaman tank spec.  You could build a tanklike thing by cannibalizing various bits of their existing specs (maelstrom weapon charges, especially) but that doesn't make it a tank, and it doesn't make it feel unique.  it would feel like an afterthought.

 

Not to mention that a lot of the existing talents for shaman would be ludicrously overpowered for tanks.  (40% DR for 5 seconds out of every 15.  Hellz to the yeah.)  I suppose they could be balanced so that you'd have to use them to full effect to stay alive, but it would be a lot of work; not unlike introducing a new class, really.

 

I want it as much as the next guy, but I'd rather it not be done at all than be done poorly.

[Tocino 0]

Some, most, of this has already been and gone. During and before TBC, rogues and shammy were effective tanks. Shockadins to were a viable dps. As for making everything else have the potential to do just about everything, then you are basically eliminating the need for different classes. A dk that can tank, heal and dps? Sounds like a pally

[kitsu 55]

i think paladin should have a clown spec where they juggle and tell jokes. hitting their rotation perfectly could make better jokes and their moral boost per second could directly buff the whole raid.

[Storm 426]

Rogues and Shammy's were never real tanks. I mean I offtanked Kara one time on my rogue in full Season 3 pvp gear back when resiilience was enough to make you uncrittable from raid bosses, but that doesn't really count. Shockadins were viable in pvp, but not in raids. they could burst 2k dps for like 10 seconds and then they were done for the fight.

 

With how easy its going to be to level up and gear up an alt in WoD I don't foresee a 4th spec happening. Plus Blizzard is on a warpath to nerf all complexity out of the game.

 

I do wish they'd bring support classes back to the game though, and maybe even give them more of a support role than what they've had in the past. I remember when Shadow priest dps was one of the worst, but people still liked them because of all the off heals you got from vampiric embrace. Or when you pretty much had to have a shaman in your raid for totems. It'd be fun to have a couple classes that share a particular class of buffs that can only come from a support class. and give them all a combination of damage and healing abilities that makes them sort of half a dps, and half a healer.

[Tocino 0]

Of course rogues and shammy weren't the first choice for tanks. But on a lot of fights back then they were equally as effective as say a warrior. One of the only things that kept a rogue from tanking more was threat generation, no taunt. As for shockadins, I used to roll one. It was very effective on dps throughout the fights. And even better, while I waited on cool downs for damage I would off heal.

[ClaytonMcKown 4]

Hello everyone, I would like to give a quick thank you to Icy Veins as the website is wonderful and very helpful.

In each expansion Blizzard likes to introduce a new race and sometimes a new class. While the new additions are fun and change up the game a little, I was wondering what if in the next expansion, each class got a completely new spec? As much fun as playing a totally new class can be i can't help but wonder at just how much fun it would be to play my favorite classes in a completely new way. It would be a new direction for blizzard to head in but i think something like this could make a lot of players happier and possibly draw more in.

I'm curious as to what others think about this idea and if you think its a good idea i would like to know what new spec would u want for your favorite classes.

Some possible specs I would like to see one day:

Mage- A kind of Dark Energy spec where you manipulate the physics of the battlefield, possible aoe could be creating a black hole in an area that hurts creatures and slows them more the closer they are to the center.

Paladin- A sort of holy rdps caster spec. Smite your enemies from afar.

Hunter- Maybe a melee spec, fighting side by side with your pet would be pretty cool.

Priest- An anti shadow rdps spec, dpsing with the power of holy instead of shadow.

Warrior- A 2h tank spec would be kinda cool, sorta like a blood dk

Rogue- Maybe a rdps spec, make throwing weapons their ideal choice

While the possibilities are endless, its not easy and takes a lot of creativity to come up with 11 specs (basically the same as 4 new classes). What do you guys think? What have you always wished your favorite class could do?

(Just to clarify I have not been able to find any information about Blizzard considering this or any similar idea, pretty much me just day dreaming with too much time on my hands, lol)

why a good thought it become way to complex. people will get overloaded with how many classes to play i know of a few mmo that did this and crashed and burned. bitz has said they are happy with the amount of classes and spec there are out there and are not even talking about adding more they might add 1 or 2 as time goes buy but if they keep adding classed it will unbanlance the game right now there are 6 healing classes 23 dps classes and 5 tank classes. the only thing i can thing they might add in the long run is a tank/ healing class.

[ClaytonMcKown 4]

Priest- An anti shadow rdps spec, dpsing with the power of holy instead of shadow.
they did. but got rid of it when no one was using it for this type of dps. you can still see some of the spell they had it was disc was ment to be a dps spec ( smite and holy fire along with pen were your main spell and for a wile it was a good spec to play but lacked the refind ment of other spell kind of how the mdps and the tank spec for druid was pre spit