Bring the player not the class a failure?

#0 - Feb. 25, 2009, 8:49 p.m.

I heard the "bring the player not the class" mantra pre-WOTLK and on paper it sounded good. Given equal gear and skill, it shouldn't matter what classes you bring, right? Wrong.

Instructor Razuvious -- heroic mode you need 2xPriest for mind control or you don't complete Naxx.

Ret Paladins, Spriests, and Survival Hunters pretty much required in raids for mana return to the raid. Without this, Ele Shamans, Mages, and Boomkin cannot sprint the marathon (that they were never meant to run) and poor Resto Shamans go OOM in 30 seconds flat thanks to no ability to downrank for reduced cost.

Rogues? Who (other than groups exploiting the bug) brings them to raids? Not our group that's for sure -- because they're all take and no give in the all-important buff arena.

Feral Druids? We don't bring those either. Same problem as rogues, as what used to make them worth bringing (Leader of the Pack) is now something we get from our Fury Warriors who do far, far more damage.

Warlocks? We bring 1, and it's me ... and if I wasn't a warlock, myself, our raid wouldn't bring a warlock, either ... as they're a DoT class in a Burst world.

Enhancement Shamans? Are you kidding me?

We're approaching the 4 month mark since WOTLK's release. Dual spec is coming. Pures are already out-DPS'd by more flexible hybrids ... hybrids that will be multi-role mid-raid with dual spec and have ZERO drawbacks unless serious nerfs are coming.

There used to be some skill required to determining a raid mesh and stacking characters within it to maximize output. Now you don't need to stack them in groups of 5 ... and the only skill you need is sense enough to avoid the classes that Blizzard's seen fit to leave gimped.

I'd really love to "bring the player not the class" but you know what, when trying to optimize how much content we cover in one night, as a raid leader I'm still bringing the class, not the player ... because that's what's in the best interest of everyone in the raid -- especially with some classes being completely out-classed by others.

Am I the only one who feels like this? Am I the only one who worries that dual-spec will hit without class balancing being somewhat done beforehand ... resulting in an even greater divide between the uber classes like DK's and the gimped ones like Feral Druids?

-- G

#19 - Feb. 26, 2009, 7:44 a.m.

We aren't seeing anyone sidelined on raids or being stacked in raids, certainly nothing on the order of what was happening in Sunwell, so I wouldn't call it a failure by any stretch. Arms warriors and rogues are the closest to being sidelined, but we think that is largely a function of their damage being too low in PvE. Specs that were brought for buffs or not brought at all in BC are doing competitive dps, healing or tanking.

Bring the player, not the class does not mean class is irrelevant. You can put together a lot of bizarre class mixes that probably won't work. What it does mean is that you have a ton more flexibility than in Sunwell over which classes you bring and you should be able to get all of the buffs you need (and yes Replenishment is one of those) and still have enough free slots to double up on whatever classes you want or just bring the guys you like to raid with.

We also expect Ulduar, and especially the hard modes, to shine a much harsher light on class balance. There will be great debates about which buffs and debuffs are truly optional or not and which classes are the least likely to earn a raid spot. It's going to be interesting, perhaps a bit rocky, but we're also prepared to make whatever changes we need to make.