We are currently in the beta phase of the next expansion, as you are all well aware. All of the classes have new talent trees, and some have spectacular abilities that totally kick ass. Some, not so much. I understand that some all players want those OMFG abilities to be seen. Not all will get them. Some may get them eventually. Everyone wants a Divine Storm, a Titan's Grip, a Beast Mastery, a Typhoon to be given to their class. Not everyone can. This is a fact of life that we will just have to struggle to accept and live with.
The way I see it, having a Hunter, 2 Paladins, and a Druid at 70, is that the big skills are being given to those classes and specs within classes that really, really need them. Hunters have long been the mockery of gaming. Ret Paladins too have suffered being the butt of all DPS jokes. Many raiders seem to feel that Moonturkey are carried, not doing real damage or contributing much to a run other than the aura. I play all of this. I see why we are getting the OMFG talents. We need them.
In a most recent Ask the Beta Tester segment on WoW Insider, their rogue columnist said that Rogues aren't getting any must have talents. He admitted that they will still do massive damage in any raid or group. No doubt rests in my mind that without the changes to Paladins in Wrath, Rogues would still be the hands down favorite for any raid or group. As it stands now, I have a small chance I could win out if their was a choice in a raid, especially with buffs to auras which make them raid wide and the talents and improvements to Retribution Aura that I have taken in the Retribution tree.
Changes to spell power will definitely affect Arita, my druid(renamed Aritas due to name change), but I am trying to get Medros to Dalaran in order to see the amazing city of magic. He only just dinged 71 last night, so it will be a bit until he hits the 74 minimum, but I will then spend some time learning the druid abilities to see how they do in solo and group play. I pretty much stuck to the prospective talent tree I posted about, and I will be sure to report here when I begin doing more than mere fedex quests on the Doomkin.
Hunters. Huntards many call us. Too easy to play, too streamlined, too anti group. We are the most insulted group, and the least wanted in groups. In fact, I think that if a raid were to choose between a Hunter and a Doomkin, they would likely choose feather over fur. Not to mention that hunters are almost never allowed to bring out their biggest asset, their pets, in most raid or group encounters. While Beast Mastery will undoubtedly be the most popular hunter spec in Wrath, cause let's be honest, who doesn't want to tame a Devilsaur, but Chimera Shot and Explosive Shot seem to have some promise. I will be looking at my Hunter last in the line of alts I will bring to the beta.
I guess what I am trying to say is, if your class isn't broke, don't expect a fix. Blizzard is giving clothies spell power, which will automatically give you a buff in that all that juicy healing gear that used to drop will now be usable. They are still working on classes from the Death Knight on down, so don't think that just cause we might have a cinematic, that the beta is over, cause it's not. This change. Things will continue to change. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.
The way I see it, having a Hunter, 2 Paladins, and a Druid at 70, is that the big skills are being given to those classes and specs within classes that really, really need them. Hunters have long been the mockery of gaming. Ret Paladins too have suffered being the butt of all DPS jokes. Many raiders seem to feel that Moonturkey are carried, not doing real damage or contributing much to a run other than the aura. I play all of this. I see why we are getting the OMFG talents. We need them.
In a most recent Ask the Beta Tester segment on WoW Insider, their rogue columnist said that Rogues aren't getting any must have talents. He admitted that they will still do massive damage in any raid or group. No doubt rests in my mind that without the changes to Paladins in Wrath, Rogues would still be the hands down favorite for any raid or group. As it stands now, I have a small chance I could win out if their was a choice in a raid, especially with buffs to auras which make them raid wide and the talents and improvements to Retribution Aura that I have taken in the Retribution tree.
Changes to spell power will definitely affect Arita, my druid(renamed Aritas due to name change), but I am trying to get Medros to Dalaran in order to see the amazing city of magic. He only just dinged 71 last night, so it will be a bit until he hits the 74 minimum, but I will then spend some time learning the druid abilities to see how they do in solo and group play. I pretty much stuck to the prospective talent tree I posted about, and I will be sure to report here when I begin doing more than mere fedex quests on the Doomkin.
Hunters. Huntards many call us. Too easy to play, too streamlined, too anti group. We are the most insulted group, and the least wanted in groups. In fact, I think that if a raid were to choose between a Hunter and a Doomkin, they would likely choose feather over fur. Not to mention that hunters are almost never allowed to bring out their biggest asset, their pets, in most raid or group encounters. While Beast Mastery will undoubtedly be the most popular hunter spec in Wrath, cause let's be honest, who doesn't want to tame a Devilsaur, but Chimera Shot and Explosive Shot seem to have some promise. I will be looking at my Hunter last in the line of alts I will bring to the beta.
I guess what I am trying to say is, if your class isn't broke, don't expect a fix. Blizzard is giving clothies spell power, which will automatically give you a buff in that all that juicy healing gear that used to drop will now be usable. They are still working on classes from the Death Knight on down, so don't think that just cause we might have a cinematic, that the beta is over, cause it's not. This change. Things will continue to change. Sit back, relax, and enjoy the flight.
Reference Links
You should know with any "Class X" is broken rant you'll get someone to post "no its not" :P
And yes you didn't really say Hunters are broken but you did say they don't have much raid presence and beasts aren't usually part of the ordeal. Drum roll please.....I bring you...The current world record of raid dps! Set by SK gaming on Brutallus. http://wowwebstats.com/3ja6oepxsmvua?s=27917-54044&m
Top 3 dps are beast master hunters and next 3 are rogues (which matches your above statments).
As a side note...count up the Mages and see who the true dps kings are. :D
"Hunters. Huntards many call us. Too easy to play, too streamlined, too anti group. We are the most insulted group, and the least wanted in groups. In fact, I think that if a raid were to choose between a Hunter and a Doomkin, they would likely choose feather over fur. Not to mention that hunters are almost never allowed to bring out their biggest asset, their pets, in most raid or group encounters."
Boomkins taken over hunters? Hunters shunned? Really, that's just nonsense. Hunters are the highest single target dps in game at the moment and I've never seen someone ask a hunter to put their pet away since people first stumbled into Outlands. We take 3-4 hunters in most raids and *maybe* a boomkin if we have a free dps slot. Misdirects, kiting, buffs and fast, strong ranged dps > moonkin aura.
In saying that, we have two boomkins - one of whom usually accompanies us each raid.
"Rogues would still be the hands down favorite for any raid or group. As it stands now, I have a small chance I could win out if their was a choice in a raid"
Rogues currently bring nothing to a raid *except* their dps. They have no group buffs and no benefits for other classes. Bringing another paladin brings another buff, aura and, in wrath, group healing etc. Saying you want a paladin to be able to 'win out' over a rogue is pretty unfair. I do agree it should be an *equal* choice but generations of retridins seem to feel their 'time has come' and they should now be guaranteed a melee spot in any raid come wrath.
All I see here, I have to admit, is "I'm getting cool stuff, stop whining because you're not!".
I do agree that some classes need buffed more than others but I think I'll stick to disagreeing about which need those changes the most :P Hoping to see all the currently 'underbuffed' classes gain something in the coming changes in beta - after all devs have already said damage is yet to be tweaked as are some abilites.
I hope this doesn't come off as mean, I don't want to be, I just wanted to tell you why I think you should maybe consider that classes that didn't get something new and shiny might not just be complaining unnecessarily and that not all groups necessarily label hunters, retridins or doomkeks as lowly as you yourself seem to do or believe.
/hug
/vanish
Aurik,
My hunter has been told on every single raid he has been in to put his pet away. I was told that unless I am BM, I don't need a pet. As for rogues and Paladins, I have not once won out when the choice had to be made between a ret Paladin over any rogue, cause the rogue's DPS is far more valuable than my auras and buffs. I do not give these as my own opinion about the viability of these classes and specs, I am just telling you what others say. I am all for all three of these specs, as they are MY specs.
Audon,
While I will refer to my earlier points about these not being my own opinions, just my experience of others' opinions. I will note that there are plenty of rogues on the list before the first Paladin shows up on the list, which further validates my points of Rogues versus Paladins. Not sure how useful that set of stats really matters to me, as I will never see the big 25 man raids.
In the end, there are a not insignificant amount of raiders that so use and support these viewpoints. Do I agree? No. But as someone who has tried to get into raiding a bit, I have had to battle these views every time I ask to be in a run. Anytime I answer a question about spec on my Paladins or druids, my 'Ret or 'Balance' are usually met with no further discussion. I will not respec, and that stance will never change, so how do I battle this? Ironically, my guild loves Balance druids, as out former GM is one, so my Druid is still the best geared, very good for a lowly alt.
-Medros