I'm only going to be exploring the positives and negatives of fourth specs with this series of posts, as I'm more interested in generating and vetting ideas than debating why one path is superior to another. Perhaps another time.
To skip to the summary, you can click here.
Related posts:
Let's start with exploring the Good and Bad of fourth specs:
The Good
Fourth specs add new depth to all existing classes, which every player can immediately try out without having to create new characters. It would also add new baseline abilities that could be utilized by players that aren't interested in changing their specializations (or "respeccing").
The Bad
By adding an entirely new series of baseline abilities to existing classes, Blizzard runs the risk of overcomplicating them (assuming such has not already happened). There's also the problem of making all of these abilities accessible, as hotkey bindings can be rather limited, even with advanced addons and macros to help. Balancing classes would also become more difficult, especially with some of the "game changing" ideas I'll be posting.
Next are some musings over potential pitfalls:
Originality
I see a lot of fourth spec ideas that borrow pretty heavily from existing specs, such as Buccaneer Rogue evade tanks (Combat), Frost Mage tanks (Frost), and Metamorphosis Warlock tanks (Demonology). It's impossible to not borrow something from existing specs, as you have to stay within the theme of the class itself (try creating a Paladin spec that doesn't use Holy magic), so I'm not suggesting there's a clearly defined line that shouldn't be crossed. However, originality is a much larger problem than most as far as I'm concerned.
I also see a lot of fourth spec ideas that borrow from other classes pretty heavily. Often these ideas take the form of filling in a class' gaps in defense - i.e. intended weaknesses. The most frequent example is the melee Hunter. Now, these ideas are actually very interesting to me (melee Hunter is one idea I'll be exploring) but I consider it highly important to keep weaknesses intact for the original specs. The problem then becomes adding baseline abilities the original specs can still benefit from without making them overpowered.
Hybrids
One of my goals with fourth specs is to finally eliminate the Hybrid vs. Pure DPS debate. As such, I'll be focusing on Tank and Healer specs for the classes that don't already have them: Hunter, Mage, Rogue, and Warlock. I will also be focusing on DPS specs for classes that already have two non-DPS specs: Druid, Paladin, and Priest.
Melee vs. Ranged
This is a potential problem I continued to come across while hammering out ideas. One of the easiest fourth spec ideas to come up with is a melee spec for traditionally-ranged classes. I think some of this is due to the fact that many ranged classes have flexible lore, since much of what they do is "magical".
A part of the problem lies in the fact that adding more melee specs - and not adding more ranged specs - could somehow pigeonhole the ranged role in PVE. Consider the usefulness of a gun or bow drop if, after going from 30 to 40 specs, there are still only 3 that could make good use of it. At what point does ranged gear drops (Hunter weapons, Spell Leather/Mail) suffer the same disdain as Spell Plate?
Another part of this potential problem lies in balance issues with making traditionally-ranged classes more flexible in PVP, compared to traditionally-melee classes that are still just melee. I do feel some classes should remain ranged-only and melee-only, but adding flexibility to one and not the other is a topic to bear in mind.
Healers
This problem is simple: coming up with new healer specs is hard. Many "magic" classes already have a healer spec, with the lone exceptions being Death Knights, Mages, and Warlocks. While "magic" might not be necessary (some players have suggested a Medic-style spec), healing still requires ranged abilities, which quickly makes Rogues and Warriors seem like distant options. I do feel adding at least one Healer spec is necessary, but turning both of the remaining Cloth classes into Healers just doesn't seem very inventive. Anyways...you're going to see a lot of Tanking suggestions. I wish this wasn't strictly the case.
Tanks
If Tanking fourth specs were provided for Rogues, Hunters, and Shaman, then every single non-Cloth class would have a Tanking spec. A serious question one must then ask themselves is: Should there be Tanking Leather and Mail? Or should there not be Tanking Plate? I honestly don't know what the best answer would be here, but will probably muse over it further in a follow-up post. I'm definitely not fond of the idea of increasing itemization niches to fill, though.
One issue I attempt to tackle with the Tanking specs is limiting their affect on DPS specs. This is easily accomplished with Plate classes as they heavily rely on separate gear, limiting survivability in DPS gear, or limiting damage in Tanking gear. Druids, who can...sorta...use the same gear for both a Tank and DPS spec, require shifting into a form which completely changes which abilities they can use, automatically limiting their damage or survivability.
Finally, the meat-and-potatoes of this series:
The Summary
Here is the list of ideas I will initially explore. I tried to keep a lot of them rooted in logic, but this by no means set in stone. Some decisions were arbitrary, for example - like Mage Healers and Warlocks Tanks instead of the other way around - but I don't plan to stop with just this initial list.
DEATH KNIGHT: SKELETAL | Ranged Spell DPS Uses ranged attacks, additional skeletal pets, "Skeleton Form", Death Runes, and Spell Plate. |
DRUID: DREAM | Ranged Spell DPS Uses poison, lightning, sleep, and illusion attacks, "Serpent Form" cooldown, and Intellect Leather. |
HUNTER: MARTIAL | Melee-range Tank Uses ranged attacks in melee range, parries, shares damage with Tenacity pet. Uses Agility Mail. |
| MAGE: NETHER | Healer Uses the Nether to directly repair or reverse wounds. Focusing Nether locks out Fire and Ice magic. Uses Spirit Cloth. |
| PALADIN: CONVICTION | Ranged Spell DPS Unexpectedly, uses Holy magic. Aiming for a morally-questionable "Inquisition" theme. Uses Spell Plate. |
| PRIEST: FORCE* | Melee DPS Fights bare-handed, using empowered attacks to defeat foes. Uses Intellect Cloth. |
| ROGUE: SHADOW | Melee "Evade" Tank Fully embraces Shadow magic, using it to buff armor/health/evasion, debuff, taunt, and damage. Uses Agility Leather. |
| SHAMAN: WARD* | Melee Spell Tank Uses all elements, although favoring Earth, to protect self and anger enemies. Uses Agility Mail/Tanking off pieces/1H + Shield. |
| WARLOCK: VOID | Pet Tank Uses Armored Voidwalker, assisting the pet with buffs, debuffs, defensive cooldowns. Uses Spirit Cloth. |
| WARRIOR: DUEL* | Melee DPS (Surprise!) "Gladiator" theme. Uses 1H/Polearm + Shield, DoTs (bleeds), knockbacks/knockdowns. Duel to Warriors like Affliction to Warlocks. |
*Working titles.
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