Nice topic:)
I agree with Ryvaine that Warlocks aren't a support class. Handing out healthstones and soulstones doesn't make you a support class. The MT group needs a lock for the stamina buff and depending on the encounter, so do other group(s) but this doesn't make them a support class. Might aswell put mages as support class aswell then for handing out water and food, buffing the raid with intelligence and decursing in
alot of encounters.
I wouldn't say rogues are better damagedealers than mages btw Ryviane
In some instances they are, in some instances they aren't. A PvE specced mage will blast you away in DPS though
We get -30% threat now which is sexah. I think in BWL I did as much as 20% more damage compared to rogues, which is insane ofcourse, though in AQ40 rogues did 5-10% more damage than we mages could do
On average though, I think Mages are the best damagedealers, closely followed by Warriors, then Rogues and then Warlocks. Hunters last!
Warlocks can do lots of damage but they have zero threat-reduction which means they can't possibly dream of ever out-dpsing a mage in an 40-man instance. Rogues, although having slightly better aggro-reduction, have to be in close range of their enemy while the mage can just blast away at a safe distance. Same goes for warriors. Hunters do good dps and pretty much can't be killed. But overall, mages top the damage meters in pretty much any instance I've been in
Warriors:
You only need 1 or 2 Protection specced warriors in the raid. So depending on how reliable their attendancy is, you only need 3-4 Protection specced tanks in the guild. The rest can, if they like, spec offtank. Offtank means they have the vital protection talents (15 now?), but not the extra ones. They are required to have compatible tanking gear along with their dps-gear, so that they can offtank when asked to. Two or three warriors in the guild should be allowed to spec and focus their gear on DPS. Depending on the instance, DPS Warriors can and will
top the damagemeters by extreme amounts, without causing the raid any trouble. So don't underestimate it hehe. Warriors
can and
should be allowed to spec DPS, just aslong as there are enough MT's
On a sidenote, the warrior's gear is the most important part of his tanking, not his spec. MT's need those little extra gimmicks that the protection tree provides, but the offtanks definately do not. Like Nelle has said, you can be fury and still tank nicely.
Druids
Shouldn't be in the DPS list. Not as a cat and especially not as a moonkin hehe. They heal better than they do damage. Not by far, but their DPS isn't needed as much as their healing is. Their offtanking isn't required either. We have Warrior offtanks for that and although Druids can offtank just as well as a Warrior, they warrior doesn't loose efficiency in his roll by spending 15 points in protection to be able to offtank. Druids need to waste alot of precious talents if they wanna be a good offtank.
When you are 5-manning something it's a different story ofcourse. They can heal, dps or tank, depending on the group-setup and spec of the Druid. Generally speaking, Druids are insanely usefull to raids due to their abilities such as Innovate and Combat res, but Blizzard has kind of screwed them over. Their cat-dps is nice, but not adequate. Their Moonkin damage is average when bursting, but fails in every possible way at bosses. Not enough mana, no aggro-reduction at all. Druids are definately very usefull, but not as DPS/Tank unfortunately
Priests:
Shadowpriests are much less efficient at healing compared to disc/holy priests obviously, so any shadowpriest saying he can heal just as good as a holy specced priest is playing stupid
This doesn't mean they can't heal at all ofcourse, but still, it needs to be said.
Put shadowpriests in the DPS list though! If - and I realise that might be a big 'if' in a casual guild like ours - there are enough healers in the raid, a shadowpriest should definately be one of the dps-ers. Place them in a group that requires frequent healing and see improved Vampiric Embrace shine. Watch the warlocks skyrocket in the damagemeters and notice how the shadowpriest still holds a firm spot in the top-10 damagers. I assume you have atleast 4 warlocks in the raid, which means you buff their damage by 10-15%. That's 40-60% added up. A shadowpriest can do 85-90% of the damage a mage would do with same gear and skill. Add those up and your shadowpriest is responsible for 125-150% of the damage a lock, mage or rogue could do. The party-healing comes as an extra. Along with that, they can go healing / dispelling mode when asked (specific encounters)
So a priest who says he can do good DPS is absolutely correct. But when more priests want to spec shadow and have the gear to do so, it becomes difficult. And priests that say they won't heal should not be invited to raids at all. Even shadowpriests must heal during certain encounters.
So, long story cut short: IMO add Warrior and Shadowpriest to the DPS list, remove Warlock from support and Druid from DPS and Tank.
NOTE:
Most of my opinions are geared towards serious 40-man instancing. We don't force specs and don't really spend enough time raiding to justify any such rule. But for the sake of this topic, I posted my thoughts on how it should be. I don't mean to piss off druids for example, though I know I probably have
