Are Dual-Specs Working Out?
Bastosa on Wednesday, May 13, 2009 - 41 Comments Tags: 3.1, DPS, Ulduar, bastosa, dual spec, healer, hybrid, raids, tank 
Now that 3.1 has been out for a while, and the dust is at least starting to settle, I think its time to take a step back and discuss how much impact the patch has really made on the game.
While the introduction of the Ulduar raid was obviously a big deal, I want to take a moment to examine how dual-specs has changed the way that we play. This feature, after all, changes the basic mechanics of how we play and will affect the game well past Ulduar and into future expansions.
At this point, I feel many of us have seen both the advantages and the pitfalls of this is action.
First the good, the increase is raid utility is undeniable. Instead of needing to sub people out for encounters because we need more heals, DPS, tanks or whatever we now just need to ask people to switch specs. I have found this to be particularly useful in 10 mans, where we can balance for 2 or 3 healers depending on the encounter.
Beyond that there are some unexpected advantages. For example the shaman who dual spec’d enhancement/elemental. While initially I thought this was the worst idea ever (great you can be DPS or DPS), it has turned out to be incredibly useful on several occasions. Sometimes having DPS at range vs melee, or having an extra buff can make all the difference in a close encounter.
There have been drawbacks too. As I think we all expected loot has been an issue. There are some players that are legitimately splitting their time between two specs. But does that mean they have a right to accumulate two sets of tier pieces while everyone else is working on their first? I certainly don’t think so, but they can make some convincing arguments. Additionally this added flexibility leaves some of the “bubble” players out of raids. Players that are used to being number 1 on the standby list are getting used less and less, as more people can fill more roles.
Personally I find myself changing specs much less often than I expected. While I can now go ret at anytime, I still find I am a tank 99% of the time, and often forget I can switch if need be. Although, being able to PvP whenever I want is certainly nice.
What do you guys think? Have dual specs been working out they way you imagined? Or are you using them much less or more than you expected?
Reader Comments (41)
Off spec gear issues can be addressed to everyone's satisfaction if done before you start your run. For example, the other day I was in a group set to start H UK for the daily. Our healer dropped last minute to go do a guild run. I asked the pally who showed up in healing gear but switched to ret gear if he would heal since there was only DPS in the LFM window. He said sure as long as he got to roll on the DPS pants if they dropped. As I did not need them and there was only one other DPS plate wearer in the group, his request was ok'd and we were ready to roll...
till one of the other group members rallied a healer from his guild to our group. Much adieu about nothing, I guess. Nonetheless it was still good to get the issue hammered out in the name of getting things underway.
My main is a retadin in gear that allows me to do any 10/25 man content before Ulduar. The other week I was running naxx 10 with a group, and when we got to Kel (was a full clear in one night) one of the healers had to leave. One tank went to his healadin and I changed to my 2nd spec for tanking. I tanked the two adds when they came out without a problem, which was a great feeling for me because even though I had a decent tanking set I had not had many opportunities to tank. Hopefully I'll get more chances like this in the future.
Although i dps in both specs(Blood/Frost) i have,its actually so much fun to kill things with 2 different ways plus it allowed me to experience how the other specs work for me.
So i would say that dual specc is a great change and i use more often than i though so.
I have no desire for a second spec on my hunter. Period.
On my priest, I enjoy the challenge of being holy and really have no desire to be a shadow priest.
So there you have it. The feature is there, but I've got better things to spend my gold on.
Love dual-spec!
Being an undead blood DK, i got alot of tank gear doing hc's as dps, when the tank passed the stuff, ofc.
So now it's waaaaay easier to get into a group.
When i get 1.000g to spare, i'll get dualspec for my orc enhancement shammy aswell, who's stuck in 71, so i can heal/dps my way to 80.
Cheers!
I have used dual spec only for PVE to PVP purposes. I never really did see how an established raider in an established guild would benefit from it any other way. But I am loving having a build handy for Wintergrasp and BG's.
I love dual spec for my priest - he is holy/disc, so that means I can switch to tank healing to raid realing depending on the needs of the encounter.
My guild is currently working to offspec me for tanking being a Warrior which is going to help us out tremendously on 25 mans even as if we have a tank leave, I could just swith specs and we can worry about one less dps which is usually a dime a dozen anyways.
Hi Bastosa love ur blog now i am the same as a paladin tank which i love but have gone dps as im my guild there is only 2 pally dps and gives me 2 chance to get in to raids so it has been very good for me as in BC i never got to do much raiding
With a 80 heals dps and tank i dont see any need for it... but thats just me
ombrenoire* if you were at all a good dps/raiding hunter you would have known (pre patch 3.1 ) that survival was the ebst dps spec.....also, why would you use arcane shot as Survival
@Rayl
We had SV Hunters in our raids pre-patch and their DPS sucked compared to my BM and that of my guildmate. It's not the spec that determines the DPS, it's how you play.
I have always been BM and was never asked to re-spec for the reason that I had to HOLD BACK on DPS to not steal agro from our fully decked out Warrior. Despite the threat he was putting out either myself or the other BM would steal agro from him constantly. And yes, growl was off and I did wait for the 5 requisit Sunders before opening up on the mob.
And Arcane Shot is a very viable shot to use, even in SV. The amount of damage is phenominal and, worked into a proper macro rotation, is not a mana drain. Burst damage is often the deciding factor between dying or seeing the mob die first.
you must be a bad hunter then , you dont use Arcane shot if ur surv. it shares CD with explosive shot... so no
Explosive shot > Arcane shot.
And bm's dps still sucks compared to SV.
oh this is bull crap man when you said thier are some flaws i just new it was gointo something sellfish as missing out on a few pieces of loot grow up for god sakes my main has the dual spec but i cant say i have found much use for it as i am not even geared for it but itbut it is incredible how easy it is to find a group about a week ago i was running my mage though HOL for some gear i found a group that whoud run i 5 times the douche of a ank wantedd a tanking trinket from it i got lots of gear but the thing i was really going for was the necklace drop from the alst boss and on my 5 run it finnaly dropeddd taht about 2-3 hours of running the place over and over but i was betrayed by one of my own i asked everyone to pplease pass on teh necklace i ran this place 5 times for it but i might as well have been talking to the wallas the human mage needed for it and neither is to say i lost and these 2-3 hours have gone completly to waste i cursed them of and then loged out and and makes me feel a bit better that that bastard of a tank ever got teh trinket i havent been on wow since mainly cause the connection is terrible
The whole gear thing has never been an issue for me. I play a hunter so i don't have to work on 2 sets of gear. Im DPS either way. The only real differance is in Survival, more Agility is smart. But since the only gear i roll on is +Stam, Int, and Agi, theres no differences. Just get +Agility enchants and you're set.
But i can't really throw in an opinion for Dual Spec. I havn't gotten to try it out. 1k gold is alot. I know most players have no trouble building up 1k gold. But im not in a guild right now. So, when i wanna raid or im in a 5-man dungeon, it's generally a PUG. Which is expensive on the repair bill.
So it's not for a lack of doing my dailys. I just need to get out of Pugging everything. lol. I've been smart enough to know not to take a step into Ulduar until i get a guild though.
Was a bit frustrating though. As soon as the patch finished downloading i logged on and went to Org to train for Dual Spec. This 1000g bill popped up and my wallet just couldn't afford it.
It's not that much of a difference though. It doesn't effect me as much as it would have if i were a hybrid class like the Paladin or Druid.
The only thing it benefits me as a Hunter is i can have BM as my secondary spec and survival as my primary. With the new spell we got with the patch 'Call Stabled Pet' i can switch to BM and then call out my exotic pet. I miss using the Corehound and Dinosaurs.
But, all in good time. Someday i'll get a guild and when that happens im sure my gold will start to accumulate with fewer and smaller repair bills. Right now when i last logged i have under 1g due to my last repair bill of the night.
So, yea. When i log, i do my dailys so i can play the game. And by time im done for the night and log, that gold is spent. :)
Anyone else like this?