Quote Originally Posted by 'Naysayer',index.php?page=Thread&postID=112707#pos t112707
Classes are still going to be pigeonholed into specs. Arcane, frost, or fire, one of them is going to be a better dps spec than the other two, so mages will be forced to raid as that spec. One of them will be best for pvp, so pvpers will be forced into that spec... Affliction, demo, destro, same crap. One will outshine the other. You think they'll invite an enhancement shaman if he can't out-dps a titans grip fury warrior and totems/BLust is covered by resto and maybe 1 Elemental shaman(assuming elem can keep up dpswise)?

These changes aren't being pushed to open up raid spots for different specs, they're be pushed to open up raid spots for wotlk new players and to make sure the game isn't too complicated for the beginners and casuals. Dumbing it down.
I don't see how the game's being dumbed down. Simplification of useless and boring gameplay design is not the same as dumbing down. Changing how things stack isn't dumbing down the game just because you liked how it made you more powerful.

It's not so simple that one spec is better than another, because it all depends on the fight, raid comp and situation. For mages, for example, fire is usually the best pure DPS, but has more aggro problems which could be limiting, whereas arcane has the best burst damage in the whole game when the mage pops his cooldowns, while not being that far behind on pure DPS. At least, the arcane mage can dump his mana into dmg more quickly than the fire mage if there's a final burn. It's just NOT that clear cut all the time, and more specs are viable now than ever before. There was a time when you pretty much had to spec your druid resto for raiding, had to spec a priest holy for raiding, had to spec mage frost for raiding, had to spec a paladin holy for raiding. Not because the other specs weren't there, but because there weren't even drops to support the other specs, or they were so terribly far behind. A balance druid was completely unheard of in a raid not all that long ago. A shadow priest was a hard sell pre-BC. The only real tanks were warriors. Etc etc. More specs are viable now than ever before. The only spec I really never see in raids at all is retribution paladin.