While I love the idea of Elite Specs changing the way you play your class, i’m not a fan of tying the use of additional weapons to Elite Specs.
For example, my Dragon Hunter has only one trait in the entire tree that has anything to do with the weapon associated with the Elite Spec (Longbow). This makes me feel like my elite weapon is completely arbitrary and has little reason to be associated with the Elite Spec it is tied to. Not only that, but many Dragonhunters don’t even use Longbow anymore (in PVE), opting for Scepter instead as their ranged weapon because it is higher DPS, offers more utility, and it benefits from traits in other trees, as well as “scepter-specific” traits that straight up buff Scepter when it is equipped. If the Longbow was removed from the DH spec tomorrow, the spec would play and function the exact same way as it does today. From a design standpoint, this makes the Longbow feel like an appendage and not really part of the Dragonhunter identity. The longbow is definitely a useful weapon, and it’s still used in PvP, but in terms of design and synergy with the DH skill-tree, there’s not much in the tree that is specific to Longbow except for that one trait.
Wouldn’t it make more sense to remove Longbow and other weapons tied to Elite Specs, and just bake them into the core profession? That way, future and current Elite Specs can be designed to increase the effectiveness of a specific play-style with new skills and abilities, rather than focus on incorporating weapons into their design that more or may not end up being used.
This would accomplish a couple of things:
1. You would still have relative freedom in choosing what weapons you would like to play with, without feeling pigeonholed into one choice. If there is an optimal weapon use, then that is still okay, but the point is that Elite Specs should enhance what you want to do by giving you new skills and abilities, not new weapons. In essence you get to choose “the type of Guardian you want to be” (Damage, Support, etc), and you can mix and match weapons for the right combo that works for you.
2. It makes the “core” class design more versatile. If you don’t want to choose an Elite Spec, you don’t have to, and you would still be able to use the new weapons that your class is able to use. Elite Specs by design are a bump up in power/utility from the “core” class, so giving more options to the “core” class would only be viewed as a positive thing.
3. It gives players choice. If you don’t spec into Dragonhunter and you really want to use a longbow (which is a situation I find myself in very often), then you should be able to. Given how little synergy the Longbow currently has with the DH spec, it would make perfect sense to me to untether the Longbow from the DH spec and bake it into the “core”.
What do you guys think? Am I the only who feels this way? I don’t have an intimate knowledge of other Elite Specs, but do you guys feel like your class would benefit from the type of design change that i’m describing?
(edited by cletiscake.9173)