Hybrid theory

It seems like the concept of Hybrid classes is slowly disappearing from WoW, and has been since TBC came out. Not that I dislike TBC - unlike many other hybrid QQers, I don't think either TBC or WotLK has or will ruin WoW, and I'm generally very happy with how things have turned out.

But there really are no hybrids anymore. The closest we've come to a true hybrid lately has been Feral Druids - their pvp gear generally features an excellent mix of combat and caster stats... or did, until arena season 3 took the focus off adding +healing to feral gear and increasingly pigeonholing them into a rogue replacement class. They buffed Nurturing Instinct to attempt to combat this notion, but they dps better and heal worse than any season before this.

Shamans as well are seeing themselves as hybrids vanish from this world - Elemental is probably the closest to a hybrid spec they have around now. I say Elemental instead of Enhancement because Enhancement shamans' gear is mostly balanced around melee stats, and they tend to have mana pools too small to fulfill the caster requirements of being a hybrid... whereas elementals can deal incredible amounts of damage with crits and have the mana pools to support a healing role if one becomes necessary.

Way back in the pre-tbc days, shamans were feared far and wide because as hybrids they were so excellently balanced - their pvp gear had lots of health, mana, combat and caster stats; they could wreck you from up close or far away, heal themselves well, and interrupt or absorb anything you cared to throw at them. But each set of gear available for them now is pretty much custom-tailored to fit one role: caster dps, melee dps, or healing.

The necessity of being excellent at one thing outweighs the benefits of being a hybrid; the prevalence of Resilience not only eats stat allocation points on gear but requires you to invest more in your primary damage dealing tree to overcome this new defense, and the insane amount of damage a dedicated damage dealer can put out means you have to be a pure healer to deal with it or else you're constantly playing catch-up with yourself.

All this said, I feel Resilience is a very, very good thing - no longer can you be destroyed from full health in a tiny span of time by a crit-based DPS class (like Rogue, Mage, or Hunter), and if it necessitated eliminating the hybrid playstyle to make sure every class at least stands a chance against every other class, then so be it. Granted WoW isn't there yet - Rogues will still tear down most of the cloth-wearing classes with little effort, and stand little chance against a good Warrior, but it's a step in the right direction.

That said, my Shaman is (going to be) Resto, because I believe in maintaining control with a strong defense, and the addition of 1/3 spell damage to all +healing gear is, in my opinion (others may not share it), the closest possible state to becoming a hybrid again. An enormously strong defense coupled with a mediocre offense is better than an extremely strong offense with little staying power - and I believe that Blizzard agrees with me. Just look at that there Resilience thing.

Shaman may not, at the present time, (objectively) be as good at pvp healing as Druids are... but I don't want to play a Resto druid. I don't want to be ultra-squishy if caught out of Bear form, I don't like the HoT-and-kite playstyle, and I don't want to be caught without a standard rez in PvE. ;)

Enjoy my perspective. I reserve the right to swear at and curse the lineage of any trolls that may not agree with me. No anonymous comments will be accepted. :)