Just How WoW’s Cataclysm Expansion Pack Could Possibly Make It More Difficult For Hybrid Classes To Choose Gear : A Druid’s Perspective
As soon as I first started playing WoW, I went through quite a few classes before deciding upon a druid. I hated being pigeonholed as just a healer or just DPS, and druid offered up an escape from being a one-trick pony. The only problem was that with so many options in front of me, I wasn't quite sure how to go about leveling, so I solved my problem by getting into a druid leveling guide and letting it take care of the details.
Of course all of this was back at release, when hybrid classes had huge issues finding gear. I can't even count the amount of time I spent in the wow auction house, hoping for something decent to pop up. Fortunately for my social life, the gear quandary was resolved with the release of The Burning Crusade. The quests in Outland offered a much wider variety of quest rewards. The odds of getting through more than a couple of quests without getting a new piece of gear were slim to none. Whether you were a "true" class or a hybrid, no matter what your talent spec was you were going to be getting a lot of gear as you leveled.
At the point that Wrath of the Lich King was released, Blizzard gave us more of the same. Hybrids got plenty of options as well as a consistent upgrade path irrespective of build. However where The Burning Crusade had focused on base stat points like agility and stamina, WOTLK placed the attention on rating stats like crit rating and spellpower. Base stats were pushed to the back of the stage, which turned out particularly well for the more well rounded hybrids. Where it was previously difficult to gear for multiple specs, requiring a great deal of either gold or time, it suddenly became something that you could achieve incidentally.
At this point with Cataclysm coming out, it looks like things are going to be shifting once again. The stat model will be getting overhauled yet again. Which means now, the big question is if brand new druids will need to be investing time and expense following a druid leveling guide in addition to staring at their screen in the wow auction house for long periods of time like before, or maybe if the simplicity and variety presented in Burning Crusade will end up winning out. I suppose we don't have that long to wait before we learn the answer.
