Take the Survey at wowclassic.plus
The survey also asks players to rate each of these Specializations' toolkits in various scenarios. Additionally, WoW Classic content creator Cajato recently released a Tier List of Specializations that could benefit from a revamp in Classic+, and also provides analysis and suggestions for how these Specs could be reworked.
Retribution Paladin
On the wowclassic.plus survey, the majority of respondents rated the Retribution Paladin toolkit with the following scores:
Solo Content: 7/10
Dungeons: 5/10
Raids: 1/10
PvP: 7/10
While this comes out to an average score of 5/10, Retribution Paladin could clearly use some help when it comes to raiding content. Some of the main problems affecting this specialization include mana issues, a boring rotation, and no AoE options.
Some options that could help Retribution Paladin be more effective in a raid setting include:
Introducing Crusader Strike as a core ability. This would allow Paladins to generate mana when combined with Seal of Wisdom.
Add an AoE ability, like Divine Storm, giving the spec much better raid damage.
Make other Seals more meaningful, so that Seal of Command isn't the only viable option.
The Season of Discovery version of Retribution Paladin was highly praised for including changes like this, which solved a lot of issues that players experienced with the Vanilla version of the Spec.
Balance Druid
On the wowclassic.plus survey, Balance Druids received 1s across the board, giving their toolkit the lowest possible score in solo content, dungeons, raid, and PvP. Respondents also agreed that the spec's weakest role was, again, in a raiding environment.
82.2% of respondents agree that Balance Druids should receive Spell Hit % as a talent option, and Cajato shares some further suggestions:
Provide more damage abilities, such as Sunfire and Starsurge.
Give the spec mana-saving options, like Fury of Stormrage and Dreamstate.
Enhance existing spells with passives such as Eclipse and Gale Winds.
Again, these options were available in Season of Discovery and made the Specialization much more viable to play at endgame.
Protection Paladin
The biggest issue with Protection Paladin in WoW Classic is the lack of an equivalent Taunt ability. Instead, Paladin Tanks must rely on threat generation from abilities such as Consecration, Holy Shield, and Righteous Fury. These spells are viable for AoE threat or off-tanking, but are usually not enough to reliably hold threat on a raid boss.
The obvious solution here is to provide Paladins with a single-target taunt ability, such as Hand of Reckoning. Additionally, enhanced AoE damage would allow Protection to more easily maintain threat on trash. Another thing that Paladin Tanks can struggle with is pulling from range, as they do not have the same access to Ranged Weapons as Warriors do. Adding Avenger's Shield to their toolkit, similar to Season of Discovery, would help with this issue.
Arcane Mage
Finally, one of the weakest pure DPS specs in the game, the Arcane Mage received 1/10 in every category of content on the wowclassic.plus survey. While the Arcane tree is typically used for cooldowns, Arcane Power, and Presence of Mind, a pure Arcane build suffers heavily from mana issues.
To give Arcane its own identity as a standalone Specialization, Blizzard could consider adding or changing the following:
Add Arcane Blast and its stacking damage mechanic to the game.
Include a regeneration passive that scales off of Arcane damage.
Unfortunately, Arcane Mage suffered the same fate in Season of Discovery as it did in original Vanilla, not having a unique identity and falling behind in damage against both Fire and Frost Mages. If Blizzard could rework this spec to allow its burst damage to shine, Arcane Mage could be great as another viable DPS spec, if and when Classic+ is released.
