Raid stacking: Now and then.

Wowinsider did an article about raid stacking and info the Ghostcrawler posted on the Official boards. Currently each class has abilities or buffs that help the raid as a whole. I'm not going to get into each one, Nae over at shadow and light did a nice write up for that.

I will however delve into the hunter raid stacking. Each hunter spec has a buff that benefits either the group he/she is in, or the raid as a whole. BM hunters have Ferocius inspiration (+3% damage to all party members on pet crit), MM has trueshot aura (AP buff), and survival hunters have expose weakness (Attack power buff based on hunters crit, on crit.).

In essence a hunters raid wide stacking ability is increased damage, mainly for melee DPS classes / other hunters (with the exception of FI).

Lich King is bringing changes to hunter abilites that benefit the whole raid more than a focused group. But we wont know how well these will work until fully implemented and tested. (gogo EJs).


Like I said, GC posted some general raid stacking info that is interesting.
linky

Overall:

• Most buffs are going raidwide, save "bursty" abilites.
• Boss debuff limits are still there
• Blizz is working on replacing Buff stacking with Skilled Player stacking
• Enoucnters are going to be strategy oriented, not buff/debuff oriented (frenzy fights, anyone?)

What it means:

• Raids have more flexibility with classes
• Classes are going to work better in pairs.
• Buffs can come from more than one class, making having a certain amout of classes uneccesary. (3 mage za, no thanks.)

He also eluded to Survival Hunter mana batteries. That coupled with expose weakness makes the SV hunter a raidwide boon, not just a melee dps uper.

My thoughs:

I think that overall the changes are a step in the right direction. The flexibility to bring players based on skill not class will help progression become easier and more enjoyable on the whole.

Buffs and Debuffs are nice for fights, but I don't think they should be what makes or breaks a raid. I don't want to feel like I need 3 paladins for BoW, BoM, and BoK just to perform at my most.

Class stacking will be more beneficial, but classes will also work well with different classes. Again, making choosing players based on skill much easier.

Class specs becoming more general and more specific at the same time. I didn't get this feeling at first release of talent trees, but it seems as if no matter what spec you choose you can be unique AND top performing.

Blizzard is really doing a great job looking at not just individual raids, but raiding as a whole and making it more accesible and enjoyable for everyone. Mad props blizz.