Ok, I just had to say something now, while I understand where the Original Poster is coming from about hybrids I think he is completely wrong, and further more he has no real evidence in his article such as links to relevant sources. Which any english major or reporter knows you need evidence from relevant sources to support anything you write. This article has me tempted to write a counter article (with real evidence and sources linked) and submit it to curse it really does...

I have played WoW from near the very beginning of it (started maybe 2 or 3 months after it came out) and I have played nearly every class in the game though some more then others. My paladin is what I have played the most, followed closely with Druid, Hunter, Warlock, and the priest last in that order. I have tried of course the other classes not listed here but the Ones listed are what I have played the most and in order of how much I have played them. I have Played each in both PvE and PvP to get a feel for them fully and completely and find how each works. My paladin is Currently at lvl 70 on Kargath and I have other characters at High Level on that server and other Servers. I have performed well in both Healer and tank roles in groups and Raids with both Paladin and Druid. My paladin is speced and geared fully as a tank class but I have been able to heal fine in groups and raids fine in a emergency Even while Serving as a MT with out having to switch gear. I should point out that if you look up Xxena on the armory for kargath server you can see how my character is currently specced. Still gearing for the highest TBC raids but she performs well in kara and others as she meets the 490 def and such as a tank for that (currently focusing on bringing lowbies up to par as my guild needs certain roles filed more then others for raids). You will also see that my paladin is Fully talented into Protection talents with fairly purely.

Now with this information in mind according to this guy's article I should not be able to perform as a healer as well as say a priest. However I still have the ability to heal myself and others just fine as a paladin no matter my spec and as I said even while I serve in a raid or group as the main tank (which i have done otften both before TBC and currently when I play my paladin). While I could say that my heals may not match the power of a priest fully specced and geared for healing I can't say that my healing ability does not do the job it needs to do. My throwing out a heal at just the right moment in a emergency during a dungeon or Raid has saved many a life and I can heal perfectly fine any time it is needed with out swapping gear or spec.

My point is it more a matter of KNOWING HOW TO PLAY THE GAME AND YOUR CLASS then it is anything else. If you know this much and can do as much then everything else quickly clicks into place. You'll know then how you should best gear, and you'll know best what abilities to use when, and so forth. You'll be able to fill any role needed even if your not geared for it and how best to do so with out the gear or spec for it. Sure as we all know you still may nto have the biggest heals when healing if geared for Tanking but you will still serve the role just as good as you need to. Hybrid classes can work just fine IF you know what your doing.

Well for proof that druids can switch what there doing from dps to tanking. I was helping a run through BFD and no one told me what the fires did. So in my normal ways i lit all for at the same time... You know how that turned out. a whole bunch of crabs and water elements came out. My whole party was about to die and the priest couldn't handle it for some reason. So i went from Dps/tank to healer in a matter of seconds.

Druids, Pallies and Shamans seem to be doing quite well. I question how much experience the poster really has with current game mechanics. At the start of the game, yeah there were big problems and hybrids didn't really seem to have a clear role. That's a little dated though.. They've given each tree abilities that make them valuable to a raid. Even if an Enhancement Shaman isn't doing rogue-like melee DPS, they are still desirable for their buffs and... enhancing of everyone else's DPS. No one questions a good resto Shaman, or even an elemental. Same with druids.. tanks are always wanted. Resto druids heal extremely well. We all know pallies can tank, heal and even DPS now if played and geared correctly. Similar to a shaman, they don't do top tier DPS, but the buffs they bring are valuable.

Yeah it's not perfect, but it's far from saying "they don't work." They still need to do a bit of balancing, but overall they are working quite well.

This is true.

I think the author is unclear on "hybrid" classes. If a class is focused on one main goal then they are competitive to a focused class. An enhancement shaman with +healing gear to try to do DPS and healing of course won't be as good as either a rogue or a priest. But that follows for the focused classes as well, a warrior in DPS gear won't be as good of a tank or DPS, due to the lack of focus.

Sure the focused classes are better at it, but that's the point in having focused classes. And the bit about people don't like to play hybrid classes? Then why is it easier to find a pally/druid to tank than a warrior (at least on my server)?

Well, to me, it all depends how well you can play the character itself ( clearly stated by wolfgar83) because to me it's better having an experienced prot pally healing than a UNexperenced holy priest or w/e. Since on my 52 shammy i am currently leveling he is speced to elemental and can do just as good as healing as a druid or priest.

yeh wtf? hybrid classes are flexible and can be just as good at anything as the pure classes depending on the player themselves you dont just say that they wont excell becuase io bet my druid could do better at everything ur chars do... its about experience not class (apart from the obvious i.e. rougues are no good at healing=D) as far as i'm concerned pure classes are boring and easily done without but u cant live without the hybrids!

Normally I don't post, but in this case I have to disagree with the original poster's idea of the 'holy trinity'.... not EVERY game/MMO relies on this... It just takes careful balancing..... Let's look at City of Heroes/Villians's classes

Now, I am not saying that they DON'T have these classes, but they are mixed up a bit:

Tanker - obvious - everyone needs a tank, but with some interesting secondary abilities
Scrapper - Melee DPS, usually no ranged attacks
Defender - One spec, Empathy, excelled at healing, but it is just one of many specs that also include amazing group buffs or enemy debuffs
Blaster - Mage style ranged damage, but also some nice buffs/debuffs

Controller - ok, this is where I think WoW could benefit.... this is the ultimate CC class..some damage output ,but the ability for full CC abilities was SO much fun to play.

Check out http://cityofheroes.gameamp.com/coh/viewPowers for a full comparison.

City of Vililans added:

Mastermind - the ability to summon up to six minions to fight on your behalf (ninja, robots, undead, etc), with increasing power (3 low level, 2 mid and 1 boss minion), AND the ability to buff them. This was a blast to play.

see http://cityofvillains.gameamp.com/cov/viewPowers

Just another viewpoint on the whole 'class' issue... CoH/CoV definitely had its weak points as well (end-game content wasn't as good as WoW's, although fighting Hamidon, for those who played... well... need I say more? - I've never seen a world boss in WoW like that). I switched to WoW, yes, but I do miss the Controllers and Masterminds... those were fun.

Krank - Uldum - and yes, an Enh Shammy :)

sry m8 to dissapoint you hibrids are maybe some way more viable for pve but unfortunatly in bg especially in arena shamans/paladins have only 1 possible specc in wich they do average thats healing. Problem in arena with that 2 classes is in crowdcontrol and posibilities to adapt to oponnets by tactics of play wich they have very limited chance to do that.

I take some offense to this post, mainly due to the fact that I have Pally, Druid and Shaman toons. I also have other toons,

The statement that a 'hybrid' toon can not excel at anything is a bit off. My Pally is a tank lvl 70. I have been doing heroics and maintaining aggro quite well, I only have issues with my aggro due to the mistakes of other players...ie hunters with pet on growl or aspect of the pack enabled. Or if a person has their toon disregard the measures of DPS vs aggro and chooses to sacrifice themself for their ego issues.

Now warriors have the same issues with other players...thats right I made a warrior to understand the differences between Pally and Warrior tanks. Both have great qualities, I prefer the pally.

I almost believe that the issue here is in purity, seems that the person who posted this feels that a toon who can fight and is self healing is lesser, frankly, you keep feeling like that because you don't deserve a Pally. Also, due to the fact that all my talents are in the protection tree minus 10 that are in the Ret tree I can not heal myself for poo. Nor can I give out ANY melee DPS. However, I can take a beating and hold strong to the mobs so that the DPS and do their jobs.

I have seen issues with players that split their talent points. With some schools that is fine. But a split talent tree for Pallys can create a weaker toon, however so can not gearing your toon .

So in summary, you are right people are not looking for a toon that can not excel at anything, and I am not sure who you spoke to about the hybrid classes being OK with being lesser, I am not lesser ..maybe they are but that's their issue not mine.
Furthermore, unless you have an understanding of races and toons that is better then a low lvl toon or what you think without personal experience or what others who lack experience tell you, then maybe you be a bit more careful with your judgments.

He he, I think he chose the title of this article just to piss people off.

I think that resto druids, holy pallies, resto shammies, can't put out the performance needed compared to holy priests... That is wrong, completely wrong. I actually think priests need some buffing up, in the holy tree, not in shadow or discipline. Priest's holy tree, mainly seems to be for pvp >.< and priests have to spend points in pointless skills for pvp just to get up to the full tree, yet it isn't fair for a priest that is all pve has to spend points in pvp skills. And also I think it could all be finished off with another HOTspell. :) those are always good. But people that think that Sub healers can't heal as well as Priests ( pure healers ) then that is wrong.

Hi Verity222,

I have a problem with people not only you but number of replies below who did not read the article properly and made comments that actually are completely off base in terms of what the author was talking about.

Read article again, he is talking about Hybrid classes like Shammy who may be specc for dps and healing using equal points in each tree. Now I know from trying this you are very weak in dps and your healing potential is low.

True meaning of Hybrid class is to be able to undertake any of the 2 Holy Trinity classes at the same time and do it fairly well. Not as well as pure class but still play vital role in a group/raid.

Only way this can happen, if you specc majority of talents points in one of the tree. e.g. RESTO Shaman are one of the BEST group healers only if you spec 45+ points in RESTO tree and Enhance shammy who has not used at least 44-45 in Enhance tree is not going to cut it in a group/raid for dps.

If you use above examples you are actually nearly playing a 'pure' class built, since can not use roughly equal amounts of talent points in designated TWO talent trees and be effective in group/raid situation.

I read the article again can see were this person is coming from and really, it is opinions of the author, who actually is not being negative to hybrid classes but pointing out their flaws in WoW game.

Wolfgar83:

You do not know were the author is coming from or you would not have made those off-base comments and said he needed to provide relevant sources to his comments. Please get back in real world, since reports use factual evidence to twist their comments in majority of creditable and less creditable newspapers.

The article has nothing to do with players knowing their class/experience but discussing the true meaning of hybrid class. BTW he actually provided linked definition for HYBRID, which i may add WoW hybrid characters does not meet that definition.

I really think people need to read an article 3 times before rushing to reply with some emotional rant about author has not understanding of WoW and his comments are useless. since from his comments I see he is experienced player giving different angle on the game mechanics.

Btw saying someone comments are wrong and not providing relevant factual links/resources to discredit their comments is much worse, since you have no factual foundation to your rant :-)

I have played almost all classes..And have yet to see where hybrids lack in anything. If a Player knows how to gear and spec then that player can do what his character is designed to do.Not by what someone else says or how someone else plays..Its up to the individual player skills..I think the dude who posted this article is tired of getting owned by hybrids.

anyone who says a druid or a pally don't work as hybrid class's needs to rethink how they play them, at this point pali tanks are quite on par with warrior tanks, and druid cat dps only truly needs more gear love in the higher end content, as well druid healing mixed in with pali or priest healing really helps a lot. i do agree about shaman, as this point they don't really bring much more the group buffs to the table, the buffs are nice and missed when not there but not game breaking if absent.

*Blah-Blah*, This article makes no sense, he obviously is overstating his own experience, etc., etc.

There. Now that I've said my part in defending the Hybrid classes that I love, no matter its length, I can get to what I really want to comment on, which is the definition of a Hybrid in World of Warcraft as I see it.

I've read the article and I've read the comments, and one thing that I saw in congruence between the two is that some posters below me (and Mr. Brooker) feel that there are no "true" Hybrids due to the Talent tree system. That is to say that, since a Shaman has to spec Elemental to be a "viable" ranged DPS, he cuts himself off from Enhancement and Restoration, the Melee DPS and Healing trees, respectively. This, I admit, is true to an extent. A Paladin who puts his points in Protection makes for an excellent Tank, but a sub-par Healer when compared to a Holy Priest or a Resto Druid. But does this mean that our little Holy Warrior is not a true Hybrid? I don't think so.

Here I present a link to WoWWiki, a source I feel is usable considering our present situation and the content of the discussion. The most limited definition of a Hybrid, according to the Wiki, is any class that has three or more different possible functions at which they can be good. Using this definition (that I consider to be correct), a person could argue that there are Hybrids, simply because the possibility to be a ranged DPS or a Healer exists. A Balance Druid can off-heal if the need arises. He might not be as good as the main healer,due to his spec, but he's probably good enough to hold his own for the short amount of time that the main is out of commission.

In my opinion, to say that a Hybrid is not a Hybrid because it can't tank like a Warrior, heal like a Priest, and DPS like a Mage all in the same instance is preposterous in terms of in-game situations; such an unbelievable compilation would be better described as a God than a Hybrid. If such were the case, there would be no need for the Holy Trinity to exist, because everyone would simply have to roll this newly created "uber-class" in order to "pwn face" in both PvE and PvP.

So, in conclusion, I do think Hybrids exist, and that they are all more than viable in their different roles. Now, I don't claim to be "the bomb" at WoW, nor do I claim to know everything there is to know about everything. Heck, I've never even participated in a high-level raid, much less beaten one. But, so long as my nooby Elemental Shaman can off-heal in BFD when the Rogue lit all the torches at one time, and so long as my Cat Druid can switch to Bear and off-tank to save the Priest, I think I'll be just fine with the way Blizzard has handled the concept of "Hybrid".

Its funny, but as I read peoples comments to this article, I wonder if they actually read the article or are just responding to the title.

I understand why he used this title, he wanted people to read it and get that he is not attacking the classes but pointing out that a "true hybrid" would not work in the MMO format as it would be overpowered.

He was saying that the classes work perfectly fine speced properly and geared for whatever role that talent is, but can not excel at more then one area at a time.

My example to this is a shaman. You go 41/20 ele/healing (40/21 also works) and have ele gear. Now your dps will be on par with other dps spec players on the raid. But if asked to fill a healing role, you would be sub-par and even more so if you didnt have a healing set to change into. If you were to go to a 31/30 ele/healing spec you would improve you ability to heal, but at the lose of you dps. So you would have more of a hybrid spec, but would not excel at either, and would still need to change gear to do either even sub-par.

He used the example of the cleric from D&D. Its the mix of a warrior and a priest. In WoW terms he is talking about a 41 arms warrior mixed with a 41 holy priest. Great at both dps and healing. If such a class existed it would unbalance the game and almost everyone would be playing one.

Thats the point of the article, a "true hybrid" excels at multiple tasks. The classes work fine as they are but will never excel at 2 at the same time. You need to change gear and spec ( with exception of feral druid, they just need to change gear) to fill a particular role.

My two cents...

my question would be if these hybrid get ten more talent points after the expansion is it going to change this little discussion?

Enoxi, I think I would have to agree with you. After the expansion, hybrids will not only have a full spec filled but will be working on the next spec which in a sense makes them full hybrids doesn't it.

Actually no, though they are adding 10 level and therefore 10 more talent ponts, they are adding 10 points onto each tree. So again, if you are not at or close to top of a tree, you are not at you max potiential at that spec.

My two cents...