I still fail to see an example of your point where there are classes that excel no matter the situation.

Pally is a poor example. And trust me I know more than most about Pallies as I played one since beta up until last year, was in a guild that competed for world firsts, etc.

Pallies are entirely situation for the very reason you stated: “Paly eats all other classes alive on single target healing.” And that right there is situational. Pallies can in no way “heal almost infinitely and can do the job of two healers.” They are extremely efficient healers if played correctly, but are primarily meant as MT/OT healers and any pally that sits there and heals the raid will not last through most end game boss fights.

Now if you are talking 5 man instances, everyone is OP and I don’t see those situations as valid situations. End game content is the only situation where true measurement of class balance can be seen. PvP does not fall under this category because it is always 100% situational. End game content is a constant as the only thing that will alter the fight is class makeup.

So Pallies are situational because they can’t group heal like Priests can, Druids are in the same boat as Pallies but usually depends on their gear whether they can be efficient raid healers, Priests are situational based entirely on spec and are most efficient as group/single target healers, and Shamans fail at single target healing and are best as raid healers.

So healers I fail to see any class that can be classified as OP.

Rogue’s complaining they don’t do enough DPS is one thing, but in Vanilla WoW, Boomkin builds were laughed out of raids because of the negative stigma surrounding their stats. Now, while the simple solution would be “suck it up and heal/tank”, it still sucks for all the fans who actually enjoy a Druid caster.

Let’s use healers as an example as I have three. Any healer that can heal almost infinitely and can do the job of two healers is OP. This would be healidins. Granted my Shaman kicks ass on the charts in 25 mans with chain heals, riptides, and earth shield on the MT. But my Paly eats all other classes alive on single target healing, or when the entire raid isn’t taking damage (which is like 80% of the time). Granted my priests CoH, pws and single target heals make him great in 25 mans, but once again he gets slaughtered by under geared pallies unless the entire raid is taking damage.

So just to recap, I DO believe that some classes are situational. However I still believe that people bitch about OP classes because there are some that excel NO MATTER the situation. That’s my definition of “Over Powered”.

@ Komplex – That is actually a really good idea, I am sure some people would complain that they have to be inside an instance for their ‘pve mode’ to work. Although, Blizzard did implement ‘dual spec’ well, they could do the same, with it being an out of combat toggle.

They’ve always had to boost pvp stats in a class to make them fair with another class, but that might make them over powered in a pve/raid…

My idea? When you enter an instance you switch to PVE mode. This means that your trees are completely different, and spells might function differently. Soooo you can fully balance all the classes in PVE, and not have to worry about making that same class overpowered in pvp. This would function the same in pvp, because you can balance that independently also. Problem solved, classes balanced, move on to working out guild housing

What it ultimately boils down to is that class balance should NEVER be on an even keel across all classes. EVER. And MMOs will continue to succeed as long as they keep things this way.

You seem to focus on DPS, but healing classes are the same way. Priests have cried since vanilla WoW that Paladins have been too overpowered. But what people don’t seem to get through their narrow minded brains is that EVERYTHING is situational.

Gear is situational, wins/losses in duals are situational, top in DPS/healing is situational. It boils down to the fact that whining about class balance is nothing more than those that are all about themselves.

MMOs are meant to be played in groups. If you have a problem with a class you can’t beat, you call a friend. If you have a problem beating a specific arena makeup, you adjust. Again, all situational.