Unfortunately nobody put this idiot Jwl in his place before he took this thread to 4 pages of saying nothing relevant.
But dont worry kids im here now
Lets preface this with the insight that this guy is bragging about playing at 2300 mmr at endgame, this should show you how much value his opinion on anything slightly competitive holds, yes CC at endgame is somewhat important in most matchups, it's just a damn shame that CC means literally nothing at 19 in BFA, find me a clip, any clip from the TC 2018 where landing CC was the sole factor to a kill in mid (where your beloved warlock belongs and where it should only be in a competitive game).
Secondly, you continuously claim that nothing at 19s DRs with a warlocks fear, again untrue as Psychic Scream definitely does, and it is way more valuable and important in every aspect as it can make or break EFC pushes or FC defenses in mid, spamming a warlocks fear in mid will cause more problems than it's worth when it comes to pushing/defending pushes.
Yes, in legion CC was important due to a coordinated kill meta in mid whereas BFA's mid is definitively more rot oriented with swaps with burst, CC will break almost instantaneously in this meta, that's why warlocks fall off in mid, yes they're rot oriented so it should fit, but there's more than enough rot in ideal comps already where double mage pushes locks off the list because of their ability to split burst forcing heals on 2 targets immediately then swapping onto a singular target with starsurge ensuring a kill. Warlocks aren't capable of this.
Not to mention hunters/druid/mages have much more mobility than warlocks making it easier to push/fall back from mid, also making it easier to play base to base or gauntletting, there's no role where warlocks pull ahead of any of the other ranged, with the exception of self healing which is embarrassing to even bring up.
Now onto pugs, yes you're right any spec in this game is 'viable' in the sad state of pugs currently, just put ele force on and you can farm 300 hp grey geared levellers to your heart's content, but is that reason enough to pick them or suggest to others to pick them? of course not.
If I see someone in pugs playing what I consider the wrong spec do I think 'im glad hes having fun with a bad spec' or do i think 'this guys an idiot i never want to play with him again'?
Why put yourself at a deficit in a scene where winning is important, I would say a competitive scene but you're talking about pugs so idk, there's really no advantage to practicing and playing a bad spec, so why do it?
See, the problem here is your insistence on FOTM classes, the general opinion in this community is that druids, monks, mages, priests, rogues, shamans and hunters are fotm right now, that means there's 3 classes that arent fotm, there's never been a more balanced meta with no real dominating class that just shines so much brighter than everything else, e.g cata hunters, wod brewmasters/ferals, legion survivals. There just isnt a truly FOTM right now so to blast someone for listing what you deem as low skill is downright stupid when that's 70% of the classes.
The Only Tier List That Matters:
Key:
"+" denotes a class that depends entirely on a player's skill, more so than other classes e.g rogue is a very heavily player skill based class, its a very capable class in the right hands but a player lacking knowledge will struggle to make an impact.
"^" denotes a class that performs better in a pug setting rather than organized competitive play
"#" denotes a class that performs better in a competitive setting than a pug setting
"~" denotes a class that diminishes in value when played if not played in their primary role, eg a warlock that decides to leave mid
S Tier:
Boomkin - Although this is the only spec to make it into S Tier, it isnt substantially better than the rest, it just fills more roles and capabilities, there's better classes for a variety of roles such as burst and FC cutting but as a spec that can fill nearly every role it sits alone at the top, capable of carrying flags, self sustain, burst and rot you can play this class anywhere and succeed.
A Tier:
Arcane Mage(#~) - Easily the best class for sustained damage, performed highest in wargames not pugs as it only really shines in team fights in mid and is generally weak if it ever leaves mid making this spec completely dependent on if you win mid in pugs, if you consistently lose mid in a pug it can feel like you're not even in the bg.
Outlaw Rogue (^+~) - No, that's not a new emoji I made up, it genuinely is that dependent on the setting and player, when it was untouched in TC 2018 95% of players were shocked and thought something wrong was happening but it didnt shock me, this spec is really only worth playing in pugs and as you can see by the sheer amounts of them in pugs they deserve their place in A Tier but to truly play it properly you need to resist opening in mid, I know it's hard for you 5 IQ pug players to not see red names and chase but that's not how you play rogue, you can go up to 8 minutes without opening once, your primary and only role is to cut the EFC, sometimes in games you can be versus 1 druid twink and it can honestly feel like it's just the two of you in the BG for the majority of the game, everything else going on should be irrelevant to you, everyone else is a free kill if they pick, you should only struggle when a druid picks and you need to be thinking 10 steps ahead of him, you need to know when he has dash up, when he has trinket up, is he likely to go ramp or tun, are you in a position to cut him whether he goes either, does he speed pot or not, you need to spend 90% of the game thinking about what the druid is doing or going to do, until you can do that effectively then stick to opening on 300 hp levellers in mid, maybe even stealth around their ramp and stand on their GY.
Disc Priest - The easiest healer to start off with, discs' shine due to their instant casts, only really needing to cast penance but even then you can still move while doing it, you should rarely have to cast flash heal unless you're solo healing mid and losing it, decent offensive damage and a nice aoe fear to round it off, simple explanation for a simple spec.
Mistweaver Monk (+#) - A lot of you will be confused by the symbols, yes MW is generally simple to play and effective in pugs but it's not as simple as you think, I keep seeing monks in pugs going oom trying to heal a hopeless mid or standing still healing themselves vs 10 people after losing the mid, stop doing that. Monks have very strong heals but a less knowledgeable monk will be very easy to spot, a good monk will learn to avoid mid fights that aren't worth it and break off with their insane mobility to help the FC pick, also learn that you dont have to kite 1v1s, you can win any 1v1 in a pug.
MM Hunter/Surv (+) - BFA was very kind to MM hunters, they're now very capable in mid fights, 1v1s and just generally getting around the map doing everything except carrying flags (unless your name is fancy), the reason they aren't good in low skilled players is they'll be wasted in mid and farming GYs when they should be cutting EFCs which I see happen all too often.
Resto Druid (~^) - Don't get confused, resto druids arent made for healing they're made for flag carrying, and their healing abilities is exactly why the symbol is there, you shouldnt stand healing in mid without a flag on your back ever, and only then when the situation calls for it, their instant abilities of healing is their only advantage over a boomkin FC, they can pick easier against a defence, they shine more in pugs than competitive play due to the chaotic nature of pugs and mostly sitting on roof with flag alone with 3 people incoming, that's not to say they arent good in competitive play just that double boomkin is meta there.
Resto Shaman - The pug noobs dream choice, it can fit nearly every role like boomkins but again not the best choice for said roles, it has great healing and even better damage, it's not at S tier with boomkin due to its inability to shift out of roots and just generally being squishier.
B Tier:
Shadow Priest (+^) - Very very dependent on player and pugs only, it should really only be used to apply pressure in mid and fall back to cut efc with rogue when the flag is picked, only useful in that situation for mind flay which should be spammed but its very effective there.
Fury Warrior (^) - As suggested earlier, should only be used in group queues, very very ineffective when queueing solo, decent damage and mediocre uptime, a lot of your time will be spent chasing higher mobility players around in mid until charge is back up,
Ele Shaman (+#) - Very dependent on players skill, it might not seem like it would be but you need to know exactly when your earth shock will be up in advance and if and when it will secure a kill, very team coordinated and therefore left out of pugs, there's no point building up your maelstrom just to press earth shock on something that'll live just to see pretty numbers, outside of that you're pretty ineffective but your interrupt is nice.
Every other class is irrelevant and will be left off.
