PainRack wrote:Just a noob question, but isn't gear the key factor in whether you can succeed in a role? I was told that for the plain, simple dungeons and even simple raids, talents don't prevent a hybrid from doing other roles, its the gear.
So, won't it be a simple thing of switching a meelee gearset for a spell gearset? Similar to what warriors do now for their tanking/dps gear?
Short answer: You need the gear AND the talents in order to be useful in a dungeon - unless you massively out-gear the dungeon, in which case you only need the gear. For raids, do not even dream about going as a hybrid spec, or wearing gear that doesn't support your spec and role.
Your advantage as a hybrid is that you only need to respec in order to fulfill a completely different role (if you have the gear). You can also jump in for a different role in an emergency, but usually if it gets that far it already is a wipe.
The disadvantage is that you need to gather several sets of gear, in which there is no overlap.
Long Answer:
For all of the old world dungeons, you don't need the spec or the gear. Once you get to Outland you need the gear and the spec to be effective (unless you massively outgear/outlevel a dungeon, then you don't need the spec, but you DO need the gear).
Taking the Shaman as an example:
To be effective as a melee Shaman you need to be able to dual wield, which means you need at least 31 (35 for stormstrike and hit-chance), otherwise you are pretty much useless as a melee.
To be effective as an elemental Shaman, you need Lightning Mastery (reduce the cast time of Lighning Bolt/Chain-Lighning) and usually also Elemental Precision (hit-chance and threat-reduction), which would be 33 talent points.
For a restoration Shaman, there is no one talent that is absolutely needed (though Earth Shield and Mana Tide are extremely useful), rather you have lots of talents that you have to put points in, which make you effective.
No matter what build you have, you always need the gear to support that build.