Then CHANGE the drop system on raids/dungeons. A lot of people will actually "upgrade" using a non-intended gear piece as nothing else is dropping for their class or it actually does upgrade them to the spec that they are doing. Too many times we go into an instance with a DK tank and all that drops is Plate items when the rest of the party are in mail, leather, and cloth. Making the drops a bit more relevant to the party mix would increase the chance of people using the intended gear.
Blizz Responds to Cataclysm Stat Change Confusion
Last week's announcement about the upcoming changes to the character stat system was a welcome surprise, but it left many players with more questions than they originally had.
Haste was another topic of conversation, especially among melee classes. Blizzard announced that Haste will become more attractive for melee classes that rely on resources like Energy and Runes, allowing them to "do stuff" more often—or, as Eyonix mentioned in another post, "effectively letting [melee classes] hit their buttons more often." He also confirmed that "the change to haste for melee dps is 'in addition to its current effect '" when responding to an Enhancement Shaman about the current role of melee haste.
However, some players thought this might leave Warriors at a disadvantage; if melee classes like Rogues and Death Knights will benefit from Haste in both attack speed and resource regeneration, will it affect Rage as well? "Our plan is to make haste good for all classes, even warriors," Eyonix said in this post. "The goal is to make all the stats that appear on your gear attractive."
In several posts, Eyonix reiterated that the upcoming changes will encourage players to wear the type of gear they're supposed to, and the simplification of the itemization process. After receiving dozens of questions asking "Does this mean X class won't have any reason to roll on Y gear anymore?, Ghostcrawler finally stepped up and offered the following summary:
DPS cloth: Int, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (mage, warlock, Shadow priest)
Healing cloth: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy and Disc priest)
Melee leather: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (rogue, Feral druid)
Spellpower leather: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Balance druid)
Physical mail: Agi, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (hunter, Enhancement shaman)
Spellpower mail: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Resto, Elemental shaman)
DPS Plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Haste, Crit, Mastery, Expertise (Fury, Arms, Retribution, dps DKs)
Tanking plate: Str, Sta, Hit, Armor, Dodge, Block, Parry, Mastery, Expertise (Prot, Prot and tanking DKs)
Healing plate: Int, Sta, Spirit, Haste, Crit, Mastery (Holy paladins)
Ghostcrawler mentioned that there will be some exceptions, such as "some spellpower cloth with no hit or Spirit that healers and nukers may want," or "Elemental tier sets with no Spirit." He also said that jewelry and cloaks will be "more class agnostic" than actual armor gear. Echoing Blizzard's desire for classes to wear the type of gear that's intended for them, he reminded players that they will receive a "small mastery bonus" for wearing the heaviest armor they can; Hunters wearing mail armor instead of leather will receive the bonus, for example.
In another post, Ghostcrawler explained the benefit of receiving the Mastery bonus for wearing class-appropriate gear; "So a Balance druid who takes cloth will be essentially giving up free stats," he said. "Sometimes that may be worth it to them (just as sometimes it's worth it for a Resto druid to take that piece of +hit gear), but often times it won't be worth it especially if it's an upgrade for you."