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Q u o t e:
I think these are very valid questions.

We haven't finished our discussions on this issue yet, so I can't provide much of an update.

I do think there are alternatives to having more non-stacking buffs. For example, we could give each DK tree an ability (or abilities if that's what it takes) so awesome that the Enhancement shammies are the ones who have to fight for a raid spot. We could try to give each of the 30 talent trees in the game some amazing buff or debuff for the raid and hope that there aren't 5 specs with buffs so crappy that they just don't get to raid.

We could also just declare that 5 specs are PvP only and assume raids are built with the other 25.

I don't think anyone would argue (except maybe the shammies) that having 5 or 6 of one class in a 25-player raid is good thing for a game with 10 classes. If you are a raid leader, I would definitely not assume that your Naxx and Ulduar raids will have the same composition as your BT and Sunwell raids* -- even ignoring the DK and looking at other changes might suggest that's a bad idea.

One more thing to keep in mind during these discussions: almost every party buff applies to the raid now. That simple change alone means that raiding compositions could end up very different. Do you need 3 shadow priests if they provide mana for the whole raid? Do you need more than one enhancement shaman?

* - Unless you just have 25 outstanding raiders or really close friends and value that over class synergy, which I think is kind of awesome.

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[ Post edited by Yammers ]