Paladins and Shaman are in the same boat.

Q u o t e:
We have one fully functional healing tree (Holy/Resto).

We have one tree with arguable worth that a raid really doesn't have any reason to go out of their way to bring along (Protection/Elemental).

And we have one tree which, despite having sets for it in Tier 4 and Tier 5, is called our 'leveling' tree, to be specced out of and never touched again once we hit 70 (Retribution/Enhancement).

The problems with Enhancement are not going to be fixed, Shaman. If you thought it was a fluke, that the devs just aren't fully informed about its weaknesses, you're wrong. The devs are fully aware of how pathetic both Enhancement and Retribution are, and they want it to stay that way.

Devs, answer me this:

If Enhancement and Retribution are 'leveling' trees, if they're 'solo' trees, if they're 'selfish' trees, then WHY do we have Tier 4 and Tier 5 sets for them?

While I find your subject line an interesting premise, the rest of your post could suffer some debate.

A tier set tries to apply to the class, not a particular spec. This obviously causes problems. Everybody wants their own stats for their own spec, but how does one set of armor reasonably provide that for all specs?

It's really never happened, considering the variety of playstyle amonst who is playing. O.o

Now, if you want to argue about what is the most significant stat, among a given class, that too, can last for some time.

But, in the case of Shaman, we have a big break. Restoration and Enhancement might have some synergy from spell damage, but Enhancement is clearly putting points into different stats. How exactly does well-rounded Shaman itemization work out?

Honest question.

I've seen folks want to work it out by socketing, or removing base caster stats for base enhancement stats, and using sockets to provide additional spell damage or crit or other caster stats...

Does that work? What are other notions of a balance between melee and caster stats?

I guess that's what I'm asking...

The disparity between melee stats and caster stats is so distinct, can it be reasonably expected to be able to bounce back and forth between the playstyles?

/discuss?

Q u o t e:
I have a lot of my gear socketed solely to augument casting damage/healing, my good Enhancement shaman friends have most of their gear built for +hit/+damage/AP. I have to admit, finding gear (mail) for any 1 'spec' as a shaman was very limiting.

Yeah, this was kinda my point. The class has a stark separation between certain specs and itemization.

Q u o t e:
Man, Tseric's REALLY good at derailing threads. Like moths to a flame.

How did I derail it?

Q u o t e:

Spell damage and Retribution seem to work out fairly well.

Then, why are retnoobs so upset?

I'm kidding, but I'm still asking a serious question. O.o

Q u o t e:

Just by posting in it, most likely.

Oh yeah. I forget sometimes that blue makes your toilet go funny. O.o

Q u o t e:

You're asking me? I hate the paladin forums.

I'm not unhappy with the Retribution tree, and I don't think Retribution paladins are complaining about itemization. They appear to be unhappy about the change to Vengeance and Sanctity Aura being buffed for raiding over PvP.

Fair enough. I just assumed people were hyped up enough with "roles" and "purpose" and this thread being named what it is, that there was some correlation. No worries if there isn't. ;)

Q u o t e:
Sounds like all of you got touched innapropriately by a guild master that doesn't understand what diversity brings to a raid.

Can't help it...I lol'ed.