Quote Originally Posted by Lemuria View Post
See, that's the problem. Not that a job has an advantage against X or Y, but that the advantage is perceived as being some kind of exclusive one-way door to content. It's people's perceptions that need to change first.
Expecting people to change their perceptions is wasted time and effort. People as a rule go for the path of least resistance, and that becomes the norm. Regardless of the game in question, trends do form and the community follows them. This is why I've argued that the developers should do their best to influence and keep the trends under control instead of doing whatever and then letting things fall where they may.
Is it really so hard a concept for people to grasp that having an advantage over a target need not exclude anyone?
Regardless of what your intention is, exclusion is pretty much imminent because what you're describing invites that sort of behavior from players. Gameplay and mechanics (and imbalances if left unfixed) have always had a very strong influence on player behavior.
Having a reason to create a balanced party may be just what this game needs going forwards.
As I've said, variety is currently encouraged. What the game doesn't do is force variety on the player, and that is a good thing. Otherwise you have issues like Instructor Razuvious, an encounter that could not be cleared unless you had two shadow priests in the raid.

Balanced party comps already exist, but they are determined by the roles of the trinity. This is also fine. Loot distribution also has a hand in wanting to form a balanced comp (especially since unlike WoW and SWTOR you cannot break down gear into enchanting mats/mods for the raid to roll on if no one needs/wants it). it just happens naturally over the game forcing you into it 100% of the time.