What World of Warcraft role is in most need of an overhaul?

One of the oldest and most preserved paradigms in World of Warcraft is one it inherited from its predecessors like Ultima Online or EverQuest — the idea of certain classes being good at one of three primary roles. Tanking, or the art of getting the ire of the various monsters in dungeons focused on you instead of the tasty healer in cloth booties; Healing, the aforementioned person in cloth booties who can channel some form of magic to heal the wounds of their fellow adventurers; and DPS, short for damage per second, a metric that tells you how much damage these players are capable of dealing in a second while fighting said monsters.

There are lots of variations on these themes — Druids transforming themselves into cats to lash out with their claws as DPS, versus turning into bears in order to tank or standing in the back and healing. Not every class can play every role — although in WoW, there are no classes designed as only tanks or only healers, because every class has at least one DPS spec. Some classes, like Rogues, Hunters, Mages, and Warlocks are only DPS — but the vast majority of classes in World of Warcraft are what are called hybrids, capable of doing at least two.

The paradigm has been added to and expanded over the years, but it’s never gone away. We’ve always had classes that could play at least one of these three roles, and while certain aspects like Active Mitigation have altered tanking pretty significantly, the basic ideas have remained the same. So now, then, let’s ponder if it’s time to alter this fundamental trinity in some way. Should we see a major shakeup to one of the three? Do we need a DPS class that does things fundamentally differently? A healer that focuses on a whole new mechanic? Or do we just need to refresh a few stale DPS specs to make them fun and interesting again? Let us know your thoughts.