For some time now, people have been talking about the death of RMP. I have been reluctant to jump on that bandwagon since it is a comp that has come back into contention so many times before.

This time around, though, it seems that it might really have had its time. Okay, so it’s not dead-dead – it did take 2nd place at the last two events and 1st at the one before that. But there was a time when rogue/mage/priest was practically guaranteed to take top spot at any event.

Just look at the tournaments won by RMP in 2009:

Extreme Masters Europe: Innerfire (RMP)
EM Globals: HON (RMP)
MLG Columbus: SK US (RMP)
Dreamhack Summer: Ensidia (RMP)
Extreme Masters Cologne: Ensidia (RMP)

In terms of major offline events, only MLG Dallas was won by a non-RMP team. Interestingly, that was the first LAN tournament in the 2nd half of the year. RMP’s got worse and worse as the year went on. So much so that Button Bashers, who looked like almost certain winners before MLG Orlando, could only place 3rd out of four teams. Has Blizzard finally toned down the dominant force in WoW’s history? It’s starting to look like it.

Or, to be more precise, they have toned up the other comps. Remember Burning Crusade? Remember how it was apparently the golden era of arenas? Remember hunters or shamans in that time? Like… at all? The only setup that gave RMP a run for its money in the TBC era was WLD. Any class outside of those two comps was practically a joke and when all three WLD classes fell down the food chain at the launch of WoTLK, RMP seemingly had little to worry about except for mirrors.

Slowly, the game has evolved into a state where non-cookie cutter teams have almost become cookie-cutter themselves. Hunters and shamans, who previously had basically no playable comps now have a ‘cleave’ team to call their own – one that won MLG this season.

I don’t want to get into whether these new comps require as much skill as RMP. There’s more than enough debate about that already and I’m sure the comments on this column will generate even more. I will say, however, that a bit of variety is a good thing. I know I’ve banged on about this before but it’s an important point in a game that lacked variety for so long.

Anyway, it’s not as if RMP has suddenly become completely useless. Unlike the ‘drain train’ style of WLD in the past, RMP is adaptable; it has a plan B and might even come back in the new season with a plan C. The fact that some of the world’s best players still play the comp means that it is unlikely to go away. Players will just have to think outside the box a little (and hope AOE spell reflect gets nerfed), which, from a spectator’s point of view, is never a bad thing.