[:1]I wrote this a while ago, before the other guides went up. It's finished so I may as well post it:
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Many visitors to this forum are new to World of Warcraft and come armed with one crucial question.
�What class should I play?�
Unfortunately there is no easy answer to this question. There are nine classes in WoW, all of which have something to offer. There are no classes that are especially powerful (or �broken�) and none that are completely useless either. The best class for you will be determined by your personality, play style and what aspects of the game you enjoy. Remember that your choice of class the first time you play doesn�t have to be final. In fact, most WoW players have several characters (or �alts�) and play many different classes depending on mood. You are allowed to many characters and so the best advice might be to play all the classes up to about level 20 and see which you like best.
Another thing to remember is that World of Warcraft is forever changing. New abilities are added and game mechanisms tweaked, meaning that the balance of power between the classes is constantly shifting. While a class�s role (e.g. tank, healer, damage, hybrid) is unlikely to change much over time, their relative power is, especially in PvP. When the game was first released, Rogues were considered to be the best PvP class. Then after several months Priests took over, then and some time after that, Warlocks. Who knows what the next �most powerful� class will be. You are far better off picking a class that you enjoy and learning to play them well than trying to pick the �best class�. Skill and equipment will usually trump class differences.
This post will give you a guide to all nine classes, giving you their strengths and weaknesses and what role you can expect to play if you chose this character. Hopefully it will help you to make your decision.
Druid
The Druid is a hybrid class. In other words you can do a bit of everything including heal, tank and damage. In fact, Druids are the second best healers (after Priests) and generally considered to be the second best tanks (after Warriors). Depending on your talent choices, and by using your different animal forms, you can play your Druid in a number of different �styles�. Because of this versatility, they can be a lot of fun to play and you will always be able to find a spot in a group.
Unfortunately in the end game you will usually be required to heal and not a lot else due to a shortage of healers. Because only Tauren and Night Elves can be Druids, you will also be somewhat restricted in your race choice, if that is important to you. Also the versatility of Druids comes at a price. If you want to be able to heal and DPS and tank at higher levels, then you are going to have to collect a lot of different gear.
Strengths:
- Versatile
- Good survivability due to high HP in bear form and healing.
Weaknesses:
- No serious weaknesses.
Play a Druid if you want to:
- Be a �jack of all trades�
- Have fun experimenting with different styles
- Find groups easily
Don�t play a Druid if you want to:
- Do anything other than heal in the end game without a fight,
Hunter
The Hunter is an interesting class with a lot of unique features. They are the only class that excels in using ranged weapons (guns, bows and crossbows) and they are one of only two classes who have pets (Warlock being the other). They are the best solo class in the game, able to easily take down most mobs with a combination of their pet and their high damage. A skilled hunter with good gear can take down an elite mob of a similar level to them fairly easily. They can also wear decent armour, wield most weapons, lay traps and track different types of mobs.
The problem with playing a Hunter is that you are generally the least sought after class in a group. This is partly because there are a lot of Hunters around and partly because your role in a group (primarily DPS) is easily filled by a lot of other classes. Also many groups are uncomfortable with Hunter�s pets running around in instances. You will also need to carry around a lot of bullets and pet food, which will eat up your bag space.
Strengths:
- Excellent solo class
- Can use most armour and weapons
- Good damage dealer
- Excellent survivability
Weaknesses:
- Ineffective at melee range
Play a Hunter if you want to:
- Solo effectively
- Use lots of interesting and unique abilities
- Have a pet
- Be a gold farmer
Don�t play a Hunter if you want to:
- Find a group easily
- Be very useful in the end game
- Have a lot of bag space
Mage
The Mage is a pure damage class, arguably the best. They are often referred to as �face melters� because of their ability to cast spells doing large amounts of damage. They also have the best crowd control spell in the game (Polymorph) and the best area of effect damage (AoE). All of these traits (plus the ability to make food and water for everyone) will make you very welcome in a group, but you can solo very well too. Your high damage spells allow you to take down mobs with ease and then replenish your mana with conjured water.
The Achilles heal of the Mage is their vulnerability. They can only wear cloth armour and, as a result, die very easily if they start to take damage. They are also very limited in their choice of weapons.
Strengths:
- High damage output
- Good crowd control and AoE
Weaknesses:
- Glass cannons
- Reliant on mana to do anything useful.
Play a Mage if you want to:
- Do lots of damage
Don�t play a Mage if you want to:
- Fight hand-to-hand
- Be able to take damage
Paladin
Paladins are also a hybrid class, albeit one more focussed on melee than Druids or Shamans. Paladins make serviceable tanks or healers, but are better as �off tanks� doing a little of both plus modest damage. Because they can wear the best armour, can heal and can cast invulnerability shields on themselves, they have excellent survivability. They also have group buffing skills that make them useful for end game raiding.
The downside to Paladins is that they don�t really excel in any discipline. As a result, in the end game they are often marginalized to buffers and dispellers with a side order of healing. Soloing can also be rather laboured, as their damage output is rather unexciting (although it has got better of late).
Strengths:
- Versatility
- Strong melee fighters, able to use good weapons and armour.
- Excellent survivability
- Nice range of buffs
Weaknesses:
- Somewhat poor DPS
- Don�t really excel at anything
Play a Paladin if you want to:
- Stay alive
- Be a self-healing tank
Don�t play a Paladin if you want to:
- Have an exciting end game
Priest
Priests are the best healers in the game and so are always coveted by groups. Their range of buffs (especially Power Word: Fortitude) makes them especially useful. However, when they use their talents on shadow abilities, they also make one of the best solo classes in the game, being able to deal a high amount of damage with shadow spells. Their healing and shields give them good survivability, allowing them to survive some very sticky situations.
The problem with playing a Priest is that you will almost always be lumbered with the healing role. Even if you are specced as a damage dealer, healing is usually required more than another damage dealer. Additionally your spells are kind of boring. With a couple of exceptions (such as Mind Control and Psychic Scream), most of your abilities are either dealing damage, or fairly vanilla healing, dispelling and buffing. Your choice of weapons and armour are also somewhat limited and you will have trouble soloing effectively if you are specced Holy or Discipline (which you are usually expected to be in the end game).
Strengths:
- The best healers
- Good survivability
- Good damage when shadow specced
Weaknesses:
- Very bad at soloing unless shadow specced.
Play a Priest if you want to:
- Heal
- Be highly sought after
Don�t play a Priest if you want to:
- Do anything other than heal in groups
Rogue
Rogues are another damage dealing class. They are capable of a very high DPS, usually considered second only to Mages. However they have better survivability than Mages due to their better armour and evasion skills and use energy rather than mana which usually makes them more efficient for solo work. Rogues have a number of unique skills including poisons, stealth and the ability to pick locks. Their stunning and stealth abilities make them very popular with PVP players.
Rogues sometimes find it difficult to find a group, suffering from the same problems as Hunters. They are a very popular class and don�t bring much to a group that can�t be found elsewhere (although opening locked chests is handy, it�s not usually a priority). When it comes down to it, Rogues are just damage dealing machines in groups, albeit rather good ones.
Strengths:
- Good damage dealer
- Efficient solo killer
Weaknesses:
- One trick pony in group situations.
Play a Rogue if you want to:
- Deal damage up close and personal
- Use stealth to make some difficult quests very easy
- Spend lots of time opening other people�s boxes
Don�t play a Rogue if you want to:
- Cast spells
Shaman
Another hybrid class, Shamans are competent damage dealers, acceptable healers and even reasonable makeshift tanks in an emergency. Their ability to resurrect themselves makes them welcome in groups as it can save a long corpse run after a wipe. Shamans can use good weapons and armour (mail after level 40) and even carry a shield. If you really can�t decide what you want to do in WoW, then a Shaman may be a good choice for you as they can do everything to some degree.
Unfortunately that is also the weakness of Shamans. They can do everything, but can�t do anything particularly well. They can do reasonable damage, but nothing like what a Mage or Rogue with similar level gear can do. They can heal, but not nearly as well as a Priest or Druid. They can tank, but nothing like as well as a Warrior. Hence they are often reduced to rezzers, totem vendors and part-time healers, especially in end game raids.
Strengths:
- Versatile
- Self-resurrecting
- Solo well
Weaknesses:
- No serious weaknesses
Play a Shaman if you want to:
- Have a �Swiss army knife� of spells and abilities
Don�t play a Shaman if you want to:
- Be the best at anything in particular
Warlock
The Warlock is broadly speaking a DPS class, specialising in damage over time (DoT) effects. However, they also have some of the most interesting and unique abilities in the game. They can summon other players to the Warlock�s location, allow a character to resurrect themselves, banish elementals and create mini health potions of sorts called healthstones. They also have several different types of pet demon that can fulfill various roles in a group (voidwalker for a tank, succubus for crowd control etc). Currently Warlocks are considered by many to be the strongest PvP class.
In fact, Warlock�s have so much going on that they can be difficult to play at times, especially for a beginner. Many of the Warlock�s abilities require soul shards, which have to be harvested and then stored, which uses up bag space. Also it could be argued that Warlocks don�t really do that much DPS when compared to other DPS classes. While groups may like the Warlock�s summoning and soul stone abilities, they will often be better off with a Mage or Rogue when it comes to actually killing mobs.
Strengths:
- Good solo class when played well
- Some useful unique abilities
- Excellent DoT spells
Weaknesses:
- Arguably poor damage for a primarily damage dealing class
Play a Warlock if you want to:
- Have fun playing a complex and interesting class
- Play with pet demons
Don�t play a Warlock if you want to:
- Play an easy game
- Cast big, high damage spells (play a Mage instead)
Warrior
Warriors are the meat shields of WoW. They can wear the best armour, wield the best weapons and absorb a lot of damage. Every group wants a Warrior as their tank and so even though it is a popular class, Warriors rarely have a problem finding a group. In fact, the tank is generally the most important character in any sized group. While they are not terribly fast at killing mobs solo (even when DPS specced), the fact they use rage rather than mana means that they have less downtime between fights than most classes.
Although Warriors are excellent tanks, they are not good at that much else. While they are capable of doing reasonable DPS, they need very good gear to even hope to compete with the pure DPS classes in this regard. In fact, everything the Warrior does is somewhat gear dependant. If you gear is bad then your Warrior will be also, far more so than with other classes.
Strengths:
- The best tanks
Weaknesses:
- Not good at much other than tanking.
- Weak in 1v1 PvP
Play a Warrior if you want to:
- Take a lot of damage and still come out swinging
- Find groups easily
- Play an important end game role
Don�t play a Warrior if you want to:
- Do a lot of damage|||Nice!
Although I would disagree with quite a few of your Strengths/Weaknesses/play a ** if you want to/don't play a ** if you want to.|||facemelter = shadowpriest not mage :)|||Quote:
Nice!
Although I would disagree with quite a few of your Strengths/Weaknesses/play a ** if you want to/don't play a ** if you want to.
I would be interested to hear which ones.|||Druid Weaknesses - Not nearly as good as a tank/dps as a warrior/rogue, mage, lock
Hunter:
If you want to be a gold farmer. (wasn't sure if that was a joke or not....but Ill take it as you meant it...) they get a bad rap because of the ease in which they can be used as bots. For serious gold grinding, other classes can do exceptionally well. I.e. mage/rogue for their stun/slow/AoE effects.
Paladin - "have an exciting end-game" kinda biased...I know I would not have an exciting endgame being a pally :) And they do excel at giving buffs and are good at PVE for use of their inability to die...ever
Priest:
Don't play a priest if you want to do anythign ut heal in groups. They are incredibly incredibly powerful at PVP. Tag thatwith being able to do groups as shadow spec and they can do just about anything.
Rogues - When played correctly are a little more than 1 trick ponies....CC, stunlocking, saving the healers, all come in HUGE for a well played rogue.
Shamans - Usually referred to as the BEST PVP class...I dont think that you can say a weakness is "Be the best at anything in particular".
Lock - These guys are insane damage dealers! And can do some pretty impressive CC when necessary.
Warrior - A protection spec warrior can't do all that much damage. A fury warrior definaly can.|||I think it's all pretty accurate.
Druid Weaknesses - Not nearly as good as a tank/dps as a warrior/rogue, mage, lock
Much better at tanking and DPS since 2.0, they've even had to be nerfed a bit to bring them back to the standards of warriors/rogues
Priest:
Don't play a priest if you want to do anythign ut heal in groups. They are incredibly incredibly powerful at PVP. Tag thatwith being able to do groups as shadow spec and they can do just about anything.
They're pretty much expected to heal when it comes to instances, I don't like having shadow priests in groups, they're a waste of a space, all they really do is buff Lock damage.
Lock - These guys are insane damage dealers! And can do some pretty impressive CC when necessary.
Lock's damage is average, can't really be classed as huge damage. They only go on raids for their SS (Since shammies joined the alliance they're a little less usefull) and CoE/CoR
Warrior - A protection spec warrior can't do all that much damage. A fury warrior definaly can.
but who wants a fury warrior on a raid?|||My only big issue is I would add to the Druid Weakness- they are a pain to lvl early on. I have a 60 priest who was holy spec all the way up to the mid 40s-50 then holy 50-60. Not an easy grind, but compaired to a druid it was great. I tried a druid and almost shot myself. I only got to lvl 8. I hear if you get to lvl 20 you are fine because you get cat form and its like playing a rouge...
I say just roll a rogue.|||Thanks for the comments Stigg, they are much appreciated, even if I have somewhat different points of view on many of them (Mall has covered some of these)
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Druid Weaknesses - Not nearly as good as a tank/dps as a warrior/rogue, mage, lock
I don't think not being good as another class at something is a weakness really. They are the second (arguably) best tanks, the second best healers and can do decent DPS.
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Hunter:
If you want to be a gold farmer. (wasn't sure if that was a joke or not....but Ill take it as you meant it...) they get a bad rap because of the ease in which they can be used as bots. For serious gold grinding, other classes can do exceptionally well. I.e. mage/rogue for their stun/slow/AoE effects.
It was a joke actually. When I edit I will remove that if you like.
Quote:
Paladin - "have an exciting end-game" kinda biased...I know I would not have an exciting endgame being a pally :) And they do excel at giving buffs and are good at PVE for use of their inability to die...ever
Priest:
Don't play a priest if you want to do anythign ut heal in groups. They are incredibly incredibly powerful at PVP. Tag thatwith being able to do groups as shadow spec and they can do just about anything.
In this guide I was trying to avoid 'political correctness' and tell players how it really is. In end-game raids, Paladin's are basically cleansebots and Priests are healers. Oh sure some people have great stories of 'My Naxx guild sometimes lets my Priest go Shadowform or my Paly tank when we do MC', but this isn't the norm. If you play a Priest you will be expected to heal in the endgame almost without exception. If a newbie plays a Priest having visions of being a great damage dealer all the way through the game, they will be disappointed and I will be misinforming them.
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Rogues - When played correctly are a little more than 1 trick ponies....CC, stunlocking, saving the healers, all come in HUGE for a well played rogue.
I may be pursuaded on this one. My experience with Rogues in end-game instances is that they are mainly just damage dealers, because you have Mages for CC and most mobs are immune to Stun. However, I do see your point.
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Shamans - Usually referred to as the BEST PVP class...I dont think that you can say a weakness is "Be the best at anything in particular".
As I said in the article, I wanted to get away from talking about classes rank in PvP too much (I did mention it for Warlock). And besides, I'm fairly sure Warlocks are now considered the best PvP class and have been for some time.
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Lock - These guys are insane damage dealers! And can do some pretty impressive CC when necessary.
As Mall says, their damage really isn't that great when compared with Mages and Rogues. Check the damage meter next time you are in MC.
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Warrior - A protection spec warrior can't do all that much damage. A fury warrior definaly can.
But again, nothing like what a Mage or Rogue can. I am a Fury Warrior, I should know.|||Quote:
My only big issue is I would add to the Druid Weakness- they are a pain to lvl early on.
Cheers for that. I have never seriously played a Druid so wasn't aware of that weakness|||This guy is high. Pallys are the best tanks and warriors do do some good damage. Warlocks do some good main damage and have good big hits in all but Affliction. (ie. Hand of Gul'dan, Conflagarate, and sometimes immolate).
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