What Class Next?
by David Nelson 
Sep 8th 2006 at 3:00PM
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The day I have always known would come has arrived. I have tired of my warlock. As my priest before it, I am getting bored with the mechanics of the class. I feel I gave the class a good spin, with about 10 months played, after the year I spent on my priest. Which leads me to my question for you guys. What class next?I definitely don't want to be a rogue, as I leveled one to about 40, and never really had much fun. Shammy is out as well, as I want the class to be Alliance for a change. I am also going to give the thumbs down to hunter, as there seems to be a ton of them and I would like to get into a raiding guild. So, that leaves me with mage, warrior, paladin and druid.
Mage
Pro: Conjuring my own water. Sheeping looks fun. More things to nuke with besides shadowbolts and no endless dots.
Con: I already did 2 casting classes. Looks like a lot of downtime when grinding. AOE grinding looks hard to me.
Warrior
Pro: Always needed for groups. I can choose any race I want. Seems gear dependent, but I have some buddies on the server I am thinking of rolling on, so I shall get twinked to a certain extent.
Con: Like the hunter, it seems like there are a ton of them. Also, some end game guilds have certain specs they require, which could kill soloing.
Paladin
Pro: Playing horde, I really don't have a clue what a Pally does, beyond bubbling, buffing and judging. I am guessing it is more complex than that, and I think I might like to check it out. I also think the tier 2 armor looks pretty awesome. Con: I already played a healing class, and when I got sick of healing, I got really sick of healing. I fear a pally might be the same thing. Also, while I have seen some people vocally disagree, the DPS of a pally is supposed to be not so hot.
Druid
Pro: Shifting forms seems cool. The community of druids seems pretty vocal. Warsong Gulch would be pretty exciting as a flag carrier, or so I have heard.
Con: Again, the healbot thing. While the community is vocal, a lot of the druids I have run into seem, um, sensitive, about their class.
I am thinking warrior, but I am just not sure yet. I am sure some of my pros and cons are off base, as I just don't know a ton about these classes. I don't want to play alts and decide on one, as I hate working on more than one character at once. So, I ask you, which one? Am I totally off base in my pros and cons?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Gill Sep 8th 2006 6:08PM
It's just my pref. but if you want to start with Alliance, go with Pally. Good healers, and off-tank. Can be a "priest in plate" if you specced Holy, DPS (and good for soloing) if you specced Retribution (which I recommend til you get to 60), or be a tank with Protection.
Oh, they get a free mount too at 40.
FireLord91 Sep 8th 2006 3:16PM
Well I'm getting WoW soon (I hope) and my first choice is going to be a human-paladin. The armour looks cool and with the Burning Crusade shiny jewels it will look more -er shinier!
Druid's look good though and shepeshifting is something I'd like to do.
Amethyst Sep 8th 2006 3:25PM
Being a 57 Paladin myself, Holy specced, I have to say that its sort of a mixed bag honestly. While at times its a blast being a Paladin, surviving most anything short of a literal nuke, there are times when it just seems like it drags on and on with nothing really interesting or new happening or to do.
While most classes do require a lot of effort to learn and to get up to those higher levels and all, I personally feel that it takes a lot of dedication to get a Paladin up to the higher levels. In the end, though, I feel it really pays off when you get jumped by a bunch of raptors in Un'Goro as you mind your own buisness, and come out on top as the only thing left standing.
Raelric Sep 8th 2006 3:41PM
As a human paladin for the last year, I completely understand what you mean by tiring of healing. And as a paladin, you won't do that much of it for your first 55 levels or so. If you put 11 points in holy, and then fill out Retribution/Prot until 60, you'll have a good soloing Paladin with decent (albeit mana dependent) DPS, one that can somewhat capably offheal, and a breeze through your first 55 levels.
After that, it gets tricky. Unless you have a solid guild behind you, with an absolutely solid core of healers, you're going to be doing nothing but /cast Cleanse, /cast Flash Heal, and /cast Holy Light from 55 on through endgame. It's a peril of the class, and one that isn't all that great. I don't think I've pulled out my weapons in MC or BWL yet, and probably wont, since I'm holy specced.
If you're looking for a site with excellent Paladin information, check out http://theholylight.com. Jest put together a fantastic informational site that is invaluable to the new and the old alike. It'll become your bible, as it were.
Good luck on the selection!
Raelric Sep 8th 2006 3:30PM
As a human paladin for the last year, I completely understand what you mean by tiring of healing. And as a paladin, you won't do that much of it for your first 55 levels or so. If you put 11 points in holy, and then fill out Retribution/Prot until 60, you'll have a good soloing Paladin with decent (albeit mana dependent) DPS, one that can somewhat capably offheal, and a breeze through your first 55 levels.
After that, it gets tricky. Unless you have a solid guild behind you, with an absolutely solid core of healers, you're going to be doing nothing but /cast Cleanse, /cast Flash Heal, and /cast Holy Light from 55 on through endgame. It's a peril of the class, and one that isn't all that great. I don't think I've pulled out my weapons in MC or BWL yet, and probably wont, since I'm holy specced.
If you're looking for a site with excellent Paladin information, check out http://theholylight.com. Jest put together a fantastic informational site that is invaluable to the new and the old alike. It'll become your bible, as it were.
Good luck on the selection!
Mat Sep 8th 2006 4:07PM
Druids are fun, just make sure you level with feral, then put points into resto later (or just respec). I tried leveling resto and it was booooooring because so much of the early levels or solo.
James Sep 8th 2006 3:47PM
I am a 60 Warrior (Horde). It really depends on what your end goal is, because Warriors are 3 different characters rolled into one.
Arms Warrior - Massive amounts of Two-Handed Damage, one of the best PvP-specced classes (at the high-end), but gear dependent. Slow weapon speed may not be for everyone.
Fury Warrior - On first glance, smaller damage numbers, but they add up quickly to almost as much damage as the Arms Warrior. Usually Dual-Wielding axes (if Orc), or swords if Alliance. Has the added ability of filling in for DPS on a raid, but with the drawback of no crowd control.
Protection Warrior - The hardiest of all warriors, usually specced deep into the Protection tree, but suffers from an inability to do much damage. When you finish last on the "Damage Done" meter below the priest, it can be disappointing. However, knowing that you took 75% of all the damage in the group is kinda fun once you get your head "turned around", so to speak.
Good Luck!
Burgdorn Sep 8th 2006 4:08PM
Personally it sounds like you have looked at the roll of a hybrid as more of a healer that isn't called one. I think this definition greatly damages the roll of all the Hybrids in the game from the communities perspective. To that end I will try and explain the differences in classes as the Paladin, Druid and Shaman go.
Shaman: as stated before the shaman is the casting hybrid, with some melee to add in for good measure. This is a good description, you can caste a lot more frequently but shocks are on 6 second cooldown and beyond that you have some lightning spells. Totems are a big difference in term of play style from other hybrids as they act like an aura but are both fixed and not exculsive per player, paladins can only offer one aura per paladin while a shaman can offer upto four.
Druids: The biggest thing about druids is how they truly are the absolute hybrid in a group, there is no roll they can't hold and always be a good backup in any build. Biggest gripe with them is the fact that they take forever to level. Until 20 it will feel like 50-60, I mean they just don't have the power to do it by themselves. Recommendation: Go Balance to 20 and then choose Feral for more hand to hand combat, but like a rogue they usually rely on combo points in cat form to get the most DPS out of them.
Paladins: Been one since launch but I will try not to be bias. The great benefit about a Paladin is you are about as tough as they get to kill. You can't die unless you really aren't managing their stuff. Of course with great survivability there comes a cost at DPS output but that can be rectified with good gear. Also until 60 they are also good MT if you spec protection and from personal experience they are more fun tanks too. Still it takes good gear, just like warriors, to get by with this class so don't expect it to be some cake walk.
Just some notes on the classes I like the most, mind you I've played all classes to some degree and the choices you have left are pretty interesting. In the end in my opinion try the Paladin before the warrior, for tanking I just think they are better, if you do so aim to go into Protection and then Holy. I've had days where tanking and healing went hand in hand and believe me its hard to stop a tank that can manage lost agro through heals till he gains it back.
Bloodfeast Sep 8th 2006 4:29PM
Not one person suggesting mage yet?
Look, some people may chide its "simplicity" in terms of just wailing on a mob with DPS, but there is, I find, a lot of fun to be had. In a raid, your crowd control, AoE, DPS, and water vending abilities are key, and depending on how well you do it, perhaps even actively sought after.
There is downtime with grinding, but having played other classes, I can say that it's not terribly worse than anything that wears less than mail. Making your own water, mana gems, and Evocation make up for this. AoE grinding will indeed suck up your mana but quick, but there aren't many places where the return on such a practice is worth the effort/downtime - usually the only places that are that densely packed and require that you become a walking slaughterhouse are going to involve farming reputation (Oh yeah, Night Elf hunters? ! Fine! *tag tag tag tag tag tag, frost nova, blizzard*)
As for the less obvious perks of the class, a lot of people seem to completely forget that mages get to teleport/portal. Once you hit 20, you're going to forget all about that mean ol' zeppelin, which is always so very late, because you can drop yourself on either continent in a matter of seconds. Even something like slow fall, which admittedly doesn't have to be a mage-only effect sports function -and- fun. Way up high, don't want to actually path down? Boffo! Want to get drunk as hell, jump off of Thunder Bluff, and then start beating things to death with your bare hands?? Gravy!!
Long story short, now is the time to start a mage, unless you want to be one of those mincing blood elves. We freeze stuff, burn it up, AoE, and in the near future, we'll be able to turn invisible and steal buffs.
PS: Poly: Turtle is badass.
Myid Sep 8th 2006 5:12PM
I have leveled a 60 war (fury horde), 60 warlock, and am currently playing a 60 druid.
I have to say that I am having the most fun playing the druid. Of course i'm one those known as "the few" who is 31 pts into feral with LotP. The key to keeping your feral spec is based on a couple of things: 1) other druids in the guild - It helps quite a bit if there are restos already; 2) Focus on 20-man or less end game content- It is much easier to actually play a hybrid in ZG and AQ then MC; 3) prove yourself as a tank early- this is the 2nd to biggest key! roll some Mara, ST, etc as MT with guildmates and prove to the unbelivers that druids can tank; and 4) be stubborn. It all depends on if you want to see bwl, MC, and Naxx or not. The bigger the raid the more likely your get shoved into the healer's roll.
I can state from experience: I have tanked and completed Scholo and DM tribute 3-manned in all blues with a paladin and a mage. I've tanked with two teir-2 rogues and a tier-2 mage before with no prob. It just comes down to skill and playing your class. I love the druid...
Argent Sep 8th 2006 5:16PM
mage for me was one of the least fun class to level. very, very fragile and really don't come into their own until past 60 (again, imo.)
paladin i can pretty much talk the most on (played one since beta, leveled 2 to 60, got about 230 or so days played on both) and the basics are like this: going from 1-30, it's perhaps the most fun class there is. at 20, you get a class quest for one of the most godly early game weapons there is (a 27 dps 2h mace, btw) and if you mix up healing and dps (yes! you can dps at that stage!), you'll have a good time. spec isn't overly important at this stage -- but knowing your wants and desires does kinda matter.
if you plan to group level, try a holy spec with a secondary focus on ret (or prot if you wanna grab kings). a solo/grinder will get way more out of ret (SoC is kind of a must) and lastly, if you like taking long breaks between fights, spec prot (and afk after casting a seal...) -- i leveled my second 60 in a prot build just for kicks and while it has supreme survivability, it takes forever to kill anything.
one of the most overlooked things about paladins is the fact that we can dispell pretty much everything off of ourselves (even curses, once every 5 mins) -- cleanse and blessing of freedom are really kinda underappreciated imo and are generally way more useful than divine shield.
the problems per se with paladins is that after about lvl 40, their leveling starts to get a bit more tedious. dps flattens out in a hurry and the fact that itemization just plain doesn't exist for paladins before lvl 45-50 (which is actually an improvement -- it used ot be 55-60) makes for a bit of tedium in the middle there.
otoh, if you group level, you could have a ton of fun being the (literal) life of the party.
druid i've worked on and off over the last few months. there is a lot of fun potential there playing with forms and such, but in many ways, druids are almost worse off in terms of itemization (paladins can kinda fudge it by using plate items meant for warriors, druids really aren't gonna be too well off with leather meant for rogues), but i still had a good time solo'ing and group'ing with my druid. one thing i like about druids the most is that they tend to be one of the more unique classes in wow -- most casters, healers and melee all are somewhat similar to one another, but druids feel very different to me (just imo, though.)
warrior to me is an absolute blast to level -- gear is good, you get a steady stream of nice abilities and you can gank stuff at rogue-like speeds without the general fragility of that class. warrior also groups well with damn near any class (but especially healing classes. paladin/warrior is just dirty, imo.)
Sean-ers Sep 8th 2006 5:59PM
My main is a pally...yes our DPS is nothing to point out or even mention a lot of the times...however, most people like us around for our Aura's and buffs...not to mention plate...mmm, plate. We can be decent off tanks in many cases...it's a wonderful class for the defensively minded, often a good change from a DPS class (though it will feel somewhat slow).
I'm almost 55 and on my server it seems that Paladins (at least god paladins) are in high demand as off-off-healers, buffers, resist auras, and sometimes off-tanks (I haven't quit hit 55 yet so haven't been on any raids or anything...all I know is I see a lot of calling out for paladins in the guildrecruitment channel...and have been approched a few times to let people know when I hit 55.) :P
Calhoun Sep 8th 2006 6:23PM
I've got a feral druid. I pretend the resto tree doesn't exist. And it works out really well.
It really all depends on your guild. I hate raiding, so I don't do it. But my guild knows my spec, knows my gear, and very seldom puts me in a healing role.
I've been the MT in all end-game instances save UBRS (mostly because I just don't run it that often), and if I'm not tanking, 95% of the rest of the time I'm in cat form.
So play how you want. You don't HAVE to be a heal bot, provided you're with the right group.
(Also worth noting, the guild I'm in won't make you respec to raid -- several of our raiding druids are unrepentently specced feral, and we can clear BWL. So BAH to whoever says mandatory specs, I say!)
I'd imagine paladins work out to be the same way...and at least as a pally you don't have to shift out of bear form while getting pounded on by 5 guys just to heal yourself.
jakk on the blackrock server Sep 8th 2006 7:30PM
i recomend mage because they haqve such a variety of spells that any class can be defeated except warlocks and everyone loves having a mage in their party. and your right sheeping is fun. oh and aoe grinding isnt hard if you have a priest with you if not then tons of pots.
crsh Sep 10th 2006 1:25AM
My main is a lv60 rogue, which I raid with daily; he's my first WoW toon, about a year old now and was a good first toon to learn the game. Rogues however, like hunters, are a dime a dozen on some servers and it's been hell to get him into raiding guilds. Not only that, but they also suffer from poor game itemization; but the God-sent thing about rogues is that they don't need to spec out of their fun tree(s) when raiding unlike druids and shammys (unless you like to be a healbot, etc).
I've levelled a priest since then, but he's my fun/pvp alt for the most part and I kept him shadow specced all the way (raiding priests need to spec disc/holy usually); shadow is so much fun that I have no desire to make this guy a healbot.
I've pretty much tried every class for 20-30 levels so far, warlocks look very fun (haven't had time to fully level one though); hunters and mages bored the life out of me, I can't explain why but they're obviously not classes for me. Warriors I don't want to touch, they seem fun to level, but protection-spec tanking looks awful, and arms/fury DPS is just too close to a rogue-in-plate, so nothing new to me. Druids really do take forever to level, plus that identity crisis is kind of a turn-off: they're excellent tanks, but nobody wants a bear tank, they're excellent DPS, but nobody wants kitty form DPS, and they're excellent healers only if you enjoy that (how many druids have you heard from who are -pissed- at being forced to become healbots if they want to raid?).
I definitely want to level a pally though, they look fun, and there's different specs to try out (retribution looks like an awesome pvp tree).
Soapinmouth Sep 22nd 2006 6:47PM
JW, why does everyone hate rogues so much?
paul Sep 13th 2006 10:19PM
my first toon on a server is either a hunter or a lock becuse they are the most fun for me to play. I have gotten each class (except shammy) to 20 atleast once.
Anthraxx Sep 25th 2006 8:49AM
I played the mage class for nearly a year now, and i'm still not tired of it (starting again with a blood elf mage soon :D )
Playing a mage is however NOT an easy thing (like many people tend to think), you will be very fragile and easily killed. While grinding i never had that many problems with this though: when you learn how to keep a distance between the mob and you u'll be fine...
As far as aoeing and aoe-grinding goes: aoe grinding is darn though, and you will die countless times before you get the hang of it (unless you bring a priest), also aoe spots are farmed very often...
Pre 60, mages will do fine in PvP, however in post 60 pvp you will notice your mage becoming very fragile and it will take a lot of skill and dedication to become truly good at it.
In raids you might also get frustrated because of the enormous amounts of water and food (i once had a nightmare about me being a breadtoaster ffs) u have to make.
All by all a mage is a very fun class to play if u don't tend to give up soon :)
Chim Sep 21st 2006 9:11AM
My main is a 60 Troll Hunter and I'm currently working on a Night Elf Rogue. I still raid the heart out of my hunter, and it never gets old. I can't imagine how boring it must be raiding as a class that can heal, being turned into a healbot.. I cringe whenever I think about being one of my raid's healers.
Yeah there are a ton of Hunters.. however most of them don't even know how to play their class effectively. A good hunter doesn't just stand and shoot, and guilds know this. Hunters pull, top the damage meters, use their pets to pull difficult bosses, and kite. Ez-mode hunters that simply stand and shoot are the ones guilds don't want. Not to mention raiding specs are excellent in both PvP and grinding. Hunters are mail-wearing powerhouses with more tricks than a rogue up their sleeve.
The most effect way to level a hunter is to grind because they are so efficient at killing things, even mobs several levels higher. Grinding IS boring and gives a false outlook on the class. In endgame hunters do much more.
Warthog Oct 11th 2006 8:07PM
This forum is a bit outdated but I'm gonna weigh in with my personal experience and suggestions.
I've been playing WOW going on 2 years. I have played every alliance
class excluding the warlock up to 40 and the warrior to 60 and hunter to 53. On the horde side I have played the priest, shaman and Mage to 60. I much prefer a casting character over a melee character. One distinct advantage of playing a Pally/Lock is that they both get free 40 level mounts. A disadvantage of playing a casting char other than the mage is that you will be buying water when not grouped with a mage. Over time you'd be surprised on what you pay for water, especially high end water such as AV water if your AV reputation is high enough. I'm not sure why people refer to warriors as "DPS". My warrior was respecced multiple times and his DPS doesn't even warrant mentioning compared to my frost mage or shadow priest.
Speaking of priests it's my opinion that hands down this was the hardest class for me to level. I fought multiple urges to delete the char long before level 20 based on his extreme fragility and high death rate. However I stuck with it and at level 40 got the shadow priest form. Healing abilities go way down but DPS goes up, Alot. I never had a problem soloing with my priest after 40. My shaman sad to say is my least played character despite the fact I leveled his AV rep to exalted and got the unstoppable force. As a healer specced resto and healing gear his healing ablities were as good if not better than my priest who respecced holy @ 60. However the shaman has no form of crowd control which is desparately needed in strat/Scholo. It basically comes down to playing preferences, Melee/caster/healer.