WoW Insider on the Xfire Debate Club
by Elizabeth Wachowski 
Jun 11th 2007 at 9:30AM
Once again, WoW Insider has been asked to participate in the Xfire Debate Club on June 19th at 6 pm EST. The subject will be the best and worst classes in WoW in both PvE and PvP. I'll be moderating the debate this time around. Previously, Mike Schramm has debated and moderated with Xfire, but he's hiding from Kungen in the Witness Protection Program busy with work.
This club's panel guests include Skosiris, the chief architect of Wowhead; Mek, a guild master and raid leader from Curse; Teza, the man behind Worldofraids; Ming, the infamous rogue theorycrafter; and Zeksy, Tiz and Nuvas, who are all members of the top arena teams in the US and Europe. And as always, everyone can participate in the open floor debate, and we'll be taking questions from the floor for the guest panel.
So if you have strong views on class balance, would like to hear the opinions of PVE and PVP leaders, or simply want to see me get utterly owned by Ming, check out the Debate Club page. I'd also like to hear some ideas for questions to ask the panelists, so if you've got a question in mind, put it in the comments!
Filed under: Fan stuff, WoW Insider Business
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Barnabas Jun 11th 2007 10:15AM
"First in our tour of mythical creatures that never existed is the amazing dragon. Next up: the unicorn, Santa Claus, and a sound exit strategy from Iraq."
Barnabas Jun 11th 2007 10:16AM
woops, wrong thread
Sylvina Jun 11th 2007 10:27AM
har...
I assume you have to ask SOMETHING about retribution paladins. Not sure what... I'll let you fill in the blanks... something along the lines of: "Do paladins have a place outside of healing in PvP & end-game content?"
Sarah Jun 11th 2007 10:32AM
If priests aren't the preferred healers in raids what purpose do they serve?...
Juliah Jun 11th 2007 11:23AM
I should think that the data from a previous WoWInsider post (listed below) would provide plenty of fodder for discussion.
http://www.wowinsider.com/2007/05/03/armory-data-popular-and-unpopular-specs/
Juliah Jun 11th 2007 11:25AM
Sorry, I got click-happy -- I didn't quite finish my previous comment.
Elizabeth, I know that the link goes to a previous article of yours. Do you have any updated information on popular and unpopular specs since that piece was published? Has 2.1 affected this data?
Kaylek Jun 11th 2007 12:02PM
@3
A.) Why do ret paladins always seem to think they're THE big deal when it comes to class discussions? B.) Why do ret paladins, or anyone for that matter, think that rets are the only ones putting out any damage?
I've seen a lot of talk along the lines of "lol holy damage" lately, and I just don't get that. It's previously been the focus of a lot of debate on the paladin boards, with meter results only feeding it. Ret barely pulls ahead, which is really rough considering the potent healing utility that holy gives you in addition to the damage.
I'd like to see some discussion on Paladins, but I'd like to see some myth-busting about Paladins supposedly only healing as holy. I've never known a good Paladin (holy, ret, or otherwise) that plays their role like a pure class.
So... yeah.
robodex Jun 11th 2007 1:27PM
@3 the reason Ret is useless in raids is because it's about burst damage (ie, a pvp spec.) Blizzard has not given you a pure, high-sustained DPS tree simply because you are not a DPS class. You are a healing/tanking class.
Coherent Jun 11th 2007 2:44PM
Hmm, "BEST Class", interesting question.
I've played everything except Shaman.
I would have to say that the "Best" class would have to be hunter. Encounter Power, aggro control, fast DPS, Cool Weapons and Armor...
Name any strength of another class and then look at hunters, they're #2 in everything.
I absolutely subscribe to the easy mode/hard mode theory of class balance, and it's obvious to me that the hunter is the easiest mode in the game.
Which explains why they consistently top the class popularity charts:
http://www.warcraftrealms.com/weeklyactivity.php
Sylvina Jun 11th 2007 3:28PM
Yes, but currently paladin tanks have issues with itemization, and retribution paladins are practically 100% useless in the eyes of the public. Retribution is probably the ONLY talent tree that is looked down upon by the community for ANYTHING, and that's simply because retribution paladins currently only benefit themselves and other paladins and VERY rarely offer something for the rest of their raids. Hopefully this will change.
In addition, under no circumstances should a Paladin ever NOT be in melee combat, regardless of spec, and that's something that hasn't really functioned properly in WoW's current template. So, my simple question really is, what those people's opinions on paladins are, outside of the realm of healing, are they willing to give them DPS & Tank slots, or do they only want them as healers?
Mike Schramm Jun 11th 2007 3:37PM
Working hard or hardly working? I figured I'd let someone else sit in the moderating chair. I'd like to tell you about my testimony in the case against Kungen, but my attorney has advised me to make no comment.
Seriously though what's with all the rogues in this debate? If Hunters are the best, they're underrepresented here, as far as I can see.
JumpeiSC Jun 11th 2007 7:21PM
@10:
Moonkin.
Angus Jun 12th 2007 2:20PM
Why are 2 of the Shaman talent trees given 41pt talents that are not as good as the Druid Balance 31pt talent?
Why do Holy Priests get the shaft on their 31 and 41pt talents?
Why does every class except Shaman have some form of CC, even if only a very minor one?
Why are totems still the operating mechanic for a game that has changed how encounters go to a more fluid and mobile fight?
Why did priests get hit by a stupid pet bar instead of having their shadow fiend just get smart enough not to attack anything with a status effect that breaks with damage? Shaman actually got this for searing totem so we know it can be done.
Why is the resto talent that gives a chance to stop interrupts, and silences getting changed to a shorter duration? The loss of the chance to resist means that they will always get interrupted and that hurts PvE greatly for them. The fact that it was done for Paladins is not valid because the paladin aura affected more than one person and the PTR has the percentages the same for Shaman while Paladins had theirs doubled. (15% chance turned into a 30% drop in duration. Shaman had 15% changed to 15% shorter.)
Why do enhance shaman have worthless talents in their tree? Why is the entry level Shaman talent not as good as equal talents for other classes. (5% more mana vs 5% more intellect on the same tier talent)
mcalpine.chris Jul 9th 2007 3:52PM
Pallys...
What the hell blizz I was fighting a pally today, lvl 42 and i'm a lvl 42 rogue. I'm not undergeared and he wasn't over geared, but he destroyed me even after i got the jump. I would get 15% of his health down even when he was tanking a mob he would kill them mob, use their 4 sec stun move heal up. Then he could just bubble and do insane dmg to me while i just pick at his armor. How can he do half my health in one move?
alex.addiego Jun 24th 2007 1:10AM
Totems,
I think it's perfectly reasonable that Shamans can have Buffs cast before battle, just like any other class. What I hate is how ON TOP of their buffs they can use their totems before the battle even starts. It gives them an advantage in duels, PvP, and PvE. Using totems should be like any other spellcasters offensive move, they should only be able to be made while in combat. If the shaman gets their totems out before the battle, either plan on fighting an overpowered tank/lesser healer for your level, or just let the shaman attack you down to quarter damage while you take out its totems. Being a warlock, I can just use my Succubus' Seduction and take out the Shamans totems, except for the tremor totem, which removes all status ailments(also overpowering). Either way you look at it, I still have one or two totems to take out before each battle, making me or my demon lose health unfairly, and sometimes the shaman still has some totems I didn't take out, acting as extra buffs. Totems should not be able to be made until the shaman has entered combat.