Breakfast topic: Problem paradigms
by Amanda Dean 
Jul 1st 2008 at 8:00AM
My main is a resto Shaman, but I've been spending my spare time either leveling a Rogue or gearing up my Ret Paladin. It is a completely different experience. I've spent hours in the battlegrounds and have managed to earn the honor for the Merciless Gladiator's Greatsword. Thus far is has been a real challenge for me.
I have a harder time with the Paladin than the Rogue. In the battlegrounds my first reaction when I see someone going down is to heal them. I do drop an emergency heal here and a bubble there, I know that my heals are generally crummy. I should just keep swinging my sword and leave the healing to the healers. With the Rogue, there is no option for healing, so I just keep Slicing and Dicing away through the levels. On top of that, I'm used to trying to get away from my opponent, not trying to stay on top of them. The whole paradigm shift has been difficult for me, but I've learned a lot from it.
How do you feel when you play something totally different from your main?
Filed under: Paladin, Rogue, Shaman, Breakfast Topics, Leveling, Alts, Battlegrounds
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 2)
jumb Jul 1st 2008 8:06AM
My main's a hunter. When levelling an alt, if I come up to a difficult mob (either high level or group quest) my first thought is always "kite it!" It works most of the time, too.
Waffle Iron Jul 1st 2008 8:08AM
My first main was a warlock, followed by my current main, a mage. Currently I am leveling a warrior just because and I must say, I was completely thrown off by the whole concept of Rock'em Sock'em robot type gameplay. I must admit though, leveling a fury warrior albeit rough, has been a fun experience so far. As far as how I feel, I keep looking for a CC button that is never there, and Intimidating shout doesn't cut it for me.
Hank Jul 1st 2008 8:10AM
My main is a rogue, but my primary alt is a 70 prot pally. Being a rogue in BGs isn't too difficult; though I'm hardly up there with the best of them, I manage to keep the death count down. On the pally...well, I've discovered that if you are a class that can heal, in a BG, that's what you should do. It's not like you get any extra honor for a killing blow vs. just picking up the honor from healing that rogue and warrior in range while THEY do all the killing. And as a plus, I'm wearing plate.
Makoto99 Jul 1st 2008 8:36AM
"I've discovered that if you are a class that can heal, in a BG, that's what you should do. It's not like you get any extra honor for a killing blow vs. just picking up the honor from healing that rogue and warrior in range while THEY do all the killing"
I wish more people in my old battlegroup had your attitude. Too many nerds running around hellbent on the almighty " ZOMG HK" count, too busy to heal... and they wonder when we wipe out so often. sigh.
Anyway back to the topic - my main and my first alt were both warlocks (diff servers), so my main tactic was to hit my uber superduper IWIN button and beat everyone.
I get bored leveling when I hit about 30, so my highest alts are my druids (50 and 43) and my Rogue (48 now)... I think I'm going to go with the rogue. Pretty fun to play them, and a major change from the warlocks, since the damage comes quick and fast, rather than slowly picking someone apart over time (at least with my warlock's specs).
I've tried, dozens of times, to level a paladin... but I just can't. My highest is a 20. Of all the classes I WANT TO LEVEL, the paladin is the one I can't. It's just toooooooo different from what I'm used to, and I can't find any fun in it. I'm not saying it's not fun, because I know plenty of paladins who like it; it's just a play style that I can't seem to enjoy... maybe higher up when I can start AE-pulling it'd be more fun, but surviving the lower-level grind isn't working for me :(
Reric Jul 1st 2008 9:29AM
I think my brain is just wired differently because I really enjoy healing. I stopped playing right before BC came out, but I had 3 60's, shaman, priest, druid. My favorite times in AV were when I could tag behind a warrior and just keep healing him as he charged into a party of alliance.
Hgatts Jul 1st 2008 12:02PM
My main is a holy pally that I absolutely love playing. I really enjoy healing, especially in bgs; nothing like getting people who are down to 10% back to 100% and then watching them win that fight.
The lack of dps, though, can get to me once in a while, especially after a while bg'ing. Although I can usually survive long enough for help to arrive, it's very frustrating to feel like I am hitting my opponents with a wacky noodle toy.
For a little dps satisfaction I am leveling a hunter. It's such a relief to be able to wreak a little havoc and be really good and fast at it...
Dranaerys Jul 1st 2008 8:10AM
Its a funny thing, switching from a class youve played for ages, to something completely different. I had been playing Rogue for about a year and a half when I decided to roll a mage. Since I have my stealth binded to the same button as I have blink, from time to time (particularly when I've neglected my mage for a while) humorous situations arise when your instincts kick in and your brain is skipped from the whole muscle reflex equation.
In my particular case, I went to Sunken Temple with my mage to level a bit, and our group ran into an unexpected pack of mobs almost face-first . As a rogue, when not in combat and face with overwhelming odds, my first gut reaction is to stealth and gain a better perspecticve of what target to pick from the safety of stealth. Of course I wan not a rogue and when my mage blinked intoa group of 5 elite mobs a benny-hill style chase scene ensued.
Good times. :p
Sirg Jul 1st 2008 8:18AM
I have a mage and a rogue, and the only problem comes when I play one of them more. I tend to blink when I play the rogue or stealth when I play the mage :)
I'm used with playing a DPS class, so it would be hard for me to play a healer class, mostly in BG, but also in instances. The mage being newer, I still have trouble staying in the back of the group in instances...
mrchicken Jul 1st 2008 8:21AM
My main is a nightelf priest and my alt a gnome warrior. The difference in perspective triggers an associative playstyle.
In other words when Im small I turn all redeyed and bloodthirsty.
Athmeno Jul 1st 2008 8:30AM
I have a level 70 protection warrior (Athmeno, my main) and a recently-dinged 70 Shadow-spec priest (Acomo) on Moonrunner US. It took me a while to get used to threatening, not damaging, mobs in order to tank (70 levels as Arms-spec went quite fast!), and being a DPS again is a surprisingly refreshing experience. On my priest, I land 2500+ damage Mind Blasts and flay (Mind Flay) for 500+ damage a tick, and it's totally excellent. Usually, on my tank, a Shield Bash crit of 900 elicits whoops of joy...
If you can, if you have time, I would suggest giving this a try: level an alt which is *entirely* different from your main in terms of class/style of play (not necessarily looks, both of my 70's are Draenei, hehe).
You won't regret it. (This announcement void where prohibited by empirical evidence.)
Rovec Jul 1st 2008 8:32AM
My main is a 70 Feral Druid, my main alt is a 70 Elemental Shaman, and I also have a 44 retribution paladin and a mid 20s hunter. When playing other classes but my Druid I'm often at a lose as to how everyone else gets by. As a Druid I can stealth do ok dps, go into bear for survival, and throw heals on myself and others. When playing other jobs I feel very limited.
Probably why I can't get into many of them.
Mastique Jul 1st 2008 8:37AM
My main is a 70 Warlock, and I also have a 70 Resto Druid. Last evening, we took some guildies through Mana tombs. Easy enough to heal, even with my sub-par gear and low bonus healing. Then we switched toons and tried (once again) to take down Ahune. For this, I used my Warlock. It took me a couple of minutes to switch my frame of mind from a hippie healer to an evil destructor. I haven't taken my druid to BG's much, but the Warlock loves it. I am currently leveling a paladin, actually 3 paladins... alliance and horde on one server and another horde on a different server that a friend plays on. I must say, as my first melee class, I am really enjoying it. This is quite a change from just standing back and throwing shtuff at a mob. I also have a 50 something Mage, but we won't talk about him. He is on probation. :)
Chamual Jul 1st 2008 8:09PM
lol, of all the classes you pick to try out melee, you pick a Paladin :D
Chamual, 70 prot pally
Epimer Jul 1st 2008 8:54AM
My main is a rogue, but he's been neglected of late as I've been levelling a prot pally. I logged on my rogue the other day to crank out some dailies, and immediately attempted to AoE grind down a pack of 5 or so mobs.
It did not end well.
Alchemistmerlin Jul 1st 2008 8:54AM
I would say I have 2 "mains"
My Draenai Prot Pally
And my Tauren Enhancement Shaman.
The two play styles are so different that every time I switch from one to the other, I need to spend at least 15 minutes relearning the character and key mappings
Angus Jul 1st 2008 11:59AM
LOL.
About the same here.
BElf Tankadin is my alt.
I find with the Shaman I look to which mobs I have to kill first and I just start demolishing them one at a time.
The I play the tank and I just grab em all and work them down.
I also find myself fearing things less as a 66 Tankadin than I did early 70 as a shaman. I never would have tried to farm a bunch of level 68-69 bowman as a Enhancement Shaman. I was just taking them down one after another as the tankadin and I only had to blow a CD once.
The difference in attitude of a tank and a DPS takes me at least a few minutes to deal with.
Alchemistmerlin Jul 1st 2008 12:53PM
My biggest problem is, really, how gimped my Shammy is compared to my Paladin. On my Paladin I can take down 6 or 7 mobs of around my level (or 1 level higher) and come out with half health and half mana. On my shaman I have to take down one...mob...at...a...time...It feels amazingly slow and less epic by comparison.
Naix Jul 1st 2008 9:00AM
Yes if you can heal in BGs, please do so. I can't count the amount of times our Battle Group lost because of Ret Paladins, Shadow priests, enhancement Shamans, and Druid cats who openly REFUSE to heal. I will be getting my ass beat and beg for a heal and they just keep DPSing away when its 4v7 like they have no clue how to heal. Read what I am about to say....
HEALS WIN BGS
gareth Jul 2nd 2008 6:10AM
When I hit 70 I realised how bad the class is for survivability, but one of the few times I've topped the damage meters is when I spent most of the time out of shadow form and just renewed, shielded and pom'd while dpsing away.
And I still remember that arms warrior I tagged along with, it must have been an especially bad alliance group we were up against as they didn't trig it was time to go after the healer, 15 kills in a row by the warrior, I know because he kept telling me :D
The moral of the story is, if your character has the ability to heal and you don't use it then you aren't playing your characters abilities to their fullest.
Irshalthra Jul 1st 2008 9:18AM
I understand your frustration on not getting healed. The other side of the coin is that the class types you mention are not very good healers - with their current talents. They are set up to melee or spell cast. It is VERY difficult to throw a "good" heal to a team mate when you are in battle AND to stand back and heal these class setups will be oom b4 u know it.
It is VERY true that BGs lack healers. I retalented my enhance shammy once to a resto shammy and tried healing in BGs, but (of course) the other team kept ditching the DPS and pummeling squishy ole me. This happened every time I healed and I respecced back to enhance when I realized only 10% of the time did the DPS actually come to help me. They would bandage heal and run off to another target.
You do not get much honor rezzing...