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The latest patch 5.4 newsWoW, Casually: Rating the classes for casuals
by Robin Torres 
Jun 3rd 2009 at 4:00PM
Robin Torres writes WoW, Casually for the player with limited playtime. Of course, you people with lots of playtime can read this too, but you may get annoyed by the fact that we are unashamed, even proud, of the fact that beating WoW isn't our highest priority. Take solace in the fact that your gear is better than ours, but if that doesn't work, remember that we outnumber you. Not that that's a threat, after all, we don't have time to do anything about it. But if WoW were a democracy, we'd win.
Hello, my name is Robin and I'm an altaholic. I'm not here to try to stop, however. I find it a lot of fun and playing games is all about fun. But it has prevented me from experiencing the endgame content when everyone is excited about it, rather than just spinning their wheels waiting for the next expansion. So, now I want to choose which alt to take to the end. But which one will be easy for leveling and still be valuable in groups when I reach the endgame?
In my experience, the best class to play as a casual player is one that is easily soloable, with little downtime, but also able to find groups quickly when necessary, particularly at max level. Following is how I rate each class according to those criteria.
In my experience, the best class to play as a casual player is one that is easily soloable, with little downtime, but also able to find groups quickly when necessary, particularly at max level. Following is how I rate each class according to those criteria.
Rogue: Sneaking past mobs you don't want to mess with and stunning your enemies so they can't fight back make the Rogue a fun character to solo. They are extremely gear dependent, however, and self-healing is limited to profession-related skills. While rogues make a fight go quickly, there are many of them and you'll have a hard time finding groups while leveling and in the endgame. (Edited to add note: Many readers have pointed out that there aren't as many rogues as there used to be. Perhaps there are more leveling on PvP servers. Ganking me. Like just now. Regardless, there are many DPS classes vying for group spots and rogues still have a harder time finding groups than all tanks, healers and DPS classes who can also heal as necessary.)
Warlock: Warlocks are extremely easy to solo. They have pets, they have self-heals and they have nasty damage. Their spells make downtime pretty non-existent and they can often solo group quests. A skilled Warlock can find groups at max level, but they are not in high demand at this time.
Warrior: Warriors have become much more fun to solo, but are still hampered by a lack of class specific self-heals and therefore require some downtime. If you do make it to the endgame, however, you will find that tanks are in high demand and that a skilled DPS Warrior can also get work.
Shaman: Leveling a Shaman is not difficult. You can blast, melee and heal. If you want to hang out with the big boys in the endgame, however, expect to keep one of your specs Resto, because non-healing Shamans just aren't in very high demand.
Priest: It takes a while to pick up speed when leveling a Priest without a lot of grouping. Shadow Priest soloing is the fastest and gets much easier when you get Shadowform. If you take one to the endgame, you'll be the belle of the ball. They'll want you for your heals and Shadow Priests can even get spots in raids these days.
Mage: Mages are definitely soloable and are very fun to play, but they tend to have a lot of down time for healing and mana regeneration. With no non-profession-related self-heals and nothing but comfy clothes to wear, you really need to be on your toes with your spells and abilities to battle alone. To partially make up for your downtime, your travel time is greatly reduced by the ability to teleport to major cities any time you like (as soon as you're high enough in level, of course). In groups, Mages are in demand for their DPS and crowd control. Don't discount the utility spells as well. The buffs, food and drink and making convenient portals at the end are all highly valued by groupies.
Druid: I've been playing a Druid since open beta. I love the class and have Night Elf droods abandoned across multiple servers -- once I went Horde, I never rarely go back. Druids are great for soloing as either Balance or Feral spec and are usually welcome in any group while leveling. Because of their multiple forms, Druids rarely get boring and make traveling speedy even at low levels. Druids are also extremely versatile at max level. Groups will want you as a healer, tank or DPS. The only drawback to playing a Druid is that they are not easy to just pick up and play (unlike DKs and Pallies). You really need to learn the nuances of all of your options and it can be hard to go back to after a long absence from the game or playing another class. Many don't consider this a negative thing about the class, however, and enjoy the extra brainpower involved in playing.
Death Knight: Death Knights are cake to solo. Not only do they start at level 55, but they are practically indestructible and mow through mobs speedily. They pair up nicely with any other class for those lucky enough to have a quest buddy. DKs also rock the endgame. They make great tanks and are awesome melee DPS. Their main drawback is that they are a dime a dozen. Once you make it to max level, you'll find many others like you competing for instance and raid spots both in your guild and in PuGs. I highly recommend a DK to every casual player as an alt, but you may find getting groups too time consuming for your busy schedule.
Hunter: The Hunter is one of two classes that I have never played past level 11. It's just not my bag. They are, however, arguably the easiest class to solo. The fact that they have no non-profession-related healing abilities is countered by the fact that their pets take most of the damage and the mobs drop quickly due to massive DPS. Hunters are so easy to solo that they tend to be the class of choice for gold-farmers (do they exist anymore or do they just hack and steal now?) as well as children and players new to MMOs. Because their damage dealing skills are so powerful, they are definitely wanted in the endgame. But you have to have the spec, gear and skills to be able to function in groups and raids and 80 levels of soloing isn't going to get you these. Expect to have to work hard on your gear and grouping skills before being invited to the good PvE group activities.
Paladin: Before Blizzard "fixed" Retribution, leveling a Paladin was easy, but kinda boring and with a lot of downtime for mana regeneration. Now that Ret Pallies are OP (which I think is pretty much an uncontroversial statement), leveling is a breeze and a ton of fun. With barely any downtime and usually multiple mobs at once, I tear through content on my formerly boring, previously mana-challenged paladin. Also, when I have to make sudden AFKs due to my main job of taking care of The Spawn, I rarely come back to a dead Blood Elf. (Though I run the risk of being run off cliffs ever since I taught her how to run around in game. "Oops!", she says.) And once you get to the endgame, the world is your oyster. You'll be wanted as either a tank or a healer by everyone and be favored for (though not guaranteed) DPS spots as Retribution.
When making your decision as to what class to play, think about what role you want to fill when you are ready to participate in the harder group activities. Regardless of how you like to play, you are more likely to get into PuGs and scheduled raids if you are speced in a group-friendly way. So if you are unwilling to play certain roles, choose a class accordingly. Are you against both healing and tanking? Then pick a Hunter or other class that is completely unable to do either. Are you willing to tank, but find playing the whack-a-mole heal game a chore? Then choose a Warrior or Death Knight. But if you are happy to be flexible until you are able to get into a group that allows you to play your favorite spec, then a Paladin or Druid is for you. Taking either class to the endgame will allow you more opportunities and faster grouping than any of the other classes. And for the first few encounters, you will probably want to try healing. Groups are much more likely to be lenient on your mistakes (which you will definitely make) and poor gear if you are a healer, more than any other group role.
When it comes right down to it, no one can tell you what your favorite classes are to play. So if you pick a class that is tougher to level, but you enjoy it more then you have made the right decision. If you are torn like me, however, the above guidelines should help. What did I decide? Well, like I said, I'm a proud altaholic, so I picked two. My Pally is working her way through Outland and my Druid is thoroughly enjoying the quests in Northrend. My guild leader has promised me a healing spot in the second string 10 man raids once I hit 80. Of course, the fact that I'm married to him may have biased his decision a bit. But the healing gap helped too. Anyway, I'm off to play with a rejuvenated sense of purpose after my (kinda) decision. May you have as much fun as I'm having.
WoW, Casually is a column for those of us who are playtime-challenged. We had another good year last year and the new expansion has brought back a lot of players returning as casuals. If you have questions or tips about how to get the most out of your limited playtime, please send them to robin AT wow DOT com for a possible future column.Filed under: Druid, Hunter, Mage, Paladin, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior, Analysis / Opinion, Leveling, Classes, Death Knight, WoW, Casually
Reader Comments (Page 4 of 6)
Jeremy S. Jun 3rd 2009 5:10PM
Elemental Shammy FTW!
Resto are in higher demand because people r lazy and don't want to do the work to get a healer, plus they think they can kill 2 birds with 1 stone by having the addition of another fairly good melee class(but it's out of a complete selfishness to use and/or abuse)
I've found plenty of smart raiders/dungeon runners that want my Shaman for what he is: a buff/support class.
The heals are best used in solo action on yourself sans the totems which benefit the whole party.
Shamans aren't even backup healers. You gotta use what you have and if I was the only class that could heal, in a party, I'd help out. But the whole idea of shamans as a back up healer is a gigantic misnomer.
Just because a class can heal, doesn't make it a "Healer". It's a giant misnomer that no one bother to think about or question except the people that I find to raid with or others that know how to squeeze the most out of WoW.
Restorative Shamans come the closest to being built as a secondary healer, but that shouldn't make them in such high demand. The simplest solution is often the best: You want a healer, get a healer, not a buff/support shaman that has a few heal spells.
Dere Jun 3rd 2009 6:03PM
I would say okay that's true but i had to heal some of the 5 man runs in North Rend and didn't do to bad with chain heals and life giving weapon procs....so i guess you can heal just not super good, but then maybe that's just how uber i am? Just joking, but really 5 mans don't always need a healer spec to heal just a smart group that doesn't waste the healers mana.
BTW if anyone cares i healed Nexus and UK so not anything really hard, or with tons of splash damage. I use my Disco Priest for that lol.
SpearXXI Jun 3rd 2009 5:14PM
Druids are just so flipping awesome that it is great playing one. While leveling feral you don't have to worry about all the mechanics, but once you hit 80, you either figure them out, or get kicked from the group. BUT it is not too hard to learn what to do. It just takes practice, and I use Droodfocus to put all my bleeds/debuffs in one cozy little spot, for easy access. Then all that it takes is making sure they are all up, I don't pull aggro, and I'm not standing on top of a void.
Jimson Jun 5th 2009 6:29PM
Another raid leader who gives his healer wife an automatic spot.... sigh.
I say that mostly joking, because I've read a lot of your articles,and you seem pretty knowledgable. But in my experience, 3 of the raid leaders I have had since BC had healer wives... one TERRIBLE, one average, one good. Hopefully you fall in the upper limit of that group.
deltaecho Jun 3rd 2009 5:19PM
I play casually, and one thing to consider is that in playing casually you're usually stuck in pugs if you want to see instanced content. As a result, if you play a strictly DPS class, you're going to have tough times getting into pugs, especially given that CC isn't as big a deal as it used to be (so mages, etc. have tougher times).
Though hunter, DK, and lock were the easiest for me in terms of soloing a lot of elite quests and getting through quest content quickly, they were all tough for pugging. I've been slowly bringing a druid up through the past 3 monts, and thanks to dual-spec, it's been the most fun I've had on any char. If I want to go through quest content, I go kitty/bear, and if I want to instance, I switch specs and go tree o' life (or go bear if needed or go kitty if tank/heals is accounted for). The 1000g spent on the dual-spec was wisely spent IMO.
I would say that any class that can switch between heals and/or tank and dps is the way to go: druid, paladin, shaman all fit the bill. Of the three, pally might be the only that could do it all: get you through lots of pugs on heals/tanking and get you through elite mobs solo via prot tree.
I would personally recommend a druid. It's a fun class, and swift flight form is the balls.
tom99k Jun 3rd 2009 5:21PM
I just got into leveling my paladin and it's just so easy! There's a minor amount of downtime and they can beat up a mob in a seconds, if leveling fast to 80 is what you want i'd highly reccomend a ret pala, and being a hybrid there's plenty of roles to conquer at 80.
Naheru Jun 3rd 2009 5:21PM
Just to remember that Dual-Spec is going to help casuals.. a lot!
Aspirisis Jun 3rd 2009 5:24PM
I love me a caster...I have an 80 mage and an 80 lock. There's just nothing like ranged, mana based DPS. Mages, though, are WAY more fun to level. There's a lot of really cool stuff to enjoy (new spells, new spells, new spells), and each spec has it's own unique rotation. Of course, to level a mage, frost is the way to go.
James Jun 3rd 2009 5:37PM
Druid entry is insanely biased to a ridiculous degree.
As previously mentioned the rogue comment would mostly apply to pre-WotLK end-game.
Spriest leveling is extremely fun and not hard at all, even pre-shadowform, although priest is a class i wouldn't really recommend for casuals. Also once you reach late-vanilla/BC content you will never have to stop for drinking as you can just alternate mana regen CD's and you will have constant replenishment
Hunters, pallies, and dks are all obvious casual choices as they are easy to level, not extremely gear dependent, have high survivability and are generally fun to play.
All casuals should avoid shamans as they are aren't very hard to play but are very time consuming just due to totem dropping. Though dps shamans are in very high demand right now as totem buffs+Bloodlust>>>another DK dps.
Mages destroy mobs at low to mid levels, capable of killing an attacker before they even land a blow, but at the cost of terrible mana efficiency. There is a reason mages can make their own water, you will be drinking after a very small number of pulls for much of the game.
Warriors are a decent option for casuals, but if you wanna wear plate and kill things dk or ret pally is a much easier way to go.
Locks are easy leveling and fun end-game. Not as good for casuals as hunters, but not really much harder or more time consuming either.
Decent article, would have liked a more in-depth look into class choice, but wasn't expecting much as it is WoW Casually
Turtlehead Jun 3rd 2009 5:43PM
Different classes are easiest/quickest at different levels.
Warlocks are strong throughout (picking up especially about level 30) but there's a lot of annoying travel early on to get pets.
First ten levels of hunter will suck for someone with poor skills but it's watch-a-movie-while-leveling after that.
Mages don't have much downtime if you know what you're doing, but sloppily run they'll spend most of their time drinking. (Step 1: buy a wand at level 5. Step 2: buy a better wand at level 10.) They can self-heal effectively with glyphed evocation.
DK can faceroll through anything but maxing their DPS is tricky.
Shamans start slow...very very slow. As enhance once dual wield/windfury kicks in they take off like a rocket. Can solo almost anything (especially Alliance--that instant hot is raw leveling love). They've also got the 15 minute hearth, set it in Dalaran or Shat ASAP. At level 1 if you can.
Ways to escape a situation gone badly wrong are important. Hunters, rogues, and warlocks are the masters. Mages can go invisible but that's 70+. A nova->blink->run sometimes is enough to break combat. Sheep can save your bacon. Pallies can bubble. Warriors are sort of screwed: go down fighting while raging against the gods! Shaman have assorted snares and enhance eventually gets the wolves to taunt so you can bug out.
mibluvr13 Jun 3rd 2009 5:54PM
Almost everyone I've met says that the first class they leveled was the most difficult. I find myself falling into that too when people say warlocks are easy to level. My boyfriend would argue for hours on the hell that rogues go through to ding.
It's all extremely subjective. I'd say hunter has been the easiest, but it was always one of the last classes I leveled, with heirlooms, nonetheless.
Wowmomma Jun 3rd 2009 6:41PM
Perfect timing with this post, as I've been thinking about making a permadeath toon. I was having trouble deciding between a rogue and druid but your description of druids really intrigued me. I think my mind is made up :D
jjtwalton Jun 3rd 2009 7:02PM
Paladins are the best.
Decent DPS, all three roles, great AoE and single target threat and great healing capacity. Sure it's slow to start but it gets better as you get Exo, SoComm and then Crusader Strike.
Once you're level 65-ish, have CS, DS and 5/5 in Div Strength, you're unstoppable. Art of War, Replenishment, Rep and HoJ are just too good and there's very little you can't solo all the way up to some Ice Crown 5-mans.
If you're new and by chance have got this far down the comments to read a post by someone you don't know and will never meet, take the advice.
Roll a Paladin.
They're ace. :D
the19thofmay Jun 3rd 2009 7:38PM
How the hell are ret paladins OP? They do the among the lowest damage of any viable DPS spec in the game; pretty much only Spriests and shamans are consistently worse.
Good parrot.
matthew.pumphrey1 Jun 3rd 2009 7:52PM
I don't mean to be well, mean but this is just wrong on some points.
1: Rogues are the least played class in the game now. wowcensu
2: Warlocks are also very low and alot of good guilds are trying to get them.
Alden Jun 3rd 2009 7:56PM
I'm a bit of an altaholic too, my thoughts on leveling (* by ones I have 80's of). THESE ARE ONLY THOUGHTS ON LEVELING NOT ENDGAME
Class: Speed/ Fun** (out of 5)
Rogue 2/2
Shammy 3/4
Pala 4/3
Hunter 3/3
Lock 3/3
Warr 1/***
*Priest 1/3
*Mage 2/4
*DK 5/4 (I felt like I had typed idkfa and iddqd all the way from 55-80)
Druid ***/***
**Fun is entirely subjective, but its what I think.
*** Never had one past level 20... so I'm not sure.
Jason Jun 3rd 2009 8:22PM
I have a mage for a main and I don't suffer from much downtime. Although the first few levels weren't so easy as I got hit a lot, once my frost talent tree started to develop I got hit less and less, and when I got ice barrier, I stopped taking damage from PvE period. Downtime isn't a big problem, because at low levels you dont have much to recover anyways. When you do need recovery, Evocation works just fine, even with a 4 minute cooldown, it's not that bad. A few levels after getting Evocation, I invested in Glyph of Evocation, making my downtime for healing HP less. I think DKs and Paladins are great for starters too, but I think mages, with their array of casts and instant casts, to be subtle and not so chaotic. When casting Frostbolt, I have 2.5 seconds to think of what to do next, often followed by another one, and when something gets close, Frost Nova, back up, repeat. This isn't always the case, but I don't have much difficulty with any monster around my level (at 51 I solo'd a 56 elite, but that was hard) which makes leveling pretty easy as well. An added bonus is that you don't have to spend too much time trying to find a group for instances, because people whisper you for ranged DPS. food/water, and ports at the end. Portals and Teleports are great ways to make money and move around fast, which should help out casual players.
Ellowynn Jun 3rd 2009 10:08PM
You know I think I might really like this column. It's about time somebody addressed all of us who are still playing lower content. I would truly appreciate information that isn't raiding or about level 80's. Geez, these guys hit level 80 before I even launched the new content. Who are these people? Is this their Job???? I play solo due to time constraints, and haven't joined a guild because they all seem to be raiding guilds that aren't interested in you unless you are geared to the teeth. I would just like to find a few pals to help with quests that require more than one. If I could eventually hit some of the instances it would be great, but no guild seems to be willing to work with the lower level players. (ps. I've grouped a couple of times only to find they got the goodies and vanished, nice leaving me in the dungeon guys!!! Great form! LOL fool me once!)
M Jun 4th 2009 8:26AM
I have several 80s, and had my first 80 within two weeks after the expansion launched, on a PvP server. Most recently, I took a DK to 80 (on a PvE server) in just over 3 days /played time, which was about three weeks of non-raiding days.
However, the process is not anything like you appear to be thinking. Obviously, everything depends on your goals and purposes, but the biggest hurdle for levelling is "wasted time".
I don't mean "wasted time" as in, stopping to read the quest text, chatting with friends, raiding professions along the way, etc. Wasted time is time spent running back to your corpse because you bit off more than you can chew, or time spent moving back and forth between quest locations, or time spent trying to grind instances with pugs.
Save the group missions for when you're either higher level or have some friends on who will help. And be careful of the pulls you make, because nowadays, everything and its grandmother comes at you if you make a bad pull. Doing those two things will greatly reduce wasted time due to death.
If you want to pug the group missions, don't sit around waiting for someone. Move on to the next quest hub while you're searching LFG. You don't need to do a single group or dungeon mission to get to 80, so don't spend a lot of time trying to pug the missions if your server is not known for a pool of skilled puggers.
Unless your goal is exploration, download a quest mod or two to help better organize your travelling. Obviously, you can't do this if you're trying to enjoy explore the content for the first time completely unaided. Going from one side of the zone to the other and back again and again and again, when you could have done all of that while you were over there the first time, is probably the single largest waste of time in the game.
And unless you're with friends, or know the group is competent, the dungeon and instance quests will probably cost you more time than just skipping them and moving to the next quest hub.
It's not a matter of "no life", though there is some of that too. It's mostly a matter of efficiency. An hour or two a day used efficiently is far more productive than 5-6 hours a day of corpse running or zone crossing or wiping in dungeons.
themightysven Jun 3rd 2009 10:12PM
Is that a screen cap from your leveling? I think I ran into you a few times in HP