Breakfast Topic: Loving the class you hate
by Matthew Rossi 
Aug 11th 2009 at 8:00AM
I wasn't terribly thrilled with Death Knights when I first saw them. I didn't like the idea of yet another plate class (since I play a lot of warriors), and their whole "recently freed from the thrall of the Lich King" deal didn't do all that much for me. They didn't seem that different from Paladins, to be frank (which is because they're not: thematically, they're the old D&D Anti-Paladin/Blackguard idea) and although I dabbled with them from time to time, I didn't think I'd go the distance.The first crack in that sense of disdain for the class was the starting zone experience. Anyone who's done it knows it's one heck of a well designed start to finish piece of gameplay. It was so well done, in fact, that I actually rerolled several DK's in an attempt to find the one race I really liked, secure in the knowledge that not only would I start at level 55 and be Outland ready by the end, but I'd enjoy the trip. After that, I blew through Outland on a Tauren, Gnome, Draenei and Dwarf before finally settling on my Night Elf here. Heirloom shoulders made the already painless starting zone even more rapid and Outland fell away like a solid fuel booster rocket lifting me to Northrend before I'd even finished Nagrand.
Now here I am at level 80, and for once I actually have a third alt at max level (not counting the old days when I had four level 60/level 70 warriors - I'm sad to report I only have three 80 warriors now) of a different class. Gearing the DK's been interesting, and as I've run myself through various content my DPS has been steadily increasing, my understanding of my specs steadily expanding (frankly, I love Blood as a DPS spec, it has so many cooldowns for AoE damage and a nice bag of tricks without being as fiddly as Unholy, and I can't say enough good things about Frost as a tank spec) - I have to admit, I've totally turned around on DKs. They're awfully broken in my eyes (even after the most recent nerfs to their cooldowns and tanking health) but I cannot pretend to be having a bad time playing the class.
So now I turn to you. What class turned out to be a surprise hit with you once you tried it out?
Filed under: Analysis / Opinion, Odds and ends, Breakfast Topics, Alts, Death Knight
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 6)
The Hammer Aug 11th 2009 8:04AM
"Heirloom shoulders made the already painless starting zone even more rapid"
Eh? How com-
Ohhhh. The mailbox you get the quest from, right?
jjcoola998 Aug 11th 2009 12:20PM
4 warriors to 60? Oh man
RetadinMan Aug 11th 2009 8:08AM
Hunters. I'm not really one for a heavily pet dependent class with no way to heal themselves (why I don't mind Warlocks or DKs). Having extreme altitis gives me some experience with all classes up to about 20. I have never gotten a hunter past 12.
Greg Aug 11th 2009 8:24AM
You have extreme 'alt-itis' because you've played each class for a day (level 20)?
You may need to get a new doctor and a second opinion. You have to get to the bottom of the talent tree IMO, before you really can begin to understand a class, IMO.
Greg Aug 11th 2009 8:25AM
@ Myself
Nice overuse of the word IMO, IMO.
MazokuRanma Aug 11th 2009 9:00AM
You also missed the point of the article. It was what class turned out to be enjoyable that you weren't initially impressed with. You seem to still dislike hunters.
Mine wasn't actually about class but more about spec. I rolled a shadow priest back in BC and leveled to 70 and always enjoyed it. What I never intended to do was heal, but with the changes to Discipline I've found that I really enjoy healing. Now I actually have slightly better healing than dps gear.
Personally, there isn't a single class that I dislike completely.
Gennifurfur Aug 11th 2009 10:31AM
@Greg
That made me chuckle. I find myself rereading a post of mine all the time where I'll have used a word 3 times in a 10 word sentence. "What the hell?" I'll think to myself before editing the post.
Of course, no such luxury exists here.
Paris Wright Aug 11th 2009 8:08AM
Priest.
I have always had a hard time trying to get a priest to level 20 and beyond. I had to force myself to do it because my guild needed a priest and I wanted something new. Once I got past 20 it wasn't that bad. Once I hit 40 It was great. Now I am a level 80 Shadow Priest. Im not dual specced because I just love being shadow. I have thought about rerolling a priest on the horde side now to give that a shot.
JS Aug 11th 2009 8:16AM
"I had to force myself to do it..." Time for a new hobby imo.
Theldaris Aug 11th 2009 8:50AM
Not really JS Sometimes leveling a class can be painstankingly booring but once you get to lvl 80 or even 70, sometimes lower it becomes enjoyable to play.
In my oppinion this is no different then constructing a model plane or car, you start it, and realize its really hard or boring at first but you force yourself to do it, and after a while it becomes more fun.
Though you probably need a new hoby that doesn't involve trolling people who play more then you
JS Aug 11th 2009 9:31AM
@Theldaris I am not trolling people that play more than me. I play quite a bit tbh (and have 2 80's). I am only saying that if the *game* you are playing for fun invokes the comment, "I had to force myself to do it... for my guild", you probably should consider a different hobby.
Amritrao Aug 11th 2009 9:37AM
I'm with you on priests. I couldn't stand my weak, powerful creature who kept dying all the time. But I persevered because I really wanted shadowform because it looks so awesome. I'm glad I kept going because priests, particularly shadow priests, have an awesome, intricate, and flexible play style I haven't been able to find with the other classes except perhaps feral druids.
Paris Wright Aug 11th 2009 10:59AM
@JS
I don't need another hobby. This game is fun for me in every aspect. My guild needed a priest. I was not told or asked to roll one. I saw the need for one and chose to do it.
And I had to force myself to keep playing the priest. At low levels priest really suck. After leveling a druid and pally, getting used to being squishy was a hard thing to do. It was my third attempt at a priest and the other 2 did not make it to 20. Once I hit 20 things got easier. Once I hit 40 I was set. My priest is now my main and it is primarily what I play.
I do not know what toons you have JS, but if you get the chance try a priest. They are hard at low levels but are great from 40 on. And you never have a problem finding a group. :)
micgillam Aug 11th 2009 11:50AM
I'll second the Priest. I very much enjoy the class now, but as someone who typically favors classes that could take a lot of punishment, and generally has trouble with squishy classes, it took a big adjustment for me. Still can't do mages though. Dying all the time in easy fights because I still don't think in terms of the escape mechanisms that allow good mages to survive. Feral druids have to commit to sticking with it until at least 30. If you level feral, 10-20 kind of sucks.
Eisengel Aug 11th 2009 4:57PM
Two parter for me... class and spec.
Same for me. I was having trouble finding groups for my Rogue through early and mid BC, so I figured I'd start a healer and a tank. The Druid was just too easy.... I leveled bearish feral and could clobber huge groups relatively easily. Coming off a Rogue, none of the sense of challenge or danger was there. I had a blast on my Priest though... it was somewhat the same mechanic... relatively flimsy, but with a good range of tools, and if you did things right stuff would just explode... and if you did it wrong, you would explode.
Although I meant for my Priest to be a healer, at one point an SPriest helped out my Rogue in Netherstorm by soloing one of the elite rock giants there, and once while I was farming rep killing the Ogres in Nagrand an SPriest flew in and started raining unholy hell down on them, engaging 2 or 3 at a time with relatively little rest in between. Once I rolled over about 50 I respecced Shadow to try it for myself, walked in to WPL and was soon cackling like a Warlock.
Berend Aug 11th 2009 8:10AM
At first i thought i would hate shamans why? I don't know, but I got my shaman to lvl 75 and I'm loving it can't wait till 80 and go elemental.
TyKell Aug 11th 2009 9:34AM
This.
I've been playing WoW for 3 years or so now and always had an aversion to Shamans for no particular reason. I had tried every other class in some way but could never bring myself to try a Shaman.
Once I started playing Wintergrasp on my main however it all changed, I would see Resto Shamans healing with their chain heals bouncing everywhere and hear that noise when Earthliving procs (which I find to be an awesome sound for some inexplicable reason) and think: "Oooh coool"
After that I started levelling one elemental all the way and I'm loving it the more I play it, getting Lava Burst at 75 was a BIG moment. It's hard to get into a class you don't like for no reason; so you just have to find one! :) Over and out.
veil Aug 11th 2009 10:20AM
honestly...i actually had the reverse of what the articles asking. back in "da days" when shaman was horde-only, i desperately wanted one. i leveled one horde-side up to 40 or so, but fun was limited as i wasnt in a guild and only played it periodically. when bc came out, i immediately rolled one and took it to 70. and then...nothing. that was it. i found out that i didnt really like the class much. nothing specifically bad about it, it was just that it didnt seem to suit me. *shrug*...took me 70 levels to figure that out, tho i was half blinded by giddy excitement at having a shaman.
Eternauta Aug 11th 2009 11:56AM
@veil
I had the same experience with my only lvl 80 character: A Paladin.
I started playing during the BC, and I was so "sure" I wanted to be a Paladin.. because I loved the concept of a Holy Knight, and being able to fulfill the 3 roles of PvE (Tank, Healer and DPS in one character.. woot!).
Nevertheless, the more I played the character, the less I liked it. Leveling was a pain, Ret was "Retlol", healing only 1 target at a time doesn't suit my playstyle, Tankadins were looked down in favor of Warriors. Several times during the leveling process I thought of rerolling, but I would never get to 70 that way, so I forced myself to go on.
I thought that I didn't like the class because it was underpowered, WotLK didn't change that.
I mean, now we are a really strong class, but that doesn't make me like my Paladin more. To the contrary, I think that what I don't like is that the Pally class feels too "simplistic" to me. In a word: Faceroll.
DK's may be overpowered, but they're playstyle is at least a bit more involved and strategic than "push whatever is on cooldown".
Now I'm farming Champion Seals to buy all the heirlooms I can and start trying some new characters.
Sorry if it was long.
veil Aug 11th 2009 1:14PM
oh i had the pally experience too...back in vanilla as a retlol (reckoning bomb build). except i was too adamant to prove to everybody that ret was viable that i didnt realize how i was dying a little inside everytime i logged in as a pally ;p the pally was eventually transferred off to another server to make room. i cant even remember where at this point...