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All of the latest Mists of Pandaria newsBreakfast Topic: What prompted your class choice?
by Lexi Sarver 
Oct 30th 2010 at 8:00AM
You're sitting at your character creation screen, starting a brand new game, maybe with no previous gaming experience at all. Or perhaps you're well-versed in the realms of MMOs, and you have a favorite character archetype already. No matter which applies, we all started at that screen, wondering: What class should I pick? What does class choice even mean? What are tanks? How come this class's armor is so hideous? What on earth is a paladin?
For me, I was devouring the manual that came with vanilla WoW as it installed, trying to find a class I'd like. When I stumbled upon druids and the fact that they could turn into bears and kitties (and moonkin, although I didn't know that yet), I was instantly hooked. Later, in the 40-49 bracket of Warsong Gulch, after getting wrecked over and over by warlock DoTs, I thought, "Hey! Warlocks seem OP! I should make one!" And thus, the warlock was born.
A guildmate of mine chose a rogue because she'd watch her husband play and he would always exclaim how annoying they were and how much he hated rogues. His anger amused her, so rogue she went!
What influenced you? Death Grip looked awesome? You wanted to dispel Hunter's Mark because you hated that graphic (my priest!)? You wanted to shoot huge balls of fire at people? Tell us about it!
Filed under: Breakfast Topics, Guest Posts
Reader Comments (Page 2 of 10)
Gryph Oct 30th 2010 8:29AM
My love for good nature views and being in the forest made me pick a hunter. Sure, druids are close to nature, but back in vanilla I played ally, and a treehugger wasn't what I wanted, so I became a dwarf with an obsession for bows (even though they are better with guns, just don't like the sound) and finding odd pets and getting every cool weapon I could get even if I couldn't wield it. You can say I was a typical stereotype hunter :P
I loved Stranglethorn, then Nagrand and Netherstorm's Artificial Dome, and at last Scholozar Basin. Hopefully Cataclysm will have some very nice nature zones. Just love those :D
Gryph Oct 30th 2010 8:33AM
Oh Noes! I forgot to mention Grizzly Hills! So soothing just to sit in the mountains with your pet at your side, listening to the music :)
Thon Oct 30th 2010 8:30AM
Shapeshifting abilities was teh sheetz.
As you might have guessed, I play a druid, and am loving every moment of it!
Phaelan Oct 30th 2010 8:32AM
I started playing my Nelf Hunter after running into someone, while playing a different class (can not for the life of me remember what it was), who had a hunter and pet. I wanted a pet and rerolled.
After Wrath Launched my DK became my main as I thought they were cool. Then I got my Shaman to 80 and that became my main. Now I have a 80 Priest and currently leveling my original Hunter to 80 for Cataclysm but I don't consider any of them my "main"
Kuri Oct 30th 2010 8:32AM
Someone had to heal in the group of 4 I started with. I drew the short straw.
Skyburn Oct 30th 2010 8:37AM
I chose a Tauren Shaman because I wanted to heal my cousin who was a tauren warrior... He abandoned the game shortly after tho ¬¬.
Idaelus Oct 30th 2010 8:36AM
When my buddy first talked me into playing Wow, I mucked about with a few classes getting my feet wet for a few hours. Hunter (of course), mage, warlock. Nothing felt quite right. And then I read the desription for a Paladin, and thought, well this sounds like me, only way cooler and more heroic than I actually am.
And 4ish years later, I am happily rolling my face across my keyboard.
:P
nieboh Oct 30th 2010 8:37AM
I was playing a D&D campaign when I first started playing WoW. I had always been somewhat intrigued by the paladin class so I made one of those. He was my main for over a year. In the campaign I was playing a rogue, so I also rolled a rogue. She's sort of my current main. At some point, I decided to play a mage because I hadn't played a ranged class yet and didn't want to worry about a pet so I went mage over hunter or warlock. She was my main from Molten Core through Trials of the Crusade. Now I have many up and coming alts just so I can have experience playing all the classes (not warlock).
aelador Oct 30th 2010 8:49AM
I play a pally Tank on a pvp server and ill tell you what promted me to roll him years ago....Rogues! Rogues stun locking and killing my clothes before I even got a chance to move! Damn you Rogues!!!
Swifteye Oct 30th 2010 8:40AM
I chose to make my first toon a Hunter simply because I'd been playing the archer type for so many years in so many other games (having just come off of a decently high-level Ranger in MapleStory at the beginning of my WoW career).
Unfortunately, WoW just broke the archer-love for me... I'm not saying Hunters are bad by any stretch of the imagination; I'm just saying they don't suit my particular tastes.
I'm hoping to make my main a Paladin soon... as far as character archtypes go I've always been enthralled by the "holy warrior" types, the justice types, the "righteous fury" (speaking of the general concept, not the ability, heh) types.
Healy types are great, sure, the "I want to help you, so let me make you feel better" crowd... but something about the "I want to help you, so let me beat the ever-lovin' Hell outta the guy who did this to you so he can't hurt you anymore" guy just calls to me on an almost primal level.
fweezel Oct 30th 2010 8:42AM
The fact that hunters can name their pets.
DarkFinch Oct 30th 2010 8:44AM
I really liked the idea of being a hybrid class. I also like all the Native American styles and lore used for the Tauren.. So I decided to roll a Tauren Shaman with my first toon! I really enjoyed it until Outlands. I was having a lot of trouble taking out those tough mobs, so I switched it up and rolled a mage. To this day, the mage is my main and I really enjoy it. I have since played my shaman, though. He is currently sitting at level 70. =)
exogenesis. Oct 30th 2010 8:44AM
I first rolled a druid because of the vanilla cinematic. It made night elves look awesome, and made druids look even cooler, so I rolled one. I was horribly disappointed by how rubbish the race looks ingame, and quickly got bored with the class and the starting zone. Rerolled to a dwarf hunter, because I've always loved animals - until I ran into the world dragon in Duskwood. Immediately rerolled a Horde hunter, which is where my loyalty to the Horde began, and then decided to create a DK after Wrath came out. They looked awesome, the closest thing to playable necromancers WoW has. Then I realised I hated melee, but I still wanted to play "evil", rather than nature loving like my hunter. Which took me to my warlock. I fell in love with it, and have remained in love with it. I have recently taken a shadow priest as an alt because I have always wanted Shadowform.
Zephrian Oct 30th 2010 8:49AM
I loved Lord of the Rings and my favorite character is Legolas and thus my hunter was born. I actually rolled a Rogue as my first toon ever, leveled him til about level 5 or so and ran into a level 10 hunter in Darnassus and was absolutely amazed when I saw that he had a pet. I immediately deleted and rerolled.
Darky Oct 30th 2010 9:37AM
And thus lolegas was born.
Joakim Oct 30th 2010 8:49AM
My very first toon was born at 5.45 am following playtime with an ... aquaintance. Oh, I was drunk too. So orc warrior seemed a good choice.
Lesson learned: Don't try to roll a brand new WoW char while someone is nudging you with both temptation and a bottle of red wine.
Fast forward, now on my very own account (and almost sober): After yet another warrior, and a third ... I learned that "maybe warrior isn't my cup of tea after all". So, I though I would need a tank - and thus the nelf hunter was born. She lived all the way to 71, before settling down with a gnome in Borean Tundra.
So, when I choose a class it's either a class with a free "partner" (pet/demon) or a one man army paladin. Hunters and locks cater to my coward side; taking down the bad boys from afar. Paladins are wonderfu melee artists - _and_ their armor look good :)
I stil roll warrior from time to time, and always end in magnificent failure.
rmt1 Oct 30th 2010 8:55AM
I play a warlock, ever since I saw the undead lock on the main WoW cinematic, with the infernal, I have always loved him. Ironicly, in the video he is seen smushing, and draining the life from the flowers around him... I am a herbalist... and I make flowers... I guess I have failed... sorry.
Jet Oct 30th 2010 12:35PM
Same for me. Undead Lock cause of the cinematic. Second toon was a warrior counter my barbarian in Diablo 2,Hunter was 3rd cause I told a friend new to the game to pick a race and I would make a toon of the same race so we could level together. The rest were all rolled at the same time as another friend's toons. I didn't know anything about wow and none of my choices were made cause I thought a class was powerful etc.
scarebro Oct 30th 2010 8:53AM
first class that hooked me was druid, specifically resto spec. I thought it was the coolest thing in the world to play as a tree and I'd always played the healing role in most of my MMOs so it was pretty brilliant for a while (specifically until they killed perma-tree form, of course.)
my current main was a warlock I powerlevelled in less than a week after I watched the Wrathgate cinematic and decided that Putress was pretty much the most badassingest thing on two rotting legs and that I absolutely HAD to have warlock T8. even though I've got higher tiers of gear in all my other slots, I still wear the T8 helm and chest when I can.
liamgilchrist Oct 30th 2010 8:57AM
Well I originally planned on going druid but after a quick bit of research i read that as a hybrid class they where not great at anything only good at everything. i found that stupid
So I went paladin.
The noob in me didn't see the irony until much later.