WoW class guide

Memnoch

Well some ppl were asking for this info in the guilds thread, so i thoguht i'd create a new one so that the other doesn't go off topic and get cluttered with posts.

Just some basic idea of what each class is like in the game to help ppl make the choice of what to pick when game goes live tomorrow.

Rogue - This is one of the two HIGHEST DPS classes in the game. In addition their DPS does not require a mana pool. Combine this with their ability to keep an opponent stun locked and have pretty much infinite interrutps if cycled well means that they are formidable in PvP. They are also very easy to level. In fact the first player to hit 60 in US WoW was a troll rogue. The only real disadvantage to being a rogue is that they are pretty crap in LATE game PvE. In a 5 man group doing the 60+ instances like scholo/strat/UBRS they are useless and its preferable to get other classes instead of them. In places like molten core and onyxia they suck even more. Because even though their DPS is good, they die to fast from the AOE from the normal mobs in MC that makes them take up too much healing power.

Warrior - This is by far the BEST tank class in the game over all. At least from a PvE perspective. They are pretty decent at leveling and can solo pretty well if played right. In PvP they have a hard time however taking almost any class 1v1 simply because they cannot heal themselves and have very little CC other than their charge + hamstring. In group PvP they do their role well however, and can deal good damage + keep the enemy in melee range and also draw fire onto themselves. In High end PvE warriors especially ones that have a clue how to play/tank are essential, and are the preferred tanks. A paladin just WILL NOT DO in this situation. + Warriors are due some love soonish so they can only get better!

Warlock - this is a great class to solo exp with. Esp with their pet to tank with them. In PvP their fear spam can be really hard to deal with and their dots can deal good damage. However the problem in high end pvp is that of soul shards currently but blizzard's recent announcements are gonna see warlocks getting a lot of pvP oriented love soon! The only problem with them in group v group PvP is that a lot of their spells can be dispelled.

Mage - these are the caster version of the high dps class. They are amazing in 1v1 PvP due to their polymorph + blink + power nukes. They also rock in group PvP due to their aoe nukes. They are a decentish class to level and can produce their own food and water so they don't have to worry about buying drinks to help them along. A very solid class over all. Though they can be killed very fast in group v group if the enemy tries to go for them, and a single rogue keepign them in stun lock can take em down FAST

Smellyirishman

Cool, i'll be a bit more prepared tomorrow, I was thinking of playing a ranger or priest, cause for some reason I love playing the ranged toons in RPGs now.

I will prolly just be rolling all sorts of guys over the first week or two. Thanks much for the guide, now I know to run from the rouges! (unless they stealth)

Memnoch

so continuing the previous thread...

Paladin - this class is very fun initially and my main on US was a 60 paladin. The paladin is pretty easy to solo exp with and useful in groups to exp with also. However, this may change due to the latest nerf to paladin DPS and may make things a LOT harder. The place where pally's excel however is survival, cause they are bloody hard to kill. However pally's make sucky tanks. A protection paladin just can't hold agro, especially not in the molten core. Whereas a 2-h retribution paladin MIGHT be able to hold agro (until the nerf thats going live on US next week and is already live in europe). but cannot take damage. A holy spec paladin CAN heal, but is nowhere near as useful as a priest or druid in this respect. At high end PvE the paladin is a bad choice. Yes you need 1 per group for aura + blessings, but usually there are always pleanty of paladins around. The problem is that Warriors tank better, mages/rogues/hunters deal better DPS, and priests/druids heal better. Up until 60 its easy to make do with other classes. But once u get to the high end PvE content a paladin just isn't as good at ANY of these things as their specialised counter parts.
In PvP also a paladin's role is confined to support. They are hard to kill so expect the enemy to ignore them for the most part. A paladin can stand back and heal /cleanse dots/poisons magic on team mates, but expect to run out of mana very fast. All in all its a decent class, but not a lot of fun imo and due it being an easy pick up and play class there will always be LOTS of paladins to compete with you for items.

Priests - Arguably one of the BEST classes in the game. The priest however is extremely difficult to level up. Because this game is designed for soloing, most ppl don't group while exping. The result is that priests aren't useful till level 60 where all of a sudden they are the most desirable class. However post level 60 and late game, priests are edvestating in PvP. They can heal/AOE fear/deal amazing damage and MANA burn their opponents. They are begged to join instances and the best guilds. If you get a priest to 60 your in for a cushy ride after that, but the path to 60 isn't the easiest or the most fun.

Druids - They are again tough to level. A lot of druids on my server GAVE UP around the level 30-35 mark. People SAY that they are gimped, but there is a 60 druid on my server that beats pretty much EVERYONE in 1v1 PvP. So i don't think they are as bad as people suggest. A good regrowth specced druid can also be an amazing healer if played by a skilled player. They also have the ability to replenish their mana which helps them a lot. They are very desirable classes end game if specced regrowth for their healing prowess.

Hunter - this is a great solo class and can exp very very fast. They are also very useful in PvP and PvE. They deal good DPS, have a pet that can tank pretty decently up until the higher level instances. THey rock in pvp and are teh bane of hybrid classes due to their viper sting ability that burns mana. All in all they are a pretty solid class, but do require skill. They are easy to level and are useful in both pvp and pve groups late game. They do die fast though with a good amount of enemies on them. They are also good at 1v1 pvp ganking due to their detect humanoid radar ability.

Shaman - well i haven't grouped with any at higher elvel or played one, so I cannot offer any real advice on this class!

good luck making ur choice and feel free to ask about anything i've missed out!

Vikings

Nice little guide there, ill end up a warrior or a warlock probably human.

Just hope I can grab a copy somewhere tomorrow (not preordered so im looking at virgin/xtravision or hopefully game)

Memnoch

Smellyirishman wrote:

Cool, i'll be a bit more prepared tomorrow, I was thinking of playing a ranger or priest, cause for some reason I love playing the ranged toons in RPGs now.

I will prolly just be rolling all sorts of guys over the first week or two. Thanks much for the guide, now I know to run from the rouges! (unless they stealth)

err rogues aren't ranged. Yes they can use ranged weapons but hteir damage with them is negligable. Rogues are all about up close and personal damage.

tuxy

he didnt say rogue he said ranger (which does not exist)

Smellyirishman

Perfect, well, I will prolly roll both a preist and a hunter, and play them both.

I wasnt aware that the game was so solo oriented

{EDIT} just noticed my replies, ye, I ment Hunter instead of ranger, and I initially had Rouges in there because I was after just reading the inital post!

Hope that clears it up. As you can see, im not very in the Know about this game, I try reading things on the forums but like most MMOs its so had to wade through the crap

Memnoch

well you can exp well in groups theoritically. I've heard that a well oiled Pbaoe group can exp extremely fast by grinding on elites. But most ppl prefer questing and this is usually done best solo.

tuxy

that is one part of the game i find very diaapointing
the best way to exp does seem to be solo and then just team up for instances every 10 levels or so

for a mmorpg with thosands of people on the server i do feel very alone sometimes

Smellyirishman

I hear there is not even a system for finding a team ( not including the touching stones which are "coming soon" ). The main reason I buy an MMO is for the social aspect and the banter while teaming etc. I will definitly try this game, I have to so I can finally make my own judgement , but I dont think it will be for me, hopefully i'm wrong

Also, sorry to bother you guys, but do you have a link that to thing that tells you how many people are on a server, and of which class etc? Will this be running for Euro server tomorrow as well or will it take time to set up? ( as I assume its 3rd party )

Ivan

Yeah, finding a group is hard as hell, especially after coming from CoH, however its nowhere near as solo based as the likes of Ultima etc.

I dont have much to add to Memnochs guide as I didnt play for very long, however I did find I was able to solo xp with a priest, at least in the beginning. Power Word: Shield is incredibly powerful, a poor mans form of Mana Shield. And this was before I came across these AOE fear.

Let me just say that I think fear is incredibly powerful, AOE fear terrifies me. And its the reason I would choose Undead, as Word of the Forsaken is incredibly powerful.

Paladin is incredibly dull, as is warrior, but then thats just my play style.

Hunter was really easy; Easy to get around, Easy to xp when you have a tanker, which can be taught growl. Effectively taking all aggro from you, while you do ranged damage. Pets are incredibly useful, and as far as I can see, only limited by what you can tank with 0 armor, while you tame it.

Rogue looks like ALOT of fun. I just love stealth and backstab from my time in Muds and its great to see it implemented so well.

Shaman, from what I'm told, is the Horde Paladin. Albeit not quite as difficult to kill, but very potent in its mix of Totems, damage dealing and DD spells.

However, my favourite class has to be the Mage.
Conjure food and Conjure water are great for solo xp'ing, especially when combined with Blink. Frost Nova is the spell you wish it was in Diablo 2. Freezing enemies around you, in place, for up-to 8 seconds! Polymorph is pretty useful in PvP for combat control. Think of it as a poor mans fear. Then you have Teleport/Portals, Ice barrier and several other fun skills.
This is why, Undead Mage will be my main, period.

kipple

I played a Hunter and Priest in beta.

I found the Hunter really easy to level and found it was a very well designed class, I dont know how well it does in groups. The Priest was more tricky and much slower. Overall I found the game to be a blast.

However I didnt get past level 20 so my experience is limited.


T.

BKtje

As far as i know the patch on tuesday is a localization patch and will not nerf of buff any classes.

Ill just go a bit more in depth for the druid since thats what i have bene playing.

I have found this class incredibly fun to play. Its a true hybrid class.
Its main power (and some people feel weakness..) is its ability to shapeshift.
When you reach lvl 10 you (after a quest) get bear form.

Ill just go through the different forms and then sum up its talent trees.

Caster: This is the form i use most often. Armor wise its quite weak (leather), especially later on vs the more damage dealing mobs but it does have a range of powerful spells at its disposal. Moonfire being arguably the most useful. It does a decent amount of damage and then about 150% of that again overtime.
You can root (outdoors) which holds people in place, there is also a root on struck which is _extremely_ useful in pvp. Wrath (nuke) is decent tho nothing special. The big damage dealing spell ins starfire which does roughly double moonfire initial dmg. However its a long cast time and is generally only an opener.
Wide range of healing spells. From healing touch (3.5seccast big heal), to regrowth (2sec cast medium health - same again healed over time) and rejuvenation which is an instant cast and heals a low amoutn of dmg but is useful to keep you alove till u get a bigger heal cast.

Bear (aquired at 10): Basically turns u into a tank. Ups your armor and health at the expense of dmg. Decent agro control.

Aquatic (aquired at 16): Big under water breathing sea lion with 150% swim speed. Good tactic is to get an enemt underwater (pvp) and then root em and watch em drown in aquatic form. Hours of fun as they try to reach the surface

Cat (aquired at 20): Basically turns u into a majory nerfed rogue. This form really isnt that useful. Your armor stays the same (ie rogues leather) but dont have the agility of the rogue to be able to dodge the attacks. Slight dps increase oevr caster and ability to stealth.

Travel form (30): 140% run speed. Very good for getting away from a fight u cant win as its low mana cost and instant cast.

Dire Bear(40): Same as bear but with much increased armor (360%) and hp (depends on lvl) which brings it on par with proper tanks and is very useful if you suddenly find you bit off more than u can chew.

Druid needs fair bit of love and tweaking fromB Blizz. The 3 talent trees are balance (basically caster offensive) feral (animal) and restoration ( turns the druid into a very good healer). Balance is decent tho the ultimate is hurricane which frankly sucks. The feral talents are very underpowered. Infact there are rouglhy 90 talent points needed to completely spec feral... theres only 51 available. Restoration is the must useful of the talent trees (instances and such). It has a few very powerful talents such as Natures Swiftness which when activated (coodown 3 mins) makes ur next nature spell instant. Basically an instant big heal every 3 mins, couple this with bear form and you can basically out last many mobs).
Innervate (ultimate ) is the big one, when cast it gives u 400% mana regen while not casting and 100% while casting. Only lasts about 12 seconds but in half that time ud almost have a full mana pool. Can not understate how useful this is.

I get quite a few whispers asking me to go to instances simply because its so hard to kill me. If i gain agro while healing i can just hit bear form while the party clears the mobs offa me. I of course cant heal or cast spells in bear however.

Druid is the only class ive played but tbh ive fallen in love with it and plan to play it on a euro server as well.

Druid is one of the unfinished classes however so i expect it to be tweaked a lot in the coming months.

If you want a class than can be healer, tank or decently high dps (shred is very useful in grps due to high dmg from behind). Its quite a varied role you play but takes a bit of effort, concentration and intelligence to play properly. This isnt a class ud set swingin away and go get a cup of coffee.

Fenster

Warlocks: We're uber soloers in PvM-I can drop a higher level elite (barring undead)) without taking a single hit-and not so bad in PvP.

I play on a PvP server-Arthas-and I'm a wee mite of level 53, for reference.

Soul Shards are our downfall as our major spells-pets, gems and most importantly for PvP, Shadowburn, all require them. These are tedious to get and we burn through them in heavy PvP like nothing else.

As I said above, we're incredibly strong soloers in PvM and can deal respecible damage-between my Succbus, Corruption, CoA, Immolate, Nightfall proc, Thrash Blade and Firestone, I can get about 140 DPS in fights, which isn't all that bad.

PvP is the important thing for me. I keel over dead at the mere sight of a rouge within ten levels of me, I'll say this now. Its way too easy for them to stun-lock and then whittle us down. Against the other classes, fear and stun are my key tools to winning fights.

You DoT them, chain fears and use Searing Pain and Shadowburn to do as much damage as possible in as little time as you can-this is especially important against priests and druids as they can heal and heal and heal and heal and outlast you if you don't keep your head together.

As far as pets go, you can forget about using anything else except the Succubus unless you're out ganking lowbies and are demon spec (machine gunned fireballs from an Imp=nasty). The Voidwalker is big, impressive...and does absolutely no damage whatsoever. Most of the Felhunter's spells are either procs or conditional (its counterspell is cast automatically upon entering a fight, so its useless), so its similarly useless. I've only used it effectively in a fight once, and that was against a Shadow-spec priest who was hassling my alt.

The key thing is to always choose your ground, where possible-pick where you'll fight and make the Horde come to you, and you'll never lose.

This was shambolic and mostly incoherent, but that's me. ^_^

quozl

I've a lvl 60 Gnome Warlock on Eredar and I love my Warlock.

We're one of the best solo classes and also one of the more complicated which I find fun. Not that any WoW classes are really that complicated. We've a huge array of spells which we constantly use - I have over 20 hotkeys bound. We also can do very high mana effecient sustained dps and very significant, though smaller than mage/rogue, burst dps.

We also are great fun in PvP. Rogues are easy kills even if they are stealthed and get the first hit as long as you have your succubus out, which you should.
I have 4000 hp at lvl 60, so a rogue can only do about 2k damage to me in the first blast and then he's sedeuced and doomed.

The class I find the hardest to kill are Priests.

Alternating Seduece and Fear and not using our dots but instead our resistance reducing curses and large nukes seems to be the way to go in 1v1 PvP since the fear/CC nerf.

As a Warlock the best race to be is undead by miles due to Will of the Forsaken (which needs nerfing I'm still glad I went gnome as the INT boost is decent and Warlocks are rare on Alliance side which I like.

The only down-side is I can't see the point in leveling another Warlock to 60 for Europe when there's a chance accounts will be transferable in a few months. Time to try another class I guess.

Drakar

I played Shaman for a good while, and they are goodish fun with the range of different totems for different group situations. They also get the ghost wolf form at level 20 (140% speed), which is quite early and makes a big difference considering how long one can end up treking around the wilderness.

DeVore

I'm going to get this and probably play on Bladefist (I'm trying to convince my mates to play there, is it PVP?)

I have a soft spot for Gnome "Wizards" (Mage or Warlock though Mage sounds like the one I want). However the comments about Undead make them sound cool too, so maybe an Undead Mage? I've never played this game before but played EQ a lot.
I guess I cant be an undead gnome mage... could I? That would kinda rock

Any advice?

DeV.

koneko

Read the forums on Worldofwarcraft.com (IIRC), some people playing as Warlocks are quitting the game because there's too many issues the devs won't fix. Not sure if that's true or not, but it would be worth a read if you're considering it.

Personally I'm considering Undead Mage aswell, damn you for stealing the thoughts from my brain. Rogue sounds good, but far too many people play as Rogue already (on the US servers anyway, I'd imagine it'll be the same here).

Drakar

Undead and Gnome are different races, so you have to pick (undead is hoarde and gnome is alliance if it helps you pick :P).

Thing to notice on the forums, is that no matter what board you go to people are giving out that their class is underpowered, nerfed, broken and needs to be "fixed". I take those posts with a grain of salt.

kipple

Dev,

Bladefish is a PvP server, which means that the Alliance can atack the Horde and visa versa. The 4 Horde races are undead, troll, orc and tauren. For a mage or warlock I would pick undead as they have abilities that give them an edge in PvP (fear resistance).

Mages and Warlocks are both solid classes.

Playing in beta I found the game to be very like EQ but much better.


T.

quozl

koneko wrote:

Read the forums on Worldofwarcraft.com (IIRC), some people playing as Warlocks are quitting the game because there's too many issues the devs won't fix.

There's whiners threatening to quit in every class. I've a lvl 60 warlock and it's brilliant.

There are a good few bugs outstanding but all the classes have some. As it stands I think Druids and Warriors need a good bit more loving than us. If they did away with the need for soul shards in pvp i'd be a happy man.

CivilServant

The people who are complaining about quitting are the people that can't beat rogues, the undead, priests and shamans. Against all the other classes and races we do quiet well. WoTF is overpowered, because it allows one race to have such a big advantage over the warlock. But then blizzard created the game this way, so no single class could dominate over all others. In their opinion it is balanced and no matter how much locks shout about it, I don't think it's going to be changed.

The people that do managed to beat skilled undead players usually tell you to burn WoTF first because after 15 seconds they can't use it again. Try to keep your distance, and after the timer goes you can fear them so hit them with everything you've got.

People are also complaining about the high lvl pets or lack of them, ie the Infernals and Doomguards. These demons can only be summoned by finding a special box (grimoire) that is only dropped from high lvl beasties within an instance. Making it very difficult to find them, ie 4% iirc. And if you're lucky enough to find them, the reagents used to summon them are expensive and you can only control them for a max of 5 mins before they turn on you.

Initially I was a mage, but the constant sitting around drinking and eating makes you pull your hair out. Yes they're the highest dps in the game, but 60% of the game ur on ur arse, which is not my idea of fun. Warlocks have good mana management, u can drain life, the DoTs are excellent damage per mana wise, and u have a pet to take the heat too. Endgame wise, I think we're sought after because of our ability to res after a wipe. And good crowd control too, fear, seduce, and we even have the highest dps AoE spell in the game, Hellfire! Just make ur you're buffed up to the hilt when you use it!

To get a character to lvl 60 takes about 200+ hours of gameplay, or 1 month of real time, so make your choice wisely.

koneko

quozl wrote:

There's whiners threatening to quit in every class.

Ah I know, it's inherent with any MMORPGs, moaning at the devs about something. "I PAY BLAHBLAH CENTS A DAY, FIX THIS NOW!"
Maybe it was just the day I was looking at the boards, seemed to be just warlocks moaning. But like I said, they could be wrong so it's best just to read up on whatever class you're considering (of course).

Ivan

Oh, in case anyone hasnt heard of it yet.

http://www.thottbot.com/

Funky

I've a 60 Priest on US retail and couldn't recommend them enough... arguably the best 1v1 class in the game(I've only dueled a Shaman twice and its 1-1) and though large scale PvP hasn't really started they have the skills to excel there too. If you're alliance go dwarf, you'll be wanted even more than the average human/night elf as their fear ward is almost essential for fighting some bosses in high end raid instances.

BArra

nerf shadow priests

LoBo

noob question:

I thought you were limited when picking skills/abilities/spells? As far as I can tell I don't seem to have a limit, ie can buy any and all I want.. doesn't seem to be any skill points with a limit on them.

Did it change since they printed the manual?

DapperGent

I think you're probably thinking of the talent tree. You get one point per level to spent on talents after you hit 10 (I think) these a different to the skills you learn from an instructor which only cost money.

Each class's talent tree has three strands at sixty you'd be able to have one strand completely full and part of another. You'd be leaving yourself very one dimensional though. At LVL 39 in the US version I have 5,10,15 split of my talent points across the three strands, with no intention of maxing out any single strand.

Ivan

This is alot like Diablo 2 in that you can be a jack of all trades and a master of none, but it will cost you in the end. You need to focus on a specific talent tree in order to get the best benefits.

DapperGent

I don't know so much about that my personal experience is as a hunter and the end level talents were of questionable benefit. While some mid-level ones were totally essential either way you'll be leaving one talent tree almost totally alone from what I could see.

Like for a hunter your main focus would be on gaining talents that increased ranged damage but you'd also want to get some of the talents that help you in melee (well getting you out of melee essentailly) and you might want some of the ones that beef up your pet. The end level talents Soul Bond, Lacerate and Trushot Aura in each of these trees are comple pants whereas Aimed Shot, Scatter Shot and Counterattack could be considered essentailly and mid of high mid talents.

Maybe that's just a hunter thing but speccing fully in one tree as a hunter looked like a recipe for disaster.

quozl

Ivan wrote:

This is alot like Diablo 2 in that you can be a jack of all trades and a master of none, but it will cost you in the end. You need to focus on a specific talent tree in order to get the best benefits.

It may depend on your class. As a Warlock general consesus seems to be to go all the way up your chosen tree alright, and a tri-tree build would leave you missing out on a lot.

I don't know if this is so true for the hunter, as I don't know the talents.

Some priests seem to swear by a three tree build, though i'll be going all the way up shadow.

Whatever class you go i'd suggest reading the classes forums, there's always a good post that will list the available talents and tell you why some that sounds brilliant are actually a waste of a point, and some that sound poor are actually un-missable.

Quozl