So I'm thinking about starting wow again and I want to start from scratch. so I want to get an idea of what I'm going to roll this time around.
So I want to break this up into two categories, melee dps and ranged dps. I have to classes in mind for each. But I would like to open my mind to other suggestions. Now I am going to pick a horde and I'd really like to stick with the original races from vanilla. Maybe when I cap this toon I'll try one of the newer races but idk but like I said I do want to keep my mind open. Now does race even matter other than racial stats? Because IMO I should just narrow which race I'll be down by picking the one that looks cooler.
So for ranged dps I'm thinking either shadow priest or warlock. Are these classes moderately easy to play? Is one easier than other? And what spec is best for warlocks? What do you guys think of the other ranged dps classes? (mages, boomkins ect)
For melee dps I'd like to use a rouge or feral Druid. Basicly the same questions as before moderatly easy to play? What spec for a rogue? And is one easier than than the other.
Now I don't wanna pick a classed based on how OP they are because eventually a new class will become OP.
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Shadow Priest vs Warlock: In my opinion and experience, Shadow Priest is "easier" to play than two out of three of the Warlock specializations.
Here's a scraped walkthrough of the four specializations:
Shadow Priest: Maintain two debuffs (Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch), use Mind Blast when possible, use Mind Flay when Mind Blast is on cooldown. Only use Mind Spike if you get a talent proc (if you have that talent). At three Shadow Orbs, use Devouring Plague. If the target is below 20%, use Shadow Word: Death (possibly replaces Mind Blast).
Destruction Warlock: Maintain one debuff (Immolate), maintain one self-buff (Backdraft) with Conflagrate and spam Incinerate. Use Chaos Bolt when you have a Burning Ember. If the target is below 20% health, Shadowburn replaces Chaos Bolt.
Affliction Warlock: Maintain three debuffs (Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Agony) and spam Malefic Grasp. Use Haunt when you have a Soul Shard (Nightfall allows you to regenerate Soul Shards during combat). If the target is below 20% health, Soul Drain replaces Malefic Grasp.
Demonology Warlock: Maintain two debuffs (Corruption, Doom) and spam Shadow Bolt. Use Soul Fire when Molten Core procs. Use Metamorphosis when you are at maximum Demonic Fury. If the target is below 20% health, Soul Fire replaces Shadow Bolt.
Destruction is arguably easier than Shadow Priest and the two other Warlock specializations. Shadow Priest is arguably easier than the two other Warlock specializations. Demonology, in my experience, is definitely the least easy specialization to play, primarily because you have to switch in and out of Metamorphosis all the time to keep your Demonic Fury below max.
As for rouge and Feral Druids, rouge is overpowdered, but the Rogue is a pretty balanced class. I'll leave it up to some of the resident Rogues to answer that question, since my own Rogue never got past level 60 (stopped playing it when Ferals were revamped). I do believe I can answer whether or not Feral Druids are easy to play, though.
If you compare the Feral Druid to the Shadow Priest and Warlock specializations above, I'd place the Feral Druid between the Demonology Warlock and Shadow Priest in terms of skill level. Boiled down, you have to maintain three debuffs (Weakened Armor, Rip, Rake), maintain one self-buff (Savage Roar) and spam Shred/Mangle. If the target is below 20% health, Ferocious Bite replaces Rip (since it refreshes Rip).
All three classes (Warlock, Priest, Druid) are classes that are easy to learn, but difficult to master. While the above priority lists might net you anywhere from 50-80% of your maximum potential DPS, to achieve the maximum, you have to do a lot more stuff. All three classes utilize manually applied DoTs to some extent (unlike the Warrior, for instance, who applies DoTs automatically), so you have to be on top of your DoT duration and constantly factor it into your calculations. Can you squeeze in one more Malefic Grasp, Shadow Bolt, Incinerate, Mind Blast or Shred before your DoT drops? If you can, it's a DPS boost; if you can't, it's a DPS loss.
In my opinion, you should look at the classes and decide based on which class and specialization you think is more interesting.
Do you want shapeshifting, healing and melee combat? Feral Druid might be your thing.
Do you want demonic pets, shapeshifting and a mix of melee and ranged combat? Give the Demonology Warlock a try
Do you want demonic pets, fire spells and ranged combat? Destruction Warlock is probably up your alley.
Do you want demonic pets, debuffs, drains and ranged combat? Try out the Affliction Warlock.
Do you want healing and ranged combat? Take a look at Shadow Priest.
Note: Affliction and Destruction Warlocks currently achieve maximum DPS by not using their pets (sacrifice them through a talent). This may, however, change later on.
Edited, Sep 12th 2012 4:37pm by Mazra
Here's a scraped walkthrough of the four specializations:
Shadow Priest: Maintain two debuffs (Shadow Word: Pain, Vampiric Touch), use Mind Blast when possible, use Mind Flay when Mind Blast is on cooldown. Only use Mind Spike if you get a talent proc (if you have that talent). At three Shadow Orbs, use Devouring Plague. If the target is below 20%, use Shadow Word: Death (possibly replaces Mind Blast).
Destruction Warlock: Maintain one debuff (Immolate), maintain one self-buff (Backdraft) with Conflagrate and spam Incinerate. Use Chaos Bolt when you have a Burning Ember. If the target is below 20% health, Shadowburn replaces Chaos Bolt.
Affliction Warlock: Maintain three debuffs (Unstable Affliction, Corruption, Agony) and spam Malefic Grasp. Use Haunt when you have a Soul Shard (Nightfall allows you to regenerate Soul Shards during combat). If the target is below 20% health, Soul Drain replaces Malefic Grasp.
Demonology Warlock: Maintain two debuffs (Corruption, Doom) and spam Shadow Bolt. Use Soul Fire when Molten Core procs. Use Metamorphosis when you are at maximum Demonic Fury. If the target is below 20% health, Soul Fire replaces Shadow Bolt.
Destruction is arguably easier than Shadow Priest and the two other Warlock specializations. Shadow Priest is arguably easier than the two other Warlock specializations. Demonology, in my experience, is definitely the least easy specialization to play, primarily because you have to switch in and out of Metamorphosis all the time to keep your Demonic Fury below max.
As for rouge and Feral Druids, rouge is overpowdered, but the Rogue is a pretty balanced class. I'll leave it up to some of the resident Rogues to answer that question, since my own Rogue never got past level 60 (stopped playing it when Ferals were revamped). I do believe I can answer whether or not Feral Druids are easy to play, though.
If you compare the Feral Druid to the Shadow Priest and Warlock specializations above, I'd place the Feral Druid between the Demonology Warlock and Shadow Priest in terms of skill level. Boiled down, you have to maintain three debuffs (Weakened Armor, Rip, Rake), maintain one self-buff (Savage Roar) and spam Shred/Mangle. If the target is below 20% health, Ferocious Bite replaces Rip (since it refreshes Rip).
All three classes (Warlock, Priest, Druid) are classes that are easy to learn, but difficult to master. While the above priority lists might net you anywhere from 50-80% of your maximum potential DPS, to achieve the maximum, you have to do a lot more stuff. All three classes utilize manually applied DoTs to some extent (unlike the Warrior, for instance, who applies DoTs automatically), so you have to be on top of your DoT duration and constantly factor it into your calculations. Can you squeeze in one more Malefic Grasp, Shadow Bolt, Incinerate, Mind Blast or Shred before your DoT drops? If you can, it's a DPS boost; if you can't, it's a DPS loss.
In my opinion, you should look at the classes and decide based on which class and specialization you think is more interesting.
Do you want shapeshifting, healing and melee combat? Feral Druid might be your thing.
Do you want demonic pets, shapeshifting and a mix of melee and ranged combat? Give the Demonology Warlock a try
Do you want demonic pets, fire spells and ranged combat? Destruction Warlock is probably up your alley.
Do you want demonic pets, debuffs, drains and ranged combat? Try out the Affliction Warlock.
Do you want healing and ranged combat? Take a look at Shadow Priest.
Note: Affliction and Destruction Warlocks currently achieve maximum DPS by not using their pets (sacrifice them through a talent). This may, however, change later on.
Edited, Sep 12th 2012 4:37pm by Mazra
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
I'll give my opinion on rogue vs feral, since I've played a rogue for a hell of a long time, and my normal arena partner for years while he still played was a feral (he also happened to be my brother, and one of the top ferals in the world in PvP).
Rogue is specialized. You're stuck in one role, and you can't ever switch out. You get variations in play style for DPS among the three specs, but you're always doing damage, and you're always standing directly behind whoever/whatever you're killing. This is great or terrible, depending on what you're looking for. Personally I prefer mastering every aspect of the class (and DPS) rather than being able to switch roles with dual spec. It also means that my DPS gear (and PvP gear) is always relevant to whatever spec I'm using at the time.
Ferals in the past have gotten the short end of the stick. They weren't taken very seriously by Blizzard until sometime in the WotLK patches (probably the pre-WotLK patch similar to 5.0.4), and they really suffered for it in groups and PvP. Since then there have been a lot of changes, though IMO feral is still a watered-down version of rogue (or warrior in bear form).
In a lot of cases, druid allows more freedom to do what you want in the game; with dual spec, you can be feral and boomkin. You could also be boomkin and resto. You'd be able to change specs incredibly easily, though you'd need a second set of gear to be effective (unless something has changed in gearing). You could also alternate between tanking and DPS.
Obviously, I prefer a rogue (since I've played one since release). I prefer the lore behind them, I prefer their abilities (which is much deeper and robust than just the feral part of the druid), and I prefer having weapons that I use over a staff or polearm that sits on my back and never gets used.
Rogue is specialized. You're stuck in one role, and you can't ever switch out. You get variations in play style for DPS among the three specs, but you're always doing damage, and you're always standing directly behind whoever/whatever you're killing. This is great or terrible, depending on what you're looking for. Personally I prefer mastering every aspect of the class (and DPS) rather than being able to switch roles with dual spec. It also means that my DPS gear (and PvP gear) is always relevant to whatever spec I'm using at the time.
Ferals in the past have gotten the short end of the stick. They weren't taken very seriously by Blizzard until sometime in the WotLK patches (probably the pre-WotLK patch similar to 5.0.4), and they really suffered for it in groups and PvP. Since then there have been a lot of changes, though IMO feral is still a watered-down version of rogue (or warrior in bear form).
In a lot of cases, druid allows more freedom to do what you want in the game; with dual spec, you can be feral and boomkin. You could also be boomkin and resto. You'd be able to change specs incredibly easily, though you'd need a second set of gear to be effective (unless something has changed in gearing). You could also alternate between tanking and DPS.
Obviously, I prefer a rogue (since I've played one since release). I prefer the lore behind them, I prefer their abilities (which is much deeper and robust than just the feral part of the druid), and I prefer having weapons that I use over a staff or polearm that sits on my back and never gets used.
Obviously you need a druid of some sort so you can be an official poster on the Bored Druid Thread not just a welcome imposter!
Friar RareBeast wrote:
Obviously you need a druid of some sort so you can be an official poster on the Bored Druid Thread not just a welcome imposter!
My process:
1) Go to random realm.
2) Make druid.
3) Play with Wrath.
4) Post in BDT.
I think I win this.
Good enough for me!
Welcome to the BDT (officially).
Edit: This isn't the BDT! And this isn't a real edit, because I haven't posted yet. I'd have to click the p
Welcome to the BDT (officially).
Edit: This isn't the BDT! And this isn't a real edit, because I haven't posted yet. I'd have to click the p
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
In my opinion Combat rogue is probably the simplest melee dps class... Not very position dependant, just keep slice and dice up at all times and can get away with only using two different finishers and still do legit dps for very little effort. Although i havent hopped on my rogue since the big mists update but prior to that i could play combat rogue eyes closed and still do fine!
demegod wrote:
In my opinion Combat rogue is probably the simplest melee dps class... Not very position dependant, just keep slice and dice up at all times and can get away with only using two different finishers and still do legit dps for very little effort. Although i havent hopped on my rogue since the big mists update but prior to that i could play combat rogue eyes closed and still do fine!
Every DPS class is positionally dependent if they're doing physical damage. Just because you don't know game mechanics doesn't mean that the spec isn't positionally dependent.
Hint: bosses parry from the front, and capping expertise for parry isn't enough to remove that from the hit table. You lose DPS when you attack from the front.
Overlord Theophany wrote:
demegod wrote:
In my opinion Combat rogue is probably the simplest melee dps class... Not very position dependant, just keep slice and dice up at all times and can get away with only using two different finishers and still do legit dps for very little effort. Although i havent hopped on my rogue since the big mists update but prior to that i could play combat rogue eyes closed and still do fine!
Every DPS class is positionally dependent if they're doing physical damage. Just because you don't know game mechanics doesn't mean that the spec isn't positionally dependent.
Hint: bosses parry from the front, and capping expertise for parry isn't enough to remove that from the hit table. You lose DPS when you attack from the front.
That's mostly true, but as a feral druid I always hated bosses where it was difficult if not impossible to attack in Shred range. Not that you run in to them all the time, but they do pop up every couple raid tiers. There are also the amorphous mobs where you can't tell if you're really behind it except by hitting Shred and seeing if it goes off.
AstarintheDruid wrote:
Overlord Theophany wrote:
demegod wrote:
In my opinion Combat rogue is probably the simplest melee dps class... Not very position dependant, just keep slice and dice up at all times and can get away with only using two different finishers and still do legit dps for very little effort. Although i havent hopped on my rogue since the big mists update but prior to that i could play combat rogue eyes closed and still do fine!
Every DPS class is positionally dependent if they're doing physical damage. Just because you don't know game mechanics doesn't mean that the spec isn't positionally dependent.
Hint: bosses parry from the front, and capping expertise for parry isn't enough to remove that from the hit table. You lose DPS when you attack from the front.
That's mostly true, but as a feral druid I always hated bosses where it was difficult if not impossible to attack in Shred range. Not that you run in to them all the time, but they do pop up every couple raid tiers. There are also the amorphous mobs where you can't tell if you're really behind it except by hitting Shred and seeing if it goes off.
Obviously there are bosses where you can't. There were times on Aran back in Kara where it wasn't possible. The point is that if it is indeed possible, you should always be attacking from behind, regardless of what attack you're using.
It is actually kind of good that a druid can't shred from the front. If a shred fails to go off then it tells you and you move. As long as you haven't capped your energy you haven't lost any DPS as we are resource capped, not GCD capped. It is like the game forces ferals to do it right instead of allowing us to beat on the boss from the front and lose DPS to parries.
With the buffing to mangle, we don't even lose too much DPS if we do get stuck with a boss you can't get behind - certainly no more than we lose on other melee unfriendly fights.
With the buffing to mangle, we don't even lose too much DPS if we do get stuck with a boss you can't get behind - certainly no more than we lose on other melee unfriendly fights.
Are you other Ferals out there having some muscle memory issues with Mangle and Shred? I keep using Mangle every time I engage a new target and I keep forgetting to use Savage Roar (glyphed) before anything else.
My brain is trying to prevent my muscle memory, which makes me forget about all kinds of other abilities. Instead of applying Mangle every 30 seconds, we now have to apply Faerie Fire every 30 seconds. And instead of Savage Roar being applied last, it now has to be applied first. My keybinds are not optimized for this.
Edited, Sep 19th 2012 11:58am by Mazra
My brain is trying to prevent my muscle memory, which makes me forget about all kinds of other abilities. Instead of applying Mangle every 30 seconds, we now have to apply Faerie Fire every 30 seconds. And instead of Savage Roar being applied last, it now has to be applied first. My keybinds are not optimized for this.
Edited, Sep 19th 2012 11:58am by Mazra
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
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