How to Pick Your Class in World of Warcraft
Choose a role to play in parties/raids.Tank - These characters support parties by being largely defensive, holding large health totals and wearing heavy armor (Mail pre-level 40, Plate after, or for Ferals a "form" which is equivalent), mitigating...
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Choose a role to play in parties/raids.Tank - These characters support parties by being largely defensive
This role is often difficult due to the large number of things a Tank must watch out for.
These include:
Sudden health drops of other party members, your healer's mana bar, potential hazards (damaging zones on the ground, other mobs to avoid accidentally pulling), their threat levels with each mob they are tanking, their own health levels, the cool-downs on their own abilities, their Rage quantities and etc.
However, Tanking can be a truly rewarding experience as well.
Good Tanks are always in high demand, never experiencing a hard time finding a group willing to run with them.
They often have first crack at the best loot, and in general will find themselves in the leadership role of most parties, as they must direct the flow of the game-play in party style play.The drawbacks of a Tank are:
Most tanks don't do a great deal of single-target damage, and only moderate Area of Effect (AoE) damage.
They usually can't do much to heal for themselves, whether due to lack of healing spells/abilities or needing to utilize their mana for other ends.
They must keep track of many things but have a limited resource to work with, and often times they must make up for other party members' mistakes, such as Over-Aggroing (yes, you Warlocks and Mages know you do it...)Healer These characters embody the true essence of a Support Class.
Healer-classes have a large number of things to keep track of, most of which will generally revolve around the maintenance of the general health/condition of their Party.
While the name "Healer" is rather obvious, Healers do more than simply raise the health totals of their party members.
Some healers are skilled at mitigating damage with protective spells.
All healers are capable of buffing their allies.
Healers must monitor the status/condition of their party, being ready to remove whatever illnesses befall them (Poisons, Diseases, Curses, Magical Afflictions) all while attempting to avoid drawing the aggro off of the rest of the party (And yes, Healer Aggro can be vicious.) The role of the healer is integral to the party/group dynamic in World of Warcraft, and a good healer can make up for a crappy Tank.While Healers have many positives, they likewise have drawbacks to include:
Healers are generally "squishy" meaning they wear light armor or are otherwise not capable of taking many hits before dying, and even the hardiest healers (arguably Holy Paladins) fall to burst damage long before their tank would have felt a scratch on their armor.
Healers are not capable of much in the way of DPS.
While it could be argued that they can DPS depending on the class, they aren't talented well for it and their mana pools must be reserved for, well, healing.
Cloth and Leather-based healers will often find themselves rolling against Cloth/Leather casters for decent gear on dungeon drops, which can prove annoying.
Unless the healer is skilled enough, it is likely it will run out of mana eventually, thus they must carry water supplies to restock.Damage/DPS These characters are the rock-stars of the number smashing world.
They are responsible for what veteran players of the game like to call "Melting Faces." As the name would suggest, The DPS' main role is to cause great deals of damage.
There are a number of classes that all work toward this end in a number of fashions, but the most general categories of DPS are:
Ranged and Melee.
There is also a bit of a differentiation between Ranged Caster/Ranged Physical, but it's not really that important.
Often times DPS classes are capable of debuffing their targets, increasing their vulnerability to the rest of their attacks.
Some DPS classes even enhance the abilities of other DPSers in their group/category, thus bringing more utility to a raid/group environment.
Further still, many DPSers are also capable of buffing their allies, increasing the party's efficiency overall.There are some benefits to being a DPS class, but there are a number of drawbacks as well:
While equally as necessary in a group as the Tanks and Healers, DPS classes suffer in that they seem to be "a dime a dozen." DPS classes are generally not as squishy as Healers (though some are equally-so such as Mages and Warlocks) but they can't take too much punishment before they go down.
Poor DPSers will do less overall damage in a group setting than a good Tank, and single-target DPS classes may suffer on Recount charts when AoE DPS is necessary.
If you're playing a DPSer that isn't good on mana conservation, you may well have to stop for water fairly often, which can be annoying.
Finally, you're not on the healer's Priority Target list, (which includes the Tank and them-self) so you are more likely to die when things go awry. -
Step 2: holding large health totals and wearing heavy armor (Mail pre-level 40
While at first glance this may not seem to affect the class you play, it might well determine how you play said class since different Races have different Racial Abilities that compliment some classes better than others, and in the case of some Race/Class combinations you are very limited in choices (as is the case with Druids.)Alliance
- The Races of the Alliance include many "Noble" minded creatures, and the abilities of the Alliance Races often are more well-suited for the PvE (Player versus Environment) setting.Horde
- The Races of the Horde include the more "Gritty" races, and their Racial Abilities are often more useful in the PvP (Player versus Player) setting. , So you know what role you want to play.
The following is a list of classes/specs based on their Role.Tanks
- Protection Warriors, Brewmaster Monks, Vengeance Demon-hunters, Protection Paladins, Feral (Bear) Druids, Blood Death Knights.Healers
- Holy/Discipline Priests, Restoration Druids, Restoration Shamans, Holy Paladins, Mistweaver Monks.Melee DPS
- Armsman/Fury Warriors, Retribution Paladins, Mistweaver Moks, Feral (Cat) Druids, Enhancement Shamans, Assassination/Combat/Subtlety Rogues, Windwalker Monks, Havoc Demon-hunters, Unholy/Frost Death Knights.Ranged DPS
- Balance Druids, Elemental Shamans, Shadow Priests, Arcane/Fire/Frost Mages, Affliction/Destruction/Demonology Warlocks, Marksman/Survival/Beast Mastery Hunters. , At first each class may seem to be underpowered or lack options for styles of play, but this changes drastically the higher the level your character gets.
You will never experience the greater powers and more impressive spells/abilities unless you stick it out and make it to the top.
Don't like your choice after that? Well, there's always the option of Re-Rolling a new toon! -
Step 3: Plate after
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Step 4: or for Ferals a "form" which is equivalent)
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Step 5: mitigating Aggro (terminology used within the game to denote the "threat" levels of a given NPC) and in general keeping the rest of the party from taking too much direct damage.
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Step 6: Choose Your Faction.
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Step 7: Choose your Class.
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Step 8: Stick With Your Decision.
Detailed Guide
This role is often difficult due to the large number of things a Tank must watch out for.
These include:
Sudden health drops of other party members, your healer's mana bar, potential hazards (damaging zones on the ground, other mobs to avoid accidentally pulling), their threat levels with each mob they are tanking, their own health levels, the cool-downs on their own abilities, their Rage quantities and etc.
However, Tanking can be a truly rewarding experience as well.
Good Tanks are always in high demand, never experiencing a hard time finding a group willing to run with them.
They often have first crack at the best loot, and in general will find themselves in the leadership role of most parties, as they must direct the flow of the game-play in party style play.The drawbacks of a Tank are:
Most tanks don't do a great deal of single-target damage, and only moderate Area of Effect (AoE) damage.
They usually can't do much to heal for themselves, whether due to lack of healing spells/abilities or needing to utilize their mana for other ends.
They must keep track of many things but have a limited resource to work with, and often times they must make up for other party members' mistakes, such as Over-Aggroing (yes, you Warlocks and Mages know you do it...)Healer These characters embody the true essence of a Support Class.
Healer-classes have a large number of things to keep track of, most of which will generally revolve around the maintenance of the general health/condition of their Party.
While the name "Healer" is rather obvious, Healers do more than simply raise the health totals of their party members.
Some healers are skilled at mitigating damage with protective spells.
All healers are capable of buffing their allies.
Healers must monitor the status/condition of their party, being ready to remove whatever illnesses befall them (Poisons, Diseases, Curses, Magical Afflictions) all while attempting to avoid drawing the aggro off of the rest of the party (And yes, Healer Aggro can be vicious.) The role of the healer is integral to the party/group dynamic in World of Warcraft, and a good healer can make up for a crappy Tank.While Healers have many positives, they likewise have drawbacks to include:
Healers are generally "squishy" meaning they wear light armor or are otherwise not capable of taking many hits before dying, and even the hardiest healers (arguably Holy Paladins) fall to burst damage long before their tank would have felt a scratch on their armor.
Healers are not capable of much in the way of DPS.
While it could be argued that they can DPS depending on the class, they aren't talented well for it and their mana pools must be reserved for, well, healing.
Cloth and Leather-based healers will often find themselves rolling against Cloth/Leather casters for decent gear on dungeon drops, which can prove annoying.
Unless the healer is skilled enough, it is likely it will run out of mana eventually, thus they must carry water supplies to restock.Damage/DPS These characters are the rock-stars of the number smashing world.
They are responsible for what veteran players of the game like to call "Melting Faces." As the name would suggest, The DPS' main role is to cause great deals of damage.
There are a number of classes that all work toward this end in a number of fashions, but the most general categories of DPS are:
Ranged and Melee.
There is also a bit of a differentiation between Ranged Caster/Ranged Physical, but it's not really that important.
Often times DPS classes are capable of debuffing their targets, increasing their vulnerability to the rest of their attacks.
Some DPS classes even enhance the abilities of other DPSers in their group/category, thus bringing more utility to a raid/group environment.
Further still, many DPSers are also capable of buffing their allies, increasing the party's efficiency overall.There are some benefits to being a DPS class, but there are a number of drawbacks as well:
While equally as necessary in a group as the Tanks and Healers, DPS classes suffer in that they seem to be "a dime a dozen." DPS classes are generally not as squishy as Healers (though some are equally-so such as Mages and Warlocks) but they can't take too much punishment before they go down.
Poor DPSers will do less overall damage in a group setting than a good Tank, and single-target DPS classes may suffer on Recount charts when AoE DPS is necessary.
If you're playing a DPSer that isn't good on mana conservation, you may well have to stop for water fairly often, which can be annoying.
Finally, you're not on the healer's Priority Target list, (which includes the Tank and them-self) so you are more likely to die when things go awry.
While at first glance this may not seem to affect the class you play, it might well determine how you play said class since different Races have different Racial Abilities that compliment some classes better than others, and in the case of some Race/Class combinations you are very limited in choices (as is the case with Druids.)Alliance
- The Races of the Alliance include many "Noble" minded creatures, and the abilities of the Alliance Races often are more well-suited for the PvE (Player versus Environment) setting.Horde
- The Races of the Horde include the more "Gritty" races, and their Racial Abilities are often more useful in the PvP (Player versus Player) setting. , So you know what role you want to play.
The following is a list of classes/specs based on their Role.Tanks
- Protection Warriors, Brewmaster Monks, Vengeance Demon-hunters, Protection Paladins, Feral (Bear) Druids, Blood Death Knights.Healers
- Holy/Discipline Priests, Restoration Druids, Restoration Shamans, Holy Paladins, Mistweaver Monks.Melee DPS
- Armsman/Fury Warriors, Retribution Paladins, Mistweaver Moks, Feral (Cat) Druids, Enhancement Shamans, Assassination/Combat/Subtlety Rogues, Windwalker Monks, Havoc Demon-hunters, Unholy/Frost Death Knights.Ranged DPS
- Balance Druids, Elemental Shamans, Shadow Priests, Arcane/Fire/Frost Mages, Affliction/Destruction/Demonology Warlocks, Marksman/Survival/Beast Mastery Hunters. , At first each class may seem to be underpowered or lack options for styles of play, but this changes drastically the higher the level your character gets.
You will never experience the greater powers and more impressive spells/abilities unless you stick it out and make it to the top.
Don't like your choice after that? Well, there's always the option of Re-Rolling a new toon!
About the Author
Matthew Lewis
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