Newbie Helper: Choosing The Best Class For You
World of Warcraft offers a variety of classes that you can play with. At first, it may be overwhelming for you when you are choosing a class for the first time or starting a second character. What most people do not realize is that they need to choose the character that fits their playing style rather than a character that is considered “the best” from forums and such. If you pick a class you do not enjoy, you will most likely not be able to pick the character you want. To help, I’ve included a gameplay video for each class so you can get an idea of what it’s like to play with each one.
Druids
Druids are one of the most versatile classes in the game. They have the ability to tank, heal, and dps depending on the spec they decide to go with. Their main style of playing requires them to constantly be changing forms unless you are doing something specific. As a tank, they will be in bear form taking control of all the mobs. All the healing will be done mainly in the tree form and dpsing will be mainly from the cat form (feral form; the druid will act somewhat like a rogue in its catform. If you like a class that has the ability to shapeshift and cover multiple roles, this may be the class for you.
Hunters
Hunters have the ability to have a pet which makes them very unique. They rely mainly on their ranged dps skills in PvE and kiting strategies in battleground to win. If you enjoy a class that can range down damage from afar and kite your opponents so they do not reach you, this may be the class for you.
Mages
Mages, with their 3 amazing field of magic, have the ability to bring down destruction of magic on any target. Mages rely heavily on their mana pool and their spells in order for them to survive. They will mainly be nuking and attacking from afar as any close range combat will devastate these clothies. If you love the idea of being able to cast all kinds of crazy spells, this may be the class for you.
Paladins
These are the holy warriors in the game. Just like the druid, the paladin can fulfill the role of any three roles in the game. Paladins are very strong warriors as they have the ability to wear plate armor and use a combination of spells and melee attacks to bring down their foe. They will be in close range combat for dpsing. If you enjoy the idea of a warrior being able to use spells, this may be the class for you.
Priests
Priests are the best healers in the game. In holy form, they have the ability to keep their group alive for a long time. In disciplinary form, they will be able to heal and survive with their unique abilities. Lastly, they have the ability to turn into shadow form and bring down destruction on the enemy. If you enjoy playing as healer or want to control your enemy in shadowform, this class may be for you.
Rogues
Rogues are one of the classes that do not use mana. They rely heavily on their stealth combat, and they have the ability to sneak up on enemies and rip them apart in matter of seconds. If you enjoy a class that has the ability to stealth and deal huge amounts of damage to the opponent, this may be the class for you.
Shamans
Shamans have 2 forms of dps and 1 form of healing. They have a unique buff that allows them to be useful in any raid situation or PvP situation. They rely heavily on their totems for support; if you like a class that uses totems to support your attack, this may be the class for you.
Warlocks
Warlocks have the ability to summon demons and bring down wrath upon their opponents through their destruction spells or affliction spells. With their crazy amounts of damage over time abilities used with the combination of their pet, this class is like a hunter except with spells.
Warriors
Warriors also do not use mana, and they are the best tanking class in the game. They have the ability to use stances (battle stance, defensive stance, etc). If you enjoy a class that is extremely heavy and is the best at tanking or dealing huge amount of damage, this class is for you.
Death Knight
The DKs are a special class. They use special abilities called “runes” in order to use their magic. They can both tank and dps; if you like a unique class that uses a combination of runes to bring down damage on your opponents, this class is for you.
No related posts.
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
16 Comments
Eberron of Ravenholdt on March 18th, 2010
Your post forgets to mention just what makes the druid the most viable options of any class: Balance.
Druids possess their feral tank and melee DPS forms, as well as the healer form mentioned above, but you completely neglected to mention that Balance druids may spec in to moonkin form and become entirely raid capable ranged DPS. :)
Dreamstorm on March 18th, 2010
Rather interesting to read.
However, the objectiveness of your article was shattered the moment you wrote Priests are the best healers and Warriors the best tanks in the game.
This may have been the case quite a few years back, but anyone not living under a rock knows the general ‘best ‘ idea is no more.
Bucktron on March 18th, 2010
What about boomkins? Never get any respect…
Felmania on March 19th, 2010
Um, i would say the guide is rather Vauge on suggesting character classes for people, mentioning only what classes can do, the whole thing is rather small, basicly telling you who can do what, not very lore heavy, or gameplay intensive, nor very informative.
The Videos are…how do i say it, pointless as all they show are the complexity of wow in general, just to confusing those videos are
Nance on March 19th, 2010
You guys are right, I’ll update it with some details on playing as a Moonkin.
As for being objective about which class is the “best” for this or that; you’re right, it’s true that balance has come a long way. But with regards for a newbie, understanding the intricacies of playing a specific way with a class whose general focus is different from that, is beyond the scope of this post so I generalized a bit.
Cat on March 19th, 2010
Simplification for new players is one thing, misleading them entirely is another. It’s like I’m reading the manual from vanilla.
Stridez on March 19th, 2010
Found a few little errors. In the hunter section you said “range down damage from afar”. I think you meant rain* down.
Also you refered to discipline spec as disciplinary form. Firstly, it’s not a form, and secondly, its not disciplinary, a disciplinary priest would be more damage oriented rather than healing.
Finally, you really shouldn’t say any class is the best at filling a certain role. Especially when this is far from true, either in practice or as a design goal of the developers.
Zakathor on March 19th, 2010
You call it generalizing a bit, when you boldly states which classes are best at what, with no connection to reality. I call it misleading people.
And forgetting moonkins? Lol
And why would you mention the thing about runes? Since newbies wont know what runes are, how can they make a decision about using them or not? Somehow i think it would be more fitting to write that new players can’t make a death knight from day one.
To be honest i don’t know why wow.com even bothered linking to this post, because it’s so full of bad information.
Raddy on March 19th, 2010
Priests might be the most versatile healers in the game, but they’re more or less equal to the other healers in the game nowadays in terms of throughput, efficiency, utility etc.
I love that you made a post like this though, I could’ve used this when I started out for sure.
Jaedia on March 19th, 2010
Really nice post ^^
I like that you’ve included videos too, particularly nice for new players.
Sinister on March 19th, 2010
Priests are the best healers in the game , all other healers are 1 button jokes that require no real skills to play .
Scathbais on March 19th, 2010
Warlocks are like “Hunters with magic”? LMAO
To quote one of my favorite faqs:
“A live Warlock = a dead everyone else”
Diatain on March 19th, 2010
This really is a terrible guide for new players. This doesn’t explain anything about any class. New players would be better of with the descriptions in-game in my opinion. Those go into more detail than this, which basically just says ‘x class does y. If you like that, play it.’
As others have said, you shouldn’t describe a class as ‘the best’. My viewpoint on this is that you shouldn’t tell someone something is the best because they will latch onto it. Most new players are in the mindset that they want to do whatever they choose to do the best. Saying one class is ‘the best’ will probably cause them to pick said class without any thought otherwise. For some, it might work out. Others might find that they don’t enjoy playing that class.
Altogether, this guide was not well written. It does not describe any class well, it completely skipped over a druid spec, and seems a lot more subjective than it should be for a guide.
TLDR: This guide sucks.
Love,
Diatain <3
Velani on March 19th, 2010
Fail Paladin description. They’re nothing like warriors, game play wise. With the exception of gear, they’re run completely different.
olbaldy77 on March 19th, 2010
Priests are the most VERSATILE healers in the game. They have the most complete collection of direct heals, party heals & HOTs (Heals Over Time). Although all healing specs have most or all of these, priests (especially Holy) have the most complete toolbox for healing.
Devv on March 18th, 2010
I guess you forgot about Boomkins, eh? I leveled my Druid alt without once shifting into cat, bear, or tree until I decided to dual-spec as a healer in her 60′s. It’s a much more entertaining playstyle than Feral.