Well it’s been well over a year since my last post. It’s amazing how time flies. A lot has happened in WoW over the last past year. Since my last post, we’ve had at least 4 major content patches and have seen Ulduar, Trial of the Crusader & Icecrown Citadel released. On a personal note, I have leveled 10 out of the 10 character classes to 80! I have once again accomplished my original goal, which I set for myself way back in July of 2007, of having a character of each class at max level. During the past year my playing preferences have changed a bit. I haven’t been raiding on my hunter at all. In fact, I haven’t played him much lately. However, now that I’m done leveling alts, I think I will go back & work on achievements with my Hunter. My leveling routine has changed as well. Instead of questing exclusively, I do a combination of questing & random dungeons. It seems to make levels go by much faster! My routine is usually queue up for a random & quest while I wait. I make sure I do all the pre-requisite quests so I can get all dungeon quests as I level up. The bonus exp you get from completing all the quests associated with a dungeon really adds up.
My favorite class right now would have to be Paladin, with Mage a close second. I still like raiding with my guild, but we haven’t progressed as far as I thought we would at this point in the expansion. We still haven’t downed the Lich King & have only seen Sindragosa once. Lately, it has been hard to get a good group together due to low signups. Maybe it’s the summer months or the usual slow down before a new expansion comes out, but interest in raiding these past few weeks has been really low. I also play on the horde side a lot more these days. I like the lore behind the horde & have been having a lot of fun with my horde paladin.
Since I’ve experienced all of the character classes while leveling up & raiding this past year, I thought that I would give a short review of each class & rank them based upon my personal preference. So from my favorite to least favorite, here they are:
1. Paladin – My favorite class at this time. Paladins can perform every role in a group. They are amazing tanks, awesome healers & strong at dps. They are also probably the easiest class to level. I would highly recommend Paladin to everyone, especially someone new to WoW. They make the perfect first character, as they are easy to level & allow you to experience all aspects of the game.
2. Mage – Right now, Mage is probably my favorite pure dps class. They can put out a ton of damage & have a lot of utility to a raid. Also, they are a ranged caster class, which is very helpful in Icecrown Citadel. They are another class that it is very easy to level. I would recommend leveling as frost, which gives you a lot of protection & control over your enemies.
3. Hunter – Hunter used to be my favorite class & I still consider Devarien my “main” character. However, in my opinion, Blizzard has gone away from what I thought made hunter great, at least at the raiding level. I always felt that the best thing about hunter was the importance of a hunter’s pet. When I raided in the Burning Crusade, Tyr (my white lion) did a substantial portion of my overall dps and a Beast Mastery spec was a competitive dps spec. Today, Marksman & Survival are the top specs & your pet doesn’t play as important a role. I hope in Cataclysm that a Hunter’s Pet comes back to the forefront.
4. Warlock – I have to say that I’m very impressed with the Warlock class. If I didn’t like the feel & play style of the mage so much, I would have to consider the Warlock a candidate for the strongest ranged dps class. What’s so awesome about the Warlock is that all 3 specs are viable for raiding, perform extremely well, and have completely unique play-styles. In addition, they are also a very good leveling class, with 2 strong specs to choose from (Demonology & Affliction). I would highly recommend the affliction spec when leveling in Northrend. It’s almost ridiculous how powerful this spec is! You can take on 5 or more enemies at the same time & end up at full health at the end of the fight! Almost all the damage you do converts to health for you….it really is amazing!
5. Druid – Another class that can perform every group role well. They make a great first character or “main” character if you don’t have time to level alts. However, I did not enjoy leveling my druid. They are nowhere as powerful as a ret pally is for leveling, but if you can make it through to max level, the druid is well worth it.
6. Warrior – Warriors used to be one of my least favorite classes in Burning Crusade, especially at tanking. However, with the changes made in Wrath, they are much more fun to play & better at aoe tanking. I would recommend leveling as protection. You still do sufficient damage to make questing easy & you can get quick random queues as a tank.
7. Shaman – I’ve never really liked the Shaman that much. It’s one of those hybrid classes that have always felt underwhelming to me. There are classes that do better jobs of healing & dps. However, in WoTLK, it seems that Shamans have been improved quite a bit. I leveled as an Enhancement Shaman & found it to be powerful. In addition, it had one of the more complex & interactive rotations of any class I have played. I would still recommend Paladin or Druid over Shaman, but I definitely have much more respect for the Shaman class then I did in Burning Crusade.
8. Death Knight - When Death Knights were first introduced in WoTLK, I thought they were awesome. Incredibly strong at leveling & great at tanking/dps. Plus, their starting quest chain is one of my favorites of all time! However, as things changed & nerfs occurred after several patches were released, DK’s seemed to loose what set them apart. They are supposed to be a hero class, but they really don’t feel that way anymore. In fact, they are kind of redundant given that we already have 2 plate wearing classes that can dps/tank. But their rune system still gives them a unique flavor & I love the lore behind them. Also, if you don’t want to level a new alt from level 1, they are the only option in town.
9. Rogue – I haven’t had a chance to do 5 mans or raid with a rogue at max level. So my thoughts on rogue are limited to what I experienced questing and doing 5 mans as I leveled up. My rogue was actually the last character I leveled even though she is one of my oldest. In short, I found leveling a rogue to be boring. Maybe I was doing something wrong, but I could usually only take on one enemy at a time. Being able to stealth was nice, but it wasn’t enough. The thing I found most shocking was the lack of any aoe abilities while leveling up. You don’t get Fan of Knives until level 80. The only thing available while leveling is if you spec as combat. You can then use Killing Spree & Blade Flurry for AOE, but they have longer cool downs & can’t be used all the time.
10. Priest – Priest is my least favorite class. In my opinion, they are another example of a hybrid class that doesn’t quite perform any role optimally. Pally’s are better tank healers & Druids are better raid healers. Shadow dps is solid, but I’d still rather play a mage or warlock. I found leveling to be a chore. I was always out of mana & having to drink.
