I am very torn on what to make for an alt for when TBC launches. I currently plan to run a warlock and feral/resto or boomie Druid, and I want to limit myself to 3 toons. Right now my choices are:
Rogue
Enhance shaman
Shadow priest
Fury/Prot war
(Maybe) Prot/ret Paladin
I am torn as they are all fun in their own right, but curious what we think would be the best one to partner with my other two in terms of pve dps/effectiveness.
Prot pally is great for AoE farming arcane tomes/etc. But this go around it might be too crowded in the open world for those huge demon hunter terrace pulls.
If you’re on a PvP server I’d go with a shadow priest. Valuable in raids and can MC people off the map.
I am on a pve server if that changes your answer. I was debating that myself, but I should have mentioned I have a shaman at 60 right now, but I hate the current enhance spec. I know it gets better, just gotta wait for it.
could still MC off the map in Eye of the storm bg I suppose lol. However, if on PvE all your picks aren’t bad, you may get some pressure for Resto heals as a Sham. I know range dps is king in TBC and the mana conservation of Shadow Priest is highly desired. If had to choose one I’d say look at SP still.
Protection paladin is the go to dungeon tank.
Enhancement shaman CAN be a lot of fun but getting your weapons to sync just right can sometimes be a bit of a pain and as I’m sure you’ve seen stated elsewhere, TBC is not exactly melee friendly. If you’ve got great situational awareness you’ll be fine, otherwise you may find yourself on the ground more often than not.
Actually considering shadow priest as my main DPS class this time around. Looks like a lot of fun.
Agree, enhance is more fun in TBC in terms of skillset, but it arguably has the worst PVE survivability of any melee class, in an expansion that’s particularly hard on melee.
On the plus side you can ankh?
But in like HBF you might well die 5 times on the way to the first boss trying to actually melee.
I’d say if you’re going to melee in TBC you may as well pick a class with a shot at warglaives (rogue/war).
Tough to say right now since TBC Anniversary gets the MoP treatment where they introduce more class balancing + QoL changes.
Definitely not rogue or warrior if you wan to get into a raid. The other’s are instant raid spots to any raid.
Prot paladin or shaman are the safest bets by far but as other people say you may be floor tanking on the shaman a lot.
Spriest is pretty good and a mana battery but most raids only need 1 or 2.
They are not just like they didn’t in Vanilla.
Was told feral bear druid tank was the absolute worst in TBC.
I mained a feral Druid last time and it was an absolute blast, especially in raids. It is tough in dungeons because everyone expects Paladin level aoe and they don’t get it, so dps get impatient. But Druid tank is awesome, imo.
I think I am gonna buy dual spec for my shaman and do either resto or ele for the offspec when needed (mostly because he’s already 60 with a rank 11 mount). thanks all
Wrong, warrior tank was the absolute worst.
Bears were better.
This is based on my personal experience. Warrior tanks had zero AOE threat and were awful.
You gray parsed all of TBC and were so bad that you literally couldn’t get into pugs. You have been called out on it many of times. Stop giving any suggestions you clown. You have been exposed many of times.
I’ll assess all of the specs you’ve listed.
Warlock
Fun in TBC because they’re cracked. Great choice. Great arena viability as well.
Feral/Resto/Moonkin
Feral tank is cracked. Feral cat actually has a chance at getting invited to raids. Resto druid is great the entire expansion and has great arena viability, especially in later seasons. Moonkin also gains the ability to get a raid invite which is a huge breath of fresh air for them.
Rogue
Gods of arena, and gods of not getting invited to raids. Personally my favorite bank alt. I level it to 70 and level lockpicking, jewelcrafting, and alchemy and go to town. IMO not a great choice unless it’s a PVP focused alt.
Enhance
Another class that gains a purpose in TBC, although it does lose its two-handed identity and just turns into another dual wielding melee DPS. Not a ton of arena viability. Okayish choice, but I’m bias because I don’t like them. Nearly guaranteed raid invite.
Shadow priest
THE spec if you want to make friends out of casters in your raid. I don’t know about arena viability, but if you build disc spec for PVP, it’s top. Imo one of the coolest specs from an RP stand point.
Fury/prot war
Fury is a social spec, as in you better be loved in your guild or you’re not getting the one fury spot in the raid. Switch to arms improves your chance of getting an invite by 0.2373%, again amplified by how many people in your guild like you.
Prot war is not as high performing as the other two tanks in TBC, but is by no means incapable of functioning as a tank throughout all the content. My casual guild killed KJ with a prot war main tank.
Prot paladin
Gods of AOE tanking, demigods of farming gold, will probably be competitive because at this point I think half of everyone I’ve talked to plans on making a prot paladin alt.
Ret paladin
Not terribly easy to get a raid spot. They’re needed, but it’s you vs a million rets. I don’t know their viability in PVP.
Your locked in characters:
Warlock - Caster
Choose one:
Feral - Melee
Resto - Healer
Moonkin - Caster
You could choose based off of archetype variety:
Position 1: Caster is locked in warlock, which eliminates shadow priest and moonkin
Position 2: Melee vs tank vs heal druid
Position 3: Melee vs tank vs heal, excluding the choice made for druid at position 2
Of course noticing that if you don’t choose resto druid for position 2, you have no other healing option unless you change your mind about the selection allowance for the third alt.
Another consideration is likelihood of your alt being invited to a raid:
Enhance shaman > shadow priest > and the rest seem equal in chances unless your guild loves you.
This is the kind of typical WoW player hyperbole, it isn’t completely wrong but it way overstates it by saying “worst”.
Warriors have main tanked every boss in TBC in the best guilds ever to play the game. Warriors are the best tanks for certain types of bosses and hands down best in Tier 4 and 5. Protection Warrior has a higher skill cap and actions per minute (APM) at a high level than Bear Druid and Protection Paladin. It also equipping the best gear set for what you are doing at the moment (there is no “BiS”). This is a factor that people should consider when choosing a tank class. Bears and Paladins do have an advantage here simply because they are easier to play.
That is the most logical and well thought reply I’ve read on a blizzard forum. Based on that it’s either Enhance shaman or prot paladin.
I agree with that statement and I will edit my reply to soften that remark.