Best 5-man group for Classic

[Ohshiftson-area-52]

Im not really sure if you are just messing with the OP or if you played a different game. Seriously, which is it?

I’m not sure if you didn’t read my post or you’re trolling. Seriously, which is it?

I raided and pvpd and druid tanks were definitely not top choice.

The OP wasn’t asking about raids. I specifically stated in my very first sentence “for dungeons.”

I even said that you’d have to respec to Restoration once hitting 60.

Also, hunters were one of the better dps classes until you got into certain set bonuses.

They’re easily the worst of the pure DPS classes, at least in raids. For dungeons, it’s harder to compare because of varying power spikes and gear available for each class at each level.

The only reasons you’d bring one for dungeons is to have a pet that can off-tank, and a Warlock can handle that just fine, or to have them kite, and a mage can do that better.

As for healing, why tell the OP to go shadow then expect to change?

I explained why in my post.
The OP said this:

Our first (and main) goal is to level our mains together as much as possible, and clearing every single 5-man dungeon in the game. We are not sure about raids and such, but anyways, we just want to have fun.

“As much as possible,” implying there might be times where they don’t play together for whatever reason. Being able to solo will help tremendously with that.

While leveling, speccing into Holy will barely help your healing, whereas speccing into Shadow massively improves your ability to solo. You just have to carry around some pieces of +Healing gear, and you can heal dungeons just fine.

He said he is setting up a 5 man group, he should start off with what they plan on playing or they will get kicked just as quick from a raid for not knowing their class.

This is a self-contradictory sentence. They’re planning for dungeons, so why would they care about possibly getting kicked from raids?

Also, I don’t know if you played a different game, but in vanilla, you got all your class abilities, and talents mostly just improved them. For the most part, you’d know how to play your class just fine regardless of what spec you played.

As far as locks are concerned, they went from demigods to trash depending on the skill of the player and the game build.

We’re talking about dungeons, not PvP. The skill cap is pretty low for PvE in vanilla.

[Atticus-aerie-peak]

I raided and pvpd and druid tanks were definitely not top choice.

This question was not about ‘top raids’. The poster asked about 5 man instances.

You get a lot more flexibility in those. Going druid as a MT for 5 mans is totally doable. You can even do it as a pally with some good threat control from your teammates.

[Vannile-tichondrius]

This maybe an old post but, be sure to have 1 of each armor class.

Shaman or hunter.
Paladin or/and warrior.
Mage
Priest
rogue or druid.

[Ohshiftson-area-52]

This maybe an old post but, be sure to have 1 of each armor class.

That doesn’t matter much in vanilla. People use the best armor regardless of armor class, because you don’t get a bonus for using the “correct” armor type.

[Vannile-tichondrius]

That doesn’t matter much in vanilla. People use the best armor regardless of armor class, because you don’t get a bonus for using the “correct” armor type.

Oh but it does.
And I don’t care about bonus from retail.

If you had a druid tanking your group and no warrior/paladin and plate dropped then your perfect 5 man is screwed.

[Ohshiftson-area-52]

If you had a druid tanking your group and no warrior/paladin and plate dropped then your perfect 5 man is screwed.

Not really. You can just disenchant it.

[Kelzar-agamaggan (Kelzar)]

Really as long as you have a tank(warrior/druid/pally) and a healer
you will be fine. None of the dungeons are particularly challenging, and many of the early ones can be done without a perfect tank/heals/3dps comp.

Only recomendations I would make are
mages are really helpful
having one OOC rez is nice does not have to be the healer.(bring a priest/shaman/pally even if they are dps).

But really you do not need to min/max for dungeons. Let everyone pick whatever class they want.

[Tastymanwich-turalyon (Tastymanwich)]

They’re easily the worst of the pure DPS classes, at least in raids. For dungeons, it’s harder to compare because of varying power spikes and gear available for each class at each level.

The only reasons you’d bring one for dungeons is to have a pet that can off-tank, and a Warlock can handle that just fine, or to have them kite, and a mage can do that better.

I want to touch on this, because you clearly only ever played with huntards. For raiding, yeah, our dps scales terribly as the tiers increase. For dungeons however, as well as during the leveling process as a whole, hunters are one of the best dps because they are very gear independent outside of their ranged weapon.

Also, pet off-tanking is the only reason? Mages can kite better?! That’s just absurd and objectively untrue. A skilled hunter was the best CC you could get, traps worked on every mob type, unlike every other CC outside of short term stuns. Hunters are also the best kiters bar none. Hell, hunters can kite mages.

A skilled hunter is the single best choice for any 5-man group at any level.

[Deezzknutz-burning-blade]

4 Warriors and a Pally healer for alliance or a Shaman healer for Horde. The Warriors can all be DPS because everything will just get obliterated.

[Darkgnome-scarlet-crusade]

5 gnome warlocks is the best group.

Aw yeah. !

[Dogknight-windrunner]

Could you explain how a Druid will successfully serve as the only healer for a dedicated 5-man that does not include an off-tank? I have been mulling playing a Druid during classic, but worry that it will not be strong enough in anything. Also, I only recently tried a Druid at low levels in modern, without deleting before level 5. It feels strange setting up the bar with a semblance of logical grouping of abilities, but the utility and effects are appealing.

As with any Hybrid class, Druids are not the absolute best at any one task consistently. However, healing is where they are strongest in classic. I leveled from 1-60 as resto (we really didn’t know the pain we were putting ourselves through back then), but I never had an issue handling healing for any dungeon.

In classic, dungeon pulls are not at the same pace as you do now, each set of mobs you pull is planned (at level appropriate content). Hence why CC is so heavily mentioned by others. Dungeons often took hours for a reason. There is no steamrolling unless you completely out-level the dungeon or significantly out-gear content with really solid players.

[Flashòck-proudmoore (Flashòck)]

For horde my team is going more hybrid.

Warrior (plate) Tank/DPS
Mage (cloth) DPS
Druid (leather) Tank/Heal/DPS
Shaman (mail) Heal/DPS

The 5th spot can really be whatever. Probably a warlock.

[Ohshiftson-area-52]

For dungeons however, as well as during the leveling process as a whole, hunters are one of the best dps because they are very gear independent outside of their ranged weapon.

I suppose that’s fair. That’s why I said they were the worst in raids, and not the worst in dungeons, and I did say “of the pure DPS classes,” as well.

Also, pet off-tanking is the only reason?

That is the only reason you’d bring one over any other DPS, yes. They don’t offer anything particularly unique like Mages and Warlocks.

Mages can kite better?!

Yes. Mages have far more slows, AoE slows, a root, and Blink.

A skilled hunter was the best CC you could get, traps worked on every mob type, unlike every other CC outside of short term stuns.

Freezing Trap could be resisted, had a 30 second cooldown, couldn’t be used in combat, could trap the wrong target, and only froze for up to 20 seconds before talents.

Hunters are also the best kiters bar none. Hell, hunters can kite mages.

The OP was talking about dungeons, not PvP. The only reason a Hunter can kite a Mage is because a Hunter has a longer range and no cast time on Concussive Shot and can deal damage regardless of range thanks to their pet.

Their ability to kite in PvE is below that of a Mage, though.