We all played classic but never hardcore. Best trio classes?
Depends if your playing horde or alliance, but there are really a lot of good combinations, ultimately I would say go tank, dps, healer for your trio and your set. Its really hard to go wrong with any combination though so people should play the class they, however unless your going for a full WF group, I would probably say mage would probably be up there as the best DPS, both for consumes, as well as at level 40 giving your group fast passage around the world, and of course sheep.
As example Priest (disc), Mage (frost) then maybe a Paly (prot) for the consecration and BOP to help save the mage. Again though, you can really play anything combination if you have the basic archetypes and not go wrong.
Triple hybrids.
You want to fill both tank and healer roles in dungeons to minimize bad play.
The dps role should also be a hybrid (ret pala for example) just for added group utility/saves.
Dps means nothing, being able to help your tank/healer if something bad happens is priceless.
I would disagree with that, most hybrids have poor DPS and mana issues which really prevent them from effectively switching between roles. The overall lack of DPS and additionally lack of any good crowd control is a significant issue which likely result in more close call situations, than a group that has better control options and better DPS.
From a tanking perspective when looking at the DPS roll, shaman and paladins also lack a taunt which makes them a poor substitute for a tank if things are going bad as they simply wont be able to get agro.
Really the only viable hybrid that can manage this would probably be a feral druid with a secondary spec into the resto tree, as druids do swap well into all rolls even a tank as they get a taunt and heavily boosted armor by shifting into bear. It also helps that they use energy/rage in cat/bear so if they need to heal, they can pop out of form and be at essentially full mana.
You don’t need to consider dps if your goal is to get to 60. This is a rookie mistake from inexperience.
Feral tank is better, the pala doesnt need to tank only support which is what they do best, with tools like bop , freedom, heals and loh , any bad situation is salvageable.
Futhermore, target dummies to handle any excess issues.
The best trio is druid (tank), ret and priest (heal). Or something like warrior(tank), druid(dps) and priest (heal). Though i’d favor the first comp due to the power of pala group utility over innervate/extra taunt.
The only substitute for a hybrid in this case could be mage of course , roots/snares are great but if its ssf then mage cant trade water , though cc doesn’t matter against bosses that are immune, which becomes more relevant later down the line.
Will have to agree to disagree, I would take a mage any day of the week over a ret paladin. The group would be far safer, have far better utility and dps. I would also consider most other DPS classes as well, ret just doesn’t bring enough to cover its short comings, obviously you disagree.
Really the only reason I would bring a ret paladin is either as the tank, or if someone really wanted to play a ret paladin. Thats it, otherwise I feel it’s just a mediocre class. They have poor heals, are constantly OOM if they are actually trying, and while can be a decent tank its really only if they are acting as the tank, as they won’t be able to pick up threat mid fight.
Ultimately the best group composition is for people to play the classes they like playing. Having someone play a mage, or lock when they dislike casters and would rather be on a rogue, is far more dangerous, as that creates a situation where they will likely be bored and paying less attention. So really cover the basics, and play what you want, HC isn’t hard, any combination will work as long as you understand the limitations of the group your in.
It’s not that i don’t see your angle, i do.
However, op said they are returning players and the classes i brought up are a lot safer for such a case.
Sure, mage control is amazing, i know it far too well.
But picture this, they are doing a dungeon as warrior/mage/priest trio, the priest hasnt managed their mana well and goes oom, uses a mana pot and ooms again in a bit. The mage is incapable of cc’ing the boss.
In this scenario the warrior has to dummy and run or the grp has to petri/leave.
If their composition had a druid or pala they couldve swapped to offhealing, innervate the priest, loh the tank etc. (Wisdom on priest).
There are a lot of situations where cc and dps isnt the answer. The group’s skill level has to be taken into consideration.
Skill can’t make up for the fact that Ret simply is a terrible spec for DPS, and that they have no reliable long term CC or an interupt. They are also a mediocre hybrid in PvE due to mana issues, much of their utility strangely works better in PvP. In your scenario, you would still be better off and likely safer with almost any class than a ret paladin. The one maybe two heals they can toss before the priest gets killed or the warrior dies if they weren’t already oom, and then the boss turns on the priest killing it because the ret paladin will has no taunt simply wont save the party.
Yes, more DPS isn’t always the answer however its good to have some, and a good balanced party will almost always be better than poorly balanced party, and having no real DPS or CC is far more dangerous and leads to poor balance then not having someone along who sits doing very little but which can toss out one or two heals as the group dies. You would honestly be better to have the paladin be the healer, and swap the priest to DPS,
We obviously disagree. Talking about dps in hardcore is just a huge red flag to me, especially with how dangerous pulling threat is.
The ret having a good weapon and just auto attacking is enough “dps” for what it brings to the table, it shouldn’t be oom because it isn’t spamming its spells and seal twisting. Trying to do lots of dps in a dungeon isn’t the purpose of hc, you want it slow and steady. People often follow the top 0.1% of those who raid on hc and think they can emulate it, when said players have been polishing everything about how to optimize gameplay in classic, there are no errors left in said gameplay which is not something most players can do.
My advice is far more suitable for players on these forums. Also the trio take up 3 slots, there are still 2 more dps slots which can be filled with “zug dps”.
HC isn’t that hard, it’s easy to solo with pretty much any class, having a group of three makes it crazy easy. If you’re afraid of a little DPS, I don’t know what to say, especially since probably one of the things that kills people the most is that they can’t kill stuff fast enough outside of stupid mistakes, so get more adds then get overwhelmed, and your ret paladin is going to be useless in most of those situation… As for no errors? you get plenty of recovery with a mage, and you simply wont get stuck with all those risky pulls, that you would if your DPS is ret, since you have no CC, and now long range interrupts. Honestly I would rather a rogue than a ret paladin.
So no your advice really isn’t that suitable or honestly safe. I mean you’re afraid of the zug, yet you eliminate CC so you have to fight everything, yet you have zero DPS since your DPS is a ret paladin. I mean go ahead if you want to play ret, but no its not safer, then an actual balanced group.
You opinion is valid as a solo player, it’s not the same if you’re consistently playing with a group that plans on tackling dungeons.
The things that make the open world dangerous can be often disregarded if you’re playing as a 3+ team.
All that’s left that might pose a threat are dungeons.
Your pov is very clearly from a dps who hasn’t tanked a dungeon on hc, maintaining group stability is far more important than occasional cc.
Look at it from this lens , your party is has a warrior , mage and priest.
The mage wants to aoe mobs in the world but the way aoe farming on mage works is you want to clump everything up, nova and maxdistance snare blizzards/repeat. The warrior cannot maintain threat on such large pulls and often ends up breaking novas trying to dps, causing more harm than good while mobs split apart.
If the best course of action is for the warrior to just help pull mobs then afk and do nothing there is no reason for having the warrior there.
In dungeons mage can aoe sometimes but often revolves around st depending on the size of the pull, which usually means they only contribute when off pulls occur by using nova. And that’s only for melee mobs.
Having a hybrid dps can also help with dispels, removing poisons/diseases which are far more common , saving the healer’s mana in the process, not to mention everything else like giving freedom on the tank if they’re stuck in a net etc.
You obviously don’t want to agree with me but i’m sure utility > dps in a group format 9 times out of 10.
No my POV is actually from a non DPS standpoint. You’re creating a group with no DPS, and no proper crowd control, yet somehow you feel this is safe. My whole perspective is having a safe group for a dungeon requires reliable crowd control and that its a key requirement for any good group, unless they plan to AOE everything which isn’t a good strategy for HC in my opinion.
By the way, mages actually have single target spells, so just because a class has an AOE doesn’t mean thats all they should use. Lastly even if you go the Utility over DPS route, the mage actually has arguably better utility then Ret for PvE unless you over rate the ability for a ret paladin to cast weak heals.
There are plenty of ways to fill the dps slots in a 5 man group, we obviously have different experiences with hc so let’s agree to disagree and move on.
Besides, think we’ve given enough opinions for op to make up their mind.
Your pov is very clearly from a tank that has to babysit drooling mouthbreathers who lack any ability to do anything other than bad dps.
Threat really isn’t an issue if your dps don’t lack brain cells. I mean we’re talking about leveling for Christ sake, mobs should die with 3 people before the mob can even do anything of importance. If you’re trying to play out utility usage for anything before BRD, then you’re making plans for something that shouldn’t be happening in the first place.
BRD to end game? Everyone should have everything they need on every class to be fine with almost any not dumb 3 man set up. Warrior/druid tank, some flavor of healer, and any dedicated dps would do just fine. You don’t need to force your dps into a utility role because you’re scared. Health and mana are still resources in themselves, and great dps save those resources for the tank and healer, since the healers mana is effectively a resource of extra health for the tank.
Warrior, shaman/paladin, warrior/rogue is an unbelievable trio that shouldn’t have any issue at all during their journey. Just don’t play like an ape.
Warrior mage then Paly or shaman
I’ll admit , this is 80% of hc players!
True, but it shouldn’t be the friends of the OP and his trio.
How would i know? Better safe than go agane. 
I would say priest for primary healing + wand dps, warrior for tanking, and mage for dps + support (cc, ports, water).
This trio is very strong. Plus you’ll be able to port around for a more enjoyable experience. Remember, HC is a game, not an investment. Play it like a game. Also, if one of you dies, you can help each other power level back up, via healing/killing mobs.
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Do let us know with what combination you go with.