Class roles for PVP, tanks and healers

WoW Classic WoW Classic General Discussion
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Hello all. I’m taking my time deciding on a class for Classic, as I expect to not really run alts (as I generally don’t even on live). I consider PVP my endgame even if I dip into PVE too.

For WotLK thru mid MoP I mained a disc priest. From then thru the Legion pre-patch I mained an Assassination rogue. From then til now I’ve mained a Veng DH.

Each role I enjoy for PVP, to include 1v1 encounters in the world. From Wrath to now there have been major swings in how each performs in BGs/wPVP as well.

For someone who missed playing Vanilla (outside of the trial a couple of times), how does playing non-DPS roles in wPVP (solo and group) and BGs stack up? What can I expect?

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For heals (or any hybrid class) you can expect to be collectively berated by your entire faction if you do not spend ALL mana, mana pots, beverages, and global cool downs on healing/buffing your “allies”. If you do a great job and swing the battle in your favor you can expect nothing but your “ally” DPSers posting how big their yellow numbers were.

If you only do a good or average job expect continued beratement in the form of “HEALZ ME FFS!!!eleventyone” and “OUR HEALERZ SUXORZ!!!eleventyone!!!”

At no time will a friendly mage offer you water. You are expected to provide your own drinks. At no time will anyone bother to peel that rogue off of you, you are expected to keep yourself AND the whole team up simultaneously. At no time will any DPSer acknowledge your contribution to the fight. Expect THAT.

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How important are healers to affecting the outcome of group battles? Comparable to today, or would sometimes just having more DPS present be more effective?

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Depends on the outcome of the fight. Warriors and rogues would inevitably take sole credit for any victory and assign sole blame to the hybrid for any defeat.

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Well they usually aren’t as tanky as warriors were in cataclysm-bfa.

Its usually easier to play in groups as none dps roles, but classes function as what they are and are not like specs in bfa , the higher you level up the more your talents influence you.

Solo classes with self healing do better.

You can expect to run out of mana in bgs and world pvp and die, or not being able to regenerate much hp as you do in live.
It mostly depends on gear you have for bgs, because healing with healing power is very different then without.

It is kinda like wotlk leveling similar but wrath had major swings in every patch.

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I think that those types of people have and always will exist, then and today, but there’s still a more objective answer to be found

Do tanks play critical roles in AV or WSG? or is feral w/ self heal god tier FC?

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If you are looking for an “objective” response to how influential healers were to world PvP during vanilla then you are asking for a #change and there are certain elements in these forums who will shout you down for suggesting such a thing.

ferals give up all self heals when they go bear form in vanilla.

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I’m not clear what change is being suggested by inquiring about the efficacy and utility of non-DPS roles

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You asked for an “objective” answer about the efficacy and utility of non-DPS roles. Since no “objective” answer was ever given during vanilla’s time frame, what you are asking for is a #change.

Like I said, all warriors and rogues took credit for every victory while assigning sole blame for every defeat back then. Asking for something different is asking for a change. It’s really so much easier to just ask yourself “warrior or rogue main for classic?”

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I appreciate your input but I don’t see how there is no objective data; what you gave is a summary of how appreciated a healer may feel rather than whether or not its actually good for the overall fight. I don’t care if I get thanked or not, I don’t care if a rogue claims he did all the work. I do care about being dead-weight to a group. I do enjoy running roles such as FC, healer, AV-tank, etc; however, if these are not critical and more DPS is more valuable, then that’s good info too.

I’m quite confused by your input, but thank you.

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11

Take the best 2 out of 3 then. Warriors were the only good tank in vanilla and they also topped DPS charts. “Hybrids” were relegated to healbot only status back then.

For DPS utility they brought the STRONGEST PvP debuff in the game with mortal strike and had an AOE fear.

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I’m not sure what this dude is saying either…

Healers are game changers in vanilla pvp, many classes have very minor or no self healing at all and rely on healers to be more effective. Healing classes also have so much utility which is important for successful team pvp.

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Its fun. Really fun. Its fun when you drop the first heal and everyone turns to kill you.

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nothing like the “healers must die” addon that was oh so ever prevalent during vanilla. #nochanges amirite?

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Have no idea what this guy is saying either. I didn’t think you were asking for a change either.

Anyway, the thing is, gear dependency is huge for some classes. This is something that’s relatively a nonissue on live. My memory is that healers had less of an outcome relative to what it’s like on live. This is not to say that healers were not important. They absolutely were. But I think the thing that matters most in PvP is gear.

Classic burst was insane if you compare it to what it is on live. The term “globaling” actually meant killing someone in one or two GCDs, which was very possible. A rogue might be able to delete 70-100% of a preist’s health in one Cold Blood ambush. This is really just unhealable damage, which is why I believe there’s more emphasis on big damage (and gear) rather than amazing heals. Not to mention, 5+ second interrupts and silences were more common among abilities which destroyed healers.

Every class had strengths and weaknesses, and I believe those strengths and weaknesses were more pronounced in classic. Which is why you hear people say “pvp was rock, paper, scissors”

The thing is, if you’re support, you’re actually a support. A healer sucks at 1v1s out in the world, unlike live where a healer is invincible 1v1. Prot warrior would also be support, but is necessary, because the bosses in AV need to be tanked. Obviously tanks make great flag runners, with feral druid being king. Again though, if you try wPvP 1v1s as prot, a caster will demolish you, might be able to beat rogues, but most damage will be able to kite and whittle you down and you can’t put pressure on them.

You really need to do some research about the different classes you’re thinking about and pick which strengths fit the type of gameplay you’ll be doing more of. A healing priest will be garbage in most 1v1 situations because super squishy but in group PvP can be quite strong on the backlines, no CD dispells, high troughput and versatile healing, shields. If you said you dip into PvE occasionally, priests are often the strongest healers there.

Meanwhile, a pally might be stronger in 1v1 situations because plate armor, shield, bubble, LoH, but might suffer from no AoE heals, not as many versatile heals as priest, and you’re not a priest healer for PvE situations.

Which, a tldr of all that, a priest is probably stronger healer in PvE and a pally is probably stronger in PvP. Strengths and weaknesses of the utility classes. But if you role a non-dps role, don’t expect to be winning a lot of 1v1s out in the world. You’re really more support in the sense than what a support role on live means. Good heals are great in BGs and sturdy tanks are needed in AV and WSG to an extent. But I feel big (geared) damage has the most impact on most PvP situations.

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Yes, good teams will focus dps the healers so you had better get good at using all of your escapes and abilities. It just goes to show you how strong healers are because if left alone you will propel your team to victory.

Changes or no changes has nothing to do with this thread.

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You can’t PvP as a tank, unless it’s tanking guards/a boss in a city raid. There are some prot talents you can pick up to help survivability, but you won’t kill anything as full prot, as classic prot was about building threat and taking hits.

PvE gear usually dominated PvP because there really wasn’t much of a difference in stats, however, if the realm starts in 1.12 then there is the distinct possibility the PvP gear added in a later patch will be there at the start, which means it might be a viable alternative at least before Naxx.

Healing is still quite needed in PvP but healer survivability is considerably less in classic, and you will be targeted. One player can take you out a lot of times, as opposed to the more recent game variants where it usualyl takes multiple people.

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Only a lot more argument for mortal strike being the STRONGEST PVP debuff in addition to arms warriors topping the charts in DPS while also being the tankiest class.

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Great run-down everyone, thank you. It’ll take some time to really sink into what I want to play, but you’ve all helped.

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I think he is on some kind of magic mushroom-infused hybrid buffs quest.

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