For context, I played casually during Cataclysm and left during Mists of Pandaria. At the time that I had played, the class mechanics were fun and engaging, but since my return they appear pretty bare, and not to sound condescending but they’re far less involved than what I’m used to from Rift. Very narrow. I also don’t really have a solid frame of reference to determine just how much I can expect the class mechanics to change between now and Shadowlands, since the jump between Wrath to Cata and Cata to MoP are the only two jumps I’ve seen and I don’t know or have any reason to believe the trend of “complete overhaul every expansion,” has continued. I played as Cabalist, Defiler, Inquisitor, Oracle and Warden in Rift, from greatest to least playrate, to give you an idea of what I like.
First question : Given that I don’t care to maintain several max level characters, should I just wait for Shadowlands to decide on a class?
Second question : Assuming I do choose a class now, I’d like to select from among the specs that perform at >=50% of the mean in DPS and are convoluted compared to the others from that set. Any recommendation for Ranged and Melee?
If all these requirements can’t be met or you don’t feel like going through the trouble of jumping through all those hoops , other recommendations that keep some in mind are still welcome. I have a 120 s-priest and 120 b-druid, and I’m not really keen on either, ftr.
I haven’t played Rift since it first came out so I can’t say what classes in WoW would be similar to any you listed myself (I’m sure others will though).
My problem is when looking at the aggregate on warcraftlogs.com, nothing in the top 50% of classes really stands out to me as what you describe as a convoluted class. The best I could say engagement wise that is mid pack would be Feral Druid. It’s slightly below the 50% mark, but a solid middle spot.
Feral’s engagement level is up there as it’s skill ceiling is higher than most. Easy to learn, hard to master type of class. The type where you have to pay attention to what you’re doing as messing up your rotation even a little bit can punish you a lot.
For ranged DPS, and the only other spec I would say falls into that same category of play as Feral is Demonology Warlock, but it currently falls far short of your at or above 50% requirement. It’s currently a bottom tier spec as far as raid DPS.
Now, all that said. As I’m sure you’re aware, we just entered a new patch. With balance changes and massive gear jumps, it’s likely to shake up the standings a little bit. We won’t know where everything will really end up until a few weeks after the new raid releases and M+ season starts, which is this coming Tuesday, but it’s good to keep in mind that any time a patch releases, we could very well be sitting on the edge of a new meta.
You are going to find that player skill plays a much bigger role in dps than the class/spec itself. Unless you’re competing for world firsts, you’re going to be playing with people with a mix of player skill levels and if you are awesome, you’ll be in the top half of the dps charts regardless of class/spec. (Probably far better than the top half.)
Also keep in mind that talents and azeurite trait choice will also affect how classes play. There is huge difference in class complexity between choosing all passive talents and all active ones.
Find something fun, get good at it, and the rest will follow.
Yeah, I’d seen a lot of warlock players complaining about the state of the class’ performance, so I’ve been wary of playing it myself. My concern with being top 50% is mostly that I’d rather not get abruptly kicked from PUGs for deliberately choosing an underperformer, since I don’t currently have a guild to run with. In your experience, does this happen a lot in WoW? In Rift, it could be a problem.
I’ve never seen somebody who is performing well be kicked because of their class. There’s almost always a primary motive such as the person having an attitude, or pulling groups ahead of the tank for example. In the case of M+, you won’t be “removed” once the run has started regardless as once the key is started, you’re locked in with the 5 people in that group. You cannot be replaced at that point, and thus, removing you would waste the key. Also, as Udiza said, unless you’re trying to push extreme level content, it won’t matter much what you play. We’re talking 18+ keys or a guild’s mythic progression raid group.
Where you might see the classism come into play is when trying to find a group. The higher the keystone, the more people will look for meta comps. The same would be the case for a mythic raid group, though finding somebody trying to seriously pug Mythic raids would be a feat in and of itself. These groups generally only exist within guilds, and if you joined one who had a progression group, you would likely be vetted and recruited for a specific role in said progression group anyway.
, other recommendations that keep some in mind are still welcome. I have a 120 s-priest and 120 b-druid, and I’m not really keen on either, ftr.