Talking about pvp terms
Upgrades had value and weight in Vanilla, gear mattered, upgrades made a difference, in that sense all classes are gear dependent.
Every class was hugely gear-dependent in vanilla but the physical dps classes were usually far more dependent than the magical ones. A warrior or rogue with a good weapon was often far deadlier than a shadow priest with one.
So gear matters but at higher gear levels the physical damage classes really started owning pvp.
Indeed when they made Eviscerate scale rather than be flat damage, rogues with raid weapons an R14 weapons got nasty. Ah naked Rogues destroying R14 players when it was flat damageā¦ good timesā¦
PvP gear dependent? Not really casters are not very dependent generally and a shadow priest is up there in least preferable class to pvp against.
That dot and fear though.
Casters are the least gear dependent IMO besides hunters. As long as you have lotās of health and int you will still do great. Obviously later on the spell power gear helps you out a lot more but you arenāt weighed down with being undergeared like rogues and warriors are.
The least dependent by far is probably hunters.
PvP gear has very high stamina values, so even the lower PvP gear is a significant boon. PvE caster gear outside of raids lacks in health, while there are no PvP exclusive stats in Vanilla, High stam gear is what you want to aim for as a caster starting out.
Shadow is one of the least gear dependent specs in the game for pvp.
Obviously every class is gear dependent to a point. And I can make arguments about how every single one of them make gear.
When people ask if a class is gear dependent normally they mean it in the context of āDo I NEED gear to be viable or kill someoneā. Casters not so much, melee do.
Iāll try to make this easy, letās say everyone is level 60 but they are only given the weapons they got at level 1. Which classes are going to destroy the most.
The answer is casters and hunters (because of their pets).
The other facet of gear dependency is wweather or not its needed in order to not be of use in a PvP and especially structured PvP situation. Aiming for higher stated Stamina gear will allow an Spriest to not be 1-shotted or even a chance to break stun lock before they are dead. If SPriest can survive a rogues ambush, they have a very good chance at taking them out.
Get rogues a big weapon and they can go in with more crummy gear so long as they can get it done quick, SPriest along with other Casters need to be able to survive that initial attack before they can have a chance vs a Rogue or Druid that crept up on them or a Warrior that has charged them.
Which gear is needed differs, an SPriest with a bunch of Green Stam cloth pieces will have better chances over those that donāt.
Yes, which is why they are seen as ānonā gear dependent. You can get a pvp āstamā set while leveling. Not to mention as a priest you automatically are giving yourself more stam with buffs, and shields. Melees NEED that weapon from higher level dungeons/raids/rank or whatever.
Just through leveling I believe a normal caster can get around 3k health? And priests have that stam buff. You wonāt really be getting one shot by anyone until AQ gear rolls around, and thatās if you really geared poorly while leveling and just getting stuff like spirit and int.
Spriest is a nightmare with gear, and a very bad dream without.
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The perhaps not so much gear dependent as along the lines of how weighty the upgrades are for SPriests. Any additional spell damage on an SPriest makes them all the more of a threat.
Undead works best. Dwarf, not as good, but best for Alliance. Once some of the bg faction gear and the rank 6-8 ish pvp gear kicks in (fully enchanted) the Undead Shadow Priest takes off to be among the best pvpers in Vanilla. Donāt need to raid with this toon for pvp.
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Shadow Priest is the posterchild of being able to destroy someone with better gear than them.
^THIS
I mostly did PvP as a Warrior, Fury mind you, could handle everything but SPriests and Druids, why Rank 10 was my stopping point =)
In theory if you get lucky enough you can kill pretty much anyone even while naked with 5/5 blackout. Spriests get a lot better when they have more mana but you are always gonna be awesome at 1v1. Hunters, locks and mages are much less gear dependent sure, but spriests arenāt nearly as bad as warriors. The Only thing you NEED is a wand and all the best ones 1-60 have been mapped out by privater server priest nerds. Against most other fresh green geared 60s you will do pretty well and the +shadow tailoring pieces are very accessibleā¦
Gear will make a difference once other peopleās toons are geared, but you WILL steam roll most people, 1v1, throughout leveling and at cap.
In PvP Iād say very gear dependent. You really want to stack on the Int, SP, and SC. Priests have less damage tools to work with, so you really need them to count. Yeah you have dot and mass fear, but the power of a huge mind blast crit can be a scary thing!
The least gear dependent are probably feral Druid and hunter. Hunters just have a ton of tools, even in sub optimal gear. Feral Druids do power creep with gear, but things like weapon damage hold very little meaning when shape shifted. Your weapon is basically a stat stick.
I can confirm that itās also ridiculously easy to play effectively even with little to zero experience. IMO easiest class to play at a reasonable level in PVP.
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