… And I never would have figured.
Decided to play a class and faction that I’ve never played when I rolled up on hardcore. Go for broke, I figured. And healing as a priest has been a lot of fun! I’ve always played DPS, so support is a new role for me. The first dungeon, I was sweating bullets because I didn’t want to get anybody killed. Hoping I still enjoy it at later levels.
How about you, what has surprised you on your Classic Hardcore journey?
I went the opposite way.
I played healer well until MoP, and then we needed a bear for RBGs and I was Nomenteered for the role.
Then I discovered Laser Chicken and have been playing Boomy ever since.
I still do like healing, and have healed some dungeons on a couple of characters in HC.
Good luck! Enjoy the journey!
I very much dislike healing at Level 60.
5 talent points for 15% Spirit-based mana regeneration in-combat is
(although I do think those talents getting boosted to 50% in WoTLK was overkill)
but that’s okay, because it reminds me that my absolute favorite class to play at level 60 is Hunter.
Healing 5-mans is fun because there’s decision-making about interrupts/CC/utility, swapping to damage, etc.
Unfortunately healing raids is boring because you’re just spamming heals and all the damage/utility stuff and individual mechanics mostly falls away. If you’re playing shaman there’s still skill in totem twisting and such. Paladin is the most boring spamming FOL on the tank 24/7.
Tbh healing is a lot funner in retail because healers are expected to do damage and heal in raids and M+, and so it requires a lot more mechanics and decisionmaking similar to 5-mans in classic.
Im surprised by how helpful everyone has been. I have only had maybe 1 or 2 bad interactions with people out of hundreds. Could be lucky I guess but overall everyone is friendly, most people like to group up to get quests done and share buffs. People even sharing things like mining nodes and chests.
Its a breath of fresh air compared to the norm wow where everyone is selfish and only looks out for themselves.
HC attracts this type of player, and conversely, players that act selfishly often don’t last long. By the time you’re in the 40+ range most players have a reasonably good grasp of the game, because the bad ones died out already.
Kungen is a great HC healer if you need tips on ways to improve. Highly recommend his channel if you want to see how the pros do it at 60 
im so bored with healing
Feel like I have to agree with this. It’s not just WOW, most HC games I have played people tend to behave pro-socially. Seems that when being on the good side of others in the hopes they will pull your butt out of a fire, it’s in your own best interests to be helpful to others.
I didn’t think I’d like it at all. I didn’t think I’d have any desire to keep going if my characters ever died, and I thought I’d hate not being able to spam dungeons.
As it turns out, I like HC just as it is! Who would have thunk?
Indeed. It’s always pleasant to be surprised by an Unexpectedly Good Idea.
I was the same. I didn’t have any interest in it when I first heard about the addon, and when official was announced i was still decidedly meh about it.
A friend convinced me to give it a try and I haven’t played anything else since I accidentally pulled two prowlers at level 8 and almost died. 
The only interesting role that there is in 40 man raids is tanking. All of the other roles are boring AF.
I understand why people say this, but I cut my teeth on Vanilla raiding. And I can’t stand Mythic+, so I guess I’m likely to still have a good time in Classic Era. I am a little afraid of losing my toon, but I guess that’s the point.
Ditto, I thought that they were nuts. Now I guess I am too.
There’s some interesting psychological elements at play here. One would think that the people aren’t any different. I’m the same guy, regardless whether I’m playing Retail, Classic, or any other game. But the different circumstances either bring out the best in most people, or they happen to attract the sort of players who fit this category. Pretty fascinating, this whole experience.
Good choice. Nothing beats the toolkit of priest for healing, pure fun in there.
HC does not surprise me much as I played classic a lot before. But I must say, never thought engineering was so bis and i just started lvling it randomly on my 7th alt… i think i will never do another toon now without engineering. It’s the perfect fit for HC.
Warrior is probably the most interesting from a DPS standpoint because it’s more complex than just spamming 1 button 24/7. But yeah tanking is the most interesting role in raids.
Warriors were the obvious darling class of the raid devs in Vanilla. 20 years later I’m still bitter about it. They don’t tell you at the start of the game when you’re making your character that once you get to endgame your entire existence in endgame content will be distilled down to pressing one button on cd unless you decided to pick Warrior.
Pick Warrior and you get to be the main character and everyone in the raid does nothing except support you. Pick anything else and you will do nothing else except support the Warriors.
And the sense of entitlement that this instilled in Warrior players that STILL EXISTS many years later. It’ll always be a sour taste in my mouth whenever I look at this game. At least going back and playing Classic again, there is no bait and switch for people to get wrapped up on. Everyone now at least knows what to expect.
I noticed someone was in over their head this morning and I saved them and prevented them from having to re-roll. That is a new aspect to the game, and I’m never going back.