Most desired dps class (PvE)?

WoW Classic Cataclysm Classic Discussion
22

I’d argue frost mages are by far the most wanted dps in any dungeon content. I will always choose a frost mage over another class. Once I have a frost mage, though, my priority would be ele shaman > warlock > hunter > enhance shaman > spriest > warrior > balance Druid > ret Paladin > rogue.

Note I did not include feral dps because that is a joke. There are good feral dpsers out there but you aren’t going to find them in the general LFG channel, because it requires a level of sweatiness your average player isn’t willing to put up with.

23

Ill gladly take a good rogue.

3 Likes
24

Of ur list , certainly ele shaman. Balance is a close 2nd.
Hunt lock are simply overplayed
Shadow is overplayed cuz it’s strong in pvp

25

Hibernate is an absolute blessing in OHB and SHH.

2 Likes
26

When we get a shadow priest in group my prot pally gets a chubby.

The mana return is amazing

27

I was in a group last night with me, a pally, lock, enhance shaman and resto druid.

Best heroic group I have ever been in, the tank held aggro on everything while the lock was able to seed freely while I was supplying mana. I was able to go full blast on bosses and all 3 dps were over 1.1k dps. We did both H SP and H UB in under an hour with 0 deaths.

28

Everyone want warlocks in party/raid. But the supply of warlocks is just way too high. There’s like 15 warlocks per spot.

Shamans are always needed, can’t go wrong

1 Like
29

Horde or alliance?

30

They’re alright but would rather take a Pally, shammy, Lock, Hunter and a Druid.

31

Horde.

32

Shadow Priest is probably a good choice, you will be able to fill as a healer on the condition you can get shadow gear in the raid and find spots a lot easier as a result.

The community is over saturated with DPS right now.

33

If you’re looking at “end game” as raiding, your best bet is a shaman of any flavor. Elemental will remain in demand over enhance as you want 5 shaman to which 1 would be enhancement for the melee group. That leaves 4 spots depending on what the guild decides for healer to DPS ratio. So you’re looking to see a 2 resto/2 elemental or 1 resto/3 elemental ratio for most raid comps. The totems in groups are always welcome utility in the heroic scene.

34

SP or Shammy, go ele for easier gearing. SP can get a spot but usually most guilds only want one but shamans are always welcome especially since end game is caster heavy for fights.

35

You left out mages, which were on the OP’s list.

36

I am slightly more ambivalent about mages but am willing to consider them.

37

honest question: Are there too many elemental shaman mains out there already?

That was what I heard on the forums and on Mankrik I feel like I see no shortage of them.

38

There’s never enough shamans

39

I think all the classes you listed all have various pros and cons that you will have to consider. I thought I’d offer my opinion on Balance Druids which is the class I’m maining this expac.

Pros for Raids: Balance Druid is a very fun spec that brings excellent raid-wide utility with improved faerie fire (awesome for tanks/hunters/melee dps) and their 5 spell crit aura which is awesome for your primary caster dps party in raids.

Every Raid will want one boomkin for improved faerie fire. However, most raid will not bring more than one unless they design their raid comp to have two caster groups (lock, lock, lock/mage, ele sham, boomkin)

Balance is a very versatile class that when geared and played properly can do very competitive Single Target damage in this phase and beyond. In addition to offering really important utility like battle rez, which can be an encounter saving ability for your raid and innervate which situationally can be huge depending on how and when it’s deployed.

General Pros: The balance playstyle is dynamic, having access to DoTs, HoTs, CCs, and two nukes that are on different schools of magic!

Wrath: (Fast cast speed higher mana)
Starfire: (Slower cast speed more mana friendly)

Additionally, Boomkin has a solid set of CC options:
Cyclone
Root (Nature’s Grasp and Entangling roots)
Stun (Cat stealth Stun and also Bear stun)
Hibernate
War Stomp Stun (If you choose to be a tauren)

Moreover, the class has the best mobility of any caster/ranged DPS (essentially cannot be rooted or slowed) on top of being one of the tankiest casters against physical DPS due to the armor that Moonkin or Bear form provide.

They are actually a lowkey excellent 1v1 class in open world pvp when spec’d for it and don’t really have a hard counter due to the fact that you can enter and exit a fight better than pretty much any other class besides a rogue.

This only gets better when you get flight form (and swift flight form in a later phase)

TLDR – Balance is a fun spec with lots of interesting and useful utility, good single target damage, etc…

Now for the CONS and there definitely are some!

Cons: Balance is not a desired class for Heroics for several reasons. Some of which are unfair and some of which are perfectly reasonable.

Cons for Heroics:
Balance is a bit of a non-meta class and you will generally be passed over for a mage/warlock/hunter/elemental shaman because their damage or utility is viewed as superior in smaller-scale instances.

I think many in the community perceive balance DPS to be subpar. In terms of Single Target, this just isn’t the case and balance druids can do extremely competitive damage.

However, there is the reality that balance AoE damage on packs of 4-6 mobs is lackluster (especially if the mobs have low health and we can’t multi-dot effectively). This is very evident when compared to Warlock’s Seed of corruption, Mage AoE (Blizz/blastwave/arc explosion), or even Ele shams (Fire Nova Totem/Chain Lightning). All of these classes have low to no CD AoE damage that is very effective and useful.

Whereas Balance Druids have one of the least useful AoE spells in Hurricane. Hurricane has a 1 min CD, it’s a channel and is quite weak when compared to other class AoE options. The only thing that makes it semi-useful is it doesn’t suffer from an AoE cap so if your tank is well geared and you are grouping and killing larger packs of 7+ mobs it can actually do decent damage. (Hurricane really starts to become useful on packs of 7+) .

Additionally, if your group needs CC most groups will prefer a mage. Imp Blizz/Frost Nova are just too good.

Cons for PVP:
Balance doesn’t really have a meta arena comp and is considered a bit weak in 2s, 3s, or 5s especially when compared against warlocks, mages, spriests or even hunters.

I do think that in open world or even BGs however where there are more 1v1 or 1vx encounters Balance really shines and has a lot of useful tools.

In summary, Balance has a lot of pros and cons but overall it has been a super fun spec to play in TBC!!! I hope this helps some of you guys who are considering rolling a druid and just want to hear some pros and cons from others playing the spec.

40

This an excellent breakdown, thank you.

41

Bumping this still I am looking for insight and this sort of dropped quickly after all the PvP drama.

I am still completely willing to hear about any class on my original list but am now leaning a bit more towards:

Warlock, Shaman, Balance

A bit more curious about the desirability of Mages now as well.