I know these two classes are quite different, except for them both being hybrids, but what have you all found most interesting? I’m looking at leveling PvE experience and general PvP.
Thanks!
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Druids have a pretty smooth ride while leveling, much better than paladins. As far as pvp goes, while leveling and open world Druids also pull ahead. Paladins only really shine as a healer for group pvp.
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I suppose on the Paladin side, something that I find interesting is how flexible their Raid healing builds can be. With 21 points into Holy, you can be a competitive raid healer, and that leaves you with 30 points to play around with.
Something like 21/30/0 can be great for healing raids, tanking instances, solo farming lasher runs, and other places, for example.
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Druid is all around more interesting IMO
Both have their spot in raids and in the BGs. Both can crush, both have their nuances. I guess druid has more ‘twitch’, but take skill to be top notch, like all wow classic classes.
Both have those that will tell you how you should play them, this is kinda hardcore for both unfort.
Druids generally do a better job at serving a specific role where paladins do a better job of filling several roles at the same time, just not tuned to as high a degree.
As in a druid tanking will be in bear form. He will have more armor, health, and a taunt. But if he wants to throw a heal, remove poison, remove curse, or something else on someone else he has to come out of bear form to do it, weakening him significantly. A paladin tank doesn’t suffer from being weakened while trying to use nontanking skills.
A druid healer has a harder time staying alive if he becomes the focus of threat while still trying to heal others compared to a holy paladin wearing plate and a shield while healing others. If a druid tries to go bear to stay alive he isn’t healing others at all, and himself less well. A holy paladin in general unless being CC’ed can continue to heal at the same rate while being hit.
This is just what I have noticed in playing both classes. Druid is better at specializing in a role, but not as good at covering over another role in the middle of a fight. A paladin is the more competent hybrid. A druid is the more complete hybrid.
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Druids are fun, paladins are brain dead boring.
If you’re going to pick one, pick Druid.
Not true, that’s just the role we are most often shoved into because we make the best healers for PvP. If you’re the type that doesn’t care what others think of you, you can also put out some very dirty burst damage with the right build, while also helping out your ungrateful teammates with dispels, damage immunity, and immobilization immunity, as well as off-heals, sharing incoming damage with a focused teammate… All of which can be performed without speccing as a healbot.
Oh trust me, I know with experience what a well geared, well played ret paladin is capable of. Unfortunately they are rare in comparison and 8/10 times a holy paladin would make a pvp team stronger than a ret paladin would. Not trying to diminish what a great ret could do, but generally you’d be better off with an arms warrior / holy paladin than a ret / any other healer.
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Oth are headless at the end. Druids aren’t wanted in raids much.
Ret pallies can be great in group pvp, but unfortunately most tend to focus on buffing/healing/cleansing just themselves as opposed to a holy paladin which usually tend to join a BG with more of a team oriented mind set.
There are bad players of all classes, ret paladins tend to be under the most scrutiny that I’ve seen, probably because
- they could be healbotting
- they have one of the most versatile utility kits in the game, so when a nearby teammate could have used one of any of our spells while the paladin is focusing on an enemy, they can be quick to criticize.
This in stark contrast to a warrior whose only utility is doing damage and keeping MS up on their target. I’d wager there are just as many, if not more, warriors who do not peel for their healers as there are ret paladins who do not utilize all their spells for their teammates when needed.
Druids are the hands down better choice for tanking or soloing.
Paladins dominate the game when it comes to healing groups or raids.
Also have played both and my opinion is the complete opposite.
Druids can literally become a concentrated version of every role on a moment’s notice by shifting. We are much less handicapped by our talent trees than a Paladin is.
It’s also worth noting that two of the three paladin specs are objectively broken. Retribution and Protection simply are not reasonably balanced for what they are intended to do. Of course some people out there do it anyway, but warcraft logs doesn’t lie, nor does the reality of the buttons/skills and gear a prot paladin has available to them.
Paladins however are exceptional healers, and it is the only role they can truly perform competently and to great effect in all content types. Druids have no such spotlight.
Paladins in my opinion aren’t even hybrids in vanilla. They are healers who were given broken and almost unnecessary options to tank or DPS, because of their strength as healers.
For endgame PvE content you are correct; however, I would argue paladins make the most competent tanks for 5-mans while leveling given that they can hold aggro on many mobs better than any other class, and if it weren’t for our lack of a taunt, would make very competent raid tanks as well.
Ret lags behind most classes in raid dps, but can still be very bursty and useful in PvP (not to mention fun).
Your idea of fun is different than mine. I don’t consider throwing up a seal and waiting to be very fun compared to constant power shifting and utilizing 3 different toolboxes in any given fight.
Also, even if paladins had a taunt, they would be severely hampered by lack of gear options…none. They are simply way more vulnerable than Warriors or ferals to being gibbed.
It is, of course, much more than that, especially during group fights where your team can make use of your utility. That’s not to say druid can’t be fun too.
There isn’t none, but there is definitely less options than a warrior or druid, for sure. The tier sets don’t give paladins much for tanking. Still, I’ve seen paladins successfully tank Nefarian. Paladins also have the bonus in that fight of not being crippled by their class call.
Of course it isn’t everything but it is your definitive core gameplay/combat loop. To claim that Paladin possesses any significant depth is to essentially be inexperienced with other classes or extremely biased in some way.
Depends on what spec(s) you enjoy playing & which you don’t. Both can be painful to level/play in some situations, depending on that. Play style preferences mean everything to the enjoyment of both classes, & neither class really shines in variety of viable/potent play choices (or gear) until TBC.
I love healing 5-mans with my Druid, but they are pretty frustrating to heal with in raids, since everyone else can easily snipe our slower-casting heals & HoTs in that multi-healer environment. Feels like I am just wasting mana constantly in raids, but hey its easy to get the leather resto tier drops as the only Druid healer, lol.
My (now 45) Holy Paladin is also a fun dungeon healer thus far & even fun to solo/quest with if you are the patient, relaxed player who isn’t in a hurry.
Can’t speak for WoW PvP, since I haven’t touched MMORPG PvP since the glory DAoC MMORPG days. Just not a good game genre for it IMO.
I’m not disagreeing with you. In fact in what you wrote here, you are saying exactly what I said. A druid performing in a role does it better, but does not cover multiple roles at the same time as well as a paladin does. A druid in shifted form loses many of their abilities while shifted. They have to shift out to use them, and then shift back. A paladin just always has them handy.
Fun is subjective. They both use different playstyles. Paladin tanks biggest disability is lack of taunt and then not being able to cap on defense while searching for gear with int and spellpower. But they can be played. I use the dungeon and tier sets for tanking because they give a ton of stats, but they don’t give defense so for that I have to rely only on rings, trinkets, amulet, cloak, and shield to get me as far as they can.
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There is far more to PvPing as a paladin than dealing damage. If you’re using all of your utility spells correctly you’ll never be bored.