I’m kind of torn between leveling up a priest or warlock.
I know Warlock leveling is going to be easier than a lot of classes. Not thrilled about my bag slots being taken up with soul shards, but i’ll deal with it.
I heard Priest leveling is rather painful, but its nice that you’re in high demand as a healer. Will I get into groups easier as warlock or priest?
Are warlocks going to bring a lot of value to groups, such as the Ritual of Summoning? Anyone want to comment on that or their experience?
I’m just not sure which one I want to play.
Priests are actually very efficient levelers once you get a wand. Since you will cast your SW:P then wand them to death, conserving most of your mana.
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priest leveling is one of the smoothest by far. you spec into shadow for spirit talent you can never go oom playing smart.
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Worth pointing out that while they’re efficient, and easy…
Priests aren’t super fast until 40, when shadowform becomes available.
After that point, however, priest is one of the best levelers in the game (and 40-60 is well over half the total time spent leveling)
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I played a warlock from launch - AQ. I can’t comment on priest but there’s a few potential deal breakers when it comes to locks:
-Soul Shards. They are more annoying than you think. If you’re planning on raiding, you need to completely fill your bags with them and keep them stocked up for health stones and your own abilities on progression nights.
-Pets. Sometimes the AI acts funny and they can be frustrating, like taking a weird path and aggroing mobs, dying, and getting stuck. It’s also more to manage.
-Aggro. You have no way to drop aggro, and it can be especially dicey with dots sometimes.
Health stones, curse of elements, soul stones, and high dps all make warlocks a vital part of any raid. It wasn’t for me though so I switched during AQ. But if none of those things seem that bad to you, then go for it.
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Reality:. Priests suck until level 40. But after that they are easy. In the long run, level 40 is nothing.
However here is the ultimate reality check:. Do you want to heal or not? Priests ONLY value is healing and ALL groups from 5 mans to raids WILL expect you to heal.
Soon some troll will come in this thread and lie to you about the “value” of shadow priests, but the reality is that in classic shadow priests were one in a million and ONLY wanted for their one buff in raids.
If you want to dps then choose warlock. Everyone loves warlocks. If you want to priest then be prepared to heal or you better be the significant other of the raid leader or you won’t have a raid spot.
With all that said… If you only care about PvP then shadow priests really do melt faces. If you are PvP you are more than welcome in my PvP only guild. We LOVE shadow priests. 
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don’t warlocks get the free mount at 40?
and can’t you also get a 32 slot bag for holding soulshards?
I looked at some of the gear / bis and seems like if I did play Lock in a raid or dungeon environment I would get looked over a lot in place of a mage.
I’m just looking for something that I’ll have fun with in groups, but has a decent leveling experience.
Warlocks are amazing in lev 60 dungeons. Mages are very nice too due to water, but hey anyone can craft 10 stacks of water in town for you to take out for your day of playing.
Warlocks lack in MC because they do not have access to the talented 6% spell hit that mages do. Warlocks suffer a ton due to that RNG in MC. Theyr’e still amazing for banish on Garr and the fire packs after Baron. Soulstones and Healthstones are incredibly strong, so there will always be a spot for you. Your curse is also mandatory.
In BWL this is alleviated due to spell hit being on non-mage gear, and warlocks destroy dps meters. Same with Naxx.
so can a good warlock still have a chance of being like in the top 5 of the dps meters? Or #1 in a dungeon?
I know warriors usually take the top spot.
What faction are you planning to play?
Sure they can. But Classic is a team-effort, don’t be to fixated on numbers alone. Good DPS hinges on many things. Good tank, gear, your skill, others skill and classes.
Shadow priest in 5-man is ok middle of the road DPS wise, pure beast in pvp. Otherwise, as priest, assume people wants you to heal.
probably alliance. Could be convinced to play Horde though.
Yes, free mount at 40.
Max soul shard bag is 28. That’s the core Felcloth bag. You won’t get that for awhile until people are running MC. Before that is the 24 slot bag which you’ll most likely have for awhile after hitting 60. Tailors make the soul bags. You do get free bags at level 20 and 30 with correlating demon quests.
Most of the pre raid BiS is crafted, BG rep, and a couple dungeons. Really not hard to get.
Warlocks are most valued for summons, healthstones, imp buff, and still do amazing dps. Groups love the imp buff since it stacks with priest buff in vanilla. Weakest link is threat management. Warlocks have no way to drop aggro.
It you don’t want to worry about pet management in dungeons then run a DS build.
If you are going to be in a good to elite guild warlocks won’t sniff top 5 dps in any 40 man raid. However they can still hit that 600-800 dps range pretty easily in Naxx40, but they always lack hit %. They can easily top 5 mans and ubrs tho. They are always wanted because not enough good players roll warlock. Their leveling is super easy with pet and you can farm while drinking.
As far as alliance priest if you go Dwarf literally all the raids will try to invite you and grab you into their ranks. Leveling is definitely worse than warlock, but if you are not rushing 60 early then going priest is probably better leveling cause you can have a buddy mob tap with you. Their gearing is really well designed through all raids and they can easily top healing meters. They are integral to both sides for success.
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what does better for pvp in terms of damage / 1v1 / and fending off ganking (or doing the ganking) , warlock or a shadow priest?
Both are super good in PvP I would personally give edge to a skilled Shadow Priest. In a 1v1 again Shadowpriest should win vs most anyone if played right. Fending off ganking probably warlock cause you have better “oh crap” buttons.
Warlock is king of 1v1 pvp. Assuming close to equal gearing. I’ve pvpd with both.
Purely depends on the realm, some realms may lack healers and priest are the first to be asked while warlock summoning is good, but some people who go for mages for polymorph and water.
Ganking depends on who ganks you I killed a group of people on a shadow priest I lvl in bc before, it was very fun as I would cast holy fire on some of them.
But unlike live where disc priest bubbles shield a lot in classic it won’t be as strong or shouldn’t.
Warlocks void walker bubble is like king in those being ganking situations and later on death coil.
Warriors and rogues are king of dps in tier1 content. It has nothing to do with skill or really gear but simply that’s how the game is designed.
If you look at a tier2 perfect tank/spank fight like Patchwerk, warlocks can top meters. Mages can. Warriors can. Rogues can. So they’re def competitive later on.
In dungeons at level 60 in blues you’ll be just fine on damage.