Humor me, I live in a world where TBC is definitely happening. Click back if you’re going to tell me “it’s not even announced yet.”
With that out of the way, I need your help/advice in finalizing my choice of main for TBC. I have a few caveats for each of my contenders but here’s the basics: I typically PvE more than I PvP - but I’m really looking forward to actively competing in arenas this go around, I enjoy tanking/healing/dpsing and all the better if my class allows me to switch roles, being able to get a raid spot is important. That’s pretty much it boiled down…now for the caveats.
Warlock-
Here’s where the smart money is. Good in PvE and PvP. It will be in high demand and has a good quality of life. Boy this is sounding great, just like my Classic mage…which I re-rolled from because 1 button spam was boring. Leveling is fun. Haven’t done much PvP so I don’t know if that will be fun. Another strike against it is that I played on as an alt in TBC the first time.
Druid-
Feral tank is my current main. Jack of all trades, master of most in TBC (sorry Boomie). Feral tanks and resto druids perform really well in PvE and resto druids are S tier in arena. I mained a feral tank in TBC the first time so I’d probably give resto a go this time (I mained resto in Vanilla). Either way I’ve already played both specs so that could be a strike against.
Rogue-
My main DPS class from WoTLK to the present. I gravitate to their playstyle because it’s fun in PvE. Great in PvP, apparently not even desireable in PvE until T6 (where do these T6 rogues magically come from then?). Not too much experience in arenas with them but I hear they’re more skill based than a lock would be anyways. Never played on in TBC so that a plus. Afraid I might not even get a raid spot since I wouldn’t “bring anything to the raid.”
So that’s where I’m at. Please let me know what you’d recommend in my situation and why.
Well in this its happening world we don’t know If they will totally rebalance classes or not so picking now would be silly. Come back in a year when we know what changes the are going to make to classes content arenas etc and we might have a better idea. With no promises made it could look very different than old TBC and it should honestly if we learned anything from classic it was #ALLTHECHANGESFORTBC
I mean even if it did had the same balance you don’t know what there patch plan is. if its the final patch anything but ret pally or arcane mage gets dunked in pvp. Simply put speculating at this time is pointless.
Do you have a guild that you’re currently raiding with in classic? Do they (and you) plan to move forward into tbc together?
Talk to them. Tell them your interests in playing a rogue. See what their plans are.
I also want to play a rogue in tbc, I’ve gone ahead and let my guild know the two classes I want to play (priest and rogue) and they’re fine with either.
It will be more difficult to find a home as a rogue compared to something like a shaman but nothing’s impossible if you work at it
Yeah, that’s a good idea. I do have a guild and they’re pretty cool/laid back but we still down content. I’m alliance on a pve server because of my friends…so barring any big changes there I’d anticipate moving forward with the guild. I’ll talk to some of the officers and see what they say.
Good choice on priest btw. I also played one of those in TBC and it was fun.
I think I’m going to be maining this Warlock, and a Rogue - with a Paladin elf I think. But I went into Classic expecting to main Hunter, so…
Play what you like. If you enjoy Rogue, I’m sure your guild will be able to accommodate. Especially since we’re gonna see a lot of Mages and Warriors reroll.
You can reasonably assume they’re not going to totally rebalance classes. Even if they did, for several it’s not an issue of tuning as much as mechanics and overall class design. IE: Rogues/Warriors aren’t bad because they don’t do enough damage, at the upper tiers of TBC raiding they still do the most “target dummy dps.” But their issue is many TBC fights are very unfriendly for melee, and they don’t bring anything else as far as buffs/debuffs to the table.
Overall power/desireability rankings for TBC I’d put something like
Shaman > Hunter > Lock > Priest > basically everything else.
Shamans bring the best buffs and the 2nd most healing output. Ele is also ok, but probably B tier.
Hunters are top overall dps
Locks are 2nd best dps, best aoe, and bring SS/healthstones/summons
Shadow priests bring reasonable dps and are a mana battery. Holy priests are the best healing output in the game. Disc priests PS is almost mandatory for some encounters.
Druids aren’t super strong in PVE but people will generally still want a resto or two for tree buff in the healing groups, and as others pointed out they’re pretty ridiculous in 2’s arena though they fall off considerably in 3’s and 5’s. Flightform is also a pretty huge QOL advantage and makes them the best miners/herbers.
Rogues are very strong if you’re lucky enough to grab a pair of glaives, but most raids will only carry a couple and it will generally be a lot harder to find groups than for literally any other class in the game.
Will be interesting to see how many chad warriors will reroll to lock or hunter since their egos can’t stand losing out on meter topping. I’m sure a few will off themselves in shame but the others will fill the top rolls in time.
They’re actually very good and borderline required, all specs.
Resto is great early on, one lifebloom is enough to heal dps through most unavoidable damage and later in swp with haste cap you can roll 4 fully stacked blooms at all time for some sick hps.
The imp lotp offered by feral is godly and they’re great off tanks. Their dps is pretty meh but most raids will want at least one bear.
Boomkin + 4 warlocks or 3 warlocks and an ele shaman. Nuff said!
Rankings are more like
Resto Shaman > Hunter = Warlock > everything else.
Locks are second best single target, but best multi-target. You can’t just say hunters are better dps when they get out done on multi-target.
Druids aren’t super strong? In Sunwell you will have a bear main tank. No warrior or paladin tank will match druid tanks on damage done in a fight outside of AoE fights. If you don’t you’ll have a bit of a harder time than other guilds. Restos are nice, but not required. Your warlocks will demand a balance druid for the hit buff. Flight Form makes us the best herbers. Miners I’ve found a Ret with the mount speed increase better. Unless you’re picking certain situations where stealth and insta-cast to GTFO faster is needed, but a pally will be faster at mining. I remember dealing with pallies and them always being a slight step ahead of me in retail BC. So while I had insta-cast form I couldn’t match their mount speed.
That said most raids will bring one of each paladin spec, but will still look for pallies carrying off spec sets. And your prot pally won’t be MT to start due to gearing. Just like your feral won’t be an MT until he has 2 T4 and a Earthwarden.
I’ll agree on priest, but the meta will call for more resto shaman. And rogues you’ll have one or two that will bring an expose armor debuff, probably engineering goodies like injectors and repair bots, and once one of them gets glaives will become your top melee dps. If your warrior tank isn’t sundering you will have to have a dps warrior. And a dps warrior makes a decent OT in certain situations.
Early recruiting will be tough. Not a plethora of locks available and most priests are setup to heal so finding mana batteries will probably be as tough as original tbc was. Horde pallies and ally shamans will be in great demand especially for the rapid levelers.
Rogue does ok toward the end but the spots to get the glaives will be limited. Can’t go wrong with anything in OP list but best to select something early and stake your claim if you want a raid spot.
Highlighted for emphasis. Pick your class and spec while leveling and stick with it. Find a guild and stake a claim to your spot. Want to be the guild’s main feral tank? Tank dungeons and heroics. Have your heroic keys and be willing to tank anything and everything.
Want to be one of the few rogues? Level fast. Get your heroic keys ASAP and push gearing and attunements. Bring utility via professions and in any other means possible. Become a reliable member of the guild so that you’re not seen as that random raid logging rogue they can forget unless you talk.
I think warlock is the easiest of the three as any guild will want multiple warlocks, but you’ll want to somehow separate yourself from the pack to guarantee a raid spot.