Which class will be most needed in vanilla?

[Elaice-blades-edge (Elaice)]

“Probably tanks” “Definitely not Warriors”

What?

[Ellilaine-gilneas (Ellilaine)]

“Probably tanks” “Definitely not Warriors”

What?

Just like all those paladins who couldn’t find their healing buttons with a road map and compass in vanilla there will be a lot of warriors who can’t find a shield and defensive stance…

[Elaice-blades-edge (Elaice)]

I was a paladin and learned I was supposed to heal. Like I could understand when the game was 100% new, but it’s not some obscure revelation that needs to be discovered anymore.

[Feuerhuf-hyjal (Feuerhuf)]

All classes are very needed. However, if we’re looking at a stringent short-list…

faction agnostic: warrior, priest (PvP runner up (no pun intended): druid)
faction specific: paladin, shaman (obviously)

This goes for PvE and PvP.

[Sharbz-stormrage]

Shamans
Shamans
Shamans
Shamans
Shamans

is recruiting 8 resto shamans for progression raiding. Gear doesn’t matter, must be able to drop windfury totem and press chain heal.

[Katerina-mannoroth]

Wait … but …

Warrior != Tank

edit: Yes, Many warriors are tanks, but not all of them are.

[Valhalian-trollbane (Valhalian)]

Almost all dps classes are not NEEDED for raids. Id imagine the tank/healing classes will be most needes (always have been). But all classes bring something to raids which is good

[Katerina-mannoroth]

Healers are priests. Priests are the best and strongest healers. A druid or two might be there in case there’s a need for a battle res or an innervate, plus healing. The paladin is there for devotion aura for the tank and blessings on everyone, plus healing. You want a shaman for each melee group, and then they are healing. Priests are the best healers, but also the most flexible in terms of what you can do with them. If you have too much healing, you can swap a priest for a mage, but you don’t necessarily want to drop your only paladin or druid, or pull a shaman out of a melee group. However, if you want more healing, you will want to drop a mage for a priest. Shadow can do fine damage, but debuff slots make it a problem.

I’m trying to remember if it was 1.12, or earlier, but I remember a stage late in Vanilla(and circa Naxx) where the verdict on the number crunching was that the Clothadin was actually a much more efficient healer than even the Priest.

[Katerina-mannoroth]

Dwarf Priest.

'nuff said.

/yawn

Human Spirit and the slightly increased mana regen had more overall utility. Sure, having one or two Dwarf Priests around was nice, but it wasn’t critical either.

[Katerina-mannoroth]

Have you ever tried to tank with a gnome? Not being able to see your toon can be a big problem. That said, pink pig-tailed gnomes are awesome…

Keeping Line of Sight on gnome tanks adds to the fun.

[Hatefury-queldorei]

What classes are going to be most needed in classic? Priests? Shamans? Paladins? Warrior tanks?

I wanna be that guy

There’s a lot of great answers in this thread, but like most answers in life…it depends!

For (5) mans like DM, strath, scholo people will need TANKS! I won’t debate about which classes can and can’t tank, but the blue comment about Warriors here does not apply IMO. If you can tank and you’re a warrior, you will be the most needed in this situation.

PuG Raids: healers and ranged DPS. Priests and Mages are on the top of the list.

Guild Raids: anything goes depending on who you play with, but the most important thing here is that you’re not toxic, do your homework, show up with consumables, farm BiS pre-raid, cap your hit, don’t stand in the fire, etc. and you can play pretty much anything (elitists not included because if you’re asking this question on a forum, then you’re probably not at that level anyway).

Organized PvP - hope you love WSG! What matters here the most is being geared to get invites. I personally found that Arms Warriors got grouped pretty easily, especially Horde side we’d run multiple with a Shaman healer dropping Windfury. I ran flags with a druid, but that was hit and miss. My Shaman healer got a lot of invites too. People dis on shamans because of mana inefficiency, and it’s all very true, but warriors and rogues LOVE you if you know what you’re doing. Can recommend both Warrior and Shaman here. Every class has a role here, mostly will depend on your gear and who you know.

[Peonmusk-frostmourne]

Healers - specifically Priests.

Every healer is viable - just priests are very well rounded - and offer a fairly balanced play experience.

You can be shadow for PvP, and Holy (Focused) for PvE.
And you will be in the top two tiers for both PvP and PvE no matter what.
You are a teet, and everyone wants a suckle XD

[Ellilaine-gilneas (Ellilaine)]

The class played by the guy who knows “what the … to do” so the raid leader won’t have to scream about people not knowing what the … to do!!!

[Mickymoo-black-dragonflight]

Moar dots, obviously.

[Elaice-blades-edge (Elaice)]

Druids were for innovating priests.

[Darkynhalvos-whisperwind (Darkynhalvos)]

All-priest raiding anyone?

Referring to this:
40 priests vs Onyxia

[Xanthak-durotan (Xanthak)]

Pink gnomish female tanks with pink pig tails.

Have you ever tried to tank with a gnome? Not being able to see your toon can be a big problem. That said, pink pig-tailed gnomes are awesome…

I did on a private server. I was learning to tank for the first time and it was a blast. i love gnomes. “I need more rage! I need more rage!”

/train

My huge problem is that i rarely ran any instances leveling up so i didn’t know or remember any of them. I had problems marking things like SM Cath because of mobs around the corner. Probably didn’t help I was playing on a laptop screen. Haha.

I’ll most likely try playing a gnome warrior and mage at the same time. But if the alliance community sucks, then I may roll horde.

[Kraftsingles-windrunner (Kraftsingles)]

Speaking from recent experience on a private server…

1. Warrior Tanks
2. Holy Priests
3. Everything Else
4. Rogues

[Aexxis-zuljin (Aexxis)]

Anybody who understands what to roll on and what to pass on for their class.