It took me a year and a half, but I finally figured out which World of Warcraft character classes are my favorites (which is a different issue from which class is best). This caused me to delete some of the alts I was playing around with on my main server and make additional alts in those classes so I can play around with different builds.

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Rogue: Some people like to play a rogue because they get to sneak up behind people and stab them in the back (on PvP servers anyway). Some like to play rogues because the abilities involve complex sequences of moves that call for a fair amount of strategy and skill in their use.

The first time I tried to play a rogue (note that phrasing–TRIED to play) I sucked at it. I kept getting killed. Trying to wrap my head around the sequences was just too much. Rogues are actually kind of squishy; it’s their abilities that keep them alive. If you don’t get the hang of those abilities you’ll run into trouble.

Now, on my current server, my second 60 is going to be a rogue; she’s already up to 55. She’s primarily combat-specced, with enough assassination to get Ruthlessness, Relentless Strikes, and Improved Slice-and-Dice, and enough subtlety to get Camouflage (I hate the ultra-slow pace of normal stealth). As I’ve grown more comfortable with the rogue abilities and learned how to make good use of them, I’ve started having a ton of fun with the fast-paced style of the rogue abilities. I plan to make my next rogue primarily subtlety-specced, and the one after that primarily assassination.

I’m not sure I’ll ever want to go without Relentless Strikes though; that plus the revitalization aspect of the Stormshroud set really do wonders for your energy pool! There are also few things as amazing to watch as weapons/enchants with a chance-on-hit effect combined with improved Slice-and-Dice and Precision. (I’m currently using Baron Charr’s Sceptre, which has a firebolt effect, with Crusader on it in my main hand, and a +attack score dagger with Fiery enchant in my off-hand.)

Mage: There’s just something inherently fun about tossing off colorful, explosive spells in all directions. Also, since one of my weaknesses is ADD-induced inability to handle too much sensory input, a ranged class that can take care of many problems from afar is quite handy.

I know a lot of folks go for fire or frost these days, but I’m actually rather fond of arcane, and my 40 mage is primarily arcane-specced, but with the addition of Impact for the percentage chance to stun on fire spells. The great thing about arcane is that many of the talents affect all of your spells or magic, or at least don’t narrowly concentrate on one school of magic. Evocation makes solo play much easier, and uninterruptable arcane missiles can be a godsend in a sticky situation where you’re getting beat on and can’t do much about it.

My next mage is going fire-specced, and the one after that will be ice. I need to find out whether Draenei can be mages… if so I’ll wait and make my ice-mage Draenei for variety.

Priest: Rogue and Mage are really my favorites, but Priest comes in not too far after them. My first 60 on my current server was a holy-specced priest. She isn’t that great for soloing though, so I only pull her out for party play, pretty much. I’m currently leveling a shadow priest as well, which is fun. Some people find priests hard to level solo, and I did at first, but now that I’ve got the hang of it I actually quite enjoy it. If I’m trying to solo then even if I spec holy I get spirit tap, blackout, and mind flay from the shadow tree. Spirit tap lets me recoup mana faster between battles; blackout has that chance to stun; and mind flay lets me keep opponents from running off to alert other mobs.

The didn’t-quite-make-it classes: I least like playing the hybrid classes: druid, shaman, and paladin. I want to be able to log into a character and play with the abilities in whatever way makes me comfortable; I hate the feeling of, if I want to do well in this situation, then I really need to play my druid as a tank right now. I also could never quite get the hang of shaman totems, and I just kind of found paladins boring.

While my first-ever 60 (on a PvP server) was a warrior, I’ve found I really don’t like playing warriors all that much in the long run. I’m not entirely sure why; it kind of feels like I have to choose between having too much to deal with if I fully utilize the different stances and not having enough to keep me occupied if I don’t.

As for warlocks and hunters, I just never got the hang of pets. They always felt like a third arm to me: potentially very useful, but perennially awkward. I enjoyed playing a hunter a bit more than a warlock, but I got sick and tired of having to tame all these different animals just to learn things to teach my pet.

They’re all good classes that can be played well–by the right people. But different people have different playstyles, and those classes just don’t match well with mine.

60 Mage Ash Grey T-Shirt

Listening to: Gypsy Violin from the album Lovely Thunder by Harold Budd

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 29th, 2006 at 10:10 am and is filed under World of Warcraft. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.