This is an overall rating, not taking into account specifics like PvP, PvE, Group, Solo, etc:

Most Overpowered to Least:

Shaman
Warlock
Hunter
Priest
Druid
Warrior
Rogue
Mage
Paladin

Lets see how long it takes for this thread to take a horrible turn and get derailed.

I don't think there's any class that is truly overpowered. Every class has classes they do well against and classes they always seem to do poor against. Talents also come into factor.

For instance, I am a feral druid. I have a hell of a time against shadow priests and warlocks, yet I can usually slaughter most hunters and mages. Every other class is usually about 50/50.

But if I were say a balance druid, I would probably be stronger against the former. You see where I'm going with this?

I find it funny you put shaman at the top an paladin at the bottom. Most horde wouldn't agree while most alliance probably would.

I am not going to rate them top to bottom but list them as strong, medium, and weak.

Strong classes (in no particular order)

-Druid
-Hunter
-Warlock
-Priest

Medium

-Shaman
-Paladin
-Rogue
-Warrior

Weak

-Mage

Listen, I know I'm new to the game and am still learning a lot. What I don't understand is how a post like this can be made and actually be legitimate.

I could understand if the post was strongest/weakest classes against druids, for example. That would make sense and could be a viable post. Like I said, I don't see how someone could say that a Paladin and Mage are underpowered and weak, when a player who enjoys being a mage can have the highest output of dps, and a paladin who can fill the roll of an off-tank and off-healer when specc'd in the right directions. How are they worse off than say a warlock?

I'm sorry but I'm just venting some frustration over all the whining about over-powered classes when its clear that Blizzard is constantly making sure that there is no such thing as an over-powered class.

Please don't think that I'm attacking anyone, I just hate seeing negative posts that aren't productive.

Warrior
Warlock
Hunter
Rogue Priest
Druid Shaman
Paladin
Mage

Listen, I know I'm new to the game and am still learning a lot. What I don't understand is how a post like this can be made and actually be legitimate.

I could understand if the post was strongest/weakest classes against druids, for example. That would make sense and could be a viable post. Like I said, I don't see how someone could say that a Paladin and Mage are underpowered and weak, when a player who enjoys being a mage can have the highest output of dps, and a paladin who can fill the roll of an off-tank and off-healer when specc'd in the right directions. How are they worse off than say a warlock?

I'm sorry but I'm just venting some frustration over all the whining about over-powered classes when its clear that Blizzard is constantly making sure that there is no such thing as an over-powered class.

Please don't think that I'm attacking anyone, I just hate seeing negative posts that aren't productive.

I understand what you are saying because threads like this can lead to flame wars but this is what makes this community better than the wow forums.

1. We can fight and argue but still keep it civil 99% of the time.

2. Generally we see the game from a better perspective as we play a healing as well as a dps class.

About the strongest to weakest stuff - Just because you say a class is stronger doens't mean you are saying OMGNERFZZZ this class. For example, I think the druid is a stronger class but not an overpowered class because of the druids many abilities not because they can swing a weapon and kill someone in 1 or 2 hits.

Stregth or weakness isn't just about one thing like dps or survivability. It's a combination of many things. In my opinion the strongest class and the weakest class don't have that much of a gap.

Remember these kinds of threads are just for fun and are highly opinionated.

There is nothing wrong with mages in PvE except for mana sheild and tier 0 itemization. Tier 0 itemization sucks across the board, though.

People think they're weak because they are THE timing class. Mis-time something and there's a good chance you'll die. Lag spike in the middle of AoE: you die. Latency in the 300's: you're going to die. I see mages do outright stupid things all the time, though. Most of them have to do with AoE and frost nova.

Mages that focus all their gear on sta and int will think the class is broken. +dmg is the key.

Raid-wise our mages tend to mix in with the mid-bottom of the rogues. Their AoE and utility more than make up for being third in line for single target damage.

I'd put them solidly in the middle of the rating. +dmg gear with good stats is somewhat missing: Cindercloth up until you get into eleventybillion DM runs. Defensive abilities do not scale. It sucks that we need to farm Mooncloth for flarecore so our mages can live through Rags. They sacrafice more than any other class (maybe rogues) for fire resist.

Cliffs: Bitching Mages should LRN 2 PLAY, NOOBS

I won't speak for shaman in PvE, because I have no clue. But for PvP they are without a doubt the most over-powered Horde class. But if druids had more DPS they would be right there with them. While Warlocks are very powerful 1v1 they are too squishy in group PvP.

People often think shaman are overpowered in PvP. They give up alot for that, you know. They are good at everything in PvP. There's no obvious weakness.

That same reason is why they're not so hot in PvE. The end game is a specialists world and shaman are the only real hybrids in the game. That means no matter what you ask them to do; They are never close to the parent class.

Now druids, they are not a true hybrid. The fact that we have to shift makes us a partial hybrid. That detriment is balanced by the fact that we can (good spec, good gear) damage like a rogue, heal like a priest, and tank like a warrior - and be almost as good or better than the parent class.

People often think shaman are overpowered in PvP. They give up alot for that, you know. They are good at everything in PvP. There's no obvious weakness.

That same reason is why they're not so hot in PvE. The end game is a specialists world and shaman are the only real hybrids in the game. That means no matter what you ask them to do; They are never close to the parent class.

Now druids, they are not a true hybrid. The fact that we have to shift makes us a partial hybrid. That detriment is balanced by the fact that we can (good spec, good gear) damage like a rogue, heal like a priest, and tank like a warrior - and be almost as good or better than the parent class.

Shamans are pretty good (some say overpowered) until about level 40ish.

Around this level their power seems to weaken and they suffer from poor mail item stats many times. In the 50's it gets worse for the shaman as the other classes seem to catch up. Most suffer from mana issues (a manaless shaman = a dead shaman). Their mana pools are a joke. By 60 since they don't mimic any parent class their overall usefullness goes down even more.

But yes in the 10-19, 20-29, and 30-39 they seem stronger because they can do just about everything and the earthbound totem. I rolled a shaman once and played into the 30s and really couldn't preform half as well as I do with my druid or hunter. They run out of mana pretty fast and overall just don't cut it most of the time (can't prim heal, can't prim tank, can't prim anything). A good dps class will own a shammy any day of the week - a druid will outlast the shammy in bear while mana regenerates.

Atrus, I'd agree. You start to see them fall behind at about the midpoint of the levelling process (40-45). In my opinion, alliance has the advantage with paladins in a raid support role.

I agree Blizzard has done an excellent job keeping everyone balanced. If someone is over/underpowered it is normally within 2 patches they'll try to fix. A few things that do bug me though is pally survivability drives me insane and I think ae fear is overpowered in pvp. It leads to more strategy though which isn't a bad thing, everyone don't focus on the pally while everyone else on the other side is beating our backside or stealing flag/graveyard and if a warrior is low on hp's a few people should back off to rush back in when he fears everyone.

This is my order from strongest to weakest:

Player who knows their class, no matter what the class
Player who does not know how to play their class

You can take the most "overpowered" class in the game and give it to someone who doesn't understand how to play it correctly and they become the easiest to beat.

Two days ago I flagged on a flagged 45 hunter in STV (I was 38) just for the fun of it. I beat him mercelesly to a pulp using only cat form and not healing once. Not that it didnt help that my GWA slept his pet on the first hit lol : )

Heh. Shamans being the most overpowered class. Haha.

The mere fact that you say that tells me you have little experience with the class a a whole and have formed that opinion watching 1 or 2 elemental shaman killing people who don't know how to fight back.

FYI... paladins can be just as dangerous in pvp and if you count survivavbility they are better at many things.

This is coming from a person who has played a shaman as his main since beta/release. I've recently switched over to a druid as my main and have yet to see anything worth complaining about. I love my druid.

I, also, have guildmates that make druids look like gods in pvp. A druid can be damn near impossible for anything short of a warlock/shadowpriest to kill. Give that druid engineering toys and they are even meaner.

Quite honestly though, ANY class can be made to look like they are overpowered in the hands of a skilled player.

Offtopic: Jarl you have a sweet sig!