I have a friend who wants to start playing and he wants me to recommend the strongest character for him to create. He doesn't want to be a Druid (I don't begrudge him this, Druidism isn't for everybody).

I realize that with the right mixture of talent and gear, all Classes have the ability to be the strongest, but in your XP, is there one in particular that stands out?

Personally, I've seen some pretty un-stoppable Dwarf Paladins.

"Strongest" in PvP?

Paladins are a nice hybrid class as well (tank or healer depending on spec). Though they can be a bit slow to level (little DPS).

Yes, he's very interested in PvP.

And, yes, I'm told that Dwarf Pallys are very hard to level. Come to think of it, I don't see them very often. But the ones I've run with pretty much owned the scene.

Find a good TKASomething.com (hunters) / thedruidsgrove.org (druids) type site for Paladins to figure out the best leveling spec. Like many classes the "best" leveling spec isn't always the best end-game spec.

I just found 2 Pally leveling specs and they were both completely different (one was retrib plus prot, the other was prot plus some retrib plus some holy). So, there must be a couple different takes on what is the best leveling spec.

Here's a quiet pally site, seems to focus on tanking, but I'm sure they'll help with other specs...

http://failsafedesign.com/maintankadin/

If he's interested in PvP I'd suggest a Mace Specc'd Warrior.

Stuns/Plate/DPS

For Arena, this is supposed to be "the" spec.

Mace spec is being nerfed fairly hard in 2.3.

I've leveled all classes now to at least 30, with my mage, druid and shaman at 70.

Druids: He's not interested...to each their own.

Hunter: Considerable CC & survivability, and a built in tank with their pets. Can be very effective levelers and farmers. Moderate downtime between big pulls, but nothing like the mage/paladin/shaman

age: Can be hard to level sometimes, especially on mobs a level or 2 above you. Frost is THE WAY to level though, adds a lot of survivability and AoE grinding. Considerable downtime to regen mana.

Paladins: slow to level until about mid 20s, then it speeds up some, but you have a lot of "down" time drinking.

Priest: Level shadow, but until you get shadow form it can be a bit rough going.

Rogue: Lots of survivability come level 22 ( yay Vanish ). Moderate CC to eliminate multiple pulls, and are very good DPSers. Similar to Warriors in their lack of down time.

Shamans: Similar leveling to Paladins. Can have considerable down time to get mana. And those totems...if you forget to pick them up, they are an aggro machine.

Warrior: Typically little down time, especially when fighting mobs your level. A bandage or a piece of food and off you go again. Warriors can be a lot of fun, but they have very little survivability if there is a bad pull.

Warlock: Lots of survivability & CC at fairly early on in the leveling. Void Walker makes a good tank, and once you get Dark Pact, mana is seemingly endless ( plus there's lifetap & bandages XD ).

Hope this helps Mag :)

Tell him to go with a pally if he's really interested in PvP...real annoying to take down.

Priest: Level shadow, but until you get shadow form it can be a bit rough going.

You ain't kidding! It's excruciating. I'm trying to play my Lvl 21 Priest now to eventually go 100% Holy, but damn! After playing my beloved Druid, could I get any weaker? Ugh.

Hope this helps Mag :)

Darn right it helps! Excellent reply! I'll get him to read your post. Should pretty much answer all his questions.

There isn't really a "strongest" class; all classes are (supposedly) equally strong, they are just different ways of playing.

A good analogy is to ask whether a flamethrower or a sniper rifle is better. They are both useful in certain situations, and both are used to accomplish similar things, but the experience of using them is markedly different. I think it would be worth trying to impress this onto your friend.

When I describe what a class is like to a friend that doesn't play WoW, I usually try to focus on the game experience they would have playing that class.
For example, of rogues, I would say that Rogues are stealthy assassins, who can go invisible and sneak up/assasinate their enemies. They don't use any magic but they have lots of other sneaky tricks they can use to aid them in combat, such as temporarily blinding their enemy, vanishing into thin air to escape, and so on.

Niner's post is certainly a useful summary, but someone who has never played WoW before isn't likely to know what CC is, for example. So when introducing a new player to the game, I find it's best to describe everything in layman's terms, and focus more on the novelty value that each of the different classes presents. Perhaps, when he says "strongest", he means "does the most damage", or "can take loads of punishment without dying", or any number of different things. If we were to take the meaning literally then feral druids are the strongest, seeing as strength is one of the primary stats that feral druids tend to stack :>


-Annikk

A couple of things to add to the excellent advice above:

You might consider rolling an alt and leveling with him. I did this with one of my best friends from years ago, and we spend more time "together" than we have in years. If you do this, consider first what he wants, then complement it with whatever you roll.

I would take your friend's personality into consideration more than anything else. Is he stable and patient? Pally would be good for him. If he's fast moving and very active, a high DPS class like mage or rogue would be better. Is being helpful and supportive his personality? If so, he would probably get a lot of satisfaction being a healer.

Consider the needs of your guild and server. Hunters and rogues are fun and easy to level, but they're overpopulated and it can be hard to find a group or get into guilds and raids. This may not be an issue for 50-60 levels, but he really won't be happy leveling to 70 only to find nobody wants him. Classes that can heal and tank are pretty much always in demand, but are generally tougher to play well and can be stressful.

I would also consider his intellect. If he's not the shiniest berry on the bush I would consider simpler classes like rogue and hunter that can succeed at a lower skill level. In my opinion, the more challenging classes are druid (obviously), warlock, and most tanking and healing classes.

Good luck to both of you in your decisions, whatever you choose.

A couple of things to add to the excellent advice above:

I would also consider his intellect. If he's not the shiniest berry on the bush I would consider simpler classes like rogue and hunter that can succeed at a lower skill level.


ROFL!:D

See? You guys think of EVERYTHING!