Will I be overwhelmed?

[Alrin]

Hello all,

I was looking at the different classes in preparation for the retail launch of WoW in Europe and I can't help but feel ... a wee bit overwhelmed.
I have played MMORPG's before, SWG and DAoC to name a few, but this time I feel really out on thin ice. What class? They all seem to be riddled with micro-management issues and a need for super know-how. My first reaction was to from pure principle go with a caster class, recreate my faithful mage Alrin (that has stuck with me through every single game where I could enter my PC's name).
Then again I read on peoples thoughts on all the classes.

And all I feel is... AAAARGH! Need more hours per day! Nnnnnghhhh!

Warriors, Paladins, Hunters, Priests, Warlocks etc etc etc ad naseum.

I want to be able to run around a little solo, but I also want to be of some use in a party/raid whatever comes along. I want to be able to stand on my own feet firmly, yet I want to play an integral role in other peoples characters lives.

Am I simply going mad? Or is this normal WoW-sickness? As it looks right now, it weighs between mage / warlock / hunter. Mage because the stereotype COOLNESS. Pure and simple. And I love raw unadultered power. Warlock because of the wicked style. The pet summoning, casting summon portals and a catchy class name :P
Hunter because of the lone-ranger style, sniper skills and out-doorsy abilities. The only thing putting me off on that class is that I cannot play as human.

Oh well, sorry for the rant but this is really gnawing away at me. Yes I do not have the game yet, wont for atleast a month until the final beta is over but I still want to have a firm hold on what I want to become and not fiddle around with lots of toons and become lame on every class. I want to learn one and stick with it for a while and not remain unhappy.

Oh well, replies and thoughts on this topic are welcome.

Cheers, Alrin

[Malakar]

Pretty much every class can solo well, at least as far as I've played them.

Some people have had complaints about Hunters being considered "filler" characters in high-end groups. Warlocks have a 30 minute cooldown ressurection that can be cast on anyone, including themselves for self-res. It's great for soloing, or when your group wipes totally and the res is on a Paladin or Priest.

[LochnarITB]

Mage because the stereotype COOLNESS. Pure and simple. And I love raw unadultered power.
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As to the first part of that statement, I can only agree wholeheartedly. My little squishy guy sports a handlebar mustache and a comb-over covered by a white hoodie. He wears a beautiful tabard over robes that drag on the ground. He is the epitome of coolness, without a doubt. :rolleyes:

As to the latter, raw unadulterated power does not describe a WoW mage. I would be hard pressed to see any class that is less powerful. Hunters and warlocks are in parties even when soloing. Warriors can be pounded on much longer while dealing out their damage. Priests, shamans, paladins and druids can deal good damage as well as heal themselves to extend their life in battle which a mage can only do with potions and crowd lockdown while bandaging. Not only that, but it is also the slowest class to play. There is a lot of down time. One big or two medium battles and you have to pause to guzzle a water, and food if sufficiently damaged. At least they can summon their own water and food instead of having to pay good coin for it.

The above is just IMHO but it is my experience. Also don't take it as hate for the mage. He is my favorite little buddy as you can see from my character list. Your best bet is to take all, or at least 3-4, of the classes to the mid-teens or early twenties to start to get a feel for the style of play. Each one can be done in a few sessions of casual play (or 3 or 4 of them in one session if you're Bolty :P). The worst part of doing that is that you might find they are all fun to play and you will end up with the terrible addiction I am experiencing.

[edit] Darn commas, jumping all over over the place like that, stay put!

[Concillian]

Reading forums you see a lot of issues that are not issues right away.

Early on you can do well with any build, especially given that you don't even start using talent points until lvl 10. Lvl 20 or so is when people start getting really different based on talent points.

Expect that you will be paying 1G for a respec at some point just because you will figure out what to do to be most effective in your favorite style of play.

There are three distinct styles of play in WoW:
Instance/group PvE
solo PvE
PvP

And they all require different builds to be most effective. The result is that you end up with server diversity, and that is a good thing. I think it's pretty difficult to know what can and can't be effective without having played the game a while, so don't expect to plan out your characters to lvl 60 before even getting the game.

[Treesh]

At least they can summon their own water and food instead of having to pay good coin for it.
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:blink: Buy food and drinks? Does this mean that later on I'll stop rolling in them and selling or banking spares? Neat.

[LochnarITB]

:blink: Buy food and drinks?  Does this mean that later on I'll stop rolling in them and selling or banking spares?  Neat.
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:P Actually, though, if it wasn't for conjuring, magi would have to buy water (or one of the other replenishing fluids). I am destroying/leaving/selling food all the time but I can't say the same for liquids. Of course, the mage could just sit around longer and not consume water but the same could be said for food and would just mean more down time.

[Kevin]

:P  Actually, though, if it wasn't for conjuring, magi would have to buy water (or one of the other replenishing fluids).  I am destroying/leaving/selling food all the time but I can't say the same for liquids.  Of course, the mage could just sit around longer and not consume water but the same could be said for food and would just mean more down time.
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For me food is all about well fed bonuses. 60 HP is 60 HP off a 6 stamina bonus and my cooking is still in the low 100's. I won't turn my nose up at 6 spirit either. I've been closer to death than that as my potion is still recovering and the mage is getting a heal out on me (I love shield block in that case, pretty much garunteed to stop 2 hits cold and with improved revenge maybe get a 3 second stun out of the deal too).

[Warlock]

I can't claim any late game experience, but I've played every class to 15 and most to the twenties.

My recommendation for your first 'try things out' character: Druid.

You start as a caster, but with heavier armour and a mix of healing and damage spells instead of the usual focus on one or the other.

At level 10 you can click a button and try the Warrior style. With a smaller selection of skills to be sure, but with more armour, hit points and base damage. At least compared to any of the similar level warriors I've compared stats with.

At level 20 you can click another button and try out the Rogue. I'm only level 18, so can't say how the stats compare there. Even if it proves useful only for stealth, that is no small "only".

Druid is the last class I got around to trying. If it had been the first I might not have started so many characters - in a single class I use several different styles of play and can switch between them even in the middle of combat.

As an example, when preparing for a hard fight my plan runs something like this:

Start as caster.
Cast a long duration heal spell on myself.
Cast a direct damage spell on the target.
Instant cast a damage over time spell on the target.
Instant cast a heal over time spell on myself.
Shift into bear form (this is about when a melee enemy reaches me)
Enrage, sacrificing a bit of armour to get rage.
Fight as bear for a while (and invisibly regenerating mana while doing so. I'll say that again, it's important - the Druid has special abilities that cost no mana and don't break mana regeneration).
If health gets under ~50% and I can see that I won't win without healing, stun the enemy.
Shift back to caster.
Cast a big heal.
Renew the instant heal and damage spells.
Switch back to bear form and pound away again.

According to the blizzard forums Druids become virtually unplayable past level 40. As the activity on those forums can be summarised as [my class] needs to be improved, [every other class] is superior in [every way] except for [a few token abilities], I'm going to wait and judge for myself. For instance I see the paladin shields that cause so much whining on those boards to mostly be a good way to get the rest of the party killed :D

[Taeme]

As to the latter, raw unadulterated power does not describe a WoW mage.  I would be hard pressed to see any class that is less powerful.  Hunters and warlocks are in parties even when soloing.  Warriors can be pounded on much longer while dealing out their damage.  Priests, shamans, paladins and druids can deal good damage as well as heal themselves to extend their life in battle which a mage can only do with potions and crowd lockdown while bandaging..
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While what you're saying is mostly true, I don't think the Mage is the 'least powerful' class. As a ranged DPSer with access to polymorph and AoE spells, as well as the ability to churn out conjured water for groupmates, the Mage is very desireable in battle alongside groups. While my experiences don't go into the high end, I know that druids are made fun of alot more and hunters are ... Well.... They seem pretty bad. I know I'd rather have a mage than a hunter and I'd almost never want a druid.

Can't say much for soloing, but I don't think many classes find soloing all that easy anyway.

[Tal]

As to the latter, raw unadulterated power does not describe a WoW mage.  I would be hard pressed to see any class that is less powerful. 
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Paladins post level 35. Defensive specc'd warriors. Druids. Non-shadow specc'd priests. All have lower DPS than a mage. Believe me, from a warrior/paladin's perspective I can tell when a mage starts unloading. :)

[Alrin]

Well, thank you all for your replies and comments. I think I will just relax a wee bit and see how things turn out when I actually GET the frellin' game. :)

It does seem a bit premature and foolhardy to think that I can plan and figure out a level 60 build plan for a game that I haven't even bought yet. I will simply take a chill pill, relax and once I finally get the game.. well then most likely I'll go and register multiple toons to represent the various pc's I generally play and just occupy the names. Then as time passes and I learn the game more I will most likely focus on one or more of those pc's.

I think what I was missing was that I should not be playing the game to be "teh bestest" or become a demi-god player (although I would not object to being a demigod heh) but rather simply to have fun. If *I* think that playing a particulary crazed mage obsessed with pyrotechnic displays who speaks backwards in a hazy voice is FUN, the SO BE IT. Then it is FUN. Sure, I will most likely hit a wall and feel the "grind" at some point but I suppose that is where your alts come in. To alleviate the sloooow... duuuull process of grinding.

Anyway, I will stop before my babbling becomes too much for the rest of you.

Thanks for your thoughts, it helped. :)

[Zarathustra]

I've tinkered around a bit with various class/race combinations, and I'd have to say the sense of being overwhelmed disappears quite quickly. No matter what your choice of character, the game is pretty good about easing you into the playstyle. The quests are easy enough at early levels, and class-specific quests give a good tutorial on the flavor of the classes.

[LochnarITB]

For me food is all about well fed bonuses.
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I agree. At the start, I did not see the point of cooking. I hadn't seen many recipes and did not understand the bonuses that could be gained. Several levels in, I realized that some recipes gave a bonus that I looked for in my equipment as well. D'oh. I then concentrated on cooking for a bit just to make up for the time I should have put into it previously. I even found at least one fun recipe, Dragonbreath Chili. Although it is currently bugged, it is still fun to down a bowl and then watch my little squishy guy belch a ball of flame in the face of the enemy that is pounding on me.

While what you're saying is mostly true,&nbsp; I don't think the Mage is the 'least powerful' class.&nbsp; As a ranged DPSer with access to polymorph and AoE spells, as well as the ability to churn out conjured water for groupmates, the Mage is very desireable in battle alongside groups. <snip> Can't say much for soloing, but I don't think many classes find soloing all that easy anyway.
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Believe me, from a warrior/paladin's perspective I can tell when a mage starts unloading. :)
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Although my comments somewhat implied it, I should have qualified my statement as my experience... as a solo player. It is good to know that the mage does make a noticeable contribution. A lot of that depends on the party though. Timing is a big thing with the mage in a group. If I start blasting too soon, I rip the baddie away from the melee group. However, if I wait too long, some of my DPS is wasted because my target has already gone down. I have been in groups where I sat on my thumb for many of the battles because I knew the enemy would be down before I would get anything useful off unless, of course, an add appeared that needed sheeping or counterspelling. I still maintain that the mage is, if not the hardest, one of the hardest to play solo. With all other classes I have tried, in final beta and release, I am able to comfortably take on monsters 1-2 levels higher compared to my character level.

[Caline]

Cooking.

Don't forget, artisan cooking includes recipes for food that buffs agi (+10), HP regen (+8/5s), and MP regen (+8/5s). Not much, but it helps, right?

Druid as a good 'try-it-out' class.

I like my druid. But if you're looking for a jack of all trades character, play a shaman. I don't want to rant, but if you've read the worldofwarcraft.com Druid description and think it sounds awesome, know two things. Equipment bonuses become very important in WoW, and the animal forms rely on completely different attributes than the caster builds. Between this and talents, you're forced to specialize yourself more than any other class(1). This limits your supposed flexibility by quite a bit.

Also, be aware that the feral forms fall further behind the classes they mimic the further you get in level. Warriors and rogues gain all sorts of nifty utility; feral druids are stuck with the bread-and-butter. Bear druids are hurt by the lack of shields and parry; rogues get greatly enhanced dodge/crit rates that cats don't.

(As an aside to the people who already have their characters rolled, perhaps play warriors or rogues, and take offense at the suggestion that druids should tank as well as warriors or DPS as well as rogues: I'm not saying that. As long as druids can shift out and heal, that's just not happening. But it's an oft-repeated fallacy in druid overviews, and... it's just not so.)(2)

Back to the OP, and anyone else wondering what to make their first character. Bearform and catform are tools, not class respecs. The core essence of a warrior isn't wearing mail and spamming heroic strike nor do rogues boil down to Sinister Spam For the Win. Rolling up a druid to get an impression of the playstyles of Warrior, Rogue, and for that matter, Priest can only harm your impression of those classes. Let's not even touch the Balance druids who think they're Mages.

But if you want to see what playing a druid is like, I can think of no better way.

(1) Except maybe Warriors.

(2) I said I didn't want to rant. Whoops. By the way, Warlock, as far as forum whines go, there really isn't a good reason to pick a druid for a 5-man instance run. They boil down to second-string fillers for three specific classes. Which, not coincidentally, is in the class description. They're whines, and it's working as intended, but it's true. I don't mind. I knew what I signed up for. And people are so desperate for tanks and/or healers anyway, what does it matter...?

[Guest]

You have it backwards. WoW has a huge amount of details, but unlike DAoC etc you dont need to understand them to succeed and have fun.

You cant make bad choices in WoW. Any class can buy all the skills available for that class. If you dont like your skills, buy other ones as you get more money.

And you have essentially unlimted respecs on talents. There is a cost so you wont be able to afford repeccing talents every night. But if you realize you chose your talents poorly, its no problem to do it again occasionally.



You can learn about WoW as you play because very little of it is set in stone.

[Tharn]

I was looking at the different classes in preparation for the retail launch of WoW in Europe and I can't help but feel ... a wee bit overwhelmed.
I have played MMORPG's before, SWG and DAoC to name a few, but this time I feel really out on thin ice. What class? They all seem to be riddled with micro-management issues and a need for super know-how.
...
I want to be able to run around a little solo, but I also want to be of some use in a party/raid whatever comes along. I want to be able to stand on my own feet firmly, yet I want to play an integral role in other peoples characters lives.
...
As it looks right now, it weighs between mage / warlock / hunter.

First: Every class in WoW was designed to be able to do quite well solo. If you're concerned about mage, then yes, you'll need to party with one or two guys sometimes, where you'll be getting adds too often.

Second: You start with two skills - one usualy combat and one non-combat (like Fireball/Ice Armor on mage). And you learn new skill every even level (until a certain point) - so you have enough time to learn all about your latest arsenal. The game isn't that fast paced to not know what to do.

At some later point you'd need some UI mod which brings you additional toolbars (typical are Cosmos, CT-mod or Gypsy), because you'll need more icons than what basic UI gives. But do this switch only and only when you feel you're running out of icons you're regularly using in combat, not sooner. By then you'll have exact idea what you need.

Third: There's enough posted typical talent builds. Look at them and read on each of them - especially those which explain why. After 10 levels you'll probably have some idea how you'd like to play so you can even adjust the builds a bit. But think most about the close levels (say up to 30). Then try some talent calculator. You'll most likely screw up (who doesn't ;) ), but you can respec later.