I have been trying to find a melee alt for me, that would possibly become a main in SL. Mage is very cool and all, but i’m planning on adding pvp to my list of activities and seeing warriors with 2 leaps + venthyr teleport while shimmer gets nerfed makes me not want to be ranged.
After trying out several specs i liked none of them (obviously that’s without actually experiencing them at max level with gear). I’ll try to summarize my initial thoughts on specs i’ve tried:
(This is how i got it. If i’m wrong i want you to explain me why, that’s what this thread is for)
Assassination rogue.
Very passive gameplay. You apply 3 dots and that’s it. Utility is amazing and i love it, but doing damage was so unsatisfying, i couldn’t keep playing.
Enh shaman.
I actually played it during WoD, not bfa, and it was pretty fun, but lack of defenses is a dealbreaker. I don’t know what state it is now, but while i was playing bfa i haven’t seen a single enh.
WW monk.
Very cool and fluid movement, interesting class phantasy, managing chi and energy is engaging and not a chore. But Fists of Fury… It’s just bad. Looks bad, sounds bad, feels bad, channeling, amount of hits doesn’t correspond to animation and it does about 40% of your entire damage. WW is still my primary candidate, but if i dislike it’s main damage ability, idk how to play that class.
Ret pal.
That was my main at the end of legion and beggining of bfa (before i quit until 8.3). Honestly, can’t even say anything bad about ret - the only reason i’m not leveling it right now is because i already have 120 ret. But on horde. And blood elf. I regret that decision and don’t want to touch it. The other reason may be that my friend i play with mains ret, so i don’t really want to bring another one to the party.
Haven’t try other specs.
Don’t know what difference between fury and arms is, only know about unholy that it’s basically a pet spec, while frost being “clunky and scuffed”, surv and sub “are memes”, outlaw is m+ king but not welcomed to raids (kinda interested in it) and DH is… i won’t play DH.
That info i got from class forums, but since the main theme of class forums is “my class is the worst in the game and i hate it” i can’t really take that without a grain of salt.
I really hope to hear your opinions on the spec you play, what makes it fun for you, what makes it enjoable. Also i forgot feral even existed.
Not to shame you or anything, just saying that if you are having difficulty picking from the choices you narrowed down, you might want to check out the rest you kept aside just because METAs told you how they play. Acceptability in PUGs is also a very exclusive feature, unless you are going to be doing nothing but PUGs. You can always start your own PUGs and wait, you’re a damager so those waiting times are going to be high no matter what you pick though.
I feel UHDK isn’t basically a pet specialization, even though the Gargoyle, Ghoul and the skelly assist you in a lot of DPS. UH is also about Diseases and exploiting the damage boost you get by using Scourge Strike. Their AoE is insane with Apocalypse and D&D, and ST patterns are neat and straightforward to get.
Also, you forgot Feral Druid.
Good luck in your class-picking endeavours. There’s a lot to pick from and pursuing top flavours isn’t the only option.
you might want to check out the rest you kept aside just because METAs told you how they play.
I kept them aside because i have no energy left after getting disappointed in every single character i create. I’m asking for help instead. Will try every spec eventually, but not now.
Right now, both fury and arms seem strong. In groups, arms is probably even stronger, I’m seeing plenty of arms warriors topping the dps charts. There could be many reasons for this, and I think the main is that even if arms isn’t really considered “meta” for dungeons right now, people want to play it, and they have some extra dedication to the game, which pushes them above the rest.
The main difference between the two is that fury is self-sustained and arms isn’t. There’s world bosses that you can easily kill with fury and be unable to solo as arms due to the lack of self-heals and defenses. Fury also feels like a meat grinder and arms somehow doesn’t. I find the slower, more methodical gameplay of arms more fun, but I stick with fury for the greater overall viability and prot because I actually want to do dungeons.
Pvp as melee takes some getting used to I think. Would a hunter perhaps be an option? They have a melee specc and if you don’t like this they also have ranged specs
I’m honestly sick of mage at this point. One of the consequences of not being able to change mains mid expansion, without doing everything all over again.
Which is why, for the next expansion, after giving paladin, warrior, death knight, demon hunter and monk a go, I’m going with death knight.
It fits the shadowland theme. And it’s more fun for me to play. Blood dk was the most fun tank spec i played, and both frost and unholy are fun too.
But of course, the drawback is low mobility. maybe covenants can help with that.
I also have to add, Fury warrior is a close second.
For ease of play?
Demon Hunter. You can rarely go too wrong with the class. Up to 4 different stuns (even if they’re mostly shorter and have longer CD than other classes have), higher movement speed, movement skills, double jump and GLIDE… suffice to say after playing DH you’ll feel like every other class belongs to the wheelchair. Especially Death Knights and probably paladins too.
My favorite is fury warrior because I like the design and mobility-wise they’re not lagging THAT far behind DHs (and resigned to play it because people UNIVERSALLY HATE DEMON HUNTERS because they’re helluva jealous the class is designed better than theirs - as in, as long as you’re in M+ no one says a word, but outside it you’re trash, you play trash and should be deleted along with your stupid noob class. Better to play a class people don’t hate at this point). I like the rapid-fire swings on fury, but the performance leaves a LOT to be desired, numbers-wise, with the same ilvl.
There’s also the fact that PvP fury and PvE fury needs OPPOSITE kind of gear to be any good. For PvP you need to stack Mastery for the windows of EXTREME NUKE, otherwise you hit like a wet noodle. in PvE you instead need some 23% haste and as much crit as you can get, while mastery is a bit more ‘meh’. I mean, it still increases your damage, but with how much haste and crit you need, it doesn’t leave too much room for mastery and versatility. Not to mention none of the azerite traits beside Heart of Darkness stack properly (at most only partially), so you have real problems combining the 3 azerite gear pieces).
Haven’t really played Arms like ever, even if fury’s low dps sometimes makes me want to switch.
BFA is not kind to Enhancement shamans, frost DKs (though I’ve heard Unholy is good but complicated to play).
I never want to play feral druid or any of the rogues because I hate the combo point system with a passion, even if I love the class fantasy.
I keep hearing good things about fury, and yes, mobility is very important imo, so that’s why even if i’m planning on leveling DK soon, can’t say i’m excited about that.
There’s also the fact that PvP fury and PvE fury needs OPPOSITE kind of gear to be any good.
I’m pretty sure that’s the case for most classes. For frost mage you go mastery-crit(until 33%) in pve but you need haste-vers in pvp.
because they’re helluva jealous the class is designed better than theirs
true
Every character i create is a dark iron, because that’s the only way i can deal with my portal withdrawal. Really like that class.
yea. the portal is nice and all. but the massive reliability on item for mages, no self healing, medium mobility, extremely fragile glass cannon design of it is just not something i can deal with 24/7.
Death knight allows me to use a death gate to get to dalaran. So i’ll have a 24/7 available orgrimmar teleportation with extra steps. That’s good enough for me.
plus. Unlike mage, It’s a hybrid class that allows me to go tank or dps. Not just 3 dps specs, which one is garbage, one isn’t usable due to how much you have to move around in every encounter and one being your only real choice.
I’ve been voicing my concerns about losing Breath of the Dying and Cauterizing blink in shadowlands. Currently this is the only sustain mage has and it’s SO crucial that i’m afraid for the expansion start.
I personaly don’t mind a pure dps class, because i play dps and don’t have tanking in mind, but i can see how that might be beneficial. Honestly it’s better to have
than having just one trash spec, that would mean you can’t dps with your class period.
As another mage main, who’s sick and tired of mage and feel like i can’t deal with another weakened early expansion state of the character, take my advice and Give death knight a go.
Unholy right now is probably one of the best AOE classes in the game. They’re going to have some great covenant abilities in shadowlands according to alpha testings too. It was entertaining to play and a relatively good transition from an always portal available mage class.
Also you’re starting from level 55, so it’s faster to levelup and check it as well.
Until you’re forced to constantly move from one end of a room to another due to 50 billion different mechanics in most encounters that force you to MOVE.
Then there’s PVP, which every class can immediately get away from you, unless you also have a mobility ability.
So it’s not exactly a stand still and hit things scenario. This isn’t classic.
Mobility increases a melee’s dps by allowing them to actually get into that 5yds alot faster, take wrathion for example where a warrior can heroic leap and charge to instantly get back into combat while a dk without the talent is pretty much stuck with a 30% move speed increase taking significantly longer.
Frost DK being clunky and scuffed is usually used by disgruntled DK players who didn’t know how to play frost properly. My main spec is frost, i love it, it suits my playstyle and my roleplaying. Frost at the start CAN be what appears to be clunky, but once you settle on either the high mastery build or the haste/crit build then you will notice your Frost DK is actually quite solidly fluid. The mobility is still a problem but that’s inherent in the Dk no matter WHAT you do with it which is a very serious problem. At least once I’ve been kicked from a dungeon because the rogue used his mass shroud, and everyone even stealthed, managed to outrun me and I lost my stealth shroud, even after using my speed boosts. sadly right next to a wandering pack, and of course I get blamed for a pull.
