I want to dive into pvp this expansion. mainly arena, but ofc also some bg’s here and there.
I will play some games solo but for the most part I will play with my friend who alternates between rogue, warrior and also hunter in the future when he has one at 70.
Right now I play ret paladin. I have for the entire Shadowlands expansion and now Dragonflight. Love the class. The asthetics, lore, abilities, being able to heal and do heavy damage, revive etc. Also the prot and heal spec is fun. But i hear that ret paladin isn’t very good in pvp. While they do alot of damage they lack mobility and can get easily killed.
A class that is good atm and one which I don’t dislike is warrior (fury). They apparently have good self heal and good damage, sustainable and burst. Also a MS which is always good to have. I mained warrior in BFA and the first weeks of Shadowlands but I stopped because I wanted to be more tanky, being able to heal outside of attacking and arms was better than fury in pvp, but arms dondidn’t have any self healing. And fury didn’t have the burt nor a MS.
But now warrior has those things that made me quit the class before due to not having it.
Does it matter that much which class/spec you play to get a high rating. Or can you get there with any spec?
Will warrior give me a higher rating? The con here is that tho I like playing fury warrior. Ret paladin is more fun imo and I’ve spent so much time on my paladin and done so many accomplishments on him that I kinda don’t want to switch to another character.
Should I just stick to my ret paladin and try to get better at it or is it just worth to switch class?
The arrival of elitists who tell you that you can’t play for another spec for 3…2…1 …
You can play as anything, you just have to know how.
Plus, most players play base and therefore can’t play against a spec that isn’t played that much so they don’t see it that often in the game and have experience with mostly just the bad players.
But the reality is that if you wanna push the limits and get a high score, your class and spec are very much a part of what will help you get there, or obstruct your road to getting there.
It’s why I play evoker only in Epic Bg’s. I like playing it, but it’s a block around my ankle in small scale PVP or duels.
Just like any game you can play what you enjoy and find success but you also have to bite the bullet and accept that you are gonna have to work harder than someone playing a meta class to achieve the same results.
For some people that is a positive because it lets them distinguish themselves more and to others its a negative.
I pretty much get what you’re saying, I’ve been playing holy pala in PVP since 2009. To achieve a more easily higher rating, however, I was advised to 1. switch to priest and 2. play the established comps. To not feel self-tortured, so to say. So it depends what you want more - faster and easier high rating or fun and memorable experience, even if at some point it will be very difficult and you’ll see other people achieve the same with ease.
But it also depends on your partners. Also, as others pointed out, unusual comps + skilled player with a not so popular class might just bring you the victories you want.
I personally will not switch to other classes because I am very attached to my class and I have mastered it more or less. So the time spent to relearn from scratch (and I tend to go deeper into class mechanics) is for me not worth the rating achiv points, they are just points. I play what I enjoy and feel good in “this skin” so to say.
Btw, yesterday a ret pala did huge dmg in RBG. He was on the first place as dmg. Yes, he’s a burst class, but if you are careful, rely on your healers and buy yourself time for your CDs to be up again, you’ll be superb. It’s not easy to play ret in RBGs. But if one is a master of their class, he will shine regardless.
The beauty of pvp is you can play anything and still be relevant. You don’t have to worry about parses and raid mechanics. As long as you enjoy the spec you’re playing, you can get away with pretty much any class.
Obviously there’s always going to be some specs that are stronger than others, but I suggest you play what you like the most otherwise there’s no point because you won’t enjoy the game.
I think one exception at the moment is Devastation Evoker. It just feels really clunky to play and no longer has the burst potential it was known for, yet it’s still just as squishy. Now your main source of damage is a channelled beam. The 25 yard range feels way too short as well.
Meta wouldn’t be meta if it didn’t matter. I mean yeah you can play whatever but you will have a harder time succeeding with whatever over a meta class/spec. A well played havoc demon hunter will always outperform a well player survival hunter, there are no buts in that and the ladder reflects upon it.
Meta matters a lot. S tier have too many benefits to miss out on. You can also play many comps, making it much easier to find mates.
A tier are more difficult and specific, but they are still playable. You will suffer from s tier specs though. Finding correct comps to make it work will be more difficult.
B Tier and below is pure suffering. Don’t listen to the “dude just play what you like bro” it’s not how this game works.
Ret is somewhere around A tier. But you need to understand that it’s a support spec, so you need to use your cooldowns on your teammates, damage alone won’t win you games.
Every class, if it gets ganged up on, will die. However some synergize well with other classes to survive this.
If you’re the lowest of the barrel in that season, you are signing yourself to be in the spotlight to always get targeted.
When those gates open, everyone will beeline to attack you.
The question here is, do YOU want that kind of spotlight?
Some players actually enjoy that, because they like to make the meta-slaves eat it point blank if they figured out a way to outplay this out-the-gate-crap. The attention is glorious to them.
Other players never wanted this spotlight, they just want to be somewhere in the middle and avoid this since it’s pseudo-discrimination (oh yes, there’s similarities at being bullied specifically). They just want to be left alone and not relive some buried painful memory.
How important is your mental health?
You can play any class and any specc. But when you loose, you will always have that gnawing little bug in your ear that tells you “Its the chars fault, its the chars fault”. If that doesnt bother you then go for anything.
If that does bother you, you will soon join the army of flame-posters that dominate the classforums.