Struggling picking a main class

[Feriçull-argent-dawn]

Hey - I’m a casual and I am struggling to pick a main class. I’m hoping to get a few suggestions, as a casual I struggle gearing up one class, so gearing two is a bit of a struggle. Not to mention the rep grind.

I mained warlock until recently, I had wanted to main druid but because I missed out on the original mage tower bear form and didn’t like how the forms looked very much, I didn’t enjoy playing the class because of that. I have also mained in the past: Warrior, Rogue, Druid, Deathknight, Hunter and Demon hunter.

I used to play solo, usually quests, PVP and farming old content for mounts. I recently joined a IRL friends guild, they do raids and mythic+ dungeons. She has invited me to join them a few times but my dps is always non-existant. I enjoy playing with them, but I can’t contribute much so I feel as though I’m hindering them.

I prefer something that can win 1v1 PVP duels (rbg and openworld) but also decent-ish in PVE. Ideally, Something that is tanky but can also dish out some damage. I love the warlock’s pets, succubus and destro warlock help me to beat rouges, I usually perma CC rouges while killing them. Still learning to kite, love curse of exhaustion (pvp), the battle rez, and the summon (pve - makes me feel useful in raids). Dislike getting rolled in battlegrounds and arena though, everyone seems to hard target the warlock. I have no idea how to play demonology which seems to be the best spec dps wise atm. Love the human racials for the rep bonus and the CC removal.

I love the druids stealth, the fact that they can just exit combat and fly away (night elf racial), and their mobility, great for professions and running old content. I love stealth capping objectives when I run battlegrounds. Love the new bear form, (couple hundred runs but managed to get it). I have no idea how to play boomkin or resto and I am an awful tank. Of course, I could learn and get better. Also dislike that they can’t be human as I would like to rep farm old content and that 10% bonus feels as though I need it, although I dont actually know how important it is.

Any suggestions? Please and Thank you

[Lidlmage-outland (Lidlmage)]

DPS is not tied to your class or your spec, it is tied to how well you play. If there is a class you enjoy playing, I recommend sticking to that and getting good with it. As you said, warlocks do have their perks, but are tied to only one role. The utility makes it worth to have 1 warlock in the raid, and if you’re the only one it almost doesn’t matter how well you perform, preferably you would be on par with the average though.

Druid is a much more versatile class that also has the largest amount of specs in the game, so it’s not a bad pick, but this only really is true if you’re also willing to switch to a tank/healer since otherwise you’re again probably going to be sticking to a single DPS spec (even the dps specs themselves differ greatly). I was never sold on druid PvP, but I honestly have no idea of the current PvP meta. But the same principle applies as in PvE, it isn’t about your class/spec.

TLDR: Try to find a class with an enjoyable playstyle just for you, don’t worry about DPS or other performance related factors, they will come with time as you learn how to play that class.

[Gráinne-earthen-ring]

If you have tried all those classes, you know everything we know about classes. I’m afraid there is no Secret Class that gives you better performance and all the perks.

What you’re missing - what most of us are missing - is directed practice to get better.

I am VASTLY impressed that you got the Mage Tower. What that says is that you CAN get better - you have the ability; the only thing holding you back is your lack of directed practice.

Directed practice is hard and feels unnatural for people who play mostly solo. There are few times when improved performance makes much of a difference when questing. It might make a couple of seconds difference with each mob, but when questing do you really care?

I have zero idea how Warlocks manage to play in dungeons at all. Every time I try, the trash is dead before I have even got my Embers up. I might get off a mighty Chaos Bolt that takes the last 5% of the last trash runt as everybody else is running off to the next pack.

In raids, it’s a lot simpler.

Either way, what is critical is that you can do your rotation perfectly. And that is just practice. But not practice like you go to a dummy and do your thing for a while.

I’ve actually sat with many beginners through a practice session, and it DOES make a big difference, IF you are comparing yourself against what you should be doing.

You do a session - maybe 3 minutes, maybe 5 - and then you compare everything you did to what you should have done.

Where do you get what you should have done? SimulationCraft. We can use Raidbots for short.

This simulation I just did of your posting character says that you could do ~5500 DPS against a Patchwerk boss (or training dummy) over a 5-minute period.

https://www.raidbots.com/simbot/report/ueL9nY1TTGQjZVUrbt2jCC/simc

Let’s say you try a dummy and you get 3000 DPS as your result.

OK, now you look at what you did in Recount or Details or Skada against that simulation page. This look is not about the amount of damage - it’s about the NUMBER OF TIMES you cast each attack, and the sequence in which you cast them.

Most people trying this will find that they simply haven’t been doing things in the right order, or haven’t been using all their cooldowns. I know I’m guilty of that. I haven’t played beyond world content since Legion, and I just don’t bother popping cooldowns anymore.

So you do it again, and improve. And make notes for yourself. And maybe install an addon that helps with something. AND YOU GET INTO THE HABIT of playing the right way.

And then your DPS improves massively.

If you can get through the Mage Tower from a standing start, you can do that. If that’s what you actually want to do.