Which 3 classes would you recommend for me?

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1

Hi all

So I was wondering which 3 ranged classes (either dps or healer, since healing is something I’m used to aswell) you guys could recommend to a casual player (which isn’t bm hunter because I don’t like their pet and prefer magic casters more). You can rank them from most suited (1) to less suited (3), this is so I can dabble on all three your recommendations and because I know I’d like to change some things up every now and then.

Some things I’d like to avoid for now are classes with a lot of skills (buttonbloat) so I can just focus on the rotations/healing skills to use instead of having many buttons, CD’s to keep in mind and utilities to use all on top of that.

I also don’t like classes who use too many Dots because I like to just focus on my target or just cast a big aoe from afar on a group without worrying about anything else. So something like druid I fear would be too much for me with all the dots and ‘hectic’(?) gameplay.

And lastly, I’d like them not to be too reliant on gear to play well, even though I’m casual I’d still like to do some instanced group content later on and I like to be a decent enough dps/healer without needing specific gear to perform well.

I know I’m probably asking a lot and mayby wrote of almost every ranged class/spec here, but I’d really appreciate some help on this matter! :slight_smile:

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  1. Shaman - Ranged, Melee & Healer, I like Melee.
  2. Mage - Pure DPS
  3. Demon Hunter - DPS & Tank
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Hi, thanks for responding! But as stated in my post, I dislike being melee. Do you have any other third caster that might fit the bill? And doesn’t Shaman have a lot of buttons or utilities to use?

Also, what’s your opinion on how hard or difficult each mage spec is to perform well on both in OW and dungeons? :slight_smile:

4
  1. Hunter, All specs are always viable and very straight forward.
    (MM hunter has 2 buttons and don’t use pets.)
  2. Warlock, It’s a turret class so not alot of movement needed, good dps, not to complicated.
  3. Druid, Balance is simple and average strong, has option to go all other specs and playstyles if experimenting.

When DF released, Evoker nr 1.
Super simple, prety cast heavy so not to fast and has a ranged dps and heal option.

I would not tell you to go Mage, as Fire Mage the usually strongest spec, is prety difficult for starting players.

5

But Druid does have two dots you need to constantly apply, and MF has to be constantly applied to as much mobs as possible during solar eclipse, right? That’s what turns me off the most, I hate having to keep track of dots or needing to apply them on multiple mobs, especially when I’m already busy enough maintaining the correct eclipse and have to be wary of my astral power usage.

6

Actually you don’t say you dislike melee, just that you want to go ranged if possible.

The casters are Priest, Warlock, Mage, Shaman, Druid, and partly Hunter. Three can do more than one role, So you have Priest, Shaman and Druid. Out of those my order is Shaman, Priest then Druid. Never really got along with Ranged Druid.

Warlocks are DoT based and Hunters as you don’t like their pets, so I discounted those. There are a lot of different looks for hunter pets though.

I’m not a mage player but Fire is probably the best for groups and Frost for solo. Frost was one button last time I played it.

I use a dot tracker called CoolLine.

7

True.
However simple Balance is, it does have MF and SF as Dots.

Affliction WL is kinda also like this, Destro has one DoT. But Demon is the complete opposite but uses alot of Pets.

Priest as DPS is also pure DoTs.

The only “magical” ranged dps not including DoTs is mage or ele shammy.
Shammy has “kind off” one Dot aswell.
Mage the only descent group spec atm is Fire, which is prety difficult but rewarding once you nail it.

I’d still think you fit best in MM hunter. Eventhough its not a magical ranged dps.
It has no dots, not alot of buttons and no pets.

1 Like
8

I don’t know how to aim my answer for you. You are obviously somewhat sophisticated about MMO play - an FFXIV player trying WoW out, perhaps? - but I do feel like you’re not looking in the right directions.

Here are the Ranged and Healing options

Hunter - BM and Marksman DPS
Mage - all DPS
Priest - 1 DPS, 2 Heal specs
Warlock - all DPS
Balance Druid DPS + Resto Druid for healing
Elemental Shaman DPS + Resto Shaman for healing
Monk and Paladin have Healing specs, but no Ranged oiption

There is also the new class Evoker that will be coming with Dragonflight pre-patch, probably Oct 25, for people who have pre-purchased Dragonflight. Evoker will have one Ranged Damage and one Healing spec. It is likely to be somewhat overpowered in Dragonflight, because Blizzard usually do that with new classes to encourage people to leave their existing classes and play them.

From what you say, BM Hunter is out, and so are all the Warlock specs, with their pets and DOTs. Priest’s only DPS spec is also heavily into DoTs.

Balance Druid really isn’t a DoT class in the same way as Affliction Warlock. You do have a couple of DoTs as Balance, but outside of high-level play you don’t need to treat them in any way special; just consider them instant attacks with a downstream upside you don’t have to think about - it’s just fire and forget.

I also wouldn’t consider Balance especially “hectic”. In WoW, most of the hectic-icity comes from the boss encounters rather than the classes, and ranged classes are less hectic than most melee.

Consider types of content. Different specs play differently in different content. There is World content, or questing. This is the simplest, and least hectic. There are dungeons, which are made hectic by players running like crazy rather than by the devs. There are raids, where the boss mechanics are a McGuffin that may make things crazy hectic. And there are PvP Battlegrounds and Arenas, where your pace is set by your opponents.

In PvE, being in a group changes everything, because you have a Tank to take damage. When playing solo, Cloth casters like Priest and Mage can be squishy in solo and PvP play, and have to spend some time thinking about their defenses as well as attcks, but in a group, the Tank handles thedefense, so you can focus on hitting things!

From what you have supplied, we rule out most of the specs, and are left with

  • Marksmanship Hunter,
  • Mage, and
  • Elemental Shaman.

… and Evoker, going into Dragonflight. Within Mage, Arcane is the most straightforward spec, but that doesn’t mean it will be best for you. The three Mage specs are admirably different, and there’s room for a lot of personal preference.

Shaman and Evoker have healing specs.

Spec have more buttons than are needed for simple play. That is, you may have about 5 buttons for attacks, 2 for self-healing, and 1 or 2 for big cooldowns. And then you might have a whole organ of other keys and pedals that are used in more advanced play, and for niche situations.

To get a sense, you could check icy-veins.com, and for each spec you are interested in, you can compare two pages they list: the “Easy Mode”, or “TLDR” page, which lists the rotation elements you HAVE to know about. and the “Rotations, Cooldowns” page, which lays out the entire class in all its complexcity for people who want to play itto the full.

9

In Classic, maybe. :stuck_out_tongue:

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10

She’s about level 51 and all I did was spam Frostbolt with the occasional instant cast. I last played her about 18 months ago.

11

Frost mage in SL is about 4-5 buttons in a prety set order. With the filler frostbolt spam inbetween.
It’s kind off a slower pase Fire mage, with only 15% off the dmg :rofl:

12

Between destro and ele, which one would have the easier time doing dps, is least punished from having to interrupt their rotation and suffers least and/or has no need to apply their dot to as many mobs as possible?

And yeah, I’ll probably give MM a try then, I can kinda get into the elf and bow fantasy enough to enjoy that aspect but sometimes being able to cast and move (especially since I’ve heard how squishy they are) kind of scares me off because I’m afraid I’d either be busy too much with moving and screwing up my rotation or that I’m too focused on my rotation that my brain can’t handle moving and I suddently fall off a cliff lol. :smile:

13

That’s … interesting?

I associate one-button mage with Arcane - Arcane Blast until mob is dead. Not optimal, but when levelling, that’ll usually do it.

You ain’t playin’ it right! :stuck_out_tongue:

Though I grant you that at the moment, in this patch, frost isn’t doing so well in the DPS stakes in raids. It’s the curse of Frost that it doesn’t scale so well with gear, so in the last patch of an expac, it’s always either Fire or Arcane that tops the meters.

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14

I never played Ele shaman enough to really give a heads-up about how that plays but I heard its quite sensitive on downtime .

Destro however is not really that bad because there is a talent (right now) that AOE spreads your DoT (immolate) upon casting Cataclysm.
For dungeons you select that talent and never have to worry about multi dotting enemies.
I generally dislike Destro because Chaos Bolt takes so long to cast + need to Havoc a target so your Chaos bolt goes twice. Not a playstyle I enjoy.

If I play WL I always go Demon, it’s alot of pets but they auto do their thing.
If I play mage I play Fire because it’s the fastest playstyle out off all the casters.

15

Thanks for the detailed reply! Do you consider balance druids easier/simpler than elemental shamans in dungeon settings or harder for someone that has a slow reaction time and prefers static casting instead of moving around too much and watching too much GCD’s?

Also, does destro warlock need to apply the dot to many targets or is it just one you only use on a main target with much hp (like bosses)? And do you need to do anything with the pet or is it just an extra dps increase you can ignore and don’t need to control in any way?

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50x eassier.
All the druid specs are very beginner friendly.

Destro WL u multidot with 1 skill for AOE, you single dot boss for ST fights.
Pet is there for passive DPS and interrupting

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Would you mind telling me why you think Balance druids are easier than ele shaman’s (or what makes ele shamans harder)?

And would you more likely recommend destro lock or frost mage for a beginner and for simplicity? Sorry for all the questions lol! :stuck_out_tongue:

18

This is very true.

But it could be that Aesthas is looking at ALL the abilities of Druids, and getting worried.

Druid is the ultimate case of the syndrome I mentioned earliet, where you actually NEED only 5, maybe 10 at at stretch, abilities to quest and do simple dungeons, but you have a spellbook the size of War and Peace full of options that you CAN use.

But I think the key thing that makes people like it or not is the shapeshift forms. Even using Balance with the Glyph of Stars, allowing you to keep your own shape, I am always conscious of the possibility of shapeshifting.

19

Do you also aggree that balance is easier to play than elemental in the way you need to keep track of less stuff/it’s harder to mess up when in a group?

And what’s your opinion bout destruction warlock vs frost mage for a beginner and in terms of simplicity? :slight_smile:

20

I would say MM Hunter and Arcane Mage are the two easiest specs to play if you are working with minimum buttons for simple questing/levelling.

Comparing Balance, Destro … ummm, I dunno. Depends what level, and I don’t play either enough to be really familiwr with them on an everyday level. You could argue that both can be played with as few buttons as MM or Arcane. I don’t think I can give you more useful information here.