Which plate class/spec would you recommend?

[Alustus-turalyon]

By any criteria, most fun, most balanced, most beguinner friendly, anyway you think.

I though it’s about time I leveled a plate char to max level, but can’t decide what.

I thought Frost or Unholy DK. But than again logically thinking if it’s a plate, it should be a tank. So any of the Blood DK, Protection Warriro, Protection Paladin.

I did level a Fury Warrior for like one day to lvl 20 and stopped for some reason (lack of time irl probably, can’t remember)… then I thought should I just continue to 60? Or maybe switch to Arms or Protection? But then again, if it’ gonna be Protection I might “have to” make a new character, there’s something wrong with (Mag’har) Orc Prot Warrior.

Never tried Retribution Paladin before. Not really interested in Holy Paladin, but putting it here for the sake of political correctness.

[Incar-ravencrest]

A tad confused on what it is you’re looking for in a plate class but since my only other ‘main class’ is paladin these days I’ll chime in.

Warrior -
Arms - Easy enough spec, two handed DPS, you get to shout to buff allies or scare enemies, what’s not to love? Solid in PvP (with a healer) usually if that’s your thing. Lower APM than fury by a fair margin.

Fury - whirlwind of steel, high APM, DUAL two handers! Iirc it was maybe is looking promising for DF?

Prot - great simple enough tank imo, the new self heal makes it even better imo. Sword and shield stalwart knight kinda thing uses rage to buff defences, can charge to allies.

Paladin
Prot - captain America style shield throw, hammers, heals!, justice! Light! Very fun, easy enough to play and solid defences plus a good amount of ‘oh sh1t!’ Buttons! BIG glowing wings!

Ret - Eh love it or hate it. Burst then wet noodle, slow but loveable, self sustain, BIG Glowing wings! Utility which I love most about it!

Holy - well you said you’re not interested and probably good as imo it’s a healer that’s stuck in limbo atm.

DK
BDK - Vampiric tank, plagues, Blood siphoning, grip! Kind of like an unstoppable juggernaut although not so much unstoppable these days. Still my favourite tank spec.

FDK - very fun dps, simple rotation and beautiful spells, breath looks great! Frost themed if that’s your thing and can wield a two hander or dual wield one handers - can’t remember if there’s a benefit or not to one as haven’t played it in a long time!

UHDK - Pets! Minions! Gargoyles! Abominations! Ghouls! Plague spreader, think Necromancer only a hulking plate behemoth unless you play gnome. DoTs though not an insane amount, interesting DPS.

In all honesty you can’t go wrong with any of the above. I personally love paladin for its redemption kinda theme and faith. It’s very self sufficient and has great mog selection + it feels very smooth and easy to rope into if I’m burned out on Druid.

Warrior is a good old fashioned no magic fest, you can’t really go wrong with it. You get a leap, charge, shouts and buffs. Very useful and fun to play.

Pick what calls out to you or you find most fun. I love paladin, but BDK tanking as above is my personal fav I just prefer Ret for DPS in PvP or PvE. I also love the fact Paladin has a heal/tank/DPS spec so you can never get bored

[Nimeris-silvermoon]

Leveling arms warrior atm, enjoying it so far. I enjoy self-healing when killing those innocent event turkeys in Elwynn Forest.

[Nimrhys-steamwheedle-cartel (Nimrhys)]

Prot Pally can’t go wrong.

[Palerage-argent-dawn]

I love fury warriors and the active playstyle they have. There really is no wait time between attacks, you just whack your . . off until you can’t whack anymore and then charge to another group of mobs. Really great self heals which comes naturally from the rotation, there is no separate healing spell. Sustained, constant damage draining enemy health like a train. I haven’t played protection since Legion but I loved it then. Might actually try it again now.

I also love paladins, very different playstyle. More slow paced, occasionally can be wait times between attacks which can be awkward, just waiting to be able to hit again. High burst damages, relies on big crits and it feels awesome to deliver those. Quite squishy, have to pay attention to health pool constantly, but have some great defensives and self heals to cover that up. Protection paladin is a solid choice.

I have mained DK since wrath, love the lore behind them, blood dk feels like immortal but damage output is not so great for soloing. Granted I havn’t played DK much in SL, I leveled to max when SL launched and never played with that character since due to many reasons, being a DK is not one of the reasons. Time to get another main for a change (this character i am posting with)

[Deathsranger-outland]

I would say Warrior from what you described. Try Arms instead, I prefer it a lot over Fury, people say Fury is fun but for me it’s kind of dull, far superior for leveling however due to the self-healing.

[Caylia-tarren-mill]

@Alustus-turalyon

But than again logically thinking if it’s a plate, it should be a tank.

If you want to think “logically” regarding WoW fantasy and roles that use plate I can argue that in lore Death Knight’s armor is made of Saronite not because they only march on the front lines, like a tank would do, but because the properties of this ore makes the armor lightweight and resistant to various types of magic.

A body chosen by the Lich King should have been strong enough not only to be in the front lines but also for any kind of combat and position on the battlefield.
Therefore the “champions” could have had different roles, that includes DPS.

The characteristics that Unholy and Frost Death Knights have in common are that they’re resistant and unbelievably strong.
In my opinion is safe to say that the idea of being a DPS class and plate user, with those traits I listed before, is not far fetched.

With that said, personally I think you could choose Death Knight if you want to play a character that has unique types of playstyles for each spec (at least at the time I played).