A Follow Up

After the last blog I posted; there have been many changes to the game World of Warcraft. All previous post are no mostly invalid because of the many changes. Over the winter break I will be experimenting with all the new changes and deciding the new cons and pros for the classes over again.

Expansion

This blog will be undergoing personal research and testing to update current blogs and to complete the rest of the classes. With the new expansion, the classes have gone through some new major changes giving and taking away abilities from all the classes. For instance the cooldown on paladin's concentration is now 30 secs long, making the tanking rotation different for paladins. Cataclysm has made some huge changes to the game World of Warcraft.

Shamans

Shamans like Paladins are a very versatile class, there are 3 different roles of the shaman; ranged dps, melee dps, and healing. Making playing a shaman for exciting because you do not have to do the same thing for every raid or group, like rogues and hunters. Shamans are the only class that have totems; totems are very useful, in groups, raids, and/or just when your questing. Making shamans a really good soloing class with totems and the ability to heal themselves. Shamans can also use mail armor at level 40 which helps with melee damage done to the shaman. Shaman's also can use ghost wolf form that is a nice class bonus while leveling. Shaman's also get elemental shields that can deal damage, replenish mana, and increase spell power. Shaman's also have a spell that is very nice to have, reincarnation which is a self-resurrection spell. Shaman's are one of the better classes because they can be a party class or a solo class.

Rogues

Now we are going to cover Rogues; Rogues are my favorite class and also the class I have the most experience with. Rogues are what I consider one of the funniest classes to play for pvp and pve. Rogues is the only class that has the ability of stealth that is actually useful, Rogues are a solid burst dps and dominate in dps in short periods of time. Although Rogues are a poor soloing class, not able to take on more than 2 or 3 mobs at a time. Rogues also do not come with any healing ability making them harder to level. Rogues are not suggested to newer players, as they are harder to pvp and pve with. With the Wrath of the Lich King patch, it gave rogues a new upper hand in dps, AoE (Fan of Knives) which is a baller of an attack in large groups. Making Rogues quite the dps that helps out in raids and in groups. Rogues have the abilities of pick-pocketing and lock picking which are nice to have while leveling up, but become pointless at level 80. Rogues also do not come with any buffs for party members, so Rogues is the class that looks out only for itself.

Hunters

Hunters are one of the best dps to have in groups or raids. Although hunters can only be dps they make up for it with being a good soloing class; hunters come with pets a level 10 that can direct any threat away from the hunter, allowing hunters to take on more mobs at once. Hunters have traps which allow them to have crowd control which also helps with taking on more mobs and temporarily demobilizing an enemy. Hunters offer no buffs that contribute to all the players in a group or raid, but have trueshoot arua that gives all players a attack power boost. The downfall of the hunter is that they have no short range dps, making them only useful at a distance. Hunters are one of the few classes that have a last ditch effort to survive, hunters have feign death, which makes npc's believe that the hunter is dead. One thing a hunter must always have is food and ammo, making it more stressful to be a hunter, because if you go into a raid with only 200 bullets your gonna be taking a hearth out and your gonna be holding up the raid, if you don't have meat on you and your pet starts getting mad at you; you might just lose it.

Death Knights

Death Knights are a powerful dps class and they can also be a tanking class. Their tanking abilities are not as good as paladins or warriors, but they can still get the job done. Death Knights are different from all other classes, they start off at level 55, thus taking less time for them to get to the level cap; giving uses a bigger advantage over the other classes, but this can take away from the fun or game play of this class. Personally I would love to start a death knight at level 1 and be able to experience going through all the up's and down's of leveling, being able to do the lower level dungeons and being able to twink them at lvl 19 for WSG. Death Knights come with free lvl 40 riding mounts and also get many class/rep. perks. Death Knights have no mana but runic power making the class easier to play for less experienced players. From the level 58-62 range Death Knights have a huge advantage in pvp and in dungeons over all other classes, but once they hit level 70 that advantage goes away and becomes a common class. One down fall of the Death Knight is that there are so many of them that it takes away from the variety of the game, instead of having a warrior for a tank, 2 ranged dps and 1 melee dps, you end up with a dk for a tank with 3 dks for dps with a healer, yeah kinda boring.

Paladins

Paladins are a very flexible class, they can tank, be a melee dps, and/or be healers. Paladins have low mana pools in both the ret and prot specs, while there are talents that allow them to replenish mana faster than anyone class, but if you use too many spells your left with no mana. Both the riding mounts for Paladins are free. Paladins make a great soloing class because of the ability to heal. But paladins are weak at long ranges they come with no long range spells and are strictly a melee dps. Also like warriors Paladins can wear plate armor which decreases melee damage. Paladins come with 2 spells that no other classes have 1 is an unbreakable shield that lasts up to 8 secs, the other is lay on hands, which restores all the targets health points. Paladins are great for groups because they come with great buffs for all classes, but also like warriors, paladins have no crowd control.