#0 - April 4, 2008, 1:59 a.m.
Warrior
Warlock
Noobs often ask, what class should I play?.
Well if you want the safest bet to be effective in pve and pvp the above 3 classes are pretty much a sure thing.
I am excluding healing ofc because healing is universal although still subject to fluctuation between the 4 classes.
While all classes are nerfed at times and have their ups and downs, the above 3 are most unlikely to ever reach the current basement level of shamans, mages and pre 2.3 hunters. At least any time soon.
Warriors
Warriors follow a cycle of mediocrity, to killing machines as each new stage of the game occurs. When WoTLK is released and we all hit 80 one of the first things you will see is warriors whining about how much they suck. This is somewhat true compared to their most recent status but in overal terms they will still be pretty strong.
9 months down the road in raid/arena epics they will be riding high due to gear scaling and possibly even buffs from earlier when they whined.
3 months atfer that warriors will be where they are now, in the clouds with ridiculous 2h weapon top end and dps cutting through everything except plate like it was thin air.
Warriors by default get instant access to pve if they are willing to tank, quite a bonus. If their guild is not uptight warriors also have the option of fury pve which becomes more and more viable as a game stage matures.
Lastly there is the unique synergy with a healer. No other class gains such a large benefit and performance increase from being healed.
Rogue's
Rogue's follow a similar path to warriors but have also now reached the point where they have been given all the CC and anti CC they will ever need and had kiting as a weakness almost completely removed.
Some new abilities like CloS, Deadly Throw, new Blind and Shadowstep are not affected by scaling so will almost certainly retain most of their usefullness in WoTLK.
In PvE rogues have pretty much always and likely will always be in the top 3 if not 2 single target dps. As such their PvE status remains almost constant.
One other point about Warriors and Rogues is that their dps source is not finite like the 7 other classes (somewhat excluding feral druids) who use mana and therefore will never be subject to changing scaling of mana pools, dpm and utility per mana.
Warlocks
Warlocks were actually in the same position as shamans and mages are now for the first year of the game(Ironically shamans were the most OP class for the first year). As time went by they got buffed, alot, and have now been extremely good in pve and pvp for 2.5 years straight.
Warlocks have been nerfed a hell of a lot in the last 2.5 years. But despite these many nerfs they have endured extremely well and are still very strong.
Affliction is the ideal magic pvp tree due to the nature of instant dots and drains. It's strong synergy with demonology also gives it a buffer against a decline in status as both trees would have to fall significantly to hurt the play type overall.
Melee scaling as TBC enters the end of its lifespan has dented warlocks power a little but this is part of the natural game cycle and not a warlock specific problem.
PvE, what is there to say about warlock pve other than Lifetap and Shadowbolt % stack scaling. Both of which will probably scale even better in WoTLK. Even if it didn't theres HS, SS and curses which will never fall out of demand.
So uh yeh, you cant go wrong with these three and if you dont like to heal you will likely get the most stable and satisfying game experience from them for the next couple of years.
