Panda Prep #4: Taking it in the Class
So you are remembering back to when wrath first launched and Ret Paladins and Death Knights were running train on everything at level 70-80. There was a point where I can remember winning a 2v5 in world pvp with my DK friend while leveling. I am sure that many players decided that their class was mediocre and decided to switch mains for the expansion. I will discuss why it is best to think critically about choosing your class in the next expansion rather than selecting based on the most recent beta build.
Group Composition
n the recent patch we have seen warlocks doing very well as DPS and shamans are rocking AOE healing meters. In the beta build at 90 holy paladins are doing very well. Imagine if your healers all decided to be paladins or shaman. Imagine that all of your DPS switch to warlocks. Now imagine you are a 10 man, you are missing lots of buffs and your raid lacks diversity. This is an extreme example but in a 10 man setting diversity is especially important and odds are a fully buffed group will be more advantageous than a single player putting out 10% more dps/healing. Also CD diversity (to be discussed in a Speed of Light blog soon!) is important to have throughout your raid.
Class Stacking
Now have you ever wondered why top guilds will bring 9 mages and 7 rogues to a fight (spine of deathwing) or 10 druids (Nefarian) just to down it? Well the root of the mentality isn’t that those classes are the best in the game it is that they are the best for a specific fight. These guilds are competing for world firsts and they are attempting the content at a gear level that is lower than Blizzard intends the content to be completed with. Also in these guilds many of the players are maintaining 4-5 geared alts. If you look at their standard roster with everyone playing what they consider to be their mains you will see quite a bit of class diversity. Keep this in mind when selecting your main class. For any guild not competing in the world race the classes that you pick will be sufficient to down the content once they are properly geared.
Don’t Fall Into The Trap
Blizzard sets what I call “class traps” every expansion and sometimes every tier. Unless you are a frost mage expect to be nerfed if your numbers are really high. We all know how blizzard loves the mages… I digress but Blizzard generally does a good job at balancing classes so that each and every class will be competitive. Sometimes it takes longer than we would like but they eventually get there so be patient and play the class you enjoy the most.
Gear an Alt
If you are still concerned about not doing optimally in raids and are distraught with the current state of your class then level an alt and gear it for raids. If your main isn’t able to be competitive ensure that it is a class problem not a player problem (do some research). If it is a class problem then bring your alt to raid until they fix your main class. Note that if you go this route your GM may require you to finish the tier on that alt character since the guild is investing a significant amount of gear into that character. Ultimately it is between you and your RL/GM to decide what class is best for yourself and the guild as whole. Put a lot of thought and care into your decision because no GM likes a player who wants to switch characters after they have made a significant gear investment in your main. Start planning now because you have 13 more days to decide!
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