Duo recommendation

[Nebu]

A RL friend of mine is interested in playing some WoW and I thought I'd join them for a social thing.  Could you guys give me a good duo recommendation?  We'd be interested in eventually being able to do some instance dungeons as a duo.  If we could do them when they're green, that would be wonderful.  

- They are interested in playing a Paladin or a Priest. 

I'm pretty open here and have played almost every class.  So your suggestions for best synergy would be great.  

[Kail]

A RL friend of mine is interested in playing some WoW and I thought I'd join them for a social thing.  Could you guys give me a good duo recommendation?  We'd be interested in eventually being able to do some instance dungeons as a duo.  If we could do them when they're green, that would be wonderful.  

If you're looking for the ability to duo dungeons, I'd say you need a pet class.  My hunter could solo some of the trash pre-BC in green dungeons, but I don't think he could take the bosses without backup.  Warlock would probably work, too.  Even there, though, I don't know that you'd be able to duo much higher than level 40 dungeons without them going gray.

Or, you could make a tank/healer duo, and try that out.  Feral druid might have some luck tanking, since they can shift in and out of DPS mode.

Death Knight would be a good class if you can get your buddy up to that level.  DKs start with insane gear and are way overpowered in the Outlands dungeons.

[Selby]

I did a warlock\mage combo and was doing Scarlet Monastery and other dungeons with ease.  Keeping the pet alive was the hardest thing in those dungeons honestly.  I'd say with a priest or pally (go pally for the ability to take damage much better than a priest) and a warlock or a hunter there isn't much you can't duo.  A feral druid would work too, but not easily until the BC\WotLK grouping stuff due to gear and skills being difficult to obtain in the pre-60 world.

[Sjofn]

tank + healer = ruling of the world

It doesn't even have to be specced healing (except maybe if you REALLY want to do instances), just having a heal spell is enough. Ingmar and I used to duo as  warrior/paladin and we could not die. Then I got completely tired of the paladin and he had to make his own way in WotLK.

I dunno about the duoing of instances, though, I think that would depend on how much you'd be twinking yourselves. It's just not something I've tried to do very often (I've done some three-person instances but nothing smaller).


EDIT: Also, as a bitter ex-paladin, if your friend wants to heal at cap should you get there, steer him towards the priest. It's just a lot more flexible and interesting.

[Nonentity]

Deathknight + Deathknight.

You know I'm right.

[Fordel]

Some Combination of Paladin + Druid.

[Sjofn]

Hell, druid/druid.

[Xeyi]

Feral druid + ret paladin are pretty good.  They can both dps and fly through quests, but the druid can switch to tanking mode at the touch of a button for harder stuff, with the paladin providing healing that's not too shabby where needed.

Between the two of them they can also dispel every debuff which can be important depending on what you're doing.  At the start of wotlk I was duoing karazhan with this combination and we could clear the entire place fairly easily (chess was the only tricky part!).  A ret paladin running seal of wisdom basically has infinite mana, and so we were able to clear things we maybe couldn't have done with a pure tank/healer.

Basically you'll want some class that can tank (Druid, warrior, paladin) plus some class that can heal, preferably heal and dps interchangeably (ret paladin, elemental shaman, balance druid, priest)

[apocrypha]

DeathKnight and resto druid are pretty unstoppable. I'm currently two-boxing this combo and it's frankly embarrassing how many mobs I can pull and still walk out of the fight on full health & mana on both characters.

[K9]

- They are interested in playing a Paladin or a Priest. 

As a healer or DPS? Either way I'd pick the priest, but I'm biased. DK's will be out since your friend will presumably be starting at level one. I'd be tempted to go for a warrior or druid to complement a paladin or a priest.

[Fordel]

Hell, druid/druid.

Nah, it lacks the dispell/buff cheese. It be good for RP/Flavour though!

Druid+Paladin has a lot of buff synergy though, pretty much any way you spec either of them.



I would go Protection Paladin and a casting druid. Preferably one with dual spec for Resto/Balance.


Prot + Resto will never die. Like ever. Never die, never stop, they're like Terminators.

Prot + Balance will be able to kill ungodly amounts of monsters, hilarious, ridiculous, nerfbait worthy amounts.


You could flip it around, go Holy/Feral, but the paladin would want to /wrist sooner or later.

[K9]

Holy priest feral wouldn't be bad, although your low-level AoE isn't great. Past level 75 priests and rogues have the best AoE though, so I guess it depends how far you want to push this sort of thing.

[Ashamanchill]

Hell, druid/druid.

Prot + Resto will never die. Like ever. Never die, never stop, they're like Terminators.

God I love this combo    Even way back when prot was useless for anything but BC heroics and sucked in pvp, me and my roomate ran this one and loved it.

Deathknight + Deathknight.

You know I'm right.

Damn DKs 

[chargerrich]

A RL friend of mine is interested in playing some WoW and I thought I'd join them for a social thing.  Could you guys give me a good duo recommendation?  We'd be interested in eventually being able to do some instance dungeons as a duo.  If we could do them when they're green, that would be wonderful.  

- They are interested in playing a Paladin or a Priest. 

I'm pretty open here and have played almost every class.  So your suggestions for best synergy would be great.  

For Dungeon Duoing, I would (personally) rank effectiveness as follows:

1. Holy Paladin + Prot Paladin (sad but true)
2. Holy Paladin + Prot Warrior or Bear
3. Holy Paladin + Bear
4. Holy Paladin + Frost DK
5. Frost DK + Blood DK
6. Holy Paladin + Pet Class (lock or hunter)

Wow see a trend...WTF Paladin is the ONLY class I do not have at least a 70 of (mine is a ridiculous 29). 

[WindupAtheist]

It sounds like this guy is starting WoW fresh and for the first time. Don't try to make him tank/heal so you can two-man dungeons, or worry about what is or isn't good in the endgame, or any of the other crap the old hands here are talking about. He's a newb. Just have him make a ret pally. They're fun, they do good damage, they're tough to kill, and they can heal. Then make a feral druid or something to go along with it and have fun kicking through the game.

[Nebu]

Thanks for the input.  I'm pretty sure that they will play a paladin.  Looks like that narrows my choices down to a warrior, druid, warlock, or a hunter.  The concensus seems to lean toward druid or warrior.  I appreciate the input. 

For the record, the refer a friend program is ridiculous.  You can blow through levels in almost no time.  The only downside is that you level so fast that you can't keep gear current without a high level toon to provide it.  Looks like I'll be sending them a lot of packages in the mail. 

[K9]

I have to admit, I had a lot of fun levelling a shaman as enhance, if your friend decided to go Ret you would have decent buff synergy. That said an Arms Warrior or Feral Druid would be just as good. I guess it depends how far you guys want to take it. Shamans synergise well with more or less any class, moreso than any other class really.

[Lantyssa]

For the record, the refer a friend program is ridiculous.  You can blow through levels in almost no time.  The only downside is that you level so fast that you can't keep gear current without a high level toon to provide it.  Looks like I'll be sending them a lot of packages in the mail. 

When I saw your post I was going to suggest playing what you want, but to keep in mind you'll be going through levels so fast that keeping dungeons green might be difficult, so don't even worry about it.

[Ingmar]

If you have a paladin in the duo definitely make them tank. Even with all the tank balance changes, there's still nothing like a prot paladin for farming lower level instances.

[WindupAtheist]

I am philosophically opposed to paladins speccing anything but ret, but then I hate instances, grouping, and pretty much anything besides running around a battleground smashing faces. Fucking diku. Everything requires three jobs, two of which nobody wants to do.

[Fordel]

Prot Paladins are Ret Paladins that use a shield.

[Sheepherder]

Have you rolled characters yet?

[Hindenburg]

Everything requires three jobs, two of which nobody wants to do.

Eh, I find tanking and healing far more fun than dps'ing.

[dusematic]

I don't think it matters one bit.  If you're playing casually, pick whatever seems cool/fun to you.  You'll dominate the content as whatever duo you choose.

[Nebu]

Have you rolled characters yet?

Not yet.  I've been soloing a hunter waiting on him to sub. 

To the rest of you, thanks for the input.  I appreciate the help and thoughts.

[Xanthippe]

Have you played a dk yet, Nebu?

Even if you don't play it past whenever you level outside DK beginning area, you really ought to do that part of it.  Best starting zone ever - and I really like both the BE and Draenei starting zones.

[Dren]

Have you played a dk yet, Nebu?

Even if you don't play it past whenever you level outside DK beginning area, you really ought to do that part of it.  Best starting zone ever - and I really like both the BE and Draenei starting zones.

To add to your "truth."

I've leveled everything but a Hunter to minimum 70 and most to 80.  The DK is by far the easiest (read: stupid easy) to get to max level from 58 of all classes.  You don't have to worry about keeping gear updated and there is no downtime.  I've only died a few times and that was either from DC or from just taking on way too much because I normally can.

DKs level out to be comparable to other classes at 80 for raiding, but before that, they are an unstoppable farming/leveling character.

[Nebu]

Have you played a dk yet, Nebu?

I haven't. 

I do have to say that after leveling a mage, warrior, shaman, rogue, and priest to 70 that the hunter is almost stupid easy by comparison.  If DK is even easier, then I will have to give it a go when I finish the hunter. 

[Rasix]

If DK is even easier, then I will have to give it a go when I finish the hunter. 

You basically just run up to stuff and kill it before your runes even refresh.  You'll be at full health when you're finished also.  Blood kills elites stupid easy.

[Sheepherder]

When Wrath first came out I used to regularly run the Hellfire and Zangarmarsh instances in all DK groups.

Yeah...

EDIT: I can provide a DK to do run-throughs on the early instances if you want, I'm still guild-less until my terrible Satellite internet gets replaces with a wireless point-to-point to the nearby cell tower.  Even then I might not go total catass and will probably have free time.

[Xanthippe]

I do have to say that after leveling a mage, warrior, shaman, rogue, and priest to 70 that the hunter is almost stupid easy by comparison.  If DK is even easier, then I will have to give it a go when I finish the hunter. 

I think druid and pally is on par with hunter (although pally pre-Wrath was slow in terms of killing rate/downtime; druid had no downtime to speak of, similar to hunter).

But DK sets a new standard.  I'm blasting through Outlands effortlessly. 

From the DK starting area, go straight to Outlands.  No need to wait until 60.

I don't want to replace my gear though, because my matched DK set looks awesome.

[Nevermore]

Breaking up the awesome look of the starter DK set and replacing it with an Outlands clownsuit is heartbreaking. 

[Zetor]

That's why you play a gnome DK so you don't see what your armor looks like anyway. 

Though, after leveling a ret pally (planning to spec prot at 80) I feel a lot more OP than I ever did when leveling the DK. 'Course the DK didn't have access to heirloom items...

[Nevermore]

While leveling, my DK didn't feel any more powerful than my feral Druid.  PvP is a whole different story though.  Ferals are a joke in PvP.

[Gobbeldygook]

GC dropped an interesting tidbit related to this in his Ret QQ Thread.  Context:

I'm curious as to what kind of process determines priority when addressing class issues each patch. While I don't expect Ret to get more attention than any other spec, the former (crusader strike) has been lackluster since it was introduced (~3 years now), and the latter has been a concern for leveling paladins since WoW was released. On the flipside, divine storm doing holy damage was hotfixed within hours of 3.0 going live (I know I'm playing the victim card, but it's relevant).

-- Magnitude of the problem comes into play in other ways. Paladins autoattacking as they level is a little boring. On the other hand, paladins have one of the lowest death rates and in fact one of the lowest rates of a player abandoning the low level character. Maybe the defenses and healing come into play.
--Maybe players just like paladins. On the other hand, warriors die a lot and seem to get abandoned more often. Maybe they are too fragile or have too much downtime at low level and none of their cool moves (I'm talking more Charge and Overpower, not Heroic Strike) is enough to save them.