So yeah.

[WindupAtheist]

The leader of my really fun old UO guild spends most of his time in WoW lately, and has built up a fairly substantial guild there.  He's been yammering at me to come play WoW and join it for months, and I've kept putting him off.  Finally the other night he outright tells me he's buying a gametime code and sending it to me, so I had better reinstall and use it.

So okay, I guess WUA is going Horde on a PVP server.  Even if it's no more entertaining than Alliance/PVE was, it's free and will kill some time before the UO expansion.  So what's a good, fun race/class combo for these circumstances?

[Morat20]

Depends on how you like to kill. First off, if you're looking for pure PvP gankage, you probably want undead. Will of the Forsaken means you just grin and ignore any of those desperate fear attacks the dying throw off. It's an insanely overpowered PvP racial.

If you like the "I'm going to die, but you're going down with me no matter what" -- roll a Warlock. It takes a bit, but sooner or later you can have the joy of emptying your mana bar on every target in sight in the sure and certain knowledge that while your surprisingly robust, but still cloth-armored body is being sent to hell -- you're taking all those fuckers with you.

However, I would suggest what you really want to play is a rogue. If you spec right, and no what you're doing, you will kill ANYONE who is stupid enough to be by himself when you're around. Stun-lock for the win.

Good rogues often amuse themselves by sneaking into enemy cities, finding someone flagged, and killing them -- then trying to escape. You can have hours of fun sneaking around Stormwind ganking lowbies who were dumb enough to be flagged.

[Dren]

I agree with Morat.  However, between the two, Warlock will be easier to get to 60.  Rogue leveling is very fast up to around 40 and then your survival rate in solo PvE drops off.  You are awesome for grouping however, so if that will be your main focus as you level, rogue is the choice.  Just keep in mind Rogue is good for two things; ganking solo targets or assisting others by backstabbing like a mad man.  If you get into a fight with more than one whacking on you, you're going to die.

Warlock is strong throughout and has more options than a rogue.  However, if anyone gets the drop on you, you're probably dead.  Like Morat said though, you can take pretty much anyone with you.

Only other class might be a hunter.  I hear they are quite easy to lvl to 60 and usefull in PvP.  PvE is debatable I hear.  I rarely hear a group state, "Man, I wish we had a hunter!"

The other wildcard is a shaman.  I liked playing one for a bit on another shard, but not sure what happens past lvl 16.  Seemed like an interesting class to go with though.  I'll be rolling one after the expansion as a Dranaii (sp.)

I've played all the rest of the classes all the way to 60 (other than druid and mage, but to quite high levels regardless.)  They have their own advantages and disadvantages, but if you are looking for fast fun for a few months, rogue and warlock are your best shots.

[WindupAtheist]

I've been hanging out in the guild's Ventrilo for a while and it sounds like a fun bunch, which is mostly why I'm going for this.  (I wouldn't take the guy's free code just to not play.)  So I shouldn't have to run solo too much.  Undead rogue it is.

[Rasix]

I've been hanging out in the guild's Ventrilo for a while and it sounds like a fun bunch, which is mostly why I'm going for this.  (I wouldn't take the guy's free code just to not play.)  So I shouldn't have to run solo too much.  Undead rogue it is.

Get someone to craft you some low level daggers. It's amazing how much they help.

[Morat20]

Hunters have a bad rep. They're easy to level solo, but controlling a pet in an instance is beyond a lot of people. (Fuck, I wiped us on Molten Core last week with my pet. I got forgiven, since no one had bothered to inform me what we were doing and I was simply playing follow the leader -- I keep my pet on a tight leash, normally. Also, for some reason, Shazzarh loves to take his first blink directly onto my pet. I normally dismiss and summon for that fight, but there's some weirdness with pet command bars in combat now).

So if your'e a decent solo hunter, you've got to learn a few things to be a decent instance or raiding hunter. Things like "How not to yank aggro off the main tank" and "How to use your pet to off-tank when necessary" and "How to keep your fucking pet on passive, and watch his pathing".

Good hunters are an asset, like any class. (And currently, with Warlock, overpowered in PvP). It's just that solo PvE with a hunter is a lot more forgiving than a lot of other classes, so I think hunters attract more than their fair share of crap players.

You'll have fun with the undead rogue. I have a blast with my nelf rogue. There's something very, very, VERY fun about backstabbing the shit out of people in PvP.

Some advice on playing a rogue: Watch out for Hunters. It's really a game of "who spots who first" with Hunters. They have "Track hidden" (and thus a bonus to spotting stealthed people), and generally have it up if they expect PvP. Their pets can do steady DPS, and if they're dwarven they can stoneform out of your poisons, and if they're beastmaster specced they can Bestial Wrath out of your stunlocks.

In PvP, if I spot the rogue before he can stun me -- he dies. I'm rarely hurt. If he gets behind me and smacks me, I tend to die -- unless Bestial Wrath is up. A good enough rogue can stunlock me and sometimes prevent even that. With the latest changes in how attack power is done, meleeing with a hunter is more painful than it used to be.

On the other hand, a hunter just out questing? You should be able to eat him alive -- and bestial wrath (and The Beast Within, which lets the hunter break your stuns) is a 31 pt and 41 pt talent, meaning you don't have to worry until the 50s about that. Hell, the biggest irritatant a hunter could throw at you (Hunter's Mark -- let everyone in the party see you, even if stealthed) now gets dispelled with vanish. Used to be that a single Hunter would mark your ass, and you couldn't pull off the kill and vanish routine. Mark lastest two minutes, too -- so you were useless unless it was AV. (The odds of running up against one of the other 4 members of the hunter's party in a 40 man AV were a bit slim).

You should be able to have some serious ganking fun in contested areas, and if you don't mind being low on the kill-board you can have a blast in Battlegrounds. Ninja-flipping towers, nodes, graveyards, for one. Killing clothies as they drink up. Generally popping up where no one expects you, killing someone, and vanishing again.

Rasix is right about the daggers, btw. Auction house might have some low level ones (I managed to find some +1 agility ones that only needed level 7 back when I was a young rogue...)

[Tale]

Are druids still a good pick on a PvP server? They're good in battlegrounds and usually in demand on the PvE raiding scene. Plus you get to be a viable tank, rogue and healer in one character. You can swim fast, hold your breath forever, you get travel form at level 30, and you can fly in the expansion. Best of all worlds, and as horde you get to be a tauren for added humour.

[Cheddar]

So okay, I guess WUA is going Horde on a PVP server.  Even if it's no more entertaining than Alliance/PVE was, it's free and will kill some time before the UO expansion.  So what's a good, fun race/class combo for these circumstances?

Undead Rogue w/mace spec.  Stun + 2 abilities to break stuns + stealth = fun times.

[Morfiend]

Troll Hunter. You will have a lot of fun, and its easy mode to level up.

[Jobu]

Are druids still a good pick on a PvP server? They're good in battlegrounds and usually in demand on the PvE raiding scene. Plus you get to be a viable tank, rogue and healer in one character. You can swim fast, hold your breath forever, you get travel form at level 30, and you can fly in the expansion. Best of all worlds, and as horde you get to be a tauren for added humour.

I have a druid, and find that it is excruatingly slow to level compared to most of the other classes I've played. Still pretty fun. It's the perfect alt, because I can swap around between tanking, DPS, and healing so I technically don't have to roll 3 alts to experience all that.

[bhodi]

I completely disagree. Druids are very fast to level, as long as you are straight feral. Anything else is slow as balls.

[Morat20]

I completely disagree. Druids are very fast to level, as long as you are straight feral. Anything else is slow as balls.

Depends on when he levelled his druid. I have a straight feral druid -- first character I created. Stuck at level 20-something, because it got really annoying. This was before the Druid talent revamp.

Then again, that character's armor is for shit and not even remotely right for a feral spec. It's amazing what you learn.

[Righ]

Troll Hunter. You will have a lot of fun, and its easy mode to level up.

Why would anybody rolling a Horde hunter roll anything other than an Orc now that Blood Fury affects ranged attacks? Beserking is good, but it doesn't become as powerful until you're  beaten up. You're a dirty arrpeer, aren't you?

[Evil Elvis]

Troll Hunter. You will have a lot of fun, and its easy mode to level up.

Why would anybody rolling a Horde hunter roll anything other than an Orc now that Blood Fury affects ranged attacks? Beserking is good, but it doesn't become as powerful until you're  beaten up. You're a dirty arrpeer, aren't you?

You forgot about warstomp (although I'd probably go orc or be myself).

[Righ]

Nope, didn't forget. For a hunter, Warstomp just doesn't add up to +15% stun resist, +5% pet damage and BF (which is +242 RAP at 60).

[WindupAtheist]

I wish there was a Horde race that I didn't find to be ugly as shit.

[Merusk]

I wish there was a Horde race that I didn't find to be ugly as shit.

Tauren aren't ugly.  Male orcs are pretty decent-looking as well, so long as you go with the bald look.  They're fucktons better than male night elves and male humans.

[Evil Elvis]

Hunters do obscene damage without blood fury, the pet buff is negligible, and if you're in stun range you're already in a place you don't want to be.

Being able to regain range is worth more than all the orc racials combined.

[Simond]

I wish there was a Horde race that I didn't find to be ugly as shit.

Wait nine days?

[WindupAtheist]

Yeah, I know, I can wait for the expansion and make a blelf.  I'm just bitching.  I ended up making a troll warrior and it's not so bad.  I like the Jamaican accents and the capoiera dance and the fact that they're not terribly common.  I'm a dirty arrpee noob.

[Lantyssa]

I loved my troll hunter, but everyone I played with left or switched to Alliance, so she sits alone and unused.

[Trouble]

Overpowered flavor of the month is split between hunter and warlock currently. Both are extremely strong in pvp and relatively not gear dependent. They both level extremely fast as well if played right. Hunter is easier to play than warlock by a large margin.

[lamaros]

Warlocks level fast? What.

Granted I havn't leveled one since release, but I can't see anything that has changed since that would make them much faster at leveling, and compared to other classes they tend to be slow.

[Morat20]

Overpowered flavor of the month is split between hunter and warlock currently. Both are extremely strong in pvp and relatively not gear dependent. They both level extremely fast as well if played right. Hunter is easier to play than warlock by a large margin.

I can't see people switching to Hunter for the overpowered eliteness unless they're retards. Hunters clean up at PvP for two reasons -- most people aren't aware of stuff that's not in their face, so hunters can pew-pew-pew from the sidelines, and Hunters crit ratings are based on TBC resiliance gear, which isn't in the game anymore.

Hunter has always been fairly easy to level, but not much more so than others. I'm always surprised more people didn't ditch hunter pre-level 10, when you didn't have a pet. (It sucks balls trying to kill something when you're suited for range, and you have no way of keeping things that way. I was the most gimped warrior until level 10).

Balance druids can be tough to level. I understand Rogues have a tough patch in the 30s (I found the 30s to suck period, on any toon). Warriors are insanely gear dependent -- top-geared warriors litterally eat you alive, whereas merely well-geared warriors just hurt you. (I suspect by level 70, I'm going to be getting wtfpwned by warriors in PvP again). Healing priests suck to solo, but never lack for groups -- so they can level very fast.

Frankly, if you're going hunter -- find a guild first. By the time you hit instances, you're going to be SICK of "Full on hunters" or "We already have DPS, sorry" and wish you'd rolled a priest instead.

[lamaros]

I found my Rogue to be easy to level, though I got bored around level 40 and he's just idling at 45 now. Certainly not slow: Only a couple of /played days to 40 and that wasn't racing it. The slowdown period for me started in mid 40s, not 30s.

Warlocks are really boring to level. I say this after the fact, as I enjoyed it at the time, but having played other classes since I have to point it out. They have some strengths, which is being able to solo a whole lot of stuff other classes can't (anything we can fear we can kill PvE, pretty much), but they are a little slow. They also change a lot over time and the class you play at 60 could be VERY different to the one you level.

Druids should only level as feral. Allows you to tank well, kill fast and pretty much nonstop, and you can still heal with base talents. Leveling one now and finding it to be fast, strong, and simply awesome at getting a group (can be a tank or healer).

Mages hardly lack for groups. Priests are always wanted and level fine as shadow. Warriors get groups but level slowish. Shamen I don't know much about.

Hunters? They are often considered the #1 soloing class. And they are currently tearing up PvP. But PvE wise they need some work it seems, so if that's where you're heading you might want to rethink.

[Trouble]

Warlocks level fast? What.

Granted I havn't leveled one since release, but I can't see anything that has changed since that would make them much faster at leveling, and compared to other classes they tend to be slow.

With their pets they are killing machines with no downtime at all. They kill fast and they have no downtime which is a lethal combination when it comes to leveling speed. The fastest levelers with the game as it is right now are hunters and warlocks bar none. As I said warlocks are not easy to play at top effectiveness because the class is very complex.

[Typhon]

They kill fast and they have no downtime

+ they never, ever, ever die in pve (until you get really cocky with your lock and get your fool self killed)

[Zephyr]

I completely disagree. Druids are very fast to level, as long as you are straight feral. Anything else is slow as balls.

Depends on when he levelled his druid. I have a straight feral druid -- first character I created. Stuck at level 20-something, because it got really annoying. This was before the Druid talent revamp.

Then again, that character's armor is for shit and not even remotely right for a feral spec. It's amazing what you learn.

I made my feral druid pre-patch and had no trouble at all on the alliance side.  It was slower than the hunter, but much faster than the priest or warrior.  Also, now that I have picked up 6/6 of the PvP set and a few other PvP items, I am chewing through most every class, even T2 rogues.  :P

[MrHat]

If I can't get my bud's druid transfered over to my account, I'll be dusting off my 33 hunter from like 12 weeks into release and transfering him over for an alt to play around on.  I really don't have class envy these days, which is surprising for someone with a wicked case of altitis.

As for the leveling speed of shamans?  They don't solo fast.  Unless you have awesome gear and someone feeding you bandages.  But it makes up for it in PVP, always something to do.  Also, you can get groups pretty easy, but not as easy as a druid I suspect because unless you spec/build for healing, you won't be that great.

[Merusk]

They kill fast and they have no downtime

+ they never, ever, ever die in pve (until you get really cocky with your lock and get your fool self killed)

Well, I'd say the low levels are an exception.  I died a number of times getting my semi-abandoned lock to 10 a year ago.   :-D

Hunters level extremely fast IF they spec beast mastery.  Marks is still fast, but you wind-up pulling your mobs off your pet too often and then having to melee it.  Then again, with all the +ap on hunter armor, this might be less of a problem than it was when I was leveling up.  It certainly is in PvP. (Yay meleeing a rogue to death.)

I'm surprised shaman don't level faster.  I've only puttered around with one until 12 or so, but it was certainly easier than warrior, priest or mage.  With the talent changes I can only imagine it's gotten easier still.  Perhaps it's playstyle differences, becuase I've had people tell me mages are easy to level, but mine dies all the time.   

Then again, many of the "oh x is easy" i've heard came from people who either twink out the wazoo, or had 60s running them through instances.  2+2=9

[Zetor]

Locks are pretty safe and fast for levelling, yeah... but hunters and rogues are far better. Shadowpriests are more effective on paper [against single targets, just use rank 1 psychic scream when they get close, they'll die to flay+wand before they can make it back], but mind-numbingly boring. Mages are the absolute fastest levelers, if you have a mage or healer friend (AOE grinding ftw).

My lock almost never dies in pve. All those "OH SHIT" buttons (soulstone, healthstone, deathcoil, howl of terror, curse of exhaustion) at your disposal, especially as an affliction lock, makes this very unlikely.. on the other hand, you're very gankable while grinding (caveat: you may kill me, but you'll die, too), and if you don't manage your fears properly / get unlucky, you can very well pull more mobs than you can kill.

(I do have a 60 rogue and a 60 priest, so I'm speaking from experience, here. :P)


-- Z.

[Dren]

I have all three at 60 now.

Priest - Went with shadow to lvl and was very succesful, but boring as hell with a lot of downtime getting mana back.

Rogue - Very fast to level from 0-40, but had to be very careful not to take on more than one mob at a time.  Vulnerable to getting ganked.  40+ slowed down considerably mainly due to less cases of finding solo high exp targets.  Still fairly fast.

Warlock - Very fast and safe leveling with a demon spec.  Let the pet do the work and sit back with your DOT's.  Use escape options as necessary.  It was interesting due to the large number of different options to use on different MOB's.  Very little downtime between fights.  I still rank this the quickest overall leveling from 0-60.  Rogue is much faster from 0-40, but slows down considerably after that.  Overall Rogue is very close.

In addition, Druid has shown itself to be a pretty easy class to level if you go feral.  The number of options to provide the DPS with the healing has been nice.  Switching between forms allows for mana regen in between.  I rarely have much downtime unless I have to fight 2-3 mobs at once.  Bearform allows for nice gank management too, I rarely die unless I get more than 3 on me at one time or get caught without mana.  I'm at 49 with my druid now and the lvl'ing actually is getting faster as I get more powers and options.

[Simond]

Shaman are great at levelling until around the point they get mail armour - then the amount of mana needed to kill mobs starts meaning more downtime.

[Zetor]

Paladins are just horrible at leveling throughout [judge crusader, seal command, autoattack, re-seal command as needed, heal after a kill... judging eats too much mana, probably crusader strike too]. I saw a ret paladin and a fury warrior grind side-by-side in Felwood with similar gear... the warrior killed 3 mobs in the time it took the pally to kill 1. Even though the warrior had to bandage every 5-6 kills, he still came out far ahead.


-- Z.

[Xanthippe]

I loved my troll hunter, but everyone I played with left or switched to Alliance, so she sits alone and unused.

What makes trolls good as hunters?

I love shadowmeld for my NE hunter.  It's so useful.

Was thinking of making a BE hunter for kicks and comparisons (and yes, because I like player hunter so much).

I've leveled a hunter, priest and warlock to 60.  Pet classes are easier than priest.  Priest solo pve is just slow and boring.

I've leveled a mage to 29 and rogue to 53.  Both of these seem comparable, as far as I took them, to hunter and warlock in terms of speed leveling.  Well, maybe not the rogue, but it was my first toon.  I remember dying a lot in the 40s.  I'm not even sure if talents were in when I levelled it (the first couple of months after launch) - certainly they weren't the same as they are now.

Play what you enjoy playing, because otherwise you will never enjoy playing it at 60 - or 70 rather.