Hey all,

It's been roughly for years since I left WoW and I think Ill be coming back in the New Year because Cata looks like the fresh, new content that I've been waiting for and the game seems to have finally been streamlined as super casual friendly.

That said, I still don't get the way the new talent system works. You commit early to a single group and have to dump 31 points before branching out? Is the system better? Because I remember needing to pick up early talents in all three trees to survive the leveling grind back in the day.

Second, how fast is leveling? Will I, as a casual player (3-6 hours a week) be able to see end-game content at some point? Or is it going to take me a year to hit 70?

Finally, what are the best classes for what now? I've been doing a lot of reading and I keep reading that Paladins are the best tanks and priests are the worst healers. It's like the world took crazy pills!

So I ask, who is the best (a) tank (b) healer (c) soloing class? I want to play a healer who can also solo on their own. I'm leaning Paladin but can they even heal anymore?


Oh, and are Warlocks still LOLOP or has that been brought back within reason?

A pre-emptive thanks for any feedback! Looking forward to coming back in January!

There are fewer talent points, and where to put them is fairly obvious. Look at someones armory page, or a calculator and you'll get the idea.

Leveling is faster than it has ever been, with exp in battlegrounds, and the Random Dungeon Finder mixed with questing...you will skip entire zones if you use all 3...

The best classes are played by the best players. There really is no "best" at anything...We are one week into an expansion, to think that the way things are today is not going to be adjusted for some reason or another is not very prudent. The dev team is always "balancing" stuff..

Locks are still great damage dealers, but the days of fearing repeatedly and never being hit have been over for awhile. Too many escape mechanisms for other classes, mixed with diminishing returns ended that. They are still potent DPS machines though, and still viable in PVP and PVE.


Welcome back, and have fun!!!!

 

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You want a paladin or druid.

Both solo extremely easily, and both heal.

Paladins may be the best healers in the game right now.

Both can also tank, paladin tanks WAY easier than druid.

 

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this...i love my Paly.

 

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Sounds like you did your research, (I would expect nothing less from someone associated with "the farm".


The world will be significantly different in terms of leveling, especially if you are casusal. Blizzard has cranked up the amount of exp you get in the 1-70 zones and somewhat in the 70-80. I was able to level another paladin to 80 in about 4 weeks real time from scratch going "casual" (Over this summer, no exp bonus items on her.) Of course, I knew all the zones, the quests and was optimizing by doing orange quests.


Going paladin (more choices for races now), is a good all-around hybrid class (I have both pally and druid). Healing will be very different than you remember.


Good news is you can have 2 specs at once (at level 40) for all of 10g.


My pally is specd Ret (very different from how I played in Vanilla) for solo and Prot for tanking (lots of changes there during the years making the class finally tank-easy viable.)


That allows you to be both casual and take advantage of the dungeon finder for groups.


Good luck, welcome back. Feel free to ask more detailed questions as you get into the game.


PS: and yes, Warlocks are still amazing

 

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The new pre-packaged talent system is supposedly better by making sure you pick the correct cookie-cutter spec. It eliminates ability to experiment at a low level with different talents. It also eliminates a lot of guesswork for new players that have never played before. It pre-supposes that Blizzard has picked the best/viable talents for how you want to play. You will find that in the end, you will have 2-3 (5 at most) points that you actually care about and can play with.


Blizzard has rearranged some of the talents from the different specs so that you aren't having to spread them across all 3 lines to be viable. (e.g. the talents most useful for tanking are actually found in the prot line!)


So basically, you are supposed to figure out from the description of the 3 talent lines, which one you want (in case of pally: healing, tanking or dps), then you are committed to that line until you have used up 31 talent points (that's level 69). At that point, the other 2 lines are "unlocked". By level 80 you will have 36 points total (there are those 5 extra points you can place where you want.) Clear as mud?


Various sites still exist to help with specs, etcetera including Wowwiki, wowhead, and the old EJ (elitistjerks) standby.

 

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Very helpful, thank you.

So I guess now I have to decide whether I want to go tanking or healing with my pally. Does one totally foreclose the other pre 70?

Can I still heal a BC instance as a prot specced pally, or do I have to be a tank?


And how are dungeon queue waits? Longer for healers or for tanks?

If you are running instances as a main healer, no, you can't effectively do it from prot.


Dual spec at 40 and you can run a dungeon as either tank or healer.


To be MOST effective, you will need a separate set of gear for both.


Tank set: strength, dodge, parry, hit, expertise


Holy set: intellect, spirit (until comfy with mana regen), weapon with spell power, crit, haste (note: a Holy expert would be able to get the order of stats there exact. That list is pretty close.)


Queues in Lich King were generally shorter for tanks.

 

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How do you dual spec at 40? I thought you had to lvl to 69 before I could branch?


Also, who goes to dungeons faster? Being that I am going to be constrained on time, I'd like to minimize my wait time. I've heard tanks are in highest demand, is that still the case?

isn't dual spec 30 now?

 

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