Are you prepared for Wrath of the Lich King? WoW Insider has you covered!
Posts with tag Warrior

The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Wrath Beta Edition

Well, we were going to talk about other things, but with the Beta coming out I have to admit I've entirely forgotten what they were. There's really no point in pretending that we're not going to be talk about this, is there? I don't think so myself.

We learn nothing about any new talents that don't directly replace older talents. Nothing about Bladestorm or Titan's Grip, and talents like Incite are only mentioned because they're directly replacing talents like Defiance. We also don't learn what the big new protection talent to replace Shield Slam is from these notes. (We do have other sources and we will be discussing those talents in more depth, I'm just pointing out what the notes don't specifically mention.) The notes focus more on protection spec than others although we do find out that mace spec and sword spec are being slightly nerfed while poleaxe spec is getting a nice little buff: these changes seem PvP related to my eyes, but I have no idea how effective they'll actually be.

The juggling of talents and the alteration of their effects definitely seems to confirm the notion that crushing blows are a thing of the past. On the one hand, this is a huge change to warrior tanking mechanics, as we're noted for our ability to hit uncrushability while druid tanks simply soak the damage with higher armor and stamina (paladins use the same mechanic as we do for uncrushable, they just need more block rating but can stay uncrushable longer than we can due to how their abilities work vs. ours): we've yet to see how this is going to play out. With the addition of DK's as tanks, removing CB's keeps them from having to rely on a gimmicky high parry (since they won't use a shield to tank) to avoid being crushed, but it also means that warriors will need a means to stay competitive with other tanks. Threat seems to be getting entirely reworked, so for now I'm cautiously optimistic about where tanking is heading for protection spec warriors, and indeed, all warriors.

I'll go so far as to say that arms and fury warriors will be tanking in Wrath. I don't expect them to be dedicated main tanks for raids, but I do expect to see them tanking in five mans without respeccing, and that is without taking the possible two talent spec idea into account.

Continue reading The Care and Feeding of Warriors: Wrath Beta Edition

Breakfast Topic: Why is this hard?


I should be more specific: why is this hard for me? Because for lots of people, leveling a hunter is the easiest thing in the world, to hear them tell it. It's a super easy class that has high DPS and a tanking pet to keep it alive. I should be blowing through the levels.

Instead, I've just recently managed to get my draenei hunter, who I created back when TBC launched, to level twenty eight. In the time since I've created this character I leveled my original warrior to 70, created a new draenei warrior and leveled him to 70, and leveled a draenei shaman to 70, plus went back and leveled two horde (warrior and shaman) to 70 and created a BE paladin and got him to 65. I leveled a paladin to 65 faster than I could level a hunter to 28! What is this, bizarro world? My orc and night elf warriors both hit 70 and I created them more or less as alts to play with RL friends on different servers, which means they get played once a month at most, and yet, here is my hunter, a year into the expansion (over a year, in fact) and I am just now heading into the 30's. And to be honest the only reason I even cared enough to level him this much was because I wanted to get him a mount.

Continue reading Breakfast Topic: Why is this hard?

Tank Talk: The irresistible fight


Tank Talk is WoW Insider's raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish.

Since Tank Talk began, we've gotten a few questions from people about raid fights that require tanks to use resist gear. With all of Burning Crusade's raid attunements now removed, and with lots of guilds testing the waters in Tier 5 and Tier 6 before Wrath hits, I figure now's as good a time as any to discuss what resist sets you're going to want if your guild is intent on progression. The resist gear issue is nowhere near as dire as it was in vanilla WoW (Molten Core, anyone?) and in general the raid as a whole rarely needs to worry.

Tanks are special. But you knew that already, didn't you?

This guide covers all of the existing 10-man and 25-man content in the game outside of Sunwell Plateau:

Continue reading Tank Talk: The irresistible fight

Do you need to prepare to switch mains?


We've talked before about using Wrath of the Lich King as an opportune time to switch mains. As Daniel mentioned in that post, I'm planning on switching from my human warrior to my draenei warrior once WotLK comes out. Now, one of the things I've noticed from reading forums, talking about it with my guild mates, and of course from you commenters here at WoW Insider is that there seems to be two or three camps of opinion on how to go about switching mains at the expansion.

Camp one we'll call the laissez faire approach. These people, although they intend to switch mains, aren't really doing much about it. They expect that the gear reset from Wrath will take care of any gearing inadequacies and that we're all going to be running around in clown clothes anyway for a while.

Continue reading Do you need to prepare to switch mains?

Tank Talk: Building and keeping your tanking corps, Part I

Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish.

This week on Tank Talk I'd like to step outside the technical aspects of being a tank and focus more on the psychosocial side of things. In particular I want to look at what happens when a tank is introduced into a tanking corps of a new guild, how to keep current tanks around, and how to deal with all those old tanks that have been in the guild forever.

For lack of a better phrase, I'll call the time from when a tank joining the guild until their eventual status as "god of all things tank" the life span of a tank. And perhaps the most important part of a tanks life is the new part, and it's something that I've been on both sides of the coin – the one doing the inviting, and the one being invited. Each is equally exciting. When joining a new guild I had not only the opportunity to see new content and progress to new heights, but also an opportunity to improve my skill and focus my ability to tank a mean game. And when I became class lead and eventually the guild's leader, I gained an opportunity to help new tanks become acquainted with our style of game play and watch them succeed and excel within the guild.

I like to look at there being mainly fives stages of a tank's life within a guild: Recruitment, Applicant, Raider, Senior Tank, and Mentor. Let's take a look at each of these and see how people in various stages can help usher a new tank into a guild's tanking corpse while keeping the old tanks around and happy. Since this is a long subject, today I'll cover the recruitment and applicant stages in a tank's life, with the raider, senior tank, and mentor stages coming in the second installment tomorrow.

Continue reading Tank Talk: Building and keeping your tanking corps, Part I

Tank Talk: Great power and great responsibility


Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish.

Welcome to another installment of Tank Talk.

So far we've covered a lot of ground in this column. Allison covered the grim realities of tanking and the constant battle between making yourself easier to heal and generating threat, and Michael Gray covered why he loves tanking. So now it' s my turn to discuss tanking in raids, the why's and wherefores. I'm going to cover the social aspects of tanking in a raid, what you might be expected to do.

They might ask you to tell them what to do.

Continue reading Tank Talk: Great power and great responsibility

Brutal Gladiator's Battlegear


The Brutal Gladiator's Battlegear is the armor set for Warriors. It is a plate armor usable only by Warriors and is usually matched with Guardian's Plate armor pieces. The armor set can be purchased from Big Zokk Torquewrench in Netherstorm and Ontokk Shatterhorn in Shattrath City. The matching Guardian items may be purchased from Doris Volanthius in the Hall of Legends and Lieutenant Tristia in the Champion's Hall.

Brutal Gladiator's Plate Gauntlets
The Brutal Gladiator armor piece for the hands are the cheapest and easiest Season 4 Arena gear to obtain. With no personal rating requirements, most players will be able to purchase this piece and is the Arena gear likely to be most widespread as soon as the season begins. As with other Arena gloves, the bonus is a significant reduction to the Rage cost of Hamstring. The gauntlets have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1239 Armor (+98)
+42 Strength (+5)
+59 Stamina (+7)
+37 Critical Strike (+5)
+24 Resilience (+0)
Hamstring Rage cost reduced by 3.
Classes: Warrior
WoW Insider says: These gloves are low-cost and have no rating requirements, making it a good purchase no matter how you look at it. The gloves are decent improvements over the previous season, but work very well for starting Arena players, as well.


Brutal Gladiator's Plate Legguards
The leg armor possesses a personal rating requirement of 1550, which isn't too difficult to obtain, specially for Warriors, who are well represented in Arenas. While not as accessible as the gloves, the leg armor is highly visible on a character and is also likely to be a popular purchase, even at 1875 Arena points. The legguards have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1735 Armor (+138)
+57 Strength (+4)
+77 Stamina (+7)
+18 Hit (+6)
+53 Critical Strike (+6)
+22 Resilience (+0)
84 Armor Penetration (+0)
Classes: Warrior
WoW Insider says: The lack of sockets mean that the only customization that can be done will be through Tailoring or Leatherworking enchants. It has improved +hit, which will free up yellow gem slots in other pieces, but it's disappointing that there's no improvement to Armor Penetration. Considering the same point cost, the chestpiece is a better purchase.


Brutal Gladiator's Plate Chestpiece

With three sockets, the chestpiece is the most customizable Arena armor piece, and is the next best purchase after the gloves. A 1600 rating is a realistic target for Warriors, and because it costs the same as the leg armor, players should try to obtain it. In PvE, the chest armor is traditionally a drop from the final boss in a series (Magtheridon drops Tier 4 chest token, Kael'thas drops Tier 5 chest token, Illidan drops Tier 6 chest token, etc.). Arenas are different in this regard, but the item level of the chest is identical to PvE chest pieces. Sunwell Plateau breaks from tradition in that the final boss, Kil'jaeden, does not drop chest tokens or armor. However, the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is equivalent to the drops from Entropius and is the best combination of cost and restriction among all the armor pieces. The chestpiece has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1983 Armor (+158)
+45 Strength (+6)
+76 Stamina (+9)
+18 Hit (+6)
+45 Critical Strike (+6)
+24 Resilience (+0)
84 Armor Penetration (+0)

Socket Bonus: +4 Critical Strike
Classes: Warrior
WoW Insider says: A team and personal rating of 1600 is a modest target for Arena Warriors. The chestpiece is the best Arena purchase for its price and rating requirement. Because of its PvE equivalent, obtaining the Brutal Gladiator chest armor is almost like killing Entropius in Sunwell Plateau. Well, ok not really, but if you don't raid, that's about as close to a raid drop as you're going to get.


Brutal Gladiator's Plate Helm
The helm is very likely the last Brutal Gladiator armor piece that many players will obtain. With the shoulders at an extremely prohibitive 2200, most players will only manage 4/5 of Season 4. Even at 1700 personal rating, Warriors shouldn't have much trouble obtaining this helm, which costs the same as the chest and leg armor pieces. With a personal rating attached to it, the Brutal Gladiator helm might be one helm graphic that players would like to leave on. It is also identical in model to the pieces that drop off Kil'jaeden in Sunwell Plateau. The helm has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1611 Armor (+128)
+45 Strength (+6)
+68 Stamina (+7)
+18 Hit (+6)
+41 Critical Strike (+6)
+25 Resilience (+0)
84 Armor Penetration

Socket Bonus: +4 Critical Strike
Classes: Warrior
WoW Insider says: The helm has a Meta Socket and a Yellow Socket, although some players would prefer Red. 1700 is a relatively easy goal, although the Season 4 helm is only a marginal improvement over its predecessor. If the personal ratings aren't a barrier, then go for it. If it's difficult to achieve, there's no harm in sticking to the Vengeful Gladiator's Plate Helm.


Brutal Gladiator's Plate Shoulders

The 2200 personal ratings requirement for the shoulders are almost Gladiator-level for most Battlegroups, and will likely be a very rare sight in most realms. Although it is the cheapest item after the gloves, it is also the most difficult to get. Blizzard's reasoning for this is that the shoulders are the most "visually impacting" armor piece, confirming Blizzard's opinion that PvP achievements should be on display. The shoulders have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1487 Armor (+118)
+38 Strength (+5)
+64 Stamina (+7)
+35 Critical Strike (+5)
+20 Resilience (+0)

Socket Bonus: +3 Critical Stike
Classes: Warrior
WoW Insider says: Brutal Gladiator shoulders are purely for show. The low improvement over its Season 3 equivalent and have no +Hit nor Armor Penetration. Although quite a few Warriors will likely be sporting these deep into the season, they aren't great improvements its predecessor.

Guardian's Plate Belt
Because it is a visual match for the Brutal Gladiator's Battlegear, and because it comes with no personal ratings requirement, the belt is most likely to be the most widely distributed Season 4 gear. It is purchasable with Honor points, so even players who do not participate in Arena PvP can obtain it. The belt has the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1115 Armor (+88)
+40 Strength (+5)
+56 Stamina (+7)
+40 Critical Strike (+5)
+30 Resilience (+0)
Classes: Warrior, Paladin
WoW Insider says: No ratings requirement, purchasable with Honor points, and looks great. The belt is obtainable by any Warrior, and is the best belt for its level of availability.


Guardian's Plate Bracers
The only other Guardian piece with a socket is the amulet, which doesn't have a personal rating requirement. Coupled with the fact that bracers are visually insignificant, being hidden under gloves, the urgency to obtain them is very low. They also have a modest 1575 personal rating requirement, necessitating participation -- and moderate success -- in Arena play. The bracers have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
841 (+69)
+28 Strength (+3)
+40 Stamina (+4)
+24 Critical Strike (+3)
+17 Resilience (+0)

Socket Bonus: +2 Strength
Classes: Warrior, Paladin
WoW Insider says: These bracers are harder to obtain than the Brutal Gladiator's Plate Legguards, but give little improvement over the old version. It has no special bonus and has no visual impact. It's a wonder why Blizzard pegged the personal rating for bracers at 1575, although many Warriors will probably not have a problem getting it.


Guardian's Plate Greaves
The most visually important match of all Guardian items, the boots are a big jump from a 1575 personal ratings requirement and is as demanding to get as the head piece at 1700 personal ratings. It is also as expensive to purchase as the belt, which has no ratings requirement. The greaves have the following stats (number in parentheses are the improvements over its Season 3 equivalent):
1363 Armor (+108)
+40 Strength (+5)
+56 Stamina (+7)
+40 Critical Strike (+5)
+30 Resilience (+0)
Classes: Warrior, Paladin
WoW Insider says: Because of the 1700 personal rating, only players who manage to get the helm will be able to purchase the boots. Of all the Honor-bought items in Season 4, the boots are the most visually impacting and players looking to have a matching set should strive to get to the rating.


Gallery: Season 4 Arms & Equipment

DruidHunter (Alliance)Hunter (Horde)Mage (Alliance)Mage (Horde)

Looking for more Season 4 info? We've rounded up everything you need to know about the Brutal Gladiator season right here.

Tank Talk: I love tank

Tank Talk is WoW Insider's raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and Allison Robert (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. That's what we said we were doing -- and by golly, I'm sticking to it.

Welcome back to Tank Talk. I'm your Paladin tank. I like shields, consecration, and beer. This is our third week of Tank Talk, and we're in a "things that apply to all of us" phase -- your Tank-centric writers are getting loosened up, having a little dialogue about what we're all up to, what we all think about things. Things that tanks think about -- repairs, threat, and more repairs.

Allison started us off with some discussion about questions to which you should have answers before you pick up your shield and paw. She also helped us out last week with some chat about the angels on our shoulders - the optimist guy, and the pessimist guy. But I don't want us to get off to a too-dim start. It seems a little gloomy.

I want to talk this week about the fundamental point of our column, our Raison d'être -- why we tank.

Continue reading Tank Talk: I love tank

Build Shop: Warrior 31/27/3 for Season 4


Every Tuesday, Chris Jahosky contributes Build Shop, which takes a look into one of the many talent specs available to players. This week, Michael Gray guest writes to talk about the perennial Warrior build for the upcoming Season 4.

If you're like me, you're looking forward to June 24th with almost breathless anticipation. New season, new ratings, new competition. And like hundreds (thousands?) of others, we have a Warrior sitting patiently at the stables, prepping for the gates to open. He sits there, foaming at the mouth, smiling nervously at his partner Druid or Priest, with Mortal Strike almost literally visible in his pixellated eyes.

Build Shop has discussed Warrior hybrid builds previously, but that 28/33 build was focused on actual hybrid play - a mix of PvP and PvE. The classic Arena-based "Mortal Strike Hybrid" starts off with at least 31 points sitting in the Arms tree -- you can't have a "Mortal Strike Hybrid" without Mortal Strike. Mortal Strike is a foundation of the Arena build. While there's leeway earlier in the Arms and Fury trees for this build, the deeper in the trees you get, the more certain talents become "mandatory."

After the break, let's talk about the talents and whirligigs that make the Mortal Strike Hybrid so popular and powerful in the Arena.

Continue reading Build Shop: Warrior 31/27/3 for Season 4

Preparing for 80


I have four level 70 characters that I've decided to level to 80, my two horde 70's (tauren warrior, orc shaman) and my draenei warrior and shaman. (I may or may not level my human warrior, and if I get my BE paladin to 70 by then, he'll be in the running to go the distance as well.) As a result, I'm playing catch up with them... making sure their professions are maxed, trying to make sure they have if not great gear than the best gear possible (I know it will be replaced, but doing those initial quests in the new zones is always easier with better gear), supplies of netherweave for when the new first aid comes out, that kind of thing. I was caught unaware the last time we had an expansion as far as what was needed to make things easier, I don't intend to be so caught again.

Continue reading Preparing for 80

Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our nature


Tank Talk continues this week with one requisite "Why does my ingame life have to suck so hard?" story in deference to a point made by commenters on our first column. We will then take a look at the most fundamental decision you will encounter as a raiding tank -- and one you are likely to make, and then re-make, on just about every boss encounter in the game.

There is a Druid on my server who messages me almost daily asking me to come tank his heroics. What annoys me is not being asked to tank per se, but that he, too, is a feral Druid. His gear isn't as good as mine simply because he hasn't raided past Magtheridon, but he's sitting on at least three of the better pieces of Tier 4, crafted epics, and several of the badge pieces that I'm still using to tank Tier 6. At a matter of fact, with the advent of two different badge vendors and badge drops from 10-man and 25-man bosses, his stats are significantly better than the ones I had tanking most of Tier 5. This guy literally has the gear to do just about anything in the game short of the more advanced content in Black Temple and Sunwell Plateau, and I used to point to him with no small measure of Druidic pride as proof of what a little elbow grease could accomplish.

But he still wants me to come tank for him.

I started getting irritated with the constant begging at one point and asked him, "How can you possibly have any difficulty getting groups? Everybody in LFG is looking for a tank, and your gear is excellent."

At his computer, I'm sure he was shrugging. "You do it faster than I do."

"I really don't. Just get some good DPS and you'll be fine."

And then the truth came out: "Well, I don't really like tanking. I'd rather DPS."

Ah.

Continue reading Tank Talk: The better (and lesser) angels of our nature

Tank Talk: Do you feel lucky, punk?


Tank Talk is WoW Insider's new raid-tanking column, promising you an exciting and educational look at the world of getting the stuffing thrashed out of you in a 10- or 25-man raid. The column will be rotated amongst Matthew Rossi (Warrior/Paladin), Adam Holisky (Warrior), Michael Gray (Paladin), and myself (Druid). Our aim is to use this column to debate and discuss class differences, raid-tanking strategies, tips, tricks, and news concerning all things meatshieldish. At least, that's what the others said they were doing. I intend to use it mostly as a soapbox to complain. Absolute power tends to......something something.

Welcome to Tank Talk. I am your bear Druid hostess for this week, with a topic that occurred to me while reading a recent article here on the site. Eliah Hecht wrote that his guild is facing a not-uncommon tank shortage and that he has considered the possibility of leveling a tanking class to 70 before Wrath, or tanking on a Death Knight afterwards. A number of people on my server and in my guild have talked about doing the same thing, or switching mains once Wrath hits. With so many people playing Death Knights, I think it's very possible that more people will discover they enjoy -- or at least, don't mind -- tanking, and may seek to do so in a raid environment without necessarily knowing what they've really signed up for.

From those of us who have tanked raid content in vanilla WoW or BC, here are the 10 questions you'll want to ask yourself if you're considering the possibility of tanking serious raid content:

Continue reading Tank Talk: Do you feel lucky, punk?

Breakfast Topic: What tank should I level?


My guild, and my realm in general, has a tank shortage. This is neither new nor unusual; in my experience, tanks have always been the most in demand on most servers (although that may be colored by the fact that my main is a healer). So I've decided to level a tank. The problem is, I've decided that a few times now, which means I currently have one of each tanking class languishing in the level 40 range somewhere: a paladin, a druid, and a warrior. And I just can't decide which one to work on, or even if I should bother as opposed to just waiting until Wrath of the Lich King comes out and I can get an instantly-level-55 Death Knight for a tank.

What do you guys think? What's funnest to level? What makes the best tank for heroics/early raiding? Which one should I drag out of Stranglethorn, kicking and screaming, ultimately into Outland and beyond?

Which class should I level to 70?

Tanking for beginners

Maybe you've heard that there's a tank shortage and you've rerolled to help your buddies out. Maybe you just like the idea of one of the tanking classes and you're interested in being as valuable for groups as you can be (and in the case of two of them you don't like healing). Maybe you enjoy being in the forefront of things. For whatever reason, you've decided you want to tank.

It's not too late. You can still run. There are quite a few DPS classes, and you can even spec DPS with each of the tanks. You don't have to do this.

You still here?

Okay, don't say I didn't warn you. The positives of tanking are many: it can be fun to consider yourself as a cussing, roaring, or even holy juggernaut who can take the beating and keep the enemy focused on you. It can be challenging, and mastering that challenge can be extremely rewarding. With the right group, tanking can be a heck of a lot of fun. If you dedicate yourself to tanking and do it well, eventually you may find yourself annoying some of the most powerful and evil bosses in the game.

But tanking is a fundamentally group related activity: it consists of two major tasks and you cannot succeed at either without the support of your group. Being a tank is essentially sacrificing soloing utility and the ability to succeed at your class' other focus in order to excel at a group utility role. And of course, whenever anything bad happens... bad pull, lose aggro on a group pull, what have you... it will be your fault. It will be your fault even if it isn't. Heck, after a while you'll start taking it personally even when everyone else is amazed at how good a tank you are. Tanking seems to create a perfectionist mindset, one that measures every single moment and always wants to do better. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but it is something to keep in mind.

Okay, on to the basics. There are essentially two tasks involved in tanking. Holding aggro, and surviving having it. Both of these things are impossible without group support and even group sufferance. (Long time tanks, you will find little new here, and may in fact find it to be overly simplistic, so feel free to add class specific comments or details that simply didn't fit the constraints of the post.)

Continue reading Tanking for beginners

When the going gets tough

A few friends and I have begun leveling alts in the interests of having a few more 70's around for Wrath, and I got a comment on my Warrior after she dinged 29. "We'll need to get you some good blues," said a buddy, a 70-Paladin-turned-10-Shaman (in hindsight, probably cringing over said toon's Armory profile). "Warrior 30-40 is kinda tough."

It didn't mean much to me at the time, but I started thinking about it while contemplating the possibility of starting a Hordeside Hunter. A 1-10 Hunter without a pet is a fairly unpleasant (if mercifully quick) experience, but that one is pretty obvious while others seem less so. There's a strange alchemy of level, quest drops, scaling, gear, dungeons, and skills that seem to combine to make life tougher in certain level ranges.

A 2005 guide to classes' relative leveling speed insisted that classes alternately sped and slowed as they aged and that the difference could be tracked statistically, and while I'm not sure I trust all of their math (and the information's outdated anyway), you can't fault the amount of work that went into it. Moreover, as the commenters point out, someone who picks a Rogue as a main is not necessarily playing the game with the same goals in mind as someone who picked, say, a Priest. A less scientific, but more detailed, look at leveling speed and class difficulties was written by Breanni of WarcraftPets.com, and her experiences seem to gel a bit more with conventional wisdom, particularly with respect to the speed of Hunter and Warlock leveling. That being said, Druid 1-20 was pretty ugly, Shaman late-30's is a parade of mana inefficiency, and I'm not looking forward to getting another Hunter to 10.

Next Page >


RESOURCES

Blizzard Events
BlizzCon (195)
Worldwide Invitational (112)
Class Columns
(Druid) Shifting Perspectives (48)
(Hunter) Big Red Kitty (39)
(Hunter) Scattered Shots (23)
(Mage) Arcane Brilliance (45)
(Paladin) The Light and How to Swing It (53)
(Priest) Spiritual Guidance (28)
(Rogue) Encrypted Text (34)
(Shaman) Totem Talk (53)
(Warlock) Blood Pact (32)
(Warrior) The Care and Feeding of Warriors (57)
Gameplay
(Arena PvP) Blood Sport (28)
(BG PvP) The Art of War(craft) (27)
(Casual) WoW, Casually (21)
(Guild Leadership) Officers' Quarters (65)
(Professions) Insider Trader (65)
(Raid Healing) Raid Rx (20)
(Raiding) Raiding 101 (2)
(Raiding) Ready Check (31)
(Roleplaying) All the World's a Stage (46)
Hybrid Theory (21)
New Players' Guide (4)
Tank Talk (7)
AddOns and UI
AddOn Spotlight (92)
Macro Anatomy (14)
Reader UI of the Week (28)
Reader WoWspace of the week (31)
The Creamy GUI Center (15)
Lore and Stories
Around Azeroth (540)
Ask A Lore Nerd (11)
Barrens Chat (12)
Know your Lore (60)
Tales from the Lion's Pride Inn (14)
WoW Moviewatch (533)
Features
15 Minutes of Fame (28)
About the Bloggers (29)
Ask WoW Insider (64)
Azeroth Security Advisor (4)
Breakfast topics (743)
Build Shop (36)
Forum Post of the Day (35)
Gamers on the Street (25)
Guildwatch (83)
He Said She Said (5)
Illusionary Tactics (3)
It came from the Blog (29)
Phat Loot Phriday (94)
The Colosseum (1)
Two Bosses Enter (61)
Well Fed Buff (28)
World of WarCrafts (28)
WoW Crossword (3)
WoW Insider Show (72)
WoW Rookie (42)
[1.Local] (15)
Classes
Death Knight (123)
Druid (330)
Hunter (309)
Mage (189)
Paladin (326)
Priest (263)
Rogue (190)
Shaman (298)
Warlock (205)
Warrior (231)
News
Account Security (30)
AddOns (264)
Analysis / Opinion (3331)
Blizzard (1723)
Bugs (223)
Burning Crusade (383)
Contests (237)
Economy (199)
Events (480)
Expansions (685)
Fan stuff (951)
Features (691)
Forums (304)
Guilds (512)
Hardware (47)
Humor (826)
Interviews (173)
Lore (328)
Mounts (149)
News items (1663)
NPCs (221)
Odds and ends (1755)
Patches (1181)
Podcasting (81)
Ranking (56)
Realm News (307)
Realm Status (252)
RP (179)
Rumors (71)
Virtual selves (704)
WoW Insider Business (312)
WoW Social Conventions (160)
WoW TCG (59)
Wrath of the Lich King (531)
Strategy
Achievements (11)
Alts (124)
Arena (279)
Battlegrounds (168)
Bosses (373)
Buffs (136)
Cheats (75)
Classes (346)
Enchants (37)
Factions (173)
Guides (418)
How-tos (430)
Instances (706)
Items (910)
Leveling (317)
Making money (198)
PvP (804)
Quests (386)
Raiding (798)
Talents (172)
Tips (603)
Tricks (236)
Walkthroughs (93)
Media
Comics (89)
Fan art (52)
Galleries (216)
Machinima (619)
Podcasts (54)
Polls (71)
Screenshots (692)
Races
Alliance (125)
Draenei (67)
Dwarves (22)
Gnomes (48)
Human (22)
Night Elves (55)
Horde (126)
Blood Elves (73)
Orcs (32)
Tauren (54)
Trolls (28)
Undead (28)
Professions
Alchemy (85)
Blacksmithing (64)
Cooking (78)
Enchanting (84)
Engineering (114)
First Aid (19)
Fishing (63)
Herbalism (53)
Inscription (20)
Jewelcrafting (90)
Leatherworking (67)
Mining (52)
Skinning (33)
Tailoring (74)
Retired
Pimp My Profile (1)
(Engineering) Hoof and Horn Research and Development (17)
Azeroth Interrupted (24)
Back In The Day (3)
World Wide WoW (8)
/silly (14)

RSS NEWSFEEDS

Powered by Blogsmith

    Featured Galleries

    Achievements UI
    World of WarCrafts: Cataclysm's Edge
    Valeera Sanguinar
    New Grim Guzzler content in patch 2.4.3
    Stormwind Docks
    World of WarCrafts: Conjured Picture Frame
    World of WarCrafts: Banner of brutality
    Scarlet Crusade Tabard T-shirt
    Reader UI of the Week 6/29/08

     

    Most Commented On (30 days)

    Recent Comments