Character Planning - 3

Ok, so you got your name figured out, and you're pretty sure what professions you'll give your character when he reaches level 5. But, most importantly... What faction are you going to play? What class? How is the faction balance on your server? What server will you even start on? Server & Faction PvE, PvP, RP, RP-PvP. It's known well enough that RP servers are a bit more for eccentric casual players. PvE is supposedly carebear land. PvP servers are an absolute pain in the arse to level up on, and many will give up after being repeatedly ganked for hours on end as soon as you rez. RP-PvP is even worse. On the brighter side however PvP servers are known for having guilds that take endgame raid content more seriously, and have more guilds of such a type. PvE servers have a lot more players joining battlegrounds, and still very respectable raid progress. Server balance is always a problem. Aszune(EU) for instance has about 2 Alliance for every horde. Most outdoor pvp objectives are thus logically in the hands of the alliance most of the time. The type of players vary a lot. The common conception on our server is (though not neccesssarily true) that the alliance holds the most kids, horde is better at pvp and has more mature players. Ofcourse it'll vary a lot per server, and the fact that we have a "lot" more alliance than we got horde adds up as well. It's your pick really, but i recommend joining a lower faction to help improve the balance, and not just join the biggest faction on your server. Class & Race The class you wish to play relates to your race options. Some racials might be in demand for PvP (warstomp, will of the forsaken), while others might be beneficial for PvE (sword specialisation, axe specialisation etc). This article on wowwiki has a list of Racial traits. Again i stress, you "have" to look at what you intend to use your character for. Not just how it looks or whate evryone else does. For example a human warrior would be great for dps and thus fury, but a night elf warrior would have bonus dodge, thus making him a better tank. (Unless your tank needs threat rather than mitigation) The same applies for many other races and classes. It's not a lot, but it might just make the difference on those very sad 1% wipes i'm sure everyone has experienced at least once. Lets extrapolate this knowledge to the rogue class. Rogues. A stealthy, high damage melee based class. Since rogues are a dps class, a race that will boost that dps would be even more efficient in PvE. The following races are able to start as a rogue : * Alliance : Human, Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome * Horde : Orc, Undead, Troll, Blood Elf Alliance Rogues * Human : Sword and mace specialty. Humans will gain +5 weapon skill making them quite exellent rogues. Their "Perception" skill also makes them exellent vs other rogues in PvP. * Dwarf : For rogues, dwarfes don't give a great lot extra. This is why they are a very rare race to see as a rogue. The bleed immunity may save your life in PvP however. * Gnome : Gnomes have increased Intellect. Which will increase the ratio at which you learn your weapon skills... Quite useful, no really! Ok it's not. The Escape artist talent is quite useful for PvP however. * Night Elf : Night elves are natural rogues, and as such they gain a +1 to their stealth level. The improved stealth is mostly a PvP talent. Can't kill what you can't see right? They also have an additional 1% dodge chance. In the old days they also had 5% agility bonus which is why you'll see a lot of "old" night elf rogues. However, for PvE they're inferior to humans nowadays. Horde Rogues * Orc : Bloodrage, increases attack power great for PvE. Orcs also get a bonus to stun resistance, making them quite feared in PvP. Rogues can't use axes so their weapon bonus is sadly useless. * Troll : Since haste stacks multiplicative Berserking is a great boost to a rogue's damage. An increase of 10-30% attack speed for a short duration. Also throwing weapons gain +1% to crit, which is nice for deadly throw in PvP to slow runners. * Undead : Will of the forsaken, a mostly PvP talent which is much feared by warlocks and priests all around the world. * Blood elf : Mana Tap / Arcane torrent, mostly for PvP. The Arcane torrent also returns a tiny bit of Energy to the rogue making is decent for a quick extra burst of energy. It's on a fairly long cooldown however. I think you see where this could be important yes? Have a look at the Racial Traits page again just in case. Summaries Next i'll make a few summaries to make it easier. If a race isn't listed that doesn't directly mean it's not posible to create one in such a way, just that it doesn't really give you anything "special" to make it worthwhile to do so. Night elf and Dwarf priests for example are a pretty pointless choice as of patch 2.3 A Human priest would receive a lovely 10% to their spirit however. On overall Horde is said to be more favoured toward PvP, while the Alliance would be more favoured toward PvE. In the end it's decently balanced since TBC and patch 2.3 fear ward changes. The Races Alliance Dwarfes are sturdy, make decent tanks, and are good in PvP Gnomes make good casters due to their bonus intellect, and work great in PvP due to their snare dispell Humans are annoying to encounter in PvP as a rogue, but that's about it for their PvP abilities, mostly they excel at PvE. Night Elves make decent tanks, but fairly average casters compared to the others. Draenei are an exellent buff to any party they are in, mostly this is a PvE oriented class. Their Heal makes them have a tiny bit more health to play with for PvP. Horde Undead is the mostly PvP class of the horde, like the night elf on the alliance this is one of the most commonly picked races on the horde side just for the looks. Orc is badass in PvP as well as in PvP Troll is the mostly PvE class of the horde, much like the Draenei are for the alliance. They make great hunters, rogues, and casters. Tauren are aside the only race on the horde able to become a druid, the most obvious class for a tanking warrior due to the 5% health bonus. Blood Elf is mostly a PvE class, but with an AoE silence + regen ability which works wonders in PvP as well. Rogues : For PvP : Undead, Blood Elf, Orc, Night Elf, Gnome, Dwarf, Human. For PvE : Troll, Human, Orc, Blood Elf. Pretty much as from the example further above. Hunters : PvP : Tauren, Orc PvE : Draenei, Dwarf, Orc, Troll Straying off subject for a second, when looking at hunters, i see a LOT of Tauren hunters. Why in name of all that's holy do people roll a tauren hunter if they rarely, if ever do any PvP? Orcs have Bloodrage and +5% pet damage, it's an insane lot extra for a hunter's dps in PvE ! Have pity on your guild and don't roll a Tauren hunter if you're planning to raid in the endgame content. The same goes for night elf hunters. I have to laugh at that, sorry. Night elf Hunters is one of the most common class and race combination choices in the game, and it's near useless in PvP as well as PvE. Most of them were chosen in this way because of the old +5% agility which is no longer given. As you can expect a LOT of people were very unhappy about that change. I wasn't one of them. Druids : PvP : Night Elf, Tauren PvE : Night Elf, Tauren Druids are somewhat of an exception on the regular PvE / PvP choice, as each faction only has a single race that can pick a druid and each of them has both PvP and PvE oriented racials. Priests : PvP : Undead, Blood Elf, Night Elf PvE : Human, Troll, Draenei, Blood Elf It sort of depends if you want to be Holy or Shadow ofcourse. At level 10 and at level 20 priests get some special abilities depending on their race. Most spells are useful in some way, except the Night elf "Starshards". At level 20 Night elves get another buff called "Elune's Grace" which would make a discipline priest quite a harsh target in PvP. Shamans : PvP : Tauren, Orc PvE : Draenei, Troll, Orc Whether you're a healer, enhancement, or elemental the races should be fairly straightforward. As with hunters, taurens are not a dps class and you should avoid levelling one if you are intended to be a dps class in the endgame. Paladins : PvP : Blood Elf, Dwarf PvE : Human, Draenei, Blood Elf, Dwarf The choices for Holy or Retribution should be fairly straightforward. For protection you could take a dwarf, just don't take a dwarf for anything else. Warlocks : PvP : Undead, Orc, Blood Elf PvE : Orc, Gnome, Blood Elf You'll notice humans aren't on the list. Just ask any warlock ingame how much they value spirit. Mages : PvP : Undead, Human PvE : Gnome, Blood Elf, Troll, Draenei Humans could work for Pve, but in all honestly 10% spirit is close to "nothing" compared to 10% intellect that gnomes get, or the increased spell hit% that a Draenei has. Warrior : PvP : Tauren, Undead, Dwarf, Gnome PvE : Tauren, Orc, Human, Draenei, Dwarf, Night Elf, Troll As listed before the Taurens here have a very large advantage in health. Trolls should only be taken for a DPS warrior. Orcs get some stun resistance, but that's pretty useless for a tanking warrior. (Other than Kael'thas i don't really know many bosses that stun the tank) Deathknight : PvP : Unknown as of yet, but for PvP it's mostly the same as with the above racials in mind for warriors. PvE : Depends if you want to do Dps or Tank, much like a warrior would be. There we go for this installment, hopefully you gained some new insights on picking a class for your character.