On Classes and Leveling

While I've been both busy and sick the past week, I haven't had that much time to goof off on WoW. When a sinus headache makes the screen look the same as when your character gets completely smashed, then it's time to stop playing. However, I have been doing some cleaning out of the bank, blowing off the dust on some old items, and putting stuff up for sale. (Effulgent Skyflare, anyone? They're going cheap on Stormscale right now!)

I've also been playing around with some other classes.

There's a Tauren Hunter that's hovering around 12 right now. He's kind of stuck, since I've not made up my mind which direction to take his talent track -not to mention what pet to acquire- but I found him slightly slower in leveling compared to a Paladin like Quint. Part of that could be starting out in Mulgore as opposed to Eversong, but I also think that part of it is the nature of the Hunter to balance melee with ranged attacks. The talent tree and the pet only have just come into play, so I'm not sure how it'll take off until I reach 20-25 or so.

I'm not going to bother talking about my Priest, since that was my first character and I hadn't really a clue how to play at all. Heck, I thought Priest = Cleric in D&D parlance, and it took me a good day or so to figure out that wasn't the case. In addition to that, I really didn't understand talent tracks and kept taking stuff all over the place and not sticking to one particular track for most items. The guy is straightened out about that now as a Shadow Priest, but rather than going back and redoing that initial leveling, I'm just going to keep going with him when the mood strikes.

Most recently, however, I've been playing around with a Blood Elf Mage. Maybe it's my experience at leveling, the class, or a combination of both, but she's been rocketing up the track like lightning. (Yeah, a she. So what? Souldat thinks Blood Elves are feminine anyway.) After about 2-3 hours, she was already at 10th level and climbing. Tack on another 2-3 and she'd probably be at 15th level, but I'm going to try to keep her Enchanting/Tailoring up to her leveling speed.

A Mage is a bit different compared to a Priest or a Hunter; the Mage has more offensive spells than the Priest and can hit from distance -like a Hunter- but for more damage. Just don't get in a slugfest, otherwise you'll lose. The mage does have some outs for that with polymorph and frost nova, but you have to learn to use them. I've still got a lot of "just run up and hit the damn thing" in me, so I have to remind myself it's okay to freeze them, back up, and hit them again from distance.

What do I think of the other classes? If I get the Hunter down, it's the ultimate soloing class with a built-in companion; it still lacks healing capabilities of a Pally, which the way I play I tend to need healing a bit. I doubt it's quite the best companion for running a 5-man, because I could see the pet drawing aggro away from the tank at the wrong times. If done well, however, it could be a great ranged asset in a 5-man.

The Priest? Well, I'll get back to you later on that guy. He's still recovering from my noob mistakes, and we'll get there when we get there.

The Mage? ::rubs hands together:: Power... I like power... Seriously, it can be a fun class to play for blasting your way to fame and profit. I used to think that Souldat's wife -a mage- was nuts for running through a trash mob and freezing them along the way, but I can definitely see the appeal having done it once. The healer in me is appalled ("dude, let the tank do that!") but I can see how the spellpower of the mage can give you that feeling of invincibility.

Right now, Quint is still my main character, but I know eventually I'll settle him in the garage and take him out for rides only occasionally. I might just see what this mage can do, and maybe she'll take over in the lead-in before Cataclysm.