Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Class Defining Skills

Every class has at least one thing that absolutely distinguishes them from other classes. I am going to give my take on what each classes defining abilities are.

Warrior: The Warrior is near and dear to my heart. It was my very first toon and the namesake of this blog. To me, there are two abilities that stand out to me for Warriors. The first is Charge. The ability to zoom acroos the field at high speed and stun your enemy is a powerful tool. With the advent of Warbringer and Juggernaught, the ability has become that much more awesome. Not only do we have charge, but we also have intervene and intercept at our disposal. Zoom Zoom.

The second ability is one that was hated by opposing PvPers for a LONG time. Of course I am talking about Mortal Strike. Mortal Strike did a decent chunk of damage, but the biggest thing it did was reduce all healing to the target by 50 percent. Eventually, Hunters got a version of Mortal Strike as well, but the original struck fear in PvPers in Battlegrounds and Arenas across Azeroth.

Paladin: Paladins are the Knights in Shining armor of WoW. The Holy Defenders. The Righteous Warriors of Light. Which is why the old Bubble/Hearth is so ironic. Divine Shield (or bubble as it is know around WoW) makes the Paladin immune to pretty much everything. Many people have been frustrated to no end when victory was in their grasp, only to have it snatched away with a timely Divine Shield/Holy Light combination.

Another ironic ability for Paladins that defines their class is the Seal of Blood/Martyr. It is the highest damage seal for a Paladin, but deal damage to them based on how much damage they deal themselves. Should be know as Seal of EMO QQ Cut my Wrists just enought for some Attention.

Honorable mention to Flash of Light for all of those healbots out there. There was nothing more fun *cough* than spamming one button several hundred times in a row.

Druid: To me, the thing that defines a Druid more than anything is their shape shifting. The ability to turn into a tree, cat, bear, seal, or Lazer Chicken is pretty damn cool. You can instantly tell what spec of Druid someone is by the form they choose while in combat. Each of these forms gives some the Druid nice advantages when filling a particular role.

The second ability that I think defines the Druid is the HoT or Heal over Time. A Druid can nuke heal with the best, but they are really in their element when when they can spread HoTs all over the raid. Lifebloom used to be the defining HoT, but has been nerfed pretty good over the last few years and has probably given way to rejuvenation on Wild Growth.

Warlock: To me, the one defining ability over the history of Warlocks has been fear. Everyone hates fear and QQs about it no matter how many times it is nerfed. Everyone has wanted to punch their screen in as they were feared around while DoTs ticked away the last 50 percent of their health.

Which brings me to the Warlock's second defining ability.....DoTs. Corruption, Siphon Life (formerly), Curse of Agony, and Immolation are all Warlock DoTs and are all frustrating. Being feared to death with DoTs is never fun. Killing a Warlock and dying from his/her dots 10 seconds later is equally painful.

Deathknight: Deathknights are still fairly new, but they have at least one ability that everyone will recongnize. Deathgrip. The ability to pull your opponent across the room like Scorpion from Mortal Combat is AWESOME. Unless of course you are on the receiving end. Then it sucks...bad.

Although it is minor, the second ability that really sticks out for me is Path of Frost. The fact that they can ride their mount across the water is awesome. The fact that you can kill unsuspecting party members on the jump in Utgarrde Keep is just priceless.

Hunter: Hunters, or Huntards, as they are affectionately known have long been the whipping boys of the WoW community. Besides being linked to "terribad", I think they are well known for their traps. If you meet a Hunter who can chain trap, you will always remember that Hunter. Chain traps are useful in both PvE and PVP.

I think that the second defining ability may be Aspect of the Dazed...I mean pack. It boosts the runspeed of all party members and also allows Hunters to get their tanks stunned when they forget to turn it off 0_0.

Mages: When I think of a mage I think of two things. Polymorph and PoM Pyro. They first is what made a mage a must have for every group up until Wrath. They had the most reliable crowd control in the game...and it was cute.

PoM Pyro stands for Presence of Mind and Pyro Blast. Presence of Mind makes your next spell and instant cast. Pyro Blast does an assload of damage. Face....meet pwned. It could actually one shot people pre-BC in battlegrounds.

Honorable mention to the mage buffet table. We eagerly eat your strudels and drink your tears :)

Rogues: The stunlock is what makes a rogue a rogue. It doesnt matter what kind of stun it is, all you know is that you cant move and there is a little undead or gnome stabbing your guts out. Nothing is more frustrating for many clothies (and non clothies alike) then going from 100 percent health to dead at the hand of a skilled rogue without even getting a shot off.

The other defining ability of the Rogue is what makes the stun lock possible. Stealth. You cant see them, but they can sure as hell see you. And they are about to eat your lunch (especially if they are female dwarves.....fattys).

Shaman: When you think of the Shaman you have to think of totems. They are all of the little tools in the Shaman toolbox that can be pulled out as needed. Totems make the Shaman the jack of all trades when it comes to buffs.

The second ability that makes a Shaman is Chain anything. Chain lightning or Chain Heal. It looks cool and it bounces from target to target.

Honorable mention to Heroism which was what caused many end game raiding guilds to stack them in Sunwell during BC.

Priest: Priests are a jack of all trades as it comes to healing and awesome dps to boot. Power Word:Shield is one of their most unique and awesome spells. 

Lets not forget Shadow Word:Pain......and the melting faces that is causes (thanks for reminding me, I dont know how I left priests out lol).

Let me know if I left anything out. What abilities do you think define the classes?

5 comments:

LarĂ­sa said...

Polymporph - yes. PoM-Pyro... I'm not so sure. Only Arcane/fire-mages have it you see...

How about portals? Even though hs:s nowadays are on 30 min cd, there's still some need for it and it makes us a bit special.

Spellstealing is actually kind of cool. Nice that it's expected from us at Iron Council, I wish there was more of it. It feels very "magic".

Carrie said...

I don't see Priests in there..

Power Word: Shield
Shadow Word: Pain

I would say those.

Pangoria Fallstar said...

Whirlwind for warriors, more than mortal strike.

And you got shamans pretty good. Too bad with the current changes I drop less and less totems the bigger a raid gets.

In the right situation I drop 1 totem per fight.

Jong said...

I play a paladin and I envy Charge so much. It's got all kinds of utility in both pvp and pve. plus it looks really cool.

Dink said...

Death Coil on Warlocks was called the I win button for years.

Ret pallies have more bust than mages and rogues in pvp.