So far, I have three level capped toons and 3 more in the range of 69-73. They have all been very different and their soloability has been much different.
The first one I leveled was my prot warrior. I was decked out in all epics from the last expansion and had very little trouble with anything. I fact I soloed pretty much every elite mob on my way to 80 as well (Dungeon mobs withstanding). If I had been poorly geared, this would not have been nearly as easy. One other small problem is that before level 75, a warrior has to either rely on bandages and pots to heal in combat. Once you get Enraged Regeneration, it becomes that much easier. Obviously being well geared and prot has many advantages in this situation. You have tons of health and armor for starters. You also have a high amount of avoidance and dont tend to take much damage when you are hit. If you have the gear, I would advise prot leveling over arms or fury because of the amazing survivability.
My second toon to level cap was significantly different. It is a resto druid and was leveled a bit before dual specs came out. With a resto druid, you CAN solo things. It is just a long and painful experience. You damage output is very low and you are quite squishy as well. The one saving grace to leveling with this spec is that you can throw a bunch of hots on yourself. Hots allow you to do more pew pewing than would be possible if you were having to throw heals with big cast times. Most quests went pretty slow. If you are leveling a resto druid, I would advise to level them through instances (which I did a lot of). You can ALWAYS get into a group as a healer while you are leveling. My Druid actually had about half BC epics to start as I got into a Karazahn group at 68 prior to Wrath coming out (and was first on the healing meters against a t5 priest....go go nerf wild growth).
My third toon to hit the cap was my pally. All of BC, he was a flash of light spammer. Since I leveled my Druid, I decided to do him as Ret. My Ret set was as hodgepodge as it got. Several BC quest and dungeon blues, a few green items , and a few epic items that I managed to snag from Kara during my many flash of light fests in there. The biggest thing I had was Gorehowl. Having a nice weapon obviously helps. I picked up several new pieces of gear with the first few quests I did in Borean Tundra. Soloing quests was not really hard at all. If they were non-elite mobs I did not have any problems at all. Being able to heal yourself is a huge benefit and the Art of War procs were very useful. It was a big too much to solo some of the elites, but for the most part I could blaze through whatever was put in my path.
I am now in the process of leveling my Warlock (will be next 80), Deathknight, and Hunter. So far they have been very different. My Warlock can pretty much solo everything with his affliction spec. My corruptions heals me and I have haunt as well. I can basically run into a group of 6-8 mobs and kill them all without losing so much as a sliver of health. Obviously it helps that mych of my gear is Season 4 Arena gear. I have also soloed every mob I have encountered including the Prince at the end of the Thassarian quest line in Borean.
My Deathknight has pretty much been a faceroll fest as well. I am wearing pretty much all Northrend Quest items and smashing mobs to bits. I soloed everything except the prince which was two manned. I even soloed Harold Lane despite his annoying snare tricks.
The last of my toons to hit Northrend has had a lot more difficulty. My Hunter entered wearing Outland quest blues and greens and specced survival. Needless to say I died a few times at the start of my trip. I found it much more difficult to kill multiple mobs as my pet seemed to lose health quickly or I pulled aggro. I think I would recommend a Beast Mastery spec for leveling. Your pet is much stronger and will increase your soloability.
These are just my observations so far. You experiences may have been different. I am just glad I am not solo leveling a Holy Priest......shudder.
6 comments:
Eek!
I'm leveling a Holy Priest...
I would say Paladin prolly has the easiest time, I leveled prot and there wasn't an elite I couldn't solo (although I had Kara gear to start, so it may have been the same circumstance as your warrior).
Feral Druid is also ridiculously easy as you can stealth around anything you can't kill outright, and you can solo elites as Bear.
I have to say, I had a really rough time leveling my warrior. I have been leveling him now as fury, but as prot I didn't seem to do enough damage and multiple mobs were a problem (he's been in outlands since WELL before wrath, he may even have been my first outlands toon).
I have a warlock too, and although affliction is fun, I went demonology because damnit, I want a felguard. Send in felguard, dot up mobs, turn into demon form if necessary, repeat.
So far, my highest three toons leveled as Frostmage to 80, Blood DK to 80, and most recently Ret Pally to 37. The leveling game is ridiculously easy for those 3 specs. I don't know if you are going to have an easier time then Ret Pally or Blood DK and AoE farming as frost is so much fun.
I too suffer from altism.
Ive got a 80 Hunter, 80 DK and 80 lock.
70 war, 70 priest and about every other class 50+
in order of soloability without the need of epics :
1 - Demon lock ( soloed a Fel Reaver at lev 70 in BC green/blues .. dont think any other class can do it. Improved Health Funnel + Felguard = elite killer.
2 - Unholy or blood DK
3 - BM hunter
4 - ret Pally
5 - Combat Rogue
6 - Shadow Priest
7 - Prot War
Cant say much about druids and shaman yet. Im currently leveling a Enc Shaman, i like it, but its not godly like my top 3
Ret Pally was first. I was wearing full S2 PvP gear, and just annihilated everything in the way. It was also a side benefit having that gear since I'm on a PvP server.
Demon Warlock was second. I died a few times at 70, despite my solid gear - I had simply forgotten how to level. After that, though, things went down very smoothly.
Feral Druid was third. Easy to solo, stealth to avoid PvP gankers, flight form... so damn easy.
Frost Mage is now level 74. I have downtime for the first time in a year! I can easily kill 5 / 6 / 7 mobs at a time, but then it's time to drink. My PvP survivability is great, but the downtime... ugh.
I have an Arms Warrior at 71. He dies all the time, goes through bandages and food like crazy, and isn't on my main server so doesn't have that extra money support. No idea if he will ever make it to the top.
I myself have two 80's and am working on my 3rd. Hunter leveling hands down is best done as beast mastery, get a good tank pet like a gorilla or bear and go to town. Take the extra talents for health and armor while leveling also and ditch em at 80. I still have beast mastery as my second spec for farming leather and mammoth meat and so I can enjoy my spirit beast on occasion.
My death knight was my second 80 (surprise I know)he has been frost since day one, survivability is outstanding and DPS isnt bad either in mostly blue tank gear I am pulling decent DPS. I have soloed just about every elite mob outside of instances with him excecpt for 2 in icecrown with quest/instance blues and some crafted pieces.
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