What class to choose and why?! (Detailed... noob friendly)

[Toffster]

Please move if in wrong section, not overly sure!


Contents
Introduction
PvE
*Tanking
*Damage
*Healing
PvP
*Damage
*Healing
*Tank
Specs
*Priest
*Druid
*Shaman
*Warrior
*Rogue
*Paladin
*Hunter
*Mage
*Warlock
My Favourites
Playing Your Class Well (Not yet included.)
What's so great about paladins!
Why bother with a Death Knight?!
Conclusion


What class to Choose and Why?!
Welcome to my detailed guide on Classes, this guide will cover in detail why you should choose a class, what race to choose with it, it's advantages, why it is popular, and how to play it well. This guide will cover everything in significant detail, so you may not wan't to read it all. However it will certainly be helpful, at least. I hope it is :P

PvE
PvE stands for player versus environment, this is generally the aim of the game for the lower level characters and this is what you are doing while you level to 80, 70 or 60. Depending on your expansion. This is essentially the main feature of World of Warcraft and is my personal favourite. PvE is still done by the high levels however, no matter what you may think. Raiding and Instances are a common example of this. For those who do not know; Instances are a difficult area to cross through and generally follow a story line/plot, these dungeons/instances are attempted by groups of 5. Raiding is a harder element of instances and generally consists of 10 man and 25 man raids. Instances would not work if the groups were not organized into sections. I will show you how they work and what role you would play inside them in this section. This section will also tell you which classes are ideal for each role, so you can pick the role you want!

Tanking
Tanking is the role of attracting the enemies attention. This is called threat and can be seen when placing your mouse over the "enemy". It will have a small dot a % The % is how much "threat" you have. If the dot is grey the creature will not attack, if it is orange then you most likely have about 60% of the threat. If it is red the creature is attacking you and you will most likely see 100%. The aim for a Tank is to keep all the "enemies" or "mobs" attacking him/her, while the dps/damage deals the actual damage. A tank will be "built" on stamina and armour. Stamina is a stat or statistic that increases your health or hp. This is the most useful stat for a Tank as it allows him to last longer in a fight and allows him to keep more enemies attacking him. Armour is a value obtained from wearing armour/clothes you either loot or buy. Armour decreases the amount of damage you take via attacks by a %. A good tank will have about 40-50% at a high level. Tanking is one of the most important roles in a group, without a Tank the "mobs" would roam free and attack whatever they liked. This would be disastrous in an instance and the death of a tank generally results in a "wipe". A "wipe" is where the whole group is killed. This generally either happens due to a terrible tank, letting mobs attack the healer, or a terrible healer meaning the tank dies. Classes that are used for tanking have high health and the ability to wear "plate". Plate is a advanced version of mail. These classes include: Paladins, Warriors, Death Knight's and Druid's.

Damage/Dps
Dps, or Damage is the role of dealing damage to a mob. This is a back job as it is not required however having the standard three dps in a group speeds up a instance "run" significantly. The aim of a dps is to do damage without making the enemy attack them, this is called generating less threat. If a dps was made to be a tank then chances are they would attract the enemies attention/threat and the group might even wipe. A good Tank will prevent this however. The role of you as a dps would be to purely deal as much damage as possible as fast as possible. Damage is generally measured by the term dps. The same name as the role, yes. Dps actually stands for Damage per Second. This is how much damage your character will deal. You can find out what your dps is using a simple addon called recount which can be download from curse.com. All classes can be used for this role however the best are: Rogues, Mages, Hunters,Druids and Warlocks.

Healing
Healing is a very important role, without a healer most raid or instances parties will not survive. The healer simply heals the party members with spells and makes sure they do not die, this is invaluable. Most healers however get blamed for the total wipe of the party. If you are a healer, you should be ready to defend yourself and be patient when suddenly everything is your fault. Healing is quite an easy and boring job, at higher levels it gets harder but still remains quite boring. The best classes for healing are: Druids, Priests,Paladins and Shamans. Paladins are currently the most common and best healers in patch 3.3.3

PvP
PvP stands for Player Versus Player. This can be done absolutely anywhere, from brief conflicts in leveling areas to larger ones in battlegrounds. A battleground is the home of PvP and ranges from old classics such as Capture the Flag to the all new siege feature involved in Wintergrasp and Isle Of Conquest. PvP has similar roles to PvE however the Tank is far less important as players do not have threat and may attack who ever they like. Healers and Dps however still hold their positions.

Damage/Dps
Dps are probably the most common kind to find in PvP, used correctly they can be the best too, a good dps in PvP will be constantly moving and will be able to kill an opponent in about 20-25 seconds. Good roles for PvP dps are: Rogue, Druid, Mage, Hunter,Warriors,Paladins and Warlocks. However every class may be used for this. Even priests!

Healing
Healing is still very useful in PvP however you will see Healers less commonly than dps in a battleground, once again, used correctly they can be very good. Good classes are: Priests, Druids and Paladins.

Tanks
Taking is far less valued in PvP due to the fact players do not have threat. In a battleground Tanks are still quite common however as they can survive for a long time to do the damage they need to kill their opponent. To deal with a tank you must do high damage and quickly before they slowly grind your damage to a halt and you run out of mana. Paladins are great PvP tanks as they may heal themselves and if they are tank specced may take on 2-3 opponents and win. Other Tanks are just as good used correctly but I think that Paladins are the best PvP Tanks, just my opinion.

Specs
Your spec is very important and can be the difference between survival and death. You can set your spec once you pass level 10 by clicking on the little target icon. The follwoing specs are for level 80's. You may build your way through them as you wish depending on your level. These specs are in links and are purely a share as I am not going to do all the specs right now as I have already been writing for a hour and a half. Will add more!

Priest
Leveling Build
Tank Healer
Raid Healer 1
Raid Healer 2

Druid
PvP Balance
Raid Balance
Feral Raid Dps
Feral Hybrid
Feral Raid Tank

Shaman
Elemental Dps
Elemental PvP
Enhancement Leveling and Raid

Warrior
Fury leveling
PvE Arms
Protection Tanking

Rogue
Assassination Daggers
Combat Fist and Dagger
PvP Mutilate

Paladin
PvE Healing
PvP Healing

Hunter
Beast Mastery
Marksman PvP

Mage
PvP Arcane Barrage
Frost with Prismatic Cloak
FrostFire Bolt Arcane

Warlock
Haunt/SL
Haunt/Ruin
Affliction PvP
FelGuard/Emberstorm Raid

Death Knight
Blood Leveling
Frost Leveling
Dual Wield Frost PvE
PvP Build

My Favourites
Each player has personal favourite classes, either because they feel they play them well or just like the prospect of them. I personally prefer Death Knight's to all other classes as I play them better than other classes, I like the way they work. I think that they are the most unique class, due to their strong storyline and the fact they are the only class that uses two types of resources which are fun to play with and experiment with different combat tactics. However, Death Knight's are not for all. The unique system is sometimes hard for people to master, however it is worth a try and is worth a lot of patience as I personally view them as the best class. Used well a blood Death Knight can regen it's health as it fights and a unholy Death Knight used well can deal serious damage while their ghouls do even more. Other favourites of mine are: Paladins and mages. I like mages as they are the only spell caster I can play without dying, yes, I'm a terrible spell caster. Paladins are also a favourite of mine as they combine the role of caster and melee more efficiently than a Druid. In my opinion A feral druid used well will also be just as good but is much harder to use and does not have the brilliant range of buffs a Paladin does. A Paladin's Hands are also very useful, they can protect you or another player from harm or free you from stun effects. This is very useful in a instance or raid.

What's So Great About Paladins?
Why do some people seem to think of Paladins as the best class? You may ask. Well, this is because they are currently the best healers in the game, and can be used as a tank, dps or healer. A Paladin may seem all good, with healing, shields and two hand swords where can you go wrong?! Well, a paladin used incorrectly is a terrible Paladin, Paladins require mana and if it is used incorrectly or wasted then the mana may run out quite fast and the leave the Paladin with "junk" attacks. These are attacks that do little damage and take little mana. A paladin geared wrongly will not have the right stats, it will either have to much mana or to much health and loose it's mana to fast. A correctly geared Paladin will end up about in the middle and will be good for all aspects. A well geared Paladin is frankly brilliant. When choosing a Paladin however you must first consider the above issues. If you are a quick learner and are willing to be patient to get your skills with the Paladin right then a Paladin is the class for you!

Why Bother with a Death Knight?
So, you hit level 55 and you can now get a Death Knight. But should you? A Death Knight may seem good, but once again, in the wrong hands a Death Knight can really go wrong. A Death Knight handles a unique resource system called Runes and Runic Power. This can be quite a challenge to a relatively new player to handle, so I will explain it in brief here. A Death Knight has six runes, Two of each category. Blood,Frost and Unholy. Each spell uses a specific rune, for example: Blood Strike uses one blood rune. When you use a Rune the rune has to cool down, it takes roughly five seconds for the rune to recharge. Once recharged it may be used again. When a rune is "consumed" the Death Knight obtains runic power, runic power may be used to cast more advanced spells such as Summon Gargoyle. Runic power will appear as a blue line under your health bar, when not in combat runic power slowly decreases. If you think you can handle the unique system of a Death Knight, perhaps you should try one. Even if you don't like it, at least you can boast about having two level 55's!


Conclusion
So, then, I can conclude from this guide that there are no massively overpowered classes. It is how you play the character you make, however your choice in class makes a significant difference to how you play. Choosing the class that is right for you is essential. I hope this guide helped you somewhat, I will be adding more as suggestions arrive and as I add the promised sections at the top, frankly my fingers hurt right now. I don't feel like typing anymore. Questions are very welcome!

[Vyre]

Are you being serious about this, or just trolling?

I definately hope your just trolling, but anyway.

Dps actually stands for Damage per Second. This is how much damage your character will deal with his/her weapon every second (on average). You can see your dps by placing your mouse on the damage stat in your character pane. The character pane is accessed by clicking on the small portrait of yourself on the bottom bar. All classes can be used for this role however the best are: Rogues, Mages, Hunters, and Druids.

Playing a damage dealing class DPS does not mean how much your weapons damage deals every second, it means how much damage you can output while using all your skills properly. It's not only just how much it says in the character screen, i have no idea where you EVER heard that before.

Best way to find out your own DPS is to get a damage meter (like Recount) it's and addon that basically calculates all the damage you deal, and how long the fight have lasted, and calculates how much dmg you've done the whole fight, and how much your DPS therefor is.

Get the addon, got to a training dummy, use everything you got on it for 5 mins, there you have your single target non buffed DPS, basically.

And saying there's "best" classes for DPS? How exactly can you say that Warriors, Death Knights, Shadow priests, Warlocks etc, is not one of the best? Every class is just as good as the other, though it changes from fight to fight. It depends on which mechanics the fight are using, and you can not put the classes into brackets of which is better than the other, it depends, and it also depends on your own skill level.

Healing
Healing is the most vital role, without a healer most raid or instances parties will not survive. The healer simply heals the party members with spells and makes sure they do not die, this is invaluable. Most healers however get blamed for the total wipe of the party. If you are a healer, you should be ready to defend yourself and be patient when suddenly everything is your fault. Healing is quite an easy and boring job, at higher levels it gets harder but still remains quite boring. The best classes for healing are: Druids, Priests and sometimes Paladins.

First able, healing does not have to be the most vital role, as you WILL need DPS' Tank's and Healer's and it also differs from fight to fight here, which is the most needed. I would say a great tank goes much longer than a great healer, if a tank can't tank, the mobs might 1 shot someone, making the healers useless in that position. They're still very important, but not more than any other role.

SOMETIMES PALADINS? This is where i thought, lol this dude gotta be trolling. Paladins are at the moment THE best healers at almost any fight if they know how to play their class, the only fights that some classes may get over them is insanely heavy AE fights where druids ofcourse shines because of all their HoT's

And Shamans? You forgot them bro? They're insane healers as well, you obviously have'nt met any good one yet, their Earth Shield is insanely great in raids, as well in parties as it can heal the tank up just by itself in heroics.

You gotta be joking, please tell me you are.

Damage/Dps
Dps are probably the most common kind to find in PvP, as they are the easiest to use in PvP and are more likely to get a kill. A good dps in PvP will be constantly moving and will be able to kill an opponent in about 20-25 seconds. Good roles for PvP dps are: Rogue, Druid, Mage, Hunter and Warriors, sometimes Paladins. However every class may be used for this. Even priests!

Easiest to use? gtfo bro, let me see your rating please. You have to control just as much as a DPS as you have to when you heal people, you need to CC whenever its possible, be aware of when the enemy team uses their cooldowns, so you can avoid there damage not to die. And use their own cooldowns at the right times. Seriously dude, what the fck.

Druids are definately not a good role for PvP DPS unless you play Feral EXTREMELY good. It's definately the hardest PvP class and spec to play, and requires a lot of practice and skill. Boomkins are completely useless unless the other players have no idea how to play. Sometimes paladins again? u b trollin bro. Retris are insane in PvP as well. No comment -.-

Healing
Healing is still very useful in PvP however you will rarely see a healer in a battleground, this is because they rarely get kills and there only role is to heal. Otherwise they follow the same features as above, in the PvE section. Good classes are: Priests, Druids and Paladins.

A great healer nowadays will be able to kill any DPS class 1v1 almost. The fights can differ a lot, and sometimes they can be unending, their only role is definately not to only heal, they will still have to use CC's and help the DPS'. And again, you did not note shamans? They are basically undefeatable 1v1, might even 2v1 if the players arent that good.

Tanks
Taking is far less valued in PvP due to the fact players do not have threat. In a battleground Tanks are still quite common however as they can survive for a long time to do the damage they need to kill their opponent. To deal with a tank you must do high damage and quickly before they slowly grind your damage to a halt and you run out of mana. Paladins are great PvP tanks as they may heal themselves and if they are tank specced may take on 2-3 opponents and win.

Warriors, Death Knights, and Druids are just as good tanks in PvP as Paladins are, warriors even better. No discussion.


Have'nt looked thorugh your specs, but i guess they can't be too wrong, hopefully..

[Fayde]

This guide is outdated and wrong in so many ways.

His arguments are pretty off as well, nothing to take in guys.

[Vyre]

Ah, i see you found some random guide on the interwebs and copy pasted, took credit for yourself, cool bro... -.-

Or else your mind is a lot of patches behind.

[Zaxer]

Ah, i see you found some random guide on the interwebs and copy pasted, took credit for yourself, cool bro... -.-

Or else your mind is a lot of patches behind.

Dude scan the whole internet for this, I know he didnt copy paste it.
He worked hard on this so if you dont have anything better to come up with you can just shut up.

[Toffster]

I did work hard on this, and I havn't played retail in a while. So perhaps I am a few patches behind, I will happily change the problems as yes I admit it is outdated, probably. And I am quite shocked you think I copy and pasted that, I worked for a hour and a half using my "out dated" knowlege to make this. Does it not sound like me?

I have included what you have said, and have decided to research more about 3.3.3 and to go onto my retail account for a while to do some research, I was not aware things had changed so much. Then again, I am sorry to have annoyed you, I am not trolling.

EDIT: Added three more sections!
Paladins and death Knight's and My Favourites