Wotlk 10 box setup

[Bunny]

Hi everyone,

there was a thread about 10 box setups that got its last response a few weeks ago. Since then a lot has happened and we know a lot more about Wotlk (especially the buff changes). With that in mind what would you consider the best 10 box teams for pve in Wotlk?

Currently I think 2 tanks, 3 healers and 5 range dps are probably okay. One tank and one healer must be usable (respec) as dps in case only one tank and/or only 2 healers are needed for the encounter. It would probably a bonus if one of the dps were respeccable to healer if 4 healers are necessary in a special situation.
What tanks would you use? which healers? What would be your dps classes? More of the same class for synergy or different classes for different buffs?

Any feedback is welcome,
Bunny

[Rin]

For PvE:

This depends on yoursetup... After a lot of thinking about teams/dps/buffs and debuffs, I went the following route:

2 paladins (one protection specced, the other healing or Ret, depending on how hard retribution gets nerfed)
Logic: One paladin can be used as a main tank, the other can be used as an offtank or a backup healer. Between the two paladins you can run two different auras at once, and have two separate sets of blessings (e.g. Blessing of Kings +awesome stat bonus and the Intellect blessing). The main tank is required for multiple obvious reasons (I hope), and the offtank is generally required for many situational bosses. 2/3 tanks is the ideal end-game "raid" setup, and I'll discuss that below.

1 Druid (feral specced atm, girlfriend plays her)
Logic: The druid offers a myriad of added values to your team, and can fill a variety of different rolls (even the MT roll, if the situation calls for it). Some of the added (and quite often missed bonuses) of the druid are: increased spell crit chance (moonkin), heal over time spells, moderate crowd control (cyclone - and before you knock me on this one, read the word MODERATE), resistance buffs (Gift of the Wild).

5 Shaman (Elemental)
Logic: DPS, DPS, DPS, non-cloth based DPS. Having characters that are not cloth based tends to lead to a generally higher survivability rate. Although this isn't always true, with the added heals, totems, and group/ now RAID wide buffs that the shaman provide, having multiple shaman is never a bad thing.

1 Priest (holy)
Logic: The main healer of the group. The healer provides buffs and protection for the entire raid party. The healer generally sits in the back of my team, just tossing heals when needed. Having a true 'healer' makes any raid situation much easier (think: Circle of Healing, which is often touted as overkill for raids, etc.)

1 or 2 Mages (arcane or fire):
Logic: Glass cannons, but very, very effective at dealing damage. Increased mages = increased dps, plain and simple. Also useful for their arcane intellect buff.

If you look at the above scenario, you'll notice that I listed a total of 11 characters (again, the g/f plays one). If I had to limit it to ten, I'd probably just stick to one mage. You're going to have enough sustained dps (so long as you can keep everyone alive), to fight nearly any encounter. Also, you're going to have almost every single buff in the game at your disposal, at any time. Combine this with potions and gear, you'll be all set.

Best,

[Rin]

Also, consider that each of your teams should be able to function as independent units. That is, you should be able to run your teams by themselves without having to rely on one specific team. The scenario above gives you those independent units (think of them as a batallion of soliders that can function with or without other members of their legion).

[Turenn]

With WotLK I would add as many classes you can handle. Warlock, mage, shammie as DPS, and Priest, Shammie as healers. 2 paladins as MT/OT/OH. I would have a healer that can be respecced to fill a DPS slot when you gear your healers so that you'll only need 2 of them. I would guess that you will need 3 healers in the gearing up period.

Which ever you decide, good luck!

[JonnyB]

I can't seem to find it now, but I do recall fairly early on in beta reading a blue post that Blizzard's goal with the 10 mans was to design the content around having 1 tank and 2 healers. Whether it pans out that way in the end is anyone's guess. I've got 8 accounts active at the moment. I have a 5 shaman team at 61, and a pally + 4 shadowpriest team at 61 as well as my regular war/priest/shaman/mage at 70. My goal was to have the paladin as my MT, but with the adjustments to warriors(I just copied my 70 to the beta realm to play around), it is going to be a very tough choice not to use my warrior. I was thinking a shaman & holy priest combo for healing, and then some mix of shadowpriests and elemental shaman for the rest of the group. The AOE damage from mind sear seems insane at the moment, and from the blue posts yesterday/today about Blizzard no longer thinking of the shadowpriest as a utility class but rather a pure dps class now I think its going to be a lot of fun.

I gifted a druid/warlock and hunter to 60 as well, but as it stands I'm trying to keep the # of classes down as much as possible to avoid all the micro management.

[Bunny]

Hi everyone,

Thank you for your replies and ideas. I currently level teams on my RAF accounts and the idea is to have a few options when wotlk comes out. I will have 5 shaman, 2 paladin, 1 druid, 3 mages, 1 lock, 1 priest, 1hunter, 1warrior from which to pick my 10 toons to take to 80. Currently I lean towards:

Tanks:
1 War MT (I just like tanking with a war - I know paladin is less micro management but I think I'll stay with the warrior anyways)
1 Paladin off tanking (not sure what to do with him when no second tank is required)
Healers:
1 Priest, 1 Paladin, 1 Druid. I considered having both paladins heal as they are easier to make macros for because of their small heals.
DPS:
Mage, Lock + 3 shams (I am not sure about dropping a shaman for the hunter - I read there is a nice mana regen buff in the survival tree but I have to research further before I decide)

One of my main problems is which char to use as second tank and what to do with him when no second tank is required. A druid whould maybe be best because he can just act as a nuker but then I whould not have a druid healer which I think whould be good. In your opinion: is switching the roles of the pala and the druid a good idea (let the druid tank, and have two palas heal?).
Another option is to spec the priest shadow and have one of the shamans heal.
What about the hunter - whould you drop him or include him as a dps?

Any feedback is welcome,
Bunny