First team to 85?

So, I have a dilemma.. I have a bunch of teams. Shamans, Druids, Paladins, Warlocks, Priests, DKs etc..

But on launch day, I want to be focused on one team and get them to 85 asap.. but I am curious what other people are thinking about their teams if they have choices.. I want to lay out a pros and cons list (as much for myself as anything) about each of the teams I am considering, and your input or insight is appreciated to help build it and maybe come to a conclusion.

Shamans ( I have 5 of these)

Pros:
very good at PvP and would be a difficult team to beat in BGs and arenas early on. Probably have a lot of PvP success.
stable team, always good and has always been viable, not likely to be nerfed beyond usefulness.
lvling to 85 as a shaman team offers excellent dmg / speed / AoE / survivability from world PvP harassment

Cons:
Not good for PvE early on without a tank. Would still have to queue 4 at a time for heroics and things.

Score: PvE - 5/10 PvP - 9/10


Druids ( I have 5 of these)

Pros:
Very good in PvP and play-style is more unique (stealthing around, massive AoE)
Wild mushrooms proves to be a gut-wrenching source of halarity in BGs and world PvP.
Three viable specs means Heroics and raiding as a team, is viable.
Three viable PvP specs too, and 5 trees is a very funny thing to see in a BG.
lvling to 85 as Balance offers great DMG, AoE and survivability / avoid-ability from world PvP harassment

Cons:
Still risky in PvP, relatively Squishy still and prone to fears.
Starfall loses much of its appeal in Cata with AoE being nerfed and HP pools rising diabolically high.
Feral still not up to snuff in PvP and might be just as fail as in Wrath.

Score: PvE - 7/10 PvP - 8/10


Paladins ( I have 5 of these)

Pros:
Destructive in PvP. 3 viable specs to choose how to annihilate your opponents. All seem to be very good in Cata.
Probably have a lot of early success in Cat PvP due to the lack of high resilience starting out.
3 viable specs for PvE as well. Heroics and Raiding would be easily doable with this group alone.
lvling as any of the 3 specs would be quick and offer a lot of protection from world PvP

Cons:
Best PvP specs are still in Melee range, (yes, I have tried all 3)
Ret may not be as good as it was in Wrath IMO (please let me know how those of you in the beta think about this at 85)
Holy is a fun PvP spec, but doesn't do enough dmg to really kill people fast enough imo. In rated arenas and BGs you wont be close enough to anyone to even hit them I would suspect.

Score: PvE - 8/10 PvP - 8/10


Warlocks (I have 5 of these)

Pros:
Very fast to lvl, getting 85 possibly even faster than the druids.
Extremely deadly in PvP, but requires a pocket-style healer to be most effective.
New changes make locks very deadly and fun to play.
Good raiding toons, might be able to play 2 or 3 in a raid at once or even all 5 if there's a good raid leader

Cons:
No chance at soloing Heroics you don't outgear, and not really able to take even 4 in a heroic you dont outgear
Probably only situationaly effective in BGs due to lack of heals.
Still squishy, and likely easily messed with in world PvP while lvling

Score: PvE - 5/10 PvP - 7/10


let me know if you agree or disagree with any of these..

Currently I am leaning towards the shamans or druids, because both represent a good PvP option as well as a decent PvE option.

The one you like most, level them first. Possibly mix some up so you can do pvp and pve?

Like 4 shams + pally.

Take one of the paladins and make it tank for the shaman team - you'll still be quite capable in PvP and you will be more than capable in PvE.

Take one of your druids and make it a tank for the shaman team. Then you can have a moonkin/4 shaman for PvP.

I'm in a similar situation, and am going to do my shaman first, mostly for PvP and raiding. Then I'm gonna either power lvl my pally tank with 4 of my shaman to start plowing heroics, or level a 5 class team with the paladin. Heroics might be tough at first with all the new fancy mechanics, but boxers are good at adapting :)

I have:


A: 1x (Prot/Holy) Paladin, 1x Demo Warlock, 2x Elem Shaman, 1x (Elem/Resto) Shaman.
B: 1x Disc Priest, 1x Frost Mage, 1x (Balance/Feral) Druid, 1x Elem Shaman, 1x (Elem/Resto) Shaman.
C: 5x (Feral/Resto) Druid.
D: 1x Disc Priest, 4x Aff Warlocks.
E: 5x Unholy Death Knights.
F: 5x Disc Priests.
G: 5x BM Hunters.

At the moment, A/B/C are 80th, D is 20's and horde side (my only horde team) and E/F/G are 70-75, purely for tradeskills.

I'm planning for E/F/G to be 75th by Cataclysm. They're pretty much what I'm running now.
These teams are purely for transmutes/gold.



I'll level (C) first, as I really love my Feral team.
One of the toons has all the Bear talents, for PvE Tanking.
The other four have pure Cat DPS talents.
All five have the same Resto spec.

Which gets me Bear (Tank), Resto (Heals) and 3x Cat (DPS) for PvE.
Not sure on Cats as melee DPS for PvE; they might spec Balance if 4x Melee is too hard for Cataclysm.

Thinking the combo of Feral PvP and Resto PvP will be fun.



(A) has been my primary PvE team, up to this point.
I have the suspicion, I might end up running two teams.
This one for PvE progression.
And the ferals for PvP.



It's a toss-up between (C) and (D) as my third team to level.
(C) is toons who were all 70th with epic flying towards middle/late Burning Crusade, when I started five-boxing.
I used that team for running dailies; they'll reach 85th, but won't be a primary PvE or PvP team.

(D) is my horde side team.
I'd like to run them in BG's, and to experience the game from a horde point of view.
I'm tempted to level Paladins, would most likely go Blood Elves, to support the Warlock/Priest team.

I just lvld another Shaman and Paladin for the express purpose of having 5 of each, I'm not keen on leaving one behind now to substitute a tank or something.

I want to lvl the one I like the most, but the problem is they are all my favorites, and they all have different purposes.

what is your goal at 85?
dungeons? raids? pvp? arena?
If you want to do a bit of everything, which of the 4 above do you like most?

answer this question and you'll have your answer :-)


I personaly would go with a mixed team. Paly tank, balance druid, warlock, elem shamy and resto shamy.
but that's because i'nmnot a big fan of single class teams or pvp.

yeah, I will lvl all my teams to 85 eventually, I'm just trying to figure out which team would be the best starter team. I enjoy PvP and PvE.

This post may be just for me as much as for anyone else. I wondered if there was anyone else with pallies, shamans, druids, dks priests hunters etc etc at 80 and torn about what team to lvl first, or why they decided to lvl their teams.

I see your in the same place I am at... trying to decide which teams to work on.

I have a mix team, the standard protadin/shammy team, a 4x DK/Healadin team, a DK/retadin team and a 5 hunter (mixed specs and pets) team. Through in a couple of 80 druids that were used during leveling.

Based on how 85 is playing in beta currently... I think the protadin / shammy team will remain my primary team for dungeons/heroics. I will level the 5 hunters up simply because they seem really fun to play now due to the sheer burst.

My real issue is I am not sure how fast guild leveling will happen. This will have impacts on leveling each team, reputation, money, and crafting skill ups. Add in you have to build rep on each toon with the guild... and I will probably be focusing on maxing out my guild level exp each week at the same time as leveling up 2 or 3 teams on rested at once. I did the speed level effort of my main team when Wrath launched. It was fun but I am not going to be in so much of a rush this time. I also know that there are some serious bottlenecks in the first two zones in Cata. I hit a 30 minute wall on one quest due to all the people in my batch on the beta hitting the same spot at the same time.... Also the number of required collection quests will temper your pace if you push to 85 without rested exp bonus.

I will say that you should also keep those priests in mind, I plan on bringing up my lvl 60 Spriests soon. The class/spec seems much more fun to play with the new mechanics.

There are a lot of variables around this time that have me a little unsure that boosting to 85 immediately is as worth it as it was last exp pack. Of course I will not be taking a week off this time so that has an impact on my choice too.

good points there offive... I hadn't even thought of guild leveling.

I think i am going to lvl alch on my shamans and lvl them first, to take advantage of the odd heroic with 4 (only a slight hindrance) and PvP with all 5, plus the gold for the daily crafting will be good enough to help the other teams along.

Thanks, I don't think most people have thought about it.

I have leveled a couple of my toons on beta to 85, one I pushed through with mostly no rested exp bonus. The other with all rest exp bonus. The rested one only needed three zones to get to 85. The non rested one took all the zones to get there. What sucks is my toons were transfered prior to the implementation of justice points, so they still have badges... sigh, when 4 went live my tank exceeded the cap... which would have been very nice to have on beta to get all the justice gear immediately.

So if anything right now make sure your either maxed on JP or close to it, it will help your gear ilvl at 85. Which precludes you from using the LFD tool at the moment.

Another thing I noticed after 4.0 was live, was mining nodes got me expereince on all group members! I am sure they wil kill that feature, but it is fun to see 5k exp roll across all the screens for getting some ore on one.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by offive

Thanks, I don't think most people have thought about it.

I have leveled a couple of my toons on beta to 85, one I pushed through with mostly no rested exp bonus. The other with all rest exp bonus. The rested one only needed three zones to get to 85. The non rested one took all the zones to get there. What sucks is my toons were transfered prior to the implementation of justice points, so they still have badges... sigh, when 4 went live my tank exceeded the cap... which would have been very nice to have on beta to get all the justice gear immediately.

So if anything right now make sure your either maxed on JP or close to it, it will help your gear ilvl at 85. Which precludes you from using the LFD tool at the moment.

Another thing I noticed after 4.0 was live, was mining nodes got me expereince on all group members! I am sure they wil kill that feature, but it is fun to see 5k exp roll across all the screens for getting some ore on one.

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tight!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Lyonheart

tight!

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Fast and loose!

Hey Lyon, How was Blizzcon? I watched the stream... and I have to say I knew it was going to be a whoopee moment when all they announced was a class for Diablo 3. I bet we will see D3 release next year, and nothing else.

I am looking forward to the world events prior to the shattering on Live.

NOO!!! Now I'm torn, I did some BGs last night with my undergeared warlocks, and I really had a blast! Demon warlocks rock face now, and they are way powerful. 5 Felguards will destroy people, it's hilarious. Gotta try it people!!

BAH now more things to consider!