Hi all,

I am currently leveling my first team to 80. I have to admit, so far, so good. I have done a couple of instances in Outland on my way to 70 and I find the team (1 Prot pally / 1 boomkin / 1 resto sham / 2 ele sham) quite convincing.

I was wondering however whether there could be some interesting alternatives to it. In particular, I was wondering :

What alternatives to a resto chaman

I was thinking in particular of a priest. The stam buff would be nice, but I don't know if the healing mechanisms of a priest are more or less useful than those of a shaman for a MB group. Also, given the cloth armor, isn't a priest too fragile compared to the shammy's mail armor ?

What would be a good alternative to an ele chaman as a DPS

Once again, I know I would lose some useful totem buffs, and the DPS is quite good. I was wondering if I would get in exchange something nice from either a mage / hunter / warlock. My first thoughts would be :
  • mage : nice things like water/food and portals (nice but I'd say I can do without, I prefer to maximize in combat capabilities). Good stuff is a real CC, and some strong DPS (arcane I heard would be best ?)
  • Hunter : apart from DPS, could bring aura (if marksman) and somehow an offtank (don't know if it's really manageable)
  • Warlock : soul is nice, DPS, and teleport as an extra ? (I have never really gotten too deep with lock mechanisms, do feel free to add your experience)
I just don't know if any of those listed skills compensate for the totem losses (plus some bonuses like healing / rez)

As for using a DK over a Pally, I have tried and I thought the pally brings more survivability to the team and I feel more comfortable with it.

One last precision : I have read carefully these forums over the last months. I know there is no manichean answer to these questions. and it's not a case of which class is better. I'd just like to read the thoughts of others who have certainly thoughts about the pros & cons of classes described above so I can understand on what basis they would chose one heal / DPS class over another.

Thanks fo reading it up to this point... and have a very nice day / evening depending on your time zone!

Cheers
Nyth