Best class/race for beginner?Follow

I recently purchased WoW and I need suggestions on a class/race I should be. I would prefer solo-ing most, if not all the quests, if possible. I also have some (though i dont think you can call it that) experience in MMOs before as I have played Guild Wars (not really considered an MMO) and a little bit of RuneScape (you cant CALL this one experience really...).

Thanks for the help/suggestions.

Hunters are supposed to be one of the easiest classes to play for new players. They can find it difficult to find groups, mainly because so many of them are inexperienced (this isn't suposed to be a generalisation I've ran instances with some very good hunters), but if you want to solo most of it then that won't be a problem. Most of the experienced posters here will advise to to try a few combo's up to lvl 10 or 12 and then stick with your favorite which seems like a good idea.

Druids and warriors are quite easy as well. The good thing about a druid is it very versatile and you can heal youself while soloing. I guess personally I would reccomend a hunter or a druid for your first character but it's all about personal preference.

Have fun and welcome to WOW.

If you want to solo a lot, I'd recommend Paladin, Warlock, or Hunter. Pally's have really good lasting power, and Locks and Hunters have pets which help out a lot.

However, the more important issue is what's most fun for you. I think if you're playing the game to solo, you're playing for the wrong reasons. WoW is meant to be a colelctive effort where you work with other people, and that's what makes it really fun. But that's just me.

My standard answer is whichever class you enjoy playing the most, as all classes can solo to 60. However, if you’re new to MMORPGs and you don’t know which class you enjoy playing that statement isn’t very helpful.

If you don’t know whether you would prefer playing a spell casting class or a melee class, I would suggest a melee class for your first character. They can take the most damage without dropping dead and that will give you the most leeway when learning game mechanics.

A warrior is a simple, strait forward class to level. You wear heavy armor and you beat on thing until the fall down. The down side is that warriors are more gear dependent than most classes. This means that you have to upgrade your armor and weapons more often to have the best chance of staying alive.

Rogues are also a good class. They only get to wear leather armor, but they kill quickly enough that unless you get jumped by multiple mobs you kill things quickly enough that leather is all you need. Rogues can stealth through areas and thus avoid mobs others have to fight through. They have multiple means of escaping a bad situation. And at level 20 they can do a quest for the ability to use poisons on their weapons. Rogues can get away with mediocre armor as long as their weapons are kept up to date.

Paladins are, more or less, fighting priests. They get to wear heavy armor like a warrior, but they lack a warrior’s attack skills and thus kill more slowly. They get to heal and raise the dead like a priest, but they don’t have the same range of spells, their heals cast slower and they don’t have as much manna to back up their spells. It’s a good class, but in my opinion it’s the hardest class in game to play well.

Hunters are also a very good solo class, if you enjoy having a pet at your side. Generally you send your pet to attack the target and keep it busy while you shoot it from afar. As the pet takes most of the damage there isn’t much down time. Hunters get a faster move speed at level 20 and at level 30 they get the ability to play dead and thus avoid many deadly situations.

As I said, every class can solo to level 60. So if another class sounds interesting go for it. You can have up to ten characters per server and fifty characters per account. So feel free to create multiple characters to see which you enjoy most.

I agree with Grollog. I basically did the same started with a warrior to learn the game mechanics and shortly thereafter created a hunter (even after having read all the hunter-hater posts).

Make sure that you read up on the information available in this site and use the wealth of information that can be obtained by the regulars in this forum. Learn how to play your hunter well and you'll find that it is in fact fun and fast for leveling/questing.

Just a bit of advice, make sure to learn about proper MMORPG etiquette and also learn your role in groups. Even though you want to solo mostly, the better equipment will only be available by going into instances and will require a group. Also there are a lot of good people out there and by grouping you may find some like-minded people you'll enjoy playing with. Beware of the idiots... There are also a lot of those...

Edit: Just wanted to add that like others have said,, try different classes/races and see which one you enjoy. For me the easiest races for getting started and learning the game are dwarwes and tauren. Their starting areas are very easy to get around in and they are also visually appealing to me.

Edited, Dec 5th 2006 12:16pm by Dartanicus

This game is (I swear) the most newbie friendly MMO out there. No matter what you choose, you can't go wrong. Read the tooltips that pop up while you play and you'll be a pro in no time. So choose any class, any race.


Choose what's fun to you.

Race doesn't matter, as far as complications or difficulty of play.

Levels 1-10 are pretty much a tutorial set on "easy".

You start learning more about your class on your way to level 20.

Getting a character to level seven or so just takes a couple of hours.

If you get stuck on a quest and don't know what to do: thottbot.com

My druid was the easiest to solo.

Having soloed all but priest up to level 20+ this is my opinion and it seems to be consistent with others I have seen here.
Hunter is the easiest to start and play. Once you get a pet at level 10 (and you are an ok melee before that) you can just clean up in leveling and most quests. FD at 30 can save you if not the party. Remember to just let the pet die if need be. DPS can be very dependent on range weapons so having a mob close in get personal can be dicy if the pet can not get aggro back.
Warlock is for me more complicated to play in aggro management but as a soloer is easily the best at handling higher level mobs and a few of them to boot. Consistently my favorite soloer past level 10.
Shaman is fun to play and can solo but not deal with adds quite as well. If you find a camp with casters the shaman is amazingly good against them. As a healer you are somewhat wanted though not all skills are great for groups (AE totems for example).
Druid is still tough for me. Whereas the hunter and warlock can consistently win against level+3/4 mobs the druid has a harder time. Maybe I need more seasoning. It is very fun to play the different beasts and you are a healer so wanted in groups consistently.
A mage can solo but has to learn specific techniques and watch when to run. Wears cloth but with no pet has to get up close and personal quite a bit. (nuke, nuke, freeze, back off, nuke, ..). Watch the mobs you attack so that you can use sheep if at all possible. Good DPS and CC in groups if the group is at all experienced. Solo get used to running/dying if things go badly.
Warrior can solo as they take punishment and give damage but get herbology/alchemy (potions) and first aid (bandages) cause you are going to need all the healing you can get.
Paladin is useful as a melee healer but I considered it boring. Low DPS, no range pulling, only technique is to outlast the mob via heals. Otherwise use invulnerability to run away and try again.
Rogue is somewhat fun just never got the hang of it with a leather melee class. Single kills are easy but adds end up being a serious problem. The mobs just don't seem to stay facing one direction enough to do some serious backstabbing. :)

Dethgin 27th gnome warlock (and a lot of others..)

My first character was tauren warrior, techinicly because taurens had the best starting stats for a warrior and I rolled one. After level 18 I found myself EXTREMLY bored. My second character was dwarf pally. He is level 51 right now =)
Couldn't been happier, solo'd on him all the time and in between always had done some instances+dungeons which had worked out great for me and PvP wasn't that as I had been excepting. Although I also got 20 NE hunter which I created just a while ago and could say that he is much faster in leveling up in hunter and much easier class to be picked up on. So it's techincly your choice. Oh and at the end did I mention that pallys get free mounts, which can solve a lot of your cash problems once you are level 40. So it's techinicly your choice. Enjoy playing WoW.

Consider the first few weeks an investment in learning the game. I haven't gotten any character past 30 yet, so I'm not in a good position to predict various end game concerns. Try things, if you find a combination you like, stick with it. If you aren't having fun, strip the character naked put his valuables into the mail to his heirs, and stuff him out the airlock. Sure, you lost the time to level that character, but the first few levels are easy to hit ... and easier the second time through. Even if you do have a main character you prefer, you might want to try an alternate or two just for a break.

For my part, I've been having fun trying the different starting areas, and seeing how different class choices change the experience. Garg! My daughter just started a second account for me so I can experiment freely. Now, if only Blizzard would let me try that Tauren Rogue ....

The Hunter is hands-down the easiest character to play and level up, imo.

The first nine levels can be frustrating if you don't know what you're doing. Why? It's because you get to lvl 6 and still have a lowbie weapon, and you have trouble killing things.

Solution: train in a skill like mining as soon as you can (right click a guard and find where closest trainer is at lvl 4 or 5 -- mine some copper -- get down the road to the nearest main city and find the Auction House -- sell your copper (it takes a while) and use your profit to buy a "green" weapon (with a much higher dps).

Now leveling is much easier. Start by shooting at far range -- use your new weapon to kill. Get to 10, where you do a series of quests to be able to train your PET.

Once you have a pet, life is on Easy Street. Hunters don't need great gear. It helps, but they don't NEED it like a rogue or warrior does. Just get a decent gun or bow, and go hunt behind your pet. Go to petopia (brashendeavors.net) to get info on how to train your pet -- or look at the hunter guides here.

Warlocks are similar to hunters in that I find them pretty easy to play. Get to lvl 10 by ping ponging agro between you and your imp (so your imp doesn't constantly die). At lvl 10 you get a voidwalker, which can taunt - and you hunt behind it very easily. Just cast CoA and Corruption as VW charges. Pause a moment to let VW cement his agro. THen do immolate and shoot with wand (buy the player made wands, they rock and are usually cheap).

GL