Choosing a class for Legion? Part 2
Following on from an earlier article, I've still been thinking hard about which class and spec I want to choose as my main for Legion, and perhaps beyond.
I'm not one for rapidly changing classes or specs, having played my Prot Paladin for over 6 years before changing to my Hunter last year.
However given the all-encompassing changes that Hunters are seeing in Legion, which may or may not result in an enjoyable experience for me, another change may become inevitable.
So, given that it's a bit further on in the previously Alpha and now Beta process of changes, let's see where my thoughts lie now.
As per the previous article, Rogue, Shaman, Mage, Warrior and DK are all fairly much out of the running due to intrinsic feeling of "meh" I have towards them.
That leaves:
- Demon Hunter
- Priest
- Monk
- Paladin
- Warlock (completely forgot about this in the last article!)
- Druid
- Hunter
So, let's go through them all...
Demon Hunter
As per usual, Blizzard look to be nerfing abilities and utility of older classes in order to bolster take up of their newest class. It happened when DKs came along in Wrath, Monks in Mists, and now DHs in Legion.
They're looking completely OP, certainly in terms of mobility with passive double jump, slowfall, gap closers etc, but they are as yet very untested in a live environment, and without beta access and final tuning still to come, it's next to impossible to make a definitive call on this class.
Priest
I'm still really enjoying Holy and to a lesser degree Shadow on my Priest. It's the spec I'm playing in mainly atm in Thunder's recent raid resurrection (yes, we're back and Heroic raiding again!), but sometimes still have to jump on the hunter if we're loaded with healers, to help out with DPS.
A solid choice, but not a lot of utility and having more removed in Legion, particularly in terms of mobility.
Monk
I've gone off Mistweaving slightly since the last article. No real reason why, I'm just finding other classes and specs more intriguing.
Paladin
Holy & Ret are right out the door straight off. No interest really in either spec, so that leaves my old comfort spec of Protection.
Whilst nerfed slightly in terms of self-healing from where it was when I wrote the last article, this is still looking like a strong spec overall in Legion.
However Legion changes to active mitigation (the best thing to ever happen to tanking IMO), and the fact that my reasons for quitting tanking on her haven't changed since, I doubt this will be an avenue I'll be pursuing in Legion.
Warlock
Again, a lack of general utility, being a pure dps class in a similar manner to Mages, means that this is not a class I'll likely choose for Legion.
In contrast to...
Druid
I've recently begun levelling a Tauren Druid named Lifebinder, and was enjoying it, so I decided to dust off my old Nelf Druid and faction changed her, again to a male Tauren, this one named Sarcrux.
I was very undecided on this one in the last article in March, but having played it a bit more, I'm really liking the utility Druids offer. Not least the fact that I can semi-tank in bear form, and semi-dps in cat form, both while in Resto Spec.
If I were to choose a druid, Resto would likely be my Main Spec, with an open choice of off-spec.
But given we'll be getting tri/quad spec in Legion, Off-specs will be an open choice anyway.This one is a very strong candidate now.
Hunter
I'm a lot happier about where Hunters are now, in comparison to a few months ago.
MM have their pets back for example, with Lone Wolf being a talent choice again, albeit a level 15 choice rather than 100, so Lone Wolf lovers can essentially level all the way without a pet.
Hati and BM in general have also seen improvements, both in terms of Hati's basic model (looks gorgeous now), and the ability to have her look like one of your other pets, so you can truly dual wield pets of your choice as BM now. Dire Beast has also been given the option of using stabled pets, rather than randoms from your current zone.
I know what you're thinking. I dislike Mages, Warlocks and Rogues because they're pure DPS classes and offer little in terms of role variety, so why do Hunters, another pure DPS class get a bye?
Hunters have the pet collection aspect that ameliorates this complaint to a significant degree. For me at least, because I love pet collecting. So ner.
So that's where I'm at atm, and presently it's looking like a straight choice between Hunter/Holy Priest/Resto Druid.
Certainly there's a decidedly healing based skew on those choices, but I'll only truly be able to make a decision if or when I finally get access to the Legion Beta...
No, still no access.
There are changes to talent swapping that have been made in a very recent build that I'll be expounding on more, but that's another article for another time...