Why Play WoW? The Fun and Frustration of Class Selection

Explore a passionate discussion surrounding class choices, expansion memories, and future possibilities in World of Warcraft. Tune in for insights on favorite and least enjoyable classes and shared nostalgia for the game's history.

• Overview of the easiest classes for new players 
• Breakdown of the most and least enjoyable classes 
• Insights on the best and worst expansions in WoW history 
• A deep dive into the Classic versus Retail debate 
• Anticipation for future features like player housing 
• Recurring questions: Do real-life experiences affect gameplay enjoyment?

Hope you all enjoy and hope you relate to any of these stories. And I will speak to you all in the next episode!

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction and Welcome
• 6:40 The Easiest Classes for New Players
• 14:50 The Most and Least Enjoyable Classes
• 29:30 Best and Worst WoW Expansions
• 45:00 Classic vs. Retail: The Great Divide
• 59:50 Anticipation for Future Features and Expansions

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:45

The Thank you, hello and welcome to the Pig and Whistle Tales from Azeroth. As always here at the Pig and Whistle Inn in Stormwind, I go through a variety of subjects with regards to World of Warcraft. So grab a bottle or a pint, sit back and enjoy this midweek episode. We'll be doing a q a and we're going to be answering some of the questions that people have sent in to me. Um, some that I've actually come up with on the spot as well, because they are big questions within wow that a lot of people don't know or like have their own opinions on. So it's going to be very opinionated, this sort of episode. Please do let me know of your opinions on these sort of matters as and when I come up into the questions that will probably be a lot more opinionated. Just saying, but let's get started. So we'll start off with something that's quite simple. Well, I say simple. It's going to be controversial, all of these questions anyway, but what is the easiest class to pick up for new players? Now? I would say if you're looking for a melee class, you're looking at Fury Warrior. If you are looking at a ranged class, you're looking at Beast Mastery Hunter. If you're looking for a healer, I would say holy paladin. And if you are looking for a tank, I would just say your generic warrior, genuinely, um, although I think that tanks are very uh, they're all quite in-depth tank roles. I would say so, maybe stick away from tanking if you are new. But the reason I say these things are because they are a lot simpler in their rotation. So for those that don't know what a rotation is, is essentially your healing rotation, to get the most out of your healing abilities, or your damage rotation, to get the most out of your damage. So this is increasing your DPS your damage per second, or your HPS your heals per second. Okay, so, holy Paladins, essentially you're looking at using Holy Shocks and Word of Glories quite a lot of the time. This is your main bread and butter, your cookie cutter. Essentially For Beast Mastery Hunters, you're looking at Barbed shot and kill command. These are your two main abilities and for warriors, you can literally just have rampage. Okay, you do not even need like wreck, wreck full strikes or whatever it's called, because you can pick a talent that changes that. Um, but essentially you're going to have wreck, full strikes or whatever it's called, and rampage. This is going to be your cookie cutter build and, as you probably figured out, all of these builds have something in common they have very low amount of rotational buttons. Um, so yeah, this is the reason why I pick these sort of classes.

Speaker 1: 3:45

If you were to look at other classes and specs if you look at Feral, for example, you're looking to go in Stealth, then Rake Stun and then build up a few combo points. You want to Incarnate, shred, get five combo points, use Rip on the target. You want to also put Moonfire and Insect Swarm on the target for your dots, and then you want to also put moonfire and insect swarm on the target for your dots, and then you want to. Every time you get a ferocious bite proc, you want to press that. Every time that, like you're in inkhan, you can stealth again to get another rake stun off. So there's many different aspects to it and it's just simply to get more effective. Like at it it's going to be you're required to do so many more buttons. It it's going to be You're required to do so many more buttons and it's just going to be naturally tougher for you to do so.

Speaker 1: 4:33

So I think that these are the three classes that you're wanting to pick Holy Paladin, fury Warrior and for ranged, you want BM Hunter? Okay, you can also go retribution paladin. They offer a lot of utility though. So this is why I don't really suggest holy paladin or not holy paladin, retribution as much, because the utility that they bring is actually very impactful and very good for the team itself. So, whereas, whereas Fury Warrior, again it brings like Commanding Shell and Intervene, but it's really not on the same level as Rat Paladin in terms of the utility that it brings. So that's why I would suggest these classes and specs.

Speaker 1: 5:19

Now for the next question the most enjoyable class slash, least enjoyable. Now, this is very, very opinionated. It's going to be so opinionated it's unreal for me. Uh, boomy, so balanced druid or misdweaver monk are the most enjoyable specs. As for class, it's got to be Druid, and I say that hands down because I love the fact that I can shapeshift out of slows. I despise slow mechanics in the game as a whole, and the fact that boomies can shapeshift out or Druids in general can shapeshift out of these makes it a lot better.

Speaker 1: 6:05

I just love the idea of a druid as well. I love the idea of being a giant chicken that calls down moons from the sky to kill their enemies. I love the idea of being a big chonky bear and essentially, just like you know, tanking so much stuff because I'm just a chonky bear. I love like bleeding people as a cat, like in cat form. I love the aquatic form when you're swimming around and stuff. I love all the different utility and the small things that make druids so cool, like being one with nature, soothing animals, the cyclones, the entangling roots, all of this stuff. I love the whole aesthetic to them. So enjoyable class, or the class I enjoy the most is druid because of these reasons.

Speaker 1: 6:53

Gameplay wise, I'm leaning more into monk, um, but only mistweaver monk. So I would say druid as a whole, um, enjoyment wise, but mist weaver monk is probably the most enjoyable spec that I find like find at the moment because I don't find a lot of satisfaction in the way that boomies do damage my, the current specialization that I am on my druid, because it is a lot of star surge damage and I get that they want to filter it to these big star surges, these big chunky star surges, as my damage. But I want more to it than that. All right, I want it to be a little bit more complex when it comes to the rotation and stuff. So you know, I would say mr evil monk is certainly up there, um, alongside boomy least favorite. It might be a Voker and I don't know why. So usually my least favorite sort of class is, you know, the Death Knights and the Demon Hunters. Them two classes are usually the ones that stick out to me, but honestly I think it's a Voker and this is crazy to me because I enjoy every single caster class that's in the game. I enjoy Shadow, priest, warlocks, shamans, whatever else there might be.

Speaker 1: 8:16

I tried to do Devastation of Oka. It's one button and that's not fun at all. That really, really isn't, and I think people can agree with me on that. That's fine, it's not my bread and butter. I tried Preservation of Oka and you think that's really complicated. It's like a lot more fleshed out and stuff. I just can't get into it. It isn't a satisfying type of healing and my brain just doesn't get that sense of like relief or that dopamine injection from playing that class, compared to like playing misweaver monk or balance druid or anything like that. So I would say that evoker is actually up there with my least favorite and I think that that's very weird, just from my point of view, because I enjoy casters. I I do enjoy playing caster comps or casters just in general over melees, but sadly the evoker never captured me, uh, which is a shame, because I love the character customization. I do love being a just a dragon. How cool is that? Um? But yeah, this is probably where I'll land with that question.

Speaker 1: 9:27

Next, next one best expansion and the worst. So best expansion. It's tough. You can go off of many factors here, but I am going to go off of the factor of I remember it being very good. I remember enjoying my time throughout the expansion. I remember having good, fond memories of the expansion as a whole. Okay, and this is going to be legion. Legion, I think, is a very solid um expansion when you have 12. I think it's 12, it no, it isn't 12. It's like eight different pvp seasons, like in one expansion. That's when you know you're doing well and that's crazy, by the way, that is a crazy number of um like seasons to have pvp wise um. I just remember around that time as well, like I had very good vibes, just irl, and I think that's what makes the expansion so fun.

Speaker 1: 10:31

If you're in a good place in real life. You're in a good place when you play the game. So you could have the worst expansion, which is uh, I'm not gonna lie, I'm gonna oh, there's so many like bad points about it. Let's just say BFA for now. I don't think it's it. Let's just say BFA for now. I don't think it's BFA. But we'll say BFA for now. But you could think of the worst expansion or a bad expansion BFA. But if you were having a really good part of your life was during this expansion, that will translate into the game. Therefore, you might think BFA is one of the best expansions because you really enjoyed it when you didn't actually enjoy the game itself. You just enjoyed playing the game because you were happy at the time. So it's a very weird metric to measure, but at least this is how I measure it, or some people might be able to view it in that way, because it's like, oh well, I was enjoying life around this time. So I'm going to just say BFA or Shadowlands or something.

Speaker 1: 11:33

But I genuinely think Legion was the best, not because I wasn't happy during that time although I was but like I think that the gameplay it brought out. I think that the PvE PvP that it did play. It brought out, I think, that the pve, pvp, that it did. I think that everything that we have in retail wow to this day stems from legion in some way, whether it be world quests or it will be the artifact weapons, the borrowed power systems, where this started as well. Um, obviously it's not great, um, doing it every single expansion after that and it needed to be stopped essentially, but still, this is where so many innovative, innovative in inventive things came from for retail and I think that that's one of the best things ever. So, legion is my first, my best expansion, um, my worst expansion. Oh, bfa was so rough. Man, I'm trying to think BFA wasn't great, but now that I've gotten the chance to play Cataclysm, I I do have to say that it is Cataclysm. And I say that it's Cataclysm mainly because I don't enjoy the raids. The first couple raids were kind of meh. Firelands was very good. Dragon's Soul, I do somewhat enjoy. I think that it's a cool-looking raid.

Speaker 1: 13:03

As for the systems that are in the game itself, the systems that are in the game itself, they are a good start, like stepping stone leading into retail, but they are the very first stepping stone, okay. So this was its very first baby steps retail when it came to cataclysm and beyond, because it was trying to create different like inventive features in the game, kind of like how legion did it, but it failed. Okay, it did fail. So stuff like the soul shard system for warlocks, you have the eclipse system for um balanced druids, you have the holy power for or holy power for paladins these are systems that somewhat are still in the game, but different like variations of them they are. They vary differently from how they worked back in cataclysm to they, to them working now in current retail.

Speaker 1: 14:05

So the stepping stones are there, but it's very unpolished, these systems very, very unpolished, and I think this is what makes it the worst expansion that and I didn't really get to like play around with it much when it was current content, which is my personal um perspective on it. Really I also I don't like that it revamped palimdor in the eastern kingdoms. I do have to say that because I know a lot of people are like oh my god, like bring back old, wow, like don't have cataclysm there and it's like no, you kind of have to keep going with the classic. Now, now that classic classic is out and it's basically following it Like it's ridiculous, but like I think I think that them changing the zones is really rough. I get that it needed a revamp after six years of being the same content, but I think that they could have had a choice between pick this like current version of Classic or like before the Cataclysm hit, like you can level in the before Cataclysm hit, or you can level after the Cataclysm hit hit, or you can level after cataclysm after the cataclysm hit kind of deal. Maybe they could have added that option, but I don't know, it just doesn't. It has so many points cataclysm, but it doesn't hit the nail on the head with them and that's the problem. It scuffed a lot of it and I think that's what makes it the worst.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Expansion now, next question this one's going to be really controversial and a lot of people will not like this. Classic or retail. Retail, easy, that's the easiest decision that I've ever made. Okay, and the reasons I say retail? Firstly, it's original. Well, it is. It is the OG WoW. It is what World of Warcraft is. It is what World of Warcraft is always going to be.

Speaker 1: 16:12

Classic will be there now, which is good, but eventually people will get bored of Classic because Classic has an end point. It has a stagnant lifespan, essentially. And how many times can you really do classic until you're bored of it? Because classic is a nostalgic trip. Okay, that's all that classic is. I get some people play it for the game, like gameplay, because they might not enjoy retail gameplay, which is fine. But I think a lot of the desire to play classic is the nostalgia of it and I think that nostalgia wells or wears off the more you play it.

Speaker 1: 16:49

Obviously, um, I don't know. A good example of this is you can see it in the only fangs guild. Okay, this guild was a hardcore guild or still is, but at the start, when they re-released all the anniversary realms for the hardcore, then, like it was hustling, bustling, had hundreds and hundreds of members and there were loads of people streaming it. You slowly have seen people like leave and die off and raid log and it's become a little bit dead genuinely. And this is the problem with classic, because it's like there's nothing to do. You have nothing to do at the end game you have raid and that's kind of the extent of it. It really, really is, especially for hardcore. They can't even like pvp or anything for obvious reasons. Um, but yeah, retail just offers more end game. It offers different kind of systems to do an end game as well, whether it be delves, different types of dungeons, mythic plus rated pvp, you know all of these bits and bobs and I don't know.

Speaker 1: 18:01

I just the classes in general feel more fun to play. I do not want to sit there spamming Frostbolt in Molten Core for three hours. I do not want to sit there spamming Shadowbolt for three hours. I do not want to stand there pressing Sinister Strike and Eviscerate that's it For three hours. Like it's a lot more engaging and I think that's what my brain always needs. It needs that engagement and that's why classic doesn't really capture me, genuinely doesn't, and it's tough.

Speaker 1: 18:37

It's sad to say that because I've tried to play huckle wow. I've I've had a level 60 on huckle wow before. When they first came out the service, I did, I did it and since then I've been trying to level a warrior with someone on huckle wow and we just we were playing for like a few weeks and then we've just stopped, abruptly stopped, and it's just because it's tough to keep that same level of oh my god, this is so much fun for weeks when you're just playing classic. It really doesn't differ a lot, and that's the sad thing. That really really is. And the sad thing is the lack of like potential end game content, because we weren't going to do end game, so what was the point in reaching level 60? Anyway, I think we're like level 42 to 44 right now and we just sat on like a mountain of like rested xp essentially, um, but yeah, it's, it's one of them things. I don't know, I don't know. I I definitely think retail over classic, though I I think everyone's got their own opinion, but this is mine.

Speaker 1: 19:43

Now for the final question I'm going to be asked am I? What am I looking forward to? And well, now, many people will say oh, that's easy. Tbc classic, oh that's easy. Season of discovery, phase eight, like the scarlet monastir, like the scarlet crusade raid or something. Um, all of these are very cool. Don something. All of these are very cool, don't get me wrong. These are very cool.

Speaker 1: 20:08

I'm looking forward to Mists of Pandaria that's coming out this year, mop Classic, because I think that's going to be absolutely amazing, not for just myself, but for the guild that we have in Classic. I think that it's going to be amazing and I think that I'm looking forward to Player Housing amazing, and I think that I'm looking forward to player housing. That player housing will be so, so good and I think it's going to be absolutely amazing to have be able to decorate your own house, to be able to, you know, put stuff where you want to be in a neighborhood of 50 other people that you want to be in a neighborhood with. I think it's going to be absolutely amazing and I hope that, because this is an evergreen feature, they constantly add to it throughout each expansion. I mean, you can do it every single patch. You just be like oh, we've added 10 new rugs or something like that. You can go and earn via this achievement by doing the meta achievement in the Undermine or Mechagon or Timeless Isles or whenever. So it keeps old content potentially relevant if you have to go and do old content to unlock certain things, which is really good. But yeah, I think they are the most important things that I'm looking forward to, which being missa pandaria and the I forgot it player housing, because the player housing, for sure, is going to be such a new thing that no one's ever experienced before. And missa pandaria I know what missa pandaria is all about. I played a lot of it, I enjoyed it a lot of the time and I think that it's a very solid expansion. So I'm looking forward to these things and they're not that far away. They genuinely aren't. But let me know, in your guys' thoughts there's a lot of opinionated things here. I will say that. But that is where I'll leave it for this episode. It's a bit shorter than usual, but that's fine.

Speaker 1: 22:05

On Friday we're going to be looking at, possibly, the raid. I'm going to be looking at the raid side of things. I'm going to be looking at the current season starting, see how it feels and all of that. Potentially I need to gather some data on this first, but we'll see. But do check out all of the links below stuff happening, as well as the etsy shop. Again, I've just put something up there. It's zalatath. I've actually made a zalatath. It's really really cool. Not the, you know, not the night elf one, not the night elf version, the blade zalatath. Okay, um, it's really cool, really happy with how it turned out. Give it a look. Honestly, I think you'll be quite impressed with it. But that is where I'll end it. Once again, thank you all very much for listening and go with valor friend, goodbye, do do, thank you.