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WOW to WAR transition guide
smitty0356
Member Posts: 368
Just in case some people didn't get to play warhammer online yet, I thought I would share some insight on the class breakdown so far for both order and destruction.
ORDER:
IRONBREAKER: This will be the overall best tank for raiding, but it is not as great in pvp. It requires a building of grudge points to launch it's actions, which deminish if the player dies, or if it is out of combat for too long. Both of these things happen often in rvr. (Closest wow build: Warrior)
ENGINEER: Gimp... The dps does not do this class justice. It is very versitile, but I have killed an engineer with EVERY destruction class, and I have felt like I have had an advantage... enough said. Their hp is too low to melee, and their dps is too low period. Turrets are also completely lame and useless. (Closest wow build: noob elemental shaman)
RUNEPRIEST: This class is quite a bit better than the name and description tells. For RVR this is the only healer you would ever need, as it can really lay out the HOT's, and it can bestow skills to players that are REALLY GOOD!! Giving a tank a high damage ranged skill that costs no action points is pretty awesome!! Offensive magic is not so hot, but it can get the job done in a pinch. (Closest wow build: Shadow priest/healer druid)
WARRIOR PRIEST: Not as great as you would imagine. The heals are about par, slightly better than a runepriest, but less than an archmage. The melee attacks are OK, but not great, and the ranged skills just are a letdown in both appearance and effect. The attacks are simaler to throwing a tomato at your opponent... it even makes a squishy sound. If you are empire, this isn't a bad choice however, since it is a nice balance between offense and defense, and they can be a real pain in scenarios to uproot. (Closest wow build: Healer paladin)
BRIGHTWIZARD: These are one of the most powerful classes in the game. If you are going to be a caster, be this caster. Their DPS is unmatched against all classes, and their dots, roots, and debuffs can make them at the advantage of any brawl. Their building power, also makes them increddible burst damage if they are not being attacked. They can get huge crits with just a little backlash from their skills, so if you think of ignoring these, think again! (Closest wow build: Fire mage)
WITCH HUNTER: Most OP class in RVR bar NONE!!! They can kite any class around and just abuse them. Tanks, melee dps, healers... all of them. For casters, it's even worse, they basically can silence you, then kill you FAST! Their gear makes them much much better, so end game they will be dps gods, and almost all of their skills are instant cast. So far, this particular class is my only balance gripe that I have with the game. Also, many of the order are this class... tons and tons of these in fact. I expect this to be the most played class on the order side of the fence. At least they rock... as long as they are this OP, I see good things for order! (closest wow build: Rogue with a gun)
Shadow Warrior: This class is good, don't get me wrong, but compared to the BW, it is gimp. The arrow attacks are simaler in cast time, and cost to the spells, but they have a diminished effect. This class relies on mobility which only one tree really supports, and it lacks the burst dps of a ranged attacker. I also found it easy to close on this class since EVERY melee class has some sort of slow or root. This really takes the wind out of the sails of this class. Despite the neat trailer video, they are completely worthless in melee combat, but they can sneak in some pretty good damage without a lot of flash if you can camp by npc's, but this is a pretty lame tactic to use, and people will generally just avoid you and you will effectively become an npc. Reccomend playing a BW instead of this class! (closest wow build: Mage)
White Lion: This class if very neat. Having a lion that helps and follows you around is a pretty good idea. Probem is that lions are not as good as a player, and the whitelion is not as good as a player either. Only together can you beat someone, and even then it can be a trick. The lion is very useful for tapping mobs solo, and you can resummon your lion in combat, so this class can solo quite well. There is a degree of skill that is required for this class though, that is not required for the squig herder, since the squig herder can just shoot while you must melee it out. I must warn you that lions are not very strong hp-wise, and most of the time will just die from splash damage from bosses. This class is good in RVR, but HORRIBLE in raids... Just horrible... you basically take 2x dps damage from any boss due to having two targets present. (Closest wow build: hunter with no arrows)
Archmage: Solid class with low soloability, in short. The heals are great, and the spells are decent. It is the closest you will come to a classic healer class in this mmo. The "using offense to help heals" is complete bs, since the stat bonus is to cast time, and that is just lame. This particular type of class is everywhere in mmo's so I will not go on and on about it. (closest wow build: Holy priest)
Swordmaster: This is very interesting to me. Since dark elves get NO TANK, you are lulled into feeling pretty useful in pvp and feeling pretty powerful EARLY ON. Problem is that your balance attribute is completely worthless, and other tanks can rock your world. If you are a classic tanker, go Ironbreaker. If you want to be a hybrid dps tank, this might be your angle, but I warn that they added dps comes at a cost of almost all defense. These die nearly as easily in rvr as a shadow warrior, so choose wisely. This might be good for raiding however, I never got the class up to a level where I could take on a serious raid. Just a note, all of the pictures of these show them weilding a greatsword, but most of the time you are sword & board just like the other classes.... I thought this class would be a different take on a tank with just a weapon, but it turns out not to be the case.... any tank can do what this tank does just as well. (closest wow build: one-armed paladin)
DESTRUCTION!!!!!!!
Black-Orc: This tank starts out slow... I mean very slow! But it gets to be the best tanking tank in the destruction lineup. They are solid in rvr and can really give casters fits with interrupts. The only problem is that you are kind of big and stand out, and you generally are being swarmed by ironbreakers since the other dwarf classes kind of lack awesomeness. (closest wow build: fury warrior)
Shaman: (See archmage) except small and darty which helps in rvr. I have a great screenie of a bush/shaman in rvr... classic. (closest wow build: Holy priest)
Squig herder: By far the best solo class!!! BY FAR! You will see this right off the bat, and throughout the game. I am a bit confused about the "squig armor" path since it makes the 2 of you become one, and acutally be fairly gimp. (you climb into the squig like the trailer) The big shootin path is the best for rvr and solo... and raids. These are the closest thing to huntards in WOW. I expect there to be a lot of these running around at launch. (22 huntards lf healer and tank) will likely be said quite a bit in the orc lands. (closest wow build: beastmaster hunter)
Zealot: (See runepriest) almost a perfect mirror! (closest wow build: Shadow priest/healer druid)
Chosen: Chosens are the coolest looking class, and they have some of the neatest powers of the tanking community. Their curses are instantaneous, powerful, and are spread over a large area. These curses do things like (-33% resist to enemies +33% resist to allies) which is pretty huge! As solo, they aren't great, and the curses agro enemies which makes pulling and pve VERY HARD at times. In rvr it's nice to have the full power of you skills available at the start of the fight, since tanks rarely live to see the end of the fight. All in all, I would say they are balanced due to their specific weaknesses to ranged attacks and pve. They are alright in raids... not better than a BO but still acceptable. This will likely be the most played destruction class (yey for casters) due to their cool looks, and decent power. This is a tank that is cool enough to get people who don't play tanks to try it out. This will fizzle in the higher levels though. (closest wow build: Super paladin)
Magus: This class is simaler to the engineer (weirdly enough) they can summon deamons and shoot at people, but it's different. They are no where near as good as a sorc or BW, but they aren't horrible either. They can cast AND move, which is unique to casters, and it takes some getting used to as most people freeze when the caster bar comes up. All of their skills are weak for being a caster, but they all have some secondary effects that are nice. The disc is well done and cool. It also attacks in melee for you as well. This class got a remake not too long ago, and they added some utility skills, but I would avoid this class since it will not be very good in raids and it is only marginal in rvr/pve. The summons are much better than the turrets from and engineer at least. (closest wow build: Elemental shaman)
Marauder: This class is very good in rvr. It has a lot of silences, slows, roots, and even an ability that pulls your opponent to you! Not to mention a few sprints and root breaks. They are NOT as good as a WH and can get beaten like a doll by one and their shinannagans, but they are the 2nd worst thing to happen to a caster. Their melee AOE's are the real show-stopper since people love to bunch up for protection. A few of these can make superior forces turn and run due to the huge aoe's possible by these guys! They also have attacks that due more damage from behind and so on. Not fantastic in raids since most cc and silences just don't work in these scenarios, but if you are a hardcore pvp melee guy (ex rogue) and you want to really become a feared sight to order, then this if your guy! (Closest wow build: dps warrior)
Sorcerrer: T(ee BW) The overall damage KING!! They have some cc, an AOE silence to deal with healers and they can just dish out the burst/sustained dps like no one else!
Disciple of khaine: If you can find something that will let you wack on it a little while, they can get some pretty potent skills, however in rvr that doesn't happen much. Their skills are utility based and not very flashy. They can dual-wield, but that's only for show, and a little for stats. Their dps sucks, but they are a healer class primarily. Very simaler to a warrior priest. (closest wow class: Healing paladin that doesn't know to stay out of melee)
Witch elf: These are simaler to the witch hunter, but without a gun... HUGE burst damage, and awesome poion/debuff skills against a single target, but just plain not as good as a witch hunter. Could be better in raids though... since a kiting and silences don't work. These guys can really kill someone fast if they aren't taking direct fire from an opponent. BW's can smoke these chicks pretty fast though! Closest wow class: (rogue who can't vanish)
I hope this guide helps you find the right match for you are launch, so you don't miss any time leveling your main by being distracted by a class that looks cool but doesn't play to your liking. I learned an important lesson from the MAGUS, and I hope this can help you get your first class right!
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Comments
Good writeup, but i disagree with some of the class comparisons. Nevertheless, you can check out some Action skills here and compare. Just select the class from the drop down menu.
http://www.wardb.com/search.aspx?browse=6.1.20
Very interesting post.
It shows the initial 6 Armies were replaced by just 2 factions classes.
No one even talks about Empire, the Greenskins or the Elves Armies anymore.
So sad for Warhammer TT gamers. It is completely >< the TT game with its beautiful Army books.
Painfull. Pathetic even to sell this as WH lore.
WH TT is ONE Army against another Army, each with its own specs. The MMO version became a complete joke when they scrapped not only the 4 capitols, the classes within these armies and introduced the one vs one faction lore.
Complete waste of money/time for every die hard Warhammer TT player.
I guess they just needed a lore and screwed it to have a one on one game. Wonder what GW thinks now?
Every serious Warhammer TT player should write to GW.
No Warlock equivalent ?
Though I feel Witch Hunter resembles quite closely to Warlock.
You're very mistaken. They are still 6 armies. There are just 2 factions. It's part of the story, just like how in WoW Orcs and Undead teamed up together.
Each racial pairing it is very evident that they still are maintaining the feel of race vs race.
Dwarf vs Greenskins
Empire vs Chaos
High Elves vs Dark Elves.
in the future I imagine we will see more races added. Skaven, Vampires, Ogres, anything is possible with the Warhammer lore.
Closest thing to a Warlock in this game is Sorcerer. They have dots, AE's, hard nukes, group buffs. They lack pets though.
Although I think the gameplay in Warhammer is terrible... you are wrong about the lore stuff.
The armies do match up 1v1 really well. You see it in the zone layouts more then the OP described in this post ( his post wasn't really about the lore).
I think the thing to point out is that any class with a dot will be overpowered just because of the way experience is rewarded. The aboslute fastest way to level, and to become strong is to cast 'corruption' on every target in sight, then run away. Any class with an instant cast dot is going to level twice as fast as someone like a warrior.
Players have already figured this out.. so expect there to be a ton of 'warlock' equivelants and not many of anything else.
Great write up...although I disagree with the Chosen a little. The only thing i disagreed with was difficulty soloing with a Chosen. I found it to be one of the easiest of all Melee Tank classes to lvl up (my main is an Orc Warrior in WoW.....and man is that rough lol)
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
funny I read from another post that witch hunters are a bit lacking.
anyway I plan on going mele DPS as usual, I would rather go witch hunter since they look reasonablly original, and I hear everyone is going destruction. but I will try the witch out too, reluctant to like it since I feel everyone will play it for the epic bewbs.
My blog:
hmm people should check out www.wardb.com for a better idea of how careers are.
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Will play: not WAR, HELLO KITTY ONLINE!!11one
Playing: EVE
Played: EQ (+all expansions too), Asheron''s Call 2, Anarchy Online, Planet Side, EQ2, WoW (+TBC), EVE
www.mmorpg.com/discussion2.cfm/thread/197200
???
Do what? The Witch hunter is more like a rogue with a gun. They have stealth and postion dependant attacks.
The best WoW equivilent for the Sorceress and Bright Wizard would have to be a Mage imo, they are direct damage glass cannons. Sure there are dots, but for the most part they are nuke machines. The Warlock equivilent I suppose would be the magus, perhaps even the engineer.
I'm sure people will disagree by saying "omgwtf, engineers use teh guns!" but hear it out. What is a lock, they are a situational pet class with both DOT and Direct damage attacks. Both the magus and engineer have situational pets and can deal DOT or direct damage. Sure their pets are indeed imobile however the choice of pet can directly affect the outcome of the fight they are in. The squig hunter has situational pets, however the pet control bar and play style feel more like the WoW hunter than a lock. The White lion has no WoW equivilent aside from those dreaed china melee hunters. You all know you've seen them, don't lie!
Sorry to reply to myself here, but one thing anyone from WoW should know out of the gate is that Warhammer handles hybrid classes far more gracefully than our alma mater. In WoW hybrid classes are forced to silo themselves into a specific talent build for raiding, which in turn takes their diversity away. Suddenly you're hybrid classes become "resto shammmy", "prot pally", "feral dps drood", "enhancement shammy" etc etc.
That's not the case in WAR. If you are a hybrid, you have to actually play a hybrid thanks to some tricky mechanics. Goblin shaman have to do spell damage in order to see bonuses to healing and vice a versa for damage bonuses. Disciples of Khaine can only heal once they have done a certain amount of melee DPS.... the list goes on. Sure you can point your character in a general direction through mastery points, however you will stlil have to use hybrid mechanics to perform your role. This was a complete breath of fresh air for me since the above mentioned issue with WoW was always a serious complaint for me.
Witch Hunters are pretty lacking. I was able to easily dispatch them as any melee class, not so well with a caster. Bright Wizards will be the FOTM class when WAR relases. It will also be the first class to be beat with the nerf tree.
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You wouldn't understand
Witch hunters..... the name basically says it... They are one of the better anti-caster classes out there. They aren't Marauder hunters or chosen hunters, they're WITCH-hunters.
Yeh and Witch Elves can own Witch Hunters in seconds.
Witch elves /= casters. The name is misleading I know, but I stand by them being caster killers. I was able to demolish zealots, shamen, sorceresses, and magi like it was nothing. Later as destruction I found that keeping witch hunters off of my healers was a big concern as a chosen as well.
They have a place in the world, you just have to play them to take advantage of that place without mistaking them for a WoW rogue.