New main for cata, but which class?

[Vdo]

Long time reader, first time poster (had to register to make this thread). Im in the army and currently deployed to Iraq AGAIN, which is obviously causing me to miss out on ICC and final xpac content AGAIN. I have played a paladin main for my entire raiding career, but i really hate pala healing and tanking. SO for my raids i was always retribution, i could offspec and was knowledgeable etc but i raided ret primary. I'm a smart player and i consider myself to be pretty good at this game, i do all my research and come ready to raid. that all being said im not ensidia material, ive always been in top 500 world guilds but never sub 200 world guilds, to get a feel for where i raid at.

With cataclysm coming up ive decided i dont want to play my paladin any longer as my main character because being such a versatile class and not wanting to offspec makes me a bit of a burden and i dont feel like i can ask guilds to take me as a ret only who doesnt want to offspec. Ive been leveling my alts to find out what my new main will be for cata. I have classes i will absolutely not play, mage and warrior. ive also got classes i have never played (even lowbies) like the shaman and druid (hate druids too).

I'm currently leveling a priest, hunter, death knight, warlock, and rogue (just got him to 80 with ToC badge gears) i guess what im looking for here is a reccomendation from the public with reasoning as to why i should pick class x or y with what specs for my new main in cata? im leaning towards the priest rogue or hunter. im aware of changes coming in cata e.g. hunters to focus and im aware of class knowledge in general but i would like raiding "feel" for the classes. like what is it like to play that class during whatever fight. how would you rate the difficulty, what addons are a must have and how do you utilize them. what would you say is the most fun offspec? mainspec?

of course feel free to troll me as well

inb4 omg l2p / research nub

[USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST]

[jonfauscett]

I would say go for one of the pure dps classes, that way you don't get stuck healing or tanking because we all know how boring both of those jobs can be.

[bliston78]

i'm on thsi same page here, been playing a sham for quite a while now, and i'm sick of being asked to heal. so i'm now debating between a lock and a hunter just for a change. range dps is in the back, both of them JUST dps, and i'll never be asked to do anything more extreme then maybe be a ranged tank for a boss ( yay duel spec use )

but i've decided that if i change my mind and end up playing something that can tank or heal, Ill never touch a pc of tank or heal gear even for a faster random que, never!

i want to play the game to enjoy it, not be yelled at for doing somethign wrong, and i'm pretty damn good at not standing in fire so i'll stick with that

[Vdo]

My concern for the offspec issue was not that i hate to heal, rather that i hate paladin healing and tanking. i would spec my priest disc MS, and vary my offspec but i really like the disc style of healing (esp with the raid healing option now ;D ;D ;D ) its not an aversion to tanking, i like tanking on my death knight. i guess it just comes down to class playability and how much shit ive got to keep track of etc. a more intuitive class is what i want, but maybe not so ridiculous as an example affliction lock haha. paladin really isnt complicated in PVE, dont argue we know its not.

[Airlick]

If you want to play as DPS only, which I can guess from your post, definitely go for a pure DPS class. I was playing a paladin too, but since I got tired of respeccing every day to the spec my guild required for a raid, I rolled shaman (yeah, stupid me)... After some time, when I geared up a bit, my new guild had problem with healers so I had to spec resto... After some time I just respecced both my specs to ele and now I'm happy as I have never been before. :P

[Zarghol]

I'd suggest either a warlock or a shadow priest. I know for sure that affliction is refreshingly challenging, to the point that you need to keep concentrating to pull the max numbers but still have fun without getting too frustrated, thus not getting bored even though you play DPS only. I haven't played a shadow priest myself, but from what I've seen it seems to be a bit of the same deal, and you wrote that you're leaning towards a priest, so. I admit I don't know much of the raiding parts you ask about, haven't raided for ages, but I feel confident enough about my knowledge of warlocks to recommend it at least.

[Vdo]

I'd suggest either a warlock or a shadow priest. I know for sure that affliction is refreshingly challenging, to the point that you need to keep concentrating to pull the max numbers but still have fun without getting too frustrated, thus not getting bored even though you play DPS only. I haven't played a shadow priest myself, but from what I've seen it seems to be a bit of the same deal, and you wrote that you're leaning towards a priest, so. I admit I don't know much of the raiding parts you ask about, haven't raided for ages, but I feel confident enough about my knowledge of warlocks to recommend it at least.

i like the warlock class an awful lot, but the arena game seems daunting at best. while im a good raider, im not a macro master and warlocks in raids and arenas (small side interest) seem to have WAY too many macros and keybinds for me. coupled with insane dot timers (affliction) its almost too busy. granted its alot more intuitive than the old paladin, i think a level of spriest timers and macros is something more comfortable to me, but as i said id definitely be disc healing on the priest. the rogues more intuitive mutilate cycle is what got me into rogues, but with the poison changes its a little mindless really like combat used to be. id love to see sub come back as a viable spec. im looking for an intuitive class /spec that isnt overboard. sounds weird right?

[bahumut5]

13.6.2. Pointless threads
"Which class should I roll?" is a frequently reoccurring thread.

There is no real discussion to be had about which class any individual should play. This is a very personal decision and all anyone can really do is post their personal favourites over and over again.

If you wish to find out more information about specific classes, feel free to browse our Class Forums. You can also try to use the forum's search function if you have a specific question about a class.