Shockadins and Boomkin

[Realitytrembles]

Hi all. Looking forward to classic. I've think I've narrowed down what I want to play: a human Shockadin, and a Tauren Balance Druid. Both of them with Alch/Herb.

I've heard that shockadins could level and quest very easily because of heavy armor and heals, but they take a long time to kill things with basically just their auto-attack/holy shock/judgement. I also have read they were good single-target healers.

Most of the things I've read about Balance druids say they had a lot of mana problems.

Comments from anyone who played these in vanilla would be very much appreciated.

[FuxieDK]

There is a reason why they were called oomkin back in the days....

[elgarta]

Problem with Balance druids was that most of the MP5 gear you could get was cloth, and if you ever took it over a clothie then you were likely going to end up on a "no invite" list. The few I knew who had decent Mana Regen were usually allowed to take cloth non-set pieces from BWL and MC.

[Holtzmann]

From what I've gathered, pretty much all non-DPS specs took forever to level because things took just so long to die. Some DPS specs also took forever.

Of course, you could level as a good leveling spec and still do dungeons just fine. Like, a Shadow Priest could heal a normal leveling dungeon just fine, just needed a little more care. Warriors could also tank in every spec.

[chubbybunny]

Priest levelling was fun, think you used to level using a wand for attacking as you had a talent for it that made it powerful

[Machismo]

If you are leveling a druid, level as feral... it's way faster, and you are much harder to kill.

If you are leveling as pally, I recommend prot. You can tank as you level, or even heal. Ret does a bit more damage, but has way less survivability.

Leveling as boomkin or holy is just very inefficient, overall.

[Realitytrembles]

I'm not so much interested in speed of leveling. I intend to explore zones, do quests as I find them ( not hunt obsessively for them), and level profs. I don't anticipate having a lvl 60 on either side for at least 6 months after release.

[Holtzmann]

I'm not so much interested in speed of leveling. I intend to explore zones, do quests as I find them ( not hunt obsessively for them), and level profs. I don't anticipate having a lvl 60 on either side for at least 6 months after release.

Thing is, ease of leveling also affects those things you want to do. The longer it takes for you to kill the monsters standing in the way of your quest rewards and gathering nodes, the longer it takes for you to explore, quest and level your professions -- particularly skinning and tailoring, since those professions use materials gathered from mobs.

But hey, if you feel like exploring Druid should be just fine for you. You still get Cat Form as Balance, and going cat and stealthing up can get you places and allow you to avoid a lot of trouble in the open world.

[Segus1992]

I'm not so much interested in speed of leveling. I intend to explore zones, do quests as I find them ( not hunt obsessively for them), and level profs. I don't anticipate having a lvl 60 on either side for at least 6 months after release.

Explore zones that have been in the game for 14 years? Well ok.

What are you asking about if it isn't about efficiency? The two specs you've mentioned are probably the most inefficient levelers there are, except maybe Prot Warrior. Even a Holy Priest (with Spirit Tap) would be a better leveler than either Balance Druid or Holy Paladin.

[Anchorite]

Explore zones that have been in the game for 14 years? Well ok.

What are you asking about if it isn't about efficiency? The two specs you've mentioned are probably the most inefficient levelers there are, except maybe Prot Warrior. Even a Holy Priest (with Spirit Tap) would be a better leveler than either Balance Druid or Holy Paladin.

He may have started after Cataclysm, we've played longer post cata than pre cata

[Segus1992]

He may have started after Cataclysm, we've played longer post cata than pre cata

Not all zones are different, and most of those that are are only slightly-somewhat different. You'll have time to explore literally all differences even with the most efficient leveling spec.

[anon5123]

Holy Shock has a 30 second cooldown in vanilla. Have fun with that "shockadin".

Also boomkin is garbage in PvE because you run out of mana super fast and can't use debuff slots.

- - - Updated - - -

Explore zones that have been in the game for 14 years? Well ok.

Step down off the high horse, elitist. Not everyone has explored every zone.

I've been playing since 2007 and in private servers I discovered so many new quests/areas that I just didn't end up visiting back in the day.

[Cæli]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but moonkin were considered bad because they were bad only if they stick with leather int, which made them bad, unlike cloth.

[Elves4ever]

I mained a Boomkin in vanilla and in fact tanked dungeons for my all elf guild. Trinket Starfire was enough to hold the hunters off threat for a while...
Anyways im sure by the end i was in all leather gear and i pugged ZG and MC fine as Boomy, I even topped dps in a LBRS run once.

[Armourboy]

Honestly I'll probably level my Paladin as a mix of Ret and Holy and Prot. Good thing about all 3 specs is they have lots of good stuff early in the trees.

Big thing with Paladin is basically being able to stick with it til you hit Duskwood and can start using undead abilities. Before that it's boring as heck.

[Segus1992]

Holy Shock has a 30 second cooldown in vanilla. Have fun with that "shockadin".

Also boomkin is garbage in PvE because you run out of mana super fast and can't use debuff slots.

- - - Updated - - -



Step down off the high horse, elitist. Not everyone has explored every zone.

I've been playing since 2007 and in private servers I discovered so many new quests/areas that I just didn't end up visiting back in the day.

Sorry you got offended.

Quoting myself for clarity:

Not all zones are different, and most of those that are are only slightly-somewhat different. You'll have time to explore literally all differences even with the most efficient leveling spec.

- - - Updated - - -

Correct me if I'm wrong, but moonkin were considered bad because they were bad only if they stick with leather int, which made them bad, unlike cloth.

Balance fully decked in cloth is alright, but not fantastic. You're basically a weaker cloth caster.

[Deleted]

I'm not so much interested in speed of leveling. I intend to explore zones, do quests as I find them ( not hunt obsessively for them), and level profs. I don't anticipate having a lvl 60 on either side for at least 6 months after release.

It is not about rushing tho. Do you really want to reg every 1-2 mobs for 30sec? Because that is what boomkin leveling is like.

[RobertMugabe]

Hi all. Looking forward to classic. I've think I've narrowed down what I want to play: a human Shockadin, and a Tauren Balance Druid. Both of them with Alch/Herb.

I've heard that shockadins could level and quest very easily because of heavy armor and heals, but they take a long time to kill things with basically just their auto-attack/holy shock/judgement. I also have read they were good single-target healers.

Most of the things I've read about Balance druids say they had a lot of mana problems.

Comments from anyone who played these in vanilla would be very much appreciated.

Why would you play these specs tho? I mean not only are they both bad specs, but the worst part about them is that they're EXTREMELY boring.

[Bling]

I think you have it all wrong you don't level as a spec in classic. You level as a class. You don't pick your specialization you can take a little of anything you want. The best performing specs were often mixed. 31 in ret was a popular healing choice because you pretty much got every healing talent in holy for 20 points and you gained the Kings buff. Holy Shock was considered a dps buff at Tier 2+ over Ret, because at that point your gear has both strength and intellect/spell power stats and Ret had no strike talent, so it gave you another attack while waiting for the Seal of Command lottery procs.

If you want to maximize your dps as a paladin, look for a 2H dps weapon with a damage proc, Seal of Command could proc off of Damage procs and Damage procs off Seal of Command resulting is some massive burst, I used that to 1 shot stuff, helped in a ton in the Grand Marshal grind. I think I ran 31 Holy and 20 ret and was a powerful 2H healer/dps.

[BicycleMafioso]

Paladins scale well with spell damage whilst leveling, even more so than strength I would say. The problem with that is its scarcity. Intellect doesn't increase spell power, mind you.

You would also be very sturdy, with a shield and uninterrupted heals (concentration aura), something that is not to be dismissed.
Frankly, I would prefer porcupine prot leveling, but both probably need good mapping out before you start to make sure you get the right gear. Prot less so.

I would also advise against Balance. Best case scenario, in full cloth gear, you are still just a worse Mage. So what is the point? If you want to do it, sure. But people will struggle to accept you wanting their gear, since you CAN wear leather, whereas they can only wear what you want from them as well.

Paladin was the only one I dabbled in, and only really at the tail end.