How has each class changed since vanilla

[Silas Emile]

I'm looking to write up a nice blurb about all of the changes in each class from vanilla to current expansion. (doing this for personal and guild knowledge, not financial!). I have a lot of new players in my guild (along with tons of cata and wrath babies). Plan to post this on our guild website.

It would be appreciated for anyone who really knows their class to talk about all of the changes that have occured since vanilla, i.e. hunters used ammo, fed pets, etc.) Not so much looking for opinion on changes, just the actual physical changes to the classes.

If you could even break it down by spec, that would be great.

[JimPaladin]

Well, when you REALLY get down to it- no class or specc has changed THAT much from it's core purpose. The most you could really say is "This class got this spell, or they had this spell removed/reworked, or this spell was changed." and it would just be super technical and boring- not to mention mostly unhelpful.

I guess the only thing you could really write on is how Druids gained the Guardian specc and Feral tank/dps was finally 'officially' separated.

[Deleted]

Well, when you REALLY get down to it- no class or specc has changed THAT much from it's core purpose. The most you could really say is "This class got this spell, or they had this spell removed/reworked, or this spell was changed." and it would just be super technical and boring- not to mention mostly unhelpful.

I guess the only thing you could really write on is how Druids gained the Guardian specc and Feral tank/dps was finally 'officially' separated.

I'm not sure about that. I'd say, for instance, that paladins have changed from a defensive oriented class to a more damage focused class, warriors have become more self-reliant, etc. Would you disagree with that?

[Silas Emile]

I'm not sure about that. I'd say, for instance, that paladins have changed from a defensive oriented class to a more damage focused class, warriors have become more self-reliant, etc. Would you disagree with that?

I'll agree with that. Maybe I asked the question wrongly then. What changes have been made since Vanilla to your class that you hate or like, or that have made palying your class easier or harder?

[JimPaladin]

Yes, but again, that's -really- just a technical way of saying "Paladins aren't worthless and shit anymore!", or "Druids can actually do things!", or "Hunters can only equip bows!"

There's not much that you can really say that isn't either obvious or technical. Paladins haven't changed from their core Tank/Melee DPS/Healer roles, they've just been made, well, much better through the years and actually viable. Same with every other class for the most part.

[Deleted]

Well, when you REALLY get down to it- no class or specc has changed THAT much from it's core purpose. The most you could really say is "This class got this spell, or they had this spell removed/reworked, or this spell was changed." and it would just be super technical and boring- not to mention mostly unhelpful.

I guess the only thing you could really write on is how Druids gained the Guardian specc and Feral tank/dps was finally 'officially' separated.

And how Hunters changed resource and basically became a ranged rogue

[JimPaladin]

I'll agree with that. Maybe I asked the question wrongly then. What changes have been made since Vanilla to your class that you hate or like, or that have made palying your class easier or harder?

Now THIS is a bit easier to answer, if not very subjective.

Like I said, you could write something about how Paladins and Druids have become much more viable, and that a hard-core Vanilla player coming back to the game shouldn't think there's no such thing as a Paladin/Bear tank. You could also mention Shamans aren't the only ones with a Bloodlust anymore, or (again this is a little technical) that every class has been given at least one buff they can bring to the group, making every class a viable "buff" class for groups.

Stuff like that.

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And how Hunters changed resource and basically became a ranged rogue

Well, this is true. As well as homogenization of mana (though that's more of an 'overall' change, and not a specific one)

[Bonkbonk100]

How many attacks did the Paladin have back in the days, if we don't include seals or undead-only stuff? Two? Crusader Strike and Judgement? I also seem to remember they had Hammer of Wrath back then, but I'm not actually sure.

I can't seem to recall more than that.

[Grubjuice]

Some classes had talent-trees that led to essentially non-viable specs.

For example druids in vanilla were worthless dps (feral or balance) and were almost exlcusively used as healers at the top end
Druid and Paladin tanks had very niche specialties (i.e. Paladins were AoE tanks ONLY) and Warriors were almost the exclusive tanks in all non-niche situations

Horde and Alliance were out balance because Alliance had no Shamans, and Horde had no paladins, and both served as 'support' classes but were mechanically very different.


back in the old days stats were rather illogically divided between classes

Tanks could benefit from agility because it provided armor and dodge.
Tanks could benefit from spirit because it provided in-combat health regen.

Only druids and Priests used Spirit to regain mana and Paladins and Shamans used Mp5 as a stat.

Warlocks and Mages had mechanics that benefitted spirit.

Enh Shamans and Hunters benefitted from intellect as well as agility (as well as strength, and spirit) making them 'all stat' classes.

_____________________

Starting Wrath there was a major Stat reform, where a lot of stat illogicalities (is that a word?) were eliminated:

All healers use spirit, (Mp5 was eliminated) all casters that derive from healing classes used spirit=hit
All puure dps caster gained nothing from spirit
all Plate/strength classes no longer derived any benefit from agility
all Mail/agility classes no longer derived any benefit from strength or intellect


______________________
there used to be hybrid specs in the game (shadow/disc priests, Frost/Fire Mages, etc.)

all dps specs were retuned to be at least viable as dps specs. and in cataclysm hybrid specs were eliminated and specs were gated into exclusive specialization.

_____________________

in cataclysm there was a general trend to resource mechanics (Paladins were given Holy Power, SPriests were given Shadow Orbs, Hunters were given Focus, Balance druids were given Eclipse, Warlocks were given soul shards.)

This trend toward resource-reform was continued in MoP with the revision of Warlock where all three classes were given a unique resource, and has reached it's current apex in with the chi-energy-brew system used by Monks.

[Pool of the Dead]

Ret Paladins went from Auras/Blessings/Autoswing/exorcism(worked on undead/demon only, autocrit)/ Holy Wrath with Cast time/Judgement with varying seals that lasted 30secs, that scaled with Str.
to Auras/Blessings/Autoswing/Crusader strike/exorcism(worked on undead/demon only, autocrit)/ Holy Wrath with Cast time/Judgements with varying seals that lasted 30 sec that scaled with Str.
to Auras/Blessings/Autoswing/Crusader strike/exorcism(worked on undead/demon only, autocrit)/ Holy Wrath with Cast time/Judgements with varying seals that lasted 30 sec that scaled with Spellpower.
Back to Auras/Blessings/Autoswing/Crusader strike/exorcism(worked on undead/demon only)/ Holy Wrath with Cast time/Judgements with varying seals that lasted 30 sec that scaled with Str
to Auras/Blessings/Crusader strike/Divine Storm/exorcism(worked on all, autocrit-undead/demon only)/ Holy Wrath instant Cast time/Judgements with Varying Seals that lasted 2 mins that scaled with STR
to Blessings/Hands(replacing some Blessings)/Guardian of Ancient Kings/exorcism(worked on all autocrit -undead/demon only)/ Holy Wrath with Cast time/[Crusader strike/Judgements both of which now generated new resource Holy Power]/{Divine Storm/Templar's Verdict both of which now used new resource Holy power}with Varying Seals(that replaced the old Aura UI look) that lasted until toggled off that scaled with STR.

Forbearance changed from 5mins to 3 mins to 5 mins to 2 mins to 1 min.
Lay on Hands changed from 1 hr to 30mins to 15 mins to 10 mins.
Divine Shield changed from invunerability and 50% reduced weapon swing speed to Invunerability to 50% reduced weapon damage.
Crusader strike changed from 110% weapon damage + 40% of Holy damage, and refreshes all seals on 15sec CD -to- 115% Weapon damage + damage based on ATK Power 8sec CD -to- 145% Weapon damage plus damage based on ATK power 6sec CD -to- 110% plus damage based on ATK power and granting 1 holy power. 4.5sec CD.
Blessing of Might Changed from static AP bonus -to- 10% attack power -to- 3000 mastery.

Uggh i could keep going but I just became really slack.

[Deleted]

How many attacks did the Paladin have back in the days, if we don't include seals or undead-only stuff? Two? Crusader Strike and Judgement? I also seem to remember they had Hammer of Wrath back then, but I'm not actually sure.

I can't seem to recall more than that.

Biggest Paladin change came at end of BC, at which point i could one-shot people before my stuns ran out on the quest hub island :P

[Grubjuice]

spells used to have ranks, each ranks was more power and more mana-costly version of the spell, this led to healer using different spell ranks of single spells to triage
(Heal 1 for maintenance, Heal 5 for heavy healing)

after Wrath, spells were no longer ranked, but all healers were given a suite of triage spells (a slow/efficient, slow/heavy, and fast/inefficient spell), in addition to class-specific core spells.

[JuggernautServices]

Shamans usually were melee + 2h Axes + Windfury to one shot ANYTHING in PVP.

[Turismon]

Hunters used to be able to Wind up Aimed shot while Shadowmeld. It was the perfect Southshore/Tauren mill camp out and pick people off ability, since back then, aimed shot was a leather killer ability, so you would get 2 aimed off before they knew what hit them and they were basically dead .

[Pool of the Dead]

Elemental Mages were a thing.

you could go deep enough into both the frost and fire trees to be useful.

- - - Updated - - -

Shamans usually were melee + 2h Axes + Windfury to one shot ANYTHING in PVP.

they had to spec 2Hander weapons though at lvl 20

[Silas Emile]

great info everyone, keep it coming!

[Deleted]

Rogues used to have blinding Powder used for casting Blind, likewise they had poisons in their bags used for applying your poisons.
And you could actually choose which weapon you wanted to use, compared to pretty much being forced to use dagger now. I really miss that choice.

[Silas Emile]

Rogues used to have blinding Powder used for casting Blind, likewise they had poisons in their bags used for applying your poisons.
And you could actually choose which weapon you wanted to use, compared to pretty much being forced to use dagger now.

I remember that. And having to do the poison quests (not to mention lock picking leveling). In bc I was a combat rogue, dual weilding two swords. Actual swashbuckler lol.

[Netherspark]

How many attacks did the Paladin have back in the days, if we don't include seals or undead-only stuff? Two? Crusader Strike and Judgement? I also seem to remember they had Hammer of Wrath back then, but I'm not actually sure.

I can't seem to recall more than that.

Crusader Strike only came in TBC as I recall. When I started my Paladin all you could do was Judgement then autoattack while dancing with Seals.

[Drilnos]

Let's see...

Been a bear druid since Vanilla. A few highlights:

Maul was an on-next-autoattack ability that hit like a truck, and had a threat multiplier.
Swipe was a frontal cone attack.
Faerie Fire (Feral) did no extra damage or threat in bear form, didn't lower armor and didn't stack.
The above three abilities were the only ones on the bar related to maintaining aggro.
Despite this, threat generation on a single target was beastly compared to a warrior, entirely thanks to Maul.

Bears could be crushed, and crit.
Barkskin only reduced physical damage.
Frenzied Regeneration drained 10 rage per second to heal a small percentage of max health (3?), for ten seconds. It was a cooldown.
Those were the only defensive cds.
Enrage took a chunk out of their armor while it was active. This was bad.

They relied 100% on armor and stamina stacking to mitigate the danger of dying to a crit.
Items with green armor values were coveted like Gollum coveted the Precious.
Tier armor, by and large, was worthless for the role.
There was zero correlation between weapon dps and swing damage.

Before pulling, it was common practice to throw a Rejuvenate on yourself, to give yourself some healing aggro.
It was also common to pull aoe packs with a tick or two of Hurricane.
After the pull, it was a matter of tab-Mauling everything.

Bears were pulled into action for very specific situations. Bosses that polymorphed tanks were primary culprits, and extremely rare. They also had a small advantage against bosses that knocked tanks back, being able to Feral Charge in midair without stance dancing. They also sometimes got called in when one too many warriors called in sick, though your standard raid was usually more willing to make an Arms warrior toss on a shield than let a bear do the job. On the other hand, they also usually would rather let a bear tank than a prot paladin. Being able to be crit and crushed was a major problem, as well as lack of means to deal with Fear on their own. They only overcame the stigma entirely in TBC.