Most of us has been in the boat with every new expansion or even trying to decide what to pick for a new main.
It’s an important decision, picking the wrong class means a lot of hard work and time invested into something that isn’t performing well or to your expectations, even if you enjoy the play-style. You’ll just feel robbed at the end of it all with buyers remorse.
So if you’re a casual player or newbie I have some tips for you on helping you choose a class you hopefully won’t be later disappointed with and regretting the class you picked.
Play the Beta or watch videos
With the Azeroth expansion it was immediately clear from the Beta that DH was going to be the class to play for the new expansion, so if you were looking for the strongest class or one of them it was obvious early on.
High mountains and speed, DH being able to take advantage of that with their glide ability and even just the overall play-style and even with ability pruning it was going to be a force because it was still putting out that burst damage.
If you can get into the beta and try different classes this will give you a big indication of what is going to be strongest next expansion or enjoyable for you (based on changes they are implementing) you’ll get a personal feel for it and you can tell if Blizzard has a good handle on it even it’s a little early, they likely won’t be making too many major changes by release to how the class feels and plays.
Find out what changes are being made to your favorite or chosen class before you invest in it.
However, even without the knowledge there are classes that are just consistently good picks and therefore reliable choices to help prevent the “Why did I pick this class to main?” blues.
Most reliable classes
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Death knight - very strong dps overall, self-healing, resilient. Great in PVP and PVE
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Demon Hunter - Crazy burst, high dps, fast and agile (gliding), good in casual PVP and PVE
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Mage - Fantastic range dps, surprisingly resilient, tears through PVE content, high skill ceiling
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Rogue - Always great in PVP. Very effective in solo/dungeon PVE. Stealth and can pick and choose your battles, get out of bad situations. High skill ceiling.
Even with nerfs and tweaks or game changes, those classes will likely remain solid throughout it all.
Strong solo in PvP and PVE and stress free
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Paladin - Amazing tool kit, stays alive, helps others, can avoid most CC in game. Strong dps, heals, faster default mount speed, plate armor. Great burst and shields to escape trouble make it good choice.
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Hunter - pet is your personal tank. Strong ranged dps, tricks to avoid damage and death, traps. Great class to learn raids or in dungeons as you can observe from a distance (just remember to take taunt off). Solid class in PVE and PVP.
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Death Knight - it’s a Death Knight, has been one of the best classes in the game overall from it’s release and will likely stay that way
Classes that seem strong but aren’t until later or in group settings (high risk of singing the main char blues)
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Shaman - strong dps but defensively weak and vulnerable. Prone to pulling more mobs than intended while trying to escape in PVE, vulnerable to interrupt, fear, low resilience, complicated, not a strong choice for casuals in solo or casual pvp. It takes more effort for equal results.
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Warlock - Has a pet, but it’s not a hunter pet. Low maneuverability, long ramp up time on dmg (better in raids/long fights), can get easily overwhelmed, sitting duck due to casts to do big damage, extremely prone to interrupt, needs protection/heals, constant changes to the class by Blizzard.
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Warrior - gear dependent, heal dependent, surprised it doesn’t wear depend diapers. Feels great, first impression is enjoyable but ultimately can be isolated and made to look very weak in PVE and PVP. Poor solo/casual play choice unless you’re willing to deal with the consequences, like needing potions, food or other aids or just accepting death.
Less reliable or inconsistent classes
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Druid - great versatility, fun but the class is constantly being messed with. Very unpredictable on how your preferred spec will perform, but healing is usually solid. Furthermore, they might change your shift forms or just how things work, leaving you unsatisfied or underwhelmed.
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Priest - Shadow lacks real punch out of void form, very vulnerable/not resilient, easily overwhelmed, CC is weak, single target damage mostly. Heal specs are questionable and ever changing, it’s a roll of the dice and not a great choice for a casual player.
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Monk - I’m not too familiar with the monk but to me it’s a quirky and unpredictable class. What i do know is It destroyed in mists of pandaria and then they made some major changes to it and I just haven’t seen it as much of a force ever since. Choose at your own risk.
At the end of the day
If you’re a casual player that mostly plays alone or doesn’t really do raid content or does mostly dungeons or maybe with a group of friends, keep that in mind when choosing a class.
Also consider the other perks when choosing a main. A mage for example is a good main because he can move around quickly with self-portals and provide their own food. Warrior is a better alt because you don’t receive any perks so it’s a class that’s better leveling later.
Don’t worry about the highest dps rated class or what not, especially if you spend a lot of your time alone and don’t plan on doing high-end Raids or end-game content, if you’re just a casual it really doesn’t matter. Think about what you like doing and pick the better class that offers that play-style.