If You Were a Casual Gamer...

[Rinnhart]

Human Paladin and Orc or Undead Rogue.

Shaman don't have any real "Oh, #$%&" escape mechanisms (well, War Stomp+Improved Ghost Wolf, but it isn't a sure thing thanks to perma-daze), and they require more thought towards aggro (from healing spells, especially) later in the game.  They ARE very fun, however.

Tal covered this.

It's mostly accepted that playing Alliance is basically playing "easy mode", and that playing a Paladin is basically playing with cheats enabled.  I've played one to 18, and unless you do something supremely stupid (which a "casual" gamer might do, of course), it's nigh impossible to die in PvE combat.

It's impossible to die in PvE combat with any class unless you do something stupid. This is not a difficult game.

If you get in over your head, bubble and run, or bubble and heal.  You have a ranged stun,

Artega, get over Hammer of Justice. It's got a ten meter range (awesome!) and a minute refresh (sweet!). It's the class' only universal interrupt, and should be held in reserve for that use.

you can wear the heaviest armors (mail up to 40 and plate past 40), you can use almost all weapons (almost all melee weapons), and you get a free mount at Level 40 and a reduced-cost mount at Level 60.  Add Engineering to the mix for ranged attack options (not counting Holy Shock), and you can't lose.

Engineering on a paladin is not an instant win button. The bombs all have significant refreshes and the really decent ones that would actually provide reasonable damage are so rare it's not an ability you can count on to provide a ranged attack.

All that said, the utility added by engineering is enough that'd I'd recommend any casual player consider it.

Pallies can play backup healer in parties, and their heals don't cause much (if any) aggro, so the player wouldn't even need to worry about aggro management.

Of course, if you ask me, a MMOG is not a game meant for "casual" gamers, anyway.  And even if (s)he is a "casual" gamer now, I'd be willing to wager that (s)he won't be a "casual" gamer for long after starting WoW :)
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Agreed.



Paladins are a simple class to play, but their low DPS means they're slow at leveling and limited to support at the endgame and in PvP.
They can solo a great deal of lower level elite content.
They have a hard time soloing group situations due to a lack of AE damage and crowd control.
Paladins will lose most 1 on 1 pvp, but they augment dps classes well.
Raw durability means they're easy to explore with, if that's your thing.

Rogues and warriors are more fun in melee and priests are more forgiving so long as the mobs aren't 3 levels higher than you.