10-18-2005, 10:12 PM
In my mind the choice comes down to hunter or warlock. The pets make a huge difference for solo play and grinding. There is really only one reason I want to say warlock over hunter and that is the free mount at 40. With the hunter you are going to have to choose if you want to just play without a mount (using aspect of the cheetah) or if you want to drop the 90 gold for one. 90 gold is a pretty good chunk out of your epic mount fund and so its almost like starting anything except a warlock starts you at -90 gold and then has to build itself out of that hole.
Now both a hunter and a warlock can kill pretty much non-stop. A warlock can dot and then wand or drain life/mana as needed while it's VW tanks. A hunter can auto shoot or throw a few specials in while it's pet tanks. So the hunter definately wins on speed, but they are about even in that neither really has to stop after fights.
As to items, I would say that a warlock doesn't really need any particular items while leveling while a hunter needs a bow/gun. Now even with a crappy bow/gun the hunter will probably kill faster than the warlock so this really doesn't seem to be an issue for either of these. Of course the warlock could get cloth from your tailor so I suppose thats a plus for it.
As to PvP...I'd probably say the hunter is the strongest here, but I do next to no PvP and so thats mostly a guess really. As a grinding warlock you will probably go affliction/demonology and I am unsure how good such a build would be for PvP. My gut tells me that a grinding hunter build more closely matches a PvP build than a grinding warlock build does.
As to being fun to play. My experience has been towards the warlock. I've played 2 hunters to the mid 30's or so and tended to be bored with them. They both soloed alot and I just felt like I could go to sleep and let them play themselves. This is great for grinding since thats what you said you wanted, but I never got much enjoyment out of them. I'm currently playing a warlock (level 45 now) and I've enjoyed it alot more. While a warlock can kill non-stop, it does require a bit more attention because you need to life tap, drain life, drain mana, health funnel, consume shadows, etc where a hunter doesn't really abuse their life as much or need to worry about their mana though they might have to throw a mend pet in now and again. So its almost like two of your goals fight each other. You meantion being "in zen like state where I play the game at an almost subconsius level" which I think relates more to the hunter. You also meantion "Being fun to play" which I feel relates more to the warlock. I should also state that my hunter experience is from before the new talent trees in case that affects things.
So where does that leave me?
hunter wins: PvP, grinding speed, and zen of grinding
warlock wins: fun, mount cost, and possibly items because its cloth you can make
So basically the hunter is the superior grinder while the warlock is cheaper and more fun (in my mind). So the choice comes down to that. In my mind it really all comes back to the 90 gold for the mount. Even though the hunter can grind faster, I am unsure if its worth starting 90 gold in the hole. If you play the character to 60 then maybe the speed will make up for it and more than earn that money back. If you play the character less often though and more casually...then I am less sure that the hunter makes the money back. Of course if you are playing it casually then you may not even get to mount level and so the aspect of the cheetah will be helpful earlier and so a huge boon to you (especially for gathering professions if you plan on spending time doing those for money).
I guess that if I had to make I choice, I would probably say hunter. I feel like I really want to say warlock because I'm enjoying playing it so much and it can fill the roles you specify. In the end though, the hunter is just the superior grinder and my gut says that that is what you really want here. So I'm torn, but my final choice is hunter.
Now both a hunter and a warlock can kill pretty much non-stop. A warlock can dot and then wand or drain life/mana as needed while it's VW tanks. A hunter can auto shoot or throw a few specials in while it's pet tanks. So the hunter definately wins on speed, but they are about even in that neither really has to stop after fights.
As to items, I would say that a warlock doesn't really need any particular items while leveling while a hunter needs a bow/gun. Now even with a crappy bow/gun the hunter will probably kill faster than the warlock so this really doesn't seem to be an issue for either of these. Of course the warlock could get cloth from your tailor so I suppose thats a plus for it.
As to PvP...I'd probably say the hunter is the strongest here, but I do next to no PvP and so thats mostly a guess really. As a grinding warlock you will probably go affliction/demonology and I am unsure how good such a build would be for PvP. My gut tells me that a grinding hunter build more closely matches a PvP build than a grinding warlock build does.
As to being fun to play. My experience has been towards the warlock. I've played 2 hunters to the mid 30's or so and tended to be bored with them. They both soloed alot and I just felt like I could go to sleep and let them play themselves. This is great for grinding since thats what you said you wanted, but I never got much enjoyment out of them. I'm currently playing a warlock (level 45 now) and I've enjoyed it alot more. While a warlock can kill non-stop, it does require a bit more attention because you need to life tap, drain life, drain mana, health funnel, consume shadows, etc where a hunter doesn't really abuse their life as much or need to worry about their mana though they might have to throw a mend pet in now and again. So its almost like two of your goals fight each other. You meantion being "in zen like state where I play the game at an almost subconsius level" which I think relates more to the hunter. You also meantion "Being fun to play" which I feel relates more to the warlock. I should also state that my hunter experience is from before the new talent trees in case that affects things.
So where does that leave me?
hunter wins: PvP, grinding speed, and zen of grinding
warlock wins: fun, mount cost, and possibly items because its cloth you can make
So basically the hunter is the superior grinder while the warlock is cheaper and more fun (in my mind). So the choice comes down to that. In my mind it really all comes back to the 90 gold for the mount. Even though the hunter can grind faster, I am unsure if its worth starting 90 gold in the hole. If you play the character to 60 then maybe the speed will make up for it and more than earn that money back. If you play the character less often though and more casually...then I am less sure that the hunter makes the money back. Of course if you are playing it casually then you may not even get to mount level and so the aspect of the cheetah will be helpful earlier and so a huge boon to you (especially for gathering professions if you plan on spending time doing those for money).
I guess that if I had to make I choice, I would probably say hunter. I feel like I really want to say warlock because I'm enjoying playing it so much and it can fill the roles you specify. In the end though, the hunter is just the superior grinder and my gut says that that is what you really want here. So I'm torn, but my final choice is hunter.