Class "roles"

[lemekim]

Yeah, so much of the discussion in WoW has been about the "holy trinity" - Warrior with taunt, Priest with Heal, Mage/Rogue for damage.  As a result, the other classes are shunned somewhat.  This becomes more apparent as you get to higher level instances.  If you're a Warrior or Priest, finding groups is a cinch.  I've seen groups prefer having 2 mages instead of 1 mage and 1 other class, which is no fun, but oh well.

I was in an Uldaman group recently with a gang of level 41-47 characters, and 2 of them had mentioned that they had NEVER partied with a Warlock in an instance!  They weren't even sure what I could do.  This is because Warlocks aren't aggro holders, healers, or damage dealers.  The class falls very firmly in the "other" category, bringing intangibles to a party that, taken separately, seem useless - but grouped with other classes, become quite deadly.  The one thing I love about Warlocks is that we can party with ANY other class and complement it via the numerous different curses, minions, and crowd control.  But I digress.

This is why being with Lurkers is much preferred - we're capable of thinking outside the box.  But even still, the temptation to just pick up a Warrior and a Priest for easier instance runs is so high.

-Bolty
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Well Bolty, your holy trinity is actually a bit flawed =) Rogue should not be in there, it's never the case in high end instances really. BRS, BRD, Stratholme need good AoE class, and warlocks/mages are the only ones. Warlocks actually are good damage dealers, and their AoE is quite good as well, but given a choice people usually choose mage, because of various utilities - although the DPS that a warlock can provide can pretty much match mage's. It's the litte things - food/water, Int buff, best CC in game that make up people's minds. The abundance of mages and limited amount of warlocks doesn't help either.

Now, if someone chooses another mage instead of a warlock, that person is an idiot, since warlock will bring much more to the table then another mage.

Rogues... we fall somewhere down on the list "what class should I pick since we already have warrior/priest/mage(or warlock!) Right now they are almost purely used for damage dealing, and since they require so little downtime and can sustain damage, they are often welcome in raids (where the only worry usually is killing fast enough). In groups though, their DPS is matched by mage or warlock (unless you happen to have "godly" equipment), but the lack of any other utility makes them a tough choice. Scouting/lockpicking? Haha. Sap is marginally useful in instances, right now its pretty much just a soloing helper.

Hunters... Haha poor guys they are the ones who are left out in the cold. Their damage is not as high, their utilities are lacking. I'm waiting for talents though to see if they will go from pretty gimped class to a powerhouse (or maybe Blizzard figured out how to add talents without making class overpowered).