Viable specs?

[Lupar]

So I'm a MoP baby who found out about this server on a random YouTube video and decided to check it out just for the hell of it. I haven't been able to log in yet, but before I do I'd like to know what specs I can play for what classes. I have no idea what I want to do yet, but I'm probably not going to make PvP my main thing. On the topic of this, how's leveling for each class?

[Garfunkel]

The tryhards will tell you that only warriors can tank and shamans/druids/priests/paladins are only for healing.

While this is true in a very narrow definition - meaning maximal efficiency in progress raids - it does not mean that tanking instances as a bear or prot-pally or doing dps as elemental shaman is impossible, just somewhat more challenging than their "pure" counter-parts.

I haven't played any expansion after Burning Crusade, so I can't say how much difference there is in the leveling progress from later expansions and to vanilla but I would assume that it's much slower and takes more effort.

[Larsen]

The only spec that has genuine problems performing its role is prot paladin. Everything else is viable, but some specs DPS specs deal less damage in exchange for valuable utility. Prot paladin, unfortunately, is a flawed spec that doesn't have the tools to make them a feasible general tank. They can do certain specialized tasks but don't even have a taunt, so don't ever roll a prot paladin unless you know exactly what they can and can't do.

Every class levels pretty much fine as long as you spec for DPS. No class is hard to level, although warrior and priest are a little bit behind the rest in terms of soloing efficiency.

The specs that people sometimes regard as weak are elemental and enhancement shaman, balance and feral druid, retribution and protection paladin. With the exception of prot paladin, all of these specs can work, although a raid might not want to bring more than one of each. I also don't think elemental shamans really bring anything special to the table, but who knows. Also you can't really be an arcane mage, but there are fire and frost specs that go deep arcane for cooldowns.

A lot of the stigma against the "weaker" specs comes from early vanilla when they truly were useless garbage specs. Then they were overhauled halfway through and people stuck to outdated beliefs like "druids must be healers" and shit. It also comes from flawed comparisons between hybrids and pure classes. For instance, you can't compare a feral druid to a rogue because the druid is also an amazing offtank and brings two incredibly strong utility cooldowns in Innervate and Rebirth, as well as a +3% crit aura, yet people see that the druid's DPS is somewhat lower than a rogue's and declare the spec unviable because they're retards.

[Lupar]

Cool, thanks for the help guys! How exactly do talents work here? Since I came directly from MoP, I'm not sure what I'm supposed to do. Also, I just learned I can buy my spells.

And yeah, I guess I got caught under the impression that only some specs in Vanilla were viable. This gives me a few more options than I thought I first had

[Goodtry]

Typically what you'd see called viable PVE raiding specs in vanilla:

Warrior: Prot (Tanking) or Fury (DPS)
Druid: Resto (Healer)
Hunters: Marksman
Mages: Arcane/Frost until AQ40, then deep(?) fire is a good option. One or two guys with imp blizzard.
Paladin: Holy (Healer) with one or two guys with 21 in prot for Blessing of Sanctuary
Shaman: Resto (Healer)
Priests: Holy or Disc/Holy (Healer), one Shadow Priest (DPS)
Rogue: Combat or Combat Daggers.
Warlock: SM Ruin, DS Ruin, or MD Ruin.

But it's often the case that a dedicated player with a quirky build may very well do better than the Johnny-know-nothin' with the cookie cutter build. Couple of out-of-the-ordinary builds you sometimes see:

Hemo Rogues: Doesn't scale well IIRC? Something like that.
Feral Druids: Scaling and itemization problems, having a rogue with a brez/innervate is nice but the DPS isn't nearly as good. As tanks, they have truckloads of health, but can't parry or block, which is a problem.
Hybrid Druids: 30/21 feral/resto might be the one half-decent hybrid healer build I guess.
Arms Warriors: The "I don't want to respec for PVP" build. NO MORTAL STRIKES!
Smite Priests: Scales surprisingly well, but doesn't really bring anything to the table that isn't already covered by Mages or Warlocks.
Ret Paladins: Bad DPS and don't listen to the guy with 2000 max mana trying to convince you that he can make up for that with off-healing
Other Shamans: (???) I don't know the horde so well

[Lupar]

So I could essentially be a Guardian Druid?

Or perhaps a resto/balance hybrid?

[Larsen]

Guardian druid was a separate spec that was implemented to differentiate between tank and DPS ferals. In vanilla, the same tree performs both roles, and a lot of the talents are dual-purpose so they benefit both. This is why a vanilla druid can be specced for both tanking and DPS at once (or healing and tanking, but that's mostly a healing spec) which isn't possible in today's WoW because the two were separated.

A tank druid is viable at what it's supposed to do: tank dungeons and offtank raids. Druids usually shouldn't MT raids, although it is possible at times, because they lack the crit immunity and tanking cooldowns to make it safe. All the rest (parry, block etc.) they compensate for with much higher armor and health than a warrior, but there isn't really any substitute for defense cap and Shield Wall.

However, guess what a prot warrior is whenever he's not actively tanking? He's useless. Meanwhile, anytime offtanking isn't needed, the druid can perform the other role that their spec covers -- usually DPS with the 14/32/5 spec, but 0/30/21 (or 0/31/20) is a fully viable healer instead of a DPS, as well as being a tank. You just have to get gear for both roles, but the thing about feral tank gear is that most of it is crafted, BoE drops, quest rewards and dungeon drops. This means you don't generally have to spend DKP on two item sets.

Feral DPS isn't as low as some people believe. If you play it properly, it's about 75% of a rogue, and practically on par with hunters. Don't forget that ferals bring a +3% crit aura for their group. Throw competent OTing, Innervate and Rebirth into the mix and it's a completely viable spec, you just don't want to bring a bunch of ferals because they don't stack well. But the versatility of having a raid member able to fill two roles properly, and bring as much utility as a druid does, more than makes up for the slightly lower DPS.

[Lupar]

Thanks. How's balance?

[Larsen]

Eh... it's a more limited spec. The DPS is okayish but mana is a problem, so you have to farm so many consumables that you shouldn't invest in a balance druid unless you know exactly what you're getting into. It also can't serve dual roles like a feral druid can, so it's just a DPS and it can't really compete with mages in that department. You'd have a hard time getting into raids as a balance druid.

[Lupar]

So I really wouldn't want to go a Balance/Resto hybrid then?