World of Warcraft

I know, the title is quite a mouthful, but let me explain and hopefully you’ll come to see my point. Since the beginning of the game, there have been certain classes and certain specs that the general community deems “wrong.” This isn’t to say that the particular spec/class is worthless, just that they should be doing something else instead for maximum efficiency. A great example of this was shadow priests before the expansion, in which they were a rarety because most players expected priests to heal, that’s about it.

Unfortunately, this thinking hasn’t changed with the release of The Burning Crusade, though the shunned classes and specs may have. Judging from my own experience in groups, here’s a short list of classes and talent builds I see are disdained by the general community, adnw hat you should understand when grouping with them:

1. Balance Druids When bringing a balance druid into your party, it’s important to understand what he does and does not bring to the table. Moonkin do solid DPS, but they won’t be holding their own against dedicated classes like mages and warlocks. What they can do, however, is use innervate to refill a healer’s mana bar when he/she runs oom, a hugely useful function in groups and raids. They also provide a +5% spell critical strike to all casters in their group, another function that should not be ignored. In emergency situations such as a bad pull, Balance Druids can cyclone enemy targets to keep them from destroying a healer.

2. Retribution Paladins Universally despised on the warcraft forums, Retribution admittedly used to be a sub-par spec all around. It had no utility, no significant group/raid damage buffs, and didn’t hold a candle to any dedicated DPS class. All that said, Retribution Paladins are now more viable than ever. Things to remember? Improved seal of the crusader will increase your entire group/raid’s crit chance by 3%, which is not to be underestimated in boosting your group’s damage potential. In addition, sanctity aura (if properly specced) will provide the paladin’s group another 2% in damage. Finally, though less useful, Vindication will decrease a target’s attributes by 15%, providing some much needed mitigation for hard-hitting bosses.

3. Elemental Shamans Almost every shaman I see these days is specced enhancement, and for the life of me I can’t figure out why. It’s important not to wirte off the lesser-known elemental spec for shamans, as they provide some very useful utility to a group as well. Totem of Wrath provides a great buff to the shaman’s group, providing +3% spell critical strike to group members as well as another vital stat, +3% spell hit. Due to a large amount of +spell damage and healing on their gear, they can heal in a pinch when a priest unexpectedly goes down or your paladin didn’t pubble in time as well.

So, the next time you are putting a group together, don’t avoid putting bringing these classes into the fold as well. They may not bring the raw damage of their more specialized counterparts, but they provide a unique blend of damage and utility that any group should come to appreciate.

Enjoy!