Hi Guys,

I played classic on release and have dabbled a bit in and out since but haven't played retail since a brief stint in MoP with my girlfriend. She enjoyed the questing aspect but played rogue which kind of overwhelmed her as she's not a gamer and people were rather rude about her not posting stellar DPS numbers in dungeons and getting schooled often in PvP.

She has agreed to give Vanilla a shot despite her not so fond memories of playing WoW when it drops.

I think Hunter would be a good class for her to play and she agrees, there is a high-skill cap but she can still perform up to standard without it getting too complex with combo points etc.

I want to pick a fun class to level with her but am also very competitive in nature and still want to play a class with a high skill cap and synergizes well with the hunter she's going to be playing.

I played Warrior in retail at launch and during TBC and had a good time but was young and generally pretty terrible. I played a druid during BC when i re-rolled horde to play with high school friends, and played a Priest when her and I tried the game in MoP and found it pretty slow with a low skill cap.

I've played on Vanilla private servers on-and-off and usually played mage and had a great time, but not too sure how they do with Hunters.

Looking for some general advice/feedback or if anyone has any experience levelling with a Hunter partner during Vanilla.

Thanks!!

Since no one has replied just yet, I'll throw in my 'experience'. And by 'experience' I mean what I've heard from others for Classic.

So I'm told that hunter is a pretty great class to just solo most things, so a solid dps machine, especially considering they have their own mini tank with them at all times. I personally don't think a healer would mesh too well unless you're going for absolute decimation to all life at once since the only one really taking damage would be the pet.

So since a hunter generally already has their own mini tank that takes the majority of the damage, I think you could try a DPS class like mage so you guys can cut through mobs like a hot knife through butter.

Again, all of this information is basically what I have gathered from figuring out what class I wanted to play for Classic, so take that as you will.

Hunter is a noob-trap class IMO. They are very easy to level, but have the hardest DPS rotation of any class in Vanilla. Not only in PvE are they hard, but in PvP they will have to have supreme awareness of their spacing in order to prevent getting dead-zoned. I personally think Warlock is one of the easiest classes overall, simple rotation, easy to level, great in PvP, required in PvE.

As for good class combos, I would say make sure you pick different armor/weapon types so that you guys are not competing for loot in dungeons (this includes pre-40 armor classes, e.g. hunters can use leather all the way to 60 if the stats are better than any Mail items). DPS/Healer is usually really juicy because your sustain and survivablity will go through the roof, that being said you don't need to be speced into healing to do healing.

If she is hesitant to play or doesn't want to put in many hours then I'd say make an alt to exclusively play with her and log off when she's not on, and play whatever main your heart desires solo.

Thanks for the replies @SweaterMonster and @Sensator!

You both give some great ideas. I've contemplated taking a less integral role in progression, as if i played Warrior i'd most likely want to play as tank but have big time commitments with work and weight-lifting.

I think possibly playing mage with her to utilize the pet tank she already has and burst things down quickly and warrior with my other group of friends playing gives me the best of both, without really having to decide on a main until i eventually get 60 (not too rushed).

On to @Sensator's point, would you recommend her exploring the Warlock class in greater detail? I am not familiar with the class at all really, let alone in classic. In your summary you seem to make a compelling arguments to the benefits of her playing Warlock over playing Hunter.

Which brings me to an entirely different issue. I guess if she plays Warlock (shouldn't be hard to convince her), I would probably try rogue as to not stack armor types.

Lots to think about, hopefully not too long though #releaseclassic.

Thanks for your input friends :)

Warlocks are what you'd call a support DPS class. They provide certain curses to raids that will increase damage of other mages/warlocks. They aren't the greatest DPS but once you get to the later stages in Vanilla they pack a punch. They also bring 3 very important tools to a group, that being summoning, soulstones and healthstones.

PvP-wise you have several different specs depending on your playstyle, probably the most iconic being Soul Link which makes you very tanky.

Leveling ease and speed is similar to a Hunter, they have a Voidwalker to tank for them and they will simply dot up a target then wand it to death. The only real downside to a Warlock is having to manage your soul shards. You will soul siphon every target you kill when leveling and that will lead to having your bags fill up with them, so you'll need a macro that deletes 1 soul shard at a button press. Also when raiding you will need to farm several bags worth of soul shards before the raid as your soulstone/summoning/healthstone and pet summoning use them up, this combined with the fact that when you log for more than 15 min they disappear from your bags.

Good class combos with a Warlock would definitely involve a Healer, as you could heal them after they life tap for mana and they could multidot several targets at once. Although a Healer is not necessarily required as they can simply life tap and life drain.

The most important thing though when picking a class is to enjoy the class fantasy, Hunters and Warlocks may be similar in terms of roles but they have two completely different vibes. I'd say provide her with a multitude of options, and let her pick for herself.