[CoH]->[WoW] Best Conversion Path?

sapph

I've been playing CoH since launch, and I like it. I like the level pace, I like the 'grind'. I like the general lack of PvP. Occasionally I get a little burned out on it, though, and I'll try something new.

About 2 years ago I tried WoW, and I didn't really care for it. The level pace seemed slow and the endless Kill Wolf->Skin->Craft bit for skills seemed tedious.

I have heard, however, that over the past couple years (and especially recently) WoW has done a lot to make the game more casual friendly.

So, all that being said

1) Is it more casual friendly?

2) I generally play Tanks, Scrappers and Brutes. If I do decide to pick it up again, what races/classes would tend toward my playstyle?

With these answers, I should be more able to GTFW to get answers to any more specific questions that may pop up.

Dr. Face

I don't believe skill advancement has changed at all, so that aspect will be pretty much as you remembered. There are more quests to do and areas to go to (with the expansion) but other then that I don't remember there being a huge overhall of the game making progression any faster. I've been out for awhile though so if something in the past 3-4 months has been drastically altered I don't know about it.

As for class, I play CoH too and would see you liking Feral Druids, Warriors or Rogues. I am a druid person, but the jack of all trades, master of none is hard for some druids to swallow. But you can turn into a bear or panther/lion and tear shit up so I was sold from day one.

captaink

The most recent patch eased the leveling curve between 30 and 60, which was widely regarded as too slow and boring compared to 60-70 and 1-20. They've added some new towns too.

Craft skills haven't changed. However, you can ignore them completely if you really hate them. If you want money, just pick up two gathering skills and sell everything.

Like Dr. Face said: Warriors and Rogues and maybe Feral druids. Rogues are close to scrappers and Warriors could be either a Tank or Brute. Paladins, Shamans, and Feral Druids also have some melee abilities.
Race is pretty much whichever one looks best. They have a few special abilities but everyone gets something useful.

Seg

Well it depends on why you liked those melee archetypes, is it because of the "in your face" style of them or is there something else?

The WoW melee classes are Warrior, Paladin, Rogue, Shaman and Druids. Though Shaman and Druid can both do damage from range as well. Warriors are either damage dealers or tank types, Rogues are just damage dealers, Paladins can deal damage but they shine as tanks or healers, Shaman work as damage dealers or healers, and Druids can fill all three rolls quite well. (With the right talents they make great tanks, great melee or ranged damage dealers, and some consider them the best healers in the game.)

The game is still the same as it was 2 years ago, only difference is that now the quest rewards from 30-60 are better, instance level variance has been tightened up a bit (dungeons used to have a 10 -15 level spread) and the experience you need from level 20-60 has been reduced.

Crafting is still "gather gather gather craft craft craft"

Questing is still "go kill wolves and bring me there paws" or "go kill those humans and bring me skulls" and not every wolf or human will drop a paw or skull.

Scooter

Could just be me, and I only played for about 40 days, but I thought druids and kheldians felt really similar (no arguments about copying though, since Khelds were out just a month after WoW went live).

Dr. Face

Scooter wrote: »

Could just be me, and I only played for about 40 days, but I thought druids and kheldians felt really similar (no arguments about copying though, since Khelds were out just a month after WoW went live).

I wish I could turn into a huge energy bear with my Kheld rather then whatever monster thing they have for tank form. I agree though, the shape shifting and role switching aspects are quite similar, though I'd argue that Druids are far more useful in WoW then Khelds are in CoH by far. People actually try to get Druids on their team/in their guild (mostly as healers, but not always).

sapph

Well, I also like MMs, so I would say the reason those four classes stand out to me is a simple one: I don't die.

I mean, I do sometimes, especially in Scrapperlock or BRUTESMASH modes, but generally, those four ATs are /damned/ survivable in PvE. I likes that.

Dr. Face

Well, survivability in WoW isn't as cut and dry as CoH where your blasters, defenders and controllers truly earn the name squishy, and unlike CoH survivability doesn't go hand in hand with being able to progress quickly (usually the opposite). In WoW cloth casters are more vulnerable to melee attack, but have crowd control, high damage or self healing to deal with that. Of the non-cloth classes: Warriors are the hardiest with high armor and HP, but early on have low (no) resists to magic and can't heal without buying/making a potion that is on a longish timer (tank). Rogues have less armor and HP but counter that with being able to kill things before they die (usually), still no self healing (this would be like a scrapper with weak shields - a real melee blaster). Paladins might have the most survivability, but you're in for a long road to 70 as they have low non-burst damage (think Defender/troller level damage here with Tank shields). Don't know much about shaman, but they have rogue (or better at higher levels) armor and can heal themselves but don't have the damage output of warrior or rogue - there's no real comparison I can make to CoH here. And last but favorite, the Druid (once it gets forms) can be a Warrior (bear), Rogue (cat) or caster/healer with better then cloth armor (human) depending on what form they are in. They can also turn into a cheetah and run away if all else fails - all around good survivability when used right.

I've played every class to 20 in WoW and about half to 30-50 area (my highest is a 60 druid) and didn't find any of them to progress noticably faster or survive more often then any other once you learn how to use them.

Peeps Chicken

The power scale is completely different in WoW than in CoH. I can remember getting 10-20-30 even con mobs on me in CoH and winning with my scrapper or tanker... most classes in WoW can't come anything close to that.

High level tanking paladins can come the closest. I've seen some of them gather insane amounts of mobs, but they have to be a certain type of mob (melee only) and you have to have really good gear to do it.

I'd say feral druids are roughly equivalent to a regen scrapper in terms of play style, at least once you get cat form. You do non-stop melee damage, and even with no downtime, you're usually back to full health by the time you get to the next enemy.

PeasantDave

I believe Retribution Paladins would have the mix you're looking for. They can deal alright damage, have high damage reduction due to armor, self heal between fights, and have a couple invisibility moves that would allow you to get out of combat if things get too hairy.

Your tanking/healing won't be as good, but that's the trade-off.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

The biggest adjustment for me coming to WoW from CoH (although granted, I did it two years ago) was the degree to which you have to solo to level up. I remember thinking, around level 10 or so, "this is an MMO, don't people ever... play together?"

The sad truth is that the grind from 1-70 is mostly just that: a grind. At this point in the game's life you'll do some grouping in instances here and there, but spend the majority of your time alone, unless you have a buddy or group of buddies committed to leveling at the same pace. At 70 (and to a lesser extent, in all of outland) the "real game" starts, and you'll do a lot more grouping.

s3rial one

sapph wrote: »

1) Is it more casual friendly?

Oh no. God no. It's not the most hardcore-oriented game out there (at least not earlier in the game), but it's nowhere near the level of idiot-accessible that CoH is. If you roll the equivalent of an Empathy defender with a medicine pool and no attacks, expect to be mocked (and I mean that in the sense that such a build is utterly fucking useless in CoH; pure healers actually are a good thing in WoW).

WoW's casual-friendly in the sense that you can get rested experience, and the 1-60 leveling curve it fairly fast, now (faster than CoH, 1-50 quite significantly). But the 60+ game is anything but. It almost demands a high degree of meta-gaming if you ever want to have a shot at heroics, PvP, or raiding. And a fairly significant time commitment, depending on your guild and their raiding practices.

sapph wrote: »

2) I generally play Tanks, Scrappers and Brutes. If I do decide to pick it up again, what races/classes would tend toward my playstyle?

This game's best analogues for scrappers and brutes would have to be enhancement shamans and fury warriors. As for tanks, protection paladins and warriors.

If you want survivability and high offense, hunters and warlocks are definitely worth a look at well; both are pet classes with patently ridiculous levels of offense and excel at PvP. Rolling a hunter makes people view you as a retard until proven otherwise, though. Especially if you're a night elf.

Oh man, night elves...

Also, if you roll a rogue, I get to kill you for each level you get.

EWom

If you watch your cool downs, it can be extremely hard to die on a rogue in WoW. You may not always win the fight, but you'll be alive and off killing other things in no time. Through vanish and sprint, my rogue has gotten away from quite a bit.

Warriors have few escape abilities. Off the top of my head they have an AE fear, which you have to remember to untarget the guy hitting you, to fear him; and a snare.

Druids are the masters of escaping as long as it's outdoors. My druid usually doesn't ever die when I'm out questing.

I wouldn't necasarrily say warriors are hardier than rogues either, when out soloing. They may have a few more HP's, but their DPS isn't as high generally, as a similar geared rogue who's out leveling; and either is their evasion. When they are in their best grinding stance (berserker, fury anyway) they take more damage.


If I were you, I'd try a rogue first. You can't really level as a "tank" in WoW, other than AE tanking at mid to high levels. It's very slow. So if you choose warrior, you'll have to go down the arms or fury tree, rather than the protection tree; or face miserable grinding.

If you go druid, and feral, you'd want to be in catform more often than not for grinding.

Also, Soul Link warlocks are nearly unkillable as well, if you want a caster class. They control demons, and cast Damage of Time spells, as well as a few Direct Damage spells.


My recomendation would be rogue or warlock; for pure survivability and ease in leveling.