Class Strategies
What is the most powerful class in PVP Combat? Hopefully all will be balanced equally. The aim here is to get you started on picking the class that you will enjoy the most when attacking other players and see both their posatives and Negatives. I have heard mention that Blizzard would use a type of pvp system where for example: Mage > Warrior > Thief > Mage. This is called the rock paper scissors method of balancing. It encourages group play when you pvp so you are never potentially going to face the class that will beat you 1 on 1 all of the time. Ideally though, each class will have a chance against all others and you won't have a situation such as in games like Everquest where you see a bard zone in, and you leave immediatly because you know you have no shot at all of beating him. These strategies are from people who are in the Beta - but as such, all of these strategies are subject to change
Speaking of beta - Until the next push, the only way to initiate combat with another player is via Dueling. Dueling is a special type of PVP. Many don't consider it real pvp. In a duel, both players will generally start full mana, full health, and ready to go with all of their special abilities. Dueling is usually done in a spot safe from both monster as well as player interference. It's a one on one fight - no help from other people.
In order to initiate a duel, you can simply select another player, and in the option box, click duel... Pretty self-explanatory.
Now, the other player will see something like this.
That's basically all it takes for a duel. Now on to the class guides.
Class Guides
Rogues
Rogues are one of the most damaging classes in PVE, and the same holds true for PVP. Rogues are good at dishing out damage to casters, and if a rogue can get in range, their fast attacks can prevent a mage or unprepared warlock from being able to get a single spell off. Their power lies in fast attacks that will delay a spell caster's spells down so much, they will effectively be rendered useless. Their finishing moves are very capable of dealing alot of damage fast. Additionally rogues have the ability to stealth, allowing them surprise attacks against their unprepared victims. Unfortunatly, they have the least amount of Hitpoints of all of the melee classes, as well as are limited to leather based armors, making them weak against "real" melee classes.
Paladins
Paladins have the great abilities to make themselves immune, while at the same time doing good damage against other players. Sounds pretty powerful huh? It is. Paladins have good amounts of Hitpoints, do good amounts of melee damage, and have the ability to heal as well.
Shaman
Similiar to Bards in everquest, the power of the Shaman lies in how many things they can be doing at the same time, especially in a group. The combination of all of their totems in addition to their powerful spell casting abilities greatly raise not only their own solo abilities, but also their group's.
Druid
Jack-of-all-trades - The druid's main advantage in Player vs Player combat is that they have no disadvantage. They can do equally well against all of the other classes because of their many abilities. Healing is important, but they also have the ability to dish out damage, as well as take damage. Sure, they can't do it as well as any one class, but their ability to do it all will make them a powerful pvp class.
Warlocks
Fighting a Warlock is like fighting two people at once. Their powerful pets are able to dish out damage while the Warlock casts their powerful and efficient dots on you. Sure, it may take you a while to die from a dot, but the end result is still the same. True powerfof the Warlock comes from instant casting curses. Uninteruptable spells are very powerful, especially when they can reduce a casting classes power by 70% by slowing their cast times by that much.
Mage
Everything that's powerful about a rogue - being able to do great amounts of damage, the mage does as well. Except they do even MORE damage, and can do it from a distance. However, unlike a rogue they need to rely on mana, without it they have no means of doing damage, where as a rogue still has their daggers. Even though they can do massive amounts of damage fast, mage's suffer from lack of hitpoints as well as armor. One of the biggest strengths of a Mage is they can blink way from combat allowing them to escape bad situations. They also have the ability to snare opponents slowing them down to a snail's pace, allowing them to get their spells off without ever getting hit. And let's not forget sleep, the ability to completely eliminate one person from combat - a very powerful ability. And did I mention they have a mana shield, that essentially gives them the ability to use their mana just like additional hitpoints!
Priest
Similiar to a Paladin in PVP, a Priest's main power is that they can absorb damage so well, and have such great healing abilities, they can stand toe to toe against a rogue and still win. They just don't care about the damage. Priest's also excel in group pvp. The classes that lack the ability to heal themselves just need to group with a priest to eliminate their disadvantage. Also they have really powerful shield buffs that further reduce the damage that people are taking. But Priests are not only defensive, they have powerful nukes, area of effect roots, along with a nice dot.
Hunter
Although not implemented yet (as of June 17th, 2004), Hunters promise to be a powerful PVP class with the ability to do good longe range weapon, a pet to do further damage and harass enemies, as well as the ability to track players down and find their location they have the ability to dictate, when combat will take place and on who's terms.
Warriors
The masters of Melee Combat. Warriors are a very straight-forward class with Lots of Hitpoints, lots of armor, and the ability to dish out good damage. Additionally, they have several skills that make them viable as a pvp class. They have an ability called charge that will make them run faster than anything else in the game to close ground on an enemy quickly. Useful at the beginning of battle to get close to casters, as well as to stop people from fleeing.
