soulzek's "Not Another Class Leveling Tier List"

[soulzek 3]

The following details are my opinions of the effectiveness of each class' ability to level 1-60 in 1.12. My personal experience includes a 60 on Nost, both K1 and K2, as well as multiple 60's across various new launch realms during retail Vanilla. This post opens with a final tier list, in order, of which classes are best at leveling; followed by a short explanation on a per-class basis. Please note these ratings are tailored specifically to the expectations of the fresh start PvP realm. This means overcrowding and, obviously, PvP flagged.
 

TL;DR
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CLASS SUMMARY
 #1
Stealth is the most important ability to have access to on a PvP server. This lets you pick and choose your fights as you see fit or nullify the threat (gank 'em!) before the problem even arises. Druids also have movement speed increase options available as they level up pre-mount with Travel Form as well as the always-on movement speed talent for Cat Form. Movement speed is the largest component to leveling quickly in Vanilla because you don't get your mount until literally halfway through the journey. Finally, Druids can heal. Healing allows you to solo elite content or save yourself valuable time from dying. With all these stacked chips, it's no wonder why Druids are #1.
 
 
 #2
Again, Stealth (see Druid). Again, highly ranked. It's no coincidence and I just can't stress enough how powerful being able to avoid ganking on a PvP server is. On top of that, Stealth allows you to bypass many obstacles in various quests around the world. Shorter quests = faster leveling. Rogues come in behind Druids because they lack the persistent movement speed increase and healing features. But, again, simply because of Stealth they get ranked at the next available spot at #2.
 
 
 #3
If it wasn't a PvP server then pet classes dominate the ranks. Having a pet essentially makes you a 2-party group at all times, minus all of the disadvantages of split xp and double duration on item drop quests. Not only that, but your Hunter pet is STRONK. It's actually going to be stronger than a Warrior friend in greens on a fresh start server. Additionally, Hunters have the ability to kite elite monsters and thus can solo them without outside help. Ranks in at #3 thanks to PvP.
 
 
 #4
Another pet class. "But why do they rank lower than Hunter, mr guy?". Because they are reliant on mana (bad for efficiency), have less burst (dots are more efficient), and their pets are weaker. The voidwalker is simply a tank and you are the damage dealer. Also, spell resists hurt A LOT more than a missed auto attack. I could keep going on about how they're just worse Hunters during the leveling process, but a pet is a pet and that makes them still super good. Sits at #{HunterRank + 1}.
 
 
 #5
Shamans are basically just Druids but without Stealth. They have wolf form for pre-mount movement which is just as good and also all the healing in the world. They are also just as good at soloing elite content with their over-time efficiency like flame shock dots, searing totem, healing totem, and stoneskin totem. Shamans are about as efficient as you can get without having a pet, landing them at #4.
 
 
 #6
Sorry to say, but now we're getting into baddie territory. Priests before Shadowform are pretty awful, but the healing options put them a cut above the rest resulting in less dying and more capability of tackling elite content than their non-healing friends. They are also pretty damn good at efficiency; never needing to stop for food/drink if played correctly. #5 is about as average as it gets.
 
 
 #7
"But if healing is so good, why are Paladins ranked so poorly?". Paladins can't do damage. Like, almost literally. You are the slowest killer in the game and that simply translates to slower everything, questing and leveling included. Why aren't they at the bottom of the barrel, then? Well, they can still heal at least. Oh yes, it gets worse than #6...
 
 
 #8
"This tier list is stupid. Mage is super good. You're an idiot and should kill yourself because you're bad. Hayden Hawke told me I can pull 50k xp per hour with this AoE build". Yeah, you won't be AoEing on this server (see the disclaimer at the top). So now that that's out of the way, what else do they have? Err.. Mages spam Frostbolt while suffering pushback from being bashed in the face. No healing, no Stealth, no pets. Yikes! That's pretty bad. Oh, and they have ZERO efficiency whatsoever. You have to constantly spam spells to kill something which means no mana regeneration. There's a reason they can summon food and drink and it's because they are reliant on it. Enjoy your 10 second downtime after most fights . But so bad and only #8 of 9 classes total?
 
 
 #9
Blizzard accidentally renamed this class to "Warrior" before release. During Alpha, they were called the "Masochist". Warriors have absolutely nothing at their disposal. You can't do фекал. You're an auto-attack right-clicking starter hero in a MOBA. If someone wants to gank you, you will die every time. The elite tag means you forget about that content. Spend all of your hard earned money on food that you can't summon. There is literally nothing good about this class when it comes to leveling. Your level 40 talent simply makes you suck less; but never forget... you still suck. But hey, at the end of the day, bringing the top deeps in full Naxx gear is gonna be worth it, right? Sure thing, #9.

Edited December 1, 2016 by soulzek

[Aslan 0]

But... if its about the effectiveness of lvling from 1-60 isnt your list objectively wrong if you look at any empirical data on which classes reach lvl 60 first on average on all individual projects? Hunter/warlock.

 

Nice layout for an opinion based list on what you like most though.

[Zappa 7]

Leveled all classes to 60 except Paladin on different servers and yes, you are right - druid was definitely the fastest. 2nd was a hunter.

Worst leveling experience for me was playing a shaman. Terrible. xD

[Rafale 6]

Imo,as Aslan said:

1) hunter (strong pet,movement speed with aspect)

2) lock (pet,can wand if mana pbm,no need to drink with life tap)

3) druid (feral spec imo not as strong as pet classes,but very fast levelling)

4) rogue (vanish save life and time,best dmg for no cost)

5) mage (water summon,blink,even without aoe its ok)

6) shamans (ghost form help a lot,but need so much mana to do dmg)

7) priest (heal and wand,but walk during hours)

8) paladin (not very hard cause u never die,but mobs u need so much time to kill...)

9) warriors (hardcore class. If u never played vanilla/bc,u will understand after u first met a 2-group mobs)

[killerduki 54]

Paladins can't do damage. Like, almost literally.

Mage is super good. You're an idiot and should kill yourself because you're bad.

Warriors have absolutely nothing at their disposal. You can't do фекал. You're an auto-attack right-clicking starter hero in a MOBA.

 

 

/Kind regards Killerduki

Edited December 7, 2016 by killerduki

[justweird 0]

But... if its about the effectiveness of lvling from 1-60 isnt your list objectively wrong if you look at any empirical data on which classes reach lvl 60 first on average on all individual projects? Hunter/warlock.

 

Nice layout for an opinion based list on what you like most though.

 

Still don't really agree with the OP but leveling tier lists will vary depending on what levels you and the masses are. If you no-life from the start and are ahead of most on the leveling curve then hunter/warlock is definitely fastest. If you have to deal with pvp and competition over mobs I could see some other classes catching up.

[Gryff 0]

So let me get this straight, you put classes like paladin low on the list because they do little damage which makes leveling slow, but then you put stealth classes at the top because of stealth...?

 

???

[gotmilk0112 10]

So let me get this straight, you put classes like paladin low on the list because they do little damage which makes leveling slow, but then you put stealth classes at the top because of stealth...?

 

???

Read the thread.

 

This is taking world PvP while leveling into consideration.

 

I mean, FFS, he even put it in bold text.

Edited December 12, 2016 by gotmilk0112

[Undertanker 88]

Yeah only thing I can see is mage could be moved above priest at the #6 slot because they'll be able to mob tag much easier in crowded areas with fire-blast/cone of cold/nova/rank 1 blizzard spam on a spawn point.