My World of Warcraft Guide for Zelaron

First off, let me say, if you haven't played WoW beyond the stress test, then read this. Secondly, stfu. Lastly, this is Horde-only since, you know, the clan is going to be Horde.

Note that these are not my opinions, well some are, but most are perspectives on both sides that I've been reading extensively about on the forums.

Choosing your Race

Since we're going to be Horde, you have four choices. Orc, Tauren, Troll, and Undead. I'll list the advantages and disadvantages of these classes:

Orc

• Advantages: Racial traits not yet announced.
• Disadvantages: " " " " "
• Classes available: Hunter, Rogue, Shaman, Warlock, Warrior

Tauren

• Advantages: Plainsrunning ability at level 40.
• Disadvantages: Plainsrunning is arguably worse than a level 40 mount, despite being free. No level 60 plainsrunning yet. Very large, hard to maneuver in group instances.
• Classes available: Druid, Hunter, Shaman, Warrior

Troll

• Advantages: Racial traits not yet announced.
• Disadvantages: " " " " "
• Classes available: Hunter, Mage, Priest, Rogue, Shaman, Warrior

Undead

• Advantages: Underwater breathing, Immunity to Fear and some stun effects.
• Disadvantages: Unbelievably abused by the Paladin class (who don't even have talents yet!!) in PvP. Priests in PvP can also use Shackle Undead which is a bitch. UD have a large advantage over classes like Mage though, because they can't use Polymorph on you in PvP. Just expect to be abused by Pallys and Priests.
• Classes available: Mage, Priest, Rogue, Warlock, Warrior

Choosing your class

All the classes except for Paladin are available to the Horde. Likewise, Alliance cannot have Shaman.

Note that numbered rating is for PvP only.

Druid

• Advantages: "Jack of all trades." This class is sort of like the newbie friendly class, as you can be a second rate meleer, second rate healer, second rate rogue. Has different transformation modes like Bear (Warrior) and Cat (Rogue.) Travel mode as well.
• Disadvantages: Since they are a jack of all trades, they are a master of nothing. Underpowered due to this, according to some. Can only be Tauren.
• PvP ability: As with most classes, it largely depends on the player. But are also vulnerable to other players that know what they're doing as well, because they can't tank as well as a warrior, and although they don't die quickly due to their healing, they will eventually run out of mana if trying to take on more melee-oriented classes and die. Not that amazing, but not bad either. 7/10

Hunter

• Advantages: Excellent solo ability, maybe the best in the game. Able to tame pet beasts. Ranged attacks with bows and guns while pet tanks.
• Disadvantages: Weak in groups. While grouping, Hunters have to ration out their powerful shots because they'll draw too much aggro and die. This makes their DPS (damage per second) low. Even weaker in PvP.
• PvP ability: Very gimped right now, especially without any talents. Right now it's entirely possible for your opponent to simply ignore your pet and go for you, since you can't be forced to attack the pet. They can just fear or polymorph either you or the pet, and finish the other off. 5/10

Mage

• Advantages: New spells are easier to get than new weapons, so mages do consistently good damage. Can solo well, especially with frost nova to root enemies. Brings useful aspects to groups as well. Everyone loves conjured food and water, especially other spellcasters. Mana stones are useful as well. Polymorph is good CC (crowd control.) Self and group teleport to major cities is great.
• Disadvantages: Can only wear cloth, physically weak. This can be counter-acted a bit with Frost armor/Mana shield but if they're being hit, they're in trouble. Compared with other classes, mages don't have much in the way of high end equipment currently, so their DPS isn't able to be tweaked to extra high amounts like other classes can. Might change in retail with new items?
• PvP ability: Also largely depends on the player. Your hardest fight will probably be melee classes like Warrior and Rogue because they just have a LOT of HP and refuse to die. Frost nova + blink and nukes can sometimes ensure victory against them, but it's risky. Against other casters, mages are pretty good. Depends on your talent configuration, though. 8/10

Priest

• Advantages: Can spec mostly in Shadow for solo and PvP, or Holy for grouping. Every group wants a priest.
• Disadvantages: Even though shadow priests still have all the healing abilities of their holy counterparts, groups don't want shadow priests usually because Holy is that 15% more effective. Currently, the Holy talent tree sucks. Can only wear cloth, so weak and frail like mages. Horrible at melee, don't even bother trying past the mid 20's.
• PvP ability: Great as a shadow priest. A well played properly specced shadow priest can kill most other classes with relative ease. Fear + Silence + Mana Burn + Mind Blast + Mind Flay + Mind Control = fun. You can lock a caster up for 14 seconds out of 30, with fear and silence, that's pretty damn good. Holy priests aren't made for PvP, maybe for group PvP but they are usually targeted first and die rapidly. 9/10 Shadow and 6/10 Holy.

Rogue

• Advantages: Arguably the highest DPS. Anti-caster class that rips through anything that is not a Warrior, Paladin, or Rogue. Poisons are good, Stealth abilities are unique and effective. Long duration stun attacks. Amazing solo as well.
• Disadvantages: No mail or plate armor. No buffs or healing. Dual wielding weapons is inaccurate. Doesn't bring much to groups except raw damage. Some groups always turn down rogues because of this, but the smart ones will want DPS.
• PvP ability: This also depends highly on your talents. You can go into stealth and assassination to rip casters an even bigger asshole, or go Combat and Assassination to try and go toe to toe with warriors. Still, rogues don't have a big weakness because if a caster is trying to kite them (spellcast, root, run, repeat) they can just vanish and sneak up behind them for another 10 seconds of stun (Cheap shot + kidney shot.) A rogue in the truest sense. 9/10

Shaman

• Advantages: Well rounded, arguably the most well balanced class in the game. Great melee if you go down the Enhancement tree. Can get Mail armor at level 40. Ghost wolf at level 20 kicks ass for travelling. Totems are amazingly helpful and don't cost all that much mana. Good heals. Groups are always willing to pick up a shaman.
• Disadvantages: Not the best at anything, except having totems of course, but even those don't last very long and you have to be standing in range. Only affect group members also. Totem quests are a pain in the fucking ass. No one-cast buffs for other players except water breathing/water walking.
• PvP ability: There's really two kinds of PvP Shaman. Quasi-mages or quasi-warriors. Going down the elemental tree and getting improved shocks (instant cast damage spells) can kick some major ass if you can properly kite other melee classes. Go cloth/leather for the +int and +spirit gear. Other option is going down the Enhancement tree and getting 2H weapons, wear mail armor. Go beast mode while healing yourself. Get nature's swiftness from talents to have an instant-cast big heal. Melee-type is suspectible to kiting from other classes sometimes. Still, totems help you no matter which kind you choose. Shaman can be the bane of rogues due to earthbind totems that unstealth rogues and frost shock that doesn't allow them to bounce around. At the same time, Shaman can be abused by rogues. So it depends on your skill. 9/10

Warlock

• Advantages: Summoning pets is kickass for soloing. Great DoT spells (damage over time.) Soulstones instant-rez you and party members you hand them to. Health stones to act like potions. Some AoE (area of effect) damage spells as well. Able to summon party members to you. More HP than other casters because they can afford to wear +Stamina (HP) gear rather than just +Int and +Spirit. Free level 40 and 60 mounts. Practically unlimited mana, because you can siphon mana from your pet rapidly. Getting new pets like the level 50 Infernal soon!
• Disadvantages: Cloth armor only. If pet dies, you're in trouble. Some annoying bugs, and some of the curses just plain suck ass. Only one pet is really useful for instances (Imp) and one for PvP (Succubus)
• PvP ability: Subjective to the player. Ranges from sucks ass to kicks ass. Assisted by succubs pet, you can chain fear on a warrior while you kill them off with DoT spells and Shadow direct damage spells. Very annoying tactic, but works well. Drain mana against casters and Paladins while using fear to make them worthless. The main purpose of the DoT spells (besides damage) is to give a chance that your next Shadow direct damage spell will cast twice as fast, using certain talents. That can happen quite often, making the warlock formidable. Your most annoying opponent will probably be priests because they can dispell your DoTs. 8/10

Warrior

• Advantages: The tank. Every group needs a warrior. Can use just about every weapon. Can use Plate mail. Lots of HP, lots of armor, lots of damage (sometimes.) Rage bar means that they don't need to have downtime between fights, unless they're hurt.
• Disadvantages: Currently, one of their main selling points (Fury specialization) SUCKS ASS and is worthless. So every warrior is just about forced to go for Arms spec for damage and Protection for groups. Which means that warriors spend most of their time spamming taunt in groups, which is shit boring if you ask me. And as you might expect, defensive warriors suck for PvP, so..
• PvP ability: Arms warriors are really good, mixed with a few of the Fury talents. Having so much HP means they won't die easily. They can even use some fear and debuffs on enemies using rage. Vulnerable to kiting by some spellcasters, but that's about it. You won't have to worry about shaman shocks, so that's a plus. Warriors are better than Paladins. 9/10

More guides coming soon in this thread as I write it.