World of Warcraft: Forever — 10 Questions to Ask Before Choosing Your Class

A class choice starts with a small picture of the adventure you want. Perhaps that is an animal companion beside you, a spell ready at your fingertips or a group of friends counting on you to keep them standing. World of Warcraft: Forever gives those familiar fantasies its own set of choices.

There are nine available classes. These ten questions help you choose among them by considering how you like to fight, who you will play with and which tools you want to learn. You can make a useful decision without chasing a launch-week damage ranking.

Looking for somewhere to start?

• Do you want to fight close up or watch from a distance?
• Would managing a companion be part of the fun?
• Does your preferred race and faction allow that class?

10. Which fantasy would you enjoy for a whole adventure?

Picture the character between the spectacular moments. Would you still enjoy being a nature-bound shapeshifter, a heavily armed fighter or someone who sends spells across a clearing while travelling and taking ordinary quests? That everyday image is a useful first filter.

Forever offers nine classes, so you do not need to stretch a ranking into ten supposed winners. This guide gives you ten questions to narrow those nine choices. Start with a character you want to inhabit, then check whether its practical responsibilities match that picture.

9. Do you want to fight close up or watch from a distance?

If following an enemy into the thick of a fight sounds appealing, begin by reading Warrior and Rogue. If you would rather keep an eye on the space between you and a target, Mage and Hunter offer different starting points for ranged play.

Ask what sort of attention you enjoy giving a fight. Staying near a target and finding room to cast are different activities, even when both end in dealing damage. This question is about the position you would enjoy occupying, before worrying about a particular build.

8. Would managing a companion be part of the fun?

Hunters have an animal companion at the heart of their identity, while Warlocks bring a darker version of companion play through summoned demons. If having another creature alongside you is the main attraction, both deserve a closer look.

Treat that companion as something you will want to understand. Consider whether choosing its role and paying attention to it sounds rewarding alongside controlling your own character. If what you want is a simpler relationship between your input and one hero, a pet-focused class may be a less natural starting point.

7. Would you enjoy looking after the group?

Healing appeals to players who notice an ally struggling and want to do something about it. Read Priest's description if that sounds like your favourite contribution; Paladin and Druid also combine supportive possibilities with their own distinct identities.

The useful question is whether paying attention to other people sounds satisfying. When you imagine a difficult encounter, are you excited by helping the group recover? You can like a class's story without wanting every role associated with it, so separate the fantasy from the job you hope to do.

6. Do you want responsibility for the front line?

Some players enjoy being the person the rest of the party can organise around. If you are drawn to that responsibility, investigate tank-oriented options and the gear and talents needed to support them. Druid's published Forever deep dive, for example, discusses its ability to take different combat roles with the appropriate setup.

Think beyond the image of a shield or a large animal. Would you enjoy preparing for that role and communicating with a group? Choosing it because the work sounds appealing is a better basis than assuming a sturdy-looking character will automatically solve every encounter.

5. Do several roles sound freeing or distracting?

Druid is the obvious class to investigate if changing forms is part of the appeal. Forever's class deep dive describes an adaptable character, but also gives that flexibility tradeoffs. Different tools do not make every situation effortless.

Ask whether you enjoy maintaining more than one way to contribute. For some players, deciding how to help is the whole attraction; others would rather develop one clear identity. Both are sensible preferences, and recognising yours can save you from picking a versatile class you never feel like exploring.

4. Who will you actually be adventuring with?

If you are starting with friends, talk about what each person wants to do before everybody commits. A group where someone enjoys support and someone enjoys taking the lead has a clearer starting point than one assembled entirely around separate damage rankings.

Keep your own preference in the conversation. Filling a gap can be rewarding when the role interests you, but it is a poor reason to choose a character you do not want to play. For a mostly solo start, put more weight on the class's ordinary moment-to-moment appeal than a hypothetical future group's needs.

3. Which extra tools would you enjoy remembering to use?

Rogue's stealth, Shaman's totems and Hunter's tracking suggest different ways to interact with a situation beyond a basic attack. Read those class identities as invitations: do you want sneaking, preparing helpful effects or following a quarry to be part of the character?

You do not need to know every ability before beginning. You do need an interest in the kind of decisions that make the class distinctive. Pick the toolkit you want to learn, rather than a name you hope will let you ignore the toolkit altogether.

2. Does your preferred race and faction allow that class?

Check the combination before becoming attached to a particular character. Forever introduces new possibilities, including Orc Mages and Undead Paladins, so an old chart from another version of WoW may rule out a choice that is available here.

Use the current character-creation screen to confirm your exact combination, especially for the new Skyborne. If you are meeting friends, agree on faction as well. It is easier to change an idea at this stage than discover you have planned different adventures after everyone has started.

1. Would you still choose it without a best-DPS claim?

Imagine that tomorrow's discussion favours another class. Would you still want the pet, the spells, the forms or the front-line role that drew you to this one? If so, you have a reason to stay interested beyond a shifting comparison.

Make a short list of two or three classes, read their Forever-specific descriptions and choose the one whose ordinary play sounds most appealing. A first character is easier to learn when you are curious about its tools. There will be time to debate tiny advantages once you know what you enjoy.

Where to go next

Narrow your choices through combat distance and companion play, then confirm the race and faction combination before starting. For another look at the appeal of changing forms, see our RPGs with shapeshifting. If flexible character roles are what interests you most, explore our RPGs with job systems.