Least Gear Dependant Class

[wiganer]

A friend of mine has been playing warrior but is becoming descouraged by the gear dependancy of the class and wants to re-roll.....

Any thoughts on the class that is least gear dependant?

[MammaMu]

In my experience, with a mage you don't really need anything until you hit outlands...unless you wan't to gear up for fun and efficiency of course ;-)

Also, priests and warlocks can level fine with only upgrading wands, and thats just to speed up things until midlevel.

Actually, the non-gear-dependancy is one of the reasons I mainly play casters 8-)

[rottentomato]

priest/mage/hunter


id probably place hunters as number 1 for least gear dependant...

[det]

Hunter...you only want a decent ranged weapon...

[kcma]

dont even need decent ranged weapon... same lvl green would be MORE than enough...

hunter -> warlock -> mage

but warlock adn mage are skill dependant... so... that really just leave you with hunter.

priest needs alot of spr and +dmg... they're pretty gear dependant...

[Krollin]

Hunter, definitely.

You don't even need a weapon if you are BM specced. Mind you, without one you won't get XP and loot unless you go melee and thump stuff.

[ascendedavatar]

A lot also depends on your professions, as some can make and repair items especially armor.
Class-wise, I agree with the previous posts:
Hunters - as long as you keep upgrading your ammunition at merchants as you level, your pet, plus item drops should keep you up to par on damage.
Warlocks - plenty of good wand drops and quest rewards, and if you keep getting your minion 'upgrades' you should be just fine as well.

[Underling]

Feral druid without doubt

[Twoflower]

yeah sure, a naked feral druid... lol

and a hunter is also useless whibout a ranged weapon.

It is either mage, shadow priest or warlock. No doubt.

[Baboon]

For a feral druid is hard enough already to get strength gear instead of all the agility stuff out there.

I vote priest for 1-60, since you only need some spirit. Hunter might be easier, but I never played one.

[Magikhat]

Im going to have to go with warlock. Im still wearing level 10 items on my level 45 lock and still owning stuff up.

[RTaser]

Basicly a classes that get hit more are more gear dependent (Warroir, Pally) compared with a range attackers that have ways of slowing/stopping themselves getting hit are less gear dependent (Hunters, Warlocks)

[det]

And I stick to the hunter..well, I don't wear lv 10 items, but she is a fresh start without any money on Alliance side and the agility items for her are either non-existing on AH or priced for the twink range..so she wears what she finds.

And just blew all her funds on a blue bow that somehow nobody wanted...

[Schift]

Hands down a BM hunter. I could grind 60+k/hr in the 40's with a lvl 30's green ranged weapon and crappy green gear. Mind you this is nothing impressive at all (rested xp) but I was meleeing sometimes and mining too. BM hunters grinding is too easy even without the gear to make you fast/efficient.

Possibly WL next, then I would have a hard time picking. Possibly mage and priest and then the rest are more gear dependant up to the warrior (king of gear dependency).

[MammaMu]

Sorry if I am a bit grumpy but the OP asked about the least geardependant class, not the easiest to level...so /shoo hunters ;-)

Shure, hunters are not like pure meleeclasses but still need a descent ranged weapon to function, even BM ones - whereas all three pure caster classes can reach Outlands with ease dressed in linen rags wielding a broken dagger. A few crappy greens and what quest rewards you stumble over makes things a bit easier, but it's not necessary.

It's all semantics anyway so nevermind...

But while we're on topic, a long while ago there was a thread here about a warrior that planned on not using weapons, leveling only by Unarmed, anyone know how that turned out and how far he got?

Oh, and thanks twoflower for the caster support ;-)

[pincopiones]

Rogue, no doubt, was one of my first character to level up, am too*-(insert word that matches when some one want to save money)-*, and was wearing leather level 20-30 when i was level 45, or my great Ebon Shivs from level 46 to 60, i loved those daggers. I was still killin elites 5 level higuer than me, or fightin 5 Mobs at once, no doubt could killem naked, of course with green daggers.

Mage is gear dependant, if you have no +SpellDamage, then u need lot os +Iintellect or stop drinkin each 2-3 fights.

[Stigg]

The only things a rogue needs are weapons.

[xxlebox]

The only things a rogue needs are weapons.

he needs good ones though, doesn't he?

I htink warlock is really easy to play without gear.

I don't remember the guys name, but he's on the official forums, and he's currently leveling to 70 with a naked warrior, last time I checked he was 62, iirc.

[Aerath]

Iirc, that warrior is somewhere in outlands.

I'd probably second the vote for Hunters. After that - a frost mage.

[Chevalrich]

he needs good ones though, doesn't he?

True, heard rogues were the least gear dependant class as well and i believe it. They stunlock & combo everything :/


I htink warlock is really easy to play without gear.

Depends on spec i gues, but without +dmg gear you get in trouble real quick after lvl 30-40

[Tikki]

hunter - i still have lvl 13 gear on and I'm a lvl 23 - works great.
hunters are really inexpensive. all you really need is a decent ranged weapon, stock of ammo and you're ready to roll - on the condition that you can manage your pet well!

[PTiger]

I can't believe all the hunter posts in here. Without a ranged weapon, or a melee weapon for that matter, a hunter can not use the vast majority of his/her abilities (Eagle Eye FTW). The only damage you'd be doing is having your pet attack.

Casters, however, do not need a weapon to use their abilities. They don't even need a pet. They are the least gear dependant class by definition.

Now I understand the spirit behind the OP's request. He/she is looking for a much lesser gear dependant class than the warrior, and in that case, a hunter will fill in just fine, as long as you have some gear.

[poopsmcgee]

i'd have to go with priest also. i recently started one and am 44 now still wearing some pretty low stuff. i have actually vendored some better quest reward items just to keep my spirit up with a lesser item that happened to have more spirit. so yah priest or other caster, get in ur mid 20's and do a couple of sm runs to get the doan gear and your pretty well set. last night after i dinged 44 and couldn't get any help in stv with the harder quests, i went to tanaris and breezed thru the wastewater and pirate quests there with no trouble. i can handle up to 3 same or slightly higher lvl enemies withouit much trouble. just as long as i don't get silenced lol.

i would say you'd need a decent wand and i got a decent shadow damage wand, but i rarely use it cuz i just lay waste to the enemies. my macro: shield, mindblast, sw:pain, mind flay, mind flay, mindblast, shoot. rarely have i ever needed even that last mindblast unless the enemy is several lvls above me. i normally just tack on another mindflay, especially if it is an enemy that is going to flee.

[PlayThemAll]

Iirc, that warrior is somewhere in outlands.

I'd probably second the vote for Hunters. After that - a frost mage.

Gutrot (http://armory.wow-europe.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Aerie+Peak&n=Gutrot) the Naked Warrior is up to L63 as per The Armory (EU). I want to see him make it to 70 so bad.

I'd vote for Lock or Hunter. I can't say that I've played a Priest far enough to know on that class. Mages don't really need gear but per my exp they would have to drink a lot so I don't think they would be as efficient.

[SLUGFly]

I'm not sure if this is what qualifies for "gear independant" but I have a 65 mage and a 20-something rogue (cut off for a few weeks due to toasted graphics card, forgot how old my rogue is) and I've never bought an item for either of them. Everything I have is from quest rewards or drops (mostly regular drops, not limited to dungeon boss drops).

[JaTal]

I depends what you mean by "Gear Dependent"

If you mean what class could survive naked and weaponless best then the three caster classes would be best, since they could still do good damage.

If you mean what classes can level using only quest rewards/drops then
Probably Hunters, Druids and rogues are added to the Group.

But to do well in Heroic/High level instances, all classes are gear dependant.

[Etrin]

warlock.
I didn't even use a want except for the +2 int it gave.

NOTHING blue and when I hit outland I knew one thing...ANY drop would replace what I had.

talk about cheap and not gear dependent.

[Your Average WoW Player]

Gutrot (http://armory.wow-europe.com/#character-sheet.xml?r=Aerie+Peak&n=Gutrot) the Naked Warrior is up to L63 as per The Armory (EU). I want to see him make it to 70 so bad.

I'd vote for Lock or Hunter. I can't say that I've played a Priest far enough to know on that class. Mages don't really need gear but per my exp they would have to drink a lot so I don't think they would be as efficient.

That's why they can make water. Really makes things easier.

To be honest, I'd have to say that Affliction or Demonology specced Locks are the least gear dependent class. Just keep some Int. and some spirit on you and you'd be fine. Drop your DoTs and put your pet on, and zap away with your wand and things'll go fine. I've heard that Destro locks are like Fire Mages (LOTS of damage in a short amount of time) without the ability to make water.

Mages don't have the DoT luxery that Locks do, nor do they have the pet, so they need to keep more Int up to keep a larger mana pool as they'll be dropping more direct damage spells.

[dowdjr]

Next to warriors, rogues are the most gear dependant class there is...I've played a couple of them past 60. One I grinded to 60, the other I quested all the way to 70. Hands down, better weapons makes as much of a difference as 5 levels.

For the original question, I think he was asking how you can best level without having the BEST gear for your level. My votes would go along the lines of:

BM Hunter = Warlock > Any other range class > any melee class

Reason being 1. Pets are about 30-40% of your character and don't depend on gear (much). 2. Ranged attacks have low dependency on Sta, Armor, etc. Although at about lvl 50+ you can stack +dmg gear for great effectiveness. 3. Melee class is dependent on weapons for damage and armor for survivability.

[det]

That's why they can make water. Really makes things easier.

To be honest, I'd have to say that Affliction or Demonology specced Locks are the least gear dependent class. Just keep some Int. and some spirit on you and you'd be fine.

Honestly, mages water just sucks. The best I could make until lv 59 was 1992 mana restored, bought morning glory dew mostly and that is already lv 45 req.. Finally at 60 you get all the water that pre-tbc only instances dropped in the way of tomes.

And if warlocks need anything it is stamina..not really int and least of all spirit (see demonic embrace)

So, yes...define "gear dependant". I don't understand it as "naked", but unless you get something to boost your main stats you won't have much fun. Which leaves the pet classes imho.