The Most Hated Class in WoW

Everyone has their own prejudices about that one class in World of Warcraft that they don't particularly like. Before the expansion this prejudice was concentrated on the shaman and paladin classes since both could only be played by opposing factions. This allowed the strengths of both classes to be viewed as overpowering by the faction who couldn't use them. However, now that we have the new races the horde knows paladins shields only extend the inevitable and the alliance knows that shamans leak mana like spaghetti strainer.

Thus the calls for nerfs on these classes have decreased and the title of most hated class should now swing evenly between everyone. However, this is not the case since there are still classes that receive more nerf calls then others. The main driving force behind these calls seems to be the different experiences a player has with a class in PvE and PvP. In general players tend to like classes that are bad at PvP but perform well in PvE. The forums often reflects that since certain class and talent combinations can severely limit a class's utility in a dungeon while granting them the extra burst damage which turns the tide in PvP.

Based on these trends I tried to highlight what I believe the five most hated classes are in World of Warcraft. Remember that I'm treating each talent tree as a separate class and that these are just generalizations. Also some of you might be wondering why feral druids and retribution paladins aren't on this list. The last patch chased away most of the PvP feral druids and most people feel they have been "balanced". Retribution paladins can still heal non-heroic dungeons and continue to not kill people fast enough in PvP to be hated. In fact the only reason paladins might be on the list right below arms warriors is because of bubble hearth.

5) The Arms Warrior: A very old target of the nerfbat and now left mostly alone in the forums this class dominated the most hated class title for a long time. The reason behind this was warriors received the most benefit from gear upgrades so there was often a huge boost in power gained from end-game content. Combined with the ease in getting a high base damage 2-hander the warrior became the most played class for quite awhile. However, a string of nerfs targeting rage generation and secondary abilities reduced their numbers till by the time the expansion came out the main tank class was actually rare.

4) The Elemental Shaman: Elemental shamans are not thought to be as overpowered but they still get some attention from the nerf threads. This is mostly because of the utility of their totems in PvP combined with instant shocks that do high damage. Shocks while slightly mana inefficient in PvE are devastating when used correctly in PvP. In particular earthshock can destroy most healing classes while frostshock is particularly useful on melees. Shamans also have a harder time trying to heal while not healing spec then the paladin class so often receive more complaints. In general though nerf threads tend to target their lightning bolts and shock spells.

3) The Fire Mage: A newer target of nerf calls but now approaching a moderate level of unpopularity. Fire mages sacrifice the ice block ability which groups love so well in favor of squeezing some more fire based damage out. In general non-experienced mages already have a problem controlling aggro and the thought of a mage gaining more damage just makes most tanks cringe in terror. Plus add in the new Dragon's Breath talent which seems to be the only true AoE crowd control ability with high damage and you got a class that earns many an enemy on the battlegrounds.

2) The Rogue (aka The Rouge): No matter how a rogue chooses their talents they are still pretty good at dealing damage. However, some recent changes have raised the hatred for the class more then all the lame stealth ganking on boats. One change is cloak of shadows which has created a situation where rogues can still win a battle against casters without having to get a successful ambush. Warlocks and Priests are particularly mad since they are the most common targets of rogues in world and instance PvP. Add to this the overwhelming use of Cleave and AoE spell damage in the Outlands and the overall PvE usefulness of a rogue has been seen as dropping. The next patch's change to cleave better guarantee rogues take less damage in dungeons or else they might start to get warlocks a run for their money.

1) The Warlock: The class has consistently been the most targeted by players for nerfs since the beginning of the game but has always managed to dodge the nerfbat for a majority of reasons. One reason is that fear's utility in PvE can't really be increased so the developers feel okay in letting it be overpowered a bit in PvP. Warlocks are perhaps one of the rarest classes so Blizzard will always be slightly cautious about nerfing them. They do have great PvE utility with banish and charm but most players trying out the class tend to stick with the PvP side of the game. When a new warlock who has been focused only on PvP crosses over into a PvE group it can often be a disaster on scale with Chernobyl. Unfortunately this is how they tend to be remembered and the stereotypes becomes reinforced.

http://blogs.parc.com/playon/archives/2005/06/server_sample_r.html