I'm going to be picking up WoW in the near future, and I'm deciding on my race and class. I have played FFXI since Day 1 in the US so I'd like as many comparisons and contrasts with FFXI as you can tell me.

I'm looking for the race/class combination that is a pure solo machine. What will most closely resemble FFXI's Red Mage or Ninja, and why?

Any class can solo to 60 in WoW. Some jobs are more gear dependant that others such as Warrior. Hunter and Warlock are probably the fastest jobs you can solo to 60 I would say.

I found Priest to be an extremely powerful class solo. I have solo'd all the way to 53 and its my alt lol, only grouped for instances. I would sum it up best as a redmage for ff11 because u can do multiple things. You would think that a priest would only be a healer, but there is a shadow spec u can put points into to make your damage better and DOTs stronger ect. A priest can DOT/Nuke/Heal/Absorb Dmg/Mana drain/Fear.....pretty much the best of everything, so if u were looking for a red mage class, play a priest.

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Dozi - 60 Rogue =

The choice of race doesn't have an effect as important as in FFXI. Any race is good with any job. I just can't imagine myself playing a Gnome warrior

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== Bronzebeard == Zakath ==
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?5638
Guild : Exeunt Omnes

Hmm. I already knew that any class could EXP solo in WoW, but I think I'm more looking for which class will be able to solo NM/HNM/whatever they are called in WoW. I don't really care about the EXP along the way.

Well if you can stomach druid to 60, they can solo a few big NMs. Paladin can probably as well.

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Dark is banned from ever touching my computer again.

There really isn't much that is the best "soloer"... its all dependant... there are things that Warlocks can solo by using fear over and over... there are times when hunters can solo by kiting the mob forever, and hten times when mages can solo etc. etc. etc.... (oh rogues too)

If you want to do alot and be alone most of the game, I'd say go Rogue, since you can vanish your way through a lot of quests and see a lot of things alone....

Of course, the end level instances will need at the least, 5 person party.

So in the end, there isn't a godly class that can solo "HNMs" or whatnot, but there are classes that might be more useful in groups etc.

You should probably just try diff. classes and play what is most fun... b/c it is so easy to lvl up (and extra chars are free) why not just lvl up several chars?

Shaman most closely resembles red mage. They nuke, heal, melee, have decent armor, but they have low mana pool and low mana:dmg ratio.

You can solo grind all the way to 60, but some quests are intended for a group, like, they'll have a lot of mobs in 1 place, or one of the mobs will be 'elite', which means they have a lot of hp and hit harder (like all mobs in ffxi). If you want to solo those kinds of quests, go with hunter, or shaman. Classes like priests and mage will run out of mana after 4-5 kills.

Hunters solo good and kill fast with no downtime, so can rogues but they take more damage than hunters. You can learn first aid or alchemy to stop that though. Shamans kill slower but you can have like 5 mobs on you and still live.

Then again hunters aren't very good at pvp (great at raids, but no 1v1). Shamans are great 1v1 pvp, and decent in groups.

Anyway it's not hard to level 1-20, so you could just try each class for yourself. There aren't any gimp summoner or dragoon classes to worry about.

Like everyone said, all classes can solo to 60 pretty fast. Here's a quick summary of each as a solo and pick what suits you.

Mage - Big damage, fast killer. Mages have problems soloing same level elites since they have so much life and hit so hard, but, they kill and level the fastest. They also die the most often.

Rogue - Similar to mage but melee. More defense, less damage. Also, have problems with soloing same level elites. They have the ability to get themselves out of fights and get away.

Hunter - Third on the damage scale. Feign Death and pet make them not die much. Probably the best solo character. A bit expensive to play since you pay for ammo and pet food. Can be hard to get a group for instances since hunters don't add as much to a party as a mage.

Warlock - Minion, Crowd Control, DoTs. Warlocks solo quite well since they can often shut down mobs. Damage is pretty far off the 3 main damage classes. Warlocks are popular for parties, which is the fastest way to level at 30+.

Shaman - Battlemage type. Lot of versatility. Damage is primarily weapon based. They can heal and rez. Good survivability. Solid all around character, but, not a fast killer so don't solo level fast.

Druid - Healer and some decent offense. Very good survivability. Popular invite to instance groups for healing abilities and solos well. Damage is a cut below Warlocks and Shaman.

Warrior - Normally tanks. They can be spec'd for damage but even so don't do nearly the damage of the main 3 DD. Lack of healing makes them a pain to solo with. They're needed for instances as they are one of two classes that wear plate, especially needed for Horde who do not get Paladin.

Paladin - Tank or offtank, healer, lot of buffs and utility. Slow killers but have the best survivability in the game by far. Paladins can usually solo elites a level or two above them, just takes forever to do.

Priest - Healer. Shadow spec makes solo play possible but still slow. Otherwise, they kill really slowly and mostly need to play in groups.

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WoW: Dmi of Alleria
FFXI: 75 PLD - 38 WAR - 35 BLM - 26 RDM - 18 SMN

So far I have a 37 Rogue and a 36 Warlock and they both solo pretty well.

Rogue kills very fast but needs to carry bandages/food to heal as you will be taking damage with only leather armor. Taking on mobs up to +2 levels is safe for me except elites where a -1, -2 lvls is better.

Warlock is a machine. You don't kill as fast as a rogue but if you use your dots and drains you have very little (if any) downtime. Elites are challening as they can last long enough to kill your pet with their extra health. A big plus is that you can make health stones for healing and soulstones to rez yourself. The biggest thing holding back my lock is being ganked since he's on a pvp server. (Usually they kill my pet and I'm screwed)

I've played with priest a bit too but only into the teens. Shadow magic is a must if you want to kill anything solo though. Can't say much more than that.

I can take down some 58-59 elite mobs with my warrior. Just takes the big timer skills, but it can be done.

Retaliation + Sweeping Strikes + Cleave = Big Numbers floating on-screen This is of course on multiple mobs. For a single boss, spam MS and sunder armor.

I can also a potion and Last Stand if I need.

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== Bronzebeard == Zakath ==
http://wow.allakhazam.com/profile.html?5638
Guild : Exeunt Omnes

Yeah, its not impossible for warriors to solo (no class is "impossible" or even "difficult" to solo for exp).

Its just harder to do so as a warrior than hunter... . (When it comes down to raw exp/hour).

I think hunters are probably fastest exp/hr if just pure grinding.

Thank you for the replies. Druid sounds very enticing but my RL friends have all gone with alliance. I think I'm going to choose human Rogue since I'd love to sneak through a lot of stuff, and make more money.

As a mage im yet to find an elite mob my level or a few above that i cant solo, but out of all the mages ive met i have by far the largest health and mana pool, a same level mage at lvl 50 had over 1000 less mana and 700 health compared to me, only mage i know thats close is in my guild with me and he is still a few hundred short on both, i have no idea why but im not complaining

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Kasdaye Regnar

Just to be sure you have the facts straight... Druids are both Alliance and Horde but you'd be have to be Night Elf (or Tauren). Shaman are the Horde only class.

Druids get stealth in Cat form. I have a level 60 Tauren Druid and I love to play that class. I don't kill anything very fast, but, there is so much I can easily solo that other classes have trouble with.

I've only played rogue to the 20's. I really enjoy that class since you have to be much more careful and keep your wits about you. I've played Druid to 60 and Paladin to 58 and both of those classes you really have to do something stupid to get killed.

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WoW: Dmi of Alleria
FFXI: 75 PLD - 38 WAR - 35 BLM - 26 RDM - 18 SMN