Grouping Guide - Ideal Group

Ok, so you know what all the different roles in a group are. How many of each do you need? How do they work together? What really makes up the ideal group? All is explained here.

In an ideal group you will be able to cover off each of the above tasks. Sometimes multiple tasks will fall onto one person. That's fine as long as they know about it up front. In fact with 9 different roles that need to be filled and only 5 spots in a normal instance, it would be impossible to fill each role with a different person.

There are a few things that every group needs. The basics are a Tank a Healer/Rezzer and some form of DPS/Crowd Control/AOE. When it comes to classes this generally means that the perfect three classes to form the core of every group are a Warrior, Priest and Mage. This is because a Warrior is the best tank, the priest the best healer/rezzer and a Mage covers all three of the other requirements. While this is the strongest core you can substitute other classes in as long as you realize you will need to make up for weaknesses with the other 2 open spots.

Knowing that a tank is a requirement, know your options ahead of time. A Warrior really is best, and a warrior that is protection specced, not fury specced. For them to hold aggro they really need to be in defensive stance all the time, with a weapon and shield. If a Warrior is not available a feral druid can cope quite well when geared and specced correctly and is a valid substitute in all but the hardest encounters. In undead instances a Paladin can also work quite well, however due to the lack of taunts (until the expansion) they are not able to hold aggro as well.

For your healer / rezzer, a Priest is best simply due to their healing ability and constant rezzing ability. While Paladins, Shamans and Druids can all rez and heal, they all have different limitations and while it can be argued that a Druid can heal better situationally that a Priest, a Priest really is the best all around healer / rezzer in the game. If one is not available though, a Druid is your next best choice (and not by that much!). If you decide to take a Paladin or Shaman as your main healer, ensure you have a secondary just in case.

To fill the other roles required in a perfect 3 some, the Mage really is the best fit. A Warlock does a great job at DPS and AOE but really has limited crowd control unless you are fighting daemons or have the succubus out. They are a solid second choice though due to bringing soul stones, possible off tank, minor crowd control, stamina buffs and more. Anything that is missed from this third person in the group needs to be covered in the remaining two party members.

OK, so we have discussed the core 3 in detail. What about the other 2 spots in a group? What do we need? This really comes down to the instance, play style and what the first three members of the group are. However, you will be looking to make sure you have a valid off-tank, and a backup healer as a minimum, while additional DPS to move through the combats is always nice too.

If we assume that we have the perfect three to start with (warrior, priest, mage) then I would suggest that you fill the last two spots with a Paladin, Druid or Warlock and a Rogue or Hunter if you are Alliance. If you are a Horde player I would go with a Shaman, Druid or Warlock and a Rogue, Hunter or Shaman. Again this is ideal, you can duplicate classes if you need to, but to keep loot arguments to a minimum and expand your options as much as possible, I always try to have no duplicate classes in a group.

Having played through to 60 multiple times as both a Horde and Alliance player my ideal groups would have to be:

Alliance: Warrior, Priest, Mage, Rogue, Paladin

Horde: Warrior, Priest, Mage, Rogue, Shaman

While this is ideal and covers all the basses, I have also had some very strange groups that have worked, including: Druid, Shaman, Warlock, Hunter, Rogue and a even stranger Paladin(tank), Paladin(healer), Rogue (dps), Paladin (alt healer/alt tank), Hunter(puller/dps). Both groups while very odd worked very well because everyone did what they were supposed to do for their role (that and the Paladin group was in UD Stratholme full of undead).

In short I am trying to explain that you should not discriminate against any class as long as you require a role that they can provide (and are willing to play). Sometimes you will be pleasantly surprised.

Have comments or suggestions? Thought of something that has been missed? Found an error? We would love to hear from you! Please email me at messiah@tentonhammer.com.