Highest skillcap on classes @ F2P

[Riotxo]

Wait wait waittttt...... Is Skrubirak trying to call golden bad or something? Teehee.

Didn't you know? Being better than him at every facet of the game makes him bad!

 

[Mrcer]

I think a lot of people don't understand what a "skill-cap" is. Imirak is very close to the answer. Skill-cap generally is a combination of three things.

First, the amount of buttons you can press in different ways (what Imirak mentions). Basically, if you can only press 2 buttons and still be indistinguishable from the other guy pressing 2 buttons then you have a low skill cap. If on the other hand you have a lot of buttons to press that can distinguish you from that other guy then the class has a higher skill cap.

Second, and this is more player specific, is your need to position well. In other words, if you can stand and turret, you have a lower skill-cap in this ONE area. If having superior movement makes a difference then the class has a bit more depth to it and thus a higher skill-cap. The best example of this is Death Knights in Season 5. You could literally just spam Icy Touch, Death Strike and Death Grip and be virtually indistinguishable from every other Death Knight because movement simply did not matter. You could force players to have to come to you or grip them to you every 30 seconds.

Third, and finally, off abilities and resource utilization. In other words, if you're a DPS class that functions off of a single resource mechanic (lets say runic power to maintain the DK analogy) that builds upon itself then you're always going to have a lower skill-cap then a class that has a resource that is constantly driven down and is hard to replenish. For example, a healer usually has a higher skill cap at the level cap meta-game because you can constantly do a better job of conserving mana.

Now, with that being said, how do you go about figuring out who has a higher skill cap? Well, you should take the aggregate of the above three and go from there. The best way to do this, however, is to simply think about the classes. You all play 20s a lot (as do I). There are certain classes where it's apparent when a far better player is playing. Moreover, there are some classes where it really doesn't matter who is playing, the result is always the same. If there's a huge range of skill in a class that usually shows that there's a higher skill cap than the other class. Two important things to take note of here; first, do not take into account if the class is underpowered or overpowered (in that skill-cap measures only the range that differentiates a skilled player from a non-skilled player and NOT the difference in each class to the other), and second, don't take into account player skills (in other words your ability to strafe or move well doesn't make the skill-cap of the class higher, it just means you can move better than the other person).

With that being said, I'll rank mine and explain why I think it is the way it is.

BM Hunter
Balance Druid
Survival Hunter
Feral Druid
Marksman Hunter
Resto Druid
Subtlety Rogue
Elemental Shaman
Holy Priest
Disc Priest
Resto Shaman
Shadow Priest
Enhancement Shaman
Arcane Mage
Destruction Warlock
Combat Rogue
Ret Paladin
Demonology Warlock
Holy Paladin
Arms Warrior
Fire Mage
Prot Warrior
Prot Paladin
Assassination Rogue

Frost mage?

 

[C O T U S]

hunter and mage have the highest skillcap by a significant margin in F2P

resto druid would probably be second

everything else is just extremely easy and straightforward to play

 

[rsq]

Frost mage?

She's missing a couple of classes. WHERES TEH AFF LOCKZ!?

You have some good points Riot. And I most definitely think spec plays into it all, not sure why it hasn't factored into other people's orders.

I also feel obliged to say that I think one of the reasons people think hunters have such a high skillcap is because there are just so many awful hunters.

I also think one of the common themes is that ranged dps and hybrid classes have the highest skillcaps while 'traditional' classes and melee dps have lower skillcaps. Not true in all cases, but it seems to be general opinion. Food for thought!

I have yet to really form my own opinion on the order of things, I'll post again when I have a more clear idea of skill caps orders

 

[Galvarino]

I think you guys are forgetting specs, or at least in some cases. Some of you say paladins have the lowest skill cap but in terms of what spec? You guys are forgetting specs and how that changes game play for most classes

As a holy paladin, i find this combo to have a high skill cap because managing mana and keeping teamates alive is not easy at all, especially in this hunter/rogue/24 bracket. Healers in general have a hard time but i guess this thread isn't looking at healers but dps?

I'm not sure anyone here is factoring in healers, since the effectiveness of a healer can go steadily up as he learns better and better management of the entire team, rather than just himself.

Any non-scrub healer already has to have a modicum of tactical awareness and the ability to predict mana usage, enemy dps and the arrival of reinforcements. These things are also important for dps, but you don't need them to be good, and most dps don't consider it their responsibility to, for example, anticipate incoming bursts on allies, even though that knowledge might be just as important to a dps class.

Further, while a healer can drastically improve performance by learning the nuances of team management, (nuances which are subtle and difficult to master anyway) dps gain much less since their responsibility is still to kill the enemy and get the flag. The involvement of 1-14 other toons in a healer's calculations complicates them immensely, compared to the calculations one dps has to make. In other words, dps can make a highly informed decision about who to kill and when, but healers have the potential to drastically improve their support for the entire team with better tactics and greater awareness in general.

 

[C O T U S]

healing is really easy in this bracket

power word shield? pennance? word of glory? earth shield and spamming 1 button of healing surge?

it's probably the easiest healing of any twink bracket i have ever played at any time

like i said, resto druid is the only healer that is difficult to play and difficult to master

 

[Earlwing]

Prot Paladin Highest skill cap all time universe. I'm just really good, that's all.....

 

[Galvarino]

healing is really easy in this bracket

power word shield? pennance? word of glory? earth shield and spamming 1 button of healing surge?

it's probably the easiest healing of any twink bracket i have ever played at any time

like i said, resto druid is the only healer that is difficult to play and difficult to master

it's not a matter of how easy it is, it's a matter of how good you can get.

 

[Freeranged]

She's missing a couple of classes. WHERES TEH AFF LOCKZ!?

You have some good points Riot. And I most definitely think spec plays into it all, not sure why it hasn't factored into other people's orders.

I also feel obliged to say that I think one of the reasons people think hunters have such a high skillcap is because there are just so many awful hunters.

I also think one of the common themes is that ranged dps and hybrid classes have the highest skillcaps while 'traditional' classes and melee dps have lower skillcaps. Not true in all cases, but it seems to be general opinion. Food for thought!

I have yet to really form my own opinion on the order of things, I'll post again when I have a more clear idea of skill caps orders

This is unfortunately the case for many melee classes. Given the restrictions of the class, you don't have the options available to range...you must sit on something to be the most effective you can be. Rogues can break this mold with ShS Kick -> Gouge, but otherwise Enh, Feral, War MUST tunnel something to do anything significant. Ret can at least switch roles to strong heals via Judgement regen, where as Enh and Feral heals are so weak/mana draining they are forced back onto the target.

 

[Shft]

healing is really easy in this bracket

power word shield? pennance? word of glory? earth shield and spamming 1 button of healing surge?

it's probably the easiest healing of any twink bracket i have ever played at any time

like i said, resto druid is the only healer that is difficult to play and difficult to master

Reppin

 

[Freeranged]

I'm not sure anyone here is factoring in healers, since the effectiveness of a healer can go steadily up as he learns better and better management of the entire team, rather than just himself.

Any non-scrub healer already has to have a modicum of tactical awareness and the ability to predict mana usage, enemy dps and the arrival of reinforcements. These things are also important for dps, but you don't need them to be good, and most dps don't consider it their responsibility to, for example, anticipate incoming bursts on allies, even though that knowledge might be just as important to a dps class.

Further, while a healer can drastically improve performance by learning the nuances of team management, (nuances which are subtle and difficult to master anyway) dps gain much less since their responsibility is still to kill the enemy and get the flag. The involvement of 1-14 other toons in a healer's calculations complicates them immensely, compared to the calculations one dps has to make. In other words, dps can make a highly informed decision about who to kill and when, but healers have the potential to drastically improve their support for the entire team with better tactics and greater awareness in general.

We are talking skillcap as a player, not as a leader or coordinator of a group.

I'd still say you are correct in that Priests in arena must manage both CC, offense, and defense. I personally feel like I could use a LOT more practice with my Priest.

 

[Riotxo]

I was editing as I was typing it so I accidentally removed a few specs. They are back in now! Also, casters generally get a higher skill cap at lower brackets because they have higher skill caps. At end game melee start to even up more because of their need to have ToT and the abilities they get to do so. The thing with hunters is that they are easily stratified. If you had to rank hunters you could easily do so with reasons why. Good hunters micro EVERYTHING. For example, on my hunter I have almost 30 keybinds (and yes it makes a huge difference). Bad hunters probably only have around 10.

 

[C O T U S]

it's not a matter of how easy it is, it's a matter of how good you can get.

no, it's a matter of how easy it is

being skill capped pushing 5 buttons and knowing how to play a healer is still being skill capped

there are several players i have met in this bracket who were more or less skill capped playing a F2P healer before they even started playing F2P. it's just that easy. sorry, playing faceroll healers is not difficult

 

[Riotxo]

healing is really easy in this bracket

power word shield? pennance? word of glory? earth shield and spamming 1 button of healing surge?

it's probably the easiest healing of any twink bracket i have ever played at any time

like i said, resto druid is the only healer that is difficult to play and difficult to master

As already mentioned, the easiness of the class has no relation with it's skill cap. There's a reason that when we do RMP in arenas you and I always look for certain healers over others.

Of course there were players who got in this bracket already being skill capped. Speaking for Golden, Mialu, myself, Acai and all the other glads - we all played the classes we play at end game at a very high level. Obviously, coming down to the 20 bracket didn't make things more difficult .

Again, you're equating ease with skill cap. If you're arguing healers have a low skill cap that's the equivalent of saying there's no difference in Decem/Llecav and other priests, Golden and other paladins, Resource and other shamans and Ole and other druids (there are obviously other good and possibly better players of these classes- I just named the first ones that pop to my head)!

 

[Earlwing]

Prot Paladin # 1 Skill cap universe.

 

[Galvarino]

We are talking skillcap as a player, not as a leader or coordinator of a group.

I'd still say you are correct in that Priests in arena must manage both CC, offense, and defense. I personally feel like I could use a LOT more practice with my Priest.

if you don't think personal skill relates to how well a healer manages the team, or vice-versa, maybe we should hear your definition of 'skill cap'. Maybe all healers should have the lowest caps, because so much they do doesn't count.

 

[C O T U S]

As already mentioned, the easiness of the class has no relation with it's skill cap. There's a reason that when we do RMP in arenas you and I always look for certain healers over others.

Of course there were players who got in this bracket already being skill capped. Speaking for Golden, Mialu, myself, Acai and all the other glads - we all played the classes we play at end game at a very high level. Obviously, coming down to the 20 bracket didn't make things more difficult .

Again, you're equating ease with skill cap. If you're arguing healers have a low skill cap that's the equivalent of saying there's no difference in Decem/Llecav and other priests, Golden and other paladins, Resource and other shamans and Ole and other druids (there are obviously other good and possibly better players of these classes- I just named the first ones that pop to my head)!

i know what a skill cap is

healers in this bracket are just very easy to play and very easy to skill cap

about the only thing that a good player new to F2P healing will have to learn is aggressive prehealing. that's it. it's just so faceroll

 

[Galvarino]

i know what a skill cap is

healers in this bracket are just very easy to play and very easy to skill cap

about the only thing that a good player new to F2P healing will have to learn is aggressive prehealing. that's it. it's just so faceroll

for some reason, I don't think you play a healer anywhere near the so-called skill cap.

 

[C O T U S]

if you say so, F2P holy paladin with 0/2 points in last word

 

[Shft]

i know what a skill cap is

healers in this bracket are just very easy to play and very easy to skill cap

about the only thing that a good player new to F2P healing will have to learn is aggressive prehealing. that's it. it's just so faceroll

Don't worry Cotus.100% Oh god a hunter glanced at you i'm already casting regrowth