Ret or Arms?

[Farast]

I am planning on creating a twink for this bracket and as I have 1 friend building a Resto Shaman and another building a mage. I decided on a Ret pally and have most of the boe stuff ready to go however with the changes with 3.1 I am rethinking my choice. Usually I would just wait for 3.1 to come out and make my decision then but I recruited a friend recently and as we have been playing together a bunch he has plenty of level to gift my twink so I do not need to bother with the 1-20. Because of this I want to make my decision now.



What is the Alliance best race for melee characters in your opinion, Gnome for Engineering, NE for Meld charge (does this still work?) or human for 2m trinket + possible expertise depending on my weapon?



How much did Ret Pallies rely on Spiritual Attunement for mana regen? My main is a pally and I often had mana issues while levelling and without SA it seems like it will be very easy to go oom even with the regen at this level.



This is my current pally build 29 Ret and this is my warrior build 29 Arms (66% chance to proc Overpower seems fine since you can only use it once every 5 seconds anyway). If things stay the same as now which is better?

 

[Velocemorte]

I'd vote ret paladin.



I can't speak first hand about mana issues, but from my nearly 40-50 duels against paladin, they don't have mana issues. You can't run a good ret oom very easily. You also get much more utility than a warrior (though Mortal Strike, Intimidating Shout, Hamstring, and Overpower are all very nice). You can bubble, buff, heal, minimally CC, cleanse, cure most discrepencies, etc.



As far as which race? What are alliance options? Human / Dwarf / Dranei (sp?), right? You should be using Executioner's Cleaver, so you won't be getting any weapon bonuses. I'd go for human for their 2min racial + slight stealth detection.



Hope this helps!



EDIT :: For some reason I was thinking I was on 49twinks.com - for the most part you can completely ignore this post as I have absolutely no idea about rets in 20-29.

 

[Naturaltalnt]

SA doesn't affect lower lvls, it was designed for prot paly tanks at max lvl. Ret palys at 29 don't have mana issues usually.



Warriors are generally one of the most under powered classes at 29, decent with a healer at best.



Ret palys are in the top 3 of overall best class/spec. Velo I think ur confused, Executioner's Cleaver is a lvl 40-49 weapon.



All choices are pretty equal.



Human - 2min trinket and some hit (Paly/Warrior)

Draenie - free heal and some hit + shadow resist (Paly)

Dwarf - stoneskin (soon to be nerfed to just armor) + frost resist (Warrior/Paly)

Gnome - Snare remover + arcane resist (Warrior)

Night elf - meld + some dodge + nature resist (warrior)

 

[Atotem]

I'd say go warrior, if you are going be be running with a healer then you shouldn't worry about you being one or not. Also as a warrior you'd have more offensive abilities than a paladin. Thats just my two cents..

 

[Bansil]

if you always queue in this 3char combo pally is your best bet. buff + crossheal + most spells to support your team + ability to specc heal.



if you have access to BoA gear, human is superior due to a second trinket slot. you have a healer/heal yourself, so there is no big need of the draenei racial. the hit aura is nice to have, but it won't be a gamebreaker like the 2min insignia. the expertise won't come into account as you will use a corpsemaker. in 2h+shield situations it is gained.



besides all this a gnome warrior with engi is a lot of fun if supported. and tbh mage/resto is a very good support. think about a powerful FCgnome with rocket helmet^^



edit:

i played both and imo there are 4 things to mention

1. fun war>pal

2. variability pal>war

3. hard to play, powerful if mastered war>pal

4. surviveability pal>war

 

[Mangone]

I would go ret for sure. Much more damage

 

[fuzzles]

Arms warrior can be awesome. Check Greenjunk in "my twinks."



Sure, you have a lot of natural enemies, but if you play it right you can pump out top damage and KBs frequently. You also need to spend your talents wisely. I highly recommend my exact spec. 3/3 Taste for Blood is where you get your damage from. Remember, Overpower cannot be dodged, parried, or blocked, and with 2/2 Improved Overpower has huge crit chances.



It gets frustrating sometimes, sure, but you learn ways around hunters' natural advantages and how to use los. Even if you end up hating it, it'll make you a better player.



EDIT: 20/0/0 Arms Warriors with a [item]Corpsemaker[/item] have the most burst damage in the bracket. They can sustain the high damage output, too, with taste for blood ticks.