Earlier today, I was trying to explain Warhammer to a friend of mine who was familiar with the Warhammer 40K universe, and was a diehard World of Warcraft player. He says "Ok, so place the classes side by side, as closely as you can match them up, and whichever one has more "awesome" will win." Hmm....a class comparison based on "awesomeness". How can I argue with such simple logic? So without further ado, a Warhammer v. World of Warcraft Class Comparison.
TANKS
WoW Warrior v. WAR Black Orc, IronBreaker, Swordmaster, and Chosen:
WoW players get the benefit of a very diverse class, that is useful in both PvP and essential in PvE. Different specs, different playstyles all go towards a warrior experience that you can enjoy no matter how you choose to play the character. WAR players on the other hand get a mixed bag. You get a Black Orc that speaks like a ******** football player and a Swordmaster that looks like a ballet dancer; but you also get a tiny ball of fury that punts people into lava while drinking booze, and a hulking badass with glowing swords of pure evil. So, Order and Destruction both have one stupid tank class, and one awesome tank class, while WoW players can simply play their character however they want. Edge: WoW, slightly. The versatility of the Warrior class, combined with the sheer irritating factor of the Black Orc and the namsy-pamsy factor of the Swordmaster gives WoW the slight pump they need to win.
MELEE
WoW Rogue, Paladin, Bear and Cat form Druids, Death Knight v. WAR Shadow Warrior (Assault spec), White Lion, Witch Hunter, Witch Elf, Maurader, and Disciple of Khaine.
This battle is a little more tough. On the WoW side, you have a stealth ninja class that can pop out, gank, and stunlock you into submission, an armored class with heals that can whittle you down slowly, a shapechanging class that lets you bear maul enemies, and a class called "Death Knight". The badass level is quite high. However, on the WAR side, the bar is easily met. First of all you have a versatile short-mid range class with the Shadow Warrior (Assault spec), and frankly having a spec entitled "Assault" is pretty hardcore. White Lions can order their pets to maul people while they bounce around beating the crap out of enemies. Witch Hunters have an awesome hat, and moves called "Burn, Heretic", "Trial by Pain", "Burn Away Lies", and "Blessed Bullets of Cleansing". Any class that lets you accuse people of being a witch, torture them into confessing, and then judge them by a swift pistol shot to the head execution, is made of pure win. Their counterpart, Witch Elves, are half naked murdering machines, while the Maurader has a massive crab arm that can destroy everything around it. Finally, the Disciple of Khaine has a spec called "The Path of Torture" in which the Disciple prays to his god through the tortured screams of his victims. Edge: Warhammer, clearly. The level of pure badassness in the Warhammer Melee classes, especially the Witch Hunter, puts them over the top.
RANGED
WoW Hunter, Mage, Shadow Priest, Caster form Druids, Shaman and Warlock v. WAR Shadow Warrior (Scout/Skirmish spec), Bright Wizard, Engineer, Magus, Sorceress, and Goblin Squig Herder
WoW players get a wide array of ranged attacks: nature, fire, ice, shadow, bullets, arrows, thrown axes, etc. You can even drop stars and small meteors on top of enemies, as well as a huge array of roots, snares, DoTs, and debuffs. Plus, two of the classes, Warlocks and Hunters get a pet. On the Warhammer side, only one class gets a true pet, the Goblin Squig Herder - but when your pet has an attack called "Farty Squig" where he suicide bombs himself, that's enough. Engineers get a freaking sentry gun (unfortunately, no "Spy Sappin' Mah Sentry" ability), and some similar sniping abilities to the WoW Hunter, but more importantly they can beat the crap out of people with a giant wrench, as well as blast them with a shotgun. Bright Wizards are walking nukes that put out insane damage, while both them and Sorceresses are more likely to kill themselves than the enemy. Finally the Magus and Shadow Warrior fill a more traditional ranged damage role. Edge: Tie. WoW ranged DPS classes are much more versatile, while Warhammer classes are more traditionally damage based. The BW and Sorc can put out more damage than almost any class I've ever seen in any game, but the self-suicides are irritating. In the end, both balance each other out: WoW with a more traditional role, WAR with a more targeted ranged DPS and has individually more powerful but narrowly focused classes.
HEALERS
WoW Paladin, Holy Priest, and Shaman v.*WAR Rune Priest, Warrior Priest, Archmage, Zealot, and Goblin Shaman.
The differences between the two games are quite obvious when the healing classes are compared. WoW classes are much more traditional "healbots", though certainly the Paladin and Shaman have some offensive abilities as well. In contrast, WAR classes are much less targetted: Rune Priests and Warrior Priests need to be on the front lines while fighting, in order to properly use their melee healing powers; Archmages and Shamans can do more damage the more that they heal, and can heal more the more damage that they do. Zealots in comparison, are a more offensive healer though they're more like the traditional healing classes in WoW than their Order counterparts. Edge: Tie. WoW has more traditional classes that are arguably "better" at healing, while WAR has healing classes that are good enough to do multiple things at once.*
Overall, it looks to be a tie, with perhaps a slight victory to Warhammer, given the clear superiority of their melee classes. Seriously, any game with NPC Witch Hunters who execute and torture peasants in your capital city, is 20 kinds of awesome. At the same time though, WoW is the gold standard of class balance, and even the much vaunted Warhammer doesn't seem (at least by my subjective metric) to be able to gain a clear advantage. In the end, it will come down to how much you like the classes, and what your playstyle is: the more traditional WoW favored playstyle, with more versatile classes, or the more targeted WAR playstyle, with classes that are more narrow and able to provide more depth within their field.
More...
TANKS
WoW Warrior v. WAR Black Orc, IronBreaker, Swordmaster, and Chosen:
WoW players get the benefit of a very diverse class, that is useful in both PvP and essential in PvE. Different specs, different playstyles all go towards a warrior experience that you can enjoy no matter how you choose to play the character. WAR players on the other hand get a mixed bag. You get a Black Orc that speaks like a ******** football player and a Swordmaster that looks like a ballet dancer; but you also get a tiny ball of fury that punts people into lava while drinking booze, and a hulking badass with glowing swords of pure evil. So, Order and Destruction both have one stupid tank class, and one awesome tank class, while WoW players can simply play their character however they want. Edge: WoW, slightly. The versatility of the Warrior class, combined with the sheer irritating factor of the Black Orc and the namsy-pamsy factor of the Swordmaster gives WoW the slight pump they need to win.
MELEE
WoW Rogue, Paladin, Bear and Cat form Druids, Death Knight v. WAR Shadow Warrior (Assault spec), White Lion, Witch Hunter, Witch Elf, Maurader, and Disciple of Khaine.
This battle is a little more tough. On the WoW side, you have a stealth ninja class that can pop out, gank, and stunlock you into submission, an armored class with heals that can whittle you down slowly, a shapechanging class that lets you bear maul enemies, and a class called "Death Knight". The badass level is quite high. However, on the WAR side, the bar is easily met. First of all you have a versatile short-mid range class with the Shadow Warrior (Assault spec), and frankly having a spec entitled "Assault" is pretty hardcore. White Lions can order their pets to maul people while they bounce around beating the crap out of enemies. Witch Hunters have an awesome hat, and moves called "Burn, Heretic", "Trial by Pain", "Burn Away Lies", and "Blessed Bullets of Cleansing". Any class that lets you accuse people of being a witch, torture them into confessing, and then judge them by a swift pistol shot to the head execution, is made of pure win. Their counterpart, Witch Elves, are half naked murdering machines, while the Maurader has a massive crab arm that can destroy everything around it. Finally, the Disciple of Khaine has a spec called "The Path of Torture" in which the Disciple prays to his god through the tortured screams of his victims. Edge: Warhammer, clearly. The level of pure badassness in the Warhammer Melee classes, especially the Witch Hunter, puts them over the top.
RANGED
WoW Hunter, Mage, Shadow Priest, Caster form Druids, Shaman and Warlock v. WAR Shadow Warrior (Scout/Skirmish spec), Bright Wizard, Engineer, Magus, Sorceress, and Goblin Squig Herder
WoW players get a wide array of ranged attacks: nature, fire, ice, shadow, bullets, arrows, thrown axes, etc. You can even drop stars and small meteors on top of enemies, as well as a huge array of roots, snares, DoTs, and debuffs. Plus, two of the classes, Warlocks and Hunters get a pet. On the Warhammer side, only one class gets a true pet, the Goblin Squig Herder - but when your pet has an attack called "Farty Squig" where he suicide bombs himself, that's enough. Engineers get a freaking sentry gun (unfortunately, no "Spy Sappin' Mah Sentry" ability), and some similar sniping abilities to the WoW Hunter, but more importantly they can beat the crap out of people with a giant wrench, as well as blast them with a shotgun. Bright Wizards are walking nukes that put out insane damage, while both them and Sorceresses are more likely to kill themselves than the enemy. Finally the Magus and Shadow Warrior fill a more traditional ranged damage role. Edge: Tie. WoW ranged DPS classes are much more versatile, while Warhammer classes are more traditionally damage based. The BW and Sorc can put out more damage than almost any class I've ever seen in any game, but the self-suicides are irritating. In the end, both balance each other out: WoW with a more traditional role, WAR with a more targeted ranged DPS and has individually more powerful but narrowly focused classes.
HEALERS
WoW Paladin, Holy Priest, and Shaman v.*WAR Rune Priest, Warrior Priest, Archmage, Zealot, and Goblin Shaman.
The differences between the two games are quite obvious when the healing classes are compared. WoW classes are much more traditional "healbots", though certainly the Paladin and Shaman have some offensive abilities as well. In contrast, WAR classes are much less targetted: Rune Priests and Warrior Priests need to be on the front lines while fighting, in order to properly use their melee healing powers; Archmages and Shamans can do more damage the more that they heal, and can heal more the more damage that they do. Zealots in comparison, are a more offensive healer though they're more like the traditional healing classes in WoW than their Order counterparts. Edge: Tie. WoW has more traditional classes that are arguably "better" at healing, while WAR has healing classes that are good enough to do multiple things at once.*
Overall, it looks to be a tie, with perhaps a slight victory to Warhammer, given the clear superiority of their melee classes. Seriously, any game with NPC Witch Hunters who execute and torture peasants in your capital city, is 20 kinds of awesome. At the same time though, WoW is the gold standard of class balance, and even the much vaunted Warhammer doesn't seem (at least by my subjective metric) to be able to gain a clear advantage. In the end, it will come down to how much you like the classes, and what your playstyle is: the more traditional WoW favored playstyle, with more versatile classes, or the more targeted WAR playstyle, with classes that are more narrow and able to provide more depth within their field.
More...