What classes are sought after?

Hello. I played WoW from late Vanilla to mid Wotlk, and recently got the itch to start playing again. I tried the new expansion and it was terrible and just made me wish I could play the older stuff again.

I did not raid during Vanilla and really only did PvP, but during BC I played a Feral druid offtank for a progression guild through hyjal, sometimes swapping in my destruction warlock for DPS, I started a guild and main tanked and raid led as a Prot Pally through Gruuls before I handed it off, and also healed in another guild as a resto shaman. I had a lot of time on my hands, and being an American player on an EU server I could do multiple raids with multiple guilds in a single day because of time differences. I also did pugs sometimes on my hunter, but didn't like hunter enough to commit it to a guild. I stopped raiding before black temple because I joined the Air Force and by the time I had finished basic training and tech school Wotlk was out.

In Wotlk I mained an unholy DK tank. I would switch to Blood on fights that did not require 3 tanks and would consistently be in the top 10. Got server first 25 and 10 man Naxx, Ulduar, and second 25 man on Sarth3d (literally 15 minutes after our competing guild) before I stopped playing. I only mention that to show my experience as a tank, obviously there were no death knights in BC. I was unable to explore many other class options due to this guild raiding for a few hours a night almost every day, but on our alt runs I would heal as a holy paladin and also earned the challenger title with a ret pally/holy pally 2s combo. I didn't pvp very seriously and was surprised when I got the rank, I was really only doing it for gear.

I would vastly prefer prot pally because I love it, although I enjoy offtanking and healing with any class, but I know there are usually not a lot of spots open for tanks. I am also very good at Warlock and Hunter when it comes to DPS, and I am decent at shadow priest. I can also CC very well with both Warlock and Hunter when it comes to 5 mans using the seduce macro and understanding how to use multiple freezing traps.

I plan on playing Alliance. What class and role would I be most likely to find a raid spot with? I enjoy 5 mans too, not just raiding.

Secondary question. I am not opposed to using the cash shop if I must, but I actually enjoy the process of gearing up through 5 mans. Will I be expected to buy the best possible gear through the cash shop? And if this is the case, do people even run 5 mans anymore?

Thank you.

The 5x server is fast enough to level whatever you enjoy. As a gross generalization, it takes a matter of days to level a character to 70 with dedicated efforts. I believe two weeks would be a reasonable rate to get a character.

That being said, you can choose to create whatever class and spec you like, then shop around among guilds once you are 70. If you realize that what you have is in low demand, it is not a terrible burden to raise up a new character to 70, given the support of an already-70 main.

If you really want to anticipate the end-game, browse the guild recruitment threads and see what is generally in demand. 5-mans will always be seeking geared tanks, raids will typically be seeking capable healers.

Thank you for the input. I'm currently levelling a Paladin. I was actually surprised how long it is taking to level - obviously much faster than classic, but it is still on par with current wow, possibly slower due to lack of gear from quests.

Will probably go with a warlock next so I have all 3 roles covered.

good shamans any spec particularly resto

its the rarest class and raids need 5 of them 2-3 resto