Which classes are currently meta?

[Rekoom]

Pug = pick up group, random players you decide to party with or end up playing with because you joined an open warband.

I think you have most of your answers from previous posters and only missing the 6v6 and small group meta which makes more use of classes like WE/WH/aSW and 2 handed tanks while the very strong warband classes (SL, BW, Sorc etc) do not necessarily perform as well in that format.

Solo is another can of worms where mainly AM/Shaman dominate and WE/WH/SW/Magus/Engi/2 handed health regen tanks can also do well. Doesn't mean a BW or SL can't solo but it's just less common and you'll struggle quite a bit more than with a Shaman for example.

EDIT: Btw, If you do a forum search you will find a lot of topics on meta classes for both Order and Destro, in WB and 6v6.

[Fey]

Pick an archetype first and go from there. This discussion is overly broad and not particularly useful outside of milking salty order tears.

[nat3s]

This is my experience from running in one of the larger guild's premade WBs and winning roughly 75% of guild v guild city sieges:

1. Meta composition was (still is?) 3 aoe groups, 1 ST group.
2. Idea is that the ST group chain kills healers 1 by 1 which reduces healing enough that the aoe groups can collapse the enemy WB for a wipe.

The Destro setup was typically:

AoE Groups
BO, Chosen tanks
4 Choppas
2 out of sorc/msh/magus
Occasionally we would run sorc heavy WBs, particularly recently

ST Group
BG, BO 2h tanks (debuffs, 10% crit increase etc)
1 WE (75% healing reduction - 50% incoming and 50% outgoing stack on a single target)
1 Mara (Brut - 70% crit setup) or ST Choppa
2 shield dok for the additional melee pressure

Healers: Zealots and Doks with 1 shaman for insta rez.

The Order setup:

AoE Groups
Kotbs, SM tanks
4-5 slayers or slayer/WL mix
1-2 BW
Or 6 slayers if you can

ST Group
SM, IB (ap bot)
1 WH
1 WL
2 shield WP

Healers: RPs and WPs with 1 AM for insta rez.

May well have changed, but the general consensus from playing both sides is Order, if it has enough Slayers, has the better aoe melee cleave. ST group is roughly even.

Now, what people are seeing in this thread, is lots of puggers thinking they know about the meta. Your typical /5 premade will simply fill 4 aoe groups and hope to cleave someone down so quite a few specs get left in the dark. For instance WH and WE are strong classes for the ST group and at least 1 AM/Shaman generally gets a spot for insta rez tactic, but this thread suggests they are non-meta... It's totally understandable why pugs will do this, have you ever tried convincing a pug Sham/AM to run insta rez tactic? It's just painful. Puggers play for themselves so rarely think about teamwork, guildies share a sense of community so will bend over backwards to spec the right way and run tactics to support each other.

Overall Order has the edge as their WBs do higher damage both AoE and ST. Destro has more organised guilds so, until recently, won most sieges overall (sorry puggers, you're not beating a coordinated guild rotating challenges with healers stacking 180 armour talis and tanks playing close attention to their guards, the difference in the dmg taken between a /5 WB and a guild is night and day).

Destro attracts people more to meta classes (choppas are sexy, slayers are fugly etc) which is a problem.

[sgtnanners]

Since you're talking about meta I'm just gonna talk about city because beyond city no one really cares what you play. For city compositions on destruction side you can expect:
Tanks: 3-4 BO 2-3 Chosen 1-2 BG (2h)
Healers: 3-6 DOK 1-3 Zealot 1-2 Shaman
DPS: 3-6 Mara 3-6 Choppa 2-4 Sorc 1-2 MSH (not ranged) (THIS VERY MUCH DEPENDS ON whether you want a melee heavy comp or range heavy comp so # of mara/choppa/sorc vary a lot)

Some people may tell you blahblahblah they run 3 magus or 3 rsh but this is few and far between. if you want META id play the higher slot classes so bo/dok/mara/chopa/sorc (choppa seems a little worse now so people are shifting a little bit back to mara).

if you want Order meta I have seen some good suggestions in thread such as kotbs/wp/slayer/bw (all good picks)

And again play what you want at end of day. You can play WE or Magus or RSH or dps shaman if you want but a lot of people just wont take them. Its like bringing a ret pally to a classic raid.

[M0rw47h]

What kind of meta? Solo roaming, duo roaming, 6 man roaming, 12 man roaming, ranked SC solo/premade, WB play, keep/fort leeching, City Sieges?

All of these.

Usualy classes good for solo, ain't good for more organized stuff and vice versa. Most WBs won't want dps AM/Shaman at all, but it's really superior choice for solo/duo or other variants of smallscale roaming. Once you understand that, you will also understand that each class has some niche where it's superior choice compared to something else, which is superior in different scenario.

[Seravajan]

What kind of meta? Solo roaming, duo roaming, 6 man roaming, 12 man roaming, ranked SC solo/premade, WB play, keep/fort leeching, City Sieges?

All of these.

Usualy classes good for solo, ain't good for more organized stuff and vice versa. Most WBs won't want dps AM/Shaman at all, but it's really superior choice for solo/duo or other variants of smallscale roaming. Once you understand that, you will also understand that each class has some niche where it's superior choice compared to something else, which is superior in different scenario.

Yeah, I noticed this too. My first character was an AM. Another was a WE. Both stepped back in the second row but I believe two more will follow too: an SW and an Engi. Both are fun to play but what is if they never get picked for groups? I don't like to get banned from the endgame just due to picking the wrong class. It seems on the destru side I have a sorc I could level further or get the BG up. On order side it looks worse. One WL and one SM are available to me with some levels in them. And one thing I do not understand is the role of the WE. Better pick a choppa. It can do the job better and is even sturdier.

[Mnemon]

Dont play metas, play what you enjoy most

Ignore all answers but this tbh.

Takes 24-48 hours of playtime to max a character at cr40 rr50ish, so just play whatever you want and if you want more meta classes after that roll one.

Totally agree. One of the problems with some of these older games is people have pulled the entire thing apart there's no mystery any more.

I'm still of the opinion, all things being equal sure there are some classes that are more useful than others. But an exceptional SM/AM is going to be a better member of your team than a below average KotBS or RP.

[M0rw47h]

All of these.

Usualy classes good for solo, ain't good for more organized stuff and vice versa. Most WBs won't want dps AM/Shaman at all, but it's really superior choice for solo/duo or other variants of smallscale roaming. Once you understand that, you will also understand that each class has some niche where it's superior choice compared to something else, which is superior in different scenario.

Yeah, I noticed this too. My first character was an AM. Another was a WE. Both stepped back in the second row but I believe two more will follow too: an SW and an Engi. Both are fun to play but what is if they never get picked for groups? I don't like to get banned from the endgame just due to picking the wrong class. It seems on the destru side I have a sorc I could level further or get the BG up. On order side it looks worse. One WL and one SM are available to me with some levels in them. And one thing I do not understand is the role of the WE. Better pick a choppa. It can do the job better and is even sturdier.

Depends what is ENDGAME for you and what you're looking for. If you consider City Sieges to be "endgame", you may be not happy after picking SW or Engi unless you will more than excellent on those, or you already have friends who will take you regardless of class you pick. For me personaly, "endgame" is roaming with nice people, looking for nice fights, flanking higher numbers with small group of friends, while City Sieges are just way to boost progression of my alts.

[CountTalabecland]

Sure ST Groups are important in city but those are usually the best geared ppl in the wb. This makes sense due to burst being tied closely to gear and crit.

My advice is your main/first toon should be a meta class. Your second can be one of the classes that ppl only bring 1 of per warband for city. You’ll be better off having crafting/you guild main on that meta class.

[Seravajan]

Ok. Which meta class to choose if I want to play a ranged DPS on both sides.