With a full week of game play, I’ve definitely narrowed the field dow a bit for what I predict I will end up playing most of the time in WAR.  I spent most of my time over on Destruction – and noticed they were severely underpopulated on the two servers I played on (Caledor and Chrace) – Dest. was constantly held to their war-camp’s “exit ramp” and rarely captured the RvR objectives for more than a few minutes at a time.  I usually only played Order on Chrace when I couldn’t get on Caledor/Dest, which seemed to be fairly regular…  Here’s what I played:

Caledor/Destruction:

• Chaos Mage – this was my “main” and I got him up to level 11 or so, but I’m still undecided if this class will end up my “main” in the final assessment.  Observations: very effective in PvE, did “OK” in RvR – very squishy and died a lot when solo’ing. 
• Squig Herder – First couple levels I really didn’t like this guy too much. He died if anything looked at him askance. But after a couple more levels he really started to shine – eventually got him up to 10. Probably one of my top choices for a “main.” Observations: very good at both PvE and PvP, this character made more money and more RP’s than any of my others by a huge margin.
• Chosen – I usually don’t like melee toons, but this guy was very fun to play and I’m sure I’ll make one as an “alt,.” I levelled up to 8 or 9 on this toon.  Observations: very good at tanking and actually dished out damage respectfully.  Great for “rushing” and killing squishy types in RvR.  Did ok in PvE, but in PQ’s it was a pain to keep running around playing “MOB tag” as the target flitted from one caster to another.  Taunts worked for a hit or two, then we’re off running again…
• Sorceress – I miss the big rock falling from the sky 🙁  I’m sure they removed that animation to reduce lag, but it was one of the cooler spell animations.  Another contender for “main,” but I’m not sure yet. I only got her up to 8 or 9 and she didn’t see much RvR play this time around. Observations: very good nuker (much better than chaos mage), and with healing support can really turn the tide of RvR. Otherwise quite squishy and easy to take out – really needs to be grouped with a dedicated healer.
• Marauder – Very good “paper tank,”  high DPS and low survivability. I enjoyed playing this guy more in PvE than RvR – especially in PQ’s. Levelled to 8 or so.  Observations: very good melee DPS, very easy to kill in RvR.
• Witch Elf – Probably my least favorite of the characters I played.  I don’t think I even got her out of the newb area.  Not really sure why she didn’t “take,” probably ‘cuz I was having more fun with the other types for some reason…

Order/Chrace

• Bright Wizard – definitely my favorite order class. And will probalby be my “main alt” for Order. I got this character up to level 10 or so. Observations: typical wizard ranged DPS that dies if you look at ’em funny. Although, effective use of de-taunt and the shield abilities greatly enhance survivability – esp. in PvE
• Witch Hunter – I started out really liking this class, then becoming more disenchanted with it as time went on.  He seemed to die A LOT compared to my other toons.  Think I got this guy up to level 8 or so.  Observations: I’d like this guy much more if he had some kind of “escape route” like a snare of some kind.  If things even hinted at going sour, I knew the toon was dead.
• Sword Master – A good melee class, probably will get one as an “alt.”  I esp. enjoyed PQ’s with this guy for some reason.  Only got him up to level 6 or so though.
• Rune Priest – Made this guy the last night of OB, and actually liked him quite a bit for the the little bit I was able to play around with him. 

Besides the class observations above, I also noted that if you’re 1v1/RvR against any of the healing classes, you’re going to lose. Period. I met them on Order and Destruction and every time at the end of the fight I was dirt napping and they were full health.  Even mid fight I would only just see the faintest glimmer in their health-bar and then it was full again.  The only way they will be 1v1 is if some sort of “silence” mechanic is introduced.  Otherwise they’re RvR gods from what I’ve seen.  Even a small group of 3 or 4 can’t take them out without serious casualties. I saw this happen against all healer types, but most often with Zealots, Warrior Priests, and Disciples of Khaine. 

Funny thing is that I was usually a mage or another ranged character which is supposed to be able to dispatch these guys, and I didn’t even come close – hell the Zealot and the WP just nuked me back, they didn’t even bother to melee.  LOL, it was out of this frustration that I created my rune-priest to try and find out his vulnerabilities.  I’ll probably roll all of these type for the same reason; so I know how to counter them in battle.  They’ll probably get some nerfage as well. Both my Bright Wiz and Sorc seemed a wee bit less overbearing in their power from what was apparent during the first preview weekend back in August.  Only time will tell, Enjoy!