50 Cent is a warrior, Tori Amos is a paladin, Jimi Hendrix is a mage, Tommy Lee is a priest and J Lo is a warlock.

. Not only do they make sweet music, but they’d also make a great instance group.

. After spending a Saturday night in WoW-land, I went to church the next morning. I really didn’t pay too much attention to what the pastor was saying as I was still fuming over the crappy pickup group I was with the night before.

. Then the church band started playing and I had a revelation: putting together a good WoW group is a lot like putting together a good rock band.

. If you think about it, each party member is like an instrument in a rock band. And if all the instruments play well, you have a good band.

. Bad instruments = crappy band. There are 3 main functions that a person can perform in a group: tanking, DPS and healing.

. Tanking requires getting and keeping aggro, so I liken that to singing. DPS is about causing damage, so liken that to instruments that damage your ear drums. And healing is like keeping a beat and being the backbone of a party. So here is my metaphor for what instrument each class plays: Warrior = Lead vocals. The main job of the warrior is to tank. A good tank grabs all of the aggro and keeps the attention of the mobs away from the other party members. The lead singer is the one person in the band who draws the most attention when on stage. Cameras are always on them and the most famous rock stars are usually the lead singers. Not many people come to a concert to watch the drummer or the bassist; they pay their hard-earned money to see the lead singer.

Famous warriors: Gwen Stefani, Mariah Carey, 50 Cent. Paladin = Piano/Vocals. When I think of a paladin, I think of a big hulking mass that grabs the attention of the mobs. When I think of a piano in a rock band, I think of a big hulking mass on stage that grabs the attention of the fans. In the few rock bands that use a piano, the pianist is also the lead singer, just like sometimes the paladin is the main tank of the group. In some songs, pianos are used to keep a beat, just like in some instances, paladins are asked to heal. Famous paladins: Tori Amos, Ben Folds, Elton John. Priest = Drums. Drummers are the lifeline of the group. They keep the beat and control the pace of the music. Priests are arguably the most important member of the group. Their healing skills (or lack thereof) control the pace of how fast groups can go in an instance. The tank wouldn’t dare pull if the priest was oom. Most rock bands need to have a drummer, just like most groups need a priest. Famous priests: Tommy Lee, Lars Ulrich, Keith Moon. Mage = Electric Guitar. Much like how a mage spams out DPS and AOE on mobs, the electric guitar wails out guitar riffs on the audience. Like the mage, the electric guitar is the loudest instrument on stage and thus creates a lot of attention. No instrument can cause more damage to your ear drums than the mage/electric guitar. Famous mages: Jimi Hendrix, Eddie Van Halen, Santana. Rogue = Bass Guitar. Most people don’t even notice the bassist when he’s on stage. But that’s exactly how the rogue works, under the radar. Bassists use stealth; they don’t want to draw attention to themselves but they do make a big difference.

Listen to a band play with the bassist. Now take the bassist out and hear how the song sounds different. Group with a rogue. Then take the rogue out and you’ll notice a big difference, especially with the DPS. Famous rogues: Bootsy Collins, Sid Vicious, Les Claypool .