Surviving to see another ding
I'm facing exactly this issue right now (in fact, it's one reason why I'm thinking of rolling a hunter again and ditching my mage)-- Peterxt from Dragonblight want to know what the best class for surviving is. That is, what's the class that, when things go wrong, can get themselves out of trouble alive? I'm assuming he means solo-- everyone should stay alive in a group setting, or something is going wrong.
The obvious answer, of course, is the paladin. It's one reason they're so hated-- they wear plate, they can heal, and just when you think you've whittled them down, they have that stupid bubble. In terms of solo play, paladins aren't the fastest killers, but they are very good at taking on adds one after another. When things go wrong, paladins have lots of escape routes.
And in fact, mages have lots of escape routes as well. They fall apart easily when getting hit, but they have so many abilities to keep from getting hit that a mage with a little mana and their wits about them can actually survive almost anything-- drop a Frost Nova, Blink away, keep Frost Armor up to slow attackers when they do hit, and you can pretty much run your way out of trouble (not to mention, if you're frost, that ice block can be the ultimate survival tool). That requires a lot of technique, though-- if you really want to stay away from a graveyard, a mage isn't your cup of tea.
Every class has their own escape plans (Vanish for rogues, Last Stand for warriors, and so on), but for my money, no class is better at surviving solo PvE then a hunter. Feign death is terrific, and if it doesn't work, there's always the option to let your pet tank while you flee. Or, now that they work in battle, traps. Or Scatter Shot. Or Concussive Shot. Heck, Misdirection even works on NPCs, so if you happen to see someone around that you want to tank for you, you can throw up Misdirection and exit stage left.
Every class can survive if it's played carefully and well. But if you never, ever want to see a graveyard, I'd say hunter or paladin.
