New old eq player - shaman starting questions

[Nekkojakk]

Just started playing here after having made an account several months ago and har a few questions.

I've decided to make a shaman but I'm interested in gettint some input on which race to pick.

I'm leaning towards iksar because of the starting stats, leveling path and the hp regen racial. I know the downaides for iksars include the xp penalty, difficulty traveling and I've heard the alchemy vendor is broken in cabalis as well as the armor restrictions.

My second choice would be ogre. Frontal stun immunity is great (played on live) as is starting near my lvl 13 enchanter so I can get easy access to bags, starter cash (only a little over 130pp) and about 120 bone chips for xp turn ins (not actually sure if there is an evil bone chips quest). The ability to wear all the shaman gear would be nice but from what I've read the JBB goes for like 50k so I'm not likely to get one. The biggest strike against being an ogre is the size. Even with shrink I found it annoying in dungeons.

I'm interested in mostly duo/small group play. Not sure what endgame raiding is like or if I'd have the time for it.

TLDR: will I regret going iksar over oogre and if so why in your opinion is that.

Thanks

[Lyssia]

Frontal stun immunity, nuff said

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Between the two you've listed Ogre is the definite pick. Troll comes in close second to Ogre.

[Aaron]

Frontal stun immunity, nuff said

This is SO overrated.

If I were to start a shaman now, I'd go Iksar. Second choice would be Troll.

Leveling up, regen is so much better than frontal stun immunity.

[Nekkojakk]

Between the two you've listed Ogre is the definite pick. Troll comes in close second to Ogre.

Always hated the troll models. Both orginal and SoL versions.

If I went ogre does anyone know if I'd run into any faction problems trying to do the bone chips turn in at grobb? Can't remember if ogres are kos to any troll factions.

[Potus]

Trolls are the best. If you hate how they look then I recommend the Iksar. Iksar have Regen which is the best, but they don't have Bash which I consider to be really important because Shaman suck against caster mobs.

Iksar have a really fantastic starting area, great noobie armor options, can solo their way to an Iksar Berserker Club (the best shaman noob weapon) and you'll have regeneration which is amazing. Forage is great (I don't like summoning food) and the armor restrictions aside from the JBB aren't too bad. Jarsath is awesome and just rotting in most dungeons.

Faction isn't a big deal; it's like necromancers, you can kill a lot more guards and NPCs once you forgo caring about faction restrictions. Also there are places you can bank and you can raise faction while hunting to compensate.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

This is SO overrated.

If I were to start a shaman now, I'd go Iksar. Second choice would be Troll.

Leveling up, regen is so much better than frontal stun immunity.

Yeah the regen really is great while levelling up but there's no scope given to how far the OP is willing to take their character. As a Barb Shaman I can tell you that frontal stun immunity would have saved my hide more than a few times while trying to solo multiples.

It's just a matter of how long you expect to be levelling up for really.

[Yumyums Inmahtumtums]

Trolls are the best. If you hate how they look then I recommend the Iksar. Iksar have Regen which is the best, but they don't have Bash which I consider to be really important because Shaman suck against caster mobs.

Iksar have a really fantastic starting area, great noobie armor options, can solo their way to an Iksar Berserker Club (the best shaman noob weapon) and you'll have regeneration which is amazing. Forage is great (I don't like summoning food) and the armor restrictions aside from the JBB aren't too bad. Jarsath is awesome and just rotting in most dungeons.

Faction isn't a big deal; it's like necromancers, you can kill a lot more guards and NPCs once you forgo caring about faction restrictions. Also there are places you can bank and you can raise faction while hunting to compensate.

This is also a fantastic case made for being an Iksar and completely spot on with regards to faction. At 56 I feel like, aside from my own city and maybe FV faction doesn't really matter at all.

[Swish]

You'll struggle more to tank Lodi in Velious with an iksar, and Cabilis has a potion vendor issue that (iirc) won't be fixed for a long time yet...so alchemy options are limited.

Any of the other 3 have their merits I think :)

[DrKvothe]

Iksar may not be the min/max choice at lvl 45+ for JBB or at 60 for torpor trivializing regen... But frankly I wish I'd rolled iksar instead of barbarian for my first char. Almost 54 and can only afford half a jbb :/

Regen is just so damn good, especially at early lvls where we kind of suck

[Vicatin]

Ogre is a no-brainer at end game. The regen just doesnt make much diff towards the end. Frontal stun immunity is one of those features you feel u cant live without once u have had it.

[Elements]

This is SO overrated.

If I were to start a shaman now, I'd go Iksar. Second choice would be Troll.

Leveling up, regen is so much better than frontal stun immunity.

It can be hard to appreciate how awesome frontal stun immunity really is particularly in solo and small group play when you will be getting hit. Its impossible to count the number of times a sticky situation or incredibly annoying corpse run was avoided because you werent stunned while casting that critical slow/root/heal/gate.

Ask yourself how many annoying corpse runs make up for a bit of extra regen but more xp needed to level to 60.

Shrink fixes size issues in dungeons.

[thieros]

Rolled iksar, love it, but dang, frontal stun immunity would be amazing. I heart my regen and between regen and racial regen at 26 i feel im unstoppable. Makes slow tanking a mob with a decent weapon a viable option even when up against yellows(twinkage clearly helpful here esp. fungi) but one thing twinking a iksar cant fix is frontal stun immunities. Channeling through a bunch of mobs is difficult at a low level, making rooting through multiple agros tough. This compounded by bashes and kicks makes it tough.

That being said, iksar is infinitely more cooler then the fatties of the world. Roll ikky and dont look back about the negtives:

Cons: No Bash, No Frontal Stun Immunity, Faction(who really cares though? plenty of indifferent merchants out there), no plate armor, no jbb, no barb spiritist hammer, no planar

Pros: FashionQuest, Regen(Its important for 1-60 till you get torpor, this should not be ignored), AC Bonus(like anyone cares on broken AC server), leveling path(who cares, we are all dumb and going to MM or south karana anyway)

Ogres are cool, but f that, roll ikky.

[DrKvothe]

Ya know what, I've had a few hours to think about what I wrote, and I want to recant my previous statement. Iksar is cool, regen is awesome, but barbarians have many benefits as well:

1) Leveling speed: It takes an ogre 11% more kills and iksar/troll 14.3% more kills when solo.
2) 1-24 leveling: People say iksar have the best leveling path, but I whole-heartily disagree. 1-4 killing goblins/skellies for rusty weapons and such to buy bags and polar bear cubs for HQ bear pets (I got 3 by lvl 5), then lvl 5-8 or so in qeynos hills slaughtering rabid wolves, then 8-24 (yeah, I said 24 =P) on gnolls/gnoll-fangs.
3) Banking: I seriously screwed as many factions as I could on my way to 50+, and I still can bank near EC (never did halfling guards). If you're not a dick, preserving FP bank is totally possible.

[Nekkojakk]

Well I started my ogre shaman. Wave if you see me :)

Rompus - Ogre Shaman

[Zeonick]

Well I started my ogre shaman. Wave if you see me :)

Rompus - Ogre Shaman

Good choice! I wish I went ogre..

[Nekkojakk]

Its been great so far. Hit level 10 last night and will probably stay at orc1 till I hit 12. Gonna try to follow the evil shaman leveling guide. Met alot of really nice people in EC.

[Tann]

1) Leveling speed: It takes an ogre 11% more kills and iksar/troll 14.3% more kills when solo.


Troll/Iksar regen is right out of the gate twice as fast as barb/ogre, later on getting to almost 3 times as fast.. would that not making leveling faster? same reason for the threads on caster forum about iksar being best race for necro.. faster leveling via regen.

[Potus]

I can't say for Shaman, but I've leveled 2 Gnome Necros and now 2 Iksar Necros and the Iksar Necro is way, way, way faster. I don't even recognize an exp penalty on the Iksar, and you're non-stop killing things.

[DrKvothe]

A 51+ shaman with epic and JBB won't be sitting much at all. While standing, from 51-60, regen difference between troll/iksar and ogre/barb is just 3 health per tick. While that regen's not nothing, I doubt any 50+ barb/ogre would trade their JBB for 3 health per tick.

For a min/maxer with funds for twinking and/or PLvling, ogre might win out handily, but if you're brand new and untwinked:

Barbarian: levels 3x faster than anyone else thanks mostly to incredible turn-in quests. This is my opinion, but after trying the other prominent newbie-lowbie leveling paths, I've decided to level all of my non-kos alts through these quests, and they largely deter me from evil races (my cleric is a gnome instead of DE for this reason). You're non-kos in most places you'll want to go, so fewer random patrolling kos guards that new players frequently fail to avoid.

Iksar: regen + very rich leveling zones + monopoly on priest group role in these zones. Won't be able to afford JBB til 55-60 range, and at 60 you'll feel overpowered even without JBB.

[Tann]

jbb doesnt click till 46, and iksars cant even use it. we're talking leveling up and as you said "jst starting out" not twinking. which means root rotting most likely, so you'll be sitting a lot = more regen = more canna.. and again barbs have less of an xp hit but iksar/troll regen makes up for that night and day times over.

I'd argue the greenies level faster completely untwinked on that alone, less down translates into much faster xp, just ask any iksar monk/nec in FoB and see if they've had to take much of a break.

[Nekkojakk]

Just hit 17 last night. Hoping to get 19 later tonight so I can leave Kurn's behind. Loving the holiday bonus xp.

[blondeattk]

A 51+ shaman with epic and JBB won't be sitting much at all. While standing, from 51-60, regen difference between troll/iksar and ogre/barb is just 3 health per tick. While that regen's not nothing, I doubt any 50+ barb/ogre would trade their JBB for 3 health per tick.

For a min/maxer with funds for twinking and/or PLvling, ogre might win out handily, but if you're brand new and untwinked:

Barbarian: levels 3x faster than anyone else thanks mostly to incredible turn-in quests. This is my opinion, but after trying the other prominent newbie-lowbie leveling paths, I've decided to level all of my non-kos alts through these quests, and they largely deter me from evil races (my cleric is a gnome instead of DE for this reason). You're non-kos in most places you'll want to go, so fewer random patrolling kos guards that new players frequently fail to avoid.

Iksar: regen + very rich leveling zones + monopoly on priest group role in these zones. Won't be able to afford JBB til 55-60 range, and at 60 you'll feel overpowered even without JBB.


some good points.

ikky and ogre are the 2 best races.

but barby can lvl so much faster.

I bummed a port @ lvl 3 out everfrost as am not fan and got bind in gfay. Bonechips and belts ftw! dumped stacks of chips on groudnoutside kaladim withme dru and went to see a dorf about a bone....as they say ;)

started grping about 14 (new dd) and hunted belts etc in cbone. I got lucky withthe 50% bonus tho.....lvled to 22 on crushbone stuff. Then off to HHKeep, rinse and repeat. Only did one lvl off ears hand ins, rest was grpage.

once you hit 29 as a shm you can begin soloing well. tbh i gritted my teef and stayed in hhk till 33-34.....very dull after 10 lvls, but just had to be done. Died twice between 1 and 33....so its pretty efficient path.

personal choice where you go after 34, but if ur into lvling fast then its a relevant dungeon. IF ur experienced player that mean MM or kaesora. However i do admit that soling after 30 i do lack a bit of regen. Cant afford ikky bp etc yet, and yak club(75dd) is my best weapon. Hasnt been worth soling yet as opposed to duoing with bard/necro /monk.

[thieros]

a bit older post, but wanted to approve tha bove post for post 34 level path:

Kaesora is an awesome zone. Duoed there with a chanter last night(39) and it was a bit metal at times, but excellent exp, unlimited mobs (its never crowded) & a general good time. 0 down time, constant canni dancing required! steady exp income. as a solo shaman, not sure how viable it is... lots of healers in the zone to watch out for.

- Ikkorous 35 Shaman