Family Game? Class for kid

[Scorchshin]

I played back in 99-02 and had a blast with friends.

Started playing on p99, kids saw me and want to play. Not sure how long that will last, but would like for them to try it.

I'm a BAR Shaman and thought Warrior/Rouge would be a good option for the kids. I can try to keep them alive. More or less would like "easy" classes for them. I would be even willing to change classes. Anyone have any advice for me?

Thanks!

[ko37qtl]

Warrior is pretty easy, particularly to start out with. If you don't have good gear (better than tattered), it can be challenging, particularly if grouping with others as you level up. However, by the time that many of the finer points are required like quality pulling, positioning, assisting, knowing when best to taunt, a small child wll probably have lost interest. If not, you'll have to mentor.

[mr_jon3s]

Just make sure you havethe bad word filter on. As for easy classes mage, wizard, warrior, rogue, monk are all easy classes.

[maskedmelon]

Sounds like fun ^^ I think you are spit on with having them roll warrior/rog. Monk is very easy too and has the Kung Fu / Ninja cool factor too ^^ they could also both go warrior or both monk or even both rogue with you there for support ^^

Shaman is probably the best support for that too, so i think you are set on that end unless you want to level up a Druid ahead of them^^ Can't say enough about thorns.

[Scorchshin]

Great info and quick replies thanks!

The oldest kid will be the warrior, I felt it would be the hardest. The younger will be the DPS so Rouge/Monk are great choices. If he is Rouge, we can all be BAR and start in the same spot. This will make it easy for starting out and working together. Hope we can play once or twice a week. Maybe the wife will join in... ;)

[gkmarino]

The death penalty in this game is very unforgiving. I had been tormented by it when I started playing at a young age. You should definitely consider having them both play monks or shadow knights. The reason being they can feign death in bad situations and hopefully avoid dying some of the time. Otherwise I would suggest helping them learn how to play a druid/warrior or druid/paladin combo for survivability to learn the game. Warrior/rogue is good but they will have a lot of downtime once they need to heal.

Monk would be the much easier choice over shadow knight though. The only problem with monks is they cant look everything or they become too heavy and lose a lot of their defensive advantage.

[Ando]

Aye I would suggest monk. FD and Mend are great, and they are still somewhat effective with little to no gear.

[sox7d]

Depends on how old the kids are, if they're at the age of competence, might want to go with something more interesting so they don't get bored.


i'd say ranger/sk/paladin + rogue. the agro is necessecary for backstabs and they're more flavorful classes.

PRO-TIP: Follow them around and be the back-seat player to them, even if it means death. No kid gives a shit about grinding out to 60 because it's optimal. Don't kill the dream.

[Ando]

Pet classes can also be good. When I started EQ I think I was 10 and I somewhat competently played a necro. Lifetaps + pet are a good combo for a new player.

[triad]

monk/shams hard to beat duo wise

[Videri]

I second the pet class idea - necro or mage. At low levels, the pet can take care of itself against most enemies. Then, the player can help without the urgency of being beat on.

Also, when I first played EQ back in the day, I wasn't inspired/determined enough to stick with one class for very long. I would explore multiple classes up to level 8-12. After the year I played, my highest character was a level 23. So, I bet you and the kids can explore a few classes together, and if one really sticks, then great.

I wonder how I would go about this if I had kids. I would have to relax more and focus more on fun and exploration instead of focusing on doing a great "job" of playing my class, etc.

[Millburn]

I wonder how I would go about this if I had kids. I would have to relax more and focus more on fun and exploration instead of focusing on doing a great "job" of playing my class, etc.

Almost like how we used to play it back in the day before we learned everything we do now. :)

[Scorchshin]

Almost like how we used to play it back in the day before we learned everything we do now. :)


This is how I want to look at it, let them play what they want in some ways. Just don't want them to fail so bad they want to quit. We will be leveling up together so it would have to be a group that would work well together. Almost easy then we can create alts together and have fun.

[Cyborgazm]

Pet class could be alright if you setup all the keys for them and show them how pet commands work, etc.. Also, I would recommend buying them their spells. I've seen kids try and navigate vendors and buy the right spells. It doesn't tend to go well.

I would recommend something like Warrior or Paladin. You can make the most amount of mistakes and hopefully not die.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

PRO-TIP: Follow them around and be the back-seat player to them, even if it means death. No kid gives a shit about grinding out to 60 because it's optimal. Don't kill the dream.

A word for all of us lol

[cubiczar]

I think you have it just right. Shaman, warrior, rogue is a good group and for ease of use its hard to beat just hitting auto-attack (can teach the other stuff as they become comfortable). Later if they are really enjoying it and want to wander out on their own you can help them with a pet class or something if they are interested. All the spells and what they do and when they should be used will likely just be overload for them at first.

Anyhow enjoy it, wish I could get my daughter to play games with me lol.

[jturkydurk]

make the youngest a mage and just teach him how to work the pet window.

he'll think he's badass as shit choosing his pet type like teh pokeymanz

[harnold]

I think for your childrens sake you should keep them far away from p99, else they will grow up knowing nothing but petitionquest and poopsocking. Next thing you know it, they'll be petitioning to Sirken to undermine every fatherly decision you end up making.

[Clark]

War/Monk or War/Rogue.

Cleric or Ench also be valuable, but maybe not as fun for them. Just don't let them play a hybrid!

[jturkydurk]

alright I'm gonna butt back in and suggest that the warrior/monk route might be a terrible choice for your youngest, just because of their role expectations.

The kid is gonna be expected to maintain aggro well as a warrior or split pull as a monk, which IMO are both faaaar more complex group roles than just sitting, medding, sending your pet in to fight and nuking every so often like a Mage. Magician or necro hands down no contest

[Clark]

Magician or Necromancer are definitely fun first classes for new players; agreed.

[Master Roshi]

for what it's worth, every person i've ever started from scratch on EQ has been a mage. There's just something about "send your pet to kill, zap them with your spell, and click this gate thingy if it starts to look bad" that lets people ease into everything else this game evolves to. Melee have to deal with positioning, and melee range and mob fleeing. Which for somebody without the keyboard/mouse familiarity, can really frustrate you.

Casters probably the best bet, and wizzy or mage are the most simple form to start with.

[Scorchshin]

Today was day one and it wasn't with out problems.

My youngest was playing the rogue and was having problems positioning. This was hard to explain what to do. The mobs were dead before he was really able to help. From what everyone has said being a caster might be a better option. We are all low level so starting over isn't a big deal.

I want to start in the same area so we can work together, we might have to all be a different class.

Any suggestions on that?

[Videri]

You could make Humans; or Erudites and get a port to, say, Faydwer, and bind there; or go High Elf caster(s) + Dwarf melee(s).

Also; about rogue positioning, I don't think being behind the mob is important enough to matter until Backstab at 10. It's optimal, but optimization is not the focus with this group. :)

Also...do you guys use the first-person view (basically looking through the eyes of the character) or the zoomed-out first-person view? I'm thinking if you scroll all the way out on the rogue player, he might be able to position himself better.

[Clark]

for what it's worth, every person i've ever started from scratch on EQ has been a mage. There's just something about "send your pet to kill, zap them with your spell, and click this gate thingy if it starts to look bad" that lets people ease into everything else this game evolves to. Melee have to deal with positioning, and melee range and mob fleeing. Which for somebody without the keyboard/mouse familiarity, can really frustrate you.

Casters probably the best bet, and wizzy or mage are the most simple form to start with.

:)

[cubiczar]

I would say day one you will have trouble no matter what. If the kids aren't too frustrated I would say give it another shot and just have them play while you watch over their shoulders to give advice. Just getting the controls down may take a while and at low lvl they shouldn't have much need of healing at first.

If you do want to switch I would say gfay area is the next best bet. Half elf, wood elf and high elf all in the same starting exp zone. Felwithe being less likely for deaths due to falling :)

[Ando]

I want to start in the same area so we can work together, we might have to all be a different class.

Any suggestions on that?

Dwarf Cleric/Warrior (Or paladin) + 1 more. A high elf Enchanter would be good, although enchanters are one of the hardest classes to play well, so maybe a Mage would be better. Allows you to tank and them to play a pet class + a cleric, which is fairly easy in groups. Also I bet they would get a kick out of Dwarf barrel rolls.

[Master Roshi]

If there's two kids, I stick by my original info. Make one a wiz and one a mage, and let the one who got Wiz know that they will be super cool once they get their port spells and not to be sad that they cant use a pet like the mage.

Mage pet + Wiz root + Both nukes = Win.

If you're rolling a new toon with them try all Dark Elves, the UV makes things very nice for folks. You would probably be best running a cleric or enchanter with them depending on what you want to bring to the group. Avoid melee imo

edit: As an afterthought, If you feel one of them has the potential to do it right and not feel bored healing, let one be a cleric instead of wiz, and you can run Enc and have access to nearly everything you could ever want to do encounter wise.

[Scorchshin]

Last night we played for about an hour and went a little better, but we got buffed by a high level Shaman. So it was hard for us to die. Other than when a red con rolled up on us, we all ran different ways. To me this was fun because it reminded me of playing the game. The kids had a harder time because one had to zone.

I think a caster group might be better with me being and ENC. I played a Bard back in the day so I enjoy that type of character. I will check with the kids and see how it goes.

Should the younger one be the mage or wiz?

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

I have to add, my first day waaay back in 1999, I spent the entire first night trying to find my way out of neriak. I kept getting lost. I still logged back in the next day.

As far as fighting stuff goes, if you manage to get past the gates area of your starting city within a week, teaching kids, I would say that is plenty fast.

This is really interesting thread btw.

[Videri]

Maybe 2 mages! I just remembered - there's no rule that says they can't both play the same class. :) And some classes stack really well: mages, monks, rogues, or wizards x2 = twice the power.

Hey, just thought of another possibility: Iksars. The youngest can play monk, the eldest can play shadowknight, pops can play shaman. SKs only get spells at 9; by that time, he or she may be ready for more complexity.

I'm eager to hear how it goes!

[jturkydurk]

OP.

make humans in Qeynos. make youngest magician. make older necro. make self enchanter.

teach them pets. teach them nukes. you do crowd control and keep shit safe/provide mana

god i gotta do everything myself

[Zeaol]

I'd go Iksar and make the group Shaman, Necro, Monk. Lizards are always "cool" to kids, there's lots of leveling zones close to each other, and Kurn's tower is pretty badass for them to enjoy.

Both have feign death at later levels, older one plays the monk so he can do the pulling (forget about split pulls, just have them man up), younger one plays the necro so he can just sent in pet and lifetap or whatever else. No need to any advanced tactics.

As for the experience penalty, who cares? This game is about leveling and enjoying the ride so delaying it a bit won't hurt anyone.

[jarshale]

Kids these days have the attention span to play EQ still?

[Waedawen]

This is a bit late, but the dynamic among 3 people, especially beginners should definitely be 'Healer, Caster, Melee' and for that I'd say Dark Elf, Elf, Human or Iksar starting strategies

One warrior/monk, One necro/mage, and you on the shaman (or some other priest) would be an extremely effective and easy way to get your kids into the game. Priest classes in general are the strongest archetype, so if you can take care of them you will have a lot of room for error. And as far as 'errors' are concerned, you should let your kids try leading you around as soon as possible so they can learn and you can teach very organically and nothing feels 'forced.'

Above all, if you just play the game, it'll be awesome. So what if you're killing dark blues in the middle of Field of Bone. Your kids will learn and eventually get the hunger. Just gotta be patient. I've introduced a lot of friends to this game and got the whole gamut of reactions.

Also, Christ on a Stick, if you can, make sure you have some good Kunark weapons and +55 rings at least for everyone. Jade and Black Sapphire jewelry is also extremely good at low levels. That will make everything SO SO much better.

[Scorchshin]

OP.

make humans in Qeynos. make youngest magician. make older necro. make self enchanter.

teach them pets. teach them nukes. you do crowd control and keep shit safe/provide mana

god i gotta do everything myself

I went with above, only Wiz for Nec and we will give it a try sometime this week. I was going to level up a bit so I can just help them with levels 1-4. Grouping at those levels is almost a waste it seems.

Thanks everyone for the input. I will post what the experience is like.

[kildone]

Back in 2001 my 5 year old nephew played a Mage and did very well. He also picked up healing really quick, sometimes playing my cleric in zones like howling stones when I needed to take an extended break. Although all he did was heal and not some of the other stuff a good cleric can do the group was just happy they didn't have to lose their cleric. Back then clerics on fennin ro were very rare.

[Sadre Spinegnawer]

What will be fun to hear about, is their reaction to having other players wave at them, and they get to talk to gnomes, and barbarians, and elves, and big fat OGRES!!

"Dad! They keep scratching their butts!!!"

[Pookieson]

I think this is awesome. Great way to bring the family together around something that really is educating. I somewhat attribute my above average intelligence to learning the words in EQ at a young age (started around 11 in 2001). Critical thinking, tactics, support, team work, people skills(to some extent...). This game does loads for real world skills.

Im sure its too late, but i think maybe mage/monk and your sham would be a sick trio. mage is fun as hell if you are a newby to the game, and monk is simple enough to learn and be a beast. Sham great support for both. Good luck!

[Redfield]

I think this is awesome. Great way to bring the family together around something that really is educating. I somewhat attribute my above average intelligence to learning the words in EQ at a young age (started around 11 in 2001). Critical thinking, tactics, support, team work, people skills(to some extent...). This game does loads for real world skills.

Im sure its too late, but i think maybe mage/monk and your sham would be a sick trio. mage is fun as hell if you are a newby to the game, and monk is simple enough to learn and be a beast. Sham great support for both. Good luck!

I fell into this boat too. I probably started tinkering with the game in 2000. I was about 9/10. My dad gave me my first character (an Enchanter) I probably played 1-10 and then he passed it back to me at like level 50 and I got myself to 60. I also leveled a Ranger from 1-50 primarily on my own (outside of some minor twink gear).

I can honestly say without rose tinted glasses that I was pretty solid Enchanter (in general and not just for my age). I think if you just have some patience and provide your kid with the right resources to succeed he can play any class as long as it's fun for them. I loved playing my Chanter even more than I enjoyed my Ranger.

[Djinn2112]

I wouldnt go monk depending on the age of your child. Monks are often put on pull/split duty as the game progresses and unless they get this tactic skill down they could get get the gears a bit from people. I have my son playing, he's 11 and rolled a cleric. He loves buffing people and really its sit-stand-heal-sit and just knowing to avoid overcasting.
I've found the community to be exceptional. Kind folks have gifted my boy with some better pieces of gear than I have at level 35. My son is enjoying grouping so much more here than other MMO's where one screw up or a young voice in voice chat equals immediate group kick.

[Jaleth]

Just don't let them play a hybrid!

Incorrect, have them only play hybrids!!!! They are the most fun afterall, just min-maxers ruin their joy!!!!

But in all seriousness, perhaps explain the role of each class with role play lore behind each archetype and let them choose what excites them most at first, if it grows too boring or complicated they can try something different.

I personally only play knights or wizards, I enjoy them and i am usually applauded what I bring to groups regardless of min-max stereotypes, though I do think the classic, kunark Era has extended too much time for the hybrid penalty. I still play hybrids non the less

[Sirban]

I would stay off red lol