Druid, Enchanter or Monk?

[Trevock]

I haven't played since the old days and I thought I'd try the game again and found out about this P99 server.

I had played a Rogue and Cleric in the past (years ago) and wanted to try something different. I know that one of the things that always bugged me was never having any money in the game.

I have heard that Druids do pretty well in the money department. I assume from porting people around, but do I really want to make a class and level it up to 40 or so just as my "money maker" to fund my MAIN class?

That really is the question. I want to either make a monk or an enchanter as my main raiding class that I'll take to 60 and go into Velious with when it releases. I know once Druids to get the 40's they start to fall off and groups take Clerics for the healing at that point. Also, Druids are kinda bad for raid groups aren't they?

Would you make a Druid first just as a money-making character to fund the equipment for a main class? Or would you not worry about that and just make your main now?

Looking for opinions here. Also, what are your opinions of the Monk and Enchanter classes?

[Korain]

Make an enchanter. You can both solo to make money, and play it as your main.

[Sorn]

I actually really enjoy playing a druid. He's not really a money-maker right now but he's better at it than my cleric, and he's very self-sufficient besides. I admit I initially started a druid thinking it might make more money to fund my cleric, but the class is fun to play in its own right if that's what your playing style matches. I like being able to do more than root and nuke, traveling is easier, I have 24/7 access to SoW, I can snare, I can root, I can turn into a wolf, I can turn into a tree, I can hide, I can forage, I can bind myself, etc. The big variety matches my personality (I too am a jack-of-all-trades IRL) so I'm having a lot of fun. I'm considering RPing and yelling at everyone I see killing bears in Qeynos Hills.

Enchanter is fun but I haven't gotten very far on mine yet. Charm kiting spices up your life from what I've seen of higher level chanters. Monk bored me a little when I tried it out. I think for raiding, if you want to see more of the places you're in, you should go monk and learn to pull really well so you can go running all over creation. Casters tend to park themselves in one spot and not see much of anything besides what gets dragged into camp.

[RaptorDisaster]

I started with a melee class on p99 and it was super painful with no gear. I made an enchanter to fund my melee class, but now I love the enchanter and it's my main. I just recently twinked out a monk and it's the best of both worlds.

If you decide on the monk, 2x Wu's sticks will only cost you about 200pp. You could easily farm high quality bear skins for a little bit while leveling and make that much. Then save up another 150pp or sell the Wu's sticks and get a Wu's quivering staff at level 20 and you would be set for a while.

[Clark]

I've you like having a precise way to play your character, and are very focused Enchanter would probably be the best. Druid is good for a relaxed playstyle. Monk if you love pulling, and doing melee dps.

Enchanter and Monk take a lot more focus. All three are capable of farming, but neither make much until 40+. Monk won't make much until 50+ when you can manage soloing some Lguk named ect.

[jolanar]

Playing an untwinked monk isn't bad at all. People exaggerate the challenge, or leveled up back when really nice gear wasn't available practically for free.

Any class can make solid money starting around level 12 or 13 by killing wisps in North Karana and turning the greater lighstones for 10p each. Melee can also bind right there. That should net you a *at least* a thousand plat before level 20 to get the gear basics. You can transition to South Karana until 30 which also can be very profitable, at least another 1k probably more. As a monk you can then start doing HHK guards which is very profitable at 6 plat or more per kill.

As for the monk vs enchanter question. That is just a matter of preference of melee vs casters. Monks can be very active when pulling, but when dpsing it's pretty much just auto attack and kick even when soloing. Enchanters are probably one of, if not the most active class regardless of their role. Pulling, crowd control, charming all require paying close attention to your surrounding, being able to quickly cast spells on a moments notice and just generally being an "always on" type of gameplay.

[nyclin]

Druid is probably the best first character. Kinda wish I had gone that route. Make your Druid account separate from your other accounts and you can give the info to trusted friends to PL/port you with. Once you get it to 50+ you can basically stop levelling it and just use it to farm/PL/port.

Enchanter is also a solid first character. Fairly low gear requirements, good farming potential, almost always desired for groups esp. if you can hold down a charmed pet. If you go this route, don't be one of those lame ENCs that doesn't hold a pet. You can outdps pretty much any other class with a charmed pet.

As others have said, untwinked Monks aren't bad but it's a rough choice for a first character. Until you get 100% WR bags, you won't want to loot any FS/steel weapons that drop. You'll also be destroying your copper/silver fairly regularly to keep your weight down. You can't really farm that well until 50+ and even then, it's going to be frustrating without a Fungi and solid weapons.

[jolanar]

you won't want to loot any FS/steel weapons that drop. You'll also be destroying your copper/silver fairly regularly to keep your weight down.

Bad advice. Hunt near vendors and loot/sell everything. Use buy and resell tactic to convert gold/silver/copper to plat. Plat doesn't weigh much at all and if you are near a vendor that sells gems (like KFC or Rathe Mtns etc) then you won't even need to carry plat.

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.

[nyclin]

Bad advice. Hunt near vendors and loot/sell everything. Use buy and resell tactic to convert gold/silver/copper to plat. Plat doesn't weigh much at all and if you are near a vendor that sells gems (like KFC or Rathe Mtns etc) then you won't even need to carry plat.

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.

Still a giant pain in the ass compared to pretty much any other class that you could roll as a first character.

[Pipip]

I've been playing all three, and I like them all. I will say that the enchanter feels really weak until level 12, and then starts to get better. The other two were pretty good even from level 1.

If it means anything, all three are really prevalent on both servers. My Druid is on red, and it seems easier to get a group for a Druid there than on blue.

Speaking of money, you'll be broke for a while on the casters. Spells are expensive for a first character. Read up on some of the money guides to get through the first 25 or so levels. Monk can play naked and not completely suck unless you're soloing

[Korain]

Bad advice. Hunt near vendors and loot/sell everything. Use buy and resell tactic to convert gold/silver/copper to plat. Plat doesn't weigh much at all and if you are near a vendor that sells gems (like KFC or Rathe Mtns etc) then you won't even need to carry plat.

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.

I think the real advice here is that you just forego all of the above, and get a sugar daddy.

[iruinedyourday]

Monk is great to make your prime class.. Most great monk gear is no drop and they are fantastic duo and trio partners.

[Mentathiel]

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.
Given the topic of the thread, I can't let this one go; nobody except druids can go sell between pulls.

As a rogue, I have wanted to twist their heads off at times, but I have often seen druids loot everything that was left rotting. Plate dropping in Unrest and everyone is at their weight-limit? Druid will grab it all until they can no longer move, then start asking people to bring the mobs to them just before they die.

Druids can (starting at level 19) bind themselves in a safe spot nearby, then teleport to a druid ring (many of which include faction-agnostic vendors) to sell everything and gate back to the action in the time it takes some wizards to notice that the fight is even over. I can't say that it's a great source of income, but it's got to count for something...

[webrunner5]

As others have said, untwinked Monks aren't bad but it's a rough choice for a first character. Until you get 100% WR bags, you won't want to loot any FS/steel weapons that drop. You'll also be destroying your copper/silver fairly regularly to keep your weight down. You can't really farm that well until 50+ and even then, it's going to be frustrating without a Fungi and solid weapons.

AC is totally broken on here at low levels. Any by low levels I mean up to 43ish weight on a Monk does not mean crap. You can weigh 100 stone and still makes none or hardly ANY difference.

Sure your AC drops the more you weigh but it does NOT matter on here. Now 45ish and above it DOES matter, but by then you should be able to afford Tink Bags and better lighter gear. IF you want to play a Monk go for it on here.

[webrunner5]

Given the topic of the thread, I can't let this one go; nobody except druids can go sell between pulls.

As a rogue, I have wanted to twist their heads off at times, but I have often seen druids loot everything that was left rotting. Plate dropping in Unrest and everyone is at their weight-limit? Druid will grab it all until they can no longer move, then start asking people to bring the mobs to them just before they die.

Druids can (starting at level 19) bind themselves in a safe spot nearby, then teleport to a druid ring (many of which include faction-agnostic vendors) to sell everything and gate back to the action in the time it takes some wizards to notice that the fight is even over. I can't say that it's a great source of income, but it's got to count for something...

Very well written. It is a BIG advantage to a Druid and a Wizard. Druid more than Wizard though do to weight buffs, SoW. :cool:

[Mentathiel]

It's a minor advantage for a Wizard, but I am not sure I have seen vendors at any of the spires, so they tend to have to wait until much later and then limp from GFay spires to Felwithe or similar. Druids can literally port out to a circle, sell up to NPCs standing right next to them and get back in the time it takes some groups to recover from a bad pull. Once, I saw a druid get back from their round trip in time to provide extra healing to the still-injured group; that was an extreme case, but it still should tell you a lot about how useful that trick can be.

[Trevock]

I'm a bit confused. So the advantage of a Druid is that they can leave their group to go sell their items thereby leaving the group vulnerable if they're the main healer?

So two things will happen:

1. The Druid tells the group that he's going to sell, so the group holds pulls and waits for the Druid to go do his business by porting to a druid ring, selling and then porting back to the group. Either way the group suffers by waiting...

2. The Druid DOESN'T tell the group that he's going to sell, so while the druid is porting and selling, the puller gets a bunch of mobs and brings it back to the group only to find that his healer is not there.

Sorry, I appreciate your time but I don't find this very good advice for me.

[Tenlaar]

Sorry, I appreciate your time but I don't find this very good advice for me.

Tank says "Need a bathroom break, hold pulls for a minute."
Enchanter says "OOM, need a med break."
Puller gets too much and has to eat a death and get rezzed.

There are tons of situations that will give a druid 5 minutes to port out, sell, and gate back.

[Mentathiel]

There's also the not-uncommon "I forgot to bind nearby, can someone fetch me from [insert far-off place]" or a dungeon with no decent binds for non-casters (Unrest, Mistmoore, etc.) where the druid knows they have at least 10 minutes before the tank is back in the zone. If you're lucky, the druid can go and sell at the nearest ring to the missing players' binds and then use Circle to get them into at least the right general region.

[Beckoning]

I had the debate between druid and enchanter myself. I even saved up to gear out an enchanter. I think it all depends on personal preference. Druids can solo, group (at least until they start to be god awful healers in the late 40s), port, charm animals, ... a bit of everything which you would expect. Enchanters are probably more desired from just about everything, but you charm and crowd control. I think it mainly depends on your play style and how much time you have to offer the game. If you want to play end game things and be wanted, I think enchanter would be a better bet, but as a first toon (and if you only want to have one) I would go druid personally.

[milsorgen]

I used to play a half elf war on main this time I'm going druid for a good bit. And so far it's alot fun, spells may get expensive quick but there sure is alot of variety.

I actually rolled one of each class a half can be so maybe in the end I'll change my tune but for now the journey to 20 on the druid has been really satisfying

[webrunner5]

I'm a bit confused. So the advantage of a Druid is that they can leave their group to go sell their items thereby leaving the group vulnerable if they're the main healer?

So two things will happen:

1. The Druid tells the group that he's going to sell, so the group holds pulls and waits for the Druid to go do his business by porting to a druid ring, selling and then porting back to the group. Either way the group suffers by waiting... There is a Bank in Rivervale VERY close to the Misty Zone In.

2. The Druid DOESN'T tell the group that he's going to sell, so while the druid is porting and selling, the puller gets a bunch of mobs and brings it back to the group only to find that his healer is not there.

Sorry, I appreciate your time but I don't find this very good advice for me.


Gee guess what, you are allowed to say in a group that you NEED to sell and maybe you can even take some other peoples loot and their plat, and save them from being overweight and even being able to loot more. There is a Bank in Rivervale VERY close to the Misty Zone In. :eek:

Groups are allowed to take a break once in awhile trust me. :p