Straightforward Class Role

[serjordanmormont]

Just looking for some opinions on what would be considered a pretty straightforward, easy class to play?

I play a druid as my main and my role is constantly changing which is cool, except I'm still getting used to that and have taken some recent heat in groups for not doing what I should be doing situationally speaking. It's probably because I'm getting out of newbie level range now. I've been reading druid guides to be better but sometimes I just want to log on and mindlessly smash stuff (or something similarly straightforward) and not think too much about it.

Classes that come to mind are mage, wizard, warrior, rogue, monk, ranger but I'm too inexperienced at this point to have an educated opinion on that.

Any help is appreciated. :cool:

[brecon]

Takes time to learn a class bud - I wouldn't get put off. And if people are being jerks about it then maybe they aren't your friends after all.

The most straight forward class that requires the least amount of game knowledge is Wizard.

[Vandil]

My first toon ever in EQ was a Wood Elf Druid. I thought it would be the perfect mix of melee and spells. And then around level 10 I started getting by butt kicked when I melee'd heavily and had to switch tactics. By level 20, I was pretty much kiting and rooting & nuking and having a weapon in my hand was just for show. By level 30, my hands had totems or what you will in them and I kept a scimitar or a club in a backpack for giggles.

I mostly solo'd my druid, so whenever I found myself in a group with others, I buffed the party and then was either a healer/patch-healer or a DPS nuker, depending on the other classes present, and always "on call" for evacs.

Learn your druid through soloing, duoing, and grouping and you'll figure out how to rotate your duties.

[Jimjam]

Every account has 8 character slots per server, might as well use them imho :D

[serjordanmormont]

Takes time to learn a class bud - I wouldn't get put off. And if people are being jerks about it then maybe they aren't your friends after all.

The most straight forward class that requires the least amount of game knowledge is Wizard.

Fair enough and thanks for the kind encouragement. This has only happened in the odd pick up group anyway. Just thought it might be fun to turn my brain off a bit and just smash stuff.

[serjordanmormont]

My first toon ever in EQ was a Wood Elf Druid. I thought it would be the perfect mix of melee and spells. And then around level 10 I started getting by butt kicked when I melee'd heavily and had to switch tactics. By level 20, I was pretty much kiting and rooting & nuking and having a weapon in my hand was just for show. By level 30, my hands had totems or what you will in them and I kept a scimitar or a club in a backpack for giggles.

I mostly solo'd my druid, so whenever I found myself in a group with others, I buffed the party and then was either a healer/patch-healer or a DPS nuker, depending on the other classes present, and always "on call" for evacs.

Learn your druid through soloing, duoing, and grouping and you'll figure out how to rotate your duties.

Oh for sure. I'm not giving up on the druid by any means. I'll take your advice and solo a bit and see how that goes. I've been almost exclusively grouping so far. The post was meant more for an alt.

[serjordanmormont]

Every account has 8 character slots per server, might as well use them imho :D

Haha indeed! Perhaps not all 8 for me, but an alt or two sounds about right haha. :D

[mgellan]

The most straight forward class that requires the least amount of game knowledge to play badly is Wizard.

FTFY... playing a wizard well managing mana and aggro, assisting in CC, determining what spells to use etc. is not trivial. I'd say a melee class like Rogue would be less demanding ie stand behind the mob and hit the backstab button when it comes up, but even then to play it well you need to evade, manage aggro etc etc etc.

Regards,
Mg

[Mags]

Just looking for some opinions on what would be considered a pretty straightforward, easy class to play?

I play a druid as my main and my role is constantly changing which is cool, except I'm still getting used to that and have taken some recent heat in groups for not doing what I should be doing situationally speaking. It's probably because I'm getting out of newbie level range now. I've been reading druid guides to be better but sometimes I just want to log on and mindlessly smash stuff (or something similarly straightforward) and not think too much about it.

Classes that come to mind are mage, wizard, warrior, rogue, monk, ranger but I'm too inexperienced at this point to have an educated opinion on that.

Any help is appreciated. :cool:

Everyone is different obviously, but after playing a cleric for most of my EQ life, when I switched to a rogue it was AMAZING, there was much LESS to pay attention to, I basically had to worry about myself, not 53 other people, which was pure bliss. A rogue is pretty straight forward, there's not any CC to do, just watch yourself (& your tank obviously, but that comes with aggro management) & you're pretty golden.

[serjordanmormont]

Everyone is different obviously, but after playing a cleric for most of my EQ life, when I switched to a rogue it was AMAZING, there was much LESS to pay attention to, I basically had to worry about myself, not 53 other people, which was pure bliss. A rogue is pretty straight forward, there's not any CC to do, just watch yourself (& your tank obviously, but that comes with aggro management) & you're pretty golden.

I was actually kinda thinking rogue. They seem very straightforward in that sense. I get managing aggro is a big part of playing one, but that is a far cry from keeping a bunch of people healed for sure. Thanks!

[brecon]

FTFY... playing a wizard well managing mana and aggro, assisting in CC, determining what spells to use etc. is not trivial. I'd say a melee class like Rogue would be less demanding ie stand behind the mob and hit the backstab button when it comes up, but even then to play it well you need to evade, manage aggro etc etc etc.

Regards,
Mg

Okay Wizard fanboy. I mean in principle I agree: No class in EQ is simple, and every class can do more than their minimum expected group role and shine. I've seen great cleric pullers and rogues that keep a bag of proc weaps and poisons in their bags.

People's expectation of a wizard is shoot nukes at a mob under 50%. Sometimes you get called on to root CC. All this is done safe from a distance. Wizards can do a lot more, timing stuns and nukes to finish mobs, root parking, but lets face it: expectations of Wizards in xp groups is low.

At least rogues have to worry about proximity aggro and hitting the evade button along with backstab, and actually getting buffs besides clarity and sow to be effective. Druids have to juggle multiple roles depending on the group composition, and have to balance spending mana on heals, dots, cc or buffs. All pull classes have to worry about those mechanics.

[mgellan]

Well frankly (having played a wizard to 60) wizards don't get invited to xp groups anyways so it's a pretty moot point... go rogue OP.

Regards,
Mg

[fash]

rogue. Assist the tank. Press backstab and evade macro every so often. Collect pixels.

On the rare occasion, you may need to sneak pull if you don't have a more suitable puller in the group.

[maskedmelon]

As rogue, just have to know to stick 'em in der bum. Wizzy pretty straightforward too, but Gels said, nobody invites them because even if they do all those other wonderful things (99% do not) chances are there is another class in the group that can absorb that role leaving you with a stout 12 sustained dps contribution to your group :/

Be a rogue, go for the bum. ^^

[Izmael]

Rogue is probably the most straightforward class in EQ.

[Zuranthium]

My first toon ever in EQ was a Wood Elf Druid. I thought it would be the perfect mix of melee and spells. And then around level 10 I started getting by butt kicked when I melee'd heavily

You shouldn't be having problems with melee at that level. Just use your two damage shields and also treeform for regen. Pull with flame lick, use snare when they are close to getting low so they can't run away. You can sit in 1 spot in treeform without having to re-cast. Find a nice spot to place your roots. Can get to level 27 easily doing this (Hermit in South Karana gets you there).

[Lojik]

For just xp groups, mage and rogue are probably the most straight forward. at the highest levels and on raids, good mages and rogues can do a little bit more: rogues who understand aggro mechanics and zones well can sneakpull/CR effectively, while mages can (I think?) do some cool stuff with coth mechanics, although this may have changed.

Wizards wont get a whole lot of love for standard xp groups, and if your group is just single pulling non-caster mobs you're pretty 2nd rate. The only thing you'll be figuring out is whether to use fire,ice, or magic spells (or your best ratio nuke.} Once you start killing caster mobs you can start using stun/interrupt spells, and multi mob pulls you can use root effectively as you'll have the best root spells available to any class. Rain spells are pretty effective if you can find the right situations for them, and being able to use concussion well is great. You can also spam flux staff to aggro adds and park them where u want (if there's no enchanter...or with giants who are mez immune.) Many high level mobs are also immune to stun but are casters, and wizards can push to interrupt better than any other class as long as the mob is not magic immune/extremely resistant. While I think the general idea of a wizard is pretty straight forward, a lot of learning how to best perform is memorization of situations: Which mobs cast, which are immune to MR, which are immune to stun, which are weak to which element, how many hp's a mob has, etc, learning to control dps versus hate, etc.

[Mags]

I was actually kinda thinking rogue. They seem very straightforward in that sense. I get managing aggro is a big part of playing one, but that is a far cry from keeping a bunch of people healed for sure. Thanks!

Yay rogue! I've thought about leveling my husband's, but she has a stupid name (more stupid than Kittyn), and is a gnome. :/ I was a woodelf on live, which didn't make much of a difference compared to my Barbarian counterparts (raid geared, obviously).

[skarlorn]

rogue is quite easy but you have to constantly be pressing backstab. some people prefer lazier group roles.

[Baa]

Rogues are good fun to play, there is much more depth to them then attack > backstab > evade repeat - but really you can make it as simple as you want.

It can be a hard slog to 60 as at some point you become totally dependent on groups for decent exp.

[serjordanmormont]

Thanks everybody, I appreciate all of your responses.

The consensus seems to be pretty much rogue or wizard based on the responses.

Despite all the hilarious stick em in the bum responses for a rogue, I am gonna try my hand at a wizard simply because I have some half decent caster gear collecting dust and have nothing in terms of rogue gear.

I understand that this means the role will become slightly more complicated than a rogue would be but I'm okay with it being a little technical to play well. Going with a Solusek Ro worshipping dark elf for cool points and probably decent cultural wizard gear options. Please feel free to let me know if you think this is a good or bad choice. Input is always appreciated.

:cool:

[Jimjam]

I'll be honest, the only groups I tend to find on my wizard are ones where someone invites me to port them somewhere. No xp groups!

Then again, I suppose exclusively porting other people to their xp groups is kind of a specific group role ;).

In the rare occasions where you do find a group, being a wizard is easy as people have very low expectations. Drop a nuke when a mob is around 50% hp and you're set.

That said, wizards can be really useful in groups (rooting the tanks target to help him keep aggro, interrupting NPC casts with stun, using longer duration stuns for all sorts of things, casting snares, helping offpark adds with roots), but people don't expect it. They just appreciate it.

[serjordanmormont]

I'll be honest, the only groups I tend to find on my wizard are ones where someone invites me to port them somewhere. No xp groups!

Then again, I suppose exclusively porting other people to their xp groups is kind of a specific group role ;).

In the rare occasions where you do find a group, being a wizard is easy as people have very low expectations. Drop a nuke when a mob is around 50% hp and you're set.

That said, wizards can be really useful in groups (rooting the tanks target to help him keep aggro, interrupting NPC casts with stun, using longer duration stuns for all sorts of things, casting snares, helping offpark adds with roots), but people don't expect it. They just appreciate it.

Haha true. Ports are always nice for sure!

I get that wizards aren't that welcome in XP groups but I have a few RL friends and some guildies I group with pretty regularly so I'm not too worried about the not being super welcome part. When they aren't around I can just work on solo stuff. That said, I will be sure I learn the class well enough to contribute more than just with nukes. I'm okay with the bar being set low, just makes it easier to shine. ;)

[CmCKiller]

go rogue, dont have to worry about buying spells. just food and drink and your good to go.

[Cecily]

Get a Crown of Rile and you don't really need the food and water, either.

[Froakula]

Go rogue op its not too late.

[Izmael]

I tend to think that people who stick with their wizard to level 60 are often strong personalities and/or fun/interesting to be around.

It's not an easy class as you are a bit of an outcast and your toolbox is pretty small.

[serjordanmormont]

Update: the wizard ended up not being for me. Still have no gear for testing rogue so I rolled a mage instead and it seems to be what I'm looking for. Unless the mage role drastically changes as I get higher in levels I think it's the winner.

[nyclin]

Cleric is incredibly straightforward. It's just like Wizard or Mage, but you're healing people instead of doing damage. Cleric is pretty relaxing in groups because you just save butts.. no real thinking involved.. person taking damage -> heal them.

If the group comp is solid, you really won't have to do anything except heal the tank every once in a while. Super easy.

[Rhambuk]

The only thing about rogue is you are 100% group reliant, you can sit for hours lfg or finally get a tell asking to join a group thats going to take a dangerous hour long journey to get to. ( not always but it can happen )

At least with a wizard you can solo while lfg, its been a while since ive been gone but leveling up to 37 i could find groups fairly regularly as long as you make a name for yourself its not that bad. If you just sit and med through 3 mobs for 1 nuke to finish off a mob at 30% health when your nuke would have finished it at 50% your group wont be impressed.

Running around temp staffing mobs and doing some root cc. stunning casters at the right time and talking to people! people will invite you if they like you regardless of class.

lfg wizard at zone in isnt a bad partner for another lfg casters, enc shm etc. starts off as a good duo that can turn into a group. oh yeah make your own groups :P

LOVE rogue but being so group reliant is the worst thing for me, I would group over solo everytime but having that option is nice for when you only have an hour to play or so.

[phacemeltar]

druid has more of a filler role than a main group role. if there are no clerics, you will most likely be called upon to heal. if there are no tanks, you may be forced to buff up and take a few hits. if there are no wizard/mage, you may be called upon to nuke.

druid spells are all over the place, and none of their abilities are going to be the best for any role. this is the strength of a druid.

imo, if you are in doubt of your role, put DS on the tank and heal when people get below 40%. your heals are not very powerful, but can be useful to save cleric mana and cooldown by healing the rogue/monk/ranger. load up some DoTs and toss them around to mobs that are not getting killed fast enough.

this should not be looked at as a downside, but rather a strength of the class.

[thufir]

Magician was a great choice, OP. Like a wizard, but better. Seriously, there's very little a wizard can do that you can't, and a lot you can do that they can't. And it's very straightforward, so just what you were looking for. You can solo, but people will still like you in groups.

Rogue might have been slightly easier, but you still have to deal with the whole Ragebringer thing at some point. Magicians are smooth sailing, no gear required.

[serjordanmormont]

druid has more of a filler role than a main group role. if there are no clerics, you will most likely be called upon to heal. if there are no tanks, you may be forced to buff up and take a few hits. if there are no wizard/mage, you may be called upon to nuke.

druid spells are all over the place, and none of their abilities are going to be the best for any role. this is the strength of a druid.

imo, if you are in doubt of your role, put DS on the tank and heal when people get below 40%. your heals are not very powerful, but can be useful to save cleric mana and cooldown by healing the rogue/monk/ranger. load up some DoTs and toss them around to mobs that are not getting killed fast enough.

this should not be looked at as a downside, but rather a strength of the class.

Yeah some good points here. To be clear, I very much enjoy the druid and how dynamic the class is. This post is more for a little help with classes that are fun for an alt where I feel like logging on and just not thinking too much about it and going through on zombie mode. Something less technical. Mage seems to mostly let me do that. Plus the pet is silly OP at least early on which is fun so far.

Also due to the apparent abundance of clerics and shaman on the server I almost never heal. Almost always, thorns/nuke for damage and snare for cc.

[serjordanmormont]

Magician was a great choice, OP. Like a wizard, but better. Seriously, there's very little a wizard can do that you can't, and a lot you can do that they can't. And it's very straightforward, so just what you were looking for. You can solo, but people will still like you in groups.

Rogue might have been slightly easier, but you still have to deal with the whole Ragebringer thing at some point. Magicians are smooth sailing, no gear required.

Glad about this. I feel like I made the right choice. Unless something drastically changes, I did. :D

[maskedmelonpai]

Going to have to reiterate rogue here and maybe add warrior too. The problem for warriors is that to be effective they need a wide range of items and group support, so even though play style is relatively brain dead, I'd steer clear if you looking for something easy to relax with ^^