New to P99 - Class Questions

[awolfdrawsnear]

I played a Gnome Necromancer into the mid 50s back in the day (started a few months after Kunark was released and quit a few months before Luclin) and gave zero poops about faction, murdering whatever I could and insta-clicking my poof circlet whenever I wanted. I just joined the P99 Blue server a few days ago for some free nostalgia gaming and I'm hooked again. Anyway, I have a couple of questions regarding which race/class I'm going to be spending my free time playing...

1 - Barbarian / Shaman
This is what I want to play (I think). I rolled one and was given an almost complete set of banded armor, as well as a 9/35 Cold Iron Morning Star, when I was around 5th level. This gear really helped me get through to level 12 solo, at which point things started getting really difficult. I caught a ride from a Druid to the Commonlands and gave South Ro a shot, and it didn't work out well, so hopped on the boat and ended up grouping in Unrest (after failing miserably to solo yard beetles). My question is this: Are Shamans very gear dependent if they want to solo? I don't expect to be a top-tier soloer like a Bard or Necromancer, but I want to be able to take single blue cons without being destroyed half the time. Am I just playing the class badly? Ideally I want to play a class that can solo decently but is still wanted in groups, so I can experience the most content and variety of play. If soloing blues is going to continue be super tough without gear I can't loot or afford...

2 - ? / Bard
This seems super fun, and I've heard a few things about how quickly they can skip through the grindy (not fun) part of the game. The big downside here is that it seems like a huge population of the server is doing exactly this, and most people think it's annoying. Besides being generally bothersome to others, I think this style of play might feel a little "cheesy" to me. Do people hate swarm kiting Bards? Does it get boring? I guess I could try it and find out, or...

3 - ? / Necromancer
Yeah I know, my entire EQ live experience was playing a Necromancer, but hey I liked it. I know this class can do just fine without fancy equipment. The big downside for me is that I miss out on the non-evil experience of Norrath just like I did years ago. If 1 doesn't work out and 2 sucks, I'll go this route and I'll pick a race that isn't Gnome. Not sure which yet.

Help me out with some advice here. If there's something I can do to make this Barbarian Shaman thing soloable, let me know.

[Landael]

Shaman will are THE best soloers and one of the most coveted Group members throughout the entire game, and since you get a chance to see the game from a goodies perspective I say keep going with your barb. Can use JB bracer and that fun stuff later on too, also POLAR bear form is hella cool compared to the others imo.

Bards are what you make them. The things you read are only about swarmers, and in particular bad swarmers who die and train alot.

It's like the news, people dont give 2 shits about the positive stuff so nobody ever writes about it.

[gildor]

barb sham will be fun, you will hear about stun immunity and regen other races get..and yes it makes a difference, but you will basically be doing shaman on "hard mode" which is cool...enjoy the grind man, don't let the "get to 60 asap" crowd sway you at all..

[fugazi]

Shamans are pretty weak sauce until 29-34 and from there on they start spiraling out of control. So if the 15 to 29 bit feels like you aren't contributing much in a group, know that it will get better. If you don't feel that way, know that it will get better anyways xD

And props on going barb. They look awesome.

[Issar]

Welcome to the server!
The guys above me all gave rock solid advice. So nothing to add there. Just wanted to say, welcome.

[Computer Man]

Put "soloing Lodi" on your career aspiration list ^

[Truheart]

Root/Rot til 50%, then slow and tank til dead.
Once you get first pet at 34, game changes significantly!
I have shaman and necro, both are fun but its hard to get groups on necro.
My shaman can get a group or solo.

[Xzavie]

Search the Commons Tunnel Forum. See how much it will cost for 'loot rights' to perma camped quest items (epic etc). This could influence you if you want to get to the 'end game'.

[awolfdrawsnear]

Thanks for the advice guys. I decided to stick with the Barbarian Shaman. I realize I could have regeneration or stunning immunity, but like I said, I wanted to see the non-evil side of Norrath for the first time. Plus Barbarians just look so awesome in armor. I struggled my way to level 15 and I'm gonna try doing the bandit sisters in Lesser Faydark (as soon as people stop poopsocking the camp) to level and buy some decent gear.

[Ravager]

Start saving for Torpor.

[Baler]

You should go Necro. Everyone who told you to go shm is already established on the server in some way and doesn't think about the struggle of starting from nothing.
My first character was a mage, I wish it was a necro.
Later after I established myself (got my mage 50+) I rolled a shaman.

People will be telling you how great shaman is at soloing but you'll suck at it because you don't have gear or spells(high levels). It's a heavily gear and spell dependent class.
Also be prepared to canni dance.

Bard is a great first choice too. They get the best movement speed. And I've never seen a group turn them down.

[Nahilu]

reroll oger if u run shaman stun immunity for solo

Stun immunity to a caster ... you cant miss that.

[Ravager]

Barbarian Shaman is fine for solo. Any class can be soloed to 50, some are just faster than others, some have steeper learning curves, some are more gear dependent, but at this stage in the timeline there's plenty of cheap gear that is better than what was available in Classic to get to 50.

50+ solo is a trickier thing no matter what you play and there isn't one class that can solo every soloable camp, so it comes more to what you have more fun playing solo.

Barbarian Shaman is one of the easier ones. 500pp or less in gear/spells can get you to 50 and that's easy enough to farm up before 20.

[Squabbles123]

I am also playing Barb Shaman as a new to server player. Was also gifted a fair amount of free gear when I arrived (but not as good as you got, no weap, just purchased a decent one in EC last night for 100pp).

Not finding soloing that hard, you missed your chance at the Bandits in West Karana, tons of easy levels and quest exp to gain there, not to mention LOTS of money from all the bronze, I soloed around that area from 12 to 16 in 2 days. 16-17 was spent in Crushbone (needed my Shiny Brass Shield and those easy +2 STR rings), 18 and 19 were done in Oasis of Ro with a group. Having a lot of fun so far, looking forward to this Post-lvl29 Shaman I keep hearing about, only 10 more levels :)

[Lakeland]

I am also playing Barb Shaman as a new to server player. Was also gifted a fair amount of free gear when I arrived (but not as good as you got, no weap, just purchased a decent one in EC last night for 100pp).

Not finding soloing that hard, you missed your chance at the Bandits in West Karana, tons of easy levels and quest exp to gain there, not to mention LOTS of money from all the bronze, I soloed around that area from 12 to 16 in 2 days. 16-17 was spent in Crushbone (needed my Shiny Brass Shield and those easy +2 STR rings), 18 and 19 were done in Oasis of Ro with a group. Having a lot of fun so far, looking forward to this Post-lvl29 Shaman I keep hearing about, only 10 more levels :)

I wanted to play a shaman, I didn't want to be evil so obviously started a barbarian. Halas and Everfrost turned me off so bad I simply gave up on the character. I think there is a reason I see so many lower level barbarians in other newbie areas unfortunately.

[Squabbles123]

I wanted to play a shaman, I didn't want to be evil so obviously started a barbarian. Halas and Everfrost turned me off so bad I simply gave up on the character. I think there is a reason I see so many lower level barbarians in other newbie areas unfortunately.

That happened to me back in the day on Live, specifically because of how dark the original game has, I started in Halas at night-time, wall humping to find my way around...so I know those feels, wasn't nearly that bad this time around, was only there till 5, then headed to Blackburrow, been gravy since then.

[Nahilu]

u can play barb they are fine of course they are shaman ....

if you die I was stun doh...

When you root 6 mob and dot , root break , re-root without never be stun ...

Its game changer . OF COURSE you can do it with any shaman race it is just less convenient than oger.

I am a Min Maxer I Would reroll any character for 5 points so.

[Lakeland]

That happened to me back in the day on Live, specifically because of how dark the original game has, I started in Halas at night-time, wall humping to find my way around...so I know those feels, wasn't nearly that bad this time around, was only there till 5, then headed to Blackburrow, been gravy since then.


But did you stick around and learn the zones on live back then? I honestly thought of making one and busting out of there to another zone, but then I thought.. how do I get my spells? :confused:

Funny thing is my guild I ran with in life way back then started as a barbarian only guild. Friend of mine was a dwarf that ran with them for a long time and finally they let him in and he got me in. Went to permafrost once and I was like, I'm lost, and guild was like "your in a barbarian guild!" :D

[Plaidpants]

I wanted to play a shaman, I didn't want to be evil so obviously started a barbarian. Halas and Everfrost turned me off so bad I simply gave up on the character. I think there is a reason I see so many lower level barbarians in other newbie areas unfortunately.

I love Halas/Everfrost.

[awolfdrawsnear]

I stuck it out with the Barbarian Shaman and I'm glad I did. Looks are a major factor to me, and Barbarians in plate are the coolest looking thing to me. Not having regen isn't a big deal and I can purchase some gear with it later. Getting stunned while casting hasn't been a major issue to me, because I learned to time my melee casting between enemy bashing stuff. I put my starting points mostly into wisdom, but just a few into strength and I'm glad I did. Heavy armor is heavy, and melee is important until we get root and good Dots.

I made enough money from selling bronze weapons to buy myself a Slime Coated Harpoon and a shield with wisdom on it. Very fun class to play.

Also worth mentioning... I actually PREFER not having night vision of any kind. It's cool to see the dramatic difference between light and dark, and I can always put up Serpentine Sight if necessary.

Starting in Halas & Everfrost was brutal. It's like hard-mode noob zone to the max, but it's worth the slow start.

[Lakeland]

I went back and tried a barbarian shaman, worked through the crap zone that is everfrost peaks and went into BB (which I also wasn't a huge fan of) then got to Qeynos and honestly loved that area and Karana area. So in the end it was well worth it to roll through everfrost area.

Also I think I just forgot how tough the starting areas were in EQ, because I started an enchanter in Erudin and it was just as bad (again I just boated to Qeynos to fix that). Just think it's taking some time to get use to the fact it's really rough to start off and after I realized that I'm good anywhere and love it again.

[Amyas]

Play your Shaman until level 24.

That is their milestone level, you get regen and canni.

Root,rot to solo and group often =)

Send Amyas a tell in game and ill hook you up buddie.

[Ravager]

honestly dude, unless you are twinking up a warrior i don't consider a warrior solo-able at all
I could get a warrior to 51 solo untwinked. It'd take most of a year, but it's doable. Could probably solo to 60 in 2 years. It isn't hard. It's just a grind.

[Squabbles123]

Got my Shammy to 26 this weekend, root-rotting is my life now. Loving this class.

[Amyas]

Got my Shammy to 26 this weekend, root-rotting is my life now. Loving this class.

Kewl was wondering if you where still sub 20.