Curious about P99 as a true new player.

[Rtelephone]

Half the people i've spoken to swear by making a mage as my first max level so I can farm and have support for the main I plan to play.

The other half told me to just grind it out.

I'd like to be a hybrid utility class (bard, ranger, pally, etc) but they are pretty much dead set on the fact I will have the roughest time ever not only getting groups but trying to gear up to be useful.

What do you guys think?

[Scrumtick]

Play what you want. I guarantee if you don’t enjoy your mage, you will abandon it. I started with monk. It’s not the easiest first class, but it was what I enjoyed and am glad I did

[loramin]

Welcome to the server!

As others have said, you should play the class that you will actually play. If you don't want to play the optimal starting class, don't! (Plus, even if you were going for the optimal class, I'd still recommend a Druid over a Mage.)

But beyond that the main things you should consider are solo-ability, gear requirements, and movement enhancement. Gear is relevant because it's much harder to get gear for your first character than it is for all of your other characters, and solo-ability matters because you may not always be able to find a group, and if you only have one character who can't solo that would mean you couldn't play. Movement enhancement isn't necessary, but you're going to be running (not porting) a lot on your first character, so it's nice.

Bards can solo, and they're not too gear dependent, so that might be the best of the three you picked (plus they get built-in movement enhancement starting at level 5). Rangers need about as much gears as bards (I think), but they can't really solo without twink gear (and they don't get their movement enhancement until level 30). Paladins ... I'm not sure how good Paladins are at soloing, but I'm pretty sure the answer is "not very". Also (as tanks) Paladins probably require the most gear of the three, and they never get movement enhancement.

Hope that helped and good luck picking your class.

[Rtelephone]

As a followup question does anyone have a TL;DR about what classes do in raids? My friends gave me a very short answer being clerics heal warriors tank and monks do pulls while rogues carry the raid dps, is that pretty much the long and short of it?

Are guild actually wanting/looking for classes like ranger, sk, pally etc?

[Hiragawa]

Holy crap,

An actual fresh to the game newbie? I... wow. Anyhow, if you want to play a class, just do it. It is a long road to 60 that many players will never, ever make. So if you dive into a class you wind up hating just because someone told you to make money with it, you'll probably quit before you even enjoy the game.

And yes, the hybrids you listed (With the exception of bards) need to be wicked twinked to solo "Well" (A bard needs a drum and some underwear). But any of them will do just fine if you aren't in a super hurry. The important thing is to allow yourself to be social. Most groups won't really care what class you are so long as you're willing to listen and learn.

If you've spoken to people here and already have friends, then it really won't matter what you play. Just make them group up with you! If not, simply ask questions. Most of us old timers will happily vomit up info at you. Your best bet would be to pick a class you actually want to play and go find a leveling guild.

I think Kittens is still very active at all levels, and if you're okay avoiding the EC Tunnel (Think Auction House) and playing by a specific set of rules, check out ALS (Auld Lang Syne). They 100% have content at all levels, and will certainly help you figure things out and group up no matter your class.

Also, Bard Life > All. RIP pain-free hands.

[Kich867]

Half the people i've spoken to swear by making a mage as my first max level so I can farm and have support for the main I plan to play.

The other half told me to just grind it out.

I'd like to be a hybrid utility class (bard, ranger, pally, etc) but they are pretty much dead set on the fact I will have the roughest time ever not only getting groups but trying to gear up to be useful.

What do you guys think?

Far and away, pick a class that sounds interesting and go from there. The time investment for "just leveling a class to farm for your real main" is fucking titanic without tremendous help and you'll be happier growing a character you enjoy.

Any character at a high level can go and gather gear for lower level characters. I've been soloing a necro for exactly that reason and honestly I got so bored I made a dwarf warrior and joined Auld Lang Syne just so I can play a dude that kinda sucks but has a community around him and is forced to group--I just find it more fun.

[Rtelephone]

What's auld lang syne?

[Snaggles]

With a few vendor instruments a bard is less gear sensitive than any other hybrid. A monk with a 100p Wus staff is a close second.

[Vormotus]

With a few vendor instruments a bard is less gear sensitive than any other hybrid. A monk with a 100p Wus staff is a close second.

Im super new here too, is iksar necro a good choice? Can bards melody here? I loved bard on Live in ln progressive servers, but spamming songs old fashion is a bit hard on my arthritic fingers haha, Im old :P

[Hiragawa]

Im super new here too, is iksar necro a good choice? Can bards melody here? I loved bard on Live in ln progressive servers, but spamming songs old fashion is a bit hard on my arthritic fingers haha, Im old :P

No melody. You have to twist manually.

Iksar necro is the min/maxer choice. You'll level slower (Iksar have a 20% exp hit) but most people agree the regen outweighs it, since leveling is already slow. So if you're in it for the long haul, it's a bit whatever.

[kjs86z]

First you gotta think about what role you'll be happiest playing.

Some folks like heals / utility, some want to dish damage (then melee vs. casting), some like to tank.

I was completely new to EQ when I started here on P99 as well. I made an enchanter because my friends told me to...and I'm super glad I followed their advice.

Mage is a solid option as they don't need much gear to level, are great in just about any setting, and are pretty simple from a mechanical perspective (IE: not bard / enc).

Basically I'd boil it down to this:

If you're a true min/maxer at heart and you're confident you'll be playing this game for a long time and are interested in end game content (raiding), then I'd highly suggest going rogue (melee dps), cleric (healing), warrior (tanking). These are by far the most sought after 3 classes for raiding guilds. That does not mean you can't raid on any other class...just...if you're one of those hero types...pick one of these.

A commonly advised plan for new players is to simply roll a Druid. They do a little bit of everything. Solo, groups, etc...they will be sufficient until you get most of your porting spells....and then you can just join <Dial A Port> and make some platinum for your next, more serious char. However, this is a significant time sink even getting to level 40 without serious outside help / powerleveling...so if your playtime is limited and you're completely uninterested in the Druid class...yeah...just don't.

Also, Iksar Necro would be a very powerful option for a new player as well.

[Legidias]

Who suggested a mage (lol)?

Druids are the true first time server class to support your "real" playthrough main, due to ease of playing (solo), ease of getting money (ports), lack of needing gear, and being able to be halfling for +5% xp.

Of the hybrids, bard is 100% the best choice to start out. All the other ones cant solo efficiently past like lvl 20 without twink gear, while a bard in leather and some vendor instruments can sell plvl already at lvl 18.

If you REALLY want a starter char to support a new one (non-bard), I would say lvl druid up to 50's until you get bored of it (doing ports and w/e along the way for money) then sac then down to like 44 (so they can still port to all locations) and use that money for a pretty good twink melee.

[Legidias]

Gaining money to twink the class you 'really' want to play is stupid and I have never understood it. 46+ all the good gear is no drop anyways. After level 50 twinking is pretty much not a thing since you should be raiding the planes, completing velious armor, and working on/finishing your Epic.

I started on P99 as a Monk and it was a great choice. If I had it over to do again would probably follow the same path.

One of the best things about P99 (in my opinion) is completing your epic. Mage epic = impossible, so I would actually suggest against that.

Easiest Epic Quests are probably Monk/Rogue/Bard/Druid/Paladin/Ranger/Cleric - I may be forgetting a class but these classes are much easier than some others... Necro/SK/War/Mage/Ench/Shm.

Because slaying things at low levels with twink gear just feels good, and being helpless against a skeleton feels bad. Everyone has their own play styles.

Just that a starter melee will find it very tough to do anything without a group, while starter casters can still solo.

Whatever method you choose, you won't really see high platinum generation until you get 50+ (unless you do some really annoying / long camp things like LoIO farming or chase AC's).

Also, bard is classified as one of the harder epics, due to rarity of white scales and that it requires at least 3 higher end raid encounters.

Shaman is classified as one of the easiest since it really only requires you to get 1 single item (+self factioning), which costs ~75k, and both fights to get item and fight to finish epic can be done with 1-2 groups.

[nooblord900]

play red pick any class you want

[Pope Hat]

Pick whatever class you want and just go. This server is great for leveling to 60 and doing stuff at 60 (minus raiding).

[NegaStoat]

At this stage of the server's life, gearing up ANY class is pretty stupid easy due to low prices on 5th or 4th rate gear that people just unload to be rid of it. Melees needing good weapons can get absurdly good deals on 'old' weapons from classic and Kunark that would at one time be kept until the mid to late 40's of a leveling character.

My advice? Play exactly what you want to play. If you are a melee, sink your starting points into either Stamina or your Casting attribute (int, wis) and forget strength. Keep the magician. Level it to 8. Have it ground twink holding bags for the first stage of your melee character and aim for cheap strength items like a Hero Bracer, A direwolf fur cloak (free), sarnak hide mask, etc. You can get upwards of 25 to 30 strength just from items early on super cheap. Make a level 5 ogre shaman (takes a few hours) and use it as a mule to prompt the Forager Bag quest in Oggok for any character you want to use it for. 50% free weight reduction 10 slot bag is worth the time spent for a brand new player.

Go nuts, have fun, and don't buy into the "I need to level a cloth caster / druid to the 30's or 40's to gear out my main." - give that advice the bird and get to farming / leveling on your main that you have fun with. Bonus Credit Advice - leveling blacksmithing on your own to make banded armor takes about 150'ish plat if your casting attribute (int or wis) is around 120, roughly. You'll have your suit of armor done at the end of that cost of skilling up. You can get the plat from crushbone belts and then bronze / rawhide from bandits from various zones. Or you could simply just collect the molds, metal, and water for about 32 plat and walk into North Freeport at the bank and politely ask for someone to do your combines for a tip. Tons of higher level players have blacksmithing up to Banded armor level but can't be bothered to go into Freeport from EC to do combines. The ones already in North Freeport usually will.

[Snaggles]

NegaStoat has great thoughts on this.

The one point I would differ on with most people on the boards is putting points in Strength; I prefer to. Worst-case you throw 25 points away that aren't ideal at the end game. That said, 25 STA for a top-guild raid Warrior isn't going to change the outcome of the raid. Not that those folks have a problem capping anything anyways.

The only toon I've had that I was never overweight was my Ogre SK (I prob put strength into him too 20 years ago). You start stacking ac/hp gear and it doesn't always have strength. It's also not always light.

Starting out being able to pack an extra 25 pounds of bronze/FS to sell will help you get those first few armor items on your wish list. It might even save your life not being encumbered when a Sand Giant is chasing you to the zone line.

[coolget]

if you want to farm with something make an enchanter or shaman instead

[Rtelephone]

Thank you guys for the input, it's me and several friends coming from Agnarr to experience the TRUE classic grind/era (i know i know, agnarr isn't classic, flame me)

We decided on sham/necro/enc - aside from the sham they are super easy to level up with and group with minimal gear - since we want to play for the long term, we are happy with the choices we made. We may not be cleric/rog/war but I think a good player of any class can find a spot.

[Quinas]

Play what you love. You may never get a second character.

[Argh]

Play whatever class really is the most appealing to you. Some of those hybrid classes you were interested in (bard, sk) really don't require good gear as you can solo fear kite things on either class and Bard is very useful in groups even if youre just naked singing mana song. Bard is a really unique class here that I haven't come across in many other MMOs.

There is a pretty good guide (http://wiki.project1999.com/Loraen%27s_Class_Selection_Guide) from Loraen on choosing a class that is a good fit for you.

If you need some starting gear PM me on here.

[Tnair]

One other consideration I'd throw in there is your expected length of play sessions and RL demands on your time and attention.

If you think you'll play in 30-90 minute chunks, a group-dependent class like Rogue or Warrior will become difficult to do anything that feels like progression, and you might consider a solo-able class like necro instead.

Iksar necros are frickin everywhere on the server for this reason.

Overall agreement with the other posters; any class/race/deity combo you enjoy "being" will eventually outweigh all the pros of "better" options. imo eq is story primarily, and min-maxing-dominate-the-system second. A choice you made because it's supposed to be good, that you don't want to invest imagination into, will feel dry and boring af

[Ravager]

The server's not going anywhere, there's no race to anything. Try them all.

[kjs86z]

One other consideration I'd throw in there is your expected length of play sessions and RL demands on your time and attention.

If you think you'll play in 30-90 minute chunks, a group-dependent class like Rogue or Warrior will become difficult to do anything that feels like progression, and you might consider a solo-able class like necro instead.




Solid advice.

[tsuchang]

Im super new here too, is iksar necro a good choice? Can bards melody here? I loved bard on Live in ln progressive servers, but spamming songs old fashion is a bit hard on my arthritic fingers haha, Im old :P

I play for entertainment so I do things my own way sometimes. I played two necros up to 40 and started another one with the gear from the first two. I changed to Iksar because of the health regen. I can put the allure of death on myself and sit regening hp very slowly where the other races would eventually kill themselves from it.
Ikies are hated everywhere cept their home town so grind faction in The Warrens and have a nice close to the druid portal place to sell and bank at Paineel.

Yup, an Iksar necro is a good choice.

[jackd104]

Wow. The notion you should max a character only to help your *real* character is pretty extreme. It’s a massive time investment to get one character to 60. Like playing 20 normal video games to the end. If you value your life don’t be thinking this way. Try a character you think you will like. If it doesn’t work out try another. All characters have trade offs and you need to find what suits your play style. One of the main considerations is solo vs group play and your tolerance for relying on a group.

[Shinko]

Gnome necros > iksar

1st and 2ed place best of the best proves it.

Gnome hacks > regen

[Dman2701]

Quick breakdown to what people do on raids (remember that is a long ways away)

Warrior - Pretty obvious tank stuff
Monk - probably the most active on raids, you will be pulling, exploring the zone probably more than any other class, dpsing
Rogue - stab stuff, drag corpses
Bard - Mana song if your in cleric group, resist and attack buffs in melee dps group, occlusion of sound on the mob (Magic debuff)
Ranger - Getting passed around the melee groups for Call of the predator (attack buff)and doing dps
Shadowknight - Offtank non raid mobs
Paladin - Casting Divine strength (HP buff)on people and offtank on non raid mobs, lay of hands on MT
Cleric - CH Chain, buffing
Druid - porting people to the raids, Circles(resists spells) some debuffs on mobs, and POTG (Hp Buff with mana regen)
Shaman - Buffing, debuffing raid targets - patch healing
Enchanter - Tash and buffing , Mem blurring adds (makes mobs deagro on target, used during a dirty pull)
Necromancer - Twitching (give people mana) and pet attacking
Magician - Mod rods (item used to lose life but gain mana), Call of the hero (summon person to your spot) , pet dps
Wizard - Porting people to the raids, and blowing stuff up

[Shinko]

Quick breakdown to what people do on raids (remember that is a long ways away)

Warrior - Pretty obvious tank stuff
Monk - probably the most active on raids, you will be pulling, exploring the zone probably more than any other class, dpsing
Rogue - stab stuff, drag corpses
Bard - Mana song if your in cleric group, resist and attack buffs in melee dps group, occlusion of sound on the mob (Magic debuff)
Ranger - Getting passed around the melee groups for Call of the predator (attack buff)and doing dps
Shadowknight - Offtank non raid mobs
Paladin - Casting Divine strength (HP buff)on people and offtank on non raid mobs, lay of hands on MT
Cleric - CH Chain, buffing
Druid - porting people to the raids, Circles(resists spells) some debuffs on mobs, and POTG (Hp Buff with mana regen)
Shaman - Buffing, debuffing raid targets - patch healing
Enchanter - Tash and buffing , Mem blurring adds (makes mobs deagro on target, used during a dirty pull)
Necromancer - Twitching (give people mana) and pet attacking
Magician - Mod rods (item used to lose life but gain mana), Call of the hero (summon person to your spot) , pet dps
Wizard - Porting people to the raids, and blowing stuff up







Warrior - Tank and DPS
Monk - Pull / DPS
Rogue - DPS
Bard -MR PULL MANA
Ranger - Reroll real DPS
Shadowknight - Reroll War
Paladin - Reroll War
Cleric - CH chain
Druid - Reroll wiz
Shaman - 1 per raid only needed (sucka)
Enchanter - mez
Necromancer -Pull, Train , Twich
Magician - COH
Wizard - Nuke

[Vormotus]

Warrior - Tank and DPS
Monk - Pull / DPS
Rogue - DPS
Bard -MR PULL MANA
Ranger - Reroll real DPS
Shadowknight - Reroll War
Paladin - Reroll War
Cleric - CH chain
Druid - Reroll wiz
Shaman - 1 per raid only needed (sucka)
Enchanter - mez
Necromancer -Pull, Train , Twich
Magician - COH
Wizard - Nuke

LOL ... Why so many rerolls? No Ranger love even here in P99 haha.

[Shinko]

In very endgame this is true

[Nagoya]

Then you can be a warm body and get free loot? Maybe some people would enjoy that!

[Legidias]

Nah, you need one 60 ranger to CotP and eat DT

[MerkelMacron]

Quick breakdown to what people do on raids (remember that is a long ways away)

Warrior - Pretty obvious tank stuff
Monk - probably the most active on raids, you will be pulling, exploring the zone probably more than any other class, dpsing
Rogue - stab stuff, drag corpses
Bard - Mana song if your in cleric group, resist and attack buffs in melee dps group, occlusion of sound on the mob (Magic debuff)
Ranger - Getting passed around the melee groups for Call of the predator (attack buff)and doing dps
Shadowknight - Offtank non raid mobs
Paladin - Casting Divine strength (HP buff)on people and offtank on non raid mobs, lay of hands on MT
Cleric - CH Chain, buffing
Druid - porting people to the raids, Circles(resists spells) some debuffs on mobs, and POTG (Hp Buff with mana regen)
Shaman - Buffing, debuffing raid targets - patch healing
Enchanter - Tash and buffing , Mem blurring adds (makes mobs deagro on target, used during a dirty pull)
Necromancer - Twitching (give people mana) and pet attacking
Magician - Mod rods (item used to lose life but gain mana), Call of the hero (summon person to your spot) , pet dps
Wizard - Porting people to the raids, and blowing stuff up

this is the best class summary i ever seen

just shows how limited use some classes have end-game on a blue server

the utility of classes is multi-layered on a red / pvp server

sig test

[Shinko]

It’s not like any class is hard in endgame red or blue servers

There are classes that just out preform on this tier (gear/spells) there is nothing wrong with being a ranger or pally or mage they have usefulness

And on red Who cares? There is like 5 players there

[trite]

Don't make a mage as your first class... they aren't one of the 3 best solo classes for farming and they aren't in demand for groups....

[Rtelephone]

We decided nec/sham/enc after deliberation but only 1 of us can play at a time lol (ip exemption etc) so we just taking turns.

I really appreciate the breakdown of what it's like, I enjoy being useful so personally I went shaman, but sometimes I can only play like 30min-1hr so I can also solo.

But being useful on raids (buffs, debuffs, spot heals) and also having the ability to augment a group with the same things or just solo appealed to me.

The community has been overwhelmingly nice and some one even let me borrow some gear, never sure i've seen folks to determined to help others have a good time.

See you guys in game!

- Fairlady

[Imago]

You can apply to the GMs for an IP exemption.

[nooblord900]

this is the best class summary i ever seen

just shows how limited use some classes have end-game on a blue server

the utility of classes is multi-layered on a red / pvp server

sig test

[tsuchang]

Nobody suggested a wizzie.

[skarlorn]

Apply for your IP exemption. But if you truly are all playing there isn't any rule against using a VPN while waiting for the exemption to roll thru. Just make sure you are really one player per box

[Amyas]

Do what ever makes you have fun.

If you want a money toon Mage,Necros, and druids are great.