class selection woez

[garfo]

I'm straight up embarrassed at how much thought I've put into this. Help this tired old man out.

I main a shammy on blue, not much alt-itis because I've been super focused on hitting 60 and seeing the endgame. I'm 59 now, so close! And hunting in seb and pom is where it's at, that is EQ at it's finest imo -- everyone's on their top game.

Anyway, I've always wanted to try a melee or tank out. Not monk so much, not a big pulling fan (too much pressure), but something about being a big plate wearing meatshield and damage dealer has always seemed appealing.

The penalty is a real game-salter in green, my playtime is precious and I'm not sure if I can stomach the steep penalty of a hybrid or bard... I suppose I could be talked into an SK... but assuming not, that pretty much leaves rogue or warrior.

I know neither has great soloability, but that's fine -- my goal with green is all about groups, groups, groups, especially in cazic and lguk.

I'm not so keen on leveling a druid to fund a twink -- I'm not that much of a neckbeard, thank you!!

HALP! Put an end to this torment!!!

[ldgo86]

Go warrior my dude!

[Crede]

If you’re good at making friends, SK. Because many random min maxers and strangers don’t want to inherit your xp penalty. Truly a phenomenal class.

If not, war IMO. Rogue is cool I just find straight dps very boring.

[Vexenu]

Warriors are itemized much better than Rogues in Vanilla, but neither class is nearly as strong as they are in Kunark era. Disciplines and a wide array of proc weapons help Warriors a lot, and an easy epic and double backstab push Rogue DPS through the roof. If I was choosing between the two I would go Warrior for sure. You've really got to be a melee purist to play an untwinked Rogue or Monk in vanilla with how badly itemized they are.

[soronil]

The penalty is a real game-salter in green, my playtime is precious and I'm not sure if I can stomach the steep penalty of a hybrid or bard...

Fake news. please don't buy into this. A hybrid tank in a group will level <~6% slower than a SK/paladin in the same group, depending on the group comp (how many hybrids / mages / monks / races / level discrpencies). And you will be better at your job (holding aggro, pulling with lull/fd, etc)

As a tank you are not going to be soloing.. really ever, so you will never be subject to leveling 29% slower (it's 29% slower, not 40% slower,... 1/1.4). That 29% is watered down by the rest of the group... If the rest have a 0% exp penalty, you level 6.2% slower. if there are other penalties (surely there will be, at least 1 caster + other hybrids/monks), you effect is lower.

Ignore the people saying that hybrid exp penalty is the end of the world. Play the tank class you want.

[magusfire24]

The level penalty isnt bad. I agree. As long as you dont die over and over you are always making progress. No rush to get through the levels.

[Gustoo]

Choose who you like.

If you dont want to pull go with warrior or rogue because monk and SK are generally pullers thanks to FD.

Rogue is least likely to be puller due to ezdeath

[Mblake81]

Warriors are itemized much better than Rogues in Vanilla, but neither class is nearly as strong as they are in Kunark era. Disciplines and a wide array of proc weapons help Warriors a lot, and an easy epic and double backstab push Rogue DPS through the roof. If I was choosing between the two I would go Warrior for sure. You've really got to be a melee purist to play an untwinked Rogue or Monk in vanilla with how badly itemized they are.

ah, shouldn't matter if a rogue or a monk doesn't have the best items. Playing a sneaky thief or a Monk with flying kicks is good enough.

The fact you could do these things in a 3D environment.. I think people have gone with things that can matter but ultimately took a backseat to the experience, you know the little things that eventually didn't matter.

[Tenlaar]

The penalty is a real game-salter in green, my playtime is precious and I'm not sure if I can stomach the steep penalty of a hybrid or bard... I suppose I could be talked into an SK...

I would suggest that what you should do is try to get away from this kind of thinking. This is recreation, it's not somehow wasted time to take a little longer to level as an SK if you enjoy playing the game. Even if playing an SK makes it take a full month longer to hit level cap, aren't you going to enjoy playing the game for that month?

[garfo]

I would suggest that what you should do is try to get away from this kind of thinking. This is recreation, it's not somehow wasted time to take a little longer to level as an SK if you enjoy playing the game. Even if playing an SK makes it take a full month longer to hit level cap, aren't you going to enjoy playing the game for that month?

Very true, although for me the game really starts to get more fun past level 20 or so, when the content gets tougher and the loot starts to drop :) Given my somewhat limited playtime, I'm inclined to avoid classes that keep you trapped at lower levels longer, especially since lower levels do tend to be more solo-oriented.

[BlackBellamy]

something something

You should play a Minstrel.

[garfo]

You should play a Minstrel.

yes, a bard whose only function is to agonize over an old elf sim

[Mblake81]

Things began to slide with kunark. The class % penalties were all part of the original game which.. was the game, part of its RPG system. Think of it this way, if there were no expansions then playing those class/race combos are the way they are.. it wouldn't be removed later. It was part of the cohesion, as they are the biggest combos so you paid for them.. life was harder but the end result was something bigger. That aspect was cut down in favor of ease.

[Nirgon]

Ogre warrior is basically a small race warrior with lots of str/Stam gear on at launch

Do it

Someone else can buff you for a change

Guise is like infinite shrink anywhere

[Graventhel]

If you don't like pulling, I wouldn't recommend an SK.

On the other hand if you're up for learning to split pull with FD, it's an art form.

[BlackBellamy]

yes, a bard whose only function is to ̶a̶g̶o̶n̶i̶z̶e̶ ̶o̶v̶e̶r̶ ̶a̶n̶ ̶o̶l̶d̶ ̶e̶l̶f̶ ̶s̶i̶m̶ antagonize Tehlien

Trying to figure out if you played on Palo.

[Tenlaar]

Very true, although for me the game really starts to get more fun past level 20 or so, when the content gets tougher and the loot starts to drop :) Given my somewhat limited playtime, I'm inclined to avoid classes that keep you trapped at lower levels longer, especially since lower levels do tend to be more solo-oriented.

I absolutely get that. I have a compulsive min/maxer in me too (I'm sitting here locked in an internal debate between stamina or wisdom for starting points on an ogre shaman...) and I hate the xp penalty, I think it's stupid to keep something that doesn't add a single thing to the game experience in any way and that the designers acknowledged was a bad idea. And I'm thinking about playing an SK myself, so I've definitely thought about it. But the more rational side of me keeps reminding myself that there should be a really strong lower level population for a while and the penalty won't really amount to a significant amount more xp per level until into the 30's. If I'm still playing the character at that point I'm confident that I'll be enjoying it enough to not care about taking longer to level.

As far as I can figure, the only people who should really worry much about the xp penalty are people who plan on rushing the first couple of weeks to try to be on the bleeding edge and farming higher level item camps before anybody else can. That ain't gonna be me!

[Deathrydar]

If you start on green around launch day or launch week, there will be other players that do not have a lot of time to play and players re-rolling different classes and altoholics in the lower level zones for a long time and you should be fine!

[magusfire24]

If you start on green around launch day or launch week, there will be other players that do not have a lot of time to play and players re-rolling different classes and altoholics in the lower level zones for a long time and you should be fine!

I must be tired. I read that as alcoholics at first. LOL

My mage will be an alcoholic. Brewing own beers and falling off Kelethin

[Lojik]

Not much gear to be had for a few months probably, so ogre with massive str will have a nice DPS boost compared to other races. Dwarf would be a good option B if you don't want to be big... Shrinks will be hard to come by. I'd say go ogre war, probably will be a good starter zone on green

[Jimjam]

Want a plate melee without pulling narrows it down to warrior.

Ogre for fsi
Troll for regen
Barbarian best xp slam and medium armour
Dwarf for good stat line including resists
Halfling for fast xp and stealth
Gnome for later tinkering.

[Zeboim]

I must be tired. I read that as alcoholics at first. LOL

My mage will be an alcoholic. Brewing own beers and falling off Kelethin

I'm an alcoholic and I guarantee I'll be in those low level zones.

I think that one should play what you want, because ultimately most of the differences are fashionquest... but ultimately if a class can go Ogre and isn't Shaman, the minmax way is gonna lean Ogre.

If you're a Troll Warrior and soloing enough for the regen to be important you are doing it wrong.