A little Green advice

[stars2heaven]

So I've been away from EQ for a long time. (maybe since 2006/7) I previously played a mage so I've decided on something that will be a bit more group centric: a shaman. I don't know anyone who plays eq and I enjoy the class so hopefully the shaman will be valued by others for grouping.

In anycase, I'm looking to really immerse myself in the whole game and experience everything I can get out of it. I doubt I will look to join a guild right away unless people here think it is a good idea, but towards end game I definitely want to raid with a guild that is dedicated to that sort of thing.

To that end is there anything in or outside of eq that I should be familiar with before going down that road? For instance I'm totally unfamiliar with third party means of communication that guilds us these days. I have literally not played group content in an mmo since I quit eq years ago.

Other than that I guess is a shaman a good choice? Is it necessary that I min/max the character? I ask because I'm not sure I want to be a troll, and that seems to be the favored race. Is it better to guild up early or let the dust settle to see what the top guilds are doing? Any advice to someone who is essentially a total newb is appreciated

[Seungkyu]

Shamans are great at everything. Soloing, Grouping, Raiding, you name it.

A lot of people use a browser based program called "Discord". You need to sign up on it with an e-mail account.

I don't think there is a necessity to min/max a shaman, but from what I know it's generally considered an Ogre for the Front Stun Immunity (FSI).

If your not min/max'ing you should just play as what you want. In the end, no one is going to exclude a shaman in a raid because of their race.

The wiki here on P99 is really great and I just have a few links you might want to check out.
https://wiki.project1999.com/Loraen%27s_Class_Selection_Guide
https://wiki.project1999.com/Shaman

That's just my two cents, I'm sure there are many others who could give great advice. Good luck!

[Xallis]

Welcome back to EQ! As far as guilding up I just kinda let it happen if I meet a cool group of guilded folk in my adventures. I think it's more important especially at low levels to remember or /friend people you enjoy grouping with.

As far as shaman goes choose the race you want, troll Regen is a solid plus, ogre frontal stun immunity is helpful for getting off root while being beat on, barbs have good race and polar bear going for them. Ogre and troll get to start close to guk/ec/port spots and don't have to travel nearly as far to buy spells. It's really for you to decide, your group/guild won't care at all which flavor shaman you go.

[Gustoo]

For a shaman theres a few stuff you probably won't try to kill solo that you would want to be an ogre in order to accomplish. If I was on a non pvp server and I was raiding, I would be a barbarian because being KOS is not as fun as being non KOS..to me.

Ogre is the min max race. Not troll.

You don't need to min max any class. That is for psychos only. The shaman really needs an expensive level 60 spell called torpor to become extra super powerful.

If you're going to group, most any class works fine N dandy.

[Deathrydar]

You don't need to min max any class. That is for psychos only
TRUTH!

[Gustoo]

With that said I always make my classes with their maximum potential in mind, and I weigh that against my maximum potential for fun. If I make a warrior I ain't making a woodelf even though I did in 1999. Its fun to do it smart. Its just that you don't have to do everything with the intention to get best in slot across the board.

My favorite builds were best in slot tradeable for low level pvp action.

[stars2heaven]

Thanks for the responses everyone. Those links are really useful too!

[Harbogast]

I personally think that permanently having an extra invisible fungi tunic is better than frontal stun immunity, which is why I played a troll. Iksars also have regen but they can't use the Kunark armor like Jaundiced Bone Bracer for example.

[heazels]

I personally think that permanently having an extra invisible fungi tunic is better than frontal stun immunity, which is why I played a troll. Iksars also have regen but they can't use the Kunark armor like Jaundiced Bone Bracer for example.

Its definately not fungi level regen. Its only 4hp a tick extra at lvl 50. Its only supposed to be 2hp classic though.

[BlackBellamy]

hopefully the shaman will be valued by others for grouping.

In lower level groups you might be primary healer, back up otherwise. Everyone loves shaman buffs especially tanks. Your main job will be to slow, and if there is no chanter than also haste. At all other times you'll probably be dancing to get mana back.

I doubt I will look to join a guild right away unless people here think it is a good idea, but towards end game I definitely want to raid with a guild that is dedicated to that sort of thing.

You want to get into any large starter guild soon. Check the forums. That extra channel is going to help you build your rep and make friends and the chatter will help you know which other guilds are good. Any raiding guilds that form early will be a core of friends from Blue. Those guys aren't going to take just anyone when the price of including a screw-up is so high.

For instance I'm totally unfamiliar with third party means of communication that guilds us these days.

Your guild will tell you and help you set up.

Is it necessary that I min/max the character?

What, in terms of stats? For the end game it totally doesn't matter because with items and buffs you should be able to cap out all your necessary stats. So starting stats only really matter when leveling up, early to mid game. In terms of the age-old wis vs sta debate, here's what each gets you. Sta gives you more hp. It's not much, but you never die because you run out mana. You die because you run out of hp. Yes I know you can convert mana to hp, but that assumes you're able to cast a heal and not running for the zone. If you're the type of guy who dies with mana left, you probably need more life. Wis gives you a higher mana pool. This is only important in situations where you med up to full and burn all your mana to zero. If you start the fight full and end half full, your wisdom is wasted. So in the vast majority of grouping situations, you won't need a higher mana pool. You will need your mana pool in certain raid situations, but by then you should have a nice wis armor set to swap in just for that one fight. If you're the type of guy who likes to burn all their mana to kill that one mob, wisdom is for you.

I ask because I'm not sure I want to be a troll, and that seems to be the favored race.

The Ogre is the best end game race if you want to solo high-level stuff. This is because you absolutely have to land your slow and a resist will kill you if you get stunned. After the stun duration you will attempt to cast again and even if it lands your health will be so low that you will probably lose the fight or have to run. And if you get stunned again while trying to recast it's game over 100%.

The native regen on the Troll is small but...you convert health to mana, so there's that. It would mean slightly faster soloing but you have that extra experience penalty so it evens out. It does give you higher group efficiency, but it doesn't scale well at higher levels. You'll want those regen items regardless.

Barb levels the fastest. Once you hit 50 that won't matter at all until Kunark comes out and then it will be immaterial again at 60.

If you are min-maxing, for high level soloer and off-tank raider take Ogre. Otherwise Troll.

Having said all that, the best race for shaman is the one that looks and sounds the best. Unlike for example the Warrior, the race choice here is wide open. The differences are not material. What is material is that you're going to listen to your guy get hit and grunt and you'll watch him run and jump and sit, and you want a character that you will like looking at because you will be listening and looking at that shit for a long long time. Go check out some screenshots of different shaman races with epic armors and stuff and see what you like, then create one of each race and watch them do some stuff and pick one.

Some final notes. The shaman is gear dependent. If you want to solo well, you will need high AC because you will need to take hits. So this limits your choices because you will have to pass up good stat items with worthless AC. Also, you won't be soloing much in the mid-game. You can do it early in your career, but once the mobs start hitting hard it's group time for you. This will last until you get to your mid-30s and even then you won't really shine until you cap out.

[Baler]

shaman levels slow during classic and is gear dependent.

[NegaStoat]

Troll regen is absolutely a solid choice, but folks keep missing the other perks of the race as well.

- Snare necklace if Innoruuk is chosen, or a pair of fear necklaces if Cazic is taken. The Snare necklace is sort of crappy but is an absolute godsend in cramped quarters dungeon delving. Lower Guk comes to mind immediately. The Cazic fear necklaces are very useful for specific solo camps or group options - Trak's teeth undead hunting vs casters comes to mind.
- If Innoruuk is chosen, you have access to a repeatable and EASY to obtain one-shot Halfling illusion. In several quests the religion will still be an issue for faction, but in many other quest hand-ins the illusion will be enough to get the ball rolling.
- Can use the Jaundiced Bone Bracer later on.

In a pre Kunark setting for a character starting off, Shaman are pretty awful for solo play until level 24 at which point they become barely tolerable. Considering how packed the server will be however, There really isn't a reason to NOT be grouping for the early painful levels. Once you reach 34 though, you level like a rocket from 34 to 50 solo with just caster gear. There's zero reason to rely on melee then at all - you'll be moving ahead in experience as fast as a Dark Elf necromancer. Been there, done that.

[DMN]

Maybe 39-50. You don't get venom of the snake until 39.

[stars2heaven]

Thanks for the responses everyone. I've been playing around with a couple different shaman. I started a barbarian before making this post, got him to 15, and have since gotten an Ogre to 7. The stat/stun advantage of the Ogre is a major draw but it hasn't felt like it's made a big difference at the the 1-7 range. Someone gave me one of those steins that drop from Ogre guards that has +10 Sta on it and I was able to see that by level 7 that +10 sta was only adding 3 hp. Obviously that will be much more later, but early on, not so much.

Looking at some other aspects the Feerrot is a much better starting zone for making money. By level 5 I had like 50pp. Never got that much in Everfrost, however, by 5 there I had been able to craft a full set of 10% weight reduction bags and the ogre could not. That said, the extra str made that totally irrelevant.

I like tradeskilling, so looking forward to the cultural stuff the Ogre has it much better. The temper that is needed requires human blood which Ill be able to get in my teens. The one downside is that Ogre shaman are restricted to zek so get the +str items and can't use the +wis items. the Northman armor is much better quality, being lighter in many cases and have additional saves vs cold. But the tempers require components I wont be able to get until my 20s and upper 30s. By then I'm not sure the armor will be relevant anymore.

Also the initiate symbol. The ogre one is 10X harder to get but nearly useless. The barbarian one gives you a very decent magical hammer for free and the quest can be done easily if you can pass through black burrow.

Speaking of Black burrow, the Barbarian gets access to so many great turn in quests like the gnoll fang turn in. I don't know that the Ogre gets anything equivalent beyond the lizard meat turn in which is only good till around lvl 5.

Finally, the ogre is really ugly and doesnt seem to have a lot of thematic style whereas the Barbarian is not as bulky and much cooler looking. He gets kilts and polar bear helmets and can turn into a polar bear.

It's a tough choice.

[NegaStoat]

Maybe 39-50. You don't get venom of the snake until 39.

Nah, from 34-35 I didn't melee at all with my Iksar shaman by taking on Iksar Outcasts Swamp of No Hope, but Cazic thule gators would have worked just as well. From 35-42 I blew up guards in West Karana as well. My strategy was to buff the pet with a cheap haste, pull with Shock of the Tainted (Winter's Roar will have to substitute here for vanilla), Root, cheap slow on target, envenomed breath, nuke, sit down and canni, send in pet when target is at 40-45%. Sometimes a 3rd nuke would be required, but every time when the root wore off the pet already had the target down to 15% or less and it was ready to do its death walk.

The point is that I could easily bring the target below half health with a root on for safety and let the DoT + pet do all the rest of the work while I was recovering mana. From level 35 on, keeping two guards dead every 6:30 minutes was completely doable. Level 39 made things much easier of course, but level 36 is where I saw a big difference in resists. As a DE Necromancer I was killing the same targets at the same rate so... I mean I guess I could have killed a bit faster by killing halflings in misty thicket, but those were always camped. There's zero (0) need to melee after 34. There's zero (0) need to melee once you get your animal charm too, probably.

[Verityn]

shaman levels slow during classic and is gear dependent.

Pre-kunark they can close the gap to 50 a little better than some other classes by being able to solo from 40 to 50 on things like Ogre guards. Group dependent classes may find it can be slow going in that level range with a lack of supply of level appropriate mobs.