How far will Banded get a Paladin?

[feriokun]

New at the game here and making a Paladin. I can afford full Banded but I am wondering if being a non-twink will be ok just rocking banded, (I already have a good weapon at the suggestion of people in these forms already, so thanks for that advice!) and when/where/level I should start farming for better gear.

Any advice?

[Kika Maslyaka]

good till 30s for sure. In 30s+ you can start slowly upgrading from drops to bronze or better

[Vertiggo]

In your 20's you should be started on your or armor and in your 30's you will prob be finishing It up IMO it's not even necessary to get bronze armor, shit is so heavy especially if your new you will want that extra weight limit for stuff to sell

[Lorraine]

In your 20's you should be started on your or armor and in your 30's you will prob be finishing It up IMO it's not even necessary to get bronze armor, shit is so heavy especially if your new you will want that extra weight limit for stuff to sell


Pretty much wrong in all accounts, right there.

[kaev]

Hey Lorraine, that betrays an extremely myopic twinkie-dorf-o-centric point of view. Every non-twinked paladin other than dwarf has issues with strength vs. weight at low- and mid-levels. Your criticism is false.

[Lorraine]

Hey Lorraine, that betrays an extremely myopic twinkie-dorf-o-centric point of view. Every non-twinked paladin other than dwarf has issues with strength vs. weight at low- and mid-levels. Your criticism is false.


My criticism is not false.

Every non-twinked paladin without a few higher levels to back them up will never start the Armor of Ro quests in mid 20's, and pretty much -FINISH- them in their 30s without spending hours upon hours of running around, the help of trackers/porters, regular group in their 30s, and quite a few of outside assistance or backup.

As far as bronze armor goes, we broke into the planes wearing it back in the day, so it's kinda far off from being useless.

Statement stands.

[Zehv9]

My criticism is not false.

Every non-twinked paladin without a few higher levels to back them up will never start the Armor of Ro quests in mid 20's, and pretty much -FINISH- them in their 30s without spending hours upon hours of running around, the help of trackers/porters, regular group in their 30s, and quite a few of outside assistance or backup.

As far as bronze armor goes, we broke into the planes wearing it back in the day, so it's kinda far off from being useless.

Statement stands.

I can confirm that the armor of ro quests are nightmarish.

[theaetatus]

The question isn't how good bronze is, rather how much better than banded, and it is a very minimal upgrade at best.

[Danth]

Banded armor is rubbish past about level 20 or so. Upgrade it as soon as possible after that point.

Bronze can take you at least into the 30's, by which time you should have sufficient income to be able to afford fine plate, various other pieces (enameled black BP, etc). or possibly Deepwater armor. With as many options as are available for most slots, I can't fathom why someone would spend the time questing for Armor of Ro unless it's a personal goal to do so.

Sure, you can be lazy and wear banded into the 30's or 40's, but then you're nothing but a drain on the groups unfortunate enough to invite you. If you're going to play with such a mindset, why pick a Paladin at all? Be a necromancer or druid and solo everything, no gear needed. A person playing a tank class should try to be the best tank he can possibly be. That comes with the territory.

If you can't wear your armor and still carry a decent amount of loot, odds are you chose poorly with respect to stat allotment and gear choices. Early on when P99 first opened, I knew 6 or 7 Paladins who dumped all their stat points into stamina and ended up qutting at level 30ish due to being constantly encumbered and unable to carry anything. Beware!

Danth

[theaetatus]

Bronze is about 1 ac more than Banded in most slots, btw. It's mostly not worthwhile upgrading to bronze if it's your first character apart from whatever drops for you as you level... Like you said, there are a lot of options.

[Lorraine]

Again, we're talking about a non-twink, new to the server, paladin.

Barring hands-down and people being generous, they'll have a tough time hitting any cash making camps since the class can't solo easy, and anything worthwhile selling comes in later levels.

Greaves of Ro and Boots of Ro are solid and good investments. The molds are by FAR the easiest to get, and for 200pp which is the cost of the 2 platinum bars per piece, a couple levels grinding in mid20s in Mistmoore, and some hunt down for Melatite, and you can get those, which can last you well into your 40s. And when it comes to gear upgrading, for a new player, it's a given that you'd rather spend your platinum on a pair of ac5/55hp rings than on a pair of Deepwater boots.

Don't even get me started about not putting everything into stamina with your initial points.

Stick with banded, small and medium bronze drop in Unrest and in Mistmoore, places where you can level from 20 to 35+ and you will eventually get them.

[Danth]

"Don't even get me started about not putting everything into stamina with your initial points. "

I will, actually. Players in general ridiculously overvalue the importance and effect of this stat. You get about 5 HP per stamina at 60. At that level you'll buff to over 4000 hit points. Therefore the difference between putting all your points into stamina versus none of them is something less than two and one half percent when it really counts. With Velious gear this tiny difference will become even smaller, fading to nothing with endgame equipment.

In short, gimping yourself for the entirety of your leveling process for such a pathetic gain at 60 strikes me as a poor trade for a player who lacks access to high-strength twink gear. Stats won't matter much in the long run so you may freely use those points where they'll help you in the near term.

The hardest thing about equipping yourself as a genuinely new player is that most established players don't even bother selling the cheap items a new player will want. It can be tedious and time-consuming trying to find a good set of starter armor in EC. Learn your merchants. Oftentimes you can find medium bronze on the vendors in Lavastorm. For banded, the smithing shop in East Freeport sometimes has some. Less frequently you can even find some pieces of fine plate in this same shop.


Ro legs are decent and should be the highest priority piece of the set because there aren't a lot of cheap options for the leg slot


Danth

[Lorraine]

LvL 5-8 :: Kill some black bears in EC, get some pelts, get your first weight reduction bag made. Keep said bags cause once you outgrow them you can use them for your bank.

LvL 18-25 :: Orcs in Highpass, get a chance to get your first 25% weight reduction bag. Alternatively Najena at some point, more bags. Lionhide backpack 35% weight reduction off a 25lv mob.

LvL 22-30 :: Exp in Unrest, there's a vendor right outside the zone in the middle of Cauldron that will sell to good races.

LvL 28-35 :: Exp in Mistmoore, there's a vendor right outside in Lesser Fay that will sell to good races.

LvL 35 - 40 :: Lower Guk has two great weight reduction bags drop, one is NEVER camped, the other drops like a fly.

LvL 44ish :: SolB another weight reduction bag from a mob that is a little bit tricky to get, easy as hell to kill though.


On the other hand, stamina and HPs, as you level, are never enough. The reason is that you will not be able to balance greatly between resists/hp since the gear choices you have are limited, and from a point forward you WILL get nuked (moreso if you happen to be pulling as well as tanking for your group) , and from another point or so (lvl 40ish and upwards) you want to start becoming a viable CHealing tank instead of a mana sink. How can you do that? HP/AC/Resists.


Ridicule stamina, and the next time you find yourself at your bind spot, know fully well that a distant lack of HP is what got you there.

/derail off

[Splorf22]

I don't think starting stats make or break your character but its hard to see anything being even close to stamina for a paladin.

That being said, I have a history of fucking up my starting stats (went 20sta/5str instead of 20sta/5dex on Sakuragi, and 25int/5cha instead of 5int/25cha on Loraen).

[Volibear]

Short answer-no

Spend the time farm up lower fay bandits or gargoyals in oot. The only way you will be able to level is grouping and with your hybrid penalty and lack of gear it will be hard to find groups. Spend a couple nights farming plat. Get the 55 hp rings asap and post up an auction that you want to buy armor of ro.

[Heavydrop]

LvL 22-30 :: Exp in Unrest, there's a vendor right outside the zone in the middle of Cauldron that will sell to good races.


Bad idea. DO NOT go to this merchant (Conium Darkblade) at lower levels.
That island is awash with Goblins and Skeletons that path all over it and they
will eat you alive.

Lets compare a Banded Tunic to a Bronze Breastplate (both medium)

Bronze
http://wiki.project1999.org/Bronze_Breastplate

Banded
http://wiki.project1999.org/Banded_Mail

the Bronze is 2 AC better and much heavier.
All the +AC from upgrading to Bronze over Banded adds up, and no I'm not going
to do all that work.
Is it worth it? If it were me I'd go straight to Fine Plate (player made)
http://wiki.project1999.org/Fine_Plate_Breastplate

Lighter and better AC and a better look too.
Also, since you are a Paladin you can safely travel down to Lower Guk and see if anyone there
is killing Frogs. Shin Greaves and Shin Gauntlets commonly drop there. Stay near the zone line
and see if you can loot any. Its what I've done before.
The frogs in upper guk won't attack you if you're a good guy

[kalderon]

Well I did not read all of the comments but read most. When i started on p99 (few months after it was released) I joined a guild around lvl 12ish and one of the high lvl shamans *46 ish* saved all the bronze he looted in solb and gave to me so i had some armor. Now I had a bladed thulian claw, a shiny brass shield and full bronze. I looked bas ass, but it weighed ALOT.

Regardless, I looted my share in groups and toughed out being encumbered until I was able to get better (ro *only did legs and boots quest*, hero bracer, rubicite, valorium, skull shaped barbute. along with weight reuduction bags, I did ask for sow / str buff /agi buff any chance I got.

there is light at the end of the tunnel as you level with heavy gear. it's not ideal but, if you want an easier route, roll a caster class, they can fund your alt paladin.

http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f175/kalderon/EQ000014.jpg

p.s. wiggles is the shit with random free rez's running around hitting every corpse she saw without wanting a compensation.

p.p.s. I think im using some bone 2h from south karana instead of the sword/board

[Beaniron]

My paladin is 17 at the moment and has a full suit of Armor of Ro. Will this last me until I can start getting Valorium armor?

[Danth]

Yes, Armor of Ro can last until planar. It was designed to last all the way to 50 in the pre-expansion game. With Kunark gear available you may eventually opt to replace some pieces with Deepwater, but even that won't matter until about the mid 30's or later and can be considered optional.

Danth

[tekniq]

all i know is that bands will make her dance.

[Swish]

LvL 5-8 :: Kill some black bears in EC, get some pelts, get your first weight reduction bag made. Keep said bags cause once you outgrow them you can use them for your bank.

Actually you'll make the weight savings buying 8-slot sewing kits (at 0.4 per container).

Highly recommended for weak paladins (high elves) and all casters alike.

[Beaniron]

Yes, Armor of Ro can last until planar. It was designed to last all the way to 50 in the pre-expansion game. With Kunark gear available you may eventually opt to replace some pieces with Deepwater, but even that won't matter until about the mid 30's or later and can be considered optional.

Danth

I'm skeptical about Deepwater because with the exception of the chest and legs, none of them have any stats, HP, or resistance on them, and the clickies available on them are already castable by the time you're able to use them. So really, what's the point?

I'd rather have the stat boosts from Valorium and save up my money for a Book of Scale.

[Lorraine]

I'm skeptical about Deepwater because with the exception of the chest and legs, none of them have any stats, HP, or resistance on them, and the clickies available on them are already castable by the time you're able to use them. So really, what's the point?



Helm is the single best item (after your 2h + haste) by the time you can click it, until low 50s, it will easily carry your soloing days.

Bracer/gloves can be used as a pulling mechanism.

Arms can be used to mana-less split camps / invis pulling mechanism.

Boots offer you access to a spell that you should have, but you actually don't.

They also save gem slots for spells better suited to other needs.

DW armor is usefull to have, and when the situation calls for it.