Please help me choose a race for my shaman.
 

Hail.

Please help me choose between playing an ogre and an iksar shaman. I really like the look of both races, but I think iksar look decent in mismatched armor while ogres look terrible in a patchwork of gear. I'm into the fashionquest, and am leaning iksar for that reason - but will I regret not having access to JBB spam, and the stun immunity?

I'm not concerned about the faction penalties of being iksar. This will be my first character on p99 and first time playing everquest since way back, so this will ideally be the 'farming' character that gets me up and running - if that makes a difference.

Any input is appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Don't forget about the iksar exp penalty ewww.

The XP penalty shouldnt even be a consideration. What you pay for in time to level up, you gain in permanent natural regeneration and enhanced natural armor class. This honestly yields more XP since less downtime recovering HP. Foraging is nice too.

I played a human necro up to the 50's without knowing about the iksar regen. Once I learned, I immediately rerolled. You're playing EQ... you're in this game for the long haul. Why gimp yourself over a few extra days of leveling difference, if that?

Having chosen shaman as my first p99 character, I really advise against this.

Different people play this game differently. Some people will be 60 in 6 months, others will still be in their 50's two years from now ... if they're even still playing in two years. Racial penalties absolutely matter if they mean being able to reach (say) 45 instead of 43.

It all comes down to how long you think you'll play this character.

Short Term:
If you might not even make it to 60, or expect you'll only play at 60 for a few months, the best race is Barbarian: being able to go into any good city is quite convenient while you level, and having the lowest XP penalty could mean getting to 60 months faster.

After that its Troll/Iksar: both have the same regen ability and racial XP penalty (40%). As I understand it, the regen downtime reduction roughly matches the increased XP need, but you wind up spending more time playing and less sitting on your ass. Trolls are slightly better than Iksar because they can use any evil town (not just Cabillis) and can use the JBB; Iksar just get some fun quests and a little extra AC.

Then there's Ogres. They can't use good towns and their main ability, frontal stun immunity, won't really help you level faster. Their XP penalty is lower than Trolls/Iksar, but they don't have regen to make up for it; if you really want a low penalty (plus good city faction) you'd go Barbarian.

Long Term:
If you embrace the idea that "the game doesn't even start until 60", the racial order is almost reversed. With enough time it doesn't matter what the XP penalty is (you'll hit 60 eventually), and with enough time any race can fix any good city faction ... if they even want to bother (at 60 you mainly play in Kunark/Velious). So Barbarians effectively have no racial ability at this point.

Similarly once you get Torpor regen is almost meaningless, so Trolls and Iksar also don't have much of a racial ability at this point either. Trolls are still slightly better than Iksar though, just because the JBB is still slightly useful at 60.

Ogres are the best Shaman race in the long term, because their frontal stun immunity power is not only still relevant at 60, but actually (a little) helpful for soloing tough mobs at 60.

Everything I just wrote aside, none of the pros/cons I just listed matter that much, especially when raiding (which is a lot of what you do at 60) ... and I say this as a level 60 Barbarian Shaman with Torpor who's played here for 3+ years. Whatever race you pick, you'll be staring at it for the life of your character, and that will impact your fun more than any racial pro/con.

So really my advice is to pick what seems coolest to you, because all Shaman races are totally viable.

Just curious, why? My shaman was my first character, and I farm stuff for my alts with him all the time. Of course first I had to farm a JBB, and epic, and Torpor (a bit over 200k worth), but once you have those basics you can farm almost any item your alts desire.

Iksars can't get JBB and they don't look good in armor (outside of Necro/Monk/SK).

That regen must be nice though. Even with Topor it's nice on the way up to 60.

I always think Druids are the best first toon choice.. Can level them up to their 30's or 40's and then stop if you want. None of this exp penalty stuff to consider.. Super cheap gear. Now you can do ports for moneys!! Save up and gear a proper main! And still have the option to farm things!

Just make an Ogre.

On the off chance you play it into the end game, you'll be glad.

If you don't play to the end game, what difference will it make?

The answer is Troll. Best of both worlds