New old eq player - shaman starting questions
 

Just started playing here after having made an account several months ago and har a few questions.

I've decided to make a shaman but I'm interested in gettint some input on which race to pick.

I'm leaning towards iksar because of the starting stats, leveling path and the hp regen racial. I know the downaides for iksars include the xp penalty, difficulty traveling and I've heard the alchemy vendor is broken in cabalis as well as the armor restrictions.

My second choice would be ogre. Frontal stun immunity is great (played on live) as is starting near my lvl 13 enchanter so I can get easy access to bags, starter cash (only a little over 130pp) and about 120 bone chips for xp turn ins (not actually sure if there is an evil bone chips quest). The ability to wear all the shaman gear would be nice but from what I've read the JBB goes for like 50k so I'm not likely to get one. The biggest strike against being an ogre is the size. Even with shrink I found it annoying in dungeons.

I'm interested in mostly duo/small group play. Not sure what endgame raiding is like or if I'd have the time for it.

TLDR: will I regret going iksar over oogre and if so why in your opinion is that.

Thanks

Frontal stun immunity, nuff said

Between the two you've listed Ogre is the definite pick. Troll comes in close second to Ogre.

This is SO overrated.

If I were to start a shaman now, I'd go Iksar. Second choice would be Troll.

Leveling up, regen is so much better than frontal stun immunity.

Always hated the troll models. Both orginal and SoL versions.

If I went ogre does anyone know if I'd run into any faction problems trying to do the bone chips turn in at grobb? Can't remember if ogres are kos to any troll factions.

Trolls are the best. If you hate how they look then I recommend the Iksar. Iksar have Regen which is the best, but they don't have Bash which I consider to be really important because Shaman suck against caster mobs.

Iksar have a really fantastic starting area, great noobie armor options, can solo their way to an Iksar Berserker Club (the best shaman noob weapon) and you'll have regeneration which is amazing. Forage is great (I don't like summoning food) and the armor restrictions aside from the JBB aren't too bad. Jarsath is awesome and just rotting in most dungeons.

Faction isn't a big deal; it's like necromancers, you can kill a lot more guards and NPCs once you forgo caring about faction restrictions. Also there are places you can bank and you can raise faction while hunting to compensate.

Yeah the regen really is great while levelling up but there's no scope given to how far the OP is willing to take their character. As a Barb Shaman I can tell you that frontal stun immunity would have saved my hide more than a few times while trying to solo multiples.

It's just a matter of how long you expect to be levelling up for really.

This is also a fantastic case made for being an Iksar and completely spot on with regards to faction. At 56 I feel like, aside from my own city and maybe FV faction doesn't really matter at all.

You'll struggle more to tank Lodi in Velious with an iksar, and Cabilis has a potion vendor issue that (iirc) won't be fixed for a long time yet...so alchemy options are limited.

Any of the other 3 have their merits I think :)

Iksar may not be the min/max choice at lvl 45+ for JBB or at 60 for torpor trivializing regen... But frankly I wish I'd rolled iksar instead of barbarian for my first char. Almost 54 and can only afford half a jbb :/

Regen is just so damn good, especially at early lvls where we kind of suck