Newbie 12 Shaman Seeking Advice
 

Hey,

I played back in Velious era casually. Only ever got a Ranger and Cleric up to mid 30s. Excited to play again and started a Barb Shaman that I've got to lvl 12. Right now I'm trying to solo wisps in NK. I had just a couple of questions and am happy for any general advice too.

Right now I'm wearing almost all cloth and using the hammer from the Tribunal Initiate quest (http://wiki.project1999.com/Summoned:_Hammer_of_Wrath). Wisps are actually still quite tough, but doable, though the exp and drops have been a little disappointing. I have around 70 plat saved up. Is banded armor the best thing for me to buy at this point? Would a weapon or different armor serve me better? I haven't been to EC yet so no idea what the economy is like. Is it easy to find someone selling what you're looking for?

Also, my lvl 14 spells look lackluster. Root will be nice but my current DoT's already feel weak. Is getting to 19 going to suck? Is it easier to group that stretch?

Any helpful tips at all much appreciated.

Shamans are tough going early on. In your shoes, I think I'd go for a weapon upgrade, since you'll be hitting things for a while still. And your level 14 slow should definitely help with your melee.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Brell%27s_Keg_Popper
http://wiki.project1999.com/Runewood_Great_Staff

Those are both decent options for <100pp. And if you keep at it, with the wisps - you'll only need another 9 GLSs for a set of banded, which is what you'll want for sure.

Though it's been a while since my Shamanistic years, so maybe I'm way out. I'm sure someone will correct me, if so.

Recently got my Barb Shammy to 24, i had the luxery of twinking him out early. Shammies don't really get fully functional until 34, but at 29 you get all the spells for being a group asset: Haste, Buffs, Slows, Regen, Good heal. To become independent, first you need to make some plat, doing the wisps is fine, but you can also do the disease pelt quest in Qeynos hills to make some nice loot.

Once you get some plat i would work on becoming a master smith, then you can make yourself a banded suit. Killing wisps is a good way to make plat, another way is to kill the bandits in WK and do the sash turn in. Anyways, once you make it to 24 and get some decent spells, you can get into groups or keep soloing till 34, when you get your pet and can solo all the time if you want.

Wisdom gear is not hard to come by, when you make enough plat, you can head to EC and upgrade yourslef. Good luck out there.

Thanks for the feedback. I hadn't considered smithing banded myself. Any idea what the cost of doing that is like?

Go to qeynos hills, kill the 2 rabid wolves and grab the the rabid grizzle, the pelts can be turned in at NQ for 2.1 plat and exp. you can make 400-500 plat in a few levels look up quest in wiki

Go to EQTC for the smithing guide. It took me about 250pp to get lanterns trivial. That's the point I started making banded.

Not really worth it to make your own banded... By the time you dump the PP into it, you can just buy it, unless you WANT to make your own banded

At 14 you get your first slow. ~23% less auto attack damage for 42 seconds and 60 mana. If you can save yourself using 3+ Light Healing then it's worth using.

My druid is in the Karanas right now too, so if you see me on and want to group some, feel free to send me a tell.

I don't think this is ever gonna be the case. The low level slows are really weak and cost a lot of mana (relative to your pool at that level). Maybe 10 or 20 levels after you get them, the amount of damage you remove with them is actually worth casting the slow.

I beg to differ in this regard, having played EQ Live, i knew about banded and how easy it was to make and starting near Qeynos, you have all you need to become a master smith in no time. After i became a master smith, and got myself a full banded suit, i was surprised to see a lot of peeps my level running around with lowbee drop armor. A few would see me and ask where i got the banded, and i would say i made it, which surprised them. I even went as far as making banded suits for many players, it just makes you feel good to help peeps out, weather they kept playing or not.