Can't decide on a class
 

I'm trying to decide on a class to play. I'm a big fan of melee dps and tanks and I've narrowed down my choices to SK, monk, or ranger. I want to have to ability to do some soloing, but I'm not opposed to doing some grouping. I also have a little plat to be able to think myself (around 800). Anyone have some advice on what would be the most fun choice in my situation?

I think monk would be the best choice. You can buy some Master Wu staffs and a few other pieces and go to town. They are also the most fun class to play, and come Velious they get the best and most fun gear upgrades of any class. They can pull or fill a DPS slot, so groups aren't very difficult to get.

SK and ranger and very rewarding, but that is because the journey is long and hard. Hybrid exp penalties and group exp penalties makes them undesired. They will always be the last choice for many groups (Till Velious) because people like to maximize their group exp potential and that means they don't want to invite people that take away exp if they do not have to.

In the end though, play what you want. Every class is valuable to a good guild if you want to raid end-game.

Yeah, I was kind of leaning to monk for the points you mentioned. The reason I like SK/Ranger is for the option of spells.

May want to consider bard....not melee in the way you are thinking about it perhaps, but lots of utility spells. If monk seems too vanilla and you are thinking SK/Ranger, Bard might suit you.

If you go iksar monk, your exp penalty will be worse than a ranger or a non big/iksar SK.

If you don't mind seeing a lot of other monks around, monk will probably be the better choice of the three.

If I chose monk, which race would you recommend? I know iksars have more of an exp penalty, but it seems like the hp regen and ac would more than make up for it.

Iksar..always Iksar

The xp penalty only matters til you hit 60. Normally I say "play whatever race you want", but iksar have a clear monkly advantage.

Iksar monk will have -44% penalty I believe, and human monk will have -20% penalty. Here is the link to the wiki detailing it. :http://wiki.project1999.com/Experien...ence_Penalties

If you enjoy playing EQ the xp penalty doesn't matter that much, it's just more opportunity to play.

*slurps on coolaid*