Few questions from an outsider
 

Hi franz.

1) I'm generally cool with the neckbeards, and I don't really care if the guild I'm a part of is a "zerg guild" whatever gets the content done. That said, how easy is it to break into raiding guilds in this community? p99 has a certain... reputation. I also haven't been playing with any of you for the last 10 years, so I don't have any in game connections to this server unless I've played with some of you on p2002.

2) Leaning towards necromancer, but I don't know if dots will stack here? Are they desirable on raids without mindwrack and potentially without stacking dots ? Not sure if twitch is enough given smaller mana pools in this time period than what I'm used to.
-if- I do go necromancer, would that be terribly stupid to do pre-kunark? I never got into necro's until iksars were a thing.

3) Another consideration is that I could play a shaman or a cleric. I don't have a lot of interest in cleric gameplay, but if I have to pay my dues that way to open doors... then... grab the lube -_-. Most my experience in all levels of content is in enchanters, but I'm sure the community will be over saturated with them. Thoughts on shaman / cleric ?

4) Any hints on good tradeskills to take up early on that will be beneficial throughout the release of new timelines and help at launch ?

THANKZ

A) It's very easy to join most whatever guild you wish to. One quirk of P99's culture is that even the high-end guilds aren't exclusive. In fact most of them are quite welcoming. Historically they'll take about anyone who wishes to join. That's part of why some of them are so large. The highest-end guilds might have level limits or some basic resist gear goals but that's about the limit of it. Can't speak for "green" of course but there's no reason (yet) to think ten years of server culture is about to change.

B) Dot spells of the same type do not stack. Necromancers are a fine class regardless.

C) Clerics are the same as always. Mediocre to poor for solo, groups like having them and guilds love Cleric mains. No guild has ever had too many Clerics. Shamans are a medium strength class for solo/group content in the old world, and become arguably overpowered in Kunark/Velious. In guilds and raids they're nice but less critical than Clerics for what should be obvious reasons.

D) Smithing is nice for banded initially. Tailoring for bags is also nice. Jewelcrafting is probably the best tradeskill on a fresh server but it's effectively limited to Enchanters and costs a lot to raise.

Danth

Guilds here, even the top ones, aren't clique-y the same way live guilds were. I can't guarantee that every guild will need, for instance, a ...

But the zerg guilds generally just want more bodies, and even if one guild happens to be full on Necros, another will likely need some.

There's no way to predict what classes will be needed on Green, but I think it's safe to say A) you'll be able to find a guild no matter what class you pick, and B) if you really care about getting into a raid guild of your choice ... then maybe Necro isn't the best pick. But again, I really don't see it preventing you from getting a guild.

Raid guilds will ALWAYS need more Clerics, at least in my experience. If you want a guaranteed in to a raiding guild, go Cleric.

Shaman are desired on raids, but A) they don't "stack" the way Clerics do (once they get Torpor they make decent backup healers, but otherwise you only need a couple on Slow), and B) if the last poll was any indication, Shaman will be the #1 most popular class on Green. There will be a lot of competition.

Tradeskills in EverQuest (from classic to Velious at least) are a time/money sink, not a money maker or a source of cool items. I'm sure a few really dedicated people, who want to spend a huge amount of time just farming materials, destroying their wrists by doing a million combines, and then sitting in the EC tunnel for hours on end ... they'll make money.

But 99% of people doing tradeskills won't. If you want to do them anyway ... Tailoring to 100. That let's you turn HQ bear pelts into 10-slot backpacks, and everyone (especially in classic) loves 10-slot backpacks. Also it's not too hard to get it, especially if you collect pelts/spider(ling) silk/etc. wherever you level.

Jewlerycraft can also make money, but requires a MUCH bigger investment, and Blacksmithing/Pottery has some items you can make which aren't terrible in classic. Maybe someone will make money of blacksmithed javelins or something.

But yeah, again ... do tradeskills for fun, or so you can make backpacks for friends. Don't expect them to actually be a good use of your time.

Thanks Danth!

Regarding necro dot stacking. Are we talking about the same dots from multiple necros not stacking, or is it also true that dots cast by the same necromancer and within the same line do not stack as well ? For instance various levels of heating blood, etc.

Beware about joining a guild as a cleric and wanting to change later. Clerics are one of those linchpin classes not easily replaced. At velious stage complete heal is pivitol as far as spells go in a raid.

Used to organize the CH rotations for bosses. Missing a couple of clerics on a given night? Boy some of those HP bars used to get low occasionally. Pant wetting.

As a result some guild may not be very understanding if you get bored of your cleric main and want to switch to something else.

Who knows these days :)

Same spells from different characters will not stack. Different spells in the same spell line is more complicated. Sometimes they stack, sometimes they don't--it varies from one spell line to the next. I don't have a Necromancer so you'll need to find someone who plays one to answer that question more specifically.

Hoppkins is correct with respect to the social pressures that come with being in a guild that knows you have a Cleric. Once they know you have the Cleric, for the most part that's what they'll want to see you playing. That might be the Cleric class's largest drawback.

Danth

My understanding of the above is the DoTs are shared between the necros so as to avoid trying to stack similar things and the rest is nuking/mana battery duty.

Necro nukes are not the most efficient but if you have nothing else to do....

If a guild leader told me "even though we have an infinite amount of places on our guild roster I'm going to kick you out because you won't commit to only playing your cleric at my beck and call", I would be very disappointed with myself at being unable to recognize I have a garbage guild leader and quitting on my own beforehand :)

Earlier this year a player from a middle tier guild--Anonymous in that case--complained to me that he was hardly ever "allowed" to play his Shadow Knight on raids because they always made him play a Cleric instead. It definitely happens. Happened in the original game too**, and it'll always happen if people allow it to happen. I agree with you though. Grow a backbone and say, "No." Worst they can do is kick you and if they do there are half a dozen other effectively identical guilds to choose from.

Danth

**there were a couple times back in the early 00's that so-called friends/etc got rather mad at me that I wouldn't play (or even box) the wife's Cleric instead of my Paladin. It's classic. Just have to be able to stand up it and if they want to get mad about it, that's their problem.

This is how bad raiding as a cleric sucks in this era OP. If you want to maximize your raid guild desirability without being subjected to the pain of cleric raiding, go warrior or rogue. You could even level necro first to get some gear for your melee of choice. Classic is likely to be a weird scene so you may as well just farm stuff and level alts IMO. After the launch of Kunark your warrior or rogue main would be solidly in demand for whatever raid guild emerges on top, and that may very well not be the same guild that is on top in vanilla actually.