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Old 03-18-2012, 12:50 AM
Noselacri Noselacri is offline
Sarnak


Join Date: Aug 2010
Posts: 422
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Faction is completely irrelevant unless you're a newbie who needs to security, and even then I'd argue that the good alignment isn't beneficial half the time. Both of the primary classic dungeons are near evil cities, and in Kunark it doesn't matter at all which side you're on. You should be spending most of your Norrath time in the few zones surrounding EC, and there's perfect access to Neriak and Grobb which provides anything you could ever need. I certainly don't see much of a point in listing faction as a "+" comparable to stun immunity or regen.

It's pretty much established that ogres have the best stats. Mana is largely irrelevant to a shaman while hp is important and even strength is convenient if you're the type who solo farms a lot, something shamans do well. That said, there is such a thing as a critical limit for mana - sometimes you just don't have time to canni, and if your mana pool is so small that you can't cast enough spells to survive a fight, you're in trouble. Putting your starting points in stamina is the best choice, but if you don't plan to raid or get rich and will spend your time in average gear, you might consider putting them in wisdom instead so you won't end up with 103 wisdom at level 60. It ultimately doesn't matter much, but like I said, you don't always have 30 seconds to mess around with canni and torpor, and it's possible to have so small a mana pool that you can't cast a slow, both dots, a superior heal and a torpor in one bar. Flexibility is important to shamans and you don't want to cut it too close with the mana. Being a casual non-raider by nature, I went with wisdom because I know I'll never have good gear. Stamina can still be maxed in Velious with casual gear and a buff.

The real dealbreaker is regen vs. stun immunity, and the simple way to put it is that stun immunity is stronger while regen is more convenient. If you're lazy and live your life on your ass as a buffbot, regen will help you more. If you plan to do high-end and/or dangerous shit, stun immunity is considerably better but doesn't really help you level faster or support a group in average content better. Ogre is the statistically best race, but some playstyles benefit more from troll regen. Barbarians have no inherent advantages except a decent hammer, and iksar is a terrible race unless you're a necro.