What would you play?

[Danth]

They don't ask Shadow Knights to eat death touches because most SK's are like me and would tell said raid leaders to snuff it. Rangers tend to be nicer and more willing to do a useful duty.

Shadow Knights have snap aggro on par with Paladins; sometimes you don't see it because there are a *lot* of incompetent Shadow Knights who don't know how to use anything except Disease Cloud. These Shadow Knights make good death-touch fodder. In fact they should be encouraged to make different characters entirely.

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Monks remain a strong class in Velious, flirting with god-mode-overpowered if you have access to North Temple Veeshan and Sleeper's-quality loot. Without such loot they're merely mortal but still very strong. Main downside is their excessive population, meaning expensive gear and high competition for drops.

Rogues are easy to play and good at what they do, and due to lower population than Monks tend to be in demand. Main downside is they have fewer options than the other classes listed and may become boring. It's a good class for someone who doesn't always want to give the game high attention levels.

Bards are the opposite of Rogues, difficult to play well and having a very high relative skill cap. Good Bards are always in demand; poor Bards quit at level 50ish and end up used as EC mules. They're very busy to play well, requiring constant activity not too dissimilar from combat in many newer online role-playing games. Horrid choice for players who like to AFK or type in chat a lot.

Rangers offer more engaging combat than Monks or Rogues and lower activity levels and difficulty than Bards. The cost is being probably the worst of the four in terms of overall power and desirability, even after Velious enhancements.

Danth