Quote:
Originally Posted by Netherzul
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Bored, medding and waiting on respawns so I figured I'd browse around google and try to catch up on my knowledge of the EQ classes during and throughout Velious. It's been a difficult search and I haven't collected much information beyond what I remember myself and a few tid-bits here and there.
DISCLAIMER: It's been 10 years for me. The information I have typed below is not considered as FACT. This are simply recollection memories and a small amount of almost indiscernible research and may not be 100% accurate. If something I write is incorrect, feel free to correct it by replacing what was incorrect with what is accurate.
I'm going to follow a very simple format. Feel free to use the same format and add what you remember about classes during Velious either regarding the spells they gained or their experiences soloing/dpsing/raiding. I will not have much to contribute outside of spell benefits in regards to classes beyond the Shaman, due to that being my main throughout my EQ experience.
Bard: The Good - Gained a haste that was stack-able with Enchanter haste, making Monks and Rogues jizz'm in their pantaloons, that much more over their dps. Also gained an unresistable debuff that lowered resists by a small amount, allowing other support to more easily land their debuffs. Still highly desired in groups due to the large amounts of resists / general stacking buffs they add to a group. Still capable of soloing very well in wide open areas.
The Bad - Still add no real personal DPS to a group/raid as they did not gain the ability to double attack until in PoP (something I did not remember until research). However, see "The Good" above.
Cleric: The Good - Still the best healers in the game. Also gained the best hit point buff hands down. 1100 hp + AC is something Clerics will be driven to the brink of madness by, due to the mana cost & how many group members will request this buff.
The Bad - No MGB AA for Aegolism.
Druid: The Good - Now more viable in a group due to a new heal they receive. In Velious, Druids really fill their own niche becoming a pseudo Cleric/Wizard combo. They also get a new fantastic buff that also adds mana regeneration. They get a new quick cast, somewhat efficient heal. They also get to summon a bear pet! Disregard the fact that he is useless.
The Bad - Soloing changes a bit for Druids due to the high MR of the typical Velious mob (this will be a very slight if even noticeable change). I had to put SOMETHING here right?
Enchanter: The Good - They get to turn someone into a wearwolf...WITH a lifetap proc! Also get a max mana/mana regen buff. Even more spells to bug the hell out of your local Enchanter for!
The Bad - I had a real life friend who played a 60 Enchanter during Velious, so limited viewpoint here but; still extremely boring to play in a raid. I'm not sure how much their amazing solo capability changes during Velious but I imagine it will be impacted some, even if very slightly.
Magician: The Good - Magicians gain the ability to summon a random NPC monster in the zone as their pet. I remember enjoying this very much, even as a Shaman. It changed things up quite a bit. They also gained a new DD/dot spell. I believe they are still capable of doing some decent solo but don't quote me on this.
The Bad - High MR targets are going to make Magicians pull their hair out. At least if you have your epic, you'll likely out DPS or match the DPS of a Wizard on certain raid targets!
Monk: The Good - Even more uber lewtz (much more friendly to Monks) will drop in Velious, allowing them to take over the role of totally and burly bad ass tank during this expansion (on most bosses). Their DPS will also increase. These guys are simply bad ass during Velious. With the obvious favoritism towards melees that Variant had, the weaponry and gear you will be swimming through may seemingly be endless. Monks easily and justifiably fill 3 roles in a group during Velious; DPS, Tank & Stand There and Look Sexy. If you haven't rolled a Monk alt yet, now is the time to do so.
The Bad: Hmm. I'm struggling for something here. The pain of going through the Coldain ring faction grind/quest? That's all I've got.
Necromancer: The Good - A new mana regen that will allow them to twitch faster than ever before! Also a new pet buff for the spec. Necros can (if a single one is dedicated) seriously pump out the DPS in Velious. On Bristlebane (Arch Overseers) our raid had a dedicated Necro who could compete with Rogues/Monks and still maintain twitching the Clerics/spot healing. Still a strong class during Velious.
The Bad - Necros also have to deal with the woes of high MR mobs in Velious.
Paladin: The Good - Still a solid tank during Velious. One of the favored tanks in groups due to snap aggro / group support. They get a HP buff that stacks with any other HP buff iirc along with a nice group heal (for even more aggro generation).
The Bad - They still suffer from the hybrid EXP penalty, thus we will likely see very few high level Paladins during this expansion as well. They also are not favored as main tanks unless absolutely necessary, during Velious due to Warriors still being the kings of HP/AC.
Ranger: The Good - Nothing really changes much for Rangers iirc, during Velious. I believe I remember seeing them cast an additional buff on a frequent basis that added the chance to proc a DD. They also gained a small bit of utility by gaining a nice group buff that adds +attack.
The Bad - You're still a Ranger (kidding <3).
Rogue: The Good - Still the kings of overall sustained DPS. The plethora of weaponry you get to choose from during this expansion will make you want to steal your grandmas coin-purse. Prepare to see all new, all time highest back-stabs for ridiculous amounts of damage. If you're extremely lucky or if you've got your tongue in-betwixt your guild leaders gluteus-maximus cheeks, or are extremely rich, you may end up with one of the most desired masks leading up to and during this expansion.
The Bad - Still completely reliant on groups / current server population. You will still have nights of sitting in EC /lfg for 6 hours. No, don't even try to solo that green.
Shadow Knights: The Good - In the same boat as Paladin but maybe slightly better off due to their primary snap aggro spell being diseased based. No group heals here but they do get a self buff proc that is a lifetap (iirc also nice for aggro).
The Bad - A lot of your aggro abilities will suffer the same fate of classes that rely primarily on magic based attacks. I don't recall this being a huge issue in groups but I'm trying to avoid leaving this area blank! Also suffer greatly due to the hybrid exp penalty.
Shamans: The Good - Druids, you get to SUMMON a bear, Shamans get to turn into one! A self regen/wisdom buff that stacks with everything. Shamans also get a single target buff that not only applies their hit-point & strength buffs but their dexterity buff as well. This opens 2 extra slots for additional buffs which should benefit overall raid composition buff wise. Shamans, like Enchanters, typically maintain their solo capability (one of the few classes with the ability to solo wurms, so I've been told). They also get a new avatar that does not require a component. Time to make some Monks/Rogues you total abiding slaves *at least until they get primal weaponry*. IIRC, Shamans during Velious took on specific debuffing roles. One would be in charge of MALO, another of SLOW, etc. Obviously, one of these roles should and can be filled by a Magician to allow at least one Shaman 100% dedicated to raid healing (this may be the case on P99 now, my raid experience here is very limited, however, it's much more pertinent during Velious with raid bosses not being capped at 32k...). I remember being considered the 2nd best healing class in Velious, even over Druids with their new heal, due to the overall sustain that a Shaman still maintains during Velious (much higher throughput due to Canni).
The Bad - Also facing the MR woes during Velious. No diseased based slow introduced during Velious. Still the slow kings due to their slow reducing attack speed by an additional 5% over their Enchanter counterparts...if you can get it to land, that is.
Warrior: The Good - Still the undisputed MT of major raid targets. Highest hit-points, highest AC. Fairly obvious here. Also have a nice array of weapons to choose from that help close the gap on threat generation (nice procs) while simultaneously boosting your DPS (see AoW) whereas currently, to maintain good threat, you generally have shit dps (proc reliant).
The Bad - Unless in a top raiding guild (and geared...), groups will still value Paladins/SK's over you, as a tank.
Wizard: The Good - Lure spells are introduced to help you combat the insane MR of raid targets in Velious. Wizards maintain their specialty role of burning targets at 30% or so, being unmatched in DPS those last percentages of a raid mobs health. I recall Wizards being the raid heroes during some of the Velious era boss fights because of their ability to pull off a last second burnout to kill the raid mob with 8-10 people still standing. In a group setting, Ice Spear of Solist is simply amazing due to it's mana/damage ratio. Wizards, in my opinion, gain a great deal of grouping utility in Velious due to obtaining this one spell. You get translocate spells! Prepare to be bombarded with tells for people asking to be translocated. Also be prepared to pocket the tip money too! No more zoning over with your compatriots to bring them to the zones of their desire. Simply point at them and POOF, off they go.
The Bad - Outside of lure spells, Wizards are hit extremely hard in Velious. Get used to the fact (if you're not already) that a large percentage of your nukes will be resisted, in most cases, outright resisted. Also be prepared to spend an additional 5 minutes medding (on top of the 15 minutes already) to reach a full mana bar from OOM. With the newly introduced caster equipment, your mana pool should be huge and thus your time spent sitting will be even more huge, to compensate!
That's what I've got to add! It may not be 100% accurate and it may not be the most lucrative and educational amount of information on the classes during the era of Velious, but it's a start and I'm hoping others on P99 will contribute. To be honest, I don't remember much about Velious. I was 13-14 at the time. I am now 28. I've since then, jammed my brain with memories of DAoC, Warhammer (lol?), WoW, EQ2 and other small time MMOs.
Thanks for reading and if you contribute, THANK YOU again. I want to remember everything there was to know about the classes during Velious and with all of the great EQ players on P99, I'm sure we can narrow down all of the information very closely to how they were during live EQ Velious.
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The bard overhaste was not cap breaking, anyone with a 36 / 41 haste item will not notice this. That said, the resist songs become even more valuable.
Healing in velious simply isn't possible w/o clerics due to the hilarious damage output increases and mob hp increases.
Most expansions were shitty for druids until GoD? I think. The class never really fleshed out well in a group situation, BUT, in PoP they received a group heal which could be MGB'd, huge for large aoe situations.
Enchanter buffs always nice, but it's a 1-2 man job. Not much was CC'able, but for a time when the kael arena giants were charmable, they were one of the only ways to do AoW.
Magician's role remains the same, overall dps gets worse when casting on velious mobs w/o banes, lures, become near impossible in a dps situation.
The highest point in a monk's career. Weapons get considerable damage / delay increases (for those not having wu's fists). AC on items also get off the chain and soft cap is quite high pre luclin nerf, again, great time to be a monk.
Necromancers maintain the same roles as before, though mana pumping becomes considerably more valuable as the fights are much longer than kunark (32k to 1mil, lol).
Paladin gets melee/defensive caps of warriors, making them excellent trash tanks. Paladins also receive brells (excellent stacking hp) and a group heal which makes them fairly alright to put in melee groups simply as a group healer, they become somewhat of a makeshift cleric on aoe fights. I should also say that this is the era when pal / sk mana should rise dramatically (their wis/int benefit), but p99 has had that code in since launch so it's a non-change here.
Ranger--tracking becomes even more valuable (can peak into north from ent of tov, can check nameds in SG, find vaniki / zlandi from zone in, etc). DPS becomes third best behind rogue / monk with the introduction of jolt (threat ceiling mattered immensely on live, we'll see how it goes here). Not a bad ranger era, but it's no luclin.
Rogue--best dps, and remain that way until at least GoD. That's what rogues do o_O
SK--trash tanks, AC / threat transfer not in until luclin, still remain excellent pullers, although so many things see through invis in velious raid zones that COS loses some of its luster.
Shm--best buffs, can put on pretty alright damage with their excellent mana regen. Versatile spothealers.
Warrior--/disc defensive becomes mandatory for the upper 25% of fights or so. Threat weapons become much more valuable to quickly increase threat ceiling and prevent dps throttling on longer fights. Makes me wonder if on p99 we'll have mid combat trading of mallets and pump 15-20 charges into AoW, heh.
Wizards--are...okay. The fights just become entirely too long with the mana efficiency of wizard nukes. It actually becomes viable to have 3 separate wizards and log on a new one when the previous one runs out of mana. At the very least at least bane spells allow for decent damage nukes on giants / dragons without getting the mediocre ratios of lures.
11-09-2012, 11:13 AM
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