To play a warrior, or not to play a warrior

[Grayskull]

Hi guys. SO talking to some people about our first character in EQ, I remembered my old little dwarf warrior that I played up to the mid 40s on live, back in pre-velious days, and I remember having a lot of fun on him. HOwever, I also remember deciding not to play him anymore because it was too difficult to group with shit gear. So, what that in mind, questions:

1) Are warriors as gear dependent as I remember them being?

2) If so, what is the bare minimum amount of gear I could buy for a warrior alt to not DIRELY need upgrades until the mid 30s?

3) I played a dwarf warrior on live. Is there any super important reason for me to pick a different race?

4) I wasn't a very good warrior back in the day, anything I should know?

5) Any good guides on leveling progression for warriors?

Thanks for your time

[Daldaen]

1. HP/AC gear is very nice but you can do fine with Bronze armor through your 40s. The main issue warriors have throughout the game is holding aggro. Mostly this is done through weapon procs. The problem with that is until level 37-40 (ykesha), you don't have any really good weapons to hold aggro with. And once you get those weapons you will look at your DEX and see it isn't even close to max so they don't proc all that much.

One thing that will increase your aggro is a Haste item. If you can afford it grab one, if not save up while you're leveling to purchase one. Beyond some basic and cheap HP/AC gear, Haste should be your primary focus. Most aggro weapons at the low end like Ykeshas are very cheap also.

Most warriors end up just using a 2hb weapon and smashing taunt hoping it pulls aggro.

2. Buy two 5AC/55HP Rings for your warrior. They're very worth the investment. Beyond that just grab some cheap HP/AC items. You really don't need much if you're grouping.

3. Nah warrior race is rather irrelevant. Iksar/Troll Regen is nice if you solo. Ogres have great starter stats. Half-Elf have the best charisma (DI nomnom)

4. Three things. Firstly, understand how Taunt works. Taunt will put you at the top of the hate list on the mob when successful. It only works on mobs lower level than you. What this means is a Yellow/Red con mob you won't be able to Taunt AND if you are already tanking the mob, hitting taunt is a WASTE. Do NOT spam click taunt while you already have aggro, this leads to situations where you have taunt refreshing while its beating on a cleric.

Secondly, rooted mobs ignore all hatelists. As long as a mob remains rooted they will attack the PC closest in proximity to it. If you're in a group where mobs are being rooted you want to be right underneath the mobs feet so you guarantee you're getting attacked. This is also a way to bypass the low level issue of having no good means of aggro if you group with casters who can root mobs for you.

Thirdly, hate/aggro is all front loaded. By this I mean the amount of hate you gain by attacking a mob is a flat value dependent on the weapon your using and it is added before any dice roll determining your hit is done. So a MISS generates an equal amount of hate as a MAX hit. Due to this, hitting for more and hitting more often (STR/ATK), though they help kill a mob faster, it does nothing to increase the likelihood the mob fights you (allowing you to tank). Due to this, Haste is extremely important on a warrior. More swings = More Aggro.

5. Sakuragi has one on the wiki? Google Sakuragi / P99 Wiki I think? Or someone will link it for me.

[Madbad]

Daldaen's advice on EQ mechanics is nearly always solid.

Also Staff of Battle makes you feel like a god until yaks start proccing

[Grayskull]

Originally Posted by Madbad [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Daldaen's advice on EQ mechanics is nearly always solid.

Also Staff of Battle makes you feel like a god until yaks start proccing

Would staff of battle be good until mid 30s? Im guessing yes?

[webrunner5]

Originally Posted by Grayskull [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Would staff of battle be good until mid 30s? Im guessing yes?

Heck it is good till you get your Epic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] , but I would not hold your breath on that happening. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[kaev]

Staff of Battle is good period. Also, it's got a great acronym. Hell, at L40 a SoB plus a caster or hybrid in the group willing to root every mob is gonna make a pair of 8/24s with 1.5 procs per minute between them look like cheesy child's toys.

Consider that at L37, when SSoY starts proc'ing, you won't even average one proc per mob because the mobs die too fast.

I found that at L46, when Sarnak Warhammer (8/20, Stun) and Trochilic's Skean (10/25, Clockwork Poison, offhand only) start proc'ing, agro was similar overall using those vs. a Jade Mace and a 0.5 ratio off-hand, unless I got my dex up to 140+ for more procs.

At L51 I find that the fights last long enough that the warhammer + skean are pretty much always worth equipping unless I'm 'zerking with my SoB while somebody else tanks.

[Grayskull]

what if I were to play on red, where I would have no gear to start off with? Im thinking maybe red because of the group xp bonus, and how much warriors need groups?

[Jimjam]

cloth-> leather -> bronze -> crafted is an easy enough armour path starting from nothing.

Post on red forum you are starting up a warrior from scratch and I'm sure someone will help you out.

[MycahDavith]

Everyone always goes to the SSoY.... why

http://wiki.project1999.com/Scorpikis_Claw_Impaler

It's Cheaper, proc's at level 30 and has much better agro anyway.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwL...FEendhdWs/edit

[Ando]

Originally Posted by MycahDavith [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Everyone always goes to the SSoY.... why

http://wiki.project1999.com/Scorpikis_Claw_Impaler

It's Cheaper, proc's at level 30 and has much better agro anyway.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0BwL...FEendhdWs/edit

Because SSoY looks badass.