Which is more solo friendly...

[drktmplr12]

Originally Posted by fastboy21 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

if you are solo'ing then it is probably just a matter of time. it is far "easier" (i.e. less time) to level a monk to 60 than an sk.

monks can solo better than an SK with the right gear. no exp penalty. monks also find grps easier than an SK if you plan on solo'ing between groups. in fact, its not even close monks are extremely group friendly.

Monks have a 20% penalty

[webrunner5]

Originally Posted by drktmplr12 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Monks have a 20% penalty

A HUMAN Monk has a 20%, Iksar is 44% total. Iksar, Troll SK is 68%.

http://wiki.project1999.com/Sortable_Race_Class_Matrix

So a Iksar Monk is worse than any other class to have in a group other than a Iksar, Troll SK. Pally, Ranger, Bard, normal SK, etc. is 40% penalty.

[holsteinrx7]

Sk is group, monk most versatile melee. Monk does have penalty. Most sks quit from 50-54. Because of unlove and weak melee skills.

[Itap]

Originally Posted by holsteinrx7 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sk is group, monk most versatile melee. Monk does have penalty. Most sks quit from 50-54. Because of unlove and weak melee skills.

Not to mention how grueling 54 is with the experience penalty

[webrunner5]

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

Not to mention how grueling 54 is with the experience penalty

Yeah , but a Iksar Monk has a Higher XP penalty than a SK other than Toll, Iksar. 44% versus 40%. But a Monk can kill a LOT faster to make it up and go ahead of a SK. And a Iksar is pretty much to me the ONLY way to go solo Monk wise.

But I do like playing my Iksar SK, just holding of untill Velious to level it up more. Just too hard now to bother now. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[DetroitVelvetSmooth]

Originally Posted by holsteinrx7 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Sk is group, monk most versatile melee. Monk does have penalty. Most sks quit from 50-54. Because of unlove and weak melee skills.

Monks have a 1.2x modifier to xp and sk have a 1.4x BEFORE racial considerations. Also remember to multiply mods, not add them. So a human sk would have a 1.4x modifier all told and a iksar monk would have 1.68x (1.2 x 1.4)

[Kutsumo]

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

a iksar monk would have 1.68x (1.2 x 1.4)

Eh?

[Danth]

Old computing saying: garbage in, garbage out.

Detroit: Your arithmetic is correct but you have the wrong value for the Iksar penalty. They have a 20% racial penalty, not 40%. As such you want 1.2 (monk class) times 1.2 (Iksar racial), or a 44% total penalty. It's still higher than a standard hybrid modifier , though only marginally so. As a side note, Iksar Necromancers also have a 32% penalty--not too much less than a hybrid--although nobody much cares since Necromancers hardly ever group anyway.

Prior to about level 22, Monks will solo more easily than Shadow Knights, even with bad gear. Shadow Knights can't fear until 15, and because the level 15 snare is so poor fear-kiting doesn't become practical until level 22. From 22 through the 30's I feel Shadow Knights have a somewhat easier time solo thanks to fear kiting with a lot of zones to pick from. At 40+ the places for good fear kiting become a lot more limited, and at 50+ there are only a couple places to do so effectively. Damage output is low enough that experience rates are charitably described as slow. Monk damage output scales a lot better past level 50 so they end up pulling ahead again, especially in conjunction with better equipment. That being said, neither class solo's terribly well at 50+ compared to any of the typical solo classes.

Long-term, it's worth remembering that the Kunark-Velious era was the heyday for the Monk class. Hybrids, including the Shadow Knight, also see improvements with Velious-era class changes, but the Monk remains the more powerful class overall. Folks who stick with hybrids tend to be the folks who want to play one in the first place and who are okay with giving up some raw power. Most players who have no preference between the Monk and the Shadow Knight will enjoy the Monk more overall.

Danth

[Grobb 1999]

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

Prior to about level 22, Monks will solo more easily than Shadow Knights, even with bad gear. Shadow Knights can't fear until 15, and because the level 15 snare is so poor fear-kiting doesn't become practical until level 22. From 22 through the 30's I feel Shadow Knights have a somewhat easier time solo thanks to fear kiting with a lot of zones to pick from. At 40+ the places for good fear kiting become a lot more limited, and at 50+ there are only a couple places to do so effectively. Damage output is low enough that experience rates are charitably described as slow. Monk damage output scales a lot better past level 50 so they end up pulling ahead again, especially in conjunction with better equipment. That being said, neither class solo's terribly well at 50+ compared to any of the typical solo classes.

You get -no debuff- or decent snare till 40s? And unless it's really different here compared to the live velious I remember fear kiting just reminds you how little DPS you really have and wasn't what I would call dependable xp

[Swish]

Do have a chuckle though if there's an iksar monk in the group protesting about hybrid xp... a lot of them don't realize they've got more than a racial penalty.