Playing the Shaman in group

[pickled_heretic]

tanks are kind of in short supply so if you act fast you'll be fine no matter what tank you pick but it's only a matter of time before that void is filled..

[Branaddar]

Monks can be very frustrating and/or rewarding, depending on what you plan to get out of your play time.

Epic quest? Royal pain in the ass if you're unlucky on the drops. I did it three times, and each time I spent at least 30 hours camping the Raster in LGuk.

Pulling? Fun, if you're okay with dieing. Often. And you need to really understand things like how to avoid being cast on while feigning (break line of sight at the right time) and how to split mobs. EQLive monks are spoiled with their infinite throwies and unresistable pacify abilities and "feign through spells" AAs. There's none of that here, and believe me, it can be frustrating. You have to be willing to die for your group/raid rather than try to save your skin and overwhelm them with adds.

Tanking? Depends on how this server treats our mitigation, honestly. We used to be pretty good tanks if we could hold the hate. But Sony nerfed the crap out of that when the warriors got pissed off about it. Unfortunately, Sony took the nerf way too far and we tanked as well as a wizard after that.

DPS? I can't remember how we stacked up against other classes at the time, to be honest. Definitely below rogues and wizards and such. Our itemization wasn't built towards high DPS until Luclin+ as far as I recall. So you'll be good DPS, but you won't be invited to a group for that role.

All that being said, I f-ing loved playing my monk. If you work hard at it, learn your shtuff and practice hard at it, you will be known as a good monk. And those are a hard thing to find. Guilds drool at the thought of having a good monk to pull for them, and it brings a whole new game to raiding.

Some of my best times in EQ were as a raid pulling monk. Pulling off wicked splits with my fellow pullers, etc.

Oh, that reminds me...

If you do raid as a monk... work as a team, don't be a lone cowboy douchebag. Sure, it's possible to split a lot of the content solo, but that doesn't mean it's the best way. It's often faster, more efficient and safer to have at least two pullers working as a team.

[guineapig]

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

DPS? I can't remember how we stacked up against other classes at the time, to be honest. Definitely below rogues and wizards and such. Our itemization wasn't built towards high DPS until Luclin+ as far as I recall. So you'll be good DPS, but you won't be invited to a group for that role.

Currently on this server, monks seem to be right behind rogues in DPS, in most situations out DPS-ing wizards, necros and mages. On raids, the group containing a rogue and a monk are usually the KS exp group.

[Branaddar]

Interesting. Good to know. I'm sure some tweaking will be done to bring them back down a smidge. I guess it depends on how the dual wield / double attacks end up firing. With them as they are now (from reading other posts) I can see how monks would have a leg up in DPS.

I'm still contemplating if I want to wait until Kunark to start my monk or not. My first was an iksar, it feels almost anathema to make a Human monk :P

Edit: Out of curiosity, what's the shaman vs monk situation for the mid- and high-end? Too many/not enough of which? I'm tossed between which of the two I want to play as a main. I'm leaning towards shaman because they're less of an "active" role in raids than monk. But I don't want to hit 50 and find all the guilds are chock full of shaman and lacking monks.