Druid, Enchanter or Monk?

[Trevock]

I haven't played since the old days and I thought I'd try the game again and found out about this P99 server.

I had played a Rogue and Cleric in the past (years ago) and wanted to try something different. I know that one of the things that always bugged me was never having any money in the game.

I have heard that Druids do pretty well in the money department. I assume from porting people around, but do I really want to make a class and level it up to 40 or so just as my "money maker" to fund my MAIN class?

That really is the question. I want to either make a monk or an enchanter as my main raiding class that I'll take to 60 and go into Velious with when it releases. I know once Druids to get the 40's they start to fall off and groups take Clerics for the healing at that point. Also, Druids are kinda bad for raid groups aren't they?

Would you make a Druid first just as a money-making character to fund the equipment for a main class? Or would you not worry about that and just make your main now?

Looking for opinions here. Also, what are your opinions of the Monk and Enchanter classes?

[Korain]

Make an enchanter. You can both solo to make money, and play it as your main.

[Sorn]

I actually really enjoy playing a druid. He's not really a money-maker right now but he's better at it than my cleric, and he's very self-sufficient besides. I admit I initially started a druid thinking it might make more money to fund my cleric, but the class is fun to play in its own right if that's what your playing style matches. I like being able to do more than root and nuke, traveling is easier, I have 24/7 access to SoW, I can snare, I can root, I can turn into a wolf, I can turn into a tree, I can hide, I can forage, I can bind myself, etc. The big variety matches my personality (I too am a jack-of-all-trades IRL) so I'm having a lot of fun. I'm considering RPing and yelling at everyone I see killing bears in Qeynos Hills.

Enchanter is fun but I haven't gotten very far on mine yet. Charm kiting spices up your life from what I've seen of higher level chanters. Monk bored me a little when I tried it out. I think for raiding, if you want to see more of the places you're in, you should go monk and learn to pull really well so you can go running all over creation. Casters tend to park themselves in one spot and not see much of anything besides what gets dragged into camp.

[RaptorDisaster]

I started with a melee class on p99 and it was super painful with no gear. I made an enchanter to fund my melee class, but now I love the enchanter and it's my main. I just recently twinked out a monk and it's the best of both worlds.

If you decide on the monk, 2x Wu's sticks will only cost you about 200pp. You could easily farm high quality bear skins for a little bit while leveling and make that much. Then save up another 150pp or sell the Wu's sticks and get a Wu's quivering staff at level 20 and you would be set for a while.

[Clark]

I've you like having a precise way to play your character, and are very focused Enchanter would probably be the best. Druid is good for a relaxed playstyle. Monk if you love pulling, and doing melee dps.

Enchanter and Monk take a lot more focus. All three are capable of farming, but neither make much until 40+. Monk won't make much until 50+ when you can manage soloing some Lguk named ect.

[jolanar]

Playing an untwinked monk isn't bad at all. People exaggerate the challenge, or leveled up back when really nice gear wasn't available practically for free.

Any class can make solid money starting around level 12 or 13 by killing wisps in North Karana and turning the greater lighstones for 10p each. Melee can also bind right there. That should net you a *at least* a thousand plat before level 20 to get the gear basics. You can transition to South Karana until 30 which also can be very profitable, at least another 1k probably more. As a monk you can then start doing HHK guards which is very profitable at 6 plat or more per kill.

As for the monk vs enchanter question. That is just a matter of preference of melee vs casters. Monks can be very active when pulling, but when dpsing it's pretty much just auto attack and kick even when soloing. Enchanters are probably one of, if not the most active class regardless of their role. Pulling, crowd control, charming all require paying close attention to your surrounding, being able to quickly cast spells on a moments notice and just generally being an "always on" type of gameplay.

[nyclin]

Druid is probably the best first character. Kinda wish I had gone that route. Make your Druid account separate from your other accounts and you can give the info to trusted friends to PL/port you with. Once you get it to 50+ you can basically stop levelling it and just use it to farm/PL/port.

Enchanter is also a solid first character. Fairly low gear requirements, good farming potential, almost always desired for groups esp. if you can hold down a charmed pet. If you go this route, don't be one of those lame ENCs that doesn't hold a pet. You can outdps pretty much any other class with a charmed pet.

As others have said, untwinked Monks aren't bad but it's a rough choice for a first character. Until you get 100% WR bags, you won't want to loot any FS/steel weapons that drop. You'll also be destroying your copper/silver fairly regularly to keep your weight down. You can't really farm that well until 50+ and even then, it's going to be frustrating without a Fungi and solid weapons.

[jolanar]

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

you won't want to loot any FS/steel weapons that drop. You'll also be destroying your copper/silver fairly regularly to keep your weight down.

Bad advice. Hunt near vendors and loot/sell everything. Use buy and resell tactic to convert gold/silver/copper to plat. Plat doesn't weigh much at all and if you are near a vendor that sells gems (like KFC or Rathe Mtns etc) then you won't even need to carry plat.

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.

[nyclin]

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

Bad advice. Hunt near vendors and loot/sell everything. Use buy and resell tactic to convert gold/silver/copper to plat. Plat doesn't weigh much at all and if you are near a vendor that sells gems (like KFC or Rathe Mtns etc) then you won't even need to carry plat.

Sure if you are in a group deep in a dungeon you can't always go sell, but neither can anyways else at that point so it's moot.

Still a giant pain in the ass compared to pretty much any other class that you could roll as a first character.

[Pipip]

I've been playing all three, and I like them all. I will say that the enchanter feels really weak until level 12, and then starts to get better. The other two were pretty good even from level 1.

If it means anything, all three are really prevalent on both servers. My Druid is on red, and it seems easier to get a group for a Druid there than on blue.

Speaking of money, you'll be broke for a while on the casters. Spells are expensive for a first character. Read up on some of the money guides to get through the first 25 or so levels. Monk can play naked and not completely suck unless you're soloing