New Paladin, new player, zero cash. Advice?

[xcyberpeenixx]

Hello there! I just started the p99 server and am playing with some friends. I have a level 4 Paladin and am looking for some advice.

I have a couple questions maybe you guys could help me out with :)

1) Soloing, I read that Pally's suck at it because of poor DPS ect ect. But I am not a min/maxer and I was wondering if they can at least get by and take on some decent stuff if you are smart right? They cant just fail all over the world at soloing ya?

2) Gear and when to get it. I have zero gear and was wondering what sets are attainable for a newb, im ok to farm camps and such. Things like from level 10-20 use gear "A" from 20-30 try to farm gear "B". Maybe stuff like that?

3) Tradeskill. Should I be a blacksmith, will this help me make some cash or money? Will I be able to make my gear which will help me because I cant attain it as easily due to poor solo abilities?

4) Good places to level. I am a human and was wondering where are some good nearby zones to camp/ farm some xp and maybe some loot to sell for some cash?

5) Any other general advice that can help a Paladin level up and be awesome?


I know we aren't considered an elite class, but I have a love for Paladin's and what they represent and just want to kick some ass with my friends. Any advice is greatly appreciated. Thank you!

[Num1RecommendedByDentists]

reroll dwarf

[falkun]

1) Paladins can solo decently in the 20-30s, and the range can be extended via twinking. Before that their heals are very inefficient and after that mob HP+DPS spikes upwards.
2) A full set of banded will run you ~80-100pp. Pick up 2 5AC/55HP rings for 200/250p per ring. Then get a decent weapon (baton of faith should be <250pp). Supplement with farmed bronze and then buy cheap DW. Good Ro pieces to get are boots, legs, BP.
3) Don't tradeskill until you've leveled up. Tradeskilling takes a lot of PP you could put towards gear and sinks it into a skill you won't see returns on for a long time.
4) Bone chips for some initial PP. Then farm HQ pelts. If you're in Qeynos do the gnoll fangs quest, if in FP just farm pelts. Unrest is good in the teens and 20s, or uguk if you want to go that far south.

[xcyberpeenixx]

1) Paladins can solo decently in the 20-30s, and the range can be extended via twinking. Before that their heals are very inefficient and after that mob HP+DPS spikes upwards.
2) A full set of banded will run you ~80-100pp. Pick up 2 5AC/55HP rings for 200/250p per ring. Then get a decent weapon (baton of faith should be <250pp). Supplement with farmed bronze and then buy cheap DW. Good Ro pieces to get are boots, legs, BP.


Thanks for the help! So when you say solo decently but later on becomes inefficient, do you just mean soloing becomes a lot slower or its simply not even realistic or possible to solo even conned mobs.

How long will a full set of banded last?

[lecompte]

First off, welcome to the server :).

When I was new to the server I made a point of killing things that dropped Fine Steel Weapons with a merchant who would trade with me near by. Entirely possible to make an average of 700pp per level between 16-26. I say per hour because you make less money at lower levels because it takes fewer kills to level and more at higher levels.

For armor, pick up some banded or just /ooc and ask if anyone has any bronze. If you sit in Highhold Keep at the Goblins, most folks there will probably give you any bronze gear that drops (I usually just give it to Osargen for style points).

[diplo]

sit in EC tunnel and beg..throw away your pride, get on your knees and beg and some kind soul will give you somethin.

[xcyberpeenixx]

I dont really want free gear. Me and my friends are playing legit and earning everything. Ill sell what I find from mobs and buy stuff from the tunnels but I dont really want to just be given everything. It takes away the true purpose of going to those crazy areas and camping stuff.

Its awesome that people will give some stuff for free, but id prefer to continue legit with dropped gear

[Buellen]

1. cloth armor dropped by decaying skeletons in your newby area full suit will reduce damage you are taking upto like level 10.

2. get a buckler for a few gold

3. a tarnished broadsword or scimitar will suffice till like level 10. sharpening stone plus rusty weapon very little skill required under 20 blacksmith.

4. if you started in qeynos <smart> kill gnoll outside of blackburrow entrance to use gnoll fang quest to help you level you can start them at level 5.

5. again if you started In qeynos you can do that shining star of light quest with a few plat . you can aslo do the bonethunder staff quest.


6. by level 10 or so you can usualy get to 100 pp to get yourself a sword of skyfire or similar priced sword which will help you dps. one npc in qeynos area brother trintle roughly level 9 drops a ring that can sell from 50p to 200pp depending on raiders resist needs.


7. level 15 to 20 you will become sick bandits through out karana but they are a great source of plat as they can drop bronze and sashes which you sell and turn in for more bronze weapons for more plat.


hope this helps

[falkun]

Thanks for the help! So when you say solo decently but later on becomes inefficient, do you just mean soloing becomes a lot slower or its simply not even realistic or possible to solo even conned mobs.

How long will a full set of banded last?

You won't be killing even-con mobs passed L5-6. This is classic EQ, you level on blues solo, blues in most groups, and occasionally leveling groups will tackle whites/yellows (and sometimes reds at low levels).

My paladin is twinked with a Fungi, Sash of the Dragonborn, and Baton of Faith, and he still hunts barely-dark-blue con mobs in the 30s because that's where the efficient solo killing speed was.

[Malone88]

Agree with Falkun. Banded + 55 hp rings + Sword of Skyfire will get you pretty far.

Levels 10-16 can be done at Steamfont Mino Camp (near LFay zone) and then
move to Sisters camp in LFay. Make a good chunk of cash off the sisters to
buy those 55 hp rings ;)

Head to Unrest around level 16 or so and start killing undead. I believe lots of
Bronze drops there. You can stay at Unrest for quite awhile and solo. Ghoulbane
is fun to use vs undead mobs once you reach level 20...

[xcyberpeenixx]

Sounds good. Thank you guys for the advice and help, where there any shields in particular I should look out for? i have a good idea on what weapons to hold out for, but what about shields?

[Funkutron5000]

Crested Mistmoore Shield or Cracked Darkwood. For lower levels the Darkwood is probably better as it offers you some STR and not just resists.

[falkun]

Head to Unrest around level 16 or so and start killing undead. I believe lots of
Bronze drops there. You can stay at Unrest for quite awhile and solo. Ghoulbane
is fun to use vs undead mobs once you reach level 20...

The only issue with Unrest bronze is that it comes in the small variety only. So only HIE and DWF get to benefit from that. HUM, ERU, and HEF races that require medium bronze are out of luck in Unrest.

[Funkutron5000]

He should be playing a high elf (or Tunare worshipping half elf) anyway so he can get the coolest looking weapon in the game come Velious. I'm in no way biased on that opinion. Nope.

[xcyberpeenixx]

Well I managed to earn a skyfire sword, a shiny brass shield and some banded armor. Only level 5, so for selling bone chips and repaying my debts, its been pretty damn good. It looks like Befallen will be the best nearby dungeon to grind in a few levels?

Anyone recommend Befallen, or are ares like steamfont preferred?


Also, my friend is an iksar, so go figure he is across the entire planet. I know porting via wizard is an option but if i wanted to walk. Does anyone mind posting the paths that would have to be taken/ boats that must be ridden.

Thank you and for all of your advice. I am saving up some for some +55 rings now.

[RevengeofGio]

He should be playing a high elf (or Tunare worshipping half elf) anyway so he can get the coolest looking weapon in the game come Velious. I'm in no way biased on that opinion. Nope.

Agreed (wish they had more things like this in Velious)

[xcyberpeenixx]

Hey everyone, jumping back in on this thread as I progressed a bit since my last post. I am level 16 and have been working the EC tunnels for a while now learning the market and messing about.

I have been selling banded armor sets amd selling gear on behalf of my Necro brother and getting 50% of the prophet, which is a great damn deal ;). But some people just hate sitting and trading!

Either way. I have purchased a ghoulbane, am using Deepwater Helm/Bracers/Boots/Arms/Greaves of Ro/Plat fire wedding ringx1/Shiny brass shield/ and the rest is just banded with some +3STR earrings.

Using sword of skyfire till 20, then I can bust out ghoulbane. So I feel im pretty well off but I hunger for more. I was looking at the next upgrades to save up for.

It seems as if the next shield is the clay guardian shield? Seems like the next step ups, sarnak shield ect ect is 10X the price which isn't going to fly atm. So my list is:

- Clay Guardian shield
- Plat fire wedding ring x1

- Can anyone recommend a good chestpiece/back/neck ect ect?
- Seems like the RO gear is the only thing realistically priced, and deepwater chest/greaves is inhumanly expensive
- Anyone have recommendations ? I can save up PP but there are some items that are just great for the PP, like the deepwater gear, ghoulbane ect ect. Any advice helps!

[falkun]

You are already way more twinked for your level than what's classic. Go out and level some. Pick up the 2nd 5/55 ring. Maybe try hanging around TT for someone doing the Hunter/Forager cycle and try to snag a free Hangman's noose. Hooded Black Cloak is (was) ~3k.

[xcyberpeenixx]

I know that much for sure. I guess I just got tired of dying in befallen due to DDOS ;P. I only really get to play during primetime so its kinda lame when you just die when trying to level up. Any I already get -40% xp for being a pally so its hard enough to level as is!

[falkun]

You picked a tough road, not denying that. But unless you want to invest ~100k into your paladin (Fungi + FBSS), you aren't going to see any more massive increases in power, gear improvements will only be incremental. Ceremonial Iksar Breastplate has some regen and is much cheaper than Fungi.

[xcyberpeenixx]

Sounds good to me! Honestly I just wanted a strong foundation. From there I just want to adventure out and explore the place. But I tried to make up for some of the "paladin weakness" by beefing him up a bit by trading and earning some cash.

[Kender]

at 30+ you're better off with arbitors combine greatsword than a 1h and shield when solo. mobs start hitting harder and the ac benefit from shield starts to gets less effective than the extra damage you do 2h

if you are grouping then 1h+shield is still a good option as you are not reliant on doing damage yourself

[CrazyHorse]

If you sell the Mesh drops from Upperguk I found a certain NPC in Freeport that'll pay 1-3pp per piece....

[xcyberpeenixx]

I just scored a Clay Guardian Shield. So are you saying at 30 an arbitor's greatsword is still more damage than a Ghoulbane when fighting undead? This new shield rocks 25AC and 50HP.

Your thoughts? I could simply bring my ghoulbane and shield + the greatsword when not fighting undead.

[falkun]

Once the damage caps come off, BoF (arby is a bit worse than BoF ratio-wise) will out-DPS ghoulbane. The proc on ghoulbane is fantastic against undead, but its too sporadic to count on over the sustained DPS of a better ratio weapon.

[kaev]

Once the damage caps come off, BoF (arby is a bit worse than BoF ratio-wise) will out-DPS ghoulbane. The proc on ghoulbane is fantastic against undead, but its too sporadic to count on over the sustained DPS of a better ratio weapon.

Tru dat. Also while the diff of 43 vs. 40 delay may not seem all that big that's a 7.5% boost to damage over time for the BoF vs. the Arbitor's, which matters quite a bit solo. Keep Ghoulbane, use that plus shield to tank until you score a Sword of the Morning. This server is soooooo terribly mudflated :( and paladin is unpopular class, so should be able to buy SotM for 1kpp or so. Bank Ghoulbane once replaced, you'll need it for epic quest.

Make friends to get groups, get groups to make friends. You're a strong group tank, and a pretty crappy solo class. As a paladin, e-friends to group with are where the fun is at.

[xcyberpeenixx]

So Sword of the morning isn't that hard to get, 1k plat isn't that big of a deal. I can simply save up for it and replace ghoulbane with it once the time comes and or im not fighting undead. Would that be better than going for a 2hander?

I really like bash and do plan on grouping a lot. Would a ghoulbane/sword of morning + shield be better than Ghoulbane/ Bof-Arbitor's ? Or is the 2h damage still going to be that much better an also ignoring the shield ac + life.

Sword of morning doesn't proc for a long while but its dps is fairly good if I remember correctly

[Shift]

So Sword of the morning isn't that hard to get, 1k plat isn't that big of a deal. I can simply save up for it and replace ghoulbane with it once the time comes and or im not fighting undead. Would that be better than going for a 2hander?

I really like bash and do plan on grouping a lot. Would a ghoulbane/sword of morning + shield be better than Ghoulbane/ Bof-Arbitor's ? Or is the 2h damage still going to be that much better an also ignoring the shield ac + life.

Sword of morning doesn't proc for a long while but its dps is fairly good if I remember correctly

Sword of the morning does not proc/effect ontil Level 50th
Sword and Board is the best type of tank even for soloing with a paladin imo
I have played Paladins way back in the day. and rerolled him on P99
you made a wise choice even though our gear is such a pain up-tain

A good 2hs is called Axe of Iron Back decent damage.

[Lorraine]

The faster you get a haste item like Swirlspine Belt or FBSS, the easier your life will be -- I'd probably rank that higher in your priority list atm than the shield upgrade you did or the weapon upgrades you're thinking off (Ghoulbane and Baton of Faith can last you till 50+ and SoTM procs and by that time you'll start thinking about Fiery Avenger depending on what kind of backup you have friend-wise or guild-wise).

[xcyberpeenixx]

The faster you get a haste item like Swirlspine Belt or FBSS, the easier your life will be -- I'd probably rank that higher in your priority list atm than the shield upgrade you did or the weapon upgrades you're thinking off (Ghoulbane and Baton of Faith can last you till 50+ and SoTM procs and by that time you'll start thinking about Fiery Avenger depending on what kind of backup you have friend-wise or guild-wise).

Those items are good but also cost 10K+ (FBSS). Swirlspine is cheaper but ive never seen it for sale. I will definitely be trying to get them but thats a lot of cash for me atm, I need to simply get some levels and get some gear to sell before I can come close to considering a FBSS.

[Kender]

ghoulbane is certainly fun to use for 20-30 though and i used it on undead over sword of the morning for the fun proc's even though over time it was probably a little worse dps wise

used the SotM on live targets though