New to P1999; Class Help

[Wrathis]

Hello All,

I just started playing yesterday and I've managed to talk my cousins into coming along for the ride. I personally started playing on the Live servers mid Luclin so anything before that is all new for me. I believe my partners will be rolling shaman/necro. So...

On live I was a SK and I loved it for the most part. I want to be an Iksar if I go this route but they are stuck in chain I believe and since we have no idea when Velious is coming I think i'll be gimped, + the slower xp gain is a bummer too.

I am considering a monk but I've never played one myself. So I'm trying to decide how exactly the class plays, if they are dime a dozen, and are they viable later on other than just being FD pullers.

My goal is to build some trio synergy but to also be able to do some things on my own or with a random group if there is a time it's just me online.

Thanks!

[Glasken]

Three classes that work well alone or in a group:
Shaman, Monk, Enchanter

If you want a trio that will wreck anything in your range:
Mage, Necro, Enchanter

Or

Enchanter, Enchanter, Cleric


On the SK vs Monk argument:

DPS Stacks, Tanks do not.

[Estu]

Monk's a solid choice, a lot of people play them but that's because they're very powerful. They're useful in groups, raids, and are OK solo. SK is good too - they are tankier but much worse at DPS, and less useful in raids. I wouldn't freak out about the EXP penalty, just enjoy the game.

[Kergan]

It depends how intent you are on min/maxing. Necro/Shaman will pair with anything really as you have many strategies open with those 2 in your group. As a war/sk/monk/pal you could tank with shaman slow and let the necro DPS and shaman heal/dps. As an ench you have both tash and malo to keep a charm pet up easily, plus all 3 classes have mana regen abilities for efficiency. Crown control will help you take harder camps as all three classes can root and ench/necro can both mez in some form.

A mage would add a 3rd pet into the mix and in a group you wont lose exp to a pet. A wizard gives you ports (which is a huge quality of life thing pre Luclin) and lends itself to a root/dot/nuke style of play in that group. A cleric would let you necro/shaman pet tank mobs with slow and let the shaman focus on dps/backup heals. A druid would be secondary heals, ports and could either nuke or root/dot. Snare is helpful too with that style.

About the only classes I don't see really lining up with those are rangers and bards, but you can always stick to outdoor zones and fear kite as both ranger and bards can snare.

I guess my point is if they are set on those two classes you can literally pick anything you want. You have every play style available with those two base classes - tank and spank, root/dot, fear kite, etc. One of those styles will fit in with every other class.

Personally I'd go monk, druid or enchanter, if the shaman has to focus on healing the group will lack DPS unless you're playing a class that can DPS well. The monk will do excellent dps and isn't super gear dependent like a sk or warrior would be. Enchanter should really cut down on any healing at all.

If you go monk, suck up the exp penalty and roll iksar...

[Lisset]

As an ench you have both tash and malo to keep a charm pet up easily, plus all 3 classes have mana regen abilities for efficiency.


I played an enchanter to 65 on live. WTF is malo? Do you mean slow? Those are the Deeds line but we don't have anything called malo.

And not every chanter likes charm pets because it can get pretty dicey at times. Personally, I never found the risk to be worth the reward because we can get better composed groups easily anyway.

[justin2090]

I wouldn't start a melee for the first character. They're pretty gear dependent and a monk gets the AC minus when carrying to much weight. No weight = no loot pp or items that sell for pp. Spellcaster would be better for a first character imo.

[Champion_Standing]

I played an enchanter to 65 on live. WTF is malo? Do you mean slow? Those are the Deeds line but we don't have anything called malo.

And not every chanter likes charm pets because it can get pretty dicey at times. Personally, I never found the risk to be worth the reward because we can get better composed groups easily anyway.

I think he is talking about having a shaman with the chanter, malo is shammy resist debuff.

And charmed pets kick ass, and with 200+ cha can hold pretty damn well. Rune + stun should stop you from taking any damage from pet breaks, after all if you can't manage 1 angry mob you probably shouldn't be playing a CC class.

[Kergan]

I think he is talking about having a shaman with the chanter, malo is shammy resist debuff.

And charmed pets kick ass, and with 200+ cha can hold pretty damn well. Rune + stun should stop you from taking any damage from pet breaks, after all if you can't manage 1 angry mob you probably shouldn't be playing a CC class.

Yep, exactly. Since shaman/necro was predetermined adding an ench would get double magic debuffs (malo line and tash line).

As an ench if you aren't using charm you're doing it wrong.

[Wrathis]

Thanks for all the advice guys. I started an Iksar SK its going pretty slow right now which I expected going solo. How well will a shaman/sk or shaman/sk/necro be able to combat groups or named mobs?

I guess the same can be asked for a monk as well since im only level 3 I can easy switch. Is monk play style similar to warrior in that you just taunt and bash a lot but with kicks and the other monk abilities?

Like mentioned above i'm concerned with being able to loot with my monk and being able to gear him out. Also, if I went that route do monks just got H2H now a days or is there some lower level items worth scouting for?

Sorry for all the questions, going back in time is taking some effort to adjust!

[Aerar]

the single greatest thing about EQ was this discussion. The reason this discussion exists IS BECAUSE ALL THE CLASSES ARE GREAT.

What makes a class work for you is the time you put into it to learn it and gear it.

Pick what feels right, dont worry about anything else, by level 24 or in some cases 34 you will be loving whatever choice you made.

Just gut out the tough lvls

[dokfeelg00d]

I played monk for years, there is a lot of satisfaction of being a great utility class. Back in the day we had to pull corpses all over the place, main pull, and be DPS. Awesome times!

Chanter is a lotta fun too.

[Estu]

If you wanna play a monk, there are some amazing weapons you can find for very cheap in EC - look up wu's quivering staff and master wu's trance sticks on the p99 wiki. Regardless of which class you play, 5/55 rings (platinum fire wedding ring) are also a great investment. You'll need to save up a couple hundred plat to afford these items, which you can do using, for example, the methods detailed here: http://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Newbie#Platinum

[Wrathis]

I made a monk too just to test it out, I haven't had a chance to really dive into combat or anything yet but hes there just in case.

Is the weight issue that big of a problem?
And how can you stand out as a monk since there seems to be so many twinked monks on this server?

[Kergan]

Iksar SK has the highest exp. penalty in the game. The way EQ exp works that joy is spread to your group, so expect everyone to level a little slower. Once Velious is out the class penalty will be removed at least.

SK is a very good low level (and high level) tank, as you generate high amounts of agro with low mana/low level spells and can offset some damage with lifetaps.

SK/shm/necro will be able to handle things pretty well, although you will be pretty light on DPS. You should probably focus on fear kiting outdoors in the 20+ levels to allow the shaman to dps more or its going to be a pretty slow grind.

You'll be able to take some solid named camps for gear with that group, especially when you can FD pull on the SK.

[Wrathis]

Well screw it, I decided to go monk for the time being. When Velious comes around and my trio needs a dedicated tank I may bring back the SK since the penalties will be gone and the Iksar can wear plate at that point.

I guess now I just have to try and not be a crappy monk and stand out from the crowd. Oh and some how many money lol

[Danth]

The main advantage of a Shadow Knight over a Monk as a tank is in its immediate aggro-on-demand, not in durability. A Monk probably has equal or marginally better overall damage reduction than a Shadow Knight. The Knight will have higher hit point pools for greater Complete Heal efficiency, but that's a moot point if you don't have a Cleric as healer. The Shadow Knight's other advantages will likely be rendered largely superflous by the third member of your team.

In so many words, your monk will add a slight nuisance factor (shaky initial aggro) for a large gain in damage output. I'd say that's a good trade for your specific needs.

Danth

[Kergan]

The main advantage of a Shadow Knight over a Monk as a tank is in its immediate aggro-on-demand, not in durability. A Monk probably has equal or marginally better overall damage reduction than a Shadow Knight. The Knight will have higher hit point pools for greater Complete Heal efficiency, but that's a moot point if you don't have a Cleric as healer. The Shadow Knight's other advantages will likely be rendered largely superflous by the third member of your team.

In so many words, your monk will add a slight nuisance factor (shaky initial aggro) for a large gain in damage output. I'd say that's a good trade for your specific needs.

Danth

Yep, I agree. Your entire group will level marginally faster as well since you wont have to absorb the extra experience penalty.

Agro is a bit overrated for small groups, especially with that combo. Once the shaman gets root just make sure to keep stuff rooted and you wont have to worry about it. Your DPS on both casting classes is very DoT heavy which plays nice with root as well.

[DrKvothe]

Monk - tanky dps
Enchanter - cc, huge dps from charm, long duration haste, clarity
Shaman - tank buffs including regen, heals, root, sow

You can 3 man most content with this. Make sure the monk is the most active player, you'll probably wanna stick to content that's yellow con or lower to him.

Have the shaman master loot everything then split it at the end so your monk can stay under 14 stones.

[Kergan]

Monk - tanky dps
Enchanter - cc, huge dps from charm, long duration haste, clarity
Shaman - tank buffs including regen, heals, root, sow

You can 3 man most content with this. Make sure the monk is the most active player, you'll probably wanna stick to content that's yellow con or lower to him.

Have the shaman master loot everything then split it at the end so your monk can stay under 14 stones.

Yep, good tip. Make sure to turn off autosplit on the nec/shm so you don't weigh the poor monk down.

[Splorf22]

I don't really notice the difference in tankability between Paladins, Shadowknights, Warriors, and Monks, but maybe a cleric would. The real differences are that Paladins and SKs have superior aggro with their spells, and Warriors have disciplines.

Shaman+Necro+any melee works quite well. Between shaman slows and necro heals you won't need a cleric. Monk is probably the best, because with block they take less damage per swing, and without complete heal you don't care about the larger HP pool of a warrior or a SK.

[DrKvothe]

I suppose necro, shm, monk works because you can all be iksar and start together. Although honestly I think your cousin might prefer ench more, and ench would probably do more for your group. Also, troll or ogre are probably better choices for shm. A friendly wizard or druid should be willing to help a group of new travelers properly unite their characters, especially if you ask on this thread =D

[webrunner5]

Well screw it, I decided to go monk for the time being. When Velious comes around and my trio needs a dedicated tank I may bring back the SK since the penalties will be gone and the Iksar can wear plate at that point.

I guess now I just have to try and not be a crappy monk and stand out from the crowd. Oh and some how many money lol

If you started a Iksar Monk I got bad news for you. They have a 44% XP penalty. Human Monk has 20%. No free rides as a Iksar.

[Kergan]

If you started a Iksar Monk I got bad news for you. They have a 44% XP penalty. Human Monk has 20%. No free rides as a Iksar.

Still less than the 68% an Oskar SK would get.

[kaev]

Oskar? new race? not classic!

[Kergan]

Oskar? new race? not classic!

Spawn of an iksar and ogre! New uber race.

Sorry, was typing on my iPad :P

[Wrathis]

We had a change of plans and I am now a druid. They are going to be playing in Qeynos so I was wondering if someone could possibly pick me up in Gfay and port me to one of the Karanas, I'd really appreciate it.

[Laledorie]

We had a change of plans and I am now a druid. They are going to be playing in Qeynos so I was wondering if someone could possibly pick me up in Gfay and port me to one of the Karanas, I'd really appreciate it.

Did you get a port? I can pick you up! Character name is Laledorie =)

[Wrathis]

Thanks for the help, tell was sent!

[Wrathis]

Since I'm in Qeynos now and can't really farm bone chips like I could in Field of Bone, whats a quick way to make money for spells? Is gnoll fur worth anything like animal fur is?

[DrKvothe]

Low and medium quality wolf/bear skins sell for 1-2pp each, HQ bear skins are 25-30pp each in EC. Kill anything around that'll give you exp, and check drops against http://ahungry.com/eqauctions to see if they're valuable. Keep bags in the bank so you can stash away skins until you get a chance to head to EC.

Greater lightstones drop from willowisps and can be turned in for a quest reward that sells to the questgiver for >9pp each. You and your friends can head to Erud's Crossing near Qeynos around lvl 10-12 and stay for several levels. Regular lightstones vendor for a little over 1pp each, iirc, and the greater ones are obviously great moneymakers.

[Wrathis]

Thanks for the help and advice so far everyone! If there are any guilds that want to snatch me up my in game name is Vexarsis, Wood Elf Druid and im only level 5 or so as of this post.