Shm vs Nec

[Enercell]

Hey all,

I recently returned and have been playing a shaman, and loving it. I hope to solo and farm on the character quite a bit.

With blue being down I have been reading a lot of posts and it sparked an interest in playing a necro. They seem to be excellent farmers once I master the class (same with shaman though) and from what it seems the necro will be a better "grinder" than big name mobs.

I then saw many people saying come velious the necro will drop in farming abilities.

Should I stick with the shaman or move to a necro? I enjoy both classes, but I really don't want to make both.

Thanks

[Uteunayr]

As someone with a 60 in both, it really is up to you. The shaman is going to be stronger for soloing and killing stuff, with the combination of things like JBB, Torpor, and the epic, you can do a lot of damage. The negative side is the price tag involved in getting to that point.

A necromancer will be a far more effective soloer much faster. Shamans take time to get into their soloing game, but once they do, they surpass the necromancer. However, the positive side of this negative is that you have more room to grow into, more things to get. The most expensive thing most necromancers end up buying as a Necromancer item is Emissary of Thule at 20k, since most gear is dirt cheap for necromancers (Hiero Cloak is another, but isn't really a "Necro item", but a generally insane item). On my shaman, I have a Fungi Tunic (70-80k), Torpor (90-100k), JBB (20-25k), Shaman Epic (40-50k), Bane (20k), Pox (20k), Malo (5k), and so on. I don't need that much stuff to be a really effective necromancer, but it is kind of key for the strength of my shaman.

So, necromancers start soloing faster, and keep doing great. Shamans start off not that great at soloing, but ramp up to insanity at higher levels.

Up to you. They both share a lot of similarities, and I love playing both my shaman and my necromancer. I ultimately prefer necromancer, having both at 60 and capped on stuff, as I believe it to be more fun (shaman cannibalizing can get a bit annoying: Canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, torpor, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, toss out a buff, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, torpor, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, canni, buff, canni, canni, canni, canni, torpor). Again, that's a measure of degree, both are fun, necromancer is just more fun for me.

[Kadron]

I always love your posts Uteunayr, and I'm going to have to agree with you on this one. I have a 60 necro that I love and a 55 shaman. I have also been playing a shaman on beta at 60 with all the goodies and he is a beast, but the amount of canni-ing I have to do is really killing the love for my shaman. I canni a lot at 55 but man it really picks up when your mana pool gets very large. The shaman should come out on top in Velious but I'll be focusing on my Necro. I also don't have bane, pox, torpor, avatar, or malo too. Ouch.

[Potus]

It depends on what kind of farming you want to do. Necros are a breeze to kill lots of mobs very quickly and can farm lots of money mobs in Kunark, while Shaman are going to be better at killing a coveted mini-boss type mob (think Lodizal) mostly due to slow and torpor.

I also must say I hate Canni dancing, it's the biggest thing I dislike about Shaman compared to my Necro. P99's ticks don't sync up with the client so it's not uncommon to do it wrong.

[Tuljin]

Well its really up to your play style.

If you want to root/JBB everything to death roll Shaman.

If you want to have a unique set of abilities and play a class that's a bit more challenging play Necro. Also, you can join the kick ass INT caster club, which is a club few are brave enough to join.

I will say by and large bluebie Shamans are generally complete whining rule-lawyering holier-than-thou assholes who roll an OP class because their egos need to be constantly stroked. That's another element to consider, seeing how if you roll with the intent of soloing tough mobs you will be running into said assholes at various camps throughout Norrath. You will bicker, you will fight over camps, you will get rule lawyered. I prefer having nothing to do with these people who are so quick to judge the red community as "toxic" when they run around rule lawyering like "nanna nanna boo boo" 12-year-olds.

This is INT caster forum, after all :-)

[Polyphemous]

...seeing how if you roll with the intent of soloing tough mobs you will be running into said assholes at various camps throughout Norrath. You will bicker, you will fight over camps, you will get rule lawyered.


Translation: "I'm a dirty camp-stealer who can't play nice with others."

[Kenzi]

It depends on what kind of farming you want to do. Necros are a breeze to kill lots of mobs very quickly and can farm lots of money mobs in Kunark, while Shaman are going to be better at killing a coveted mini-boss type mob (think Lodizal) mostly due to slow and torpor.

I also must say I hate Canni dancing, it's the biggest thing I dislike about Shaman compared to my Necro. P99's ticks don't sync up with the client so it's not uncommon to do it wrong.

You the same POTUS from Eqnecro.net?

[fishingme]

I've got a 60 of both classes, I've found that necros are nice and quick to fear kite with, but in dungeons I prefer my shaman, you don't need torpor until you want to crypt or deep hs soloing. By the time your 60 you might even have the cash to buy torpor. I wouldn't worry about getting the epic mq, from what I've seen is that guilds have been giving them away pretty much, so just find a guild. I find my shaman more fun for the strict sense of finding out how many mobs I can keep rooted and dotted at the same time. It's very entertaining breaking the entire basement of hs all at once.

[Enercell]

I decided to roll necro, I changed to the red server. I realize pvp wise they aren't the best, but I have enjoyed them so far!

[hammertime7795]

I find necro soloing more fun than shaman soloing but both are good at what they do. Shaman is infinitely easier to find a group with than necro is though. More to do during raids as well.