returning after 11 years, opinion on start class.

[milleirish]

Hello being burned out on WoW, I decided to give EQ a try again after about 11 years. Back when the game was big I played a Ranger. I work swing shift and will most likely be able to play late at night PST. I do remember that Necro's, Druids, and Shamans are good soloing classes. My question is what would be the best class to play as my main, with no pp starting out to solo but also be able to get in a group. I was also thinking of a chanter but I don't know how they solo. Thanks in advance got info.

[Champion_Standing]

Depends on what you want to do as part of a group. Want to be support go Druid, shaman or chanter. Want to DPS go necro, mage wizzy. Shouldn't have much problem soloing on any of them.

[Kope]

Play what you honestly want to play, that's the best way to have a great time.

If you have trouble deciding and want opinions on first characters

Good first character classes - Druid, Shaman, Necro, Enchanter.

They can all solo effectively and are very desired in group play.

[milleirish]

You say that now!!! Hahaha. After I set every thing up last night, jumped in real fast and thought hey shadow knight that looks fun. Pulled a moss snake and died. Got body attacked a fire beetle, died.. I was thinking man I don't remember EQ being this hard.

[Shaniril]

Play what you honestly want to play, that's the best way to have a great time.

If you have trouble deciding and want opinions on first characters

Good first character classes - Druid, Shaman, Necro, Enchanter.

They can all solo effectively and are very desired in group play.

idk about necro/druid being "very" desired in group play...

For ports and CR's maybe...

[Swish]

Shaman / Enchanter are the kings of solo at the top end particularly...and every group needs a class that can slow hard mobs.

Druids can make plat just by porting people around, although they're less desired in the 50s for groups as their heals fall behind - still undervalued though, a good druid that keeps a DS on the tank, can throw a few nukes and can patch heal when the cleric is out of mana is still something I'd want :)

Agree on the necros. I think sadly a lot of necros think sending a pet in and casting a dot on a mob that's going to die in under 30 seconds is contributing...they need to be healing, charming an undead pet where available and feeding mana to the cleric when they're low :)


Above all that though, if you're playing for other people you won't enjoy it... pick a class you do enjoy and run with it, screw all the meta stuff, the min/max people, etc :p

[Kope]

idk about necro/druid being "very" desired in group play...

For ports and CR's maybe...

Druids are quite desired in groups, and if you can play a necro well you can make a good reputation for yourself and get groups (like swish said don't just send in your pet and nuke...you have to heal, twitch, charm, cc and possibly pull).

[Brund the Decrepit]

It won't really matter what you play at first because once you start playing you will be so sucked in that you will eventually fill up all your character slots with alts. :D Jump on in head first and then figure it out as you go.

[andrew23]

Welcome aboard!! As a guy who came back after WOW also I found that duxaui definitely helped me with the switch over. Its just a more stream lined UI created for p99 server, I am sure you can find and install it in a few minutes and it will help make starting out much less painful! But if you wanna keep it classic that's cool too! Have fun!

[Kutsumo]

Play what you want for sure, but for overall effectiveness as a first character my vote goes to Necro. IMO, druids kinda lose steam in the 50+ levels and sham/enc are less forgiving as far as gear goes.

It's true that necros are often passed over for groups here, but it's mostly because of bad perception caused by lazy or poorly played ones. Well played necros are extremely versatile and have lots of tricks to round out a group's weak points (mana, healing, CC, pulling/tagging, DPS with high mana regen, you name it).

Like Kope said, you can build up a reputation as a good necro and fill your friends list and you'll get groups.

[Voland]

Two people mentioned that necromancer could be pulling. I don't see that unless this is an undead zone... Or are you suggesting Feign death pulling?

[GinnasP99]

Necros, while not very survivable, have alot of tools for pulling. Feign death, insta click circlet of shadows, IVU, rest the dead, root, charm etc

[Swish]

Two people mentioned that necromancer could be pulling. I don't see that unless this is an undead zone... Or are you suggesting Feign death pulling?

Any class can pull really...there's lazy monks/bards/rangers out there that WILL sit on their ass and alt-tab if you let them. Personally if I'm leading a group and the puller isn't pulling his weight (frequent afks etc) I say something.

Necros can do it sure... but really most groups will have a monk (plenty of them around), bard or ranger to pull - or the tank/rogue, failing that. Everyone else needs to med ideally.

[milleirish]

So I was thinking about trying a bard, but the song and instrument thing is really confusing. Can someone give me some pointers on being a noob bard?

[Swish]

Instruments only enhance what you were already singing. If you're fighting crocs in Oasis in a group, keep your weapons on and be hitting things, just twist songs without the instruments.

Fight is over, people took a few hits... if you put your lute/mandolin (string instrument) on you'll notice people's health restores a bit faster.

Same applies to your movement speed song (Selo's), you'll start seeing yourself move faster and faster as you level with the drum in your hands.

Good bards twist 3 songs.

Bad bards afk a lot with healing song on thinking that's cool/helpful. Don't be a bad bard :p

[webrunner5]

Good bards twist 3 songs.

Bad bards afk a lot with healing song on thinking that's cool/helpful. Don't be a bad bard :p

Sadly there are more bad Bards than good ones. But, it is a HARD class to play. :(

[milleirish]

Swish, I'm sorry but what do you mean by twist songs?

[Swish]

Sorry, twisting is playing multiple songs at once.... when your song starts it begins a countdown before it needs refreshing. If you don't refresh it it'll fade out.

In essence, as soon as you see the buff icon for the first song appear, start up on a second one, and again on a third one once that appears... after the 3rd one appears it's time to go back to casting the first song again before it fades.

Super pro bards can get a 4th song in but don't worry about that, 3 is plenty for leveling purposes.

Typically a heal song, a haste song and maybe a damage song early on when you have them :) 1 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 2 > 3 > 1 > 2 > 3.... and on and on :)

Hence lazy bards like to afk with just healing song playing (if you don't cancel your song once it appears it'll keep playing until you do). A lot of groups don't like people who do that persistently so be an active bard :)

[milleirish]

So I melee attack, hit my first song, before first one ends, hit the second one, and so on. Thanks for the info, it'll take some getting used to.

[Cobretti]

Agree on the necros. I think sadly a lot of necros think sending a pet in and casting a dot on a mob that's going to die in under 30 seconds is contributing...they need to be healing, charming an undead pet where available and feeding mana to the cleric when they're low :)


This is not how you play a necro in a group setting, You should be lifetapping the entire time after snare sticks for DPS

[Shanarias]

It won't really matter what you play at first because once you start playing you will be so sucked in that you will eventually fill up all your character slots with alts. :D Jump on in head first and then figure it out as you go.

This. That is exactly what happened to me back in the day. I am hoping for that same experience. And I truly miss the original, so interface and all, I can hardly wait for my disc to arrive.

[Kastro]

You say that now!!! Hahaha. After I set every thing up last night, jumped in real fast and thought hey shadow knight that looks fun. Pulled a moss snake and died. Got body attacked a fire beetle, died.. I was thinking man I don't remember EQ being this hard.

My guess is you made a non Ogre, Troll, or even Iksar SK.. if you had made any of those you wouldn't have that problem..

Also if you want super fast group XP and getting geared with epic quickly, roll on Red, app to Empire, The Curse or Fresh

[Swish]

This is not how you play a necro in a group setting, You should be lifetapping the entire time after snare sticks for DPS

I'd politely talk to a necro if all he wanted to do was lifetap...capable of so much more.

It's those necros that give the utility necros a bad name and why necros struggle for groups.

Charm an undead pet and you're probably up there with the monk dps of the group, carry on lifetapping tho when the pet could be doing as much damage without draining the mana bar.

[Cobretti]

Swish, you have no clue...raid or xp...a necro with a full mana bar or just feeding the cleric is retarded. You should never go below 30m, and never be above 60m or you are slacking as a necro... Lifetap Lifetap Lifetap for dps

I was always top dps parser on raid mobs in velious on Vulak because after my DoT's stuck i was tapping the entire time. This is what any good necro does, anyone who does otherwise is terrible at playing EQ.

[Samoht]

There's no point in a arguing with swish about how to play... Pretty sure he doesn't even have a 60.

[Deckk]

This is not how you play a necro in a group setting, You should be lifetapping the entire time after snare sticks for DPS

Forgive me, because I've been out of the EQ game since 2003 until last week. I mained a wizard in a good guild on Prexus.

I actually agree with both of you on this, believe it or not.

Swish has a point. Those are all important roles for a necro to play when it's needed. Most likely, you won't need to funnel mana to the cleric for 95% of the fights you're in (MAYBE in a raid setting). Charm is a great tool as well and is extremely viable DPS wise. But, when those situations aren't there and your DoTs are in, I'd say lifetapping is a great source of DPS and one of the best for a necro. Just have to be ready to provide that utility Swish speaks of.