What to Play?!?!?

[Deathtrap]

Hey all,

First time playing on P99! Looking forward to the old school relaxing grind but, I can't decide on what to play O.o I love being part of a group but will most likely be soloing most of the content. I've played a Necro in the past and maybe looking for something a bit different. Maybe melee / tank? Any guilds out there looking to mold a spot or any insightful suggestions to persuade my decision?

Merry Christmas and Happy Hunting!!!

Deathtrap

[Lhancelot]

Hey all,

First time playing on P99! Looking forward to the old school relaxing grind but, I can't decide on what to play O.o I love being part of a group but will most likely be soloing most of the content. I've played a Necro in the past and maybe looking for something a bit different. Maybe melee / tank? Any guilds out there looking to mold a spot or any insightful suggestions to persuade my decision?

Merry Christmas and Happy Hunting!!!

Deathtrap

Hmm. Soloing on tank/melee tends to be hard especially if you are not starting out with decent gears. if you are dead set on this, and know you will be soloing often I'd suggest SK. They can fear kite later, and if you go with ogre/troll the sheer stats they start with plus their racial bonuses will make you tougher.

If you are open to caster/healers, then soloing is much easier especially if you choose enchanter/mage/necro/druid/shaman.

All of these classes also possess great utility and can group easily also so if you find time for groups you ought to have no trouble finding a spot with groups. Only the necro has a reputation of a solo-only class, and this is sad because they actually can add a ton of utility to a group.

If I were brand new starting on p99, I think I'd go with a druid, shaman, enchanter, mage, necro in that order with necro/mage being interchangeable.

Druids are a great first toon on p99 because they get ports early, can easily solo, and in early levels find groups easily too. The issue with druid is later on 50-59 they fall short of other heal classes basically doing everything worse than a shaman or cleric so some groups will hold a spot for a cleric or shaman and not bother inviting a druid even though a druid can main heal just not as effectively as the other two due to clerics having complete heal and shamans having canni/regen/slows that can make healing a group sustainable far easier than a druid can if main healing.

Mages are far less common than necros, but really enjoyable and later on they get COTH which is a really fun/awesome spell. mages are very simplistic imo, with a pet and /assist you basically just sit and med doing dps in groups. if you solo, they become more challenging especially later on when mobs start to grind your pets up and you have to summon multiple pets per fight to kill a mob.

I won't go into necros you say you are familiar with them.

Enchanters are strong from the start once they get mez/charm. Their pets are not bad either in low lvls if you choose to use one instead of charming. Chanters also are very powerful and wanted in all groups. They are very busy, especially if the group wants you to charm mobs for added dps along with expecting you to do CC and haste the group full of melee.

I know others may say to go with a bard. I hate bards, find their game play disgusting and painful when twisting constantly 3-4 songs for non-appreciative groups. also, the only way you will be soloing on a bard with crappy gears is swarm-kiting and no one likes a bard that disrupts entire zones for their own selfish swarm-kiting. I am not fond of this class, particularly how it has to be played on p99.

[Deathtrap]

Thanks for the in depth reply!!! I think I may go for Shaman. It seems like they are well rounded and I like the Halas start with Barbarian!

[Aaramis]

Druid, Necro, Shaman, Enchanter (in no particular order) if caster; Bard or Ranger if melee.

With gear, anything can do well, but those are the easy no-gear-starting-out characters.

[Baler]

I strongly encourage you to roll a money making class..

Mage, Necro, Druid are among the top 3 best new player friendly plat making classes.
They require little to no gear and can help you learn about classic everquest before you decide to jump in with a class that requires a lot of funds/gear.

[utenan]

rangers are fun so I suggest making a ranger, you can bash things and cast spells on them too. And having the best track in the game is like having a sixth sense, or stepping into a new dimension or something, if you follow me

[Lhancelot]

if you follow me

:)

[Nagoya]

You don't have to be "soloing most of the time" just because you think you're a casual and all the group classes are dirty maniacs spending 7 hours a day on evercrack. If you like to auto attack and hit mobs, as a first toon, it will be hard for you to solo even if you make a Monk or a SK or a Ranger or a Bard, arguably the four 'melee' classes able to solo more than the other three. But you will be able to group just fine, even for short duration :)

With that in mind, here are my suggestions:

- Bard: gearless you're solo method is mostly swarmkite, which removes the auto attack component you're looking for. Also, bards suck.

- Ranger: not so wanted in groups, late bloomers and hard to solo with no gear so might not be the best choice.

- Monk/SK: at least they are desired in groups. It will be hard to solo naked but not impossible if you choose your camps wisely. SK looks much better than Monks so that would be my suggestion.

- Druid/Shaman: not melee classes at all, but this might be a good compromise. You can auto-attack very fine level 1-30 with both classes. Then not so much, but at least they work fine naked, and they solo much better at 30+. These would be my real suggestions for a first toon considering your description. Druids look like crap but they are really easy to gear up and are a very independent class that can go everywhere and solo most content as well as group when you want to :) (shaman get expensive to gear up later in life)

TL;DR Shadow Knight or Druid.

PS on Race: ignore completely the stats and racial bonus and go 100% fashionquest. Also, pick a religion, agnostic is weak. You'll thank me later.

[Sajan]

Maybe melee / tank?

Shadow Knight
Shadow Knight would be my first suggestion. You're familiar with Necromancer spells and how they can be used to pull off some interesting tricks. SKs will primarily be tanks in most groups while leveling up, but you may be asked to do some pulling as well. SKs, being a plate-wearing tank class and possessing superior aggro abilities, will always be sought after for groups while leveling up. Once you join a guild and start doing some small scale raiding/grouping, you'll still be asked to tank from time to time, but your pulling abilities in dangerous areas will open up new avenues for you to become useful. SKs can hold their own soloing, mostly in outdoor, open areas so they can utilize their fear kiting toolkit. It won't be as fast or efficient as a caster due to your limited damage output, but not impossible either. SKs are professionals at FashionQuest, so that adds a bit of fun while gearing your character.

Dungeons: Strong
Outdoors: Mediocre

Ranger
Ranger would be my second suggestion. Rangers are very fun to play, and are extremely versatile in what they can do. It was a thrill for me to get invited to a group or start my own as a Ranger, because I never initially knew what my role was going to be. You can tank. You can DPS. You can pull. You can CC. Anything is possible in a group setting outside of playing the main healer. Once you join a guild, in a raid setting, Rangers are mostly called on for their DPS role, with some light CC duties sprinkled in from time to time, and of course, playing the inevitable Death Touch sacrifice. Soloing becomes a cinch as a Ranger once you hit level 22 and obtain the Panic Animal spell. Coupled with Snare and a large outdoor area, you can level up indefinitely soloing animals by fear kiting them. Playing a Ranger is not for the faint at heart however, as you will often be the target of long-standing jokes in EQ, and group invites will start to be far and few between once you reach the higher levels. If you have a thick skin, and the social ability to rally people around you to form your own group, the class can be very rewarding in the form of actually having fun playing your role every time you log on.

Dungeons: Weak
Outdoors: Very Strong

TL;DR: Shadow Knight or Ranger for their fear kiting abilities which allows them to solo with little to no gear, while staying in the realm of melee / tank.

[Foxplay]

If you want to tank and still be able to solo - Shadowknight

Class that can do the most solo with the least gear - Enchanter (skill required)

Less skill but can still do alot with little - Necromancer

Legally brain dead vegetable but still want to be good -Mage

[Whirled]

Make a challenging character. Maybe a naked human rogue. Never using a light source and only ever using hand to hand. Imagine the looks you'd get from people /priceless

[jakerees]

brain dead vegetable

In my experience of life and science plus extra dimensional existence if you count the time I spent in Athens, Greece, I have not known any vegetable to actually have a brain. I know there are hearts in artichokes but why do people keep trying to put some kind of cerebellum or something into the vegetable like IDK because which vegetable would you even call 'smart' like a carrot? Most people would foolishly say tomato and then you have to tell them it is a fruit and then they have to go away for a few weeks and reevaluate their lives.

[sedrie.bellamie]

but will most likely be soloing most of the content. I've played a Necro in the past and maybe looking for something a bit different.

Lhancelot gives good reason for druid and enchanter. Once you get a druid 14 or enchanter 16 you can solo to 60 and do whatever you want. It is true shaman is a latter bloomer being that shaman's do not get a summoned pet till level 34 but a shaman will have more HP than an enchanter and thus isn't as crunchy when solo'ing.


Mages are far less common than necros, but really enjoyable and later on they get COTH which is a really fun/awesome spell. mages are very simplistic imo, with a pet and /assist you basically just sit and med doing dps in groups. if you solo, they become more challenging especially later on when mobs start to grind your pets up and you have to summon multiple pets per fight to kill a mob.


I guess we play mage different. While leveling my mage I would love to group and found that I wasn't sitting down as much as you would think. Using eyes to look around for fresh spawns while the puller is "setting things up" is fun. Also I think I am the only mage that uses staff of runes for pulling. The dispel stick is one insta clikcie of range 300 cancel magic. Super low agro, decent range, great cast time as a clickie so "back in the day" I had no problem snagging fresh cyclops in OOT on a full island of higher level "better" classes. I only tended to have to resummon pets when I was mass pulling, usually the water pet or the earth pet can tank pretty ok as long as your keeping some nukes in them then I do not see a reason to have to chain summon pets unless you are trying to tackle stuff outside of a mage's purview. When playing a mage you need camps you can take it easy at, single pulls or maybe a camp you can split yourself with wooley spider nets. Mages that just /pet attack and cast bolt spells that go into the ground or walls are bad mages. Mages without a bag of wooley spider nets need to commit sepukku for their failure to not be able to root mobs.


I hate bards, find their game play disgusting and painful when twisting constantly 3-4 songs for non-appreciative groups.

Deathtrap was asking about solo'ing content and maybe a bard isn't the best at clearing old seb solo but maybe they are if in a group. Lhancelot is correct because after level 28 when a bard has basically the full toolbox of haste, slow, mana song, heals, mez, and charm that the bard becomes a rockstar in a group. The bard makes a group go into "easy mode" the puller will bring 3-4 mobs because they know CC will be there, the casters ninja-afk because mobs are dying "pretty fast," the melee will not take the time for the best position of mobs; not pushing casters, not standing in the back for the best chance to hit, not letting the main tank be the main agro because "we got this." Being a tag along bard in a pick up group lead to me taking my bard to 52 and being a rockstar for naggy/vox instead of grouping.

Like you go to a dungeon and sing songs for a few hours and earn some plat and gear like the rest of the classes. But what does a bard need past instruments? I guess AC/HP/Resists like everyone else. I always find it funny when a bard has some nice melee weapons and haste gear and tries to melee it up. While the bard has duel wield and will get a lot of attacks in, not having double attack as a class skill means that bards are the worst at melee of any of the hybrid classes.

Bards can fear kite solo instead of swarm kitting but that just takes longer. Bards are cool but I don't want to play a bard either.

[silo32]

just play one of each or whatever you think looks coolest

[Lulz~Sect]

Because you mention d NEC, don’t listen to the naysayers about first class being a tank. I played a troll SK on Red server launch with jacks hit and it was awesome. The benefit of playing on a mature server [time wise/not attitude] is you’ll find people to group with and get buffs no problem. Don’t be scared to have fun.

[mattydef]

Play whatever you want, melee included. My friends and I all started with melee classes and it worked out just fine. You can get really good items for cheap on this server and there are so many easy ways to make money as a new player (bone chips, bear pelts, cb/df belts etc). You can earn yourself a sword of skyfire and full bronze or better by level 10 and start tearing through shit.

[ddemers]

When I started, I created a Druid. My goal was to be able to see things (casual like you) and port for cash. Get to 34 and start quad kitting and port for cash when you want watch TV or dont have a lot of time to play. After a few months, you will know what class you want to play and what gear you want to get.

The one issue with Druids, is that the higher level you get, the harder it will be to get groups.

I ported and leveled until I had about 50k and level 40 something. I got a fungi and rolled a mnk :)