Recommended class for first level 50?

[VincentVolaju]

So Ive got a couple characters under level 10 so far and to be honest, most of them seem pretty fun, however I cant make up my mind! Ive never played a character passed like level 15ish or so in EQ, thats how little I know about the game. Ive made a few topics asking general questions about difference class's trying to get a good idea on what I want to play, and I just can not make up my mind. Considering we have this bonus 25% xp for a week, I really want to take adv. of it and try to level ONE character as much as possible. So I was hoping maybe some of you could make some suggestions / give opinions.

What would you all say would be the best class for someone to play who has never really experienced EQ, but has alot of MMO experience. So I am new to the game, but not really a complete newb, I am sure I will learn quickly. I was begining to lean towards a Warrior or Rogue, however since this is my first character I have no money to twink them and I have been told they are very gear dependent so, maybe that isnt a very good choice for a first level 50? What do you all think?

THANKS!!!

[Heckler]

Determine your personality to figure out which character to play.

In EQ LIVE, I had a high level CLR. I thought I'd try something different and go Warrior on here. They were the most painful 24 levels of my life. Every ding made me hate it more. The fact is, I can't play a tanking class. I also cannot play an overplayed class.

What kind of role do you enjoy? What separates EQ from other MMO's is you have a defined roll. No one can tell you what to play. What I can say is, DO NOT PICK A CLASS BASED UPON THE FIRST 30 LEVELS!

[L2Phantom]

Make a mage. Twink out whatever you find out you want to play after grouping with every class on your mage. Should make it easy.

[Skope]

mage will be the fastest leveler, also the easiest to make money with. Though the mage will not match up quite as well post kunark.

i'd say pick an int class. they dont require a lot of gear and can usually solo quite well when you cant find groups.

[JaVeDK]

Not many wizards around. Go for that imo.

[VincentVolaju]

Well I usually like playing the class that isn't played very often for a couple reasons, one being it is easier to get groups that way and 2 because if you make the class look like people will notice you / remember you easier since their is a small amount of that class all around. Thats why I thought Warrior maybe since it seems like there isnt many on this server, however I have 0 money to gear it out so leveling + tanking would be terrible I think =/.

Basically what I am looking for I guess is a character that can get groups pretty easily, while at the same time be able to solo a little for the time between grouping. Also a quick leveling class would be nice so that, like someone said earlier, I have the ability to make money to gear out any other characters I wanna play.

Mage kinda sounds like the class to go it seems? How well would a Wizard fit into that, can they solo well?

[L2Phantom]

Wizards "can" but there is an spell LoS issue on emu. So unless your kiting on even ground its going to miss. I'd say just go mage and let your pet tank. Best dps in groups, solo really well, farm plat/gear for twinks, bind/gate spells for going back to your bind point after a long night of grinding, what more could you ask for?

[VincentVolaju]

Ok you convinced me, Ill do Mage =D

[L2Phantom]

Have fun.

[TreegreatesT]

There are fewer wizards, rogues, and rangers than warriors...Go wizard, they are less dependent on gear.

[Heckler]

My Warrior was my first character on this server. I was actually quite fine with how it went in terms of gear. If you go to Sol B, ask the throne group if you can loot the 2hs Axe/no drop. It has something like 20 dmg/42 delay with an AOE proc. It's better than the Exec Axe. When picking a group, I'd find one with a Shadow Knight or a Pally in it. Let them tank and I was there simply for the DPS. I'd compare stats and most of the time my stats were actually better. However, like I said, I can't stand playing a tank/melee class.

I'm going Wizard. There was a good debate in another thread about Wiz VS Druid. In classic Druid is basically as good as a Wizard (nukes), but does a lot more (heal/regen/etc). Wiz and Druid can both solo, but a druid can do it better. Like the thread also mentioned, Kunark mobs have high fire resist. The reason I'm saying this is because, Mage/Druid/Necro/Enchanter are better in classic. When Kunark comes out, classes like Wizard and Ranger begin to get good.

[VincentVolaju]

How well does a Wizard solo? How can it, they dont have pets right?

[Slugs]

Wizards solo fairly well. Sure, it may be lonely with downtime, but they can do it just fine. No pet, they do get familiars that give added benefits as they level up.

[Heckler]

Wizard: I think at 29, you get an AOE snare. Aggro some monsters, snare them, AOE Nuke them, rinse repeat. You'll need J-boots or a SOW, though.

Mage: send pet, heal pet, if pet is dying, re-cast pet.

[choklo]

The mage rocks in classic, but gets progressively weaker from kunark on. It's like the devs realized they overpowered mages and wanted to fix it.

[VincentVolaju]

Yeah I just got my Pet and holy crap ... I make a yellow one and send it in and it can kill like 2 white orcs at the same time, its nice =) Thats fine if they dont get stronger in Kunark, by then hopfully Ill have money to twink other characters, maybe a Rogue =D

[VincentVolaju]

Does anyone know of a classic level guide for mage? Im not sure where to go solo at level 10, CB is kinda slow now it feels like.

[Heckler]

You have a few options. Continue to level in crushbone castle. If you've been collecting CRUSHBONE BELTS, you can turn them into a dwarf in Kaladim for exp. This is good until level 12.

Your other option is Unrest. Go to G fray ---> Butcherblock ----> hog the left wall to reach Dragon's cauldron...follow the water line to reach a tunnel leading to unrest. Unrest is good from 10 - 30. I'd try and reach level 12, though.

Third option is Oasis hunting crocs.

You really should try and reach your newest set of spells first, though. Almost anywhere you go, you'll be on the low end at lvl 10.

[VincentVolaju]

I didnt know unrest was so low level, I thought it was like 15+ maybe Ill try that. I have like 24 CB belts but, I thought they were bad exp after level 9

[Heckler]

Belts are bad experience after level 9. If you have 24 that could net you a yellow of experience. At level 10, you'll be stuck at the front of Unrest killing beetles. You have a class that can go places a little earlier than most. A lot of times there will be a high level druid there as well. Druid buffs on a mage pet = :D Having said that, try and pick up at least one level 12 pet spell before you leave.

[VincentVolaju]

Ok thanks for info!

[Tallenn]

mages are definitely OP in classic.

Look for groups, as well. You will be highly sought after, and add tremendous DPS, as well as the ability to off-tank. It will also probably be faster than soloing.

I made a wiz over the weekend, and in one of my groups had a mage in the group who put me to shame DPS-wise. Don't get me wrong, it was great having him, made the xp go much faster, and I already knew to expect that. I don't begrudge mages their classic OP-ness.

There's will always be twinges of jealousy (at least until Kunark), but I'm going to stick with the wiz. I could have rolled a mage if I wanted to, but I'm enjoying the wizard. Blowing things up in a group is lots of fun. I'm also going to stick with grouping as much as possible.

[VincentVolaju]

Yeah Ive got the Mage to 12 now and it is easy mode solo leveling. Just make a yellow fire pet, send it in and heal it and I am easily soloing yellows / some reds. However I am noticing how annoying it is to travel in this game =(. Im starting to wonder about Druids, considering they have SoW + Portals. Im wondering if maybe they would be better farmers end game / levelers because of how quickly they can get back and forth to sell etc.

Im guessing on the Mage youd have to run around through difference zones finding a good place to farm, then camping it for a bit till your over weight. Then either running back (depending where your bound to) to sell your stuff, then running all the way back again to keep on farming.

Where as a Druid, I am thinking you could set your bind point on your hunting spot, then when you fill up all you have to do is a cast a portal spell to town, sell your stuff then gate spell back to your hunting spot.

Im wondering how much of a time saver it is being a Druid and farming / leveling rather then being a Mage, considering travel is insanely faster on a Druid, yeah? If in the end its faster to make money on a Druid even though he doesn't kill as quickly as a Mage (Im just guessing they dont kill as quickly, Im not sure really?) What do you all think? I heard someone bring this up in /ooc yesterday which is what got me thinking about it.

[Tallenn]

When you talk about farming, you're generally referring to going to a dungeon (often those for much lower level than you), and killing named mobs for rare items to sell. That isn't the only definition, but it's the one that comes to mind for me.

In such a case, to mage will far outshine the druid. Druids are good at soloing stuff in areas where they have room to maneuver- outside, basically. Like wizards, they can quad-kite (kill 4 mobs at once with AE spells, though they use a slightly different tactic), and with track, can find out when named mobs are up, and get to them quicker.

However, if those mobs are in a dungeon, it's going to take them quite some time to get there, at least if there are mobs that see invis on the way. Druids kind of suck at killing lower level mobs quickly, because they are almost completely dependent on their mana to kill mobs even 20 levels below them (all casters' melee damage sucks ass). Mages on the other hand can rip right through those with the pet, without having to cast a single spell. Druids can farm dungeons, even where they are getting exp, usually by root-dotting. But it's not fast, and it's a bit dangerous, even in low-level dungeons. Since the mobs are killed so slowly, the druid can get overwhelmed by numbers if he's not careful.

So, for farming dungeons, mages are a much better choice, along with necros, mainly because of the pets.

[Kazzok]

I was a Wizard on live, and I can tell you I was always a bit jealous of the Mages. It wasn't until PoP era, when I had a horse (at least outside), the best flappy, FT 15, MC3, and several mana regen clickies, that I felt I had the mana to keep up in a group. Seemed like mages had great sustained group DPS naked.

There was also the occasional quest farming that made me grind my teeth; things like the Coldain shawls and the AC. Those would have been much nicer with a pet.

On the other hand, being a Wizard on a raid is fun. I'm sure it's much more fun that being a Mage on a raid. There were also a few AoE scenarios where Wizards owned.

I always had the impression that Mages weren't balanced right between classic and maybe PoP, but I didn't play one personally, so take that with a grain of salt. The reason I say this is because I remember Kunark dungeons putting a big emphasis on the importance of mez and snare. Obviously mez is fairly restricted to classes that can't do good DPS, but snare is not. Necros, Rangers, and Wizards can all do good DPS and still snare mobs (Wizards and Rangers can also do it while the mobs are mezzed without breaking mez IIRC). Mages can't snare at all, nor can they evac. I think this conspires to make the viable group lineups that include Mages fewer than those that include other DPS classes. There is also the issue of pets and mez, but I'm not really qualified to talk about it.

It was my impression in Kunark and Velious and even into Luclin and PoP that Rogues were the default all-out DPS class for groups for some reason, and that's the role Mages were trying to fill.

[VincentVolaju]

When I meant farming, I was referring more to killing mobs that drop straight coin loot / vendor loot. So after an hour for example of straight farming you usually always have on average X amount of pp. I never really liked farming for specific items in games because I hate leaveing everything to chance ... "if" the mob is it up it "might" drop it kind of deals, don't like them so much. Id much rather KNOW I am going to get at least a certain amount of pp by the time is up and maybe even more then expected if the vendor loot is more often etc. Know what I mean?

And @ Kazzok, I am glad to hear that Rogues are wanted even more so in Kunark and Velious because eventually that is what I want to play =). I just don't want to play it right now without any gear for it, I don't think it would be as fun =/. I think playing a character that is a good noob friendly class w/ the ability to make money/farm for their alts is a better idea for me. It'll give me the chance to learn the game / dungeons etc., while being able to make money and gear for my Rogue. So when the time comes, I can just play a geared out Rogue and smash things from level 1 =D

So with that being said, thats where me reconsidering Mage for a Druid is coming from hehe.

[Skope]

your "yellow" pets wont last forever. in fact i think 12 is the last lvl where the pet is a higher lvl than you.

I'd suggest sticking to killing blues after 15 or so. and mages will have a harder time soloing in kunark than wizards, oddly enough. get to 50 quickly on that mage and use it to twink your other chars, that's what everyone else seems to be doing :P

[JxP]

So what is the general opinion of Necros in Kunark compared to classic? I played one in live, but that was post POP and that changed a lot of things.

[Tallenn]

IMO necros have been an awesome class to play during every expansion of EQ. They are just awesomeness incarnate. Easy mode solo, great DPS and even some utility for a group, good on raids (you may not enjoy twiching clerics, though), useful and fun to play pretty much anywhere, anytime...

...Why am I not playing a necro??? Oh, that's right. Going to wait and make an Ikky necro :p

[Skope]

So what is the general opinion of Necros in Kunark compared to classic? I played one in live, but that was post POP and that changed a lot of things.

so far it's great! ton of versatility when it comes to soloing. as summoning mobs dont make an appearance in classic i'm free to snarekite anything i can land a spell on, even if it's 10 levels above me. they're pretty good in classic, they only get better as the expansions unfold. Towards end of velious they're #1 DPS class and by far the most efficient.

[L2Phantom]

I used to have an iksar necro. He was pretty cool but I really didn't like their role in a raid environment. You basicallly become a plug'n'play mana battery, literally. It's really boring.

[Kazzok]

I intend to play a necro or two (DE and Iksar) on p99 just cause I remember always admiring how cool the necros look back in the day, levitating 5 feet off the ground with their scythes, with a pile of bones next to them. [By the time I was max level and levitating with my flappy all the time, it was Luclin, and everything was uglified.]

[karsten]

paladin for max farming ability to twink your main

[Omnimorph]

Necro's looked even cooler in kunark when they get hand of the reaper :p Have that with a scythe and it looks badass.

[mitic]

RNG all the way! once they reach 50 they can start farming bonechips and sell them for trillions of plat in EC-tunnel (torch 1 is a hotspot on a side note)