2 New players.

[Yeska]

A friend and i are going to start playing p1999. I am rolling an ogre shadowknight and she is going to play a Dark elf necromancer.

Im going to need some advice becouse i have never started in freeport. I supose i can stay in the starting area to level 4 or so and then move to the orcs camp? Which is the first dungeon we can do?

Is necro + SK an OK duo? She is new and she has no idea so she told me she wanted to be a mage, so between all the casters i suposed a necro would be the best partner but i can tell her to roll a wizard if its necesary.

Sorry about my poor english, i tried my best :p.

[sulious]

Lvl in EC, then WC/Befallen/Oasis. Send me a tell in game for buffage/advice.

[Mythdar]

First of all, welcome to our community! Onto the duo, for an sk, I personally feel shaman is the better duo option, but play whatever is most fun for you both. Enjoy

[Tecmos Deception]

Necro is probably the best caster partner for a shadow knight, yeah. You'll be a workable, though not overly powerful, duo.

[Yeska]

Thanks for your answers guys.

And about gearing up, i dont remember how it was during the classic era. If i remember well the bronze armor was the best for lowbies, can i get it from merchant or does it drop in WC?

Ah and one more question, allakazam wiki is based in nowdays EQ. Do you know any web to check the necro spells up and what merchant sells them?

Thanks again, see you soon in norrath.

[Mythdar]

A great resource - http://wiki.project1999.org

[webrunner5]

The Necro is one of the best classes in P1999. But with a SK you both have pretty much the same line of spells. Not sure that is the best way to go? Neither one bringing nothing different down the road. But both classes having pets fear kiting would be pretty uber.

But who is going to heal the SK higer levels? I know the 30 point Necro heal is great at level 14ish. But after that I am not sure. But I guess the downtime is no worse than a Druid or Wizzy medding. Sounds interesting.

You will need a good weapon worse than anything as the SK. The Necro can be naked. Not much difference. Welcome aboard.

[Extunarian]

If you're starting in EC you'll be able to get buffs and probably some free newbie gear from the players hanging out there.

As others have said, you're downtime will come from lack of healing and the necro doesn't bring any melee buffs. You'll find yourselves looking for druid/shm/clrs to round out your group but necro/sk can certainly get by with their lifetaps/necro heals...just with more downtime.

[Kika Maslyaka]

yeah necro+sk not a very effective combo.

Better choice would be:
sk + any type of healer (shaman is optimal)

or:

necro + paladin

[falkun]

Shaman is a MUCH better duo partner with SK, but the necro and SK should be able to fear kite effectively throughout the game.

[Ferok]

I'd think necro+rogue would work pretty well also.

[Tecmos Deception]

No one asked what the best combos for a SK or a necro were, people.

[Ferok]

Is necro + SK an OK duo?

[Yeska]

My friend wants to play a caster. I dont see her playing a chanter so that leaves us with Necro, magician and Wizard.

I can roll another class if its necesary, the classes i like apart from the Sk are Paladin, Wizard and Rogue.

one thing that bothers me is that i dont want to start in different continents, so if i roll a paladin and she a necro is going to be a problem, i use to die when i try to get the boat at lvl 1 lol.

[webrunner5]

Make a Human Necro. They can go a lot of places in this game and be liked. Both meet in EC. Problem solved.

[Slave]

You want to play Paladin, Rogue, and SK, which are three very group-oriented classes, and Wizard, a solo class.

She wants to play Necro, Magician, and Wizard, all solo classes. What is wrong with a Shaman again? They do cast spells. A lot of them. And Shaman/SK is one of the strongest duos in the game. Barbarian Shamans are something women don't usually mind playing.

In any case she could play a Necromancer and you a Rogue. Once you get used to Fear kiting you'd be a powerful duo that could simply add a tank to play in a traditional way, with the Necro healing.

Do NOT worry about starting locations. A lot of people will help you get together. Play the races you want, the time you spend apart will be insignificant.

[godbox]

sham / necro > any duo

I know the lore and idea of SK is fun but in reality your going to have a hard time SK will really only slow down the Necros lvl without bringing anything new

[Dalron]

None of the starting races/classes you mentioned start on different continents .... So what was the question?

I half agree with Slave, play the race you want ... but also play the class you want! Don't worry about what the absolute best pair is, play what you want to play. If you're near my level I'll gladly group with you even if you choose a ranger or one of those hybrid classes everyone hates to group with because it would "slow down their exp" ... lol! I'd much rather group with someone playing what they want for the fun of it, than some elitist fuck min-maxer who turns his nose down at you for not picking the absolute best class/race pairing! (The last part isn't aimed at you Slave, don't know you well enough to know if you're one of them or not lol)

Dalron - Human Cleric of the 14th Circle of Light

[godbox]

dude asked if SK necro was a good duo. its really not so people gave feedback. good duos are comprised of someone who can heal/buff/debuff and someone that can do damage/CC or take damage. Necro does damage and CC. SK takes damage. Its missing an important component. Its not terrible obviously but after 40 45 there gonna slam into a wall and slow down really unessesarily. and I am all for playing what you want to play but I also never want to set up new players to fall flat on there face.
play what you want but be ready for a rough ride since Eq doesnt have alot of grey area with class combos your either setup for max efficiency or you are a terrible combo.

[Dalron]

... your either setup for max efficiency or you are a terrible combo.

Typical min-maxer thinking, lol. But it is simply not true.

Dalron

[Droog007]

Large bronze drops in Najena - probably out of reach until mid-20's.

[phobus]

I think SK/necro is workable - you'll just have to think outside the box.

Think about how a necro charm-kills - charm a pet and have it kill another mob, right? Now they can do the same, using the "rooted mobs attack the closest target" mechanic to focus damage on the charmed pet. This will take a little bit of work, pulling the pet on top of the target mob by spamming the "pet back off" button. The SK will do minimal DPS compared to a rogue or monk, sure, but he will still be an effective puller and still be able to tank most stuff well enough if there's no suitable charm targets around.

And of course, there's always fear-kiting, if outdoors (or indoors if there's enough room), for both undead and normal mobs. With both classes getting FD eventually, you can experiment a lot without too much fear of dying.

[godbox]

its not a min max for min max sake. I like to play in combos that click well together. like on my rogue I look for paladins and SK's alot. I didnt know that sham/necro was a godlike duo until I was like 49 50.
So if someone says "hey my friend is set on a necro I was thinking of going SK but am wondering if theres other things that sync up better with necro?"
Im gonna say Sham.

[Pyrion]

Why not druid? You get a nice DS as a tank, druid can heal, sow, port you all around... there is never an issue with DoT stacking, and you can easily travel later. Druid + SK complement each other very well. Druid can't fear anything beside animals, but SK can. Druid snare is much cheaper and easier for fear kiting. Plus, at 39, you get a great melee buff when the druid turns you into a wolf.

If she wants to play a caster, a druid is the most caster-like of all priest classes.

[Extunarian]

...they can do the same, using the "rooted mobs attack the closest target" mechanic to focus damage on the charmed pet.


Unless this was recently changed back, PC's on the hate list will always be hit if they are in range even if the charm pet is closer.

I know it used to work....I would duo on my chanter with a rogue all the time using that mechanic to allow the rogue to backstab and avoid hits, but sadly, it is no longer the case. I believe it was changed prior to kunark coming out on this server.

[godbox]

^ mobs still attack closest in range when rooted.

[Ferok]

My friend wants to play a caster. I dont see her playing a chanter so that leaves us with Necro, magician and Wizard.

I can roll another class if its necesary, the classes i like apart from the Sk are Paladin, Wizard and Rogue.

one thing that bothers me is that i dont want to start in different continents, so if i roll a paladin and she a necro is going to be a problem, i use to die when i try to get the boat at lvl 1 lol.

You've got some options. I think a question you might ask yourself is whether or not you want to XP in dungeons (with the possibility of adding in another group member or two to flesh out your group) or in open zones kiting and such.

Necro and Rogue should make an interesting kiting group, but they won't do much in dungeons without adding in at least 1, and most likely 2 more players.

Necro and Paladin would make a less optimal kiting group, but be a bit more viable in dungeons - and are just a healer away from being a very viable dungeon group.

Necro and SK I think is universally less promising than Necro and Paladin, but should offer similar utility of being viable both in the open, and somewhat in dungeons.

Necro and Wizard might work as a kite group, but each party might just be better off on their own.

Mage and Wizard may be universally viable, but not terribly optimal.

If your friend can play an Enchanter:
Enchanter and Paladin is a terrific group, will be very effective in dungeons. Add in a healer and you've got a solid crawl group, but even without you're in good shape - stuns and heals from the Paladin make charming much easier, and a paladin can heal himself pretty effectively with Clarity and Slows at higher levels.

If you want to play in Dungeons, and are concerned about travel, I recommend starting in Fay. Gnomes are good at all Casters, and High Elves make top flight Enchanters. Dwarves, half elves make excellent rogues; Dwarves, High Elves make the best Paladins. Only catch is there's (currently) no Shadowknight option available. However, Crushbone, Unrest, and Mistmoore will provide dungeon-bound XP from level 5 until you're in your 40's without ever leaving the island - and are similarly the best places on the server to find groups.

[theguyy]

Play the class you want, why? Because if one of you quits the other will still have fun. Sk/Necro is fine because all you have to do is add any healer to make it amazing. This is an MMO afterall.

[Bubbles]

Like many have said both druid and shaman get SOW, and thats so incredibly helpful to untwinked players it deserves mentioning again.

Shammy - DOTs, pet later, regen, heals, sow, not gear dependant, good mana regen with canni.. only real annoyance i can think of with the combo is the shammy HP buff line doesnt stack with the necro Shielding.. well that and Shammy starting areas are nowhere *near* Necro starting areas... Everfrost and Qeynos (if the necro goes Bertoxx) maybe, and even thats a huge reach.

Druid - Heals, regen, ports later on, CHEAP SNARE, tracking, magic based dots, sow, Skin-Like HP buffs stack with necro Shielding. And druids are good races, so the druid can bind anywhere and port out to druid rings to be the designated seller/banker of the acquired lewtz.

The OP wanted to know what compliments a necro well. Both are very solid choices. SK can certainly work, but theres such a large list of advantages going priest that it's not even a min-max thing, it's turning your back on a ton to get weaker versions of the same spells, the lowest possible melee dps, a high need for expensive gear to outfit a tank, and an XP penalty to share (even worse if troll or ogre is picked) for all the trouble.

As i always point out in these threads, if you do stick SK/NEC, pick human or erudite and snap up all the low priced Flayed Skin armor in East Commons you can. Lotta bang for the buck there for both classes. :)

[Yeska]

thanks for the nice tips guys. Unfortunetly I dont want to play a class i dont like even if its a good combo so a shammy or a druid are not an option for me and my friend wants to play a caster. She wants to play a character that wears cloth so i doubt she likes druids even if they can nuke very well.

Do you think a Magician + necro combo would be an option? i dont remember if mages can heal their pets but if they can the "1 tank pet + 1 dps pet + two healers" can be interesting.

If not i supose ill go with Paladin (me) + Necro/Magician/wizard (my friend).

Im not playing yet becouse im having technical problems, i have 2 PCs, in none of them i can run EQ :/

[godbox]

Necro/magi is pretty good because you can just fear kite and just let pets handle shit without losing exp
(you need to do 1 point of damage to a mob while grouped or else pet eats most of the exp OR do 51% of the damage solo OR kill the pet at the last second and finish solo)
Magi is not super gear dependent since they just sit on there butt and med in between chain summon
mage heals are not worth while if i recall its always more efficient to just summon a new pet and dismiss the old one at the last second.
of course the necro has alot of utility spells that are life savers the mage doenst have so magi will have alot more deaths and CR when things get weird
the bonus is that a necro / magi either one can solo super fine since I am like 95% sure your friend is not gonna make it to lvl 20 if she didnt play old school eq herself

[Yeska]

Necro/magi is pretty good because you can just fear kite and just let pets handle shit without losing exp
(you need to do 1 point of damage to a mob while grouped or else pet eats most of the exp OR do 51% of the damage solo OR kill the pet at the last second and finish solo)
Magi is not super gear dependent since they just sit on there butt and med in between chain summon
mage heals are not worth while if i recall its always more efficient to just summon a new pet and dismiss the old one at the last second.
of course the necro has alot of utility spells that are life savers the mage doenst have so magi will have alot more deaths and CR when things get weird
the bonus is that a necro / magi either one can solo super fine since I am like 95% sure your friend is not gonna make it to lvl 20 if she didnt play old school eq herself

Is the duo good enough to use the "necro pet tanks the mob while the magician use his dps pet and the necro heals his pet" strategy? I dont like to kite inside dungeons.

I supose i should play the necro since its harder to use and my newbie friend can use the magician becouse its more wizard style.

[godbox]

honestly you would probly just use magi fire pet as the tank (dps from fire sheild is nuts) and necro pet would just add extra dps. Im not sure at what lvl water pet backstabs hard enough to out do the fire shield but either way it would probly end up with agro.
healing pets should never be part of the plan

[webrunner5]

Let your friend play the Mage. One of the eaisest classes here. Yeah, Necro Mage works also. And healing a Mage pet is part of this game. No way your pet can melee a even con or DB mob without some heal.

[godbox]

at lvl 20 you can heal your pet for 220 hp for 100 mana or you can summon a new one which will have between 400 and 600 hps for 200 mana.
not sure if mages get any heal upgrades for pet past that but pets are always 200 mana so you just chain summon (start casting and dismiss at last possible second) instead of healing

[Nirgon]

Dark elf mage and cleric if you're hell bent on being evil.

Should be very strong duo up to 51 then youll both do well grouping I would think.

[Splorf22]

sham / necro > any duo

I know the lore and idea of SK is fun but in reality your going to have a hard time SK will really only slow down the Necros lvl without bringing anything new

Sham+necro < solo enchanter

(assuming no puppet strings are involved)

[godbox]

ench / ench is kinda the best all u gotta do is have 2 crazy ass pets and rip down dungeons while doing 1 hp of dmg each mob

[falkun]

While you'd get the best raw performance out of ENC/ENC, I'd personally rather have the safety buffer of a shaman, cleric, or druid with my ENC. You may lose some DPS, but you'll gain a TON in survivability. In fact, on EQMac (where boxing is allowed), a lot of people box enc/dru.