Monk vs Ranger vs Rogue on green
 

I want to play them all! but not enough time. I only played live on a druid up to 30s, and I didn't really play P99 until a couple of months ago and have been playing SK.

I am familiar with the pros, cons, strengnths, weaknesses, but I don't really have a grasp on how "fun" the classes are or how they "feel". I also am mostly clueless on how the vanilla planar raid scene is but am interested in that. So sell me on your class or convince me not to play one.

Monk - yes I am ok with a human monk. I like the idea of monk, but I want to be DPSing in dungeons not just chain pulling as soon as I drop off a mob. BUT I feel like on green though, due to groups being so poorly geared and dungeons more crowded, there will be downtime, and chain pulling won't really be as common (so a monk would pull a mob and then stay until the fight is over). What do you guys think? Itemization on a monk seems the most boring. (no weapons better than fist when you can obtain them, slowly replacing cured silk, not even completely, until planes.) I kind of like the idea of the challenging weight limit, kind of hate it.

Rogue - king of melee dps, low responsibility in groups but always desired. No solo ability but I'll have a mage alt for when I can't find a group. Tons of gear out there to get. The part of me that wants to guise a monk or ranger will be disappointed if I start green with a DE mage and a rogue that can get it any time.

Ranger - Not as much DPS as the above 2, but can tank some if needed. OK in a group, but never actually ideal? (Here, fill your dps / tank / pull slot with something not ideal and have an exp penalty to boot). The whole kit is cool, the vibe of the class is cool, can do some cool stuff in outdoor zones, but is it a good class to experience classic with?

Monk- won’t be chain pulling, instead careful and skillful splitting will probably matter more

Rogue- evade doesn’t exist for a while, that’s a bummer. Stick it out until epics and you’ll be golden.

Ranger- hybrid penalty sucks but you gotta respect the struggle. tbh I’m seriously considering ranger because it’s such a meme class.

Hope this helps

Monk has a lot of gear options in classic!

Foremans tunic, azure sleeves, fine silk turban, cloak of shadows, thick banded belt, granite bracer, wu's fighting gauntlets off the top of my head. You can fill out most slots in the teens with mesh armour (cloth weight leather ac). Jboots or soft leather for magic kick.

2hbwise Glowing crook great ratio, attainable early on. A treant staff is handy too.

All that said, ranger is funnest. Have a mage summon you arrows and kite the kell out of ghoul messenger. Short sword of morrin purdy!

I dunno man, I literally tried to go through every slot , all items of vanilla gear looking at stats and weights.

Those staffs are both heavy and monk is duel weilding 9/35 by then with fists, that seems better. I looked at every weapon. I think cracked staff until level 10 is literally the only big upgrade for monks.

Armor is 1 or 2 pieces per slot are better than cured silk. But some slots have no real upgrade until planar. And even the slots that have upgrades, many times you are just getting something with more AC, very few things have STR. And if you find something that weights even 1 stone you kinda feel bad about it!
Compared to other classes that have multiple upgrades per slot with their preferred stats on them, it just feels less fun a to be a monk from gearing side

Of the 3 the ranger will have a 40% exp penalty tacked on. They also get SOW at level 39 as I recall rather than 30.

Yea, melees in general are a fairly "meh" in classic EQ. I was a rogue back then on live and do remember having plenty of envy for how cool rangers looked.

Arguably if you stick it out and can get a Guise the ranger and monk are two of the greatest classes to get a DE illusion. Nothing wrong with a rogue besides not being able to solo (at all). It's a staple for any group really.

I quit blue with a 60 rogue, druid, and ranger. I loved all them all, but ranger was the most fun because it had the vibe of both classes. It's way harder than either, but the struggle is why you're on Green isn't it?

You can't spell rangierd without GDI. Grind. Discrimination. Isolation. Really a whole lot of fun.

And at level 1 you can track the one mob in zone that's not dead yet!! ;)

I feel like this was an intentional design decision thay the monks who spurned belongings were the most effective. Of course that can't pan out in a game which becomes more and more equipment orientated as it expands older.

Rogue is just kinda bad in classic. Their DPS isn't particularly high and they bring nothing else to the table, plus they don't really get good weapons outside of raids. When you compare the garbage that a non-raiding rogue will be wielding to things like mithril 2h, SSoY and monk fists, it's no wonder the class usually sucks. Better if you can get one of the raid piercers, but we all know that 95% of players will have no chance whatsoever of killing dragons or gods. For the vast majority of rogues, the best you can hope for is to one day nab a lucky Eyerazzia, and it could take many months.

There aren't many great weapons for rogue in classic.
Monk isn't really at it's true till kunark and iksars. The regen + AC helps with pulls/tags/etc
Ranger.. well ranger will not be good until the very end of velious so arguably.. for launch. Ranger is an option.