New Player, saying hello with an inquiry!
 

Hello P99 friends! I have never played the original EQ but I am interested in trying it out.

My previous experience with MMORPG's include WoW, Runescape, Runes of Magic, Guildwars 1 & 2, as well as other games such as Wurm & Dungeons and Dragons Online.

I have done some research into what is and is not "viable" for a solo player and I have come to the conclusion that I just don't want to play any of the obvious choices for new players.

Anyway, my question is thus;

I am interested in playing a Dwarf Paladin or a Human Warrior, sub optimal I am aware.. but how much more difficult is it going to be for me to play these classes in comparison to the meta solo options?

Totally fine. Totally viable. We all did it back in 2019-2020. You'll group, you'll make friends, you can level up nearly naked. You can join a guild at some point once you've gotten the lay of the land. You'll get there.

Both of those are tanks, so if you do crap DPS it's fine. Damage is other people's job. You just have to stand in the correct location. You not dying is also someone else's job.

If you ever can't find a group to join, I really recommend doing things like /w all 20 25 cleric, /w all 20 25 druid, /w all 20 25 shaman, and forming groups yourself.

It's legit to make a "farm class" too, but more of an elite powergamer move. If having two level 50+ characters sounds like an unemployment activity to you, just do your character. But if that sounds like an easy couple months, then yeah, def make the ol' necro or enc to farm stuff.

Hey there! Basically spell casters use spells, while pure melee classes are only as good as their equipment. A naked necromancer for example is maybe 70% as effective as one with good gear, but a warrior twink with a good weapon, haste and a fungi tunic (health regeneration) is going to hit way harder and have way less downtime than a beginner.

Paladin is obviously a hybrid, so you're not basically entirely gear-dependent like a warrior. Paladins have really useful spells like root, lull, stun and flash of light (great low-cost, high-aggro spell for tanking in groups). Those are just the spells you'd commonly use pulling/tanking in groups, you also have heals, buffs, undead nukes, etc. And you have an ability to Lay Hands and save yourself or a friend with an instant heal. So paladins have a ton of utility, clearly the better option in my opinion. Dwarf is a great choice, lacks charisma (important for the lull spell line) but more than compensates with the best physical stats and a BIS barrel roll jumping animation.

I should add that paladin is going to be better at soloing than warrior as well (better, but not good), mainly because you have the ability to split mobs with lull/root. But where it really shines is in groups.

If your goal is to solo entirely, Paladin will be amongst the hardest classes to play considering you have no prior EQ experience and this is your first character so you are also starting with nothing.

A good weapon will be your top priority, you will spend a lot of time researching locations where you can hunt effectively. For melee characters the early levels are pretty easy but the mobs scale up faster than you do so once it get into the 30s and 40s it starts getting pretty rough without good gear.

The tunnel is east commonlands is your friend, this is effectively the wall street of EQ where people go to buy, sell, and trade gear. I would focus on raising as much money as you can, selling everything that drops while you level, and focusing on getting a good weapon and some cheap gear to fill your slots as melee are heavily gear dependent characters.

The good news is paladins are durable...you have the ability to single pull mobs for killing. You can root a mob, back off, and heal yourself mid fight. You have lay of hands which is a good life saver in those oh shit moments. It will just be a long slow slog to level solo.

Where paladins really shine is in the late game they are amongst the best in game at getting and maintaining agro on a mob, in some cases they are preferred over warriors for some of the toughest mobs in the game due to their agro (the majority of the mobs are still tanked by warriors due to their abilities to mitigate damage in the end game). The also have items that give them the ability to complete heal which can be the difference between winning or losing a high level raid target if things go sideways.

Dwarf paladin for a player that's never played over human warrior..

Just realized I didn't specifically mention it in my initial post but of the 2 options paladin is the only viable one. A human warrior will not be able to solo without a significant investment in gear, maybe save that challenge for a 2nd toon once you get the first one to 60 and have some funds to gear them up.

Wow, OP, I missed the part where you said solo. I saw “warrior or paladin” and was like “This guy will have a great time grouping.” So I guess ignore my post if you are 100% solo. Though to solely solo would be to miss out on some of the best fun in this game.

And before someone says “but I have to walk my iguana so I can’t group :(” groups don’t have to be hours-long grinds. Sometimes I group for 30 minutes and go do something else.

What strategies are you considering to make the most out of playing a Dwarf Paladin or Human Warrior in solo scenarios?

Not all that hard to solo those guys especially if you allow yourself to buy gear in EC. First time playing EQ is the real challenge. With that being said, I soloed a Warrior and Rogue to 45 only using gear I looted myself. It was very time consuming compared to the better solo classes. I enjoyed the challenge, but that's not for everyone.