Cleric or Shaman?
 

Hey all, so I started playing here with a friend of mine. He made a warrior and I made a Cleric, we figured since this is player run server there prob wouldnt be a very big server population so we might as well pick the 2 things needed to make any group work... a tank and healer.

Were still low level atm and I have been reading alot about Shaman being the best duo w/ melee characters.

So I was wandering ... what are the main difference between Cleric and Shaman? How are the shamans heals compared to a Clerics? Which is needed more / more of a "must have" in a group, Cleric or Shaman? Are there more Clerics or Shamans on the server?

I figured I should ask here on the forums and get as many opinions as I could before I make up my mind on if I should or shouldnt reroll shaman.

THANKS ALL!!!

Well as far as I know, here's how the healing classes rank in regards to healing power:
1). Cleric
2). Druid
3). Shaman

However, Shamans get abilities that melee classes like such as: Slow, Buffs, SoW, etc. Plus, Shamans can off-tank in a pinch at lower levels.

For duoing, warrior/shaman is much better than warrior/cleric.

As for which would be more desirable in a full group, it's about even. Maybe a slight nod to the cleric.

I found that a lot of the time when making groups at lower levels, I could survive a group with 1 cleric, but 1 druid or 1 shaman was rough. I would generally get 2 druids, 1 druid/1 shaman, 2 shamans or something like that if I couldn't find a cleric. It definitely becomes a lot more noticeable once clerics get complete heal. Your XP group will be hands down better if you only need to rely on 1 healer instead of 2. Resurrect will also be invaluable at later levels.

The shaman may be considered more of a fun class, and a more soloable class (buff, heal, debuff, slow, dps, sow, etc.) whereas a cleric you are basically going to buff/heal and that's about it.

Either way I don't think the combo of a warrior/shaman or warrior/cleric is really going to be that good at duoing. If you are wanting a warrior, then plan to group (or at least add dps and be a trio+) and I would suggest sticking with the cleric.

EDIT* war/shm war/clr won't be good at duoing unless you can afford fbss yakx2

Well we pretty much only really play the characters when were both online, so I will always be grouped with the warrior because we want to stay same level.

It sounds like in a group a Cleric is better because the heals are much stronger. What we wanted to do was pick the 2 most important class's, so we can make groups faster/easier, because its always much easier to fill in DPS and CC once you the tank/healer.

I guess if I went Shaman, I would be more of a buffer/debuffer with off heals, so we would still need to find a healer for the group anyway, right?

So far I am leaning on just sticking with the Cleric just because we can make just about any group work with a warrior / cleric combo ... I guess it isnt the same way for a Shaman though?

Does anyone know which class is more popular on the server?

As an aside, make sure your Warrior gets some good weapons. Taunt is screwy on this server, so weapon procs are very important.

There does seem to be a lack in shamans at higher levels, but if you are wanting to have the core classes to start groups, cleric/warrior is going to be it. And, you are never going to get turned down from a guild because you are a cleric....

Ive never really played EQ much, or raided for that matter. Are Clerics more useful in raids or groups? Or is there not much difference between the 2?

They are going to be useful in both. Shamans big raid usefulness is debuff/slow, but that can be done in most raids by a couple shamans if not 1. Larger & complete heals will always be useful in groups or raids. Later on once we start hitting Kunark and Velious, we will more than likely start seeing the 4-5 cleric CH rotation come back to life.

FBSS + yakx2 isn't needed for duoing.

FBSS + decent weapon(s) even fairly cheap ones would work fine for duoing, or a mith2h. Still expensive though of course.