Creating a monk vs a Shadowknight
 

I have been playing and have advanced my Shaman and Necromancer but I have such a problem (self created by altitiss) I seem to want to make a monk or shadowknight. Yes I am itching to play a melee.

I am however going to be untwinked since my other characters are below 10 so not going to be starting out with any funds so I want to loot every rusty weapon in sight and I do not want to worry about weight so that I can get some funds and may be buy some weapons for either my shadowknight or monk.

My problem is therefore whether I should try playing a monk when I would be reducing my AC every time I am encumbered which will be without doubt very often. I also read monks cannot solo without being twinked which worried me a lot since I play when the server population is lower and solo a lot. Would it be worth it for me to take up tailoring to get some silk gear or is it too expensive to tailor.

On the other hand the shadowknight is also highly gear dependent too so I am torn with which class would be best untwinked and able to solo well in spite of being so. Also I am not keen on playing another class that might be hated and have to work my ass off killing gnolls or orcs. Then worry about whether I'm ruining my own evil guild factions. I got such a heartattack when my Necromancer got killed in Seafarer's Roost when I went to buy some dawrven ale there.

I also don't want to play an Iksar , my monk will be human and my shadowknight a darkelf or erudite or human.

If youre looting everything and want to solo more, SK = higher weight cap, can still FD (at a higher level), can solo better with fear / snare. Monks do more damage.

You're right of course but I wondered how much AC mattered while soloing is all. The annoyance of having to worry about your weight is definitely not much fun but I was hoping I can still solo even if my AC dropped.

If you plan on playing these characters untwinked then neither will be worth a sh!t to solo with. Both will be absolutely terrible. SKs don't do enough damage without massive twink levels for fear kiting to be viable. Monks untwinked can not tank without a shaman/chanter slowing (bard slow causes too much agro for monks to ever actually 'tank')

I have a 60 monk and 42 SK (also have 58 necro, saw you have played that as well). I leveled the monk from scratch completely untwinked and I leveled the SK with 200k worth of gear. I would imagine that a sh!ty geared monk is better than a sh!ty geared SK but honestly gear in P99 is not that big of a deal in a grouping situation when you get haste, fungi, weapon taken care of.

Once you are 46+ all the good gear is no drop so I wouldn't even worry about gear and would play what you want. Monks at 60 and fully geared are great tanks, but before that they are terrible tanks with no agro control and you will be like "WTF I keep reading how monks are great tanks".... yea that only applies to high gear levels and having a shaman slowing every mob.

So basically you will probably end up pulling on either class - it comes down to if you want to DPS more or be a real Tank. generally I would think you will have an easier time as a monk since they are super saiyan mode on P99.

Also monk epic is actually obtainable and SK epic is perma sh!t sock status.

TLDR - Both classes are actually fairly similar, I would lean towards Monk because SK lacks the UMPH I think you may be looking for. Both classes are dog sh!t solo untwinked

Thanks Spyder73 that helped. I also went and checked out the SK guild in Qeynos and it was awesome possom but I decided that the wandering NPC someone called Gash who killed me frightened me lol. I still cannot decide but leaning towards monk .I cannot take the scare playing evil classes give me. One is enough plus the Necro has the same spells.

Going with Monk.

Iksar monk is going to be leaps and bounds better to level than a shadow knight. They are borderline OP level 1 naked compared to most other classes. Not only that, decent monk gear is cheap as FUCK. Wu's Quivering Staff is like... 100plat? I'll gladly give you the plat for one. Awesome weapon compared to cheap SK weapons.

Don't forget the most important part!
Fashionquest wise monks look like stupid and dirty hobos holding sticks from level 1 to 60, always with the same two races. You'll be just one of the Puncherzz, Katanadragon and Lotuskick out there! /puke

Shadow Knights on the other hand is one of the most badass looking class; having access to good-ish classic choices like humans and erudites, or big bad boys ogres and trolls, and sex gods dark elves. Unfortunately no Gnomes SK yet on p99 though, or that would be the ultimate BiS choice for Fashionquest without any kind of competition.

But think carefully about the disgusting amount of precious hours you will dump on EQ and your character; that's the time you'll spend watching that tiny pixel ass, choose wisely! ;)

PS: untwinked melee toons can't solo past level 15. Cross this off your list. No can do. I guess Monks can at least manage to not die? at 17+ because of best FD, but that doesn't mean you'll solo XP anything hehe.

Oh Nagoya you made me change my mind now back to shadowknight cos you're right a lot monks means a lot of their stuff is expensive. Guess I'll have to avoid Gash and live it out.

ack just read what Twochain said now back to indecision ,I'll level both to 10 and then decide.

There's also flavor considerations. Being an evil knight with spells and armor is a different vibe then being a monk, obviously. While there's nothing wrong with being a powergamer who only considers the most efficient raw power classes as worth playing, you might be the type who just likes the vibe/feeling of a Shadowknight better, even if it's objectively not the fastest way to level to 60.

I would also point out that untwinked these two classes don't really perform the same role in a typical group. Shadowknight is considered more of a tank class (before high levels + lots of gear make Monk a good tank in later levels) so you'll usually be the one taking hits in your xp groups. This is especially true since you have a great set of aggro spells where Monk has no way of holding aggro other than raw damage. Monk is considered more of a DPS class. Both do a lot of pulling, with Monk obviously being called on more frequently.

I must explain that I cannot tank because I suck at dungeons and I also suck at pulling. I'm only talking about playing them for fun factor not looking to tank,pull or anything like that for groups and I may solo mostly because I think people's expectation of my non existent skills might get me scolded. I will explain I am an awful melee player which is why I always play healers. I do however enjoy playing different classes for flavour and fun. I am not looking to take this class and tank or play at the top. I was reading a thread by this chap who played a dwarf paladin entirely solo from start to finish and he managed it without twinking made me stop and think.

https://www.project1999.com/forums/s...t=84694&page=4

read what Larethan wrote