Cleric vs Paladin
 

I'm just starting my first experience with p1999 after not having played EQ in about 10 years. I'm trying to decide between rolling a cleric or a paladin on green/teal. I'm leaning more toward paladin because I like to be a snowflake, but definitely not against playing a cleric instead. I have no experience playing either class, as I was strictly a wizard during my time playing EQ.

My main concern is that I can only play sporadically during the week, which means I'll have to be able to solo to some extent. I don't need either class to be great at soloing, I just need it to be possible. I know paladin is probably not going to be easy for soloing but wondering if it's at least doable. Opinions are greatly appreciated, as I am feeling like a total noob. :confused:

Clerics can’t really solo anything unless it is undead pretty early in their career. Then it is nearly a full load of mana per mob. Then you sit and med up. I’d argue that if soloing is the criteria for you the neither class is suitable. I have a cleric purely for groupwork and a Druid for soloing and be able to get around.

Please play a paladin. We need tanks out here dear god.

Don't roll as dwarf tho they're the absolute worst.

cleric is a solid choice. They really are *pretty decent* soloers vs undead, given the understanding that it is boring, it is basically root nuke med. THere are plenty of people out there who leveled clerics totally solo more or less just nuking undead, it really as far as soloing classes goes is better than many. You know this but it is also an amazing group class and a great way to make a bunch of friends when you don't know anyone coming to a server new!

If your criteria is "I wanna group mainly but want the option to solo at least somewhat effectively" they are a great bet!

Cleric nukes vs undead are as efficient as any other classes nukes in the game, plus they get buffs, heals, can melee okay, root, lull. They are pretty good solo actually.

I'm playing a Paladin and I can tell you tanking is rough right now.
Even with full banded and a cracked darkwood shield I can get wrecked pretty quickly and the poor healers have a tough time catching up. To be fair tho I do usually have a druid or shaman healing me.

As far as fun is concerned? having an absolute blast! tanking, spot healing, pulling, ghetto buffing and clutch LoH moments. I would definitely recommend the class!

Well if there's two criteria, being unique and being able to solo, then the only result is paladin. Clerics aren't unique and neither class can solo well, but clerics need a raid drop, Dawnstar, to solo (undead) effectively whereas paladins only need a Guk drop, Ghoulbane, to do so.

There's a side argument to make in that you have limited time, and pallies may not be overly welcome in groups with their penalty and inability to tank until mid-levels.

If your requirement is to "solo to some extent" and not "I just blew everything I had on this one mob and now I can look for a group while I heal/med up" then neither is a good option for you. I mean a paladin can solo easier I guess, not having played one, but if you played a wizard on live than soloing these two probably won't be like you remember, especially at higher levels.

I guess it would help if I clarified. I am able to play sporadically at work, so I have time to kill a mob or two, take a break and come back a few minutes later. I just want to be able to do that but I'm not sure if a leveling paladin would be able to kill mobs that give xp before they kill him.

Hag tower in unrest comes to mind. Perfect place for Clerics to solo