What makes the BEST warrior?

[WizardEQ]

I've been having discussions with lots of people about his, and I'm curious not ever having played a melee class. So here's a question to all you mid- to high-level warriors out there.

What makes the BEST warrior? Is it holding aggro at any expense for your group. Is it dealing out the most damage? Is it looking the best (ha ha)?

As a wizard, what I look for is when can I start burning down a mob without gaining aggro. With an SK I can usually do it around 80% or so. With a warrior, usually around 50-60% or so. Do warriors make up for this with weapons that proc?

Also, what's the best weapon for lvl 40-50 warriors in the 10k or less range?

[Ektar]

in a group setting the warrior wants to hold agro... if that's his priority then that's the extent of a skillset you can want.

perhaps recognizing when he may be about to lose agro and ready to hit taunt... but as is the commonly held belief, situational awareness, reaction time, and knowing what to do in such a little nuance are all not a possibility in eq [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.].

and just sayin? you can nuke at 100% with a paladin tank. sks~ laf!

[wrxBRAH]

Originally Posted by WizardEQ [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

What makes the BEST warrior?

Gmuk hands down

[YendorLootmonkey]

The best warrior is the warrior that does his job the best. So what is a warrior's job? Some say its to hold aggro. I will take it a step further and say:

A warrior's primary job is to create the most efficient mana-to-hp conversion for the group/raid.

This encompasses holding aggro so no one is wasting mana healing non-tanks, having a large amount of HP so the cleric gets more bang for the buck out of the Complete Heal, and minimizing the damage taken over time (which needs mana to replenish) with AC/discs.

In most group cases, due to a knight's snap aggro, they can reduce the damage taken to the rest of the group (therefore using less group mana for heals) and allowing the group to engage full DPS sooner, therefore killing the mob faster and reducing the overall damage taken over time. However, in some raid scenarios it becomes more efficient to have the warrior, at the expense of having to hold back on raid DPS since aggro off the tank could mean instant death and severe reduction in DPS.

[Taminy]

Originally Posted by YendorLootmonkey [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

The best warrior is the warrior that does his job the best. So what is a warrior's job? Some say its to hold aggro. I will take it a step further and say:

A warrior's primary job is to create the most efficient mana-to-hp conversion for the group/raid.

This encompasses holding aggro so no one is wasting mana healing non-tanks, having a large amount of HP so the cleric gets more bang for the buck out of the Complete Heal, and minimizing the damage taken over time (which needs mana to replenish) with AC/discs.

In most group cases, due to a knight's snap aggro, they can reduce the damage taken to the rest of the group (therefore using less group mana for heals) and allowing the group to engage full DPS sooner, therefore killing the mob faster and reducing the overall damage taken over time. However, in some raid scenarios it becomes more efficient to have the warrior, at the expense of having to hold back on raid DPS since aggro off the tank could mean instant death and severe reduction in DPS.

Midnight mallet = no aggro issues on raids [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Ektar]

yendor you're a clever monkey and I like you, but you just said this:

some say a warrior should hold agro; but I would go further and say a warrior's job is to hold agro.

[Arkanjil]

You're all wrong. Warriors need to look pretty....duh [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[YendorLootmonkey]

Originally Posted by Ektar [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

yendor you're a clever monkey and I like you, but you just said this:

some say a warrior should hold agro; but I would go further and say a warrior's job is to hold agro.

No... because a warrior geared up with 2500 hp is not doing his job of providing for the most efficient conversion of mana to hp compared to a warrior geared up with 2800 hp and diligent about maintaining his buffs to get to 3500 or whatever, given they hold the same aggro. Cleric has to CH the latter warrior less often.

I agree its nitpicky, but more of a complete answer.

[greatdane]

Everquest's classes are so primitive that general game knowledge accounts for much more than class skill, and this is especially true for warriors. There just isn't much to the class, and how well you perform has much more to do with how well you know the zone, the game mechanics, and how to gear your character. This is why most experienced Everquesters can pick up pretty much any class, even ones they haven't really played before, and do just fine. There are no rotations, no builds, and really nothing to any class that you can't either plainly realize from its spells/skills or easily figure out from having grouped with them.

As for warriors, gear is by far the most important thing. 95% of a warrior's repertoire consists of targeting a mob and auto-attacking it, but getting good gear is the "challenge". High AC/HP is the most difficult part, because you really don't need the best weapons in the game to hold aggro, you can do it with Ykesha clubs or Sarnak Warhammer and Silken Whip of Ensnaring, both of which cost a few thousand. Almost all weapons have the same proc rate, and for the most part, what you pay for when you buy a rare, insanely expensive warrior weapon is the slightly better ratio. You don't actually get 100k worth of upgrade by getting a 10/22 ringed mace over a 9/24 ykesha club. Maximizing your tanking stats is what really costs, and especially doing so while maintaining reasonable resists.

You don't need the best of the best weapons to tank properly. There's not much of a difference between the widely recognized tank weapons, and you'll do fine with any of the following: Ykeshan War Club, Sarnak Warhammer, Silken Whip of Ensnaring, even plain old SSoY will suffice until the very endgame. If you're just tanking low-health XP group mobs, you can easily use a Throneblade of the Ykesha or Truncheon of Doom as well since their high delays give you a much better change of proccing on your first couple of swings. On mobs that die in 15 seconds, one early proc is enough and you don't need the long-term sustained threat generation of the more expensive, faster weapons.

[Ashimar]

The best warrior is a warrior in Full Cobalt And/or Indicolite, with a Cloak of Flames - that uses twin SSOY/Ykeshian Clubs/Sarnak hammer, presses taunt often, stands face to face with the mob when its rooted, uses assist macros when attacking mob with other mobs hugging it, uses mob pulling macros, and uses disciplines wisely (my favorite is Evasive)

Thats about it really.