Not sure which class to pick -- Looking for guidance

[Shortstack]

As a background, I never played Classic EQ until PoP and left soon after for WoW. I played a cleric on p99 a while ago with a group of friends but did not enjoy it very much, and likewise my Paladin friend did not enjoy tanking, so we are trying again but switching roles this time with new characters.

I have narrowed my choices down to three: warriors, shadow knights, and monks. I'm having trouble, however, narrowing it further.

Warriors seem to be the standardized tank that deals good damage (a bonus in our group that will likely comprise of me, a cleric/shaman, and an enchanter/monk) and takes the most hits, but seems to struggle with aggro unlike pal/sk. None of us are rich in game so it seems unlikely that I would be able to gear him up heavily.

Shadowknight seems like a viable alternative since they still do reasonable damage, generate good aggro, can pull, tank groups really well (this is all I'll do likely) and have a lot of cool utility. Also I can be an ogre which is a BIG plus since I love the way they look and I love sorta dumb characters. Also seems to be less gear dependent than warrior?

Monk seems like the quirky alternative that doesn't seem to be gear dependent but I'm not sure how viable they are for tanking.

Any input is appreciated, I'm completely torn between them. Any advice from expert and tanks is welcome!

[gildor]

If you plan on just enjoying the game the way up, and are not end-game oriented..any hybrid (paladin, SK, Bard, Ranger), warrior, or monk can tank all content on the way. Something to consider.

[Sage Truthbearer]

Warriors can dish out very respectable DPS, have a significant role in raiding later on, have dual wield, crit/crippling hits, and some awesome class disciplines. The downside is that you might struggle more with getting/maintaining aggro in groups than an SK would. Also, some people might not find it too interesting being a pure tank melee class with no utility spells.

SKs can get and maintain aggro effortlessly, make excellent group tanks, and bring a bunch of different tools to a soloing or grouping like invisibility, fd, snares, dots, lifetaps, a pet, and fear. The downside is that you have poor dps, no dual wield, crappy disciplines, and will not have a significant role on raids later on.

Pick the class that fits more with how prefer to enjoy EQ.

[Jimjam]

In much of classic velious a well geared monk could tank better than a warrior; They could reach the AC hard cap, but had bonus defence from being a monk in addition to having much improved avoidance abilities.

I'm not sure if it's exactly the same here (probably no AC hardcap for starters), but I suggest you won't be making too big a sacrifice having a monk as tank. Monks can generate a lot of hate through melee, as long as they don't FD it off, and warriors are in many ways reliant on having a caster root the mob for you, which leaves the monk no worse off.

[RDawg816]

Being a warrior is fun. Just being able to take so much damage and get those crits/crips are a bonus.
Feign Death is super fun as well.

I would suggest these combos...
1. Shaman, monk, warrior
2. Cleric, monk, sk
3. Shaman, enchanter, monk
4. Cleric, enchanter, monk

Scenario 1, monk can pull and do dps - shaman can (de)buff, heal and cc - you can tank either with root/fd or taunt, when it works. Once you have aggro, the shaman will be medding anyways.
Scenario 2, monk pulls and dps - cleric heals - you help pull and get snap aggro.
Scenario 3, enchanter can cc, buff and dps - shaman can (de)buff (especially pet) and heal - you can pull and dps.
Scenario 4, cleric can heal and buff (especially the enchanter) - enchanter can (de)buff, cc and do dps - you would pull and dps.

[Danth]

If you really like an Ogre, make an Ogre. Enjoyment is the single most important aspect of a character.

Warriors struggle for aggro as you noticed. They're gear dependent, but mid-range gear is affordable and adequate to allow the class to perform its role. Warriors work well with classes that generate low aggro themselves, or can shed aggro at will, such as Monks and Clerics.

Shadow Knights don't struggle for aggro and bring feign pulling if your group doesn't have it. Shadow Knights are at their best tanking for classes that generate large amounts of aggro such as Shamans and Enchanters. Shadow Knights have modest solo capability.

Monks can tank if they have to but they're not great at it. They have similarly poor aggro as Warriors, no Taunt, and much lower hit points. The Shadow Knight and Monk classes have a lot of overlap in the jobs they do, with the Monk heavily favoring offense (it has far superior damage output) and the Shadow Knight being more defensive-focused.

Danth

[iruinedyourday]

I think monk is more fun.. they are pretty gear dependant when you start getting into the game, but so is warrior.

If you prefer any sense of self worth and ability to do interesting soloing tactics and tricks, go monk.

If you want to be a group ONLY tank, go warrior... if you want to be a roleplayer go SK.

A monk decently geared from the EC tunnel, or from leveling on Red, will group tank fine until you find a better tank, at which point you'll switch to DPS... if you were SK you'd switch to less helpful secondary tank.. as warrior you'll just feel like a 3rd wheel if you get another better geared warrior.

As a monk, you'll likely get more invites to duo/trio the great cash camps than you would as a war and definitely would as an SK.

Raid gearing a monk is hard, cus a lot of people have them as alts, cus they are just such great classes... so be prepared for that... a warrior is almost as difficult, but a little less & a SK is pretty easy to gear in a raid.. but if you're raiding with an SK better gear is like, whats the point? All I do is farm Green mob cash camps with this guy anyway and RP [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Personally I would go monk.. but if you LOVE armor graphics and swords and shit, go warrior. Or sk.. jesus IDK

[Colgate]

monks solo, tank, pull, and dps better than all of those classes

the only time a warrior is a better tank than a monk is on mobs that necessitate defensive discipline (only like 5 exist in the entire game)

[Lojik]

Monk is really easy to gear for cheap. Wus staff is like 100p and you'll out dps wars who have multiple k invested in weapons. Tons of armor options for cheap too.

Is it 3 of you guys? Would recommend necro, shm, monk all iksar. Monk can tank almost anything, requires little gear, syncs well with shm, and necro also syncs well with shm and requires little gearing investment. Shm spells can get expensive but not really until lvl 60. Lvling shm are great in duos/trios.

All 3 of those classes benefit from racial regen as well, and they are all pretty fun classes.

[Shortstack]

I didn't expect so many informative replies so quickly [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] Thanks guys!

You've all given me quite a lot to think over, and I appreciate the depth of each answer. I'm not super concerned with end-game raid tanking, and I'm sure there will be times when I want to solo if the other guys aren't online. So from that I take it warrior might not be the best idea.

SK seems to be a red-haired step child of the group (maybe not so much as paladin though) and that is a bit of a bummer.

A lot of pros for Monk and it doesn't seem to have many cons (except not being beautiful majestic ogres) so that might be the most logical choice. I will probably at least try out monk and either war/sk to get a feel for which I would rather play.

Thanks again for all of the knowledgeable input fellas!