Returning player, need advice please!

[Boarder981]

Thanks all for the great responses! I was grouping in Mistmoore for quite a while yesterday, and only managed to get one yellow bubble. I know level 30 is a hell level, but between people ditching groups and all the trains, it's a hassle (died once, too).

I'll probably head over to South Karana and see how I fair. I tend to like wide open spaces anyway (SoW helps).

@Lhancelot: I know that Ogres and Trolls are more optimal, but with my limited playtime I just can't see myself starting from scratch. Plus, Ogres and Trolls come with pretty hefty XP penalties (15% and 20% respectively, right?). Not to mention evil races can have a hard time traveling and banking!

Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind, but it would be a lot of time wasted leveling the Barb. Plus, do higher level Shamans really melee when soloing? I thought it was mostly root/rot, where the frontal stun immunity wouldn't be a factor.

[loramin]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

@Lhancelot: I know that Ogres and Trolls are more optimal, but with my limited playtime I just can't see myself starting from scratch. Plus, Ogres and Trolls come with pretty hefty XP penalties (15% and 20% respectively, right?). Not to mention evil races can have a hard time traveling and banking!

Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind, but it would be a lot of time wasted leveling the Barb.

I know that was addressed to Lhancelot, but I just wanted to chime in and say (again) you are totally correct. Trolls take a -20% and Barbarians take a -5%, but Troll regen won't make you level 15% faster. When you're playing a twinked alt this doesn't matter as much, but for your first character it's significant.

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Plus, do higher level Shamans really melee when soloing? I thought it was mostly root/rot, where the frontal stun immunity wouldn't be a factor.

Shaman do melee while soloing at 60, but not for the extra melee damage of our spear [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] We do it because certain difficult mobs (eg. Skyfire or Western Wastes dragons) summon, and thus can't be root/rotted. Because we're badasses with slow we can still fight those mobs (with the proper gear of course), and when Ogres do it they have less of a chance of having their spells interrupted.

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Thanks all for the great responses! I was grouping in Mistmoore for quite a while yesterday, and only managed to get one yellow bubble. I know level 30 is a hell level, but between people ditching groups and all the trains, it's a hassle (died once, too).

I'll probably head over to South Karana and see how I fair. I tend to like wide open spaces anyway (SoW helps).

@Lhancelot: I know that Ogres and Trolls are more optimal, but with my limited playtime I just can't see myself starting from scratch. Plus, Ogres and Trolls come with pretty hefty XP penalties (15% and 20% respectively, right?). Not to mention evil races can have a hard time traveling and banking!

Trust me, the thought has crossed my mind, but it would be a lot of time wasted leveling the Barb. Plus, do higher level Shamans really melee when soloing? I thought it was mostly root/rot, where the frontal stun immunity wouldn't be a factor.

Yeah, as barb at least you can bank and move around more freely compared to the "evil" races. If you are limited in time to play then barb probably is your best choice.

I have a 55 shaman, and I do melee still on him. Also, I do find it useful to have FSI as I have a much better chance to get my slows/root off on a mob that's eating my face off.

The good thing about the shaman you can use different methods to XP, some do a lot more root-rotting, while others prefer to melee more.

Back to FSI, it's useful in solo situations, and is useful in groups too.

When I was in groups in KC, I can't tell you how many times I was thankful that I had it, because sometimes my slow spells get resisted. When the slow spell gets resisted, the mob is on top of you, eating your face.

In this situation, it's nice to face the mob, and lessen the chance that they are going to stun me, which will interrupt my spell cast.

Sure, I can still get interrupted, but my channeling skill gives me a good chance to let me cast through hits from the mob, while the FSI will eliminate the landing of a stun from the mob which pretty much ensures the spell will be interupted.

Anyway, barbs are fine, really the class is so powerful it doesn't make a big difference, nothing gamebreaking anyway when you choose any of the races.

I just like to pick on iksar particularly because it seems their supporters are fanatical in trying to prove why they are the master race when in reality for shamans, they are not. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Boarder981]

Good stuff... I almost want to re-roll Ogre! Haha

Any suggestions on cheap WIS gear? I think the best I have now is Bloodstained Tunic (got lucky in Unrest!), a couple +2 wis earrings, 45hp/4ac rings, and a spear with some +wis (don't remember the name).

[loramin]

First off, go for stamina gear over wisdom. Both are useful, but stamina keeps you alive AND (through cann) adds to your mana pool, but wisdom only adds mana.

Second, I'd recommend that you worry about leveling, not loot. Even if you add 40 stamina (unlikely) it won't make you recover HP any faster, which means you won't really level faster. You might avoid one death with that extra stamina, so you might level slightly faster, but you'll have to spend a lot more time worrying about gear, earning plat, and shopping than you'll save.

We shaman are awesomely powerful and can kill stuff just fine wearing only ringmail (or whatever mobs of your level are dropping). The only gear that really matters when leveling up IMHO is stuff like the JBB or your epic.

P.S. But that's just my take on what's best for leveling fastest. If you enjoy working on gear then don't let me stop you.

[Lhancelot]

I would suggest trying to get raw hp gears over sta stuff if you can.

Raw hps usually ends up far better because sta stuff won't grant a ton of hps for shaman, not like it does for tank classes. That being said, sure, stamina is nice to have though for added hps.

Once you got regen and canni, the higher your HP pool is the better because you can convert your health to mana. Obviously the faster you regen the more efficient this becomes, but the other part is you need a nice big health pool too.

Some shaman stick all their energy into getting high wisdom and this isn't really necessary once you get good at using canni properly.

The best shaman I grouped with as a lowbie had really low wis but tons of HP gears on, and that's when I seen with my own eyes how I could gear my shaman and be good in groups.

More hps also makes you more tanky and not as easy to kill when you get aggro.

You could have 140-150 wis, and easily do quite well if you get decent hp rings and other HP items for other slots, imo.

[gkmarino]

Hello I'm not sure what ogre starting faction is with Freeport militia but you could easily get your level 1 ogre shaman to level 10 with deathfist slashed belts and use wolf form if the initial faction was necessary to turn in. Just an idea to save you time in the annoying race to level 9 spells.

Then there are the more expensive goblin ears from HPK but I don't know a lot about those. But time could be saved!

[loramin]

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

Raw hps usually ends up far better because sta stuff won't grant a ton of hps for shaman, not like it does for tank classes. That being said, sure, stamina is nice to have though for added hps.

Excellent point (which I should have mentioned myself when recommending Stamina; glad you did!)

[Boarder981]

I use canni all the time and it's great, but doesn't it only give hp to mana at a 60/20 ratio? I read that for sheer mana, wis has a much bigger impact.

I do see your point about +hp gear vs +sta gear. Any suggestions on +hp gear aside from the rings? The equipment section on the p99 Shaman wiki page lists mostly +wis gear [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Lhancelot]

Originally Posted by Boarder981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I use canni all the time and it's great, but doesn't it only give hp to mana at a 60/20 ratio? I read that for sheer mana, wis has a much bigger impact.

I do see your point about +hp gear vs +sta gear. Any suggestions on +hp gear aside from the rings? The equipment section on the p99 Shaman wiki page lists mostly +wis gear [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Scalemail cloak and scalemail arms both cheap and good for shaman. Tattered mantle, or worked dragonwing mantle is cheap, mucilaginous belt, cheap shield is clay guardian shield with hps on it, mask of wurms is cheap mask... Some off the top of my head. Oh, gator scale legs ofc, they nice. Adding more items: Othmir fur cap cheap and has 6 wis and 6 hps on it.