Best unfunded class?

[Kingmerciless]

So I'm super new to EQ, like this is pretty much my first experience with it. Question is what's the best unfunded class? Even if it's easy to make your first couple hundred plat, what it wasn't?

[Nagoya]

Top is easiest to play naked / self-funded, bot is hardest:

Magician
Wizard
Enchanter
Necromancer
Cleric
Bard
Druid
Rogue
Shaman
Monk
Ranger
Paladin
Shadow Knight
Warrior

My 2 cents [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All classes are playable as a first toon np

[Tecmos Deception]

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

Top is easiest to play naked / self-funded, bot is hardest:

Magician
Wizard
Enchanter
Necromancer
Cleric
Bard
Druid
Rogue
Shaman
Monk
Ranger
Paladin
Shadow Knight
Warrior

My 2 cents [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

All classes are playable as a first toon np

This is pretty close. I'd kinda break it into 3 brackets like this though:

Magician
Necromancer
Cleric
Druid
Enchanter

Wizard
Bard
Rogue
Shaman
Monk
Ranger
Paladin
Shadow Knight

Warrior

Top category relies almost entirely on magic to be effective, especially while leveling up. Gear is generally for convenience... gazughi ring for chanter, more hp/mp for casters, etc; it doesn't really expand what any of the classes can do too much without truly obscene levels of twinking. Chanters probably need gear the most out of any of these to get some early charisma gear, but a naked chanter is still stronger than most classes are geared.

Middle category can do ok without "funding" but will definitely not be shining stars. Melees need weapons, tanks need armor, wizards need mana to do anything but root+nuke solo and they'll often need to do that since groups aren't always happy to have them, etc. Budget gear is relatively cheap and effective, but you do need it to really hit your stride.

Warrior is alone at the bottom. They need threat weapons that are expensive at low levels (good procs from <20 are hard to find I think, high DPS weapons are good threat but are expensive). They need haste to boost their DPS/threat. They need armor to take hits and to boost their damage/hp/resists/dex. They need clickies/consumables to get around solo. Etc.


On blue, 1000pp can give a new character better gear than months of effort on a new, classic server would get you, and even a brand-new character with no connections on the server can make that with most classes by 30 if they work on it. On a new server, the gap between the top and middle and bottom gets enormous because you just won't be able to buy gear. Bronze drops and 2 int rings and stuff like that will be luxuries for a lot of players. Casters will be running around in full cloth with a cracked staff because they spend all their coin on their essential spells. Etc. BUT, as I said above, the classes that are relying on magic operate at nearly full capacity naked. The top group become godly. Even wizards move up from being an "ok when played well" to "pretty dang good" group option when your DPS choices are 1) pet classes, 2) other casters, or 3) melees with fine steel weapons.

[thediggler1]

And I'll just mention that having a druid as a first class will be great for getting around. They have a movement speed buff and ports eventually, and can do well without much gear.

[xabler]

Druid

[DinoTriz2]

Monk is up there

All you need is a Wu's Staff, and people practically give those away

[Kingmerciless]

WQS obtained at the moment, shout outs to the guild. Then a random druid grinding rep, plvled me 2 levels today and gave me a whole wu set.

[loramin]

Druids or Necromancers are the obvious answer, but I'm going to go with a less obvious one: Shaman.

Shaman are excellent soloers without gear, and can absolutely level all the way up to 60 without any gear except the stuff they loot on corpses. Furthermore they can do this either by soloing, grouping, or mixing the two, and I speak from experience (my first character here was a Shaman, and while a friend gave me a Barbarian Spiritist's Hammer which helped a little, it was far from necessary ... or even much of a noticeable improvement)

Now you (or at least other more knowledgeable posters) might be thinking "WTF? Shaman need a 15k Jaundiced Bone Bracer, an almost 100k epic, and an almost 100k Torpor, plus a few other level 60 spells that cost several K". And you/they are right: all those things do help a Shaman a lot, and do cost plat.

But again, you don't need a JBB or an epic to solo, and certainly not to group. Honestly I'd argue a Druid needs their (admittedly much cheaper) Goblin Ghazugi Ring to solo more than a Shaman needs a JBB or epic, and they need it even earlier (level 19 or so). Both the JBB and epic significantly increase solo leveling speed, but what often gets missed is just how fast Shaman can solo even without them.

And then of course there's Torpor, but the way I see it Torpor is like level 61 for Shaman. A level 60 Torpor-less Shaman is pretty much balanced with almost any other class at level 60; getting Torpor just moves them into the unbalanced realm. And while of course you need Torpor to solo the best mobs that drop the most expensive loot, there are plenty of places a Torpor-less (and JBB-less and epic-less) Shaman can farm plat (see the Treasure Hunting guide link in my signature [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]).

While Druids are getting 25p a port to make money, Shaman can make up to 500p/hour (or maybe even more) soloing in places like Droga (if they get say the Essence Earring camp, and then kill as many goblins as they can in between for fine steel). And of course, once they do farm the plat for all their toys (which, again, they totally can do without said toys) only Enchanters can rival them for soloing the most difficult/valuable stuff in the game.

So personally when Green arrives I'm going to be really torn. Part of me wants to do something different, like start a Mage, but part of me loves Shaman and knows what a great class they are to start with on a new server. Even though I've done him twice before, version 3.0 of Loramin (live was 1.0) may well be my first character in October.

[derpcake2]

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

Even though I've done him twice before, version 3.0 of Loramin (live was 1.0) may well be my first character in October.

Are you going to pick the worst available race again?

[Jimjam]

Originally Posted by derpcake2 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Are you going to pick the worst available race again?

Loramin actually plays barbarians, not ogres!

AKA best shaman race by far.