New to EverQuest, but not Tanking, so....

[migori]

I have never played EverQuest, but I like tanking. Played one in World of Warcraft a while ago.
So, does anyone have a suggestion for a good class to start with?
I have read about paladin, warrior, and shadow knight, but I have no idea if one is a better or worse idea of if I am alone or in later game with others.

[Topgunben]

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

I have never played EverQuest, but I like tanking. Played one in World of Warcraft a while ago.
So, does anyone have a suggestion for a good class to start with?
I have read about paladin, warrior, and shadow knight, but I have no idea if one is a better or worse idea of if I am alone or in later game with others.

You'd be best served to go SK. Warrior is a weak class until later levels or expensive gear. You won't be able to hold aggro as a warrior because your weapons will be bush league. Just about every class will be pulling aggro off of you until you get better gear.

SK gets disease cloud, which generates a ton of hate. I've grouped my twink monk with ALS SK's and have had a hard time pulling aggro off them while grouped in upper guk. Disease cloud is some of the best snap aggro out there, which is strange because it's a super weak spell.

Lastly, while monk isn't considered a tank, in my experience, monks will tank just as well up to a certain point/level.. Even in Karnors Castle the other day, we had a monk tanking LCY with no problem, plus damage output was better with monk.

Warriors are just a bad class in classic EQ, yes they are needed for end game raiding, and yes, with hundreds of thousands of PP in gear, they can be great DPS, but for the casual first time player trying to make his way through Norrath, every other class is going to be a much better option.

[Halfcell]

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

You'd be best served to go SK. Warrior is a weak class until later levels or expensive gear....

I was so ready to hate this post and argue against it, but I wound up agreeing with you by the end. I would never roll an SK, but that is also because I have been playing EQ for the better part of 20 years and I know that if I want to tank on a new server, I roll a chanter first and then twink the balls out of my warrior later.

Starting from zero, no knowledge, no plat, and just knowing that you like to tank, SK is almost certainly the right call. They tank very well in all content before raids, they are far more versatile than warriors, and they are far more forgiving with regard to learning curve.

Just dont start as an Iksar SK, the XP penalty and the loneliness of starting in Kunark is too much for your first character. Later you may enjoy it, but as a first EQ experience I do not recommend it.

[fadetree]

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

Disease cloud is some of the best snap aggro out there, which is strange because it's a super weak spell.

That spell has 2 aggro components - 1 is the damage and 1 is the disease counter increase, which generates a hate value on it's own. Flame lick is the same way - it's a small dot but it also has an AC debuff which is where all the hate comes from. Any kind of debuff adds a lot of hate.

[Jimjam]

I've found troll SKs to start in a zone where the first few levels are well catered. If you hug the right wall you will find gradually higher level monsters until you get to a dungeon (guk). There are usually a few low level players levelling up here and your not too far from a levelling hot spot for the teens (oasis).

If you'd like less monstrous character and an even busier player environment try a human of Innorruuk in Freeport. A compromise between the two might be a dark elf. These two races start close to the common lands, a trade hub (so there are plenty of higher level players to help you or pass off handmedowns).

[elwing]

Warriors are the only real tanks when it comes to end raids, both paladin and sk have no defense disc at all. Also warrior do quite fine dps unlike the knights. But I would counsel not to start as a warrior, warrior is really gear dependant, with all the twinks around you'll be really agro challenged...
Sk and paladin tanks just has well, sk have slightly more dps due to higher offense and more offensive spell lineups but the difference is low and their overall dps is low, sk have more tools to pull and solo while paladin have more support tools for the group. Both class can easily tank in any group up to 40 with a plain set of banded and a 50p ec weapon... So your pick based on whether you like to pull/solo or heal the group...

In the end game, both paladin and sk have limited uses, both are low dps, can't tank much, sk can have great use in the pull team while pali have their 200hp buff and occasional patch heal

[port9001]

Warrior - only tank that can tank endgame content, so if you're raiding and want to be the man in front of the dragon, you'll have to pick this class; only dual wielding tank if you like that; extremely gear dependent but I wouldn't let that stop you, that's part of the adventure

Paladin - holds aggro easily with low mana blind spell; can root and stun mobs for in camp crowd control; surprisingly decent heals that can keep a suboptimal group humming; lay on hands will save you and others all the time; lull is a decent if sometimes problematic way to break camps; good faction in most cities

Shadow Knight - holds aggro easily with low level DoT spell; can snare mobs which is handy for runners; gets both types of invis; feign death is awesome for splitting camps and never dying; faction issues but easily worked around

Edit: I wouldn't say either knight tank is better for group content. They both do their core job of being a big wall of plate that never loses aggro about the same. What they bring in addition to that is different flavors of utility that will be better or worse depending on the rest of the group.

[Legidias]

All the talk of tanking end game only applies to 0.001% of actual tanks. Most warriors wont even tank AoW or ST or city leaders. For most of the stuff you will tank, even in raids, you can get the gear requirements very easily. Full crustacean armor will let you tank HoT fine with some healers. Bumping it up to Thurg plate will just be icing on the cake for that, and you'll probably tank Kunark dragons just fine too.

[elwing]

The gear requirement is not about armor legidias warrior can tank in banded better than sk ot pali and crustacean and later thurg is cheap and enough for pretty much anything you would do in exp group, the issue is with good enough weapons and haste to hold agro... That or have to beg someone to root all your mobs

[kjs86z]

As a first character, your only two choices really are SK or Paladin if you'd like to be the designated group tank. Deciding between the two comes down to what you think is cooler. I'd give the edge to SK as they solo a bit better and can Feign Death...but if you like the pally archetype better then by all means...its a great class.

Warrior is way too gear dependent. If you roll a SK / Pally and really fall in love with the game and are certain you want to be the best possible class for the super end game, then re-roll warrior later.

Coming from WoW...you have to understand that the pace of EQ is going to feel agonizingly-slow. I played vanilla through wotlk as a top end raider and hopped onto P99 never having played EQ before. It was quite the learning curve...but you couldn't pay me to go back to WoW now.

Just always keep the wiki open. Look up stuff like zone maps, guides, etc. Be social and don't be afraid to ask your group mates questions.