most underpowered class in game?

[starkind]

Ya.

Rangers need something.

Rogue poisons should be like 1 application for a buff that lasts an hr. I would make it dispellable for pvp fun.

Bards need to be nerfed so their songs effect 5 mobs tops. And maybe give them a small buff in some other way. Like double attack. Or a dd that uses all of their mana to do like 10k dmg. Or something like that.

Wizards should be able to hit 6 with aoe and 7 mobs with alkabors.

[MrSparkle001]

Honestly I think wizard and shaman AOE should have either no target limits or a high limit like 10, and made useful so you might actually consider AOE groups. A simple damage increase for AOE spells might be all that's needed.

One of my favorite group types in DAOC was a PBAOE group, where you'd gather a crowd of mobs and start bombing with those high damage PBAOEs. Risky but oh so satisfying. Everquest is a different kind of game entirely and never really explored the viability of AOE groups. AOE spells felt like more of an afterthought. It was always odd that a bard was better at AOE than a wizard. But that's classic Everquest for you lol.

[eqravenprince]

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

Ya.

Rangers need something.

Rogue poisons should be like 1 application for a buff that lasts an hr. I would make it dispellable for pvp fun.

Bards need to be nerfed so their songs effect 5 mobs tops. And maybe give them a small buff in some other way. Like double attack. Or a dd that uses all of their mana to do like 10k dmg. Or something like that.

Wizards should be able to hit 6 with aoe and 7 mobs with alkabors.

Rogue poison should be more like 10 sec spell to create/apply poison, remove components altogether.

Wizards already solo good enough, they need something to make them more useful in a group. Every single other class brings more to a group. No healing, no sustained damage, very light cc. I'd argue that Wizards deserve to have the animations that Enchanters get instead of Enchanters getting them.

[socialist]

The most underpowered class depends on what you value most. You can categorize EQ roughly into three levels of gameplay: solo, group and raid. No class is great at all of them (except maybe shaman, but the act of playing a shaman on raids isn't exactly thrilling), so the title of most underpowered class is completely subjective depending on what you care most about. A class like warrior could be the worst in the game for someone who doesn't raid at all, or the best for someone who focuses on raiding.

Ranger is excellent for more casual players who just want to live in Norrath. They're good enough tanks to do the job for just about any group content, and they're good enough DPS to fill that role as well. One of the worst things for a group's longevity is if the tank leaves, so being a backup tank is amazing for keeping a group going. They're great pullers outdoors, and while they aren't particularly awesome soloers, they can do it. And just having SoW and healing spells is a huge boon for a casual player who wants to see the world. Nothing's worse than getting knocked down to 30% hp on a class that has no healing ability at all, it takes absolutely forever to regenerate naturally.

But it's not a powerful class, and it carries that stigma from ancient times when nobody understood that it's actually great for a ranger to fill one of the group's DPS spots because their output is good enough and they bring snare and serve as an adequate backup tank. If I'm taking a group somewhere where it's really inconvenient to replace the tank, I'll gladly bring a ranger as DPS. They're weak on paper because theorycrafting doesn't take into account all those times when the tank goes "oh gotta go sry" and it takes an hour to find a new one. They're great in practice because that shit happens all the time.

[Jimjam]

Wizards should have got monster summon, representing them binding a creature to their will through brute force of magical shackles instead of summoning through pacts and deals or through subtle whispers.

The monster should have an attack and guard button but no back off.

Souldawouldacoulda.

[Jimjam]

Building on the comment about rangers being good as back up tanks / pullers ... they also, when geared aren’t reliant on having haste in group to close to max dps. They aren’t reliant on a shaman or druid in group for str. The group isn’t reliant on druid/mag for half decent damage shield.

Ranger may seem to be a little boy, but he can put his fingers in a lot of dykes!

[MrSparkle001]

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

Wizards should have got monster summon, representing them binding a creature to their will through brute force of magical shackles instead of summoning through pacts and deals or through subtle whispers.

The monster should have an attack and guard button but no back off.

Souldawouldacoulda.

Wizards should have gotten familiars that could either boost a certain spell damage type or provide other bonuses to things like stats and resists. Picture imps, cats, faerie dragons, mini eyeballs etc. They can help in combat more or buff the wizard more depending on the familiar. You know like you could have a puma familiar that is good at combat but doesn't provide a lot of spell buffing, or a faerie dragon that buffs magical damage but doesn't fare as well if attacked, or a fire imp that buffs fire spell damage and attacks with fire attacks, etc.

A similar system was used in Neverwinter Nights, and it was fun and useful. Wizards in Everquest are bland.

[socialist]

Originally Posted by MrSparkle001 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Wizards should have gotten familiars that could either boost a certain spell damage type or provide other bonuses to things like stats and resists. Picture imps, cats, faerie dragons, mini eyeballs etc. They can help in combat more or buff the wizard more depending on the familiar. You know like you could have a puma familiar that is good at combat but doesn't provide a lot of spell buffing, or a faerie dragon that buffs magical damage but doesn't fare as well if attacked, or a fire imp that buffs fire spell damage and attacks with fire attacks, etc.

A similar system was used in Neverwinter Nights, and it was fun and useful. Wizards in Everquest are bland.

That would just be a bit too much like magicians, though. I don't think making wizards yet another pet class is the answer. All they needed to do was give wizards better mana sustain outside of combat. Something that doesn't give them unlimited power inside each fight, but gives them the ability to maintain their output in a grinding group. Basically, give Harvest a much shorter cooldown so you can cast it between each pull. Make it 30 seconds or something instead of ten minutes, and suddenly wizards are way more viable in groups without really impacting their performance inside individual fights.

[MrSparkle001]

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

That would just be a bit too much like magicians, though. I don't think making wizards yet another pet class is the answer. All they needed to do was give wizards better mana sustain outside of combat. Something that doesn't give them unlimited power inside each fight, but gives them the ability to maintain their output in a grinding group. Basically, give Harvest a much shorter cooldown so you can cast it between each pull. Make it 30 seconds or something instead of ten minutes, and suddenly wizards are way more viable in groups without really impacting their performance inside individual fights.

I like pet classes what can I say. And there's a very fine line between making wizards useful in groups with mana sustain and making them OP. Guess the devs never wanted to walk that line.

It is what it is. This game is 23 years old.

[Zoolander]

Originally Posted by MrSparkle001 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Honestly I think wizard and shaman AOE should have either no target limits or a high limit like 10, and made useful so you might actually consider AOE groups. A simple damage increase for AOE spells might be all that's needed.

One of my favorite group types in DAOC was a PBAOE group, where you'd gather a crowd of mobs and start bombing with those high damage PBAOEs. Risky but oh so satisfying. Everquest is a different kind of game entirely and never really explored the viability of AOE groups. AOE spells felt like more of an afterthought. It was always odd that a bard was better at AOE than a wizard. But that's classic Everquest for you lol.

PBAOE works just fine in eq, just put wizards with chanters together and watch entire zones explode.