The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Velious

[Netherzul]

Bored, medding and waiting on respawns so I figured I'd browse around google and try to catch up on my knowledge of the EQ classes during and throughout Velious. It's been a difficult search and I haven't collected much information beyond what I remember myself and a few tid-bits here and there.


DISCLAIMER: It's been 10 years for me. The information I have typed below is not considered as FACT. This are simply recollection memories and a small amount of almost indiscernible research and may not be 100% accurate. If something I write is incorrect, feel free to correct it by replacing what was incorrect with what is accurate.


I'm going to follow a very simple format. Feel free to use the same format and add what you remember about classes during Velious either regarding the spells they gained or their experiences soloing/dpsing/raiding. I will not have much to contribute outside of spell benefits in regards to classes beyond the Shaman, due to that being my main throughout my EQ experience.




Bard: The Good - Gained a haste that was stack-able with Enchanter haste, making Monks and Rogues jizz'm in their pantaloons, that much more over their dps. Also gained an unresistable debuff that lowered resists by a small amount, allowing other support to more easily land their debuffs. Still highly desired in groups due to the large amounts of resists / general stacking buffs they add to a group. Still capable of soloing very well in wide open areas.

The Bad - Still add no real personal DPS to a group/raid as they did not gain the ability to double attack until in PoP (something I did not remember until research). However, see "The Good" above.


Cleric: The Good - Still the best healers in the game. Also gained the best hit point buff hands down. 1100 hp + AC is something Clerics will be driven to the brink of madness by, due to the mana cost & how many group members will request this buff.

The Bad - No MGB AA for Aegolism.


Druid: The Good - Now more viable in a group due to a new heal they receive. In Velious, Druids really fill their own niche becoming a pseudo Cleric/Wizard combo. They also get a new fantastic buff that also adds mana regeneration. They get a new quick cast, somewhat efficient heal. They also get to summon a bear pet! Disregard the fact that he is useless.

The Bad - Soloing changes a bit for Druids due to the high MR of the typical Velious mob (this will be a very slight if even noticeable change). I had to put SOMETHING here right?


Enchanter: The Good - They get to turn someone into a wearwolf...WITH a lifetap proc! Also get a max mana/mana regen buff. Even more spells to bug the hell out of your local Enchanter for!

The Bad - I had a real life friend who played a 60 Enchanter during Velious, so limited viewpoint here but; still extremely boring to play in a raid. I'm not sure how much their amazing solo capability changes during Velious but I imagine it will be impacted some, even if very slightly.


Magician: The Good - Magicians gain the ability to summon a random NPC monster in the zone as their pet. I remember enjoying this very much, even as a Shaman. It changed things up quite a bit. They also gained a new DD/dot spell. I believe they are still capable of doing some decent solo but don't quote me on this.

The Bad - High MR targets are going to make Magicians pull their hair out. At least if you have your epic, you'll likely out DPS or match the DPS of a Wizard on certain raid targets!


Monk: The Good - Even more uber lewtz (much more friendly to Monks) will drop in Velious, allowing them to take over the role of totally and burly bad ass tank during this expansion (on most bosses). Their DPS will also increase. These guys are simply bad ass during Velious. With the obvious favoritism towards melees that Variant had, the weaponry and gear you will be swimming through may seemingly be endless. Monks easily and justifiably fill 3 roles in a group during Velious; DPS, Tank & Stand There and Look Sexy. If you haven't rolled a Monk alt yet, now is the time to do so.

The Bad: Hmm. I'm struggling for something here. The pain of going through the Coldain ring faction grind/quest? That's all I've got.


Necromancer: The Good - A new mana regen that will allow them to twitch faster than ever before! Also a new pet buff for the spec. Necros can (if a single one is dedicated) seriously pump out the DPS in Velious. On Bristlebane (Arch Overseers) our raid had a dedicated Necro who could compete with Rogues/Monks and still maintain twitching the Clerics/spot healing. Still a strong class during Velious.

The Bad - Necros also have to deal with the woes of high MR mobs in Velious.


Paladin: The Good - Still a solid tank during Velious. One of the favored tanks in groups due to snap aggro / group support. They get a HP buff that stacks with any other HP buff iirc along with a nice group heal (for even more aggro generation).

The Bad - They still suffer from the hybrid EXP penalty, thus we will likely see very few high level Paladins during this expansion as well. They also are not favored as main tanks unless absolutely necessary, during Velious due to Warriors still being the kings of HP/AC.


Ranger: The Good - Nothing really changes much for Rangers iirc, during Velious. I believe I remember seeing them cast an additional buff on a frequent basis that added the chance to proc a DD. They also gained a small bit of utility by gaining a nice group buff that adds +attack.

The Bad - You're still a Ranger (kidding <3).


Rogue: The Good - Still the kings of overall sustained DPS. The plethora of weaponry you get to choose from during this expansion will make you want to steal your grandmas coin-purse. Prepare to see all new, all time highest back-stabs for ridiculous amounts of damage. If you're extremely lucky or if you've got your tongue in-betwixt your guild leaders gluteus-maximus cheeks, or are extremely rich, you may end up with one of the most desired masks leading up to and during this expansion.

The Bad - Still completely reliant on groups / current server population. You will still have nights of sitting in EC /lfg for 6 hours. No, don't even try to solo that green.


Shadow Knights: The Good - In the same boat as Paladin but maybe slightly better off due to their primary snap aggro spell being diseased based. No group heals here but they do get a self buff proc that is a lifetap (iirc also nice for aggro).

The Bad - A lot of your aggro abilities will suffer the same fate of classes that rely primarily on magic based attacks. I don't recall this being a huge issue in groups but I'm trying to avoid leaving this area blank! Also suffer greatly due to the hybrid exp penalty.


Shamans: The Good - Druids, you get to SUMMON a bear, Shamans get to turn into one! A self regen/wisdom buff that stacks with everything. Shamans also get a single target buff that not only applies their hit-point & strength buffs but their dexterity buff as well. This opens 2 extra slots for additional buffs which should benefit overall raid composition buff wise. Shamans, like Enchanters, typically maintain their solo capability (one of the few classes with the ability to solo wurms, so I've been told). They also get a new avatar that does not require a component. Time to make some Monks/Rogues you total abiding slaves *at least until they get primal weaponry*. IIRC, Shamans during Velious took on specific debuffing roles. One would be in charge of MALO, another of SLOW, etc. Obviously, one of these roles should and can be filled by a Magician to allow at least one Shaman 100% dedicated to raid healing (this may be the case on P99 now, my raid experience here is very limited, however, it's much more pertinent during Velious with raid bosses not being capped at 32k...). I remember being considered the 2nd best healing class in Velious, even over Druids with their new heal, due to the overall sustain that a Shaman still maintains during Velious (much higher throughput due to Canni).

The Bad - Also facing the MR woes during Velious. No diseased based slow introduced during Velious. Still the slow kings due to their slow reducing attack speed by an additional 5% over their Enchanter counterparts...if you can get it to land, that is.


Warrior: The Good - Still the undisputed MT of major raid targets. Highest hit-points, highest AC. Fairly obvious here. Also have a nice array of weapons to choose from that help close the gap on threat generation (nice procs) while simultaneously boosting your DPS (see AoW) whereas currently, to maintain good threat, you generally have shit dps (proc reliant).

The Bad - Unless in a top raiding guild (and geared...), groups will still value Paladins/SK's over you, as a tank.


Wizard: The Good - Lure spells are introduced to help you combat the insane MR of raid targets in Velious. Wizards maintain their specialty role of burning targets at 30% or so, being unmatched in DPS those last percentages of a raid mobs health. I recall Wizards being the raid heroes during some of the Velious era boss fights because of their ability to pull off a last second burnout to kill the raid mob with 8-10 people still standing. In a group setting, Ice Spear of Solist is simply amazing due to it's mana/damage ratio. Wizards, in my opinion, gain a great deal of grouping utility in Velious due to obtaining this one spell. You get translocate spells! Prepare to be bombarded with tells for people asking to be translocated. Also be prepared to pocket the tip money too! No more zoning over with your compatriots to bring them to the zones of their desire. Simply point at them and POOF, off they go.

The Bad - Outside of lure spells, Wizards are hit extremely hard in Velious. Get used to the fact (if you're not already) that a large percentage of your nukes will be resisted, in most cases, outright resisted. Also be prepared to spend an additional 5 minutes medding (on top of the 15 minutes already) to reach a full mana bar from OOM. With the newly introduced caster equipment, your mana pool should be huge and thus your time spent sitting will be even more huge, to compensate!


That's what I've got to add! It may not be 100% accurate and it may not be the most lucrative and educational amount of information on the classes during the era of Velious, but it's a start and I'm hoping others on P99 will contribute. To be honest, I don't remember much about Velious. I was 13-14 at the time. I am now 28. I've since then, jammed my brain with memories of DAoC, Warhammer (lol?), WoW, EQ2 and other small time MMOs.

Thanks for reading and if you contribute, THANK YOU again. I want to remember everything there was to know about the classes during Velious and with all of the great EQ players on P99, I'm sure we can narrow down all of the information very closely to how they were during live EQ Velious.

[Danth]

Velious era is a very good time to be a Ranger, Paladin or Shadow Knight, relative to Kunark (the kunark era being the nadir of those classes). A couple months after Velious launched, several important changes were made:

Defense (offense for Rangers) skill cap was raised to equal to that of Warriors.
Basic combat table was made the same as the pure melees
Hybrid spell casting haste was added.
Various new spells were added.
Class experience penalties removed.

All of the above makes it a much happier time relative to Kunark. In the "bad" category, there isn't much undead around for Paladins, but that's quite minor relative to the good.

Note: You sound like you don't tank much; it doesn't matter if an spell you use for aggro gets resisted or not. It'll generate aggro either way.

Danth

[pasi]

I'm bored so I'll bite in short fashion.

This is all from the perspective of raiding, group/solo is a different matter.

Necros new lich (Arch Lich) is a downgrade over demi-lich. It's the same spell as the 49 lich with a spectre graphic. If you're not pulling, this class sucks.

Mages have 2 spells in Velious: Call of the Hero, and Summon: Modulating Rod.

Enchanter - Buff Bot that is incredibly strong in some zones and trash in others.

Wizard Bane Spells keep the class competitive, but still behind rogues/monks.

Shaman - no real improvements from Kunark, but the class carries over well.

Druid - dead weight Buff bot until Luclin/PoP.

Bards - never a bad class.

Shadowknight - Dead weight unless pulling. Good for tanking NToV hatchlings, I guess.

Paladin - slightly better than SK due to Divine Strength and group heals.

Ranger - class significantly improves from Kunark. Weaponshield is a cornerstone of raiding.

Rogue + Monk - you mean an itemization expansion featuring mobs with a lot of HP is good for sustained DPS?

Cleric + Warrior - Velious is yours for the taking.

[Allizia]

Rogue: The Good - Still the kings of overall sustained DPS. The plethora of weaponry you get to choose from during this expansion will make you want to steal your grandmas coin-purse. Prepare to see all new, all time highest back-stabs for ridiculous amounts of damage. If you're extremely lucky or if you've got your tongue in-betwixt your guild leaders gluteus-maximus cheeks, or are extremely rich, you may end up with one of the most desired masks leading up to and during this expansion.


Highest backstab wont change at all, rogue daggers cap at 15 damage (same as epic) until Planes of Power (or bane weapons in luclin) iirc

Will still pick up some DPS, but most rogues will just gain more survivability.

[Reiker000]

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

Bard: The Good - Gained a haste that was stack-able with Enchanter haste, making Monks and Rogues jizz'm in their pantaloons, that much more over their dps.

??? Pretty sure this wasn't until Luclin, War Song of the Vah'shir or whatever. Occlusion of Sound is awesome because it stacks with other shit.

Druid: The Good - They also get a new fantastic buff that also adds mana regeneration.

I thought this was Luclin too - Protection of the Cabbage?

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

Shaman - no real improvements from Kunark, but the class carries over well.

Canni IV is a huge improvement over the Canni I-III crap, dramatically increases shaman mana regen so you can laugh at lesser classes who actually need med breaks.


Pretty much it's good to be a melee in Velious. Hybrids may still be lacking, but they're still better off than they were in Classic-Kunark. They actually get some niche roles to fill (flurry drakes, rampage tanking). They went so overboard with Velious gear that pretty much anyone who needs gear is doing a lot better, which pretty much excludes casters other than Shaman (AC+HP=Mana). FT is obviously great for casters, but I'm not quite sure if it competes with all the AC and extra dps that melees will be getting directly from gear.

You can see why Shaman became so beastly, they're just about the only caster class that directly benefits from gear stats. This is why focus effects in Luclin were so necessary to stop the out of control class disparity that was going on in Velious. They tried with FT, but it basically came down if the item has FT, try to get it, if it doesn't, then pass. Then once you capped out at 15 (which wasn't necessarily impossible, especially with Tunare and CT 2.0 loot) you were back to not caring about gear again.

[Tecmos Deception]

I don't think melee should be THAT excited about the velious bard haste. If you are a rogue or someone with a high-end haste source, you're already at the haste cap when an enchanter is around.

[Allizia]

FT 15 wasn't even possible for all classes iirc. 15 was cap but they did not stack, You had to get 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5, which was not available to everyone, unless I am mistaken. FT 1 + 1 would only give FT 1

[Reiker000]

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

I don't think melee should be THAT excited about the velious bard haste. If you are a rogue or someone with a high-end haste source, you're already at the haste cap when an enchanter is around.

Yeah, this is what confused me. No overhaste until Luclin.

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

FT 15 wasn't even possible for all classes iirc. 15 was cap but they did not stack, You had to get 1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5, which was not available to everyone, unless I am mistaken. FT 1 + 1 would only give FT 1

All types of FT stacked up to 15, unless this was one of those early Velious quirks that got changed (but iirc FT wasn't introduced until sometime after the expansion had already launched, correct me if I'm wrong).

But yeah, I don't remember FT1 and FT1 not stacking.

[webrunner5]

Rangers get Panic Animal which makes Fear Kiting happen for them.

[Vicatin]

Great thread. Thank you