Nothing about balance etc just general questions about things I do not understand. I have only been back in EQ since mid Decemeber and my SK is only 92 so most of the things being argued in that thread are beyond me but: 1. Someone said that SK healing is effective enough that a cleric is not needed. I am assuming that this means it is good enough for a druid or shaman to be an adequate healer and not that the SK needs no healer at all. Is this correct? And a question that is not directly related to that thread but it was mentioned there also: 2. I have been reading dps numbers for various classes and I have always seen dps as "damage per second". If that is the way the abbreviation dps is being used here then I am dumbfounded by the numbers I am seeing. 50,000 dps?!!??!!. Half a million damage in 10 seconds? Do EQ players use the term dps in a different way than every other english speaking person in the universe or is the game actually THAT inflated? I am not complaining. I am having a blast with EQ since I came back but that is crazy to me.
1. I can't answer this as my sk is only 60 2. this is where I use the abbreviation "fos". Most posts I have read clock sk's around 14k-17k dps. 50k I have no idea how that number could be seen. Unless you have the "sword of a thousand truths" EDIT: add:2
Yes the game is that inflated. Some players can hit 500k+ dps for short periods of time (not tanks). SKs should be able to do more than 50k dps over short time frames.
more accurately: SKs are a class that, at a certain gear point relative to whatever content you're doing, we can self-heal well enough not only for a druid/shaman to cover, but sometimes without the need for any external healing at all. this doesn't happen if you're facing off against 'current' higher end content, or for things with a good number of HP, but for example i can solo a single mob in the TDS T1 zones, or even 2 and maybe 3 at once safely if i'm using survival tricks. bear in mind that DPS is a largely theoretical number, because it just says: the amount of damage you did, divided by the number of seconds in which you did it. so yes, an SK using various burn strategies can attain a DPS number in the 50k range, but that isn't sustainable for more than about 90 seconds before it drastically drops off.
What was said (or should have been) was that SK combat self-healing is effective enough that they don't require a Cleric in their group while performing most add/yardtrash clearing duties. A Druid would be adequate (I've not seen a Shaman used for this in raids, Shaman have some ADPS usefulness that might not be spent in an offtank/addtank group.) However: 1. All well geared tanks can manage with a non-Cleric healer in group content (but knights do fare a lot better vs. larger masses of more trivial experience mobs). 2. When stepping in to tank a big boss raid mob (all the Warriors pounded into the dirt) knights need Clerics too. It's a situational advantage that means something because there is not an endless supply of Clerics and a mix of classes that are in the Healer Archetype provides some versatility benefits just as a mix of tanks does. At your level I'd think you would have duoed with a Shaman by now. SK/Shaman is actually pretty good. Not SK, Mage, Cleric good but passable.
I think Tearsin and Battleaxe don't understand what the OP was doing. Its ok boys you'll catch on eventually.
What I was doing was asking honest questions. I am newly returned to the game and was curious about a few things I saw mentioned in another thread. If you are implying I had some nefarious agenda when I started this thread then I am afraid the other thread has made you paranoid. Even the idea of being above 10k damage per second seems like total fiction to someone who has been away for years as I have. I am talking about 10k for any class. It is mind boggling. 50k .....ffs seriously? As for self healing, I was curious if maybe I was doing something wrong (would not surprise me at all). I am grinding a lot in Valley and cleric mercs are fine but I do need heals (my gear may suck). I am not trying to stir up s..t. I am perfectly happy with my SK. Zero complaints. On the other hand if this community is so toxic that a newcomer cannot ask honest questions without inspiring suspicion and accusations then its pretty obvious where this game is headed.
Yea, I am not that clueless to think anyone was suggesting an SK could MT on a raid with no cleric. I thought they were saying an SK could do group stuff with no cleric (which apparently they were?). I can't ....yet, but that may be due to my gear or my being horribly rusty or just my suckitude. Actually I have played a shaman into the low 80s but he is on the same account as my SK. I usually three-box SK, Bard Mage (+mercs). Its an awesome crew. The other thread was very educational and interesting for me but to be completely honest I am not tremendously interested in SK raid balance issues. Maybe someday I will be but I do not raid. I am nowhere close to doing raids. I am pretty sure if I ever raid it will be as a cleric or bard. I just wanted clarification on a couple of the more interesting points (to me anyway).
If a knight is overgeared for the content or the content is in some other way trivial. Yes it can be done without any kind of healer in the group. This has been true since original everquest (although not to the extent that it is true today) As far as DPS, Yes some classes can sustain 50k+ for extended periods of time (30minutes+). Its probably not so much that your doing something wrong, its more that you haven't reached a point of gear/aa saturation that you can shrug off trash mobs. The higher the content the higher the gear requirements/AA requirements are. VOA trash was also somewhat brutal for group geared toons with In era gear. However even still, theres always an enterprising group geared knight who can manage to solo end game group content or at the worst molo it. But at that point they are geared to the max of whatever it is they are doing and its just for fun. And I just figured you were trolling
Overgeared is an interesting expression. At your level you are going to be doing a lot of experience content. Least effort/best experience outcome says you'll be better geared than absolutely necessary to barely survive - "overgeared". As a tank you'll want to be geared just as good as you can be. I'd call that state, so long as it's available in your playstyle being geared. Given that knights get a very similar effective AC return from displayed AC to Warriors I'd suggest that in a fair amount of content SK's are over Epic'd and spellbooked. It's not having superior to Warrior armor that's doing the trick it's the other stuffs. Trivial? Maybe swarm tanking half of a zone was "trivial" for an SK, but the same stunt was not trivial for a Warrior in the same quality of gear. The Epic, combat self-healing, the ability to FD pull or drop aggro on a bad pull is real, matters, and it is not due to being overgeared. But yes, you'll solo for sport and not advancement. You will need a healer.
Ok ill be more clear then Overgeared IE in raid gear for the era in question. Or doing content an expansion or so behind where you are currently max group geared for.
this is why i always say "over geared relative to the content you're doing" and don't leave that statement open ended.
