Best DPS Class Choices for early eras

Discussion in 'Time Locked Progression Servers' started by Hateseeker, Mar 28, 2015.

  1. Hateseeker Augur

    What are the best DPS class choices in your opinion, and why? Break it up into two - melee DPS (i.e. not subject to mana pool) and caster DPS. Further, if appropriate, break it up between Classic, Kunark, Velious, Luclin, and PoP.

    I was a cleric back then, and didn't box til around 2005, so I don't have a good firsthand experience with DPS in the early eras. But I'm going to guess it's probably monk/mage? Monk because they can FD and stay alive and also aren't dependent on backstab, mage because of the balance between pet and spell? (wizard runs out of mana too fast, necro is too slow?)

    My rationale for those 2 choices is that they are best suited for both sustained but also capable of burst DPS, such as might be needed for versatility in DPS racing situations. After all, it appears there's a good chance that there will not be instancing or any other changes in recognition of the higher-than-Classic raid guild population that the server will have, so guilds might need to be capable of strong DPS in order to muscle their way into rotation agreements, so we might as well start thinking about it.
  2. Coldsore.Fippy Augur

    Melee: Monk because of out of era fist damage as long as it matters.
    Caster: Mage because of out of era pet power as long as it matters.
  3. Vaclav Augur

    Indeed as Coldsore said, unless they adjust those two - they're ahead of the pack a ton. If they do get adjusted to "normal" - it's more like sets of classes that really aren't too far off from each other.

    Assuming those classes are fixed to the old days:
    High DPS Melee - Ranger/Monk/Rogue
    High DPS Caster - Wizard/Mage (NEC and ENC situational - NEC on high HP stuff, ENC with charm)
  4. Hateseeker Augur

    What do you think about raid makeup for maximum DPS? How about (based on 42 man raid) 7 clerics, 21 monks, 7 warriors, and then 1 each of the 7 most important of other classes?

    That would be interesting - loads of DPS not subject to mana pools, plenty of warriors to efficiently soak up damage, monks would be able to FD when they aggro so that clerics won't have to waste mana on fast heals.

    Only problem would be shortage of monk loot!
  5. Bigbear Augur

    i would think that 21 mages would be better... 21 air pets stunning targets and with that many pets.. just let them die if they get agro and summon a new one.. plus 21 nukes from mages too
  6. Aenoan Augur


    Sadly has been done on Fippy.
  7. Hateseeker Augur

    Did it work?

    You know, this might actually be something to do. I mean hey, back in Classic era, we played the class that fit our personality, but surely we've all got that out of our system by playing classes over the years, right? So now we could experiment with concepts like mostly-warrior raiding, all clerics, etc.

    Or all mages -
  8. Aenoan Augur

    It did. It wasn't enjoyable.
  9. Machen New Member


    It did work, quite successfully, and will work again on the new server. The only reason it dropped out of favor on Fippy was because SK's became more prominent and were able to instant kill stuff. With the sk ht now toned down I expect most classic/kunark raids will be filled with piles of mage alts.
  10. Hateseeker Augur

    You bring up a good point...Classic and Kunark, because they are not instances, don't have a zone cap, so people can just bring along alts like that.

    Did anyone attempt mage/SK heavy raids in OoW when there was a player cap and the encounter was tuned for that number of players?
  11. Ducreux Augur

    By OoW most classes aren't that different than their live versions, just lower numbers. Raids end up looking similar to what you would expect in a traditional makeup, but with a lot more boxed healers.
  12. Hateseeker Augur

    So many people just won't let it go with their "oh it's not Classic" or this, that...well, if there isn't a solution to the overcrowded raid population and no GM support, it WILL devolve to DPS races...so let's at least get organized for that!

    Note: I am not saying this from a standpoint of organizing to any specific guild's benefit, but to make sure that everyone in general is prepared for a DPS war.

    So what kinds of class-selection ideas would work?
  13. Hendar2 Augur

    Given that they've fixed HT, wouldn't Wiz be the best burst DPS, and MNK or ROG the best sustained?
  14. Ducreux Augur

    Assuming they don't adjust mob HP pools and/or instance the contested raids expect to see a TON of wizards/mages sitting on mob spawns as other classes won't be able to compete in a dps race. Whichever raid casts first and gets less resists wins.

    Yay classic eq..
  15. Hendar2 Augur

    This in a nut shell. Unless someone trains the casters first. Whatever it devolves into, it won't be anything close to classic EQ.
  16. Maniacles Elder

    Best dps is mage pets, hands down. Even for the raid bosses, when you are socking, it's a matter of reacting to the spawn, and the pets do it faster (because ae) than players can target and launch a spell in the lag fest of a multiple guild poopsocked spawn. (Source, was wizard on fippy). I was lucky for the mob to still be there for the second spell, let alone not resist it.
    Mezrah likes this.
  17. Ultrazen Augur

    yep

    This is double dipping for both of these classes as well, but especially for monk, as no gear is needed. You could literally level a monk to 50 completely naked using fists and be way out in front. This is a huge advantage on a crowded server, with super long respawns, and generally crap gear in the first place.

    Monk will be the absolute king of classic, at least through velious. Heck, you could solo them to cap when Kunark came out, it's going to be twice as easy now.
  18. Aenoan Augur


    To be fair, you could easily do 1-65 even back in appropriate content, lots of guides on monkly-business for such tasks and this before the fist changes obviously ;p
  19. Hateseeker Augur

    My primary experience is Cleric (raid), and grouping with warrior, shaman, bard.

    Monk and mage are two that I never really played at all, and I'm interested in them...but I really want to do Cleric again because I know it well, and bard I never got to use much even in groups and I liked it.

    Pretty tough choices! I'd consider doing both mage/monk but having cleric as one of them is very tempting for rezzes....
  20. Machen New Member


    It depends what era. In classic, even with the changes, instant cast Harm Touches will still outdo the mages if you have sufficient quantities.