What are the happiest classes long term?

Jeez, it's like this guy lady thinks he she makes the game or whatever.

Please don't ban me.

She

Corrected.

You all crack me up. I honestly believe in playing the class you enjoy because you actually like playing it (not being all politic-like or anything, honest). I have the tendency to run in face first and see what happens, which means that I enjoy playing tank classes in almost every game I play. Is it ever really that simple? Probably not, but it's a good point to jump off from.

(Yes, I'm the idiot who will run into a room when playing an FPS and throw a grenade, not realizing that I will most likely kill 90% of my team. Or I'm the one who pulls an entire zone and suddenly forgets that I have no healer while my friends watch and laugh.)

(PS - I appreciate the attention to pronouns )

Thank you all and lol Klanderso, you representing hard for tanks ;> I really appreciate everyone's feedback and I get the whole "Play what you like" but unfortunately the "Like" part is all too often messed with something that is nerfed or breaks that makes the class alot less fun. Take Necros for example.

Not having played past PoP, the tips were great on the classes that seem to have the best longevity to play as a main and I think I have narrowed it down to either SK or Shaman. I have a Ranger that I like now but I have heard that the mobs past PoP start hitting silly hard and have loads of HP and the Ranger tanking even on group mobs must be hard without top gear and AAs? Is Ranger play style more bow kiting in later expansions. Seems like if they cannot tank anymore id be better of with a Rogue for group dps and raiding?

SK would be a beast but I like how Shaman with slows can probably solo pretty decently and huge support to Groups and Raids. Can Shamans main heal xp groups later on or do groups tend to pick clerics and want shamans for the slows and back up heals and buffs?

Thanks again for the great tips!

In later expansions, Rangers just flusterbolt and headshot from 100' away. I'm not sure how the 65-100 game works now with the new code change having ranged attacks break root, but at 110, it doesn't seem to be a problem.

Early on shamans struggle to main heal by themselves - without clarity. If you can get clarity or have a bard clarity song running, you should be fine. Once you get chloroblast and torpor, they can do it no problem.

If you like tanks so much then give my paladin his 23% buff to my DPS back....IT'S LITERALLY ALL I HAD.

#NotADPSMelee

#NotDPSatALL

#Iwanttoknowwhatloveis

Shaman can do just fine main healing xp groups, in most expansions, if your tank is raid geared. I play a war and my wife plays a shaman and there is nothing we haven't been able to do in the group game from about OoW through SoF. We do have a cleric alt we can bring in as needed but we almost never find it is needed. (We did need it a bit for some things in GoD, like the primals, and some of the epic fights in OoW that were designed to be raid encounters originally.)

Monk, through and through. Well played, it's a 1-(wo)man band. High avoidance for split second "oh-shh" tanking and self heal never hurt. They have been at the top if not the highest DPS class for 15 expansions on Phinny and their loot seems to drop is abundance compared to all other classes (and they're leather so less competition). Their burns are usually on a lower refresh so you can cycle through at almost every boss it seems and their sustained is good as well. They are usually a designated puller so you'll be active during raids which stems off boredom during trash clears.

The Canadian ones because marijuana is legal now!!!!

What's the fade nerf? I don't always keep up like I should.

omg NOT cleric … I feel like clawing my eyes out now after volunteering to main switch to one. I miss my necro.

Beastlords are happy, their pets are always grinning.

People trot this out evvvverrrryyy tiiiiimmmmeeee, its just not that simple.

Class balance unavoidably skews what is most enjoyable, to the vast majority of players. People care about being effective compared to others in mmos. Not every single person, but a vast majority.

It feels bad playing a druid, ranger, mage, (probably others) in early TLP, as an example. I'm not familiar with the later game expansions, but i'm almost certain they have balance issues rife throughout as well.

I know its a nice, tight little response to this question, but its essentially a meme at this point. And a misleading one.

Other than their buffs, they are a joke, comparatively, in pop as well. Just to prep you =/ I'm not sure when they start being good.

I spent 2001-2014 as an SK. Then came back for Phinigel as an SK. Now im considering coming back on Coirnav. Not sure what as, though. Maybe a change of pace so that i can go back to SK in a few months =)

I understand where you're coming from on that, and to an extent you are right. Class Balance can be wonky from expansion to expansion. But its important to think about people's enjoyment. The experience is different for each person. The reason I love SK is because of how many things i can do in the game. I can pull, i can tank, i can DPSK sometimes. I don't need a group. I can go find an old zone to farm for plat or alt gear. Tremendous variety of things i can do outside of raiding, even if that raid role is very specific or regimented.

To change the topic to another class that I always wanted to like ,but couldnt -- Ranger. Its a commonly held belief that early era ranger sucks. Theres evidence for it. It doesnt pan out so great for them for a while. AAs change that tremendously, to the point where they become the parse king for a while. But its not a very *interesting* reign, imo. The numbers are insane, but the actual work you do to get those numbers is mind numbing.

From my personal experience, it doesn't matter if you're on top 5% or 100% of the time, if you don't enjoy what you're playing, even great accomplishments can turn into ash on your tongue.

Dang, has no one said Chanter yet? Chanters are powerhouses for most of the content in EQ. You can solo a lot. You'll always have spots in aoe groups, as well as regular groups. Even 100% completely solo, while dangerous, you can still do a lot of content that a lot of others could not. Find yourself a cleric friend and you can duo just about anything in classic-velious.

Also, Zerker is quite fun and good. but not available on coirnav for a looong time

Chanters are great when charm is broken but after they eliminate charm as a DPS/tank tool and turn it into a crowd control measure it's a whole different animal. Completely different class post Omens or so.

A couple years ago they nerfed fade so that it costs more mana and doesn't work on mobs above a certain level (10 levels over the bard, iirc?). Practically what it means is that bards are much less useful pulling on raids at some points in progression than they used to be. It was a pretty huge hit to the class.