PvP in EQ has an astronomical amount of factors one must consider. The purpose of this list is to rank classes from best to worst in a very general sense. Ranks should be considered by the following: - Practical PvP - NOT Arena Duels - High Level - All classes are assumed to be played at the highest level of PvP - No Third Party Assistance - I'll start with my basic list. The relative position of the class per tier reflects their overall rank, i.e. I believe Enchanter is the lowest in the "A+" class. S Rogue - Hands down. Absolutely bonkers DPS. Able to kill full groups with 1 disc rotation. SOS, Stuns, Snare, Tumble....... what more could you want? A+ Wizard - High reward, low risk. Wizards can abuse z-axis leniency as well as any class. Insta-cast nukes, stuns and snares all make wizards deadly. Mix that with their runes for hundreds of thousands of damage, and you've got a great pvp class. Ranger- Effectively, PVP Crowd Control. Rangers have a very high utility rating. The almost unresistable snare and no cool down allows rangers to pinpoint targets in group PvP, and eliminate them methodically. They are also necessary when trying to combat rogues. Skylight Sagacity and Sharp Eyes may be the only things keeping this server kicking. Another great thing about Rangers is that they can burn with range, and also burn with melee attacks. Great assets to keep pressure on the enemy Enchanter- The counter pick. Enchanters can nullify (not a dispel pun) a lot of what your more orthodox classes depend on. Stasis can instantly take someone out of the team fight. Their killing power is strong, but they will rarely get a kill shot. Their ability to stay alive and disrupt the opponent is what makes enchanters so valuable in practical PvP. A Necro - Potent but paced. Necro's have the ability to put almost any class on the run. Corrupt and Chromatic resist spells are a weakness in every player's armor, and Necros thrive there. Because their spells are easy to dispel, or simply gate from, Necro's will struggle to get kills, but the impact they have on PvP is impressive. Shadowknight - The threat. Shadowknights are EXTREMELY dangerous if players are off their guard. They have some of the highest burst-dps around when it comes to PvP. That said, once, they've burned, their threat level drops significantly. They are the most mobile class in the game, so they can be difficult to kill, and almost as pesky as an enchanter. Unfortunately for Shadowknights, enchanter runes cast on other players are strong enough to completely mitigate the SK main burn. Druid - Combat Healer. Druids have the utility tools that are available to rangers, but trade in killing power for survivability. Druids are still able to nuke hard and get kills, but are mainly there to let you know that things are not going to go the way you planned. Second Life proc makes it hard to justify targeting them in PvP situations, but if they aren't dealt with, they can swing the momentum hard in their guild's favor. B Bard - Swiss Army Knife. Bards have almost every type of spell at their disposal in the form of songs. Charm for mercs, DD, bardspeed, buffs, dispels. They've also got a reliable stun to dismount those who insist on riding horseback everywhere. They are mildly good at a lot of things, but not exceptionally good at anything. They are able to melee disc and put out some good dps, but they make the most impact when charming mercs, dispelling and stunning. Oh, and don't forget that they can BARELY GET HIT BY ANY SPELL. Zerker - All or nothing. Snare lands with some consistency, and stun disc is very effective. Zerkers can definitely dish out some great DPS, but there is some bad news... they are only doing max DPS when they're actually hurting themselves. Compare that to wizards, who get a huge rune while discing, and you can see why Zerkers are easy targets to exterminate. Probably the most vulnerable class in the game. Magician - Set it and forget it. The mage's gameplan is painfully straightforward. VT is the only way you'll be getting kills. Mage nukes rarely land, but can actually do some damage while discing. The mage is less about reactive PvP, and more about strategy. Once their pet no longer has VT, it's time for them to bow out, because their killing ability is crippled. Probably the class with the most shallow learning curve, it's very easy to be a mediocre mage. Beastlord - Hope you've got bardspeed. The beastlord's bread and butter is the feral swipe. While full discing it can hit for 80-100k, and with frenzied swipes, the dps stacks up quick. They lack the ability to snare or stun, so you'll need to find someone willing to stand still long enough to attack them. They also have some abilities that allow them to mitigate damage, so they have some use. Shaman - Back in the game. Until recently, Shaman had very little impact on PvP situations. They were almost completely unable to land any DoTs. Their DoTs rely on people to stay in zones, and tick over to the more powerful version of itself. They are good PvP healers, and also have a high chance to proc their Preincarnation if they are targeted, possibly wasting someone's burn. If anyone ever sticks around for 3-4 minutes, Shaman are actually a good class, but that isn't practical in PvP. Monk - Meh. If you're thinking about playing a monk for pvp, just level a rogue. Monks have very little utility, and their DPS is just decent. Their mend + defensives + hate step can make them difficult to kill, but they are almost wholly lackluster. C Warrior - Roll the dice. Warriors have the ability to round most classes. They have some solid discs, but most encounters are going to come down to whether or not the warrior gets a good roll on their melee strike. They are able to pop full defensives, and avoid some burns, but other than that, they have no utility. Paladin - People won't even notice you're in the zone. Paladin's have some strong melee discs, but lack an ability that fires heavy damage at once. Their 'Reflexive' is about the best they've got. They are extremely hard to kill, but they don't move the threat-o-meter one bit. Cleric - Pray they're AFK. The cleric should, under no circumstances, EVER get a PvP kill. They can try to keep their group members alive in PvP, but with how devastating many of the top tiers can be, your party may be dead before you can get a heal off. Let me know where you agree/disagree, and where you would move classes on your tier list.
not even sure why PVP exist in everquest.. it sucked 7 years ago when i did it and it still sucks today nothing has changed. throw on top of that <<Software that shall not be named>>
https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/make-instances-on-zek-non-pvp.219794/ https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/the-plane-of-war-tlp-pvp-server.225524/ https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tlp-pvp-solves-all-problems.225666/ https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/changing-instances-to-non-pvp.211882/ To quote Roshen, During TBM LiveStream the devs had no problem pointing out that they have "no time" for PvP. As for a PvP List... Its all about who is sitting behind the PC. As per example.. Warrior is a A+ Level pvper...if you know how to use them. They are very intricate. Yet you have it listed as a C =/ A) Rouge - broken. Shadow Knight - Not uncommon for a SK to hold highest kill streak in a guild. Can one round anyone in group pvp. Beastlord - can mitigate pvp very well. better than almost anyone. Shared pet HP makes them ahmazing. And while its true they cannot stun directly...they have a pet who does toss out stuns. Necro - Only good while EC is up. then they are worthless and can join the "B" team. They have become almost like an SK. Burn then wait 15-20min. Ranger - Snare, Heal, Stun, See SoS, total package Druid - Near impossible to kill if done right. Wont give out the lesson on how; but Dru can make it so they almost never die. Can also snare, heal and See-SoS. B) Wizards - Mid level DPS. Not great to run solo but helpful for in-group pvp situations. Mage - Send pet and RUN!! Boring PvP Class. Warriors - Can HT like a Sk and also take a few hits in pvp. Also has a decent 2ndary burst line. (after those discs fall warrior useless for 20min) Bard - Cant nuke these guys and they can run faster than anyone...they wont be getting any fast kills. But they shouldnt die much either. Monk - Solid DPS and can mend if able to hit it fast enough, more of a hit and run toon now. Zerker - This class should almost be in the A list. Can Stun, snare but without the rouge ability to go SoS, zerkers tend to get rounded as they have almost no dmg mitigation. C) Pally - Broken Cleric - Broken Up until Daybreak took over. SoE was working on a PvP balance and it was getting very close to even, aside from the cleric. If they can change the melee dmg back or even lessen it from this current +70% dmg modifier ; we may have more balanced PvP again. Buut until that time. PvP will remain BROKEN! Until then enjoy rouges and others being able to one round classes. Dorigen / Fishoor Leader of Wudan WudanNEXT.com
I think Westo's write up is pretty spot on, I might move Monk up ahead of Shaman and Maybe put Mage at the top of the B class just for the fact that it is so easy of a class to "luck" into kills with. The cool thing about Everquest pvp, while some aspects are grossly out of balance (cough* Rogue cough*) most classes have a sort of kryptonite or two. If you're tough enough and want to learn a different aspect of Everquest that you simply will not learn on a blue server maybe give Zek a try? A great Zekian once told me that the difference between Blue and Red in Everquest is this: On blue, people like to say they are the top toon on a server for this reason or that. On Zek, you have to prove it. I always liked that quote.
After killing internet monsters year after year it can get stale, you will never know if you like the rush or not of pvp until you try it.. Just for a fun experiment next time your playing with a good friend you should try and /duel just for fun, tell me it didn't get your adrenaline going and I'll call you a liar!
Thanks for the write-up Westo I always wanted to try Zek. Nice to see this list from someone "on the ground" hehe. So I guess there is not much point to playing a class below the A-tier?
If you're very proficient at your class, you can definitely have an impact with a B-Tier toon. If you play a toon in the C-Tier, you will need an alt, or some unheard of tenacity.
The classes that do well or poorly hasnt changed a lot in all these years. Not surprising given how little attention PvP gets from the devs. Played a Bard on VZ for months and not one PvP encounter was player on player. All were player and mob on player, finding someone in a tough fight with a mob(s) in particular kiting is like being handed a near sure kill even if the mob gets the credit. Really almost any fight will do only need a small jump start to win. Yeah dont even say it, sure one can learn to extract oneself from this but it can be also be learned to take better advantage in particular on classes that could dump agro quickly and recover. So shifted to necro with a partner and did the setup by engaging a mob and keeping the partner off the radar. Or find a player on the hit list, vengeance is a thing, and send in both pets on the guys back or land a snare while kiting. Dirty deeds done dirt cheap. But seriously it stopped being any fun as PvE is the core of the game and it must be done but the doing is just begging for a ganking. Of course this was back when the zones were fairly populated, Vel and SoL, and CR was still a big thing. So now it might be different but doesnt matter anyway just isnt much fun. Play a game that begins with PvP and have a better time.
So what class do you recommend for someone new to Zek? Keeping in mind I would be solo'ing a lot, at least while leveling up.
The write up westo gave is pretty spot on, even well made characters who are skilled players can do well in pvp with any of the B class... I would recommend you re read the OP and decide what sounds the most fun to you... Or you could do what everyone else does and make a ranger lolz.
Rogues on Zek really have really ruined pvp for me. If you let one get in melee range of you, you can pretty much say goodnight. Considering that most of them use the program I won't name here to stay glued to your backside, it makes it that much worse.
Mages are a great "Intro to PvP" class. Pretty self-sufficient. Necros are also able to PvE and PvP solo.
