Solo: Necromancer Molo: Monk/Magician(minus agro changes) Group DPS: Wizard Group Utility: Enchanter Box Friendly: Bard More could be added to this list but it is subjective anyways.
So far the winners seem to be wizards, necros and enchanters. Did you hear that DBG? Start swinging that nerf hammer! GO GO GO!
If we are being honest with ourselves necros have been consistently OP since the game came out. I think this is for two main reasons 1) They are smarter than all the other classes and don't advertise how great they are 2) DoTs pulse at the caster, not at the mob, so most of the people parsing don't get to see just how much DPS they are really doing. There is more of a learning curve than with other classes but you'll always be good and you'll always be effective.
Necros have also often been really, really bad in lots of group settings. That they could solo well, and that they often were great DPS on raids was and is excellent, but there have been tradeoffs. I remember a time when raid Necros existed for Twitch almost exclusively. I also remember being told that I wasn't welcome in groups because they wanted more burst-y DPS. I think perhaps Mages have been seeing something recently, with lots of functionality and desirability in solo/molo and group situations, but maybe being a bit subpar on raids. In both cases there's a fairly significant tradeoff that perhaps some people don't see because those situations aren't relative to them.
We gotta switch up the posturing on these to make them more entertaining. Every time I go to a "nerf xx" or "make xx more powerful" thread, I feel like I'm walking into this.. I like it when there is video evidence that mages are too powerful or aren't powerful enough, preferably with narration, and a cat that won't stop meowing in the background. A bird will do too though.
thought it was mage , until I seen a necro purely soloing commander alast degmar ( in degmar , probably the hardest named in castle degmar ) , I was alone in zone with him, went to kill that named, but he was already damaged ( at 97 % ).I checked , because I was pretty sure he couldn t handle that named solo,,,,didn t even see a merc, and no dot's on named , not even slowed.and he killed him easy .won't say what he was casting but I bet other necro know .....P then pally ...with all the parse linden linked when he was soloing nameds in dredge, warleader Jocelyn included who is not a weak named. so for me ( when they know what they doing ) # 1 ->> necro #2 --> pallies
If you nerf mages, the nerf should have a trickle down effect that also nerfs necros and pallies after a it sets in. It's basic nerfonomics.
I have found my necro was the best class overall, for most of my time in EQ. There were some really bad moments, where they became twitch bots, but mostly pretty awesome. I had a level 50 necro before Kunark came out. I used to give him 2 fine steel daggers and it would set his delay wicked low. That pet could out damage any class by itself back then. I dueled a level 50 warrior and my pet killed him easily, with no help from me lol. Had my focus book from hate and would recast the pet till I got a 57 hitter lol. Back then you could summon pets in a 5 level range. Miss the powerful pet days, always loved pet classes. Hoping they fix the stupid pet aggro issue soon, would love to come back and give my mage/necro a try.
It sounds like you only want to play if you can be better than a large majority of the player base as a default. I mean you're talking about your pet being better than an actual player, and then you've got the necro on top of that. If this was something where it was truly 100% skill based, then that's fine but being a certain class at the start isn't a skill. As an enchanter, I remember days like this too in PoP, but this level of negotiation isn't fair to other players. If the only reason you're willing to play is that you can be superior to other players by default, then I don't think your requirements are realistic. I hope you had other reasons to play too, and that those alone are enough to make a decision either way.
I'm going to go with rangers as the best OP classes in eq rite now there skill to fd and stay fd until rezed is by far the best in game. If you don't believe me just ask our rangers Raynrace and Durg who are constantly being stepped on as the raid powers through content.....
Of course I want to be better than the majority, who doesn't lol?? Why do people raid and get better gear?? So they can be better than the average Joe. I like playing powerful solo/molo classes, and I always loved playing the class that was the most powerful like anyone. That's why I have 9 level 100 toons lol. I just wanted to know what the best classes to play are right now. Don't want to come back and play my bard or ranger, whatever and find that they were current red headed stepchild class.
Then in response to your question, I haven't felt like there was a "class of the day" in the vein I assume you to be looking for in a while. I think in some ways things really are becoming more balanced, despite what happened with enchanters that one time. A lot of the consideration of "what's a good class" in my head splits between the raiding and grouping game. If you really like a class that's good at grouping, see what raid guilds are looking for that class, you don't have to take my word for it. I used to think that the most powerful healer was a shaman, but now it really seems situational. In terms of the group game, I would currently go druid or shaman over a cleric, but in terms of raids a cleric seems more powerful. If you're not boxing and you make a tank I'd go war or pal. I'm not trying to call for nerfs even though everything on this forum seems to be a call for nerfs, but SK's just don't have any zazz. That's specifically what they're missing. Zazz. If you're going melee dps, I'd vote rogue. I love monks and in the group game I've seen some really, really impressive monks, but I've heard rogues aren't affected by the rest/fade problem, and they seem to do solid dps. If you only group and don't raid, I would consider monks if you know the class really well or want to learn a class really well. For grouping I would not go berserker =/ I tried that class and I think myself a solid player. Even using all of the abilities at 100, asking friends, and reading guides I had trouble getting the dps I was seeing others get at 100, and most groups I had were above my level so decapitate didn't work in dh missions as there were no blue cons. Without decap my dps was worse than comparable melees by a lot. If you're going hybrid dps I'd play a ranger, or a beastlord. Beastlords will do better in terms of raiding I think. Rangers get a lot though so in many cases I would put them above bsts in grouping (ever try to split mobs for a group on a beastlord? I think it's fair that it's unreliable and hard, but it hasn't improved). Still, beastlords can add a lot to a group. If you're unsure between grouping and raiding I'd go beastlord. If you're going int caster dps I'd say that's the oddest bunch. Nec for soloing/very high end grouping (where the mobs may have enough hp for dots to matter), mag for grouping/soloing, wiz for outright grouping and raiding. I think even with this it's easy to underestimate magicians. If you're unsure on a mage just give it some time to see if they fix the pet stuff or if it's something people end up learning to deal with well. If you're going enc or bard, I'd pick enc for grouping, and bard for raiding since raids seem to be able to fit in more bards than enchanters. As much as I could say about how great enchanters are, you can put a bard in almost any group and you've made a great choice for raids. They can help healers and tanks, they can help caster dps, they can help melee dps.. the only thing they can't do is dps themselves. If you plan on playing really longterm, you could fit an enc in a raiding guild pretty easily too, but bards seem to take the trophy in that area. Even the classes that I mentioned in a negative light though, if a great player was playing one and invested a reasonable amount of effort in the toon, then that toon/player would be preferable in a group to a bad player/toon of any other class for a similar role. I honestly don't think there's one "op" god class at this point in the game.
