First, sorry! Second, I'm about to start playing the game and was curious as to what's generally accepted as "great melee DPS" among the melee classes. I've searched a little and found multiple people say "Reckless SK," some have said Monk, Berserker, and others have suggested Assassin/etc. So what's everyone's opinion? Anyone with multiple melee classes at higher levels that can provide detailed information? I've played an SK (and Rogue, for that matter) in EQ and liked both. Anyway, thanks!
A SK is a fighter, so while in certain circumstances, like large groups of mobs, you may be able to get a good parse, it's situational and you won't get it every encounter. Melee dps classes are scouts, and are assassins, beastlords, swashbucklers, brigands and to a certain extent rangers (who actually use a bow but are in the same bracket as assassins). Assassins, rangers and beastlords are generally the highest dpsers. Assassins have high spike damage and generally are better on single target fights. Rangers get nice AE damage and are a bit more consistent damage wise but don't spike as high. Beastlords are pretty unique as they have a pure dps stance, making them as good as an assassin, or a half healer stance. They have a unique playstyle unlike any other class with their abilities. Swashbucklers and brigands are generally a little lower dps but bring a bit more utility in terms of debuffs, etc. Swashies are more AE orientated, brigands more single target. The next tier down is the bards, who bring a lot more utility at a sacrifice to personal dps. Playing a fighter you will be expected to be a tank. If you don't want to do that, then a scout is what you want.
Since you're new and you posted this in the Fighter forums, you might not realize that "Fighter" in EQ2 is a tank archtype. If you really want to be top-notch melee dps, you'll want to be a scout; Assassin for pure melee dps, Beastlord if u want melee with a pet, and Ranger if you want "ranged melee" (which is actually an oxymoron, but its physical damage and so ppl think of it as melee). Brigands are actually pretty damn high dps right now although they arent usually seen as top-tier dps. Some of the Fighters CAN do surprisingly high dps in Reckless stance, although it isnt their main class role and it usually takes certain gear/groups/etc to do that. SKs do mostly spell damage, so thats not really melee anyway. Monks/Bruisers/Berserkers are Fighters that fall into the category of primarily being tanks but yes they CAN do high dps under the right circumstances in Reckless. TL;DR -- scouts are melee dps. You likely want Assassin, Beastlord, or maybe Brigand
Haha, still a good response, though. Thanks! I don't want to be "that guy" that's playing a tank class trying to DPS in Reckless, so I'll stick with a Scout class for now.
I will add that the best "physical melee" of fighters is probably a Brawler Archetype or Berserker. If you want pure melee dps though as others have said you will want to play a Scout. Reckless was introduced as a way for a Guild to have thier 4th tank who wasn't actually tanking anything contribute DPS as though he was a Scout. This works well on Brawlers and Crusaders as the Reckless Stance grant's potency buffs. Unfortunately this leaves a bit to be desired for Warriors that scale mostly off Critical Bonus, especially the Guardian Class. I would recommend the BL/Ranger for a beginner as pet mechanics are easy to start with, hard to master and rangers are more solo friendly.
