What 2 classes would be "easiest" to start out with? Longterm viability doesnt matter. Wont have mercs at first. Thank you.
A few great combos I can think of are: Monk + Mystic Necro + Coercer However the "easiest" would be Berserker + Inquisitor. Strait up tank and healer. Let's you learn the EQ2 user interface and basic strategy. As you get more comfortable with the game and all the stats, then I'd recommend one of the other combo's mentioned above. my 2 cents.
Well, since you said longterm viability doesn't matter and you just want classes that are easiest to start out with... A mystic is really slow in the beginning. I just started one a few days ago and the first levels have been torturous compared to my main. It takes forever to kill anything. I'm sure that the class becomes more fun to play as you go along, but I'm not sure I can handle it that long - this one will probably end up as just a crafting alt. If you choose a DPS class with it, though, I imagine earlier levels would be much more bearable. Best of luck with whatever you choose. Welcome to the game.
SK / Paladin / Bruiser / Monk (pick one, doesn't matter which). + Inquisitor / Mystic / Warden (pick one, doesn't matter which) Pretty much any combo of those two will be extremely powerful at low level. DO NOT take a zerker, it is the most difficult tank class to play and probably the most gimped. For solo / duo play, i would also not recommend a guardian. It's a great defensive tank for groups and raids, but the other 4 tank classes bring more toys to everyday play (FD, rezzes, heals etc.)
Why is the zerker the most difficult and gimed? I am playing a zerker right now (level 65) and really like him. What I like the most are all the AoE abilities and attacks they have. With an Inquisitor merc, can recklessly walk into a dungeon with orange heroics and aggro 9 or 10 mobs and kill'em all fairly quickly. Have to taunt a few off the healer sometimes, but so long as I keep them all focused on hitting me, the healer keeps me up the whole fight. And I have crap mastercrafted armor. A good number of my combat arts are Expert level, and a few nice jewlry items that get me 125% multi attack and my dps is something like 170. Crit Chance is only 40-ish so I am working on getting that one up. Anyways, I love zerks. Granted I don't intend to ever raid with him.
For just plain old fun: Shadowknight + Dirge or Troub. + heal merc. This is in a duo. The Bard is not a ton of fun solo.
Really? I know I'm biased a bit, but I never had to hit many things more than 3-4 times pre-level 10 to kill it with my newer mystics. After level 10 you get your aa's & things speed up drastically like they do with inquisitor & warden. To the OP, really any healer & any tank is going to be a safe & sturdy duo that will be able to take on most any content until the very highest levels. A higher damage potential healer + a higher damage potential tank is going to be the best. I've had a whole lot of fun over the years duoing my mystic main with my hubby's berserker. Been doing that for 9 years. He did use to drive me mad pulling roomfuls of things but it was all good in the end. I've also had fun with a warden/pally duo (yeah I know it's not perfect but it can be fun). A lot of the 'fun' portion of any duo is duoing with someone you enjoy being around though.
It can't be said enough that finding a class that matches your playstyle is key. My main is a paladin, but so far, I have also played a mystic, conjurer, and swashbuckler, up to Level 20 and 25 AA. It's not enough to see how they play by endgame, but it is enough to get a grasp of how the classes work. Hands down, my favorite class is still the paladin. Mystics are incredibly survivable. Their heals are top-notch, they can wear chain armor, and they are a pet class, though they certainly don't need the pet to keep them alive. They also have fantastic group buffs. But in comparison to the other classes I've played, their damage is very lacking. It took me 4 days to get my mystic to Level 20, because I simply dreaded the length of the battles and kept taking a break from him. There's not a whole lot in his AA trees to help with DPS - looking at it, he is clearly designed just for healing and he does it exceptionally well, which is great for when I group, but not so much when I'm solo. My Level 20 conjurer did about the same damage as my Level 20 paladin, equally geared. Really, it just came down to the fact that yes, their spells are more powerful, but also take time to cast, whereas the paladin can execute combat arts in quick succession. Their AA development provides a lot of upgrades to shorten casting times, and I have no doubt that he would quickly surpass my paladin in damage if I took his AA further. But he has no self heals, and can only wear cloth armor, and so far, both the earth and fire pets are really poor tanks unless I let them attack first and have a few seconds to establish threat. Swashbucklers do amazing damage, and can wear chain armor. But they have no self heals. I also died with my swashbuckler around Level 9, and that's the only time I have ever died before Level 20 on any toon. I learned that you can't stealth named mobs, even if they are not heroic. My stealth went away right next to his buddies, too. The positioning damage is great when you're fighting one or two mobs and are prepared beforehand, but in the middle of the fight there wasn't much for him to do while all his stuff was on cooldown. I really think every class should have at least one self heal, even if it's on a 5 minute cooldown. Sometimes mobs respawn right on top of you, sometimes in large numbers, and there's really no indication. It's really unfortunate when mobs respawn right next to you when you're already in a battle, as you often can't get away in time, even with Sprint. And some enemies will follow you to the depths of hell and back. My paladin is the best balance of damage and survivability that I've found. He is middle-tier damage and high-tier survivability, and can be spec'ed for DPS or tanking. I wish all the classes had more diverse spec options.
This for me. My main is a Barbarian Dirge and myself and a friend duo'd all the way to 95 with only occasional grouping and some public quests thrown in. My friend has a Troll Shadowknight and we rarely had any real issues. Another very survivable duo, albeit a little low on DPS, is a Guardian and Templar. If you are good with changing targets and area awareness, an Illusionist and any Tank works well too.
I duo'd my Templar with a Guardian friend way back when it was truly miserable and slow - and it STILL wasn't bad. The best part of it is: Tank and Healer is argueably the anchor points of any group. In most situations if you have a tank and a healer, you can fill the rest of the group with whatever you want, and still have a group that can do most things. It's only when you are at hardest end game that you need to be a little more discerning about who you have in a group for best results, but even then, you STILL need a Tank and a Healer.
