How complex is beast lord?

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by MightyUnclean, Dec 11, 2019.

  1. MightyUnclean Member

    Hey guys,

    Thanks for the help in the other thread! I think I can handle things, especially if I use macros. That being said, how difficult is it to play a beast lord in PvE? Can they also be heavily macrod? Or would I maybe be better off playing a conjuror?

    Thanks!
    Soara2 likes this.
  2. HadleysHope Member

    I absolutely adore the BL and would rather play this class than any other and I say that as someone who played mage classes for years. They are pretty simple I think.

    You have 2 Stances Feral or Spiritual. Feral is DPS, Spirit is heals (doesn't replace an actual healer but can be useful if you do not have one).

    You "tame" various animals, each type of animal does different things, i.e. some are better in spiritual stance, some are better in feral, Check out this excellent guide to warders (think:- pet).

    Each warder levels from level 1 to 6 as you use them and the "affinity" grows between you, this takes quite a while for each warder.

    During the fight the warder will find "weaknesses" and at that point you can use one of the primary abilities to build up Savagery which is kinda like a mana bar you use to spend on the beastlord nukes.

    Honestly, I cannot say enough good things about this class and highly recommend it.

    Heres a full guide which I would recommend you read if you have the time, but I say just get on and play the class, I would be astounded if you didnt get on with it.
    Edelphia, Soara2 and Carynn like this.
  3. Bhayar Well-Known Member

    The BL is a fun class, especially if you like versatility. I generally found it faster to level your warders when you're in spiritual stance. And you can still dps in spiritual, it just gives you options for healing, warding and power regen. Key is getting a variety of warders and levelling them up. You will find one or two that will be your "go to" pet. I found the hell hound in Shard of Hate to be one of those.
    Soara2, Carynn and HadleysHope like this.
  4. Juraiya Well-Known Member

    Beastlord is probably one of the only classes you wouldn't need to macro. They only have a few CAs, which repeat each tier. Their other attacks all come from their pet and finding weaknesses, and those get their own unique hotbar. You COULD macro with the Beastlord abilities, but it wouldn't be as effective as with other classes. Because if you want to level your warder, you have to ignore your regular CAs, and only use the CAs that come with the stance (feral vs. spiritual) on the pet hotbar. Those can't really be macroed, because you can only activate one when a weakness occurs, and then you can only hit two or three in a row before the weakness vanishes.

    I know someone who hates the BL, because he thinks he has to level up EVERY warder, and feels that is too much work. But that's not really necessary. For each of my BLs I pick one or two warders that I focus on, and just level those.

    One of the wonderful things about BL, from a roleplaying or storytelling perspective, is that it's so customizable. You have an image of your BL wandering around with a feline? Then tame a feline. You want it to be a white lion? Then tame one. You want it to be black? Tame a black one. I've seen people running around with those patchwork animals from Bristelbane day as warders; I have one BL who has a couple of the denizens of Shard of Love as her warders. (You can tame the deer there, and the red lion, although you need to mentor to 50, I think, if you want to get the lion.)

    Really, there are so many variants of each warder that you can customize your BL to exactly what you want. Keep in mind that most of this is just appearance; a feline is a feline is a feline, for instance. A feline is different from an ursine which is different from a canine which is different from an avian, to be sure, but the specific appearance of the warder makes no difference battle wise. It's just what looks good to YOU, and what YOU want, that matters, for the most part.

    Good luck! Beastlord is one of my favorite classes, because even if you have several of them, they can all be made to feel different to you. :)

    Oh, there is one disadvantage to Beastlords that I ought to warn you about. While the class is excellent for soloing and is high DPS, I don't personally find that they do well in groups. They only bring one buff to the group, and they have no AOEs except two or three that they get through AA lines. One of those is Daggerstorm (which admittedly is excellent), but they have no native AOEs that I can recall at the moment. It makes it difficult on occasion if you're in the mood to just walk into a huge group of mobs and slaughter them, as I sometimes am. :)

    This has all been my experience with Beastlords; others may have varying experiences.
    Soara2, Carynn and HadleysHope like this.
  5. MightyUnclean Member

    Great, thanks for the info, guys! Couple other quick questions: Do you have to be really quick to respond to the weakness attacks of opportunity? I have a thing with my hands that slows down my reaction time. Also, how often are BL's called on to heal in groups? I'm pretty bad at healing, LOL!
    Soara2 and HadleysHope like this.
  6. HadleysHope Member

    No, not especially. When the weakness is exposed the button becomes clickable and stays so until you click it. I dont think I have left it more than 10 or 15 seconds before clicking it but I would imagine you wouldn't have issues responding in that time. Also the 'weakness' buttons all light up when a weakness is found so you can chose one you get on well with or, indeed, any of them (I want to say theres 4 to choose from).

    As for the healing, I have never been asked to be the healer and I doubt you would either. The spiritual stance is great but its no sub for an actual healer (even a merc).

    HH
    Soara2, Juraiya and Carynn like this.
  7. Carynn Well-Known Member

    Great, now I'm going to have to make another beastlord alt...

    Thanks for all the links!
    Soara2, HadleysHope and Juraiya like this.
  8. CharbrynEQ2 Well-Known Member

    Oh, there is one disadvantage to Beastlords that I ought to warn you about. While the class is excellent for soloing and is high DPS, I don't personally find that they do well in groups. They only bring one buff to the group, and they have no AOEs except two or three that they get through AA lines. One of those is Daggerstorm (which admittedly is excellent), but they have no native AOEs that I can recall at the moment. It makes it difficult on occasion if you're in the mood to just walk into a huge group of mobs and slaughter them, as I sometimes am. :)



    This is true - something not mentioned I don't believe was that when you get a warder/pet to 6, you get a new combat art that goes on your beastlord bar. Depending on the warder, you can unlock additional blue and green AoEs. (Drake is a fire AoE, bat's have a blue aoe from stealth IIRC, several of the spiritual warders have green AEs). This is what does lead to the idea that you need to level up a lot/all the warders to 6 to unlock all available combat arts, but for casual/solo play it's not really necessary.[/quote][/quote]
    Carynn and Soara2 like this.
  9. MightyUnclean Member

    Welp, just found out that even with a monthly sub, BL is hidden behind some extra pay wall. That kills the class and the game for me. Thanks for the help anyway, guys.
    Soara2 likes this.
  10. MightyUnclean Member

    Screw it, I'll try a conjurer. Is there any way to stop the game from switching to windowed mode every time I load it?
    Soara2 likes this.
  11. Finora Well-Known Member

    It should stay in whichever one you have checked in your options.

    If it isn't, open up options (alt-o). From there it's a check box under Display > Performance
    Check the box for full screen then make sure you hit the accept button.
    Soara2 and Dude like this.
  12. Juraiya Well-Known Member

    Awr, I'm sorry you encountered that. :(

    Yeah, Beastlord, Channeler, Aerkyn, and Freeblood are all extra costs, unless you got the "expansion" they were part of (which wasn't an expansion) back in the day. Aerkyn has always been separate; I never bothered to get that one, myself, for kind of the same reason.

    You could always choose as a balance, say, to not sub for two months and then get that class with what you would have spent on the sub. (Unless you bought yearly, then you can't do that.) Maybe you can ask for that money from someone you know as a Christmas present. Just throwing out options. I think one reason BL is a bit OP is because it IS a pay class; as long as it's a pay class, they're not going to nerf it.

    What server are you planning to create a character on? If you're on Maj'Dul, I would be happy to set you up with some 46 slot bags. Can only help you out there, though; I don't have sufficient characters elsewhere to do so.
    Soara2 and HadleysHope like this.
  13. MightyUnclean Member



    Just made a halfling conjurer on Maj'Dul! I am off the ship and on a starter island. Is this basically the same starter island that was in the original game at release? If so, and if it's not super important, I'd rather just skip it. Is that OK, or does it teach you a lot about the game?
    Soara2 likes this.
  14. Juraiya Well-Known Member

    It's the same island; they took it away for a number of years, to get us to do Kelethin and Halas, but brought it back later. It doesn't teach you any more or less than any other starting area; I personally prefer Greater Faydark (Kelethin) because it's so beautiful, but a lot of other people prefer Halas. Neither one offers great quested gear; I think your starter gear is better (better mitigation) than the quested gear for quite a while. Dropped gear can be better though. I think the game DOES force you to at least complete the boat part; I haven't figured out how to get around that, at least.

    Conjuror is a good choice, at least, I like them. A halfling conjuror sounds pretty interesting. :) You'll have to let us know your character's name, and we might be able to help out. At least I can send you a bunch of bags. :)
    Soara2 likes this.
  15. MightyUnclean Member


    Thanks! Just having a knowledgeable person around who I could ask the occasional question of would be a big help. When I made the character (named Egmund), I had a choice to start in New Halas, I think it was, or the...Queen's Colony? Which took me to the starter area that seemed familiar. It gives me the option to leave that area. Is it OK if I leave right away, then? Do you know where it will take me if I do?
    Soara2 likes this.
  16. Juraiya Well-Known Member

    You can have it take you to Kelethin/Greater Faydark (I don't remember which one it lists as the choice), or Qeynos, or Halas. If you select Kelethin it takes you to the Nursery (the starter area); if you select the other two, I'm not sure exactly where you go. Halas you will either be at the docks, or at the starter area, I'm not sure which. It would be better for your character as a newbie to start at the starter area, but I'm not sure where the guy sends you exactly, because I never select that option. :D

    I can send you the bags via Norrath mail. You'd be better off asking questions here (either by PM or just anyone on the forums); I have so many characters that knowing WHICH one I am would be a problem for you. Especially with Frostfell going on, as I'm switching characters constantly. :p

    Besides which, there are other people FAR more knowledgeable than I am about many things. :)
    Soara2 likes this.
  17. MightyUnclean Member



    OK! I think I'll start in Qeynos, just for something different, since I started in Halas waaaaay back in EQ. I know it's a different game entirely, but I always liked Qeynos. Probably a silly question: Is there a global chat?
    Soara2 likes this.
  18. Juraiya Well-Known Member

    There is, it's called General. If you click your Chat screen, you can turn on various chat channels. General is one of the defaults, so it should already be turned on.

    Just a warning: On Maj'Dul, General sometimes gets a bit... odd. I usually keep all my chat channels in a separate tab from other info, because although it can be informative at times, and amusing at other times, sometimes it gets in the way of other things I want to see. Like, exp gained, rewards earned, warders leveling up, that sort of thing. Especially when someone comes on drunk and starts babbling, which can get either amusing or annoying, depending upon your mood at the time. :)
    Soara2 likes this.
  19. MightyMeaghan Well-Known Member

    I've had swapping into spiritual for the extra heals and wards add just enough extra survivabilty to make the difference between success and a wipe, so don't discount it entirely. You'll never be a primary healer, not by a long shot. It does make for a bit of added utility in a pinch though.
    Soara2 likes this.
  20. Soara2 Well-Known Member

    Yeah. It is not good. I had fun one day in bg at level 30 with my son on mine years ago. It's 110/110 now btw. That class just isn't for me.
    Breanna likes this.