Hi there! I'm a returning player to the game and I've found it incredibly difficult to the point of frustrating to find info on how to play my class properly. I know Guides arent/werent as much of a thing for this game, it feels like a lot of information generally is given through word of mouth. When ive asked people for information about, for example, AA builds theyve said: -"Look up a player in X raiding guild and copy their build." This is usually met with other people saying "you cant do that! Those characters are using their AA to hit their caps on gear, and are accounting for their composition!" which is a fair point, but also it feels like it's hard to differentiate what would be a "Must Have" AA ability, and what would be a pure stat/cap driven choice. Without a guide im left to guess, and when i show my spec to others they go "well, why dont you have X and Y ability? it's clearly the optimal choice" like? i wouldnt have known until someone told me. -"Talk to [Name of the only templar they know] they can hook you up" this is helpful for basic info, but i really dont know weather the info i am getting is reliable or just another person making educated guesses no better than me -"Look on the forums" a lot of what I see on here is arguments, and like Im glad to see people engaging with the game in 2021 but that really doesnt help me find an answer -"Just do what you feel, you can play whatever and be fairly successful" sure, fair, but i want more of the nitty gritty, bc very few if any games have truly balanced classes, builds, and abilities, and with the constant tweaks i see made in the patch/update notes, I figure there's got to be certain things that rise to the top, or at least top 25% of build choices right? Im gonna launch off of my last point to make an example. I returned a few years ago and played as a raid templar for a month or so. Work got busy and the pandemic hit, and i had to quit for a while. Im back and hearing "Yeah, Inquisitors are all the rage now" "yah they got really buffed with the last patch" "I see everyone running inquisitor" WHY? I would gladly go through the energy and effort to betray my toon over if someone could give me some clear answers. Ive searched through the forums, and i've tried to decrypt the confusing update notes, but I havent been able to find the answers. -What is the breakdown of their buffs? -Are inquisitors in high demand for a specific reason? -What makes them better right now than Templars? -If theyre in such high demand, is there a flood of them? will i find it hard to find groups and should i stick with templar then? All this could be solved by saying "Dont worry about flavor of the month, just play what you like" but ive been stuck in situations far too often where im not just the duplicate of a class in a guild, but the runner up of the runner up of the best of that class in a guild, and i end up having to make a whole new character to try to get groups because "we already have a [current class]" I realize this is a lot of complaining, but this genuinely comes from a place of love for the game, and a interest in learning more. I dont just want to play, i want to be good at what i do, i want to be the best I can be and really dig into what i can do to improve. Thats how i have fun in games like this, and it's been a barrier in my attempt to reconnect with what I like about this game. If I could get any answers, or even make any connections I can that are willing to answer questions and talk with me about the more nitty gritty aspects of eq2, healers, and especially clerics, id super duper appreciate it ^-^
i got on the eq2 discord and apperently that was the answer i was looking for. Had my questions answered and then some within like 15 minutes of chatting with the priest tag on there <3 I would highly highly suggest anyone in the same boat as me to go seek them out
Part of the problem here, Lexii, is that not all changes to classes are announced, much less discussed at length. There's a complete lack of fundamental information about classes available to players--especially new ones. Game mechanics will change and it's only discovered by accident. Information is lost over time or simply fades away. This is especially tough for new players who really want to do a deep dive into their character/class. For example, you raise the issue about healers. Fundamental job of healers is to heal. But wait...there's different kinds of heals. Druids use heal over time, clerics use reactive heals, shamans use wards. Good luck finding current information on what's the priority of those heals if these classes are partnered in groups or raids. And where do channelers or beastlords in spiritual fit in? What about paladin group heals? It's a confusing mishmash of information, but where's the information at on how these work? If you're solo, it's immaterial. Grouping with others or raiding is where this begins to rear its ugly head.
Priority of heals is wards go first, then reactives, then direct heals/hots. Bleedthrough means wards will not catch everything. The big thing with healer classes, is most content isn't difficult to heal so people prefer buffs over more healing capability. So while templars can still outheal inqs, and provide way more defensive stuff, those things are needed, but inq can buff autoattack so people like that. Same reason furies are popular - lucidity for fervor. All healers can heal, so honestly just play whatever you prefer. I will never betray to inq, and there's been several xpacs where their buffs were really good, but I will die templar because its what I love(and inqs will never match my healing potential). However inqs do also get more than one group cure which can be nice for somethings lol
