Was wondering how well a monk can solo/molo as compared to say a Paladin. As the monk class in general looks like it would be a very fun class to play. Secondly which merc would work well, a dirge for the extra buffs, or a healer type.
Just my opinion, but no class is truly enjoyable until endgame. If you get the ER for the monk, and gear him as well as the pally, I'd say the monk will solo better than the pally. Pallies are terrific tanks, and while they can do a little DPS, Monks will always outparse an equal geared pally. My monk is 85 right now, working on getting to 90, and I only have 3 AE's 2 learned, and 1 AA. However, with AE autu from crane flock (100% ae auto) taking out groups is easy for my monk. My pally does REALLY well with group encounters, and it's impossible for him to die, but I remember that at lvl 85 my pally wasn't doing the 10-15k dps that my monk gets. (not geared or mastered out) Monks seem like a confusing class though. Takes a lot of learning (which I am still in the process of doing).
I've been a Monk for a while now, and was (for the first 90 levels of her life) a pure soloer. With things like Feign Death and Mend (self heal) in the low levels, you're going to have an easy time soloing. As for a merc, I use a Warden. I do so much damage and generate so much threat that the tank-healer (Inquis, Pally) mercs aren't a good fit for me; I just need a heal/cure sometimes, but other people swear by them. It's not a confusing class, really. You learn it if you spend most of your time without a merc and aren't powerleveled. As for comparing it to a Pally, well, I've never played one. I've always focused my time on my Monk because I love her so much And yes, classes can be enjoyable pre-endgame. Even though I'm now a 92 Skyshrine raiding tank, I remember having a blast at lower levels, and pre-merc too!
I may be biased, since I'm one of the oldest monks in the game (started about 5min after the servers came online and been my main ever since) but I personally think the monk is the best solo class in EQ2. Some classes may be able to kill difficult content with less preparation, but a sufficiently-geared monk can tackle just about anything that is possible to solo. Plus, Feign Death. I simply can't overstate the impact having Feign Death has on your play experience. Nowhere in the game is impossible to reach by yourself. You can try almost any challenge with the knowledge that you can simply abort if things don't go as planned. You can literally ignore trash MOBs, have nothing to fear from accidental aggro, and can easily AFK anywhere you want for as long as you wish. The combination of multiple "invulnerability temps" (Tsunami, Bob and Weave, Brawler's Tenacity, etc.), the natural survivability of a tank class, feign death, self heals/cures (Mend, Will of the Heavens) and very respectable DPS makes the monk the ultimate solo experience. Oh, and you still get to be one of the most badass tanks in the game on top of that. I've said for years that the only reason people would want to play anything else is for variety or greater challenge.
