Hello all, After a 3 year break, I am pondering coming back to EQ2. I never got too far in my first attempt - got a brigand to level 30 (level 31 jewelcrafter). Had a lot of fun. Thinking of going the distance this time - so I will be looking for a good mix of solo/group content with a 50% chance of raiding in the endgame. So a few questions: 1. Realistically, for the purposes of leveling, how well do dirges do solo (say compared to a swashbuckler)? 2. In low level content (10-50), how hard is it to find a group? Are people doing that content in groups? (I have no friends or spouse that plays EQ2: it's just me + sufficient social skills. Will I be mostly alone?) 3. I generally like playing support but every once in a while I must be able to do things on my own. Will dirge work for this? 4. I generally don't like fighting styles that involve kiting (though I must say, I'm quite good at kiting). Do dirges have to kite to handle challenging mobs? Thank you in advance for your feedback. EQ2noob
First off, I will preface this by saying that my main is a dirge and that I don't play any alts enough to get a particulary good sense of how things go for the rest of the classes. With that out of the way... onwards! 1. My experience has been that dirges do quite well solo in the earlier tiers but that once you start getting into higher level content, soloing becomes somewhat more difficult. It's not impossible by any means but more difficult. Even so, I have had no difficulty burning through SF solo quest lines so I suppose it depends on what you're looking to do. 2. I'm afraid there's no good answer to this question because it's highly dependent on which server you're planning to play on. However, my experience suggests that finding and joining a good guild will go a long way towards ensuring that you won't be playing alone all the time. Also, if it's at all reassuring, I see a loooot of messages is 1-9 and 80-89 from people looking to pick up dirges for groups. Dirges are highly desirable for high level content. 3. See my answer to question 1. Solo quest content is no problem for a lone dirge, we can put out enough damage to take things down. I would suggest, however, making sure that you don't leave your AAs behind as you level. Our self buffs can be very powerful and greatly enhance survivability. 4. For challenging mobs I'd have to say yes, kiting will help you immensely. Our ranged damage isn't as good as our melee (at least mine isn't, heh), but the lack of large self-heals means that kiting gives you enough time to take a difficult mob down.
I found leveling on a dirge to be pretty easy--- master Daro's Sorrowful Dirge (and then grandmaster it at 44) and you can kite extremely well, if a mob gets cloes to you, you can cheap shot it or use Lanets Excruciating Screem (a daze) to get back out while you re apply your snares. Lower level content on the few servers I've played on takes most classes because the game is dying and there is not a lot of lowbie groups really. When you get to higher content (TSO+ especially) dirges should have no trouble getting a group. Bards and chanters are pretty rare to find for groups and you will almost always see LF bard/chanter for groups. http://www.eq2flames.com/dirges/ has a good amount of info on anything you would need to know for your aas and, over all, has a good player base who can give you advise, as well as if you /join guk.dirges in game.
