Hello all, I am missing the MMO world and want to relive my glory days Going to head on over to Varsoon, well, because, and had a few questions while EQ2 downloads. First question (as is customary) Will I shoot myself in the foot if I decide to play one of the following classes: Illusionist, Wizard, Brigand, Bruiser/Monk, Inquisitor, Dirge or Berserker. Illy in EQ2 remains one of my all-time favorite mmo classes, but i've loved all roles in one form or another depending on the game. Thinking of going fighter, but am worried that there won't be much need for me in groups. Overthinking much? Probably. Ah well, will just jump in and play a few classes and find which one sticks. See you in game, eventually, if I choose a class and stick with it
I don't think you'll be shooting yourself in the foot with any of the above classes, although a few might disagree regarding the Brigand. You'll want opinions from people specifically on Varsoon though, as the classes play differently there than they do on "Live" servers. I only spent a little time on Varsoon before the trolls had me leaving for the Live servers. Generally speaking, Illusionist is a safe bet though. It's either going to be a solid DPS or a needed "Power Feed" no matter where you play them. Wizards and Warlocks: My *personal* issue with them is that they're too squishy and don't have a pet as a speed bump like other classes. Bruiser / Monk: I'm not familiar enough with how they play on Varsoon to give valid advice. Inquisitor: A generally solid choice for a healer. As the game gets increasingly DPS happy though, even expecting healers to solidly contribute, you might find a Fury to be a better long-term choice. I'll spare you my tirade about the segment of the community that doesn't understand roles, only ACT's DPS totals. Dirge: I personally LOVE bard classes. My Dirge on Antonia Bayle is brutally effective if you're looking at how well the overall group performs vs individual damage totals. Zerker: Mine on Varsoon was very effective. Great DPS for a tank, solid defense, and lots of taunts.
Berserker and Bruiser are currently the least desired tanks in raids. Depending on what it is that you're looking to do, that's probably something you should consider. As we move into DoF, the general consensus, specifically for raid tanks, is that Paladin > Monk > Guardian >= Bruiser > Berserker > SK. That being said, if your intent is to play mostly Heroic content, Berserker and SK are exceptional choices, and most raid forces are interested in having 1 SK in Raid as a mage group support/DPS. If you're intending to find a guild for raiding purposes, you're going to struggle to find a raid force which is interested in taking specifically the Berserker. Illusionists are top tier supports currently, capable of doing very respectable damage combined with having important damage buffs. Wizards are doing alright damage, and it's worthwhile to have one available almost exclusively due to their personal damage + Frigid Gift (Ice Lash)'s benefits to the damage profile of the other members of the raid group. Summoners fairly recently got a change which has made their numbers look fairly significantly better than Wizards, but if you're alright with that, most raids are still very welcoming to having 1-2 Wizards available. As for Monks/Bruisers, most raid forces are very interested in having a Monk. I know from experience recruiting and looking for my own guild that finding a skilled Monk who is dependable and will show up for raid times is very tricky. Aside from Paladin, Monks are very arguably the strongest raid tank and off-tank option. With the way that the mitigation curve currently exists, equally geared Brawlers take between 7-10% more damage per hit in comparison to a Plate tank, but avoid a significantly larger portion of damage. The days of Brawlers "getting one shot" or taking huge spikes of damage compared to a plate tank is essentially non-existent. Monks currently offer a superior raid-wide buff (casting speed) in comparison to Bruiser and, with DoF right around the corner, will also have an advantage in tanking coming from Tsunami. That being said, Bruisers are still phenomenal tanks with a great raid-wide and there have been plenty of discussions involving potential double-Brawler (Monk + Bruiser) tank compositions. Outside of raid, both Brawlers currently struggle slightly in order to maintain threat on multi-encounter fights, but assuming you're skilled at tabbing through monsters and hitting them until a Dragon Rage/Manhandle proc occurs and combining that with smart taunt usage, you can keep a large number of mobs actively engaged on you. Inquisitor is in a unique position currently. They offer great damage buffs to their allies, but have less total potential healing output than every other healer in the game coupled with having generally low resistances and health pools. Reactives as a whole are currently the weakest of the archtype specific healing effects (reactives, wards, HoTs), and Inquisitor lacks the other tools of the Templar to cover for that fact. They will struggle to top off groups immediately after taking an AoE hit and they (currently) lack a significant damage profile, like that of a Fury, to cover up that weakness. In terms of raw healing ability, Dogma in DoF is going to help you significantly, and access to Fervent Faith is going to make handling any of the stifling or stunning CC's significantly easier to group cure. Additionally, Deny is a very powerful debuff in a world where getting monsters to 0 main stat is very important to tank survival and the raid needs to debuff 500-700 main stat. Essentially, there's a big list of pros and cons to line up, and most people playing Inquisitor currently are doing so out of interest in ensuring that they can play one in later expansions, when their strengths get accentuated and their weaknesses are reduced significantly by new abilities and AAs. I can't really say anything about Dirges other than both bards offer great options in both buffs and debuffs. Which one you choose isn't really so important unless the guild you're looking to join already has more of one than the other.
The people you're frustrated with understand roles very well. The "problem" specifically with both Fury and Inquisitor is that they're typically placed in non-tank groups to maximize the effects of their damage buffing potential, and the amount of healing necessary from non-tank groups is very minimal. If you're filling the role of the healer who is needing to bring only a bare minimum of healing, yes, there is expectation that you're going to also provide personal DPS instead of sitting there twiddling your thumbs, and yes, that expectation is being measured by ACT DPS parses. In the situations where there is exceptionally high damage or an exceptionally large number of cures which need to be thrown out, nobody is judging your DPS parses - they look at your healing performed and Cures out, but on fights from current tier like K'Dal, as a Fury I'm still capable of managing 200+ hps, 60+ cures, and 700+ DPS, and I definitely judge other non-tank healers by this standard and fully expect them to recognize what their roles as non-tank healer means.
Well, since you KNOW that EVERYBODY out there is playing the game as you describe (and presumably you and your regular groups are playing - points there), and NOBODY is abusing or misinterpreting the ACT stats... I'll forego any further comment.
Not running a guardian is not really an attractive way to play the game raiding wise - at least in DOF and beyond. Tower of Stone and the added raid-wide/group stamina outweighs the additional HP benefits a paladin has. Not to mention the group death save a guardian offers. If you're having issues keeping a guardian alive because he has 2k hp less than a paladin, you're doing something wrong, and have issues beyond a paladin. Most of the time the most unstable part of a fight is on incoming, and tower of stone resolves most issues of positioning/taking damage prior to debuffs. When you reach KOS and guardian's get dragoon's reflexes it's hard to justify running a paladin main tank - not to say it cannot be done, but it's not the most "meta" setup possible, and it's making your raid force weaker for no reason. Paladin is more attractive as a third tank, as you cannot justify not using a monk for avoidance on the main tank, and having the raid wide casting speed. Brawlers get a massive agility/strength and incoming damage debuff in KOS as well, that solidifies them as always having a raid slot. The third tank is a tossup of whatever you wanna run, bruiser, sk, paladin, or berserker. Shadowknight's are typically the last raid tank as they can usually parse the highest, people like having two troubadors as it offers more jcaps - and SK gels the best with a troub(in KOS), and they offer the best raidwide (raid wide hp/potency). You can also betray a shadowknight whenever you want if you need more survivability.
Thanks All for the thoughtful replies. Super helpful and detailed. If anyone's curious I will probably stick with Illy main. After all it's the class I enjoyed the most in the old days playing up to Kunark.
