Just wondering, mine is only level 12 but so far I have no problems soloing, and that is without even fighting undead, where I would really shine... I think I will have no problems getting to 20 solo, if I choose, which is almost 1/3 of the way through the game...
Level 1 is 1 quest long. Level 2 is also 1 quest long. Both of those can be done in under 2 minutes, if you don't take your time and read the text. The levels get bigger as you go. They take longer to obtain. I was in Temple of Cazic Thule for 8 hours on Friday, pulling constantly with a good friend, both of us having very high level (me 67 and 62, him 70 and 68) characters - not newbies, but people who understand the game and have been playing EQ2 since launch. I went in at just at 2% into level 38, he went in at 20% into level 39. I had 100% vitality. In the 8 hours we were there, our group size changed and our pulling style changed, but we were doing constant pulls as fast as we could the whole time. When I logged (I was late getting to my D&D session) I had JUST hit level 41. The difference? 2 minutes for level 2 and 3. 8 hours for levels 39 and 40. 20 is not a third of the way through. The game begins to slow down around level 8, and by level 15 you will be leveling much more slowly. As a 41 templar, soloing is mostly a matter of waiting out the mob. I cast my DoT, HO/nuke/nuke, heal. HO/nuke/nuke, heal. DoT, HO/nuke/nuke, heal... it's safe, but time consuming.
It never sucks if you keep updating your weapon and damage spells appropriately. And also choose the right aa's; if that's your inclination. And level 20 is not even near 1/3 the game :smileytongue: 68-70 takes quite a bit mroe time than 1-20.
So we have one person saying the dps never sucks and another saying maybe around level 41ish? And 2 saying 1/3 of the levels is not 1/3 of the game... I don't count the length based on time taken, since you could sit at max level for years... Anyway, so I hear all these people on the forums claiming templars cannot solo except grays and whatnot...just want to know what level this is, so I know what level I HAVE to be grouping. I'm also playing on a pvp server if that matters (cannot stand just pve anymore)...
*snort* Master Yoda is funny. It really depends on what you want to do. Things are pretty easy because creatures don't have a significant amount of hitpoints until t3. Once I got in the middle of my armor quests, I wanted a group with me. You might feel different, but even one other person can make a world of difference for us.
It starts when you make an alt that has dps. Soloing a templar is not an issue by itself, my lvl 70 templar can propably solo tougher mobs than my monk. But - it just takes a lot longer and that means adds will be an issue. Then again, even a group of 3 lvl 60's will present a huge difficulty to my templar but my monk can kill 10 of those at a time. And this difference is because of interrupts. But till you have played a real DPS class, you will not know the difference.
I have played a "real dps" class through the same levels...the monk does seem to do best, compared to my zerker, or my other rogue classes. However, the difference is not that great. Sure against huge numbers you are going to get interupted but then thats your own fault for trying to solo 6 mobs at once. I assume against undead mobs Templars can solo fairly well, though I haven't found a good spot of undead at my level, 13 I think now...but double damage on the one dd spell should mean the mobs go down in one Heroic Opp. at most.
OOC. In the process of levelling up a character (any class), as others have already said, level 20 is not 1/3 of the way, really it is probably more like 1% of the way, because of the way levels get larger and larger as you get higher. At level 12, you have barely begun, and at that sort of level range, the differences between the abilities of characters is a lot smaller. When levelling up a Templar, you will see the relative DPS you have compared to other classes will gradually fall, especially compared to the very high DPS classes. At what level you consider it "sucks" is a personal judgement, but certainly by level 30 or so, your solo DPS will be a long way behind most other classes. I know that at the time, my level 30 Fury had about the same parsed DPS against even con mobs as my Templar had at about level 55. Now, that was pre-LU#20/21, and things have improved a little since then, of course. For lower level Templars, before you start developing some of the Achievement Point skills, your solo DPS will be very poor if you compare it to other classes. That said, really, Templar DPS ought to be poor compared to classes that, for example, cannot heal, or things wouldn't be fair. I suggest if you enjoy playing the healer, then keep going until at least* level 30 or 35 before making a firm decision. However, if you really want to be able to have good solo DPS at lower levels, then Templar is not a good class choice. In my opinion, the best option between healing and DPS at low levels is the Fury. Make your choice.
My first serious character was a Ranger. Said Ranger is now level 67, and I can pull no arrow even con mobs with my bow and have them at least half dead before they arrive to me. If I use my 15 minute recast Sniper shot to pull, no arrow white cons don't even get to me. They die where they stand. That's a DPS class. Templar is a LOT of fun for healing a group. I don't like soloing, but ya gotta do somethin while you're LFG. =)
Woot, time for me to get this thread locked. Here we go, Have you been to Thundering Steppes yet? Have you seen those huge pits out there? My Templar Xlrate (of Befallen) dug all of those pits out there, with a spoon while trying to solo just the last 2% i needed so I could ding to make Blood Talon con yellow to me. Yes it took weeks to do, but I did it, with a spoon and a crutch. That 2% was hard but fortunately everybody else on their way by would throw their little nukes or auto attack for a few seconds and shorten my job by a full 5 to 10 minutes. Seriously, if you like to solo, DO NOT play a Templar. Worst DPS in game by far. If we specalise all 50 of our AA's into DPS at level 70 we can parse what a level 40 Fury with 10 AA's parse. Now in my Templars defense, he is in almost all Fabled gear with a nice selection of Legendary, and almost every master spell at his tier at his disposal. So I am about average (of the 50 last templars remaining in the game.). Every other spell is Adept 3. Has been like that since level 37. I started yet another new character recently, A Swashbuckler, and am having an absolute blast with him, some decent Utility from what I see, Good strong melee skills, positional attacks. Just a balst. Anyways, Good luck on whatever you decide. If you do want to know the least painful places to level I will be more than happy to send you a list but most of them will require grouping. Just send me a PM. Oh and the smart alleck answer to your question? 1. It just keeps getting worse from there.
For some actual constructive and productive methods by which you can improve your solo DPS abilities, there exist several topics already on the subject. Alternatively, you could send me a private message. I seem to be getting quite a few PM's from younger Templars these days who are just looking for help and suggestions on the Templar forums, but who keep finding answers that amount to "play a real class". There does exist a great many Templars who not only excel at playing to the strengths of our class...but who also love the class. I'm certain that it shouldn't take you much time to realize who some of those Templars are. Look for their answers to your questions and follow their advice. Templar is a strong class with many powerful benefits. As with all classes, there are weaknesses, but overall the class is widely considered one of the most popular for a reason. Message Edited by Kendricke on 07-10-2006 05:57 AM
Templars used to be the most popular because we were considered the best healers and could get all the group cures. I don't see 1/2 as many templars around as pre combat revamp so I don't know if we would be considered one of the most popular now.
Per EQ2census.com: Level 20-70, priest classes, all servers: Templar 40136 Fury 37830 Warden 25191 Mystic 24036 Inquisitor 21308 Defiler 16881 Level 60-70 (Tier 7), priest classes, all servers: Templar 4270 Fury 3847 Warden 2401 Mystic 2199 Inquisitor 2050 Defiler 1453 In fact, Templars are also the most popular priest in every Tier except Tiers 1 and 2 (where Furies and Wardens are more popular). So, above level 20...Templars are consistently the most popular priest class at every levelling bracket...once again illustrating that personal perception is not often the best source for factual information.
Where can i find a spell list that lists the damage/stats of each spell? This way I can compare on paper the higher level damage spells to see if it really drops off compared to other priest classes like everyone says. Also are you guys counting fighting against undead in your numbers, that one nuke does double damage against them? On one hand I like the group char, but if other priests have just as good groupability but can also solo (remember im on a pvp server too) then there is no reason to play a templar except its easier and cheaper to get spell books off the broker...
Perhaps the reason they aren't so popular in T1 and T2, is because no one continues to play them after that? Taking census data (which includes inactive players by the way) is only a small piece of the puzzle. According to this there are only 183,295 characters in the entire game. Now, I've got 10 of those so.... even if everyone only had 2 chars per account, are you saying there are only 91,648 subscribers?
Most popular class =! most characters of that class. If you really want to compare the popularity, you need to find out which classes are played the most. The reason why there are so many high level templars in game is not that templars are a popular class. The reason is that templars were a popular class. My templar is lvl 70 because after taking my main to end, I had time. My templar has 23 aa while my main has had 50 for a long time now. Most of my templars aa's are from leftover collections. And no, I do not think that my preferences are those of the majority. But here is the news, neither are yours. BTW, the relative amount of templars is dropping. Templars used to be a huge majority and now there are barely more templars than the next class. When I wrote this, there were 16 templars online, 5 inquisitors, 11 wardens, 22 furies, 12 mystics and 9 defilers. Based on that and your figures, templars are not the most popular class. Furies are with mystics in second place (this by comparing existing classes from your post vs. classes online at my server).
Templars are the most numerous/populated priest class from level 20-30, 30-40, 40-50, 50-60, and 60-70. If no one is continuing to play them past level 10 or 20...where are all the Templars coming from? If anything, the logic would apply to Furies and Wardens...both of which take a relative drop (a rather significant one, mind you) past level 20 in comparison to Templars. To answer other concerns raised, EQ2census regularly reports on active players (based on which characters are actually gaining levels...not merely sitting around unplayed), as well as level 70 characters. Consistently since March 2006 (when they began tracking such numbers), Templars show the highest active character count of any priest class above level 20. Take the numbers as you wish, but truly, it's hard to say that Templars are somehow "unpopular" based purely on that. You can argue what "popularity" really refers to, but no matter how you cut it, Templars are consistently played and available across the servers in aggregate. Message Edited by Kendricke on 07-10-2006 08:46 AM
Templars are great healers for PvP, but Furies are so popular on PvP servers because they get better DPS and they have much faster cast times. Interrupts is a huge problem in PvP, for all priests. The heals don't need to be huge, they just need to be there. Warden is good too, plus they get evac. If you want to be one of the few, stay Templar and groups will be happy to get you. But soloing on a PvP server will be hard, you will die a lot. You will die as a healer in general because everyone beelines it to the healer. That said, Furies are a dime a dozen in PvP. At higher lvls when you try to do things like Prismatic 1.0, you will be much needed for there are far too few Templars on the PvP servers. Odinn 70 Templar Blackburrow Slang 51 Dirge Venekor
