Hello fellow Dirges, I recently returned to try out the game again after 2 years of absence (not that I played much before that, level 21 was my max) and started a Dirge because it looked like a versatile class which can successfully solo as well as being a great asset to the group. I am currently (don’t laugh) level 11 and have tremendous difficulties soloing to the point where I consider just rerolling as some other class and I am wondering if this is the way it is or am I doing something wrong. I started as Ratonga Dirge and did the Betrayal quest at level 10, came back to the Commonlands from Haven after upgrading all my equipment to level ~5-11. Now I am doing the Qeynos faction quests as well as just hunting in the Commonlands to gain exp. Problem is that I can’t kill anything on my own. Regular blue con mobs are 50-50 fights while anything higher than that or group of blues is totally out of the question, I die all the time and am tired already of fixing my equipment every half an hour. I don’t think it was like that before I betrayed Freeport, is it related? Am I missing something? It is supposed to be like that? Any advice welcome, thanks in advance.
Straight blue cons shouldn't be a problem at any level -- you're not fighting heroics, are you? What tactics are you using? Do you use cheap shot and your sidestab? Do you pull with the stealthed attack? Are your spells upgraded at all from App1? Are you getting killed by adds -- do you need to start battles with your back to a cliff or wall? As a dirge, you have to use all your tools. Whysp Message Edited by Whysprr on 10-29-2006 04:56 AM
Dirges arent the best soloing class I am afraid, you will probably find much better xp and drops grouping, but if you must, then bear in mind that dirges have an attack that can be fired from range while running. That's right, dirges can do what rangers only wish they could... and later you will get an AOE that does the same. All in all though most dirges eventually decide it is much better just to be in groups because thats just the way the class plays best.
I've soloed a dirge the majority of the way to 35 so far, and while it hasn't been as easy as, say, and illusionist, it's perfectly doable without being what I would consider overly twinked out. It sounds as if you're on the right track and doing the right thing by upgrading your armour, an important point that many newbies miss. A few other suggestions that may help: Get Adept I's of your spells and combat arts (check both Qeynos and Freeport brokers for the best deal - dirge stuff seems pretty cheap, fortunately). If you're short of money, run around picking up all the sparkly ? collectibles you can find and sell them on the broker. (Go into options - Alt-O - under particle effects, turn the two particle level of detail bias sliders to max in order to see these from as far away as possible.) Spend a little while harvesting ore in Antonica/CL until you find a blackened iron cluster, then hunt up a friendly armorsmith (try the crafting channel) to make you a nice imbued chainmail breastplate. If you find more than one, even better, get an imbued weapon too. Use your heroic opportunities nonstop. I usually open up either with the bow attack that stuns, or from stealth mode with the piercing attack that requires you to be stealthed. Then start the HO, cheap shot, and while it's stunned from that, run around behind and use the blade attack that requires you to be behind or flanking. Then your stab that does a small heal to finish off the HO. Then start a new HO, finish it off with another combination while cheap shot and the other abilities you used first refresh. Run through the solo quest lines in Antonica or Commonlands for maximum XP, since you'll get XP killing the stuff and then bonus XP for completing the quests too. Plus free food. Solo quest timeline is here: http://www.eq2i.com/articles/Soloing_Timeline
I've soloed about 1/2 the time and got to 70.. As long as I didn't attempt to use wizard solo tactics, I did quite well. I even found soloing with a dirge more fun than soloing with a wizard *shrug* BTW, I don't really like the lonely aspect of soloing, but PUGs generally scare me more.
I solo'd almost exclusively to 55, and alot from 55-64. It's not as bad as it seems if you pick your targets properly. Keys to soloing include all skills atleast adept 1, you'll want to try for Adept 3 on lifetap skills. Also upgrade the Double attack CA, Mitigation Debuff, Str debuff, and Root/Disease Debuff as quickly as possible. Always try for atleast Mastercrafted weaponry, and if your soloing exclusively or almost, the Stamina AA line is actually quite nice, even in groups it's effective, especially when you've reached double attacks. Shield Bash is a huge benefit from this AA skill line. For pulling, i usually use either body pull, or Luda's line, or if i got no aggro worries from outside encounter i'll even start off with the mitigation Debfuff for pulling(Clara's line). Immediately add the Verlien's root/disease debuff, hit with Lanet's, and chain through the disease attacks. using lifetaps as needed. Also i chain HO's with Cheap Shot and Tarven's line, when you use Cheapsot, make sure you swing to the side/rear and hit your flanking attack, use this as your first HO and apply whenever Cheapshot is back up. Stick with blue/whites, shouldn't have any trouble, i can do yellows easy enough aswell as blue/white single up arrows. For Buffs, i use Bria's, Harls, Screeching, Percussion, and switch between Riana's or Dissonant Boon, dependin on what i'm attacking. You could also uses Hyran's or Disain instead of Riana/Dissonant. Of course most of this is for mid/high level soloin. Lower level is about same, just won't have all the same tools (Percussion mostly) within the buff line, so use Hyran's in Percussions place. As a Side note: Trick of the Hunter Root root/debuff you get in Splitpaw of merchants is better then most the Verlien's lines for debuff, make sure to pick it up and use it in Verliens place until you get a better Verlien. Message Edited by DarkangelCA on 10-29-2006 08:35 PM
Thanks for the great responses guys. I think I figured out what was my main problem. It seems that when I got myself new weapons, one of them was a sword type and I had no skill in “slashing†at all so putting this in the primary weapon slot was not a very good idea. I think this is why all my attacks and abilities were parried or resisted. Since then I switched weapons to have “piercing†in the primary slot (and the “slashing†skill is slowly rising) and coupled with some of the tips I got there I now can easily handle blues and whites (and some yellows). I managed to almost finish the betrayal quests yesterday and I am very close to Qeynos citizenship now and the near future looks brighter for the young Ratonga Dirge. Cheers, - barvaz
Just a bit of advice, on any character that might ever melee or do physical ranged, it's best to work up all all the weaponskills you have access to. It sucks, as you found out early, to find a good weapon for which your skill is lacking. It sucks bad to find that when you're in your high levels *nod*. Don't neglect bow, either. If you do get into raiding later, you will have times when you need to fight at ranged and even though dirges don't have great bow attacks, it's better than nothin' when you can't wade in and melee it out. The only characters I'm less concerned about physical damage weapon skills for are my mages. If they're close enough to be meleeing a lot, they're too close to becoming just a smear.
I agree, always crucial to keep your skills maxed... Dirge's, although a tad weaker DPS class, can solo ok (Root bow shot, snare, fear, stun, knockback/stun combo, . But, we aren't really a solo class. DOESN'T mean we can't, its just the time you put into killing a non-heroic or ^ ^^ you could have found much more effiecient xp in a group. Since that's where we shine is making others look good. But, I think SoE could do more to facilitate those that enjoy soloing more so then grouping. I can solo very easily with my Bruiser, and of course Necro, but classes like Dirges shouldn't have to pull out all the stops every kill...
agree>> Dirges are very bad soloers. I have trouble with ^^^ that are 10 levels below me where any other class will take it fast. If you can get just one healer with you and slow and debuff the mob you can do quiet well. I suggest a 3 person group even if your the tank. Exp will be decent if not better than a group of 6 fighting the same stuff. Sure you will kill faster but I swear the 3 man team will have more exp in a hour than the 6 man.
Darkangel: About Trick of the Hunter, are you sure? While it does debuff magic resistance, it doesn't debuff disease resistance, and all our non-melee damage attacks are disease based. Verlien's is possibly the most beneficial spell to upgrade in terms of output from what I have seen, but it's been a LONG time since I was a level 20 dirge... Can you explain what you're recommending here, and why? Thanks!
Ah yes correct. I had Trick before dmg types on certain spells were changed, so it became a habit for me to use and i just been lookin at the 1K mitigation debuff without checkinig dmg type. My mistake. I do believe original Lanets or Luda's was magical dmg until a change later turned it into Disease.
