[EQ2] The Ultimate Newb Thread

[DisgruntledOrangatang]

I KNOW there was another thread that covered at least one of these topics, and I found some information from searching for EQ2 scattered in 50+ pages of other EQ2 threads, buuut the information wasn't comprehensive enough or was missing a lot of questions I have. Short story: Quit WoW, want to play EQ2, got myself and two others. Now being the anal retentive guy who takes MMO's way more serious than he should...this is a big deal for me and I want to make the best decisions possible to get the best bang for both my IRL buck, and for my character's future, and what better place to ask then here? Without further ado, my slew of questions:

Servers: What servers are currently good? Is there a site that lists guilds from each server (that doesn't suck cuz I found those)? Looking for populated ones of course. PvE.

Leveling/Grouping: Holy Trinity still exist? With myself and two others, can any combination get the job done while leveling up? What class combinations have great syngery for leveling up?

Raiding: What classes are useless or not very well needed (aka ones we won't play), what is in high demand from high end raiding guilds?

Adventure Packs: Which are worth getting and which aren't? Why?

Station Pass: Worth it for the extra char slots + all adv packs for free? Currently I am paying 45 a month for online related shit (not all gaming) and am pretty sure I am cancelling all of it which means if I got the pass I'd still be paying less monthly than I was.

Races: Does it matter? Like REALLY matter depending on class and such? I know fae always float but they can't float over water or fall slower, so is there a real advantage of one race over another? (Eg. Tauren for wars cuz of extra hp or ogres for tanks in EQ1 cuz of no stun from the front.)

Classes: I know there a lot and I have read the description on every one from the website but I'd like a players perspective, not sonys, on the classes in literal terms such as DPS, tanking ability, and such? Not some kind of chart of anything crazy just like this class is good at blahblah but can't blahblah for shit.

I know some of these have been answered in the past through many different threads so perhaps this can be used as a compilation thread for ultimate newbs such as myself.

Thanks very much in advance.

Edit: Something that may be very obvious, but instances content? I was just reading GU35 and it was talking about Mayong's castle and how another raid can't steal adds from Mayong. So..not instanced? or Mix?

[Cedric]

Depending upon your class, you can either get some really awesome skills from the adventure packs or some really shitty ones. Check out what the skills are for your main character or potential characters and choose the adventure packs from there.

[Pinski]

Server: as a new player I'd go to AB as it is the highest population PvE server.

Leveling/Grouping: Any Priest, Any Fighter, Any Scout/Mage is your best combination for a trio. The new holy trinity exists, it is Healer, Tank, DPS.

Raiding: Fighters are not wanted, priests are semi-wanted, bards are highly sought after even though they kind of suck in grouping, any DPS scout is still a good choice, any mage is also a good choice.

Adventure Packs: Splitpaw is worth it, as is The Fallen Dynasty. Bloodline Chronicles is not worth it.

Station Pass: If you want the extra 4 slots, then yes it's worth it, if you don't, then not really at all.

Races: It's not a huge deal, but Ogres are the best HP-class, while Wood Elves are the best Rangers with their Ranged Crit % chance trait. Erudites are also the best Mages and Priests due to their Power-traits. But overall, it's all about the same with only slight differences that are barely noticeable.

Classes: Do you mean in order of what they can do or what? All the classes outside of raiding are really well done.

It's about a 70% instanced, 30% dungeon/open content. The update note was about the fact that guilds were "exploiting" and using more than 24(the raid limit) to kill Mayong's adds, which made the encounter easier, so now they actually lock onto the raid killing them. Of course how this managed to continue to be done over and over again since it has happened in the past several times as well, I don't know :\

[Arrr]

Servers: AB is the most populated, so that's where the vast majority of us rolled.
Leveling/Grouping: EQ2 has 4 classes. Fighter, Priest, Mage, Scout. Past that comes the flavor, and what makes each class fun to play. but if you need one of those basic roles, you can take pretty much anybody from that class and get by.

Raiding: SKs suck. Bruisers and monks aren't great right now. Paladins seem pretty mediocre. As for IN demand, that's kind of a weird question. In EQ2, you only want a few of each class. so not every guild will have the same needs. Generally, though, most guilds need more of the classes that aren't any fun to level. Templar, inquis, troub, shaman.

Adventure Packs: Fallen Dynasty is quite good.

Station Pass: don't use it, can't give an opinion.

Races: Race really doesn't matter much, if at all.

Classes: There's an eq2flames link in the other thread on the front page that goes through this pretty well.

Instancing: Mixed. Some dungeons are instanced, some are not. Most dungeons have an instanced portion. Most raids are instanced, though there are a healthy amount of contested mobs to kill. On AB, though, we're not going to see a contested raid mob for a LONG time, due to the high raid guild population =/

[Mithrull]

Almost all dungeons are only instanced in the sense that they spawn new ones when heavily populated. Nek Castle is the only one I can think of that is truly instanced. There are lots of smaller zones accessed both within dungeons and outdoor zones that are true instances as well.

[kudos]

Leveling/Grouping: Holy Trinity still exist? With myself and two others, can any combination get the job done while leveling up? What class combinations have great syngery for leveling up?

You can solo your way to 70 pretty much so any 3 characters grouping together is no problem.

[Evelys]

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Servers: What servers are currently good? Is there a site that lists guilds from each server (that doesn't suck cuz I found those)? Looking for populated ones of course. PvE.

Antonia Bayle.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Leveling/Grouping: Holy Trinity still exist? With myself and two others, can any combination get the job done while leveling up? What class combinations have great syngery for leveling up?

Tank, healer, DPS.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Raiding: What classes are useless or not very well needed (aka ones we won't play), what is in high demand from high end raiding guilds?

Pinski's pretty much spot on. Regen classes, DPS scouts and the occasional healer are really all anyone ever needs.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Adventure Packs: Which are worth getting and which aren't? Why?

Splitpaw and Fallen Dynasty.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Station Pass: Worth it for the extra char slots + all adv packs for free? Currently I am paying 45 a month for online related shit (not all gaming) and am pretty sure I am cancelling all of it which means if I got the pass I'd still be paying less monthly than I was.

If EQ2 is the only SOE game you're playing, it's cheaper to get two accounts (which totals 14 character slots that you can dual box with instead of 11) than it is to get a Station pass, and 4 adventure packs are the equivalent of one month's extra subscription under a two account deal. So if you're only thinking about doing Station Pass for the perks, get two accounts instead.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Races: Does it matter? Like REALLY matter depending on class and such? I know fae always float but they can't float over water or fall slower, so is there a real advantage of one race over another? (Eg. Tauren for wars cuz of extra hp or ogres for tanks in EQ1 cuz of no stun from the front.)

Pinski mentioned a few racial advantages, but they aren't as gamebreakingly important as they were in EQ1 or WoW. You can play a troll wizard or Fae Guardian and still do just fine, even at the high end.

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Classes: I know there a lot and I have read the description on every one from the website but I'd like a players perspective, not sonys, on the classes in literal terms such as DPS, tanking ability, and such? Not some kind of chart of anything crazy just like this class is good at blahblah but can't blahblah for shit.

Fighter archetype:

Guardian: Top tank. Mediocre DPS, especially with the buckler line getting the crap nerfed out of it.

Berserker: #2 tank. Can dish out some amazing DPS, and it's group buffs are great for increasing the DPS of others.

Paladin: Decent tank. Can do some spot healing in groups, and can help with aggro reduction via the Amends line. Can res.

Shadowknight: Mediocre tank, can dish out some DPS if specced to completely lose tanking ability. One of the best soloers, and fun to play, but rather useless to a group/raid. Gets evac and FD.

Bruiser: Okay group content tank, decent soloer. Has been bruised by the nerf bat a few times. Useless on all raids except for one contested one.

Monk: See Bruiser.

Priest Archetype

Templar: Great healer, mediocre DPS except against undead.

Inquisitor: Decent healer, can dish out some DPS with the proper AA's. One of the better group healers because of their ability to DPS.

Warden: Likely the top healer in a group situation. Powerful direct heals and regen, okay DPS, evac.

Fury: Mediocre healer, decent DPS.

Mystic: Good buffs, decent damage prevention via wards. Can do decent DPS when paired with a dirge and if they take the right AA lines.

Defiler: Top healer for raid situations, and also good in groups. Good wards, good procs for the DPS, great debuffs, etc.

Scout Archetype (all get evac)

Assassin: Top melee DPS, aggro transfer.

Ranger: Top ranged DPS.

Swashbuckler: Good melee DPS, debuffs, AE melee ability, aggro transfer.

Brigand: Good melee DPS, amazing debuffs.

Troubadour: Caster DPS buffs, haste, deaggro.

Dirge: Melee DPS buffs, +DPS, debuffs, +aggro for the tank. Can Res.

Mage Archetype

Wizard: Top tier ranged DPS.

Warlock: AE DPS.

Conjuror: One of the top DPS classes when played right. Great pets, great spells, even has decent buffs/procs. Provides woodchips for power.

Necromancer: Also a top DPS class. Gets FD, res. Provides hearts for power.

Illusionist: Mez, regen, good damage with the right spec. Pinski can give better info on this class.

Coercer: Mez, regen, good damage with the right spec, aggro enhancement/reduction capabilities.

[Menion]

Originally Posted by Arrr

Classes: There's an eq2flames link in the other thread on the front page that goes through this pretty well.

Class overviews for newbies - EQ2Flames Forum

Very brief summary of classes
by Didi

This is a very brief summary only - for more detailed and accurate information, visit the class discussion forums. Many have excellent FAQ's and there are experts playing these classes who can give you up to date, knowledgeable perspectives on the class that you won't find here.

Tanks (their role in a group is to TAUNT, and take the hits so the rest of the group isn't hurt).

* Guardian: plate tank, great capacity for keeping aggro but best at single-target, has more trouble keeping aggro on grouped mobs. Most popular choice for raid tank, also fine as group tank. Very slow soloing.
* Berserker: plate tank, good damage dealer at high levels, especially in AE's. Better than guardian at keeping aggro on grouped mobs, but worse on single targets. Better than guardians at soloing (due to more damage output) but not that great (no heals, little utility). Fine as a group tank, second most common choice as a raid tank.
* Paladin: plate tank, but a bit of a hybrid class with healing abilities also. Can do decent damage, particularly AE's, at high levels with the right achievement choices. Not as good a raid tank as guardian/berserker, but can do ok if needed. Has a useful 'amends' ability that is put on another player, and gives their hate gain to the paladin, making them good at keeping aggro. Very versatile class that isn't best at anything, but can fill in various roles in groups or raids, such as patch healing, wards, rezzing so the healers don't have to, and more. Solos well, due to healing ability, though damage isn't all that high so fights tend to be slowish. Tanks groups just fine.
* Shadow Knight: plate tank, evil version of Paladin. Also a more utility type class that isn't best at any one thing but is much more versatile than guardian or berserker. Probably a bit less useful filling in other group roles than the paladin, as abilities are a bit more self-focused. Solos ok, tanks groups just fine, rarely desired on raids however.
* Monk: avoidance tank, leather-wearing. Solos great, with invis and feign there is almost nowhere the monk can't get to. Fine as a group tank if well played, though makes some healers nervous because health tends to go up and down more suddenly than plate tanks. Not a popular choice for raid tank, since when the monk's avoidance fails, one hit from an epic can take a large chunk of his health down very fast. Fine for tanking anything less than epic however. Gets a nice group feign ability, can self-haste to almost 100%, and has a spell called Devastation Fist that can single-shot kill a non-heroic mob. Can do very nice damage particularly with the right achievement choices, sometimes has a problem not getting aggro however if not the one tanking.
* Bruiser: avoidance tank, leather-wearing. Solos great, has self feign like the monk but does not get invis, nor group feign. Fine as a group tank if well played, though makes some healers nervous because health tends to go up and down more suddenly than plate tanks. Not a popular choice for raid tank, for same reason as monk. Also gets Devastation Fist. Can do very nice damage particularly with the right achievement choices, sometimes has a problem not getting aggro however if not the one tanking.

Mages (all cloth wearers - magic damage and utility)

* Wizard: single-target magic damage specialist, mostly elemental direct damage. Pretty good at AE also. Gets to translocate and teleport at level 25, also gets evac and group evac. Solos well, always welcome in groups and usually welcome in raids for damage. Main problems for wizard players are usually running out of power, and learning how not to grab aggro, since wizards have very little ability to reduce their hate gain.
* Warlock: grouped-target magic damage specialist, mostly poison/disease damage over time. Has some single target nukes too though not as big as wizard's. Gets the translocate and teleport at 25, but not evac. Solos ok, usually welcome in groups, but not as popular on raids as not many raids are AE friendly. Same problem as wizards for power and aggro.
* Conjuror: pet class, specializes in elemental summoning and elemental magic. Excellent at soloing, welcome in groups and raids. Gets Call of the Hero ability to summon a groupmate to the group's location. Gives out clicky mana shards to group/raid members for instant power. Excellent damage.
* Necromancer: pet class, specializes in undead summoning and disease/poison damage, particularly damage over time. Excellent at soloing (probably even better than conjuror) and widely regarded as one of the best solo classes, also welcome in groups/raids. Gets feign death, rez, and some healing ability for self and group. Can also summon clicky mana shards for group/raid. Excellent damage.
* Illusionist: mez class and pet class, but rarely uses pets in groups due to large number of concentration slots they require. Excellent at soloing, on a par with necromancers and conjurors, maybe even better. Specializes in buffing up melee classes, gets 65% haste by level 70. Also gets group invis. Low damage without pet, more of a support class with the power regen, and achievements that increase criticals chances. Usually welcome in groups and raids, everybody loves a power regen class. Has a wider range of mezzes than coercer; unlike coercer, cannot charm things.
* Coercer: mez class. Does not get a 'built in' pet like illusionist, can only acquire a pet by charming a monster. This makes their pets potentially more powerful than illusionists, but also more dangerous as charm breaks randomly. Takes a lot of skill to solo with a coercer, those who do it well can solo very powerful things, but it is not easy.Coercers have better aggro control abilities than illusionists and are a popular choice in the main tank group of a raid for helping the MT keep aggro. Usually welcome in groups and always welcome in raids.

Healers (their main role is to heal and rez)

* Templar/Inquisitor: plate wearer, specializes in reactive heals. These are like a buff placed on the tank which automatically cast a small heal when the tank takes damage. They are a very popular choice for healer, especially templars, but solo very very slowly as they have very minimal DPS. They work very well with plate tanks in particular, have to work a bit harder with avoidance tanks who rarely get hit, and when they do get hit, need more healing than just the reactive heal will give. Healers are always welcome everywhere...
* Mystic/Defiler: chain wearer, specializes in wards. These are like the runes enchanters got in EQ1 - they add extra health points on top of the tank's normal health, and damage done by the mob is taken off the ward first before the tank's actual health gets decreased. If a ward expires before it's been all damaged, the remaining points are converted to a heal. Mystics and defilers work particularly well with avoidance tanks but may struggle a bit more as the sole healer of a plate tank, though it's certainly workable. They are not great soloers as they have low damage, but can get by with patience. Seem to have a bit of aggro problems at times, the wards sometimes get them smacked on pulls. Very welcome in raids however as they get some very nice debuffs. These are probably the rarest healer class, not because they're not good, but because they're a little harder to play and have neither the mitigation advantage of full plate nor the soloability of the fury/warden.
* Fury/Warden: leather wearer, specializes in heal over time. Good all-around healers and the group heal over times can be particularly useful on raids where there are lots of AEs hurting whole groups. Both classes get portal spells to send people to druid rings at 25. Fury gets a group invis, warden gets evac. Fury is the best dps of the healers and both fury and warden get roots so these are the most popular choice for soloing healers. Also welcome in groups and handy on raids.

Scouts (all chain wearers - melee damage and utility)

* Dirge/Troubadour: the bard classes, great all-round utility classes for buffing, debuffing, and generally making everyone in the group look better. Alone they have only mediocre dps, the lowest of the scout classes, but in groups and raids is where they shine. Dirges are geared at buffing melee types and troubadours for caster types. Most raids will want a dirge in the main tank group, and troubadours with the mage dps. They are usually welcome in groups and pretty much always needed in raids, soloing is doable though they won't generally be soloing any named on their own.
* Swashbuckler: good melee damage class (more AE than brigands), does some debuffing of mobs' offensive capabilities. Like any dps class, welcome in groups and raids.
* Brigand: good melee damage class (mainly single target), does very nice debuffing of mobs' defensive capability. Like any dps class, welcome in groups. Particularly handy on raids for the debuffing.
* Ranger/Assassin: generally the highest melee dps classes, assassins specialize in attacks from stealth mode and backstabby-type damage, while rangers excel at long-range damage. Both can get extremely high hits and will generally outdamage mage types in longer fights where the mages run out of mana. Soloing is difficult for both as it's hard to stay at bow range (for rangers) or behind a mob (for assassins) when it's only you and the mob, however, all classes can solo in eq2 with persistence.

You can safely pick whatever race you happen to like the look of, racial stats have no overall effect no matter what class you pick. You may notice some minor differences in the lower levels but by the time you're 20 or so a troll wizard will be just as good as a high elf wizard, or at least it will if you paid attention to getting dressed in the morning and are wearing reasonable equipment for your class. So pick whatever race you happen to like the look of.

Edited to make it easier to read...

[cyanbane]

Servers: PVE: Antonia Bayle
PVP: Nagafen

Grouping:

Agree with everyone, tank healer DPS

Adv Packs: Fallen Dynasty for sure, but you really won't use till 50+, I like splitpaw because it scales to any level post 25. Don't waste the money on bloodlines.

2 accts is better than 1 Station Access as of right now, as more games are added to the line up that might change. But you can always move a char from one acct to the other for $50 if you absolutly had to minimize down to one acct.

Racial abilities really are not huge imho, except Faye glide might be considered pretty cool.

Classes: The non-hybrids will always be needed, healers for sure. But I personally really enjoy playing hybrid classes, my main is a dirge on PVP and it isn't the "best" class by far (i get my ass handed to me all the time) but it is a blast to play and groups always seem to want me to join after they get the basic classes out of he way.

I know this is also a total plug but I host an eq2 podcast, we are on show #43 right now but back in the 20s we did a segment on each class pairing (wizzy/warlock, warden/fury, etc). Here is a link to the directory if you want to just download some of the older show the show numbers are listed below with the class pairing we talked about on the show, if you dont want to listen to the other parts of the show I would skip to abotu 1/3 of the way through it and the segments shoudl start around that time:

Directory: Index of /podcasts


Guardian/Berserker - Podcast 5
Temp/Inquis - Podcast 6
Wiz/Warlock - Podcast 7
Brig/Swashie - Podcast 8
Monk/Bruiser - Podcast 9
Warden/Fury - Podcast 10
Illusionist/coercer - Podcast 11
Troub/Dirge - Podcast 12
Pally/Shadowknight - Podcast 13
Mystic/Defiler - Podcast 14
Necro/Conj - Podcast 15
Assain/Ranger - Podcast 17

If you want the notes for any of those shows:
EQ2-Daily.com : Weekly Podcasts, Daily News about EQ2 and just click on the title of the show.

These are all pre-pvp though so take that into acct (and also pre next week's GU 36 update which changes stuff around also).


Also, you didn't mention tradeskilling but if you are interested listen to this show for an entire walktrhough of how it works, you can
go to this page (a web based player) and scroll to the last entry on the playlist "Vaddir's Crafting Segments 1-4" or listen to any of our other shows since then. Show 33 also had a segment on Tinkering and show 34 on Transmuting (Secondary tradeskills).


and yeah the last part of this turned into a plug, but hopefully it will help you decide on classes. one thing that I can say is that atleast in pvp (and can extend to pve) some classes are really alot better in some tiers and really suck in others. My dirge was awesome in T2, then T3-T5 blew goat nads, and is just starting to come back around in T6, my wizzy has been awesome post T5 also. So I guess it really goes back to your playstyle in the end.

[Xaen]

Originally Posted by DisgruntledOrangatang

Races: Does it matter? Like REALLY matter depending on class and such? I know fae always float but they can't float over water or fall slower, so is there a real advantage of one race over another? (Eg. Tauren for wars cuz of extra hp or ogres for tanks in EQ1 cuz of no stun from the front.)

Fae do fall slower, and can basically fly on over rivers and such just by jump floating. Their racial traits are pretty huge, and in my opinion, made the game a ton more fun. You can jump off the highest cliffs in butcherblock and fly on down to the shore while most other people have to run out of their way, climb down ladders or paths to get there.

I wouldn't even consider any other race. The Fae and their evil counterparts are just too fun and convenient to play.

[Menion]

Originally Posted by Xaen

Fae do fall slower, and can basically fly on over rivers and such just by jump floating. Their racial traits are pretty huge, and in my opinion, made the game a ton more fun. You can jump off the highest cliffs in butcherblock and fly on down to the shore while most other people have to run out of their way, climb down ladders or paths to get there.

I wouldn't even consider any other race. The Fae and their evil counterparts are just too fun and convenient to play.

Just be careful that you are not in combat when you jump off a cliff. If you are hit by a mob (ranged, spell or melee) while gliding the ability cancels and you plummet to your death.

But yes, Glide is a ton of fun and I doubt any of my new characters will be anything but Arasai or Fae.

[DisgruntledOrangatang]

in regards to the two accounts, can you twobox effectively on one computer? Can the lowest settings allow that? And even if you can from a hardware perspective, can you easily play two classes at once while leveling?

[WillzZz]

I was two boxing relatively painlessly with my 3700+, r800 pro w/ 1.5gb RAM back a year or more ago. A core2duo with a 8000 series gforce ought to handle it just fine, but ask someone who does it I suppose.

[DisgruntledOrangatang]

One last question, are there any superb synergistic abilities? the only example i could liken it to is how insane a shadowpriest is in wow to a caster group (basically a mana battery) allowing the other casters to do much more damage. Are there any sick synergies like that? Or are there too many that something like that isn't really unique. I read the abilities on allak, but I have no clue what really any of them translate into in game (aka is some shit useless like the stat debuffs, like weaken was for EQ1).

[ajiatus]

You probably heard it before, but choose a race that's pure evil or pure good so that you can start in Kelethin or Neriak, since those are better starting zones. You could think of them as starter zones 2.0, what SOE learned over time about what did not work with Freeport and Qeynos. Don't get me wrong, Freeport and Qeynos have very good heritage quests and lots of atmosphere, but it's much more fluid in Greater Faydark.