classesFollow

This website has alot of great info to browse through. Look under the Class Discussions.
If this doesn't help you could just try playing the different classes and see how you like them. You can start out with up to 8 characters on one server and if you dont like one you can delete it. Of course this might be how I ended up with two accounts with almost every class played...

Mage is probably the easiest of the solo classes to play, Beastlord being a close next.

With a mage it's mostly summon a pet, nuke and heal your pet. Their are naturally finer points to learn(such as which pet to use, how often you can nuke without pulling aggro off your pet, etc...) and this is REALLY simplifying the class, but that's the basics.

Druid, Shaman and Bard take a lot more work as they have a lot more versatility in the roles they can fill. Necros aren't as versatile, but they still have a wider range of possible ways to play.

Necro, Mage and Beastlords are pet classes at heart and their pets are a huge part of their power. The other three CAN have pets, but not as powerful(Dire Charm being an exception(Other forms of charm can create powerful pets, but they can be as dangerous to you and your group as the NPCs you are fighting(grouped it's less of an issue, but solo can rip you up fast))).

Mage is a good character to learn how to use pets and really a great class to play. You might find you don't want to play another class, or after learning the basics of pet management, might want to move on to something a little more complex. Either way, Mage is a good start.

Honestly, all of these classes can solo well and add a lot to a group. You can even solo with many classes not list here, but these are the top solo classes.

As far as grouping, Druids and Necromancers are the least desired in groups. Both classes can add a great amounts of DPS(Damage per second) and bring a lot to a group but tend to get overlooked for more group focused classes. Smart players know not to count these classes out of the group, but unfortunately they still tend to have a harder time getting groups than a lot of other classes. Fortunately when groups are hard to find they can solo VERY well.


Good luck with whatever you pick.

All of the suggestions here are good but I think you are over-looking the tank classes too. Shadow Knights & Paladins can be good to run solo when you feel comfortable playing the game.

Honestly, any class can solo and any class brings something to a group. How well you play the class will determine the success you have either solo or in a group.

Play whatever you want, learn the game, learn the class functions, then enjoy. Rinse and repeat if necessary.

A funny thing happened on the way to Ogguk...

I have played several classes, my main is only 38 but I have 6 others close behind.

I like the variety and wanted to try different races as well. To make the long story short, I was leveling my Agnostic Gnome Enchanter and wanted to do the Stein of Moggok quest which (starts)/ends in Ogguk. I created an Ogre Shadowknight so I could reconoiter the place. Turns out I liked that character so much it is now level 33 and the Enchanter is only 24!

So you never know what may strike your fancy. I hated the druid class in the early levels, only kept interest cause it was a Halfling and I had never played a Halfling before. I came very close to rolling it at level 16. Now with the port spells and DoTs I love the character.

Classes also get more interesting the higher they level so you might want to take a look ahead at what some classes can do at higher levels.

Another benefit of playing different classes is knowing what they can do when grouped. It is good to know how to play your own class but I think too often overlooked is knowledge of how others you are grouped with, will likely play and what to expect.

Don't be afraid to change it if you decide you don't like it.
You can get from level 1 to 20 very quickly. By level 20 you should have a keen grasp of the character's abilities. Don't feel you are 'stuck' with anything (name, class, starting stats, race). You can usually 'save' any decent equipment you have accquired for the next incarnation.

No Ranger? Are you kidding?

Rangers are able tanks when we start our EQ life, then as time turns on we become lesser so but we gain 2 wonderful spells, Panic Animal and snare. You can solo with two spells to 65

Well of course soloing is boring, grouping is much better

The Ranger is easy to play, at first. But as you level you will find that if played well we have a subtlety other classes lack. We stack well in groups, deal good damage and provide some very nice druid class buffs as well as our own Ranger specific buffs.
We are flexible and a joy to play solo, grouped or in raids.

By whose definition is Rogue an "Evil" class?

Neutral, self-interested perhaps but not evil.

It can be played either way really.

The true indicator is if NPCs typically associated with "good" attack you. I have absolutely no trouble travelling through places like Felwithe and Kelethin is my home town. Now tell me I'm evil.

Um we pretty much suck at soloing. We *can* solo, which you can't really say for Warriors, Rogues or Clerics, but other than those three classes we are probably the worst. We can solo some reasonably tough stuff, but it will burn all of our mana and maybe LoH too. We can't solo for exp very well.

That said, there are some specific phases when we are actually quite good at soloing. 30-35 for example, we rock against undead with Instrument of Nife. After 35 the impact it has is not so noticeable. 46-55 we can solo quite well too due to Deepwater Helm and also Katta GY/Lower Guk being great zones for our Paladin skills.

Once you get past 55 though your soloing days are pretty much over. Mobs start hitting too hard, and the good soloers are those classes which can deal damage from range (pets/ nukes/ arrows/ dots etc). At 65 with ok gear I can just about solo some Plane of Nightmare mobs, but it leaves me deplete of HP and mana.

There have been stories of Time equipped Paladins soloing Kunark dragons, but Time equipped is not your average Pally.

Don't get me wrong, I soloed a lot myself. We do have tools that allow us to solo like you point out, and against undead it can be worthwhile. However you will find it much easier and quicker with your druid, especially when you get into quad kiting and so on.

Yup. There's a far cry between "can solo" and "good at soloing". Day and night really. Paladins do get a couple nice streaks of levels where we're actually almost kinda competitive soloists. That's it though. I suppose at very low level, anyone can solo, but the traditional "solo classes" can do so much more easily. I've seen 10th level necros fear kiting 2 or 3 red conned mobs in EC, and this was a couple of expansions ago (don't remember which alt I was goofing around with at the time, but I would have had a hard time taking on even one of the mobs he was handling with ease).

I agree 100% with Pat on this. Past 55, paladins absolutely suck at soloing (I'd even argue that we fade pretty fast from 51 to 55 as well). Sure. I *can* kill a blue conned creature. Heck. There's a pretty good number I can kill. PoN trash (with difficulty). Tons of stuff in the grey. Stuff in Veksar. Stuff in ME even (if I pick them carefully. Those goranga's hit a bit too hard to be worth it). Even door trash in SSra if I want to. Um... But at like 5 minutes per kill, and a sliver of AA per kill, it's just not worth the bother. I could literally spend an hour and a half of a 2 hour session getting a group in PoV or BoT, and get several times more exp in that last 30 minutes then I'd get the entire 2 hours soloing. It's really that huge of a difference.


Don't get me wrong though. I personally love the paladin class. You've got good tank ability which will get you into groups. You've got a handful of spells that are pretty useful by yourself, in a group, and later on raids. While we're one of the worst classes in terms of travelability (no sow, invis, or levitate), at least with the lull line working we've got some ability to get around now (which we didn't have a year and a half ago). We're desired as pullers in dungeons (another great boost to the class). And we're the "good guys". :)

Also. The paladin is probably one of the better classes in the game to learn with. You'll learn how to use extra combat abilities (bash). You'll learn how to use taunt, and how to tank. You'll learn all the "normal" melee stuff (assist and such). You'll also learn about how spells work, but without your groups relying on you knowing everything about spell casting (nice shallow end of the pool to work in to be honest). There are no complicated tactics you must learn to play a paladin (at least well enough not to get folks killed in a group). I think in terms of the range of game mechanics you'll learn as a paladin in relation to how screwed you'll be not knowing those mechanics when you start, the paladin scores really well as a class to learn with.


Heh. But then I'm biased... :)

Just curious what your Shaman is using for weapons to be a melee soloer. Mine is 31 and has a hard time tanking. Of course my armor is not 'the best'.
My Shammy

Not much argument that druids solo well as non-melee. Typical M.O. for me is to root&snare, lay on the DoTs, med if possible, nuke/melee to finish. Typically do not take damage if mob is melee and you are careful. Mana intensive though.
My Druid

I could use equipment suggestions (for soloing) if anyone would be so kind...

Edit: wrong profile corrected


Edited, Fri Apr 9 16:02:11 2004 by Dothammer

At higher levels, the biggest benefit the Beastlord has in soloing is their ability to Slow the mobs. Some Beastlords just like to play pet cleric, while others are very melee oriented. I like to strike a balance, only stepping in to melee when soloing (which I do only rarely) until I take some damage, trying to never be at full health or full mana, but letting my pet do a good deal of the work. Of course, the mobs go down a lot faster when you're adding your own dps and the pet is attacking from behind. A lot depends on your regen gear and buffs, of course.

Game on,

The Oneiromancer