Need help in final choice. x.x;Follow

Ok, this is the last time I make a post and take up space just to ask stupid questions to satisfy my obsessive compulsiveness.

I've got it narrowed down to Necromancer or Magician.

I know that Mages can heal their pets, and the Earth pet in particular is a much better tank than the Necro pet. I know that not having FD means, if the Mages pet dies, they gate or zone or die. But they have no root or snare aside from the earth pet, and as far as I know no invis spell.

I know Necros have invis, FD, and cannot heal their pets, but can heal themselves, and have root and snare.

Now for my questions, basically all I am concerned about is exploring zones that no one gives a rats **** about. Like the deep, Akheva caverns, soloing bandits in Fungus grove, Old Seb etc. Between Necromancer and Mage, who is better for soloing these types of zones. It seems to me Necros do better in more open areas, and areas with less chance of adds.

All I want is to be able to go and farm massive underbulk shell sheilds if I want, or hunt solo in zones like those I mentioned above and others. So all in all which of those two classes would be more effective in soloing in the butt end of kunark,velious and luclin dungeons by myself, with the most success.

(If Beastlord would be a better choice tell me).

Thanks for your patience.

Necro, hands down. It's all about versatility. Snare, root, pet, lifetap/lifedraw, FD, mez (lower levels), succor (higher levels), DPS (nukes and DoTs) for all resists, splitting mob spawns, plus undead-based lull, slow, nukes, charm. Necro is a one-man group - that also works well in groups.

Necros can heal their pets, and others, to an extent.

You will definately be soloing the zones you listed.

I'd suggest going with the necro. You're likely going to struggle to find groups while levelling up, and the necro is the stronger soloer in those ranges.

I think the necro would struggle exploring in more cramped conditions, without a high level of gear (Although I'm not certain).

How much do you intend to twink?

Of all 3 (bst included) bst is probably the most group friendly having buffs, slow and comparable DPS, but would require a good level of gear for some of the zones.

ASh

Solo wise a necro................but a mage is fun as well..........



why not make both and lvl them up to 20 and see which you like the best.........

Necro hands down. If you have some open space you can kite or if your in a tight area you can just root rot. The necro can fight nonstop with zero downtime. The 20 min fixed duration invis is really nice too. I just don't think the mage has the utility your looking for.

A couple of things you should keep in mind. When equipping your necro concentrate on hp's and sta, then int. Hp's = mana. Also, keep a few cloudy potions, (instacast invis), on hand. If you happen to FD in a bad spot, wait for aggro to clear and pop up and drink a potion at the sametime and the mob that is camping you will never see you.

Another class worth considering is the shaman. Later on with canni 4 & 5 the shaman solos just as good as the necro, (I mean fighting nonstop with zero downtime). With slow the shaman can take down summoning mobs easier then a necro. A shaman can fight in tight spaces with either tanking in the face or root rotting. The shaman can use his pet to split mobs. It's easy to find a group as a shaman. The epic 1.0 is very easy to do once you have the child's tear. The shaman also gets some great buffs and debuffs, heals, hots, dots, etc.

Some of the things I don't like about playing a shaman:
I'm sick of mashing my canni button.

I hate having to recast FA all the time.

When I group I feel like I'm micro managing everything. I've got timers for all my buffs because god forbid I should let a buff expire.

When soloing higher level mobs, (mobs that hit really hard), I think the necro comes out way ahead. Sure the shaman can root rot but when root breaks you've got a pretty angry mob comming at you full speed with no snare. It can be done but I think the necro does it a little better. Also, the necro will put out better dps then the shaman.

I have a 65 shaman with 80something AA's and a 60 necro with 3 AA's. I think I enjoy the necro just a tad better then the shaman. Both are good solid classes though.

$0.02

Necros get shackle which is an undead only 70% slow.

Slow is argueably the most powerful spell in the game and is also the best heal in the game. Along with a 42 sec quies, (that's a heal over time that heals for 420hps per tick), the shaman can tank pretty well at 65. They do get better spells but I can't comment being my shaman is only 65.

I love Mages. Nice DPS. Call of the Hero. Walking Wallmart of EQ.

But.. as I once wrote: When I wake up, I think "what do I want to kill tonight?" and when the top Mage in the Gift wakes up he thinks "when will Felicite wake up so I can kill something tonight?".

If your choice is Mage vs Necro (vs Beastlord) and your criterion is "soloing". Necromancer. There is little I cannot solo (even higher con mobs), entirely on self buffs. I have many times over C6 mana regen, self succor, invisibility, root, snare, heals, charms, mez. Sometimes the skills are overwhelming.

Shaman solo very well. You could argue better than Necros (and you could argue not.. it's pretty close). And they are very group friendly. They can heal themselves effectively, but I heal myself by taking life from the mob. Nothing is more satisfying than a 2500 point critical life tap and then having it critical heal for 5000.

Yes we have the "softest" pet of any pet class.. but a focused Lost Soul can easily tank as well as a 65 Warrior with 9k buffed and 100 AA (done it.. a number of times). 100% well enough to tank in the Old World and Luclin.. when you want to tank. Top content today, nothing can tank without slowing and active healing. Pets (and most players) are just a speedbump to MOBs that tripple and quad over 1000.

Necromancers are the masters of seven distinct forms of killing.. many of which are shared with others (and there are tactics.. like quad kiting with AoE snares that I cannot do).. but to my knowledge no other Class offers so many ways to kill.. solo.. on self buffs. Utterly self reliant.

If I wasn't me I would chose a Shaman, I have a baby one in her 50s. But if you are chosing a pure caster, and to solo, Necromancer is your pick.

Creation: Aye, dump all you can in STA.. and the rest in anything you like. INT, AGI, STR (if I like to carry stuff), it doesn't matter. Once you get rolling, it will be hard to not cap INT with gear (last time I checked I was wearing 86 points of INT over my cap). Purists will tell you Iksar for their inherent health regen (saying it's worth the 20% regular XP penality). I dunno. In retrospect it seems like it would have been useful. I always said if I did it again, I would go Noam. Or Froglok. Or just be me.

Thanks for the advice all, I'm definately going Necromancer now. I would have never thought to go for Sta gear, I know its easy to get Int, but I just never made the connection that hp= mana because of Lich. I think I'll play a human, I haven't seem ,many of them around, its always De,Iksar or Gnome Necros. Yeah I know no hp regen or infra vision but oh well.

Edited, Wed Aug 24 22:54:51 2005 by Tirazael

You can cover the regen.. easier than ever.. with all the augments available to even casuals.

infra vision.. you get deadeye early.. and then you will be Lich or better all the time.. and see invis, infra, etc.. like the rest of us.

One of the other Necro's in the Gift is a hoo-man, 69. And she has no issues in either area. She sees fine and covers her Lich damage with regen.

Play what you want to play.

If I would ever reroll it would either be necro or zerker.
mage completly out of question for me..
But im into dps, not utility ;)