Best class to Solo with?Follow

I am a vet from both FFXI and WoW, and want to turn to a game that wont die out quickly, and have many many years of gameplay. I also want to solo a good 75%+ of the game, what would be the best class for that, specifically a melee type class. Any suggestions on race?

Edited, Tue Apr 5 21:11:46 2005 by Korenaga

Why would you want to solo 75%+ on an MMO? The point is to be multiplayer, as in grouping with other people. That aside, I would go with SK for soloing prolly. They have lifetaps and stuff, so they can recover health, plus harm touch helps if your in a jam.

Warlocks.
I have seened warlocks solo yellow ^^ mobs (warlock was lvl 44, mob was 46). Its dangerous though cause if mobs resist root once you are dead.

All classes can solo most greens^^ and some blue^^ at lvl 50 with good gear and good spells.
When it comes to safe soloing for xp:
No1. all fighter subclasses.
No2. Priest/Mage sublclasses.
No3. Scout sublclasses.

All classes can solo pretty equall for xp, but warlock is best (atm, classbalance allways change over time) for taking on tough questmobs that most need groups for.
I would go with warlock (zerker would have been an option for me aswell if server wasnt allready so overcrowded with fighterclasses).

Note:
Duchess Iaini talks about pre-20 while I talk about all the way to mostly 20-50.
Also, if I rememeber correct Duchess Iaini played her sorcerer long ago and wizard and warlock was beefed up alot on DPS after that. (Dont know about sorcerer though).

true, however level of my characters doesn't change the facts.

if you can stop the mob in it's tracks and blow it away.. you'll be a superior soloist..

or

if you can either out damage it, or simply out last it.. you'll be a superior soloist.

these apply to any level.

personally I plan on solo'ing my conjuror to 50th as well as my Inquisitor..... from what I've seen of these two classes between 1 - 20, they have the best potential of everything else I've played based on what I look for in a solo'ist.

in theory a wiz or warlock can solo anything, in practice.. the potential for resists makes it risky.. especially once you get above white con where resists are more common. for a conjuror resist don't matter.. you send the pet in after it.. at which point it has to go through the pet.. it's effectively a 2 on one battle no matter what level you area.. care must be taken to not take hate away from the pet, however, baring that.. the class can solo without issues. The fact that they improved wizard / warlock DPS is GOOD because it's something the class sorely needed, however I defy you to find a wizard at any level that can solo an orange con and never get hit, and do so consistently. Conjuror can.

my Conj. hit 26th a long time ago.. before they re-did the damage output of mobs between 15th and 31st level. Prior to that there was the so called "wall" at 20th where the mobs would simply pound you doing excessive damage. I never experienced this "wall".. Conjuror (and I assume Necromancer as well) is simply THAT good. At 26th level solo'ing orange cons is no more difficult than it was at 15th.. properly done, taking down a double ^^ green is no more difficult than killing a gray.

they make solid solist because they don't "solo", technically it's a duo that gives you full XP.

----

as for my priest.. red cons hit hard regardless of level, so being 19th level and able to take them consistently speaks volumes to me... but priest classes follow a fact about solo'ist.. they can generally outlast their opponent.. add to that inquisitors get heavy armor and they can outlast an opponent AND take a hit.. so yes I speak of only up to 20th level, but the fact that she can solo SO effectively with only app 1 and 2 level spells is VERY telling of the potential this class has..

potential which will only be improved on / unlocked as i level her and add stronger spells. Even with that while in Nek forest I had more than one high level player sit and watch me solo'ing red cons at 19th.. to quote them:

"impressive.."

quite likely because I ended every fight with my health in the green and often maxed.. (power was near totally gone.. but that doesn't matter)

-----

that said, at 19th level in TS I was seriously hammering everything along the path from the dock with little effort...

a level 19 warrior right next to me died 3 times...(maybe more but I personally saw three deaths)

is it the difference between classes or players? hard to say... but I know for a fact without the ability to self heal there's no way I could have taken on and won against those mobs in TS at 19th... even with self healing they hit hard and typically interrupted my casting MANY times.. so starting combat with a reactive heal before attacking gave me the window needed to take a few interrupts without any real risk... this is a luxary non-healer classes do not have.

now then, that brings up a point. I never play warriors so I have no idea how or which would be strongest.. (though I would assume a paladin or shadow knight would hold the top spots) However regardless of your class if you want to be a solid soloist.. it will start with good gear....

if you're a warrior, don't skimp on the sword or armor.. you solo through damage output and damage absorption

for a mage, well depends on the mage.. conjuror.. Adept 1 pet and you're all set... most everything else is fluff with a few exceptions (petrify & pet healing spells come to mind, VERY important spells).. other mages will likely need to keep a few more spells at higher levels, since they solo through versitility more than a focused object (like a conj. pet)

I'm noticing with cleric the biggies seem to be healing (a bit of an obvious, but re-affirmation is important) however Inquisitor has some nice nukes too (for a priest.. she nukes harder than my conjuror on an HO and is 6 levels lower) and well-timed reactive heals mean a LOT to this class... as for other priest.. well I've not played them so I can't say what their "signature" healing spells are...

scout.. well they're tough to solo because they can't stop the mob... nor can they quickly enough out damage it nor can they outlast it easily.. however a GOOD bow.. and some back-peddling works wonders.. allowing you to get the mob down to yellow health long before it reaches you.... when solo'ing with my assassin I noticed this was the best way..(ok the safest), second option was to stealth / back attack.. however if this attack didn't do big numbers you are in BIG trouble with nowhere to go.....


Edited, Wed Apr 6 15:49:35 2005 by Iaini

Back when mobs were nastier than they should be at 20 and up, I was able to solo a level 20 (me being at 18... still am -_-;) as a Predator through mass kiting and HO's. I would end the fight with about half life or just a tad into orange.

I don't remember soloing any green con groups with ^^. But I was able to solo green groups of 3~4, granted only one was a caster type.

As a Guardian prior to my Predator, I was able to solo green con ^^ group mobs (before their buff).

I will assume that anything that can snare, have a pet to tank or can heal themselves can be a very efficient soloist.

But I've noticed then, and to a degree now, that any class can solo "well enough" pre 30's. I haven't gotten past the 30 mark so I don't know how tough it gets.

...


Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game (MMORPG)

Where in there, does it say "grouping mandatory"? EQ and FFXI have made their games grouping mandatory, but if you've seen/read/heard any advertisements by SOE, EQ2 is meant to be accessible to people who want to group, who don't want to group, who want to play for long periods of time or want to play for short periods of time. Get over the ways of the past. If you want to group, fine. But that doesn't mean everyone else does.

Now, soloing doesn't mean not interacting with other players. I've played with many people and grouped for quests, but level progress for my characters (both in EQ2 and WoW) have been due to soloing most of the time.

Can't wait to get my predator to 20... but I want to see some of these other new changes. Time to dust off my Guardian.