THF newbies here - Any class(es) to stay away from?

[Skaxx]

My wife and I are looking for a more stable, fun, and generally involved server that doesn't involve a ridiculous bottleneck forcing players to completely outnumber the content, or donate, to play on. We run 6 characters total, and this is our USUAL setup for other places we've played:

Tank: ShadowKnight/Warrior/Pally
Heals: Cleric
DPS + Pet DPS: Mage/Necro/Beast
DPS: Monk/Zerker/Beast
DPS: Ranger
Utility/DPS/etc: Bard/Beast

We're wondering if there's anything in this lineup we should stay away from, or if we should make sure we get X class. I will be honest and say that I've always pretty much preferred a Knight to a Warrior as a tank, as I favor 1hand+ shield over 2handed or dual wield tanking, but if a Warrior is pretty much the only way to not screw ourselves at some point, let me know. =)

Any feedback etc appreciated, and we look forward to seeing everyone soon =D

[Zilar]

Out of that list I would suggest Warrior, Cleric, Mage, Berserker, Shaman. The last is really up in the air. Either bard or monk. Bard is great of course for overhaste/spell dmg song for the mage/berserker. They have decent DPS also, but of course it's nothing amazing. They can both pull, which is why I recommend 1 or the other.

The reason I say shaman is because if you plan to 6 man the server then you definitely need 2 healers. Not only that, but a few key raid mobs are slowable, and you'll have a much easier time with them if you can get them slowed. Also, their buffs are invaluable for the mage pet, warrior, berserker, and whatever your 6th is.

Good luck!

[Zolzimar]

Ive only been playing emu and hidden forest for a few months, so my knowledge is limited to what Ive found reading these forums, and adventuring. The community is great here, and I very sure this post will grow with some good info. Since it sounds like you'll have no bots in group, theres no real need to cover that aspect for now..although should you want to get your characters started in the Alt-P .. alternative progression .. line of adventure, you will probably want to play with bots there. The staff requests that there is no boxing in that adv line. You can read more about Alt-P elsewhere in these forums. You'll find the teleport fairies that are in a row in the forest, with the levels displayed.. are you way to go to get to 70. There are easier zones to level in than others, but the bottom line is, they have customized the quests and named drops in eachof those zones, to make you want to hit them all at one point or another.. clickie items along with good stats on things like rings,, will definately make it worth the time. I haven't been into the group or raid areas yet, so someone more capable will tease you with all of the future adventures ahead of you. Sorry for the lack of structure in this post.. on my phone at work... welcome to Hidden Forest.. Also, class rebalancing was just completed(after 1 yr server anniversary) minus some tweaking on a couple of things like BST dps.. also epic 2.0 weapons were balanced, and 1.5 epic will or have been adjusted accordingly. You should find posts on these matters to get you up to speed on here they were, and where they ended up after community feedback..

[Skaxx]

We were thinking about possibly having a Shaman bot in the group, and leaving a Ranger outside of group just to hand out some extra DPS. Otherwise, we weren't too stressed before about slows due to the Beastlord pet slow, but recently discovered that the max level here is 70, not 75, so the pet slow never comes into effect =(

We'll consider the setup, and appreciate the info, but I can't see myself boxing two healers, and she's not really into the Shaman class. Are there any groups/people that LFG levelling up, or do people just normally stick to themselves? High end, what are the invaluable classes, and are Knights decent at all?

[Zilar]

Bots aren't nearly the same as real players. For one, shaman bots don't cast panther which is a nice dps boost. Bots also don't have any of the custom spells, so you wouldn't get the Godly Conversion buff from your shaman bot.

Fighting raid mobs with no patch heals can get real messy real fast.

[MrJonkers]

It depends on how much you really want to try to take on, I suppose. I'm not too familiar with knights on this server, but they do get access to a form of defensive discipline (kael gloves). Most of the time, where there's a will, there's a way, it might just be harder to use a knight as your main tank. For end game content though, I would probably veer toward warrior as a tank.

Bards are incredibly useful for increasing both caster and melee DPS as well as being able to pull.

Monks do good dps and get a clicky in tier 2 raid zones that allows them to pacify mobs for much easier single pulling.

Rogues and wizards are the DPS kings.

I wouldn't recommend just using a shaman bot, the bot will not have access to some of the nicer high end shaman abilities (E.g., panther). I also wouldn't worry too much about slow since there's like 3 weapons that proc slow I can think of off the top of my head, a slow clicky, and an aug that allows your weapon to proc slow.

Cleric is a necessity. Healer bots are questionable, but I think the logic is going to be worked on sometime or another.

I can't really speak to pet classes or zerkers so going to leave that alone.

At the end of the day, most people are generally helpful and friendly and, once you have a few toons to 70, if you decide you want to level up another one to help you progress more, it's pretty trivial to do. Feel it out, find a combination you think you would have fun with, and give it a whirl. There are some spots that are rough on the difficulty curve, so don't get too frustrated if you struggle (especially when you hit the level 55 zones and again when you hit kael).

You can basically solo to 70, so leveling shouldn't be a problem (At least, I solo'd my war to 70 with a cleric bot without much issue). It's the raid content and higher end content that really requires groups. Tiered zones are mostly instanced by guild tag (Ssra at tier 1 and pofire at tier 4 being the two exceptions), so when you decide you're ready to start trying out the raid content, you might want to join a guild or have one created for you and your wife.

Sorry, just sort of writing off the cuff. If I think of anything else I'll let you know.

And enjoy THF!

Cheers

[Juggernaut]

Former SoA player here aswell..... Mobs hit hard here and if your tank does not have the hp/ac he will go down fast. So eva comes into play, at least at the low end. Warrior would be the tank to go with, at least at 1st. You could always just drag along your SK and gear him up. Your group wont really be tested until Ssra to let you know where you stand. At that point you will probly donate and wished you had after going through lvling to 70 and aas, at least I did lol. If you do not donate you will need to ask for help, box more or join a guild.
The group I run is
Warrior
Beserker
Druid
Shammy
Cleric
Bot: cleric
Ranger outside dp
All of the classes that I have played seem very well balanced. If you see that you will need another class, the druid shammy combo is awesome for plvlin buffs and heals. GL!

[Kron]

Former SoA here also - welcome

The useful classes:

Tank - Warrior

Heal - Cleric

DPS - Rogue

All other classes if you want, but those three you need!

[Lillu]

I'm former SoA player too, welcome

[Bomb]

We 2/3 box Warrior, Cleric, Ranger, Necro, Druid w/ a ranger bot on the ranger. Have cleared Vulak with this setup though switching druid with shaman as druids are sadly pretty worthless in what they bring to the group in comparison to shamans.

We personally prefer the ranged classes to things like rogues, monks, etc. Theres not really (to this point) anything that we can't handle be it just with warrior pulling multiples or pacify if it works. However it makes a huge difference when it comes to boss fights. Having to heal/patch heal only the tank really and not worry about rampage is huge since rampage hits 3 targets here I believe. Done it both ways, however the ranged setup is a lot easier with the lower numbers.

Warriors are generally easier because they require less attention where as knights require you to be casting spells etc for threat. Two healers is sadly pretty much required once you reach the raid type mobs, as the mobs will hit your tank pretty hard and between cast time and global cooldown on a lot of them your single healer will fall behind and there isnt much you can do about it.

Prior to raid content though, the groupable stuff obv only requires one healer.

Oh and to the person that said you need to donate to get ahead, you don't. We have done it all without donator items, they help sure, but they aren't a necessity. Donate if you want to donate to the server, not because you need a flashy item to make things easier.