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

[Skaxx]

Thanks for all the information and comments guys. I'm sure somewhere down the road we'll donate, as we do to every server we actually get involved in, however we will most likely test the waters for a few weeks first, and not make the same mistake we did where we donated roughly $95 to another server, which we came to find out is basically dead with server gm's and operators that literally couldn't give two shits about anything but greed and personal wealth.

We both love the raiding scene and just love to play in general, and will definitely look for a guild at some point, when we're comfortable with the server. We're pretty outgoing people who just like to have fun progressing.

I assume when you guys say Raid content, it's content that requires more than one group to complete, so running one healer may not bother us too much before then, but we may just end up with a Shaman anyway, I'll just have to see if I can convince her to work a Shaman in since I don't see playing two healers as viable for me =p.

When a couple of people said Wizards and Rogues were OP DPS here, that honestly kind of surprised me because on most servers, Rangers are the top dog, and Rogues are the low man on the totem pole, while Wizards don't even exist on most servers due to bad scaling. I'm glad to see everything seems to work out here though =) We may test out both the Rogue and the Berserker and see which one gains more from having a Bard in the group, but who knows. Honestly, we'd really just like to end up finding some people to play with so that we can catch on to THF faster and get to a point where we're playing the progression game, but we're definitely not looking to get carried at all. In all likelihood, we'll probably end up with our actual group, and then a couple of alts that we can sub in so that even if they're not optimal, they get gear and are fun to play.

I heard about custom pets here, for the Beast/Necro/Mage, how well do they perform here, and are there decent pet weapons, or are pets able to wield player weapons here? Some servers have a decent pet setup, where a 2.0 or 2.5 will offer them a new, powerful pet, and have certain pet weapons that will actually keep pets in check so pet classes don't fall behind. At this point, our likely setup is now:

Warrior
Cleric
Shaman
Bard
Rogue/Ranger
Beast

Thanks again for all the comments and helpful tips, if the ingame community is anything like this, I'm sure we'll be here much longer than we've been anywhere else. We're honestly tired of servers that are all about just your group, and no one else. EverQuest was always a community and multiple person raiding type game, not one or two people running through all of the server content and not caring about anyone else, at least for us anyway =)

[Kron]

I think i knew on SoA, cant remember your name however but if its you, you were a nice chap. I had a warrior there with the same name as on this server. Hook me up on this server and I'll see what we can do to get you started.

Knowing the end raid better than most here, your setup seems fine although i would stay away from beastlords in my opinion.

And you dont need to donate here to win, although it certainly makes the journey easier (which is expected). Just not like SoA where the unemployed GM's were literally living of our donations. I'm amazed people still play there and waste their time on that server.

anyways hook me up in game

regards

[Skaxx]

Stay away from Beastlords, really? I was under the impression they were pretty strong here =P

I'll get in touch with you ingame, for sure, and I remember a Kron, but I don't recall how long ago I remember seeing your name. Also, yeah, the GM's there have just given up, there's nothing left but the people still trying to kill the same boss they were trying to kill literally 7 months ago =S

[aabamzen]

BL is my top DPS char at the ToV level by a fairly wide margin, but the DPS won't ramp up at higher tiers nearly as much as other classes.

[Skaxx]

So pets don't scale well here? or is it an issue with the actual Beastlord?

[Zilar]

Pet's scale fine, and BL's get a new pet in PoAir.

[Caave]

Beastlords on live didn't have to rely as much on their pet's damage to make ends meet DPS wise, that mainly had to do with buffs/discs that also affected your pet that made the pets extremely important. Here, pets are pretty good dps and keeping them alive is key. I don't box a beastlord, its my only character. You may have issues in a boxing situation because in order to keep the beastlord doing the best DPS they can, you need to pay more attention to them. Its nothing like putting a ranger with a donator bow on /auto.

I'm only at ToV level currently, so not nearly as geared as I could be to give you an honest answer. Beastlords had the same issue on live though. Up until PoTime they scaled well enough and kept up to put up good numbers. Beyond that they fell behind because scaling was just poor. The developers fixed a lot of that later on, but it wouldn't surprise me one bit if scaling is way off on the high end for beastlords on this server.

[TheBloodmoon]

I'm sure you've received enough information up to this point but I'd like to put in a couple cents.

I'd make the recommendation to actually consider a knight class as a main tank. With the proper gear and attention, both paladins and shadowknights can accomplish much of the same as the warrior can. If you feel as though your knight isn't sufficient enough after you progress through some tiers, start up a warrior. It won't take long to get it up to the same tier level with an already established group. Now of course, if you'd prefer a more "set-it-and-forget-it" approach, then by all means, start a warrior. If you'd prefer to put in more attention, a shadowknight would be great fun to play.

Also, berserkers possess the ability to do substantial dps, but requires gear and aa's. If you want to put forth the effort into one, they can be great dps for your group. I'd also be weary of the beastlord, as the issue with them is pet survivability against rampage which is prevalent in most of the high end.

If you're considering using dual wielding melees for your dps though (excluding rangers), make sure you have a shaman. They will be a substantial boost to your dps as well as a great secondary healer option.

Wizards are also able to dish major dps, but require much more attention. Make sure to add a bard if you plan on going for casters for your dps.

In the end, though, you're best option is to start with what you think will be fun. All classes here have great abilities to bring to the table, and MANY combinations that rarely worked on live will have a blast on this server and can definitely accomplish a lot. If you get to a point where you feel you are lacking, start a new toon. It doesn't take a long time to get it up to speed with an already established group.

Oh, and if you can stand the monotonous grind, LDoN here will provide some SERIOUS gear upgrade paths. I'd recommend it if you're into that sort of thing.

Good luck, and enjoy your stay!

[Tyler]

Just one more note - Mages.

Beside their pretty strong pets, especialy 1.5 and 2.0 pets, they also have a 1k Damage shield that they can throw on tanks. Thats some serious DPS boost added to a very high (5k DD?) nuke they can buy in LDoN.

Mages also get a spell that summons a staff which has 3-5k dot for 3 ticks usable by all every 10 minutes.

Very Very good. If i were to make 6 box crew -

War/Sk/Pal as tank (they all have their pros and cons and there are some clicks available starting in Kael that give a Defensive Click to the Knights)
Cleric (don't kid yourself)
Mage (uber dps and easy to box)
Enchanter (uber custom Crack at lev67 and only getting better from there), awesome debuffs that enhance spell damage, debuffs mobs hardcore, best debuffs in game which stack with Mage line. With Enc + Mage you should be able to slow anything. Direcharm up to lev65, Donator Direcharm up to lev70. Real Men charm up to lev73
Monk - pulling and Rampage tank
Bard - amplify all of the above

Alternatively swap out Enc for Shaman for extra heals, Panther, Godly Conversion.

Int casters get a crit disc sorta on this server. Check out Crystals of Potential. First dropping in Sebilis at already a 75% increase in raw Spell Damage or 25% crit chance on dots.

In other words - the usual sheme as suggested above with war monk ber cle shaman bard is of course a very strong combo here, not necessarily the best if you want highest DPS though. All classes are very strong on THF and feature absolute unique spells and abilites or discs compared to any other EQEmu server.

Lastly, i suggest to check out our Allaclone, link on the front page or click this link.

Here you will find all custom spells, npcs, loot drops, tradeskill recipes etc etc. Just one note, for whatever reason you'll need to click the search field when looking up spells, everything else with the enter key.

Hope you enjoy your stay!

[Waor]

Enchanter (uber custom Crack at lev67 and only getting better from there), awesome debuffs that enhance spell damage, debuffs mobs hardcore, best debuffs in game which stack with Mage line. With Enc + Mage you should be able to slow anything. Direcharm up to lev65, Donator Direcharm up to lev70. Real Men charm up to lev73

As someone who has an Enchanter that I use for my box group I would never recommend it to anyone.

1. debuffs mobs hardcore : I'd take this with a grain of salt.. -100 to a few stats is far what I would call "hardcore"

2. With Enc + Mage you should be able to slow anything. : Incorrect. 75% of the mobs are immune to attack speed changes. Doesn't matter how much you debuff them. Very very few bosses are slowable.

3. Direcharm up to lev65, Donator Direcharm up to lev70. Real Men charm up to lev73 : While this is useful. Biggest problem is finding a pet worth using. Most 70 pets are caster's which limits their dps. I have never bothered with the "real men" charm seeing as it's a boxed toon; you don't want to worry about charm breaking and killing everyone.

4. awesome debuffs that enhance spell damage : Which one?

Enchanters can be great if you use them as your main. I would never recommend one for use in a box group. Shaman can out shine them 100 to 1. They require to much focus to be useful in a box group and if your like mine they are basically haste bots with dire charmed pets.

I'm a firm believer if you were to make: Warrior/Cleric/Shaman/Rog/Rog/Rog you could basically kill anything in the game. Hell you could really get rid of the Cleric for another Rogue. The shaman's patch heals will suffice and with 4 rogue's I doubt your gonna have a difficult time bringing down a mob before Defensive/SW goes down and need the big heals from the cleric.