I'll try to reply/acknowledge all comments made before 2/4/22 @ 5pm CST. Special Thank You To: Jordan Spurlock, Nick R, Undignified, Cyberjace, Vertego, Mat, BoredAccountant, Seionne85, Ruffnar Bobnar, Yosh Myu, Dragon Sickness, Rabbit12821, Banks, Archimagus, Tulabutt, FiindingEmo, ThePunchya, Tywulf, Fred Smith, TBonafied1, Tidomann, My Money Your Choice, Perry Lovewhistle, Ian Finley, Darren Watts, Oleg Shalygin, & Wheat Waffles Face.
Speaking of tanks, do you feel some races of tanks are passed over in vanilla because they are viewed as inferior because of low STR, STA? For example, gnome and dark elf tanks (warrior, shadow knight)?
I think the new direction you are taking for the channel is going great man, keep up the good work! I actually really liked the little injection of your real life in the middle there, it is always cool to get a small glimpse into the life of the guy behind the screen, without having to go so far as divulge all sorts of really personal stuff. Lookin forward to more, best wishes!
Awesome work on this video, love the new style/direction and great info and Breakdown and the everfrost peak cameo was funny (I've lived in vegas my entire 31 years and have only seen in snow 4 times). (Side note - playing a 65 SK back in 2000 - 2003, sometimes I'd be called on to be the group puller since SKs get feign death around level 35 if I recall correctly)
I loved playing a ranger on live. People got to know the player and your reputation meant something. I never had a problem getting into groups and was one of the first to get my epic. There was just this great community feeling that I feel many games are missing.
Thank for touching on reputation. Reputation is more important than your class for getting groups. This game really is about the friends you make like you said
Oh man nostalgia hitting hard. Remember the days of being an iksar SK. I'd be the main pull for 90% of raids (top guild on MT server at time) and obviously would tank a ton in groups. I'd pull too if I had too haha. But then I'd wonder what everyone else was contributing. 😅 Time to dig into what's changed and see if that's enough to get me back lol.
I was thinking of a TLP that reverses the calsses between good and evil like shaman and troll druids and high elf dwarf sK ...LOL Imagine a barb druid or bard lol .
Just came back recently a week ago, playing a monk on Mischief and I’m already 56. It’s never too late to come back and have fun. Specially since you can twink yourself out with buying raid loot on the Bazaar. Being a monk with good gear and potions you can solo. Dps is so good:)
oh man, Haven't seen anything on EQ since 1999 I still remember getting the first ever Dragon Tear earring and PoM Robe. (Vindication) Guild was the best grp of people they were one of the few guilds that used HoSS's DKP(Dragon kill points) and kinda had a hand in perfecting the point system.
@@IonBlaze1 I think my box is going to be Enchanter for single group stuff with friends, but I mained Rogue on Aradune and had a blast. It is way easier when you have a guild behind you from the start.
I started back on P99 Green about 8 or 10 months ago and like always immediately rolled a druid to make money for my REAL choice Warrior. I managed to get a group leveling my druid all the way to 55. I soloed ONCE from 51 to 53. If you make friends and you prove you're useful, groups will want you.
Love pulling on chanty it has all the tools you need, and done well you can que up mobs. paciy, memblur, mez, root, etc all the toys and even a useful pet or a bit of pet pulling
I used to use a shaman to tank for a necro. An ogre shaman is the best tank there is for a necro, because they can hold the mobs until the necro pulls them off the shaman. Those two can take more than a group of six as a pair. Between the shaman healing & regen and the necro being able to give away the mana they get from hit points, that pair can easily outdo any other combo. Their DoTs even match up, allowing them to stack four or five different lines on a single mob.
@@IonBlaze1 lol! I've always played mostly wood elves, probably because as a kid I loved fantasy books and wood elves because I grew up in the woods, so when I started playing eq it was just a given and the habit just stuck 😂
Great Video! especially for new players, good break down of classes! on that note.... Are you going to be playing this year on the new progression server? would be cool to see you and Cohh in the same guild. (his guild was great on Agnarr)!
As a cleric I never have problems getting groups. I tried a druid and couldn't bribe my way into a group. Lumping all the healers together just doesn't work. Cleric is the 3rd or 4th most wanted class and the most wanted healer. Also enchanters love to get a cleric with Complete heal to charm kite. One heal and there pet is back to full. I will say though playing a Cleric in the first few expansions is super boring and you never have enough mana or mana regen. Another thing is raid guilds tend snap you right up for raiding as you need so many clerics.
Enchanters are pullers too btw :3. Same with Clerics. Atleast for groups :). In fact, atleast before the nerfs, Enchanters were the most optimal group pullers in the game ^_^.
Never had an issue finding a group with my shm during my hayday, once you learn how to use you cannibalism and the canni AA, mixed with your hp Regen, you learned to be medding on the tick. Cast Slow/canni, jump down med, dot/canni, med, pop a Heal Over Time/canni med, and then whatever else was needed. Yes you missed the tick at times but once Mana Regen became a thing a good Shm could keep casting whatever was needed for a long while...
I won't have to fully watch to answer. Bard and Enchanter at the top of the list. Partly level restrictive, but only when they actually have to CC mobs (mez/charm/slow), aside from that, the utility of mana regen and haste for melee give them almost immediate spots in a group. Shaman also for buffs, but less so as shaman has the best slows in game, making them level restricted. Can't have a too low level shaman in group unless they are the healer. Clerics and druids will come in at 4th as pure healers even if they are the lowest level. Heals are necessary, but I've run groups with less than perfect class roles before, and done quite well as long as everyone in group gives 110% of their role and as long as a bard and/or enchanter were in the party as well.
I would argue Wiz isn't dps. Wiz is a closer, they finish off the mobs that aren't worth the time/mana they are going to take the dps to finish or the time the tanks are going to waste taunting them. A properly played wiz (and to a lesser extent, mage. Lesser because mages use pets to do the bulk of their dps) should only be casting one or 2 times per mob, therefore never oom, and should only be casting when they know said mob will be dead after the cast, avoiding aggro pull. I would also offer that they are "oops" buttons (translated for youtube friendliness) on raids. IMO, wiz and necro are the 2 most misunderstood and misused classes in the game.
Yup I've saved plenty of groups more then I can count on my mage with my pet. Healer pulls aggro have the pet tank it. Tank dies cause healer want to get coffee and the puller is impatient, pet tanks while ever one gets zoned/gated. A well played mage saves groups, but then again one wrong move and the mage causes a wipe.
One thing I have noticed on TLP's is that Shamans tend to become the rarest class in raids. They quit pretty early into it. I really don't understand why that is. That and Mages tend to quit in Luclin because they get sick of CotH'n in VT. There ends up being boxed Mages and Shamans for the most part. My guild currently has 2 main Mages left and 2 main Shamans. But only because people class changed out of necessity for the better of the guild.
Hmm thank you for that observation. Yeah I think shaman stinks to play early on cause they don't get groupwide buffs until later. Having to single buff 50 people blows. I can understand coth burnout with mages
You both have it wrong. Shaman give up early BECAUSE so many are boxing one. It's really easy to do, if you are just going to buff and slow. As far as mages, most of the people that I know that reclassed from mage, did it because they were sick of MOTM, bot because of COTH. It was important in Kunark and Velious to have faction in multiple places, such as Skyshrine and Chardok, particularly when raids were full. Being able to pull people up and skip the trash, was a guarantee you would have a post in the raid, rather than skipped over for more DPS.
@@ericg7183 Well I main a Mage since the start of Thornblade/Mischief. MotM sucks but CotH in VT made most of the guild Mages quit. Although some of them quit in Velious because people are babies and cry over loot even with a DKP and attendance system. I never worried about faction since there was always someone with a box to start the CotH chain in places like Skyshrine. Both classes are heavily boxed but that still doesn't explain why Shamans quit. They are a super powerful class. Every TLP shamans are the first to go it seems and Mage mains just seem rare in higher end raiding guilds.
So much hate for druids! I played classic as a monk main, but I had a druid and shaman in the mid 40s. While the shaman had cannabalize, in my experience the druid was more mana efficient. Soloing was smoother with the druid; when root broke, the hill giant was still snared. Both classes were fun to play, but I preferred druid. Anyway, thank you for the video. I always enjoy your EQ content.
Thank you for coming by. Yeah, I don't know that much about druids. But they can be powerful. Dru animal charm is crazy powerful when possible. I saw a dru & enc combo wreck in siren's grotto & chardok.
I'm a druid main, and I have gotten rejected from groups before because "we already have a healer" or "we need dps" I may be a bit biased but I love playing druid, and I feel like I can bring a lot to any group
I played right after EQ came out, and I do not remember a huge healer bias until clerics got their high exp res. Groups I was in mostly just wanted to fill key roles, and a druid would have been fine for dps or healer. I think the desire for specific classes, and min/maxing, either came much later, or just wasn't something that happened on my server.
Dont feel bad but groups these days want to eat content fast ..and druids can nuke but mana sucks , can bing ac hp and srt buffs but shaman do them better and mages can and do damage shields on top of pet dps and nukes ..I think they need to give druids one porpose at least ..like having the best level damage shield ..at least that lol ..
Ion, thank you for your videos. Does your content mostly cover live versions or the game or does it also apply to private servers? I'm currently playing on p99 and want to make sure I'm not way off base.
Like all MMOs, people want the ability to solo so they usually play something like a necro, mage, druid, sham, etc. The problem is that these classes get over-saturated. It's not that they're not desired. It's that there's too many people playing them. So people have to level their solo class to earn money for their specialty group class. It's not a great system and it's why the live servers have mercs, so people wouldn't need to sit there and grind two different characters.
I both grouped and played a Shaman solo since beta, they are far from the easiest class to Solo (nukes,dots are not the best but not horrible though). Dps and ability to solo is nothing compared to especially the necromancer and Druid's that where a dime a dozen. Where a Shaman shines is in groups also being a priest class. They get better as they lvl imo in power, slow spells actually increase in power until you get the next tier of slow spells, they got insane group buffs for melee, even decent haste (not as good as bard or enchanter but seeing what else they bring it's pretty good). Mage is a lot easier to solo, but at classic EQ, if you got multiple mobs, you where in trouble, mage is pure dps, by far the best caster dps, but they lack any type of crowd control. I'd say on live servers that they out dps most classes in general, but if the pet goes, you are in serious trouble being a cloth user, especially at 75 and higher, when mobs start to hit really hard. I managed to run away while my pet was being held up by the merc healer, Coth the merc who way still alive to my spot, just got my pet up and rebuffed and this tactics have saved my bacon several times (and the merc and a lot of downtime). Cleared aggro, it seems to be working still, not sure if you getting so far away clears aggro, and the Coth clears aggro on the ones you call. Just wanted to say that pets at higher lvls in EQ hit like trucks, having burnout and great dmg shield does help too 😉👍. I am planning on either 3 or 4 boxing, but I'll start with 2, just want to ease into it (helping to have a 49 inch monitor that does picture in picture. I will have a mage/enchanter first, then add a Shaman and Shadow knight later on. What do you think of SK/SHM/MAG/ENC, plus Cleric merc and dps merc as a final setup for me?
lovr ur videos brother lol I got snowed in an got from 62-68 on arudune but dam DON cam out so hard to find a group for xp cauE everyone is doing faction mission
@@IonBlaze1 I always come by an like ur videos ur extremely helpful an fun to listen to an were about the same age an grew up playing with are dads so alot in common
Oh man! I respectfully disagree on Rangers! Rangers can pull like mofos (especially but not only outdoors), they can ghetto tank, they do ok DPS (especially up to 60), and they can ghetto CC with snare and root. In small groups they can also slow with Swarmcaller or Earthcaller - that said if the group is chewing through mobs their slows are too unreliable to be THAT handy most of the time. A well played ranger can keep a group group going long after it should have folded because they can fill so many roles. I pick up Rangers all the time! That said, I main a ranger, so I may or may not be a little biased :p Enjoying the vids. Thanks for posting them!
Yeah I had fun playing ranger. They can do a lot when you understand their tools. Getting groups is easier when you create a reputation of knowing how to use those tools.
I'm curious why wiz is so low on everyone's group list? Never played one, but just anecdotally they always seem to smoke group mobs until the tank starts yelling at them over agro lol
After min maxing a wizard on Agnarr live server [pop locked] i learned alot about this class that i have NEVER played since 1999. Wizards can fit nicely in non conventional groups. Especially caster groups. But this class feels like its missing some utility or something. Once Luclin is introduced the Wizards carved out niche is rapidly on the decline....I feel like something has to be handed back to this class. Maybe if fire DD's lowered resists, cold DD's slowed movement and attack and magic DD's stunned... something like that.
Ranger main here, the issue we have is that due to how strong we get come Luclin lots of people play the class, very few know how to master it. A good ranger should be tanking when needed, pulling (outdoors people not indoors), using DoTs AND patch healing, if your Ranger isn't doing these things they're not playing the class properly. 90% don't do the above so Rangers get a bad name, as you said if you play a class well people notice. I have never struggled for groups because once a few people know what you're like on a server they invite you to groups.
Hey brand new player here, like BRAND new. Ive been playin for literally 2 weeks now. Thanks for the vid, ive been messing with a necro and a beast lord. Been in a time locked progression server with my buddy who played this game at launch. Wanted to build a tank at some point. Mostly for casual play. Didnt really like my SK but maybe ill try it again. Is there a reason Warriors are better at raiding then SK's? Might look into that later.
Hey thank you for trying out the game Cyberdemon. Warriors get an ability called defensive discipline at 55. It reduces how much damage they take by 35%. They also have the highest possible defense stats. Nobody takes hits better. But if you're not planning on raiding, sk or pally are better for groups
Usually groups set up shop at a good location in a zone. Call that a camp. There's mobs all around. Pulling a bunch of mobs is quick way to kill the group so some classes have tools to split apart mobs & bring only 1-2 to camp at a time. Not sure if that's clear.
Everybody always looks down on Druids, oh but when they are desperate for a healer, and there aren't any Clerics or Shamans available, they finally throw you a bone.. And they have no problem using us for power leveling, or ports, that's why there are so many of them like you said, they are just pocket Druid bot slaves being leveled up to use and abuse. While the rest of us that actually love the class and play it well have to suffer the bad reputation built around all that. We are the Red Mages of EverQuest, Jack of all trades, master of none. Druid life is hard at times, I should know, I played as a main Druid on the live servers since 2003, and ended my career at level 95 when the mercs ruined the game, then started playing a Druid again on the TLPs.
You make a good point Aretak. We don't want druids until it's the last resort. The pocket druids ruin it for the main druids. I felt the same about box bards. They ruin it for main bards. P99 made druid & bard feel more special.
Honestly in those eras rangers shouldn't be that low .... and it's not for their dps... rangers can pull or tank from classic to at least PoP... and when raid geared can still tank afterwards
Thank you for your comment Actarus. I getcha on ranger. Still pretty good when I played mine before luclin. Crazy good aggro generation & alternative cc abilities.
I sometimes wonder why people never mention Paladin or Cleric when they talk about Pullers. Had a number of occations where we didin't have neither Bard nor Monk, and I as a Paladin had to pull myself. Lull does the job just fine, whether ya be a Cleric or Pala~ Not to mention both Cleric and Pala can act as tanks awell. Obviously, one was built for it and the other can just kinda force themselves into the role, but ya know..
Yeah they definitely can pull. Lull is useful. Did you ever play battle cleric? One of the coolest playstyles I ever saw. Some plane of time weapon that procs a group heal in combat iirc
@@IonBlaze1 I considered it after seeing it being done. Once witnessed a Cleric ask the raid tank what his health and AC was, and when they heard it was lower than the Cleric's, the Cleric designated herself the Raid Tank for the night. Absolutely crazy, but it worked. I'm definitely going to try that SOMEDAY (except the raid tanking part) Just gotta work up the courage.
I hope a new TLP / no box server has old version of Freeport. No microtransactions of any kind and actual in-game GMs actively providing customer service and patrolling the server for cheaters. I wish the server would be classic experience and 4 months between expansions. People / guilds would not progress so fast without cheating and cheating would be rare with a Legion of trained and active GMs watching the server. I would pay $150/month to play on that server.
I think you did a good job overall but I feel like you have a bit of bias against or for classes you maybe haven't played first hand. I guess I worry that the list is too rigid and people might overlook classes that can do better for THEIR group in search of something higher on the list but I guess that's probably a different video...
either so much has changed since I played 20 years ago, or groups now days have lost their damn minds and are making things way more complicated than it needs to be. in my day every group had to have a tank, a cleric, a slower, a puller if your tank isn't a SK (I was a SK and did both tanking and pulling simultaneously), CC only if your tank is shit, otherwise the remaining 2 slots go to DPS. Raids you just wanted at least 2 of every class for full utility/buffs/class specific drops. warriors were still tank king but knights could fill in if need be if there wasnt any OTing to be done in the fights. the more wizards, the better. f'ing burn.
Think you're hugely overstating the importance of pullers. Especially if you have enchanters in the group. With a good enchanter in group basically any class can pull.
Everyone poops on rogues until they need corpse retrieval. xD correction on monk... wanted for dps because they need no weapons, fists are boom boom. Easy to gear.
I'll try to reply/acknowledge all comments made before 2/4/22 @ 5pm CST. Special Thank You To: Jordan Spurlock, Nick R, Undignified, Cyberjace, Vertego, Mat, BoredAccountant, Seionne85, Ruffnar Bobnar, Yosh Myu, Dragon Sickness, Rabbit12821, Banks, Archimagus, Tulabutt, FiindingEmo, ThePunchya, Tywulf, Fred Smith, TBonafied1, Tidomann, My Money Your Choice, Perry Lovewhistle, Ian Finley, Darren Watts, Oleg Shalygin, & Wheat Waffles Face.
Thanks for the mention 😀
Thank you for doing this EQ content.
Speaking of tanks, do you feel some races of tanks are passed over in vanilla because they are viewed as inferior because of low STR, STA? For example, gnome and dark elf tanks (warrior, shadow knight)?
How powerful in tinkering in vanilla?
Thanks undignified
I always pick Cleric on TLPs and can almost Never get a group ... and I'm a Good Cleric and friendly to everyone that isn't a jerk
I think the new direction you are taking for the channel is going great man, keep up the good work! I actually really liked the little injection of your real life in the middle there, it is always cool to get a small glimpse into the life of the guy behind the screen, without having to go so far as divulge all sorts of really personal stuff. Lookin forward to more, best wishes!
Thank you Brandon. I appreciate that.
Awesome work on this video, love the new style/direction and great info and Breakdown and the everfrost peak cameo was funny (I've lived in vegas my entire 31 years and have only seen in snow 4 times).
(Side note - playing a 65 SK back in 2000 - 2003, sometimes I'd be called on to be the group puller since SKs get feign death around level 35 if I recall correctly)
Thank you Ehlias. Yeah sks have it nice with feign death. Vegas is nice. I graduated from UNLV
Didn't realize this was about live till like 6 mins in! Love the videos keep it up!
Thank you Lethin :)
dude great job man u nailed it down pat i was a war tank in vel and kunark and boxed a druid for power leveling and ports
Quality content as usual. Thank you
Thank you Steven. I appreciate the compliment.
Love the song you chose from the tents in qeynos or beneath desert of ro tents! One of the best tracks in game!
Thank you for the compliment
I loved playing a ranger on live. People got to know the player and your reputation meant something. I never had a problem getting into groups and was one of the first to get my epic. There was just this great community feeling that I feel many games are missing.
Thank for touching on reputation. Reputation is more important than your class for getting groups. This game really is about the friends you make like you said
Awesome Video! Currently playing thornblade server. Loving my shadowknight!
Thank you Jordon.
Keep up the great videos man!
Thank you Smullik
Love this!! Going ench next
Man love the videos, I play on project 1999 and enjoy it
Man this has me really wanting to play EQ again. I’ve always wanted to try tanking in EQ I might just do it when I have the free time lol.
Yeah I've been thinking the same thing. Can't wait for May.
You should check out the mischief server, it's awesome. Super active, great fun, loot rules makei t so you can actually get geared up.
Oh man nostalgia hitting hard. Remember the days of being an iksar SK. I'd be the main pull for 90% of raids (top guild on MT server at time) and obviously would tank a ton in groups. I'd pull too if I had too haha. But then I'd wonder what everyone else was contributing. 😅
Time to dig into what's changed and see if that's enough to get me back lol.
Thank you sharing J. SK main pulling on raids wow. Yeah the Live servers are pretty daunting to get into. But there's new TLPs in May
Would love to see a TLP where BST and BER were open at launch, even out of era. I think it could be an interesting twist to the same ol' formula.
Yeah that would be an awesome server. Thank you for coming by Nybling.
I was thinking of a TLP that reverses the calsses between good and evil like shaman and troll druids and high elf dwarf sK ...LOL Imagine a barb druid or bard lol .
@@casrogue that is the first time I've heard of that. Crazy idea but I like it
@@casrogue sounds like WoW
I really love your videoes. Watching them is drawing the wife and I back to EQ.
Thank you for the support Karl
Enchanters also enhance the abilities of others in the group, particularly good in caster groups.
Hey SKs can pull decently too,done it many times played SK main for many years.
Oh yeah definitely. FD, taunt pulling, & other tricks. Cool class.
Snare and FD = single pull splitting every time. And utilizing pet commands allows for tagging as well.
Just came back recently a week ago, playing a monk on Mischief and I’m already 56. It’s never too late to come back and have fun. Specially since you can twink yourself out with buying raid loot on the Bazaar. Being a monk with good gear and potions you can solo. Dps is so good:)
oh man, Haven't seen anything on EQ since 1999 I still remember getting the first ever Dragon Tear earring and PoM Robe. (Vindication) Guild was the best grp of people they were one of the few guilds that used HoSS's DKP(Dragon kill points) and kinda had a hand in perfecting the point system.
Ha that’s crazy I saw this I’m pretty sure I live a few blocks away and used to live in those same apartments. Looks like battlefield and cambell.
Going to be a fun leveling up journey on my Rogue again
Nice to see you Crescens. You gonna do the "ungroupable challenge?" Dual box rogue & wiz?
@@IonBlaze1 I think my box is going to be Enchanter for single group stuff with friends, but I mained Rogue on Aradune and had a blast. It is way easier when you have a guild behind you from the start.
I started back on P99 Green about 8 or 10 months ago and like always immediately rolled a druid to make money for my REAL choice Warrior. I managed to get a group leveling my druid all the way to 55. I soloed ONCE from 51 to 53. If you make friends and you prove you're useful, groups will want you.
Love pulling on chanty it has all the tools you need, and done well you can que up mobs. paciy, memblur, mez, root, etc all the toys and even a useful pet or a bit of pet pulling
Oh yeah, I've seen a chanty pull before. Crazy stuff. Dude went into rock golem tower in the hole with 0 fear in his cloth Robe. Went in & dominated.
I used to use a shaman to tank for a necro. An ogre shaman is the best tank there is for a necro, because they can hold the mobs until the necro pulls them off the shaman.
Those two can take more than a group of six as a pair. Between the shaman healing & regen and the necro being able to give away the mana they get from hit points, that pair can easily outdo any other combo. Their DoTs even match up, allowing them to stack four or five different lines on a single mob.
Fav group was always mnk/rog/shm/nec/brd/random choice. Usually another heal type unless it was kunark and you had torpor.
You are always spot on with your videos. Nice work!
Thank you Random, I appreciate the compliment.
Dude, its always is and will be CLERIC and SHAMAN!!!
Oh yeah, they're super wanted. Thank you for coming by monk manjusri
@@IonBlaze1 thank you too! Love your classic intellectual approach!!
Thanks for the video! On the new tlp I'll probably play a pal as that's the top ranked wood elf, and wood elves are the only race worth playing 😉
Thank you for the help. You got converted to wood elf by that eqprogression guy huh? I've been looking at pally myself. Gnome pally.
@@IonBlaze1 lol! I've always played mostly wood elves, probably because as a kid I loved fantasy books and wood elves because I grew up in the woods, so when I started playing eq it was just a given and the habit just stuck 😂
Wood Elf named Ozark?
@@IonBlaze1 I think you just picked my pal name!
YOUVE ALREADY RUINED YOUR LANDS, YOU WONT RUIN MINE!
Great Video! especially for new players, good break down of classes! on that note.... Are you going to be playing this year on the new progression server? would be cool to see you and Cohh in the same guild. (his guild was great on Agnarr)!
Thank you SGT Kheldare. Yeah I want to restart an EQ adventures series on one of the servers. Had an idea to do some collabs with other big channels.
As a cleric I never have problems getting groups. I tried a druid and couldn't bribe my way into a group. Lumping all the healers together just doesn't work. Cleric is the 3rd or 4th most wanted class and the most wanted healer. Also enchanters love to get a cleric with Complete heal to charm kite. One heal and there pet is back to full. I will say though playing a Cleric in the first few expansions is super boring and you never have enough mana or mana regen. Another thing is raid guilds tend snap you right up for raiding as you need so many clerics.
Thank you for this info Jack. Yeah clerics are definitely wanted.
As a Druid. I was chosen over clerics so many times as a main healer for a group.
Amen on tanks! I ended up tanking on my ranger all the way to 60 due to lack of true tanks
Even without the DA hammer for a paladin, they are ideal ramp tanks for capacity to self heal. No need to dedicate a cleric.
As long as you are a gnome class does not matter :)
That's what I want to do! Gnome pally & bard
@@IonBlaze1 Dream team :)
Enchanters are pullers too btw :3. Same with Clerics. Atleast for groups :). In fact, atleast before the nerfs, Enchanters were the most optimal group pullers in the game ^_^.
I played Paladins for years and always had difficulty getting groups. Only when I made a name as a puller did I get any attention.
Never had an issue finding a group with my shm during my hayday, once you learn how to use you cannibalism and the canni AA, mixed with your hp Regen, you learned to be medding on the tick.
Cast Slow/canni, jump down med, dot/canni, med, pop a Heal Over Time/canni med, and then whatever else was needed.
Yes you missed the tick at times but once Mana Regen became a thing a good Shm could keep casting whatever was needed for a long while...
great video
Thank you for watching :)
I won't have to fully watch to answer. Bard and Enchanter at the top of the list. Partly level restrictive, but only when they actually have to CC mobs (mez/charm/slow), aside from that, the utility of mana regen and haste for melee give them almost immediate spots in a group. Shaman also for buffs, but less so as shaman has the best slows in game, making them level restricted. Can't have a too low level shaman in group unless they are the healer. Clerics and druids will come in at 4th as pure healers even if they are the lowest level. Heals are necessary, but I've run groups with less than perfect class roles before, and done quite well as long as everyone in group gives 110% of their role and as long as a bard and/or enchanter were in the party as well.
I would argue Wiz isn't dps. Wiz is a closer, they finish off the mobs that aren't worth the time/mana they are going to take the dps to finish or the time the tanks are going to waste taunting them. A properly played wiz (and to a lesser extent, mage. Lesser because mages use pets to do the bulk of their dps) should only be casting one or 2 times per mob, therefore never oom, and should only be casting when they know said mob will be dead after the cast, avoiding aggro pull. I would also offer that they are "oops" buttons (translated for youtube friendliness) on raids. IMO, wiz and necro are the 2 most misunderstood and misused classes in the game.
Of course Wiz is DPS
That's a perspective on wiz I haven't heard. Thank you for that Jagger Pierce. Sounds like something only a veteran wiz would know. A closer!
Yup I've saved plenty of groups more then I can count on my mage with my pet. Healer pulls aggro have the pet tank it. Tank dies cause healer want to get coffee and the puller is impatient, pet tanks while ever one gets zoned/gated. A well played mage saves groups, but then again one wrong move and the mage causes a wipe.
I musta hit reply on the wrong one oppsie
@@Jasonsiop thank you for sharing that about Mage.
Ranger is hella fun to solo if you know what your doing.
One thing I have noticed on TLP's is that Shamans tend to become the rarest class in raids. They quit pretty early into it. I really don't understand why that is. That and Mages tend to quit in Luclin because they get sick of CotH'n in VT. There ends up being boxed Mages and Shamans for the most part. My guild currently has 2 main Mages left and 2 main Shamans. But only because people class changed out of necessity for the better of the guild.
Hmm thank you for that observation. Yeah I think shaman stinks to play early on cause they don't get groupwide buffs until later. Having to single buff 50 people blows. I can understand coth burnout with mages
You both have it wrong. Shaman give up early BECAUSE so many are boxing one. It's really easy to do, if you are just going to buff and slow. As far as mages, most of the people that I know that reclassed from mage, did it because they were sick of MOTM, bot because of COTH. It was important in Kunark and Velious to have faction in multiple places, such as Skyshrine and Chardok, particularly when raids were full. Being able to pull people up and skip the trash, was a guarantee you would have a post in the raid, rather than skipped over for more DPS.
@@ericg7183 Well I main a Mage since the start of Thornblade/Mischief. MotM sucks but CotH in VT made most of the guild Mages quit. Although some of them quit in Velious because people are babies and cry over loot even with a DKP and attendance system. I never worried about faction since there was always someone with a box to start the CotH chain in places like Skyshrine. Both classes are heavily boxed but that still doesn't explain why Shamans quit. They are a super powerful class. Every TLP shamans are the first to go it seems and Mage mains just seem rare in higher end raiding guilds.
top three: Cleric, cleric and cleric
Battle cleric!
So much hate for druids! I played classic as a monk main, but I had a druid and shaman in the mid 40s. While the shaman had cannabalize, in my experience the druid was more mana efficient. Soloing was smoother with the druid; when root broke, the hill giant was still snared. Both classes were fun to play, but I preferred druid. Anyway, thank you for the video. I always enjoy your EQ content.
Thank you for coming by. Yeah, I don't know that much about druids. But they can be powerful. Dru animal charm is crazy powerful when possible. I saw a dru & enc combo wreck in siren's grotto & chardok.
I'm a druid main, and I have gotten rejected from groups before because "we already have a healer" or "we need dps" I may be a bit biased but I love playing druid, and I feel like I can bring a lot to any group
I played right after EQ came out, and I do not remember a huge healer bias until clerics got their high exp res. Groups I was in mostly just wanted to fill key roles, and a druid would have been fine for dps or healer. I think the desire for specific classes, and min/maxing, either came much later, or just wasn't something that happened on my server.
When Beastlord is unavailable on the server. Druid is my daily driver
Dont feel bad but groups these days want to eat content fast ..and druids can nuke but mana sucks , can bing ac hp and srt buffs but shaman do them better and mages can and do damage shields on top of pet dps and nukes ..I think they need to give druids one porpose at least ..like having the best level damage shield ..at least that lol ..
Ion, thank you for your videos. Does your content mostly cover live versions or the game or does it also apply to private servers? I'm currently playing on p99 and want to make sure I'm not way off base.
Thank you Ian. Live versions mostly but it's still relevant to P99. Only a few details are different.
Like all MMOs, people want the ability to solo so they usually play something like a necro, mage, druid, sham, etc. The problem is that these classes get over-saturated. It's not that they're not desired. It's that there's too many people playing them. So people have to level their solo class to earn money for their specialty group class. It's not a great system and it's why the live servers have mercs, so people wouldn't need to sit there and grind two different characters.
I both grouped and played a Shaman solo since beta, they are far from the easiest class to Solo (nukes,dots are not the best but not horrible though).
Dps and ability to solo is nothing compared to especially the necromancer and Druid's that where a dime a dozen.
Where a Shaman shines is in groups also being a priest class.
They get better as they lvl imo in power, slow spells actually increase in power until you get the next tier of slow spells, they got insane group buffs for melee, even decent haste (not as good as bard or enchanter but seeing what else they bring it's pretty good).
Mage is a lot easier to solo, but at classic EQ, if you got multiple mobs, you where in trouble, mage is pure dps, by far the best caster dps, but they lack any type of crowd control.
I'd say on live servers that they out dps most classes in general, but if the pet goes, you are in serious trouble being a cloth user, especially at 75 and higher, when mobs start to hit really hard.
I managed to run away while my pet was being held up by the merc healer, Coth the merc who way still alive to my spot, just got my pet up and rebuffed and this tactics have saved my bacon several times (and the merc and a lot of downtime). Cleared aggro, it seems to be working still, not sure if you getting so far away clears aggro, and the Coth clears aggro on the ones you call.
Just wanted to say that pets at higher lvls in EQ hit like trucks, having burnout and great dmg shield does help too 😉👍.
I am planning on either 3 or 4 boxing, but I'll start with 2, just want to ease into it (helping to have a 49 inch monitor that does picture in picture. I will have a mage/enchanter first, then add a Shaman and Shadow knight later on.
What do you think of SK/SHM/MAG/ENC, plus Cleric merc and dps merc as a final setup for me?
lovr ur videos brother lol I got snowed in an got from 62-68 on arudune but dam DON cam out so hard to find a group for xp cauE everyone is doing faction mission
Thank you Jsmitty for coming by.
@@IonBlaze1 I always come by an like ur videos ur extremely helpful an fun to listen to an were about the same age an grew up playing with are dads so alot in common
It's a small world. Thank you for the support.
Feign Death is only better until PoP, once Bards have Fade they're way better.
Yeah that's when it gets real fun on the bard. Thank you Mike
I wish they would take Alchemist from EQOA and bring it to EQ1. Because reasons lol. I do miss my Alc something fierce!
What was alchemist? I saw the class in your videos but not sure what it did.
Looking at your wall ..are you a real life bard??? LOL
Yup, I've written a lot of music :)
My mates paladin was always first asked to groups when he was in the mystical order in the early 2000 s
They're a cool class. He must have been really good.
enchanter cleric duo/box = win
LOL do more live filming with EQ sound effects!
You noticed! Yeah it felt wrong without it. Thank you Richard.
Oh man! I respectfully disagree on Rangers! Rangers can pull like mofos (especially but not only outdoors), they can ghetto tank, they do ok DPS (especially up to 60), and they can ghetto CC with snare and root. In small groups they can also slow with Swarmcaller or Earthcaller - that said if the group is chewing through mobs their slows are too unreliable to be THAT handy most of the time.
A well played ranger can keep a group group going long after it should have folded because they can fill so many roles. I pick up Rangers all the time!
That said, I main a ranger, so I may or may not be a little biased :p
Enjoying the vids. Thanks for posting them!
Yeah I had fun playing ranger. They can do a lot when you understand their tools. Getting groups is easier when you create a reputation of knowing how to use those tools.
Hmm, I dunno I find that groups want rogues over wizards because they can maintain a sustained DPS.
I played a rogue and yes faster kills and exp for the group,in raids I was highest dps ,of course I was an Uber dark elf rogue 😉
EQ's Most Needed Classes... Prediction time! Let's see if I get it much different from you... :
For Grouping: Enchanter >>> Cleric >> Shadow Knight > Paladin > Warrior > Bard > Monk > Shaman > Magician > Beastlord > Necromancer > Druid > Ranger > Berserker > Rogue > Wizard
For Raids: Cleric >>> Bard >> Warrior > Monk > Beastlord > Shaman > Enchanter > Druid > Wizard > Paladin > Necromancer > Magician > Berserker > Rogue > Ranger > Shadow Knight
Heck yeah it's Vindaven. Nice to see you again. I didn't list it like that but very close
I'm curious why wiz is so low on everyone's group list? Never played one, but just anecdotally they always seem to smoke group mobs until the tank starts yelling at them over agro lol
@@seionne85 Mana issues.
@@Vindaven ahh that makes sense
After min maxing a wizard on Agnarr live server [pop locked] i learned alot about this class that i have NEVER played since 1999. Wizards can fit nicely in non conventional groups. Especially caster groups. But this class feels like its missing some utility or something. Once Luclin is introduced the Wizards carved out niche is rapidly on the decline....I feel like something has to be handed back to this class. Maybe if fire DD's lowered resists, cold DD's slowed movement and attack and magic DD's stunned... something like that.
As a ranger, I feel like Im expected to pull 90% of the time. J/s. Im revisiting the game 20 years later on a new tlp server. This game is fun lol.
Ranger main here, the issue we have is that due to how strong we get come Luclin lots of people play the class, very few know how to master it. A good ranger should be tanking when needed, pulling (outdoors people not indoors), using DoTs AND patch healing, if your Ranger isn't doing these things they're not playing the class properly.
90% don't do the above so Rangers get a bad name, as you said if you play a class well people notice. I have never struggled for groups because once a few people know what you're like on a server they invite you to groups.
Random comment: you have good audio.
Thank you. It got a lot better :)
Well between cleric and druid buffs my necro is tanking blues 🤣
Hey brand new player here, like BRAND new. Ive been playin for literally 2 weeks now. Thanks for the vid, ive been messing with a necro and a beast lord. Been in a time locked progression server with my buddy who played this game at launch. Wanted to build a tank at some point. Mostly for casual play. Didnt really like my SK but maybe ill try it again. Is there a reason Warriors are better at raiding then SK's? Might look into that later.
Hey thank you for trying out the game Cyberdemon. Warriors get an ability called defensive discipline at 55. It reduces how much damage they take by 35%. They also have the highest possible defense stats. Nobody takes hits better. But if you're not planning on raiding, sk or pally are better for groups
whats the puller and camp thing about? i very recently started to play, not too familiar with that contextually
Usually groups set up shop at a good location in a zone. Call that a camp. There's mobs all around. Pulling a bunch of mobs is quick way to kill the group so some classes have tools to split apart mobs & bring only 1-2 to camp at a time. Not sure if that's clear.
Druids can pull well too, they have a ton of utility and because their heals aren't as good they get less aggro lol...😁
Everybody always looks down on Druids, oh but when they are desperate for a healer, and there aren't any Clerics or Shamans available, they finally throw you a bone.. And they have no problem using us for power leveling, or ports, that's why there are so many of them like you said, they are just pocket Druid bot slaves being leveled up to use and abuse. While the rest of us that actually love the class and play it well have to suffer the bad reputation built around all that. We are the Red Mages of EverQuest, Jack of all trades, master of none. Druid life is hard at times, I should know, I played as a main Druid on the live servers since 2003, and ended my career at level 95 when the mercs ruined the game, then started playing a Druid again on the TLPs.
You make a good point Aretak. We don't want druids until it's the last resort. The pocket druids ruin it for the main druids. I felt the same about box bards. They ruin it for main bards. P99 made druid & bard feel more special.
Midnight Rations really was the greatest guild
Yeah I loved my time with them. Going to talk about what happened to them in my next eq adventures vid in May.
Honestly in those eras rangers shouldn't be that low .... and it's not for their dps... rangers can pull or tank from classic to at least PoP... and when raid geared can still tank afterwards
Thank you for your comment Actarus. I getcha on ranger. Still pretty good when I played mine before luclin. Crazy good aggro generation & alternative cc abilities.
Next TLP anybody wanna do a worst group challenge to cap?
Druid, rogue, wiz, rng?
Looklin imo
Yeah it's a hard habit to break. It's not lucklin :(
Is this for live? I was considering trying to make an SK
Mostly referencing tlp servers. But I hear sks & shm are the strongest classes in newer content
Did you ever play EQOA?
I sometimes wonder why people never mention Paladin or Cleric when they talk about Pullers. Had a number of occations where we didin't have neither Bard nor Monk, and I as a Paladin had to pull myself. Lull does the job just fine, whether ya be a Cleric or Pala~ Not to mention both Cleric and Pala can act as tanks awell. Obviously, one was built for it and the other can just kinda force themselves into the role, but ya know..
Yeah they definitely can pull. Lull is useful. Did you ever play battle cleric? One of the coolest playstyles I ever saw. Some plane of time weapon that procs a group heal in combat iirc
@@IonBlaze1 I considered it after seeing it being done. Once witnessed a Cleric ask the raid tank what his health and AC was, and when they heard it was lower than the Cleric's, the Cleric designated herself the Raid Tank for the night. Absolutely crazy, but it worked. I'm definitely going to try that SOMEDAY (except the raid tanking part) Just gotta work up the courage.
Shaman Necro combo was very good, pending expansion and zone.
What part of the Midwest are you in?
Ozarks in Missouri
Enchanters in raids are incredibly boring. In group's they're fantastic.
Yeah buff bot class basically. You can't show off on anything.
@@IonBlaze1 I hate you for being right. 😢
Why did you put bst so far down the list. Raids. Love them
Bard can tank and hold infinite aoe mezz.. till 35 xD
Paladins are the mmo F word though.
It's true. I guess I'm not with the times.
@@IonBlaze1 that’s why CZcams auto tries to flag me just for using the word pally in the comment section
@@IonBlaze1 at least eq2 got the palydork right. Great class in that game.
@@hohenzollern6025 yeah they did it a lot better in eq2
Did u try lost ark
Not sure what that is.
the most rare is female holy knight erudid
I hope a new TLP / no box server has old version of Freeport. No microtransactions of any kind and actual in-game GMs actively providing customer service and patrolling the server for cheaters. I wish the server would be classic experience and 4 months between expansions. People / guilds would not progress so fast without cheating and cheating would be rare with a Legion of trained and active GMs watching the server. I would pay $150/month to play on that server.
I like your idea there. Pre-revamp zones would be nice. New freeport is jarring.
Ranger isn't on the bottom! Get rekd rogues!
Haha yeah it's true! Too bad you won't get to see the archery domination in luclin with your ranger.
I'll disagree about Enchanters. Very situational. At various points in the game groups are easy to come by, at others you can't buy one.
I think you did a good job overall but I feel like you have a bit of bias against or for classes you maybe haven't played first hand. I guess I worry that the list is too rigid and people might overlook classes that can do better for THEIR group in search of something higher on the list but I guess that's probably a different video...
Sorry, I don't care i'll say it. Everquest needs more Paladins!!
But…the overalls?
Suspenders haha. Great way to keep up pants.
either so much has changed since I played 20 years ago, or groups now days have lost their damn minds and are making things way more complicated than it needs to be. in my day every group had to have a tank, a cleric, a slower, a puller if your tank isn't a SK (I was a SK and did both tanking and pulling simultaneously), CC only if your tank is shit, otherwise the remaining 2 slots go to DPS. Raids you just wanted at least 2 of every class for full utility/buffs/class specific drops. warriors were still tank king but knights could fill in if need be if there wasnt any OTing to be done in the fights. the more wizards, the better. f'ing burn.
mmos went downhill when they started pushing for every class being able to solo all story content
paaaaaaaaaaaaladin???
Pumbaaaaaaa!
@@IonBlaze1 we moving to the new server (we as in alot of MR people) have a home for you there brotha
@@TheMorpher80 oh hell yeah!
People still playing this!?
Surprisingly yes. Going strong.
Think you're hugely overstating the importance of pullers. Especially if you have enchanters in the group. With a good enchanter in group basically any class can pull.
Yeah that's a good point pijan. I was able to pull faster with an enc. Could be more reckless.
I died 🤣 💀 wizards r worthless.
Everyone poops on rogues until they need corpse retrieval. xD correction on monk... wanted for dps because they need no weapons, fists are boom boom. Easy to gear.