For me, I have no real interest in playing a cleric or a shaman, although at one point back on Live 2004ish I thought about rolling up an iksar shaman to box until my wife said she wanted to play one. Primarily healing and buffing as a group role doesn't appeal to me. As to the races, halfling doesn't do much for me unless it was, perhaps, a halfling rogue (I'd more likely try rogue as a dark elf or human). Half-elves seem pretty meh. I thought more than once back on Live about rolling a gnome necro or magician, but would prefer to play either of those as either a dark elf or iksar (necro) or high elf (magician). So, what race/class combo would you "never" play?
Human anything. Terrible race. I like my Halfling cleric, but I had to get her a wood elf crown because screw getting stuck on stairs. Would not play another.
High elf or wood elf anything...just so many everywhere...halfings because of their harry feet, just so gross...and paladins, ugh. I think for Paladins, its their whole D&D persona that turns me off. The whole "I am incapable of lying, don't fret, I will save you!" is bland to me. I like my characters to be more inline with the chaotic, whether neutral, good, or evil. Humans and Dark Elves are by far the best races. Half elves aren't bad, they are half human, so they have that going for them.
All halflings I really don't enjoy. All dark elves (lol @ wood elves and high elf too common) All Erudites All Erudites (They get listed twice for how much suck you have to endure) All humans All barbarians All vah shir.
From a RP perspective human necro is great. Human's having the tendency to seek power at the cost of their soul is a bedrock fantasy literature archetype.
Because they would have Chetari warders - and the hooded rat model is awesome. Here's a preview of the hotness
Human anything. It's a high fantasy RPG, and people pick human? I could be and elf, a dwarf, or OOOO a huuuuuman!!! No thanks. Erudite anything. Any race male enchanter.
Gnome anything. The whole race is a pestilence that blights all of Norrath. I'd round them up in AkAnon, lock the doors, and burn it to the ground if I could!
This is why gnomes win - you can't "lock the doors" on a race that tunnels like a pro - also they don't use wood because they are better than the rest of you. Furthermore only one race had the ability to break into potime - GNOME POWER!
Nothing wrong with the common combos. I don't play any kind of beastlord because I don't like having to set up and maintain a summoned pet. Charm pets are way cooler. The 3 priests classes are high up on the list for me. Shaman and cleric are more specialized but you really should try a druid if flexibility and utility appeal to you. It's probably the best utility box to have even if you aren't going to play it as your main. Even if all you do is cast fire nukes, you've got a way to port out when you're done, or to SoW up for your corpse run when it goes bad.
https://media.giphy.com/media/X5pnhmYQgJo2c/source.gif An odd reply, but Nietzsche always makes me think of FLCL.
Back on live my main was a Wiz, and my wife's was a druid (both 75 when we quit). I considered giving druid a go a number of times for the reasons you offered here, but when we finally decided to switch our mains to SK/Sham, we used her druid for travel and buffs/snares/nukes so I never really felt the need to try one of my own since I could just use hers. Now here on AK not only does my wife have a druid alt that she solos sometimes, but some of my kids do as well. When the new computers arrive, it'll be a treehugger army running around PoK.
Wow, I didn't realize so many people were salty over something so silly. When I first played on live, I was a dark elf necromancer. It seemed appropriate, because of the whole "Evil guy being evil doing evil shit" - but then I couldn't fucking go anywhere without every guard or npc within a 10 mile radius coming for my head. It was tolerable at first but quickly became a pain in the ass. So I re-rolled into a gnome worshipping Bertox and it was glorious. None of the guards wanted to kill me. Even the druids tolerated me. The paladins were dicks though. Keep in mind this was a time during which there were no PoK books or "neutral areas" so having freedom to walk in and out of almost all cities was pretty sweet. For me personally, I love almost all of the races in their own unique way. I really liked the idea of Frogloks when they got released, but I hated the way they looked ultimately. Humans are a bit boring...so are Erudites. When EQ2 came out, my wife lived by those Ratonga rat people - she just loved the hell out of them. I ended up enjoying them a bit, too. I made a Rat assassin that I enjoyed. As far as classes... I've never made a ranger. I've never wanted to. I don't dislike them or hate them, I've just never been interested in them. I've always loved pure casters (access to gate is so paramount) but I definitely have to say that my heart is currently in a two way tie between necromancer and bard for being my favorite class. I love my necromancer from the rich utility and past I have with the class but bard is just so fucking cool. It's like they are little mini badasses that can do everything. They're like having a morphing puzzle piece that can fit nicely into any puzzle. They add DPS, resists, utility, you name it.
Technically I have played every class, but the least appealing for me to main would be - Druid Beastlord Magician And for no particular reason either. All three of these classes are quite powerful, but I never found them appealing. I could definitely see myself caving and incorporating a druid/magician into a future trio though. As far as races are concerned, you can gtfo of here with humans and erudites. I'm not going to be blind for nothing.
I definitely appreciate this man. I mean avatar, check. Gnome love, check. Paladin love, check. Future bard main, check. He started as a delf necro, I started as a wood elf ranger, and a brell gnome magician. I think we may have differing origins
The high action per minute classes (shaman, necro, bard) have always seemed interesting to me but I'm not willing to box them regularly and I've never gotten around to having one as a main.