Hello all - I've got the classic models enabled, high rez textures (w/classic wolves & skellies, of course), and I'm almost ready to get a three box going. I spun up a few chars last night just to check things out, and decided to bring most of my questions here instead of spamming /alliance. Very nice job on the client btw, it wasn't hard to get going and the texture pack DL even included the enhanced character model resolution, which wasn't expected but appreciated. How critical is snare in a dungeon? Will NPCs flee even if they have nearby friends that are still alive? (Non-issue if you have root?) Newb armor quests are in, are there any other obvious PoK/Luclin era quests currently in-game for lower level chars? (Farm plat & head to bazaar asap?) Class power - I'm not super familiar with PoP and don't remember a ton about Luclin (positive things, anyways) but here is my general understanding of how things break down: Int Casters - not really lacking in any expansion up to Velious (except for WIZ), overall more powerful with focus items/AAs Wis Casters - same as above but with better healing for SHM/DRU down the road Hybrids - SK/PAL/RNG/BST can serve as small group tanks - Rangers receiving endless quiver and other archery related AAs to boost ranged DPS to near-broken levels, BST & BRD amazing overall into PoP Pure Melee - MNK/ROG excellent DPS, WAR still remaining the main raid tank into PoP Stamina - is this an actual resource for melee characters, unlike other emu servers? PoK > EC? Thanks, I'm sure I'll come up with some more.
What is this is reference to? *edit* reading comprehension fail. Snare is extremely handy in dungeons. It's not necessarily critical. There's a quest list on the forums. I pretty much agree with your PoP class assessment. Enchanters supposed to be especially OP. No, stamina is not a needed resource other than for lots of jumping. Yes.
1) no not if they are close enough but snare is pretty lovely to has. 2) yes - ghulam armor from shadeweavers comes to mind 3) enchanter >>>>>>>>> the rest 4) if you use enc - get cleric 5) if enc cleric - get pally or sk - ranger will do in a pinch; we dont know how archery will flop out totally luclin isn't done but they do have some good ranger archery logs. Beastlord is the best hybrid tank who doesn't wear plate. They will dps on the second tier (monks mages druids) have their own slow/buffs and more ac/softcap return as well as having block which is also the tits. 6) monks aren't equal to rogues - and we are in the pop nerfed state (315 softcap ac - 5% overcap returns - lower than anything else) and rogues will outdps you mostly. However- being a monk is the tits. 7) no 8) Yes ish
Concerning your comment on PoP rangers: Keep in mind ranger archery here is bugged like it was bugged on AK. If an arrow hits terrain before it hits the center of a mob's hitbox, the arrow will fail (At least for now. I'm still daring to hope this bug will be removed in the future). This can be avoided in most raid fights with proper positioning, and is essentially never an issue in exp groups. However, there are some raid fights where archery will straight up never work, sadly. Luckily, ranger melee is still pretty decent DPS with AAs, and ranger PoP nukes are awesome, too.
For casters and hybrids, these two quests are amazing to do ASAP: Spell Haste Mask: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=16394 Mana preservation ring: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=16371 Runners will run if they're alone. Root helps but can break, whereas snare lasts the full duration. Another trick to keep them close is blind. The short version to class balance, is POP achieves class balance. If your monk/ranger/bst is raid geared, they can tank well into POP. If they are group-geared, I would avoid tanking hard hitting POP mobs. Especially those that mitigate slow. Wizard with AA's and better gear options become a solid group dps, with great burst damage. Everyone gets better with POP, and those already really good (War, Cleric, Rogue, Enchanter) remain on top. POK is awesome in its accessibility. You definitely lose some of the feel of the older "main" towns when everyone uses POK. It's a bitter sacrifice but worth it for fast travel and efficiency.
Good questions! Lotsa good answers already, too. I'll add a few random thoughts. Quests - the mana pres and spell haste PoK quests are great for casters, and doable very early. Jboots are always good. There are several class-specific quests in the Temple of Solusek Ro that give awesome clickies. Examples: Staff of Temperate Flux (wiz), Rod of Insidious Glamour (enc), Clay Bracelet (mag), Words of Darkness (nec). Plat/gear - a lot of folks are working on tradeskills atm, as we're at the end of an expansion and there's not a ton left to do. You'd be surprised how quickly you can earn cash by farming TS components. Hold onto spider silks and spiderling silks as you level up. Some furs are also good - low quality, in particular, I think? A good TS'er will correct me, I'm sure Class balance - Velious is a super melee-focused expansion, but things will get a lot more balanced in Luclin and again in PoP. While there are some power trios - the holy trinity of tank/slow/heal, notably - tons of combos can work. If you plan on raiding (the raid scene is pretty accessible here, with various guilds raiding in different time zones and at different levels of intensity), you might also give some thought to the role you'd like to play on raids. Tank? Heal? CC/debuff? DPS? They can all be super fun. Stamina - yeah, it's pretty useful for melee at high levels, at least until they have a fair amount of raid gear and can hit the cap of 255. Warriors get 6 hitpoints per stamina at level 60, knights 5, most other hybrids 4-5ish. So a 10 stamina widget is effectively worth 40-60 hitpoints for most level 60 melee. The hitpoint-per-stamina values increase with level, though; stamina is worth much less for low-level toons.
I think OP may be referencing the actual stamina bar, not the stamina statistic. I could be wrong though.
Right, the actual mechanic of stamina draining while in melee - I vaguely remember in classic it slowed your attacks down once you ran out. (and obviously you couldn't jump anymore) Thanks for the info everyone. I'm still trying to figure out what classes to go with (which has been repeated to death on the forums here already) and this info is very helpful.
It is super nice and convenient, but definitely not critical. One point to keep in mind, is that a snared mob will still 'run' at low hp and doesn't attack, even if it doesn't move. If you root, a mob will instead continue attacking. This basically means that if you single pull every mob and can snare, you only have to tank 80% of the combat time, and only need 80% as many heals compared to someone rooting every mob. I believe DE clerics and Troll shamans can get a snare neck clicky? Meaning that if you plan your race, any healer is capable of providing snare. Aside from root, you still have other options to deal with a snare-less group. Undead don't run, and there are a fair number of undead dungeons (Kurns, Unrest, Kaesora, etc.) that can get you through most levels. I am currently levelling a snare-less trio that includes a wiz. Although the wiz can both snare and root, I instead just throw a nuke out with the wiz when a mob is getting close to running. That method has worked just fine up until the mid 40's so far. Once you get to that point, groups are more readily available and the chance of not having snare drops significantly.
Keep in mind it is clinging darkness so there is still a short runway for mobs before they stop completely. It’s useful if you don’t mind being yet_another_de_cleric box
It's hard to argue with a race that has one of the best plate models. That said I also have no idea how Luclin/PoP armor is going to look on classic models, but I'm guessing it'll just be classic cloth/leather/plate appearances overall.
Don't forget human clerics of Innoruuk can also quest the snare neck. It's kind of a pain on this server (the quest mob in the DE caster guild is KoS - make a level 1 dark elf cleric to do the halfling illusion part - and the mobs near the dragoon on Lesser Fay are also KoS), but it can be done! My human cleric is clicking hers constantly and is not yet_another_de_cleric box if that's important to you. Oh, and just FYI, the Innoruuk Recommendation quest in East Freeport is broken on TAKP (DE in the sewers does not respond to hails), but the Grobb version for trolls works fine for humans. Just invis your cleric into the troll shaman guild and get the recommendation letter from that DE instead.
This wasnt AK only,furthermore I think it wasnt a bug but a feature,was changed with OoW if I remember correctly. Sorry for nitpicking but mained Ranger through my entire EQ career.
You're right, it was not AK only. However, it was most certainly a bug. After doing some research, it seems like they stealth patched the bug out probably sometime in 2003 or 2004, as I don't see it in any patch notes, but have found some old forums posts talking about it. Apparently after they "fixed it" the arrows would get stuck in the mob's hitbox instead of poofing, causing a flurry of hits once the mob moved far enough out of the wall for the arrows to register a hit. I find that hilarious. Here is a post on eqoutriders explaining how archery worked as of March 3rd, 2006: "Sometimes when a mob is pushed into a wall your archery will be affected; the arrows may "pile up" until the mob moves away from the wall, at which point you will get a flurry of hits. (An old issue in this situation where the arrows would just "poof" has been fixed.) When this happens, archers should stand along the same wall the mob has been pushed into and shoot down the wall at such mobs, rather than out from the wall." On the same forum, I found a post from June 13th 2006 that reads: "As for bow DPS, well we are waiting for the wall issue patches (hopefully soon) which may improve the numbers." (I believe he/she here is referencing the same issue from the March 3rd post) I believe this issue was fixed in the June 13th 2006 patch (coincidentally the same day the above forum post was made) : - Ranged combat should behave much more consistently now.
