Hi all- I am trying to decide what my main char will be (when my wife isn't avail to duo). Stuck btw a dwarf paladin and a wood elf ranger. I know one is more for tanking and the other for damage, but both are cool in my mind. Any thoughts? Server full of paladins or rangers?
Both two of the least played classes on most servers. My quick take: Paladin - maybe the best grouping tank, and with abilities of rez, lull pulling and brells, offers a lot to a duo or trio. The worst melee DPS and possibly worst DPS of all classes. Boost of DPS with undead damage AA's, so if you enjoy undead zones they can be fun for that. Stackable in raids because of their group healing abilities and trash tanking. LOH will offer you the title of miracle giver every few months. Ranger - most versatile DPS class with Archery Mastery 3 and Endless Quiver AA's. Very self sustainable with sow, invis, harmony, solid melee dps, solid archery dps. In POP they get a couple near-instant nukes to supplement melee dps. Fun class, will get a slight increase in players with Luclin/POP. Problem with archery is there is no autofire here, so you can't use archery and 2-3 box on the same computer. Minor issue for a solid class. Both good choices as mains, as gear + AA's improve both classes exponentially.
There are a billion rangers and 5 paladins. Paladin in PoP is comparatively the apex of paladin power. They are an unbelievably tank. Rangers are top tier dps eventually but finicky and okay tanks once you get aa'd and geared to about VT level (eventually) - im sure they can tank the content atm.
I like both classes a lot. Love rangers, but I think I'd recommend a Pally. It's always fun, and cheap, to play a little used class.
I’d leave you with this thought while making up your mind. If the toon is going to tank, the gear needs will be costly in terms of time and platinum. Not to say that gear for a dps class isn’t cheap, but I think most will agree that you have to put a lot of gearing focus on your PAL/WAR/SK in any duo or trio you run. So if this is the toon you’ll play when solo or with your wife in duo, I think both are fine options. If this is sort of a “second main” or a toon you won’t spend quite as much time on, I might personally pick the ranger. I feel that decent chain gear is often a little easier to purchase.
Maybe, I have found in teh past that playing a class that isn't popular means teh gear is cheap. It is true that tankly toons need more gear though.