Need help on class choice

[Cobbobles]

<p>In any game I play I always spend an insane amount of time bouncing around between classes trying to figure out which one I have fun playing. It is hard at times because the usual information I get is biased and useless. I have played WoW since it came out and I only have two level 60s with 38 alts (unfortunately I followed friends around from server to server to server to server). I am looking to start and stay with a class I like. I played EQ2 for a bit with a brigand. I enjoyed the brigand, though I was told hes strickly single target sustained dps, with some stuns and a few debuffs. I like the idea of debuff flavor in a class (I hate being a one trick pony) and I love having solid, high, sustained dps. Through the suggestions of my friends I am thinking about either a caster (he suggested a few), a fury (to which he said could be speced out for incredible dmg and decent healing), or a brigand (he had no past knowledge of me playing one). I have no previous knowledge of a fury...but I dont want to be a class that is so spread out that my dps just comes from nuke, nuke, nuke, nuke, nuke.....wow....nuke. I did play a conjuror for a while as I had a high end mage in eq1 (oh how I miss Muppo sometimes), and a bruiser (had an iksar monk). Basically, after all this jibberish, I am looking for advice on what to play based on my playstyle and what the classes are like with a first hand experience. PLEASE, no biased opinions. Pros cons, actual situations of gameplay please.</p><p>As for my play style I usually like putting up some nasty dps (I prefer to cover as many types as possible...as long as they hold quality damage) while being able to do more than just that for the group...I tend to like to just go crazy in a group (organized, within reason, crazy mind you). Our group setup so far is an SK, inquisitor, and I am not sure about the third...but they would like a dps class. Thank you for your time.</p>

[mellowknees72]

You would probably have fun with an intelligence caster class. Wizards and warlocks put out some amazing DPS. Necros and conjurers also can do some crazy damage, but can solo very effectively through their use of summoned pets. Illusionists and coercers get a lot of nice damage spells along with some crowd control, power regen, and other buffs that are beneficial to the group.

[Kellin]

I'd think you'd be pretty happy with the brigand. They have great dps, reasonable tanking skills (for a class that isn't a pure tank), and their dps comes from not just melee, but combat arts and poisons.  Plus they have great debuffs, can evac, have a group runspeed buff, and, if memory serves, the opportunity to get the Hamburglar hat.  Oh, and the Pirate title.  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Mages, while great fun to play, do end up being nuke, nuke, nuke, especially when you're fighting epic targets.  Brigand will be called upon to debuff, and several of his combat arts are positional, which means you'll be moving around a lot, strategizing your attacks. As for the single target stuff, yes, brigands are primarily geared to single target attacks.  Their good-only counterpart, the swashbuckler, has the encounter and AoE attacks.  Their focus is slightly different, debuff-wise, as well. I'd suggest you look into either of those classes. This totally non-biased opinion is offered to you by someone who plays a mystic and illusionist, and no desire whatsoever to play a scout type.

[Farzmek]

As far as not being a one-trick poney, I'd say go with Dirge.  Although, the damage isn't going to make you gawk or anything.  Buuuut....with debuffs and buffs and spells and everything, you can necessitate almost any group type.

[Conviviacr]

Honestly I would have to say if ya want to always have several options of what to do, in my limited experience Dirge is amazing. But then I am biased hehe <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Didi]

<p>I would think the brigand is a pretty good choice especially for your desire to do great damage!  Brigands can also tank surprisingly well, and with their debuffs and selection of poisons they can use, they can help a group in quite a few ways.</p><p>Bruiser might be something to play with too, they can do very impressive damage if spec'ed and equipped that way, are also fine tanks if you want to tank, and great for soloing and exploring, and the feign death is always handy.</p><p>Dirges as recommended above are very versatile, they do lack your 'high dps' preference.  Although you can improve your dps a fair bit by choosing your Achievements and gear carefully, they're never going to be #1 in the parse.  They are however definitely multi-trick ponys and are a huge help to groups of all kinds, and always desirable in raids.</p><p>Coercer would be the fourth class I'd suggest.  With the stuns, stifles, and damage spells you have quite a few options for fighting, your buffs and ability to feed power to your group make you very useful and versatile, and mezzing when it's required will definitely keep you alert and interested!  Plus of course if you want to charm a pet, that's a whole new challenge on its own.  I would say coercer is one of the hardest classes in game to play well (or even play poorly).  Again it's unlikely you'd ever be #1 on a parse but there will be situations where your presence will make or break a group or raid.  If you're after a challenge and something with many roles depending on the situation, I think coercer should be on the list too.</p>

[deathsspite]

/agree with the Dirge replies.

[DwarvesR]

<p>I'll also agree with the "Dirge" replies.  My dirge is the only scout I could stand to get out of the teens (and the dirge is 51 now).  It's got a ton of debuffs, some most excellent buffs as well, limited crowd control, speed boosts. . . a good dirge will make an average group good, and a good group great.  Though as others have also said, you aren't going to be topping parses for damage done either.  Arguably the 25-40% boost in dps that group does with you in it should be attributed to you, but. . no parser will ever show it as being "yours."</p><p>Another class you might want to look at (and one that in certain situation *can* top a parse, though it's rare. . .) is a coercer.  Coercers also nicely buff a group and cause an overall group dps increase, plsu as a mage, they can deal respectable dps.  With their charm, the group buffs suffer a bit due to a 3-slot cost in concentration, but if you find "the right pet" there can be a significant dps boost from that.  Top it off with your stuns, mezzes, stifles, dazes, root, deaggro, and fear. . . you have a lot of powerful tools available to make it possible to do things the group normally wouldn't look at.</p><p>Some anecdotes -- a couple of days ago I was in a BG grind group.  I'd charmed one of the drakes on the breeding grounds and was using it for dps, plus since we had 2 healers and dind't need my damage-blocking ffrom stuns and such, I just went all out maintaining the groups power and doing as much personal dps as possible.  Group was an SK to tank, a mystic, a fury, a necromancer, a wizard, and me.  One was running a parser and it usually looked like this:</p><ol><li>My pet</li><li>The necro and his pet's combined damage</li><li>me</li><li>the wizard</li><li>the SK</li><li>the fury</li><li>the mystic</li></ol><p>And my damage on the #3 slot was prett close to the necro's, so adding in my pet's damage to me had me topping the parse by a significant margin a lot of the time.  This isn't always how it went, the wizard would beat me out sometimes, would top the parse himself sometimes too, if his ice comet was up in the fight, but generally it seemed liek this.  People were amazed at how well my pet did.  Thing to remember though, is that in most dungeon crawls you probably aren't going to have a pet, and wil probably have your damage blocking skills be more needed, so your dps will suffer personally, but the group as a whole will be more successful.</p><p>And for an example of making the improbable/impossible into the possible. . . .</p><p>Today I was in a 5-person group that was doing the Nest for one of the Hoo'loh updates.  The group was me, a wizard, a ranger, a warden, and a warlock.  We couldn't find a tank to save our lives.  After it looked like the gorup might be breaking up due to lack of available tankage, I said "I can charm a tank pet for us in there."</p><p>The wizard is a friend of mine and knows a bit of what coercers can do, so she immediately said "Sounds  great!"  The rest of the group wasn't too sure about it, but decided "Why not?  We'll give it a go.  worst that happens is we die and have to come back alter when we can find a tank."</p><p>It was rough at first.  Most of the group hadn't played with a coercer before, and so didn't realize what I was doing at 1st.  I mezzed a group and started charming a mob out of it to use as a tank and the warlock steps up and blasts my target.  I got it charmed before he killed it, then we killed the other part of the group.  But then, no one was really sure who to assist, we got a couple of bad pulls, and with no "real tank" to pick up the adds, even though I was mezzing them, the group mates wouldn't focus on 1 target, would break mezz all over the place, and. . . we had a couple of wipes early on.  Frustration began to set in, until I told was able to educate everyone that my pet was "tank" and they should target through it and only it.  I made a big deal that "adds are mine, don't touch them!" and that I would be mezzing groups at a time and we'd just need to pick them off 1 mob at a time.  The warlock had a "light bulb moment" and everyone else went along with it.</p><p>The next fight was a smashing success.  And the next, and the next. . . . you get the picture.  Once everyone got used to the idea that I would control the mobs while they burned them down, instead of everyone trying to "do it all" themselves, it became a grear experience.  Thing is, though. . I rarely ever cast any kind of damage spell.  I was too busy with mezzes and damage-blocking.  No one had a parser going, but I'd be willing to bet that even the healer had at least double my dps zone-wide.</p><p>And halfway through I lost my original tank pet, charmed another that turned out to be a warlock, and it still tanked fine plus would regularly nuke for 2K-ish too, so at that point, if you count the pet's damage as mine, Iwas even helping that way too <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  I was sad when I lost that pet <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  Since we had the group targeting through my pet, when charm broke, the pet was now the target, so it tended to die fast if when "de-charmed."</p><p>Sure, it would have been easier with a true tank in the group, but you know what?  It worked.  We finished the zone with a single healer and no tank.  Or I suppose you could say I was tank.  I even body-pulled most mobs before sic'ing the pet on them, since I had to move them out of social aggro range.  The other nice things were that I got a master I needed and a nice fabled robe out of it too.  And all this was possible becuz there was a coercer in the group who didn't even do much damage.  Without me, that group wouldn't have done the zone, got the loot it did, updated the quests they did, none of it.  The impossible became possible becuz of the fact that I wasn't that "1-trick pony."</p><p>So there ya go. . . .some food for thought, I hope.</p>

[Lornick]

I love my dirge, but if dps is your thing then it isn't the choice for you.  A wizard is a solid choice for dps for both single and AE encounters.  But you mentioned that you like variety too.  I'm with the others that you might want to try a coercer.  Situationally, a coercer with a pet can do unbelievable amounts of damage.  Even w/o one they can do decent damage.  Plus they add alot to the group with buffs and stuff.  I also like that the coercer is one of the few classes that require an decent amount of skill to play well.