Total Noob humbly asks for advice.....Thank you.

[Litefinger]

<p><img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Hi all... I know that others have posted similar messages but please bear with me. I am a total noob at this game.  I have really studied all the classes etc. but cannot make my mind up. My question is this: What would be the best class etc. to suit the following conditions:</p><p>1. I can only solo mostly becos my work schedule is really awkward and changes all the time so it's hard to group.</p><p>2. I don't mind simply leveling up at an easy rate. Enjoying the scenery on the way, so to speak.</p><p>3. Being a solo player, I feel that self-healing would be very important but would need to have some fairly good defence spells or buffs etc. becos no one else would be there to help me.</p><p>4. I do like to explore a lot and a couple of basic good attack spells as i level would also help me in an out-of-the-way sticky situation.</p><p>5. Also, would there be any special crafting which would help me get good gear without having to depend on being in a group?  </p><p>Am I asking too much for all that to be in one char.? </p><p>I see a couple of possibilities (to me anyway): A Druid/Fury, or a Conjurer who can call up pets or a Ranger.  I just need a gentle nudge in some direction. I don't want to have to play 3 or 4 chars up to the teens or 20s and find out they don't really suit me.  Thank you for any advice. </p>

[YummiOger]

<p>Hmm general Solo Advise .. </p><p>Dont make a Healer class to Solo. in general they have a low damage output, and find it diffucult to kill mobs.</p><p>Rangers need Alot of room to solo, to use range attacks. so are limited to outdoors only.</p><p>Conj is a good soloer. overpowers mobs with raw spells and pets. high damage output. low survivability if things go wrong.</p><p>Necro is similar to Conj but has a Feign Death spell to play possum incase things go bad. but if it does not work, the mobs will beat ur robe wearing bumm.</p><p>Personally for Solo i would look for good damage output (killing the mob IS the goal after all), some heals/self sustaining abilities, and a couple of get out of jail free abilities like Fiegn Death or a Evac. </p><p>Possiably best Soloers in game are: Necro, Bruiser/Monk, Shadowknight, Conj, Wizard, possiably DPS built Fury.</p>

[Barbai]

If you really feel the need for healing is that critical as far as soloing I would say try the druid lines I belive they are the current highest dmging of the healers. A necro may interest you as well as they can solo fairly well if you like working with pets. If you don't mind going without some of easily available heals beyond the potions you may want to try a scout such as a swash or a brig. On the tradeskill thing it all goes down to what you have a need for, and am willing to spend time and money in, having trouble finding any decently priced armor making your own mastercrafted can help for the casual player in the lower end being able to make your own spells can really reduce your cost with the rise of adept 1 prices on the lower tiers can be a boon. Overall it all depends on what you actually like to make and realize that all the crafts some kind of problem related to them weither it is selling items or lack of recipies.

[Josgar]

Conjurers can heal their pets and blast. So it kind of describes the above.

[Litefinger]

<cite>YummiOger wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Hmm general Solo Advise .. </p><p>Dont make a Healer class to Solo. in general they have a low damage output, and find it diffucult to kill mobs.</p><p>Rangers need Alot of room to solo, to use range attacks. so are limited to outdoors only.</p><p>Conj is a good soloer. overpowers mobs with raw spells and pets. high damage output. low survivability if things go wrong.</p><p>Necro is similar to Conj but has a Feign Death spell to play possum incase things go bad. but if it does not work, the mobs will beat ur robe wearing bumm.</p><p>Personally for Solo i would look for good damage output (killing the mob IS the goal after all), some heals/self sustaining abilities, and a couple of get out of jail free abilities like Fiegn Death or a Evac. </p><p>Possiably best Soloers in game are: Necro, Bruiser/Monk, Shadowknight, Conj, Wizard, possiably DPS built Fury.</p></blockquote>Thanks, friend... I see your point re. good damage spells. The necro looks good, what with the Feign Death. The Conjuror is like the Necro only a goodie but I like the feign death, and I see that the necro really can hold his own mostly. hmmm. good one there.

[Litefinger]

<img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />   Thanks everyone for such quick replies. really good stuff.

[Litefinger]

<p>Ayayay..... looks like you cannot have all things together. I see that the Feign death spell doesn't come til Lev. 43 for a necro.... long way from lev. 3....lol...  Yosgar - I think you sway me towards the Conjuror. I like the idea of a pet taking the flak for me - the thought of a body between me and a blood-spitting orc or whatever is comforting - and being able to mend it. Question: I assume  that we automatically heal anyway when we rest? if we cannot have special heal spells. </p><p>Barbai: I will have to study the whole area of crafting more and see where others have done well. </p><p>thanks all. <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[erin]

If you are going to craft, I strongly suggest you make either a scholar or an armor maker.  Specifically, pick the crafting class that makes your stuff.  Finding someone to make adept3s or make that armor (whether leather, cloth or metal) is often the most important. Solo - fury solos well and has heals, and has desirability for grouping when you have extra time. Necro is a good all-around solo class, can do some really amazing stuff. But honestly any class can solo, some are just sloooooow (templar) and some are just more built for it. Swash is a good all around class too, and can solo as well as group.  Pick something you'll enjoy, almost anything will be good, but its important that its a fun class for you.

[Skua]

necro FD is 100% add lifetaps add lich (power regen + proc awesome spell) + pets +dots + rez + heal ect ect

[Novusod]

A melee speced warden will far out solo a fury and even most monks and bruisers. I have taken down even con tripple ups with my warden.

[gradyma]

If it's between Neco and Conj, I would go with Neco because they are more self reliant than a Conj. As far as best soloing class, there are alot of different opinions and all have valid points. I personally think Mezzers (Illusionist - Coercer) are the best to solo with but thats just my opinion.

[Drewx]

<p>From my experience I can say the following are good choices.</p><p>For solo stuff...</p><p>1. Necromancer Strong pets, and many self utilities. 2. Swashbuckler No self heals but they are very durable and with some AAs can really hold their own easily. Add in Stealth and evac, you got a nice little character. 3. Shadowknight, they do pretty good damage, lifetap, and have some minor utilities. 4. Conjuror, simular to necro but not as many self utilities. 5. Paladin Dps isn't very good, but hell they can take a hit and can self heal alot better than an SK. I solo pretty easily with my pally alt. 6. Coercer/Illusionist they both can hold there own, its a matter of pet choice, Coercers grab whatever, Illusionists have a small twin.</p><p>Those are my picks... If you really want a class that can solo effortless than Necro is what you desire. But if you really want to be a goodie...who knows why you would........then conjuror should suffice. I personally recommend Swashie, SK, and Paladin.</p>

[Bromir]

<p>fury, shadowknight, bruiser or necromancer if you like a caster .. </p><p>Yours</p><p>Brorim</p>

[Gorpier]

I don't know if it is of interest to you or not, but I personally had great fun with my Paladin and they solo fairly well.  They have a few heals to help out in a tight spot, and do decent damage... and on the off chance that you do find a group, they are pretty good tanks/off-tanks  though some might disagree on the tank part, in normal circumstances they hold their own fairly well. Plus, they are lots of fun.  Draw backs that I have found:  Plate armours are typically pretty expensive for decent ones, you can solo, but a fight will last longer than if you went with dps such as a swashbuckler, no speed buffs so running from place to place is slow. Just my two cents. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Bromir]

<p>pallies do great tanks </p><p>I had one MT'ing Lyceum yesterday . no problemo </p><p>Yours</p><p>Brorim</p>

[Finora]

<cite>YummiOger wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Hmm general Solo Advise .. </p><p>Dont make a Healer class to Solo. in general they have a low damage output, and find it diffucult to kill mobs.</p><p><b><span style="color: #993333">Honestly, I haven't found this to be the case. At lower levels healers are incredibly easy to solo. It gets a little tougher in the 30s but that is more due to spell progression. Improving spell quality will help a heap there. Once you get a healer to higher levels they are really easy to solo with again (speaking for non cleric healers as I don't play either cleric). With the aa choices available and the ability to get many many aa really early on boosts the ease healers have soloing these days.</span></b></p><p>Rangers need Alot of room to solo, to use range attacks. so are limited to outdoors only.</p><p><b><span style="color: #993333">I'd also disagree with this. I've solo'd a ranger to mid 40s with no issues. All about the timing, and gearing  yourself for melee. I don't do named in dungeons often, but I rarely have reason to do that, plenty of quests elsewhere.</span></b></p><p>Conj is a good soloer. overpowers mobs with raw spells and pets. high damage output. low survivability if things go wrong.</p><p>Necro is similar to Conj but has a Feign Death spell to play possum incase things go bad. but if it does not work, the mobs will beat ur robe wearing bumm.</p><p>Personally for Solo i would look for good damage output (killing the mob IS the goal after all), some heals/self sustaining abilities, and a couple of get out of jail free abilities like Fiegn Death or a Evac. </p><p>Possiably best Soloers in game are: Necro, Bruiser/Monk, Shadowknight, Conj, Wizard, possiably DPS built Fury.</p></blockquote>The rest seems solid enough advice.

[Thormiel]

I have a cleric alt that I've mostly soloed till level 40 now. His fights take longer of course, but it's ok for me. The thing to be careful for is not to take on too many linked mobs at the same time as it's easy to be interrupted in that situation.

[Norrsken]

The inquisitor turned into quite a beast when they got the EoF aas. Quite adept at soloing, but you do miss that FD the sk, necro and brawlers have.

[Litefinger]

<p>Thanks all.... I did a breakdown of all your replies so far. I see that,  a. Most chars can solo well to some extent. some more than others. So that makes it a personal choice as to what kind of class i would like most.... and,  b. The class which came out well ahead of the rest in your overall experience is the Necro.</p><p>So, all things considered - and since I don't mind playing an evil guy (hee, hee!!!)- I think I will go for the Necro and pick the Arasai for it. Seems to be very appropriate that a little guy with wings would be able to really burn a**.</p>

[XAvengerX]

<p>Many of you are underestimating the raw damage output of the Wizzy, and really should be very high on the list.</p><p>I have a lvl 70 Necro, and it is awesome for solo, however I have recently rolled a Wizzy, who is currently at lvl 23. I find soloing far easier with my Wizzy at 23 than with my necro at 23.</p><p>Necro does get better with age though and I feel that few classes can rival its ... almost ....  "can do everything" style of play.</p>

[XAvengerX]

YummiOger wrote: <blockquote><p>Necro is similar to Conj but has a Feign Death spell to play possum incase things go bad. but if it does not work, the mobs will beat ur robe wearing bumm.</p></blockquote><p>Necro feign death is 100%, and never fails. Although I do believe you can still die while under a trauma DOT, or poison DOT while you are feigning.</p><p>Area effect attacks from mobs may still hit too but I am not sure on this count, perhaps someone can confirm or deny ?</p>

[Lakaah]

Since you've decided on the Necro, I highly recommend being a Sage on the crafting end. Upgrading your spells is where it's at for a caster, gear is a distant secondary concern*. Quested stuff, even from solo quests, will do just fine*. You can hire a jeweler or tailor to make mastercrafted for you if you want to upgrade a couple of your weaker pieces. *for solo play, highend grouping or raiding may be a different story

[Litefinger]

<cite>Lakaah wrote:</cite><blockquote>Since you've decided on the Necro, I highly recommend being a Sage on the crafting end. Upgrading your spells is where it's at for a caster, gear is a distant secondary concern*. Quested stuff, even from solo quests, will do just fine*. You can hire a jeweler or tailor to make mastercrafted for you if you want to upgrade a couple of your weaker pieces. *for solo play, highend grouping or raiding may be a different story </blockquote> Many thanks, Lakaah. That's a good start. Maybe I will make an alt. tailor for me etc.

[Athri]

<p>Necromancers, Conjurers, Wizards solo well for casters. Illusionists and Coercers solo extremely well, and are quite adept at surviving pulls most could not, but it takes a long time to get good at it, Coercers especially.</p><p> If you want melee instead try a Bruiser, Monk or Shadowknight. All three get feign death (though the Brawlers get a much, much better version). SKs, with proper AAs, can get some downright nasty DPS potential as well as some truly awesome self-healing. </p><p> I'll throw in another nod for a melee-styled warden. Mine is tons of fun and can take some real punishment. Melee skills scale well, too, and don't require you to buy new spells every 14 levels. Saves a ton of cash and evens out the DPS spread across levels. Extremely efficient self heals, roots, nice defensive buffs, best resist buffs in the game, a pack of wolves, transformations to various animals...lots of stuff here. Ports, too.</p>

[Gutwren]

DPS Built Fury can still single heal most groups, and push out a VERY nice amount of DPS. Put your points right, and you'll get +50% spell damage, 40% crit rate, and an ability that lets you go from oom to full power in under 20 seconds while meleeing at a noticable amount of dps. Spec'd into AA root/snare also, can solo pretty much anything a wizard can, and slightly more due to my healing and mana regen. Killed named throughout SoS yesterday, solo'd the scroll bearer 2 weeks ago at level 67, and can do poets in under an hour (still learning the zone).

[azekah]

Necro ftw!!! You are your own group... Caster, tank, healer...no more needed : )

[JamesRay]

<p>Although I am personally biased towards conjys, I believe you'll be happy with the necro.  There have been some complaints about what they can solo in terms of large groups later on down the line (vs conjs), but most people aren't obsessed with spending hours solo-finishing heroic instances.</p><p>Another bonus which others haven't mentioned is that when it comes to your crafting, while you are out there adventuring, you can harvest while your pet is engaged, which makes for a very efficient multi-tasking capability.  With the many changes they've made to harvesting (tools, multiple goodies per attempt, etc), it would be a good idea to start the habit early on.</p>