New player and making a Brigand, a little help please =)

[Ashen]

<p>Well not really a new player i played a wizzy to 38 but its been so long i really forgot most everything about the game.</p><p> I have played and raided in most mmo's other then EQ2. I got sucked into WoW for way to long.</p><p> Anyways since i can come back for free, i was thinking about rolling a brigand. It looks like Kerra or Dark elf might be the best race? </p><p>Is this a class i can solo pretty well with but still be needed in a group or raid?</p><p>I normally play a assassin/rogue class (dps) but i figured that i might try something a tad different and figured the assassin might not solo as well, and with the game being a bit older i might need to solo more then group.</p><p> Anyways just looking to get some advice on starting up, and to say hi.</p><p>My old toon is on Unrest so i will be heading there, can i trade money from a good race to a evil race? </p><p> Thanks </p>

[Meirril]

<p>Wow. Newbie questions and I can't say read the FAQ above. Its nice to see some well thought out questions.</p><p>Brigands are actually good soloers if you pick and choose your targets. Single target encounters are good. You can start with a backstab from stealth, stun the mob and run around for another backstab. Generally if it is a solo mob its almost dead at this point and you just finish off with regular attacks.</p><p>Multi-mob encounters don't go nearly as well. While your killing one mob, his friends are working you over. With no way to self heal this is a loosing propisition. You can take solo mobs this way but if it says heroic then avoid the multi-mob encounter. After a while if your gear/CAs are good you can solo single mob heroics.</p><p>Tier'Dal (dark elf) is probably the single best choice for a brigand. The 25% extra on poisons, and levitation are very nice. You could go alchemist to make your own poisons and get the skill bonus there. </p><p>If you don't like the looks of Tier'Dal then any race will do. I would highly recommend starting in Timmorus Deep if you have the option to do so. The starting quests there have extremely nice rewards.</p><p>As far as raiding goes, Brigands are highly respected. While we arn't the top DPS class our debuffs are highly valued. While soloing our DPS is equal to top end DPS because of our debuffs (which are our backstabs, no wasting time not attacking to debuff!).</p><p>As far as transfering money...its just become extremely easy. The shared bank has been combined between good and evil to a single 8 slot shared bank. You can now put coin in the shared bank too. If you belong to a guild, guild banks can hold Lore items so you can use the guild bank to transfer Lore items between characters.</p><p>Welcome back to EQ2.</p>

[Ashen]

<p>Thank you for the reply.</p><p> I think i will head over to TD once i finished getting patched up here.</p><p>I was leaning towards dark elf as it was, so i think i will stick with that.</p><p>Will be fun to play again and see how it looks with my new PC. </p>

[yzyh]

<cite>Meirril wrote:</cite> <blockquote><p>Multi-mob encounters don't go nearly as well. While your killing one mob, his friends are working you over. With no way to self heal this is a loosing propisition. You can take solo mobs this way but if it says heroic then avoid the multi-mob encounter. After a while if your gear/CAs are good you can solo single mob heroics</p></blockquote><p>Spec Stam till Formation, Int till Feing Death then rest in AGi. For Brigand achivement go safe house. Then max tinkering skill (give you 3Fd clicky of 50%, 75%, 99% on 30min re-use but all 3 are on separate timers).  With that you should be able to simply split off encounters.  I'd say their is a very few class beeing able to solo encounters that brigand can't. and I doubt their is anyone else beeing able to go toe to toe with encounters and win while a brigand would have failed. ( Period )</p>

[Ashen]

<p>Is stam tree a good route to go first?</p><p>I thought from reading a bit most people went the agi line first then str.</p><p>As a dark elf what do you think the best racial is to start out? Hit lvl 10 last night and have not choose yet.</p><p>Thanks </p>

[Dareena]

<p>First off, all opinions of the Rogue AA trees are somewhat subjective.  Also these opinions are based on the player's environment (PvE or PvP) and style (solo or group).  So having said that, here's my opinion.</p><p>You are correct that the majority of brigand players (including myself) will advise you to go Agility until you gain Walk the Plank.  After this point, opinions are varied.  While some will suggest that you finish Agility first, many will tell you to move on to your primary AA tree of choice.  (I prefer the Strength tree for dual wielding styles, though some single wielders prefer the Wisdom tree instead.)</p><p>The Stamina tree turns you into a quasi tank character.  If you enjoy playing tanks, then this might be a good choice for you.  But to me, this is inherently going against the grain of the brigand class.  You're not supposed to be the heavy.  You're the debuffing DPS role and should be tough enough to solo and / or quasi off tank if neccessary.</p><p>The Intelligence tree is built for a character who is always grouping.  It is based around losing hate and the final ability let's you dodge AoE effects that aren't targeted on you.  If you do group a majority of the time, the hate loss could be beneficial.  But if you're mostly solo (like myself), the benefits of this tree are mostly wasted.  (The only true benefit that I see is the feign death ability when you're operating on a PvP server.)</p><p>The "commonly" agreed upon "power" brigand build is maxing out Strength and Agility, then putting the rest into the Intelligence tree when you hit 70+.  Other power brigands run a variation of this philosophy and trade Strength for Wisdom.</p><p>(I've never played a Dark Elf, so I don't have any useful advice about the racial selection.)</p>

[Ashen]

<p>Thanks, i will being soloing a lot.</p><p>So maybe get walk the plank then switch to the STR line? Do i get the end ability of the str line?</p><p>Thanks </p>

[Anfauglith]

Unless you're on a pvp server don't take the end str aa...it's only usefull for pvp and raid...other than that it will do you no good.

[Dareena]

<p>Once again, Blackguard's Strike is a subject of mixed opinions.  Like the poster above, I've heard many "experienced" players voice that it's a waste of 2 AA points unless you're a raider.  </p><p>Yet my opinion is the exact opposite.  It's another damaging strike, which is always welcome as a soloer.  In addition, it slows down the reuse time for the special abilities of your targets.  When you're gutsy enough to fight things above your level, especially when jumping named mobs by yourself, the strike's special abilities make a noticeable difference.  Also it's got a decent refresh rate, which means that you'll get some real mileage out of using the ability.</p><p>(I've talked to other brigand players who feel the same way that I do.  Yet we seem to be a vocal minority.)</p><p>To be honest, I messed up originally and finished the Strength tree first before moving onto Agility.  In hindsight, I would have taken Agility up to Walk the Plank.  Then I'd jump over to the Strength tree and max it out.  Then I'd return back to Agility and max it out as well.  (This is what I eventually did, just not in that exact order.)</p>

[Razlath]

<p>Troll stacks up well with the brig as well.  They get a slashing pump which is great since epic will be slashing.  They get enhanced out of combat regen which helps when soloing since you don't have any healing.  They also get an extra stun which is great for keeping the mob turned around once you hit walk the plank.  As it is I can unload every single attack (not just back attacks) while the mob is facing the other way.</p><p>For AAs I went STR first then AGI.  Mostly I did that because I refused to have Pirate as a title.  I think both lines are great personally.  I aslo use the end abil in the STR line and have found it very useful.  I believe it also has a casting time increase (maybe that is the earlier one in the line) which when mixed with the 1 min buff that procs knockdown on any attack means those spells get interrupted more.  Even without that buff you still have more chances to interrupt the mobs.  Really great when the heoric mobs stops being stunned and starts blasting you / healing itself.</p>

[yzyh]

<cite>Ashenor wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Thanks, i will being soloing a lot.</p><p>So maybe get walk the plank then switch to the STR line? Do i get the end ability of the str line?</p><p>Thanks </p></blockquote><p>If you solo alot stam/agi is really the way to go trust me. You will gain far more defencive then your offencive lost. If your using quested item you will probably not even loose DPS at all (the bonus gain is a big dps% incrasement for someone using quested weapons or handcrafted weapons).</p><p>Naked with only my 1hs a round shield and 1 doll I soloed a named 1arrow and ended the fight at 85%HP. My str/agi spec would probably have done this but with his full MC suit. If you solo a lot stam/agi is simply the way to go talking about what is efficient.</p><p>You can either go agi till WTP rank1 or 4 then full stam. Or Full stam then full agi. Personaly I think that going agi till WTPrank1 then full stam b4 comming back to agi is the way to go.</p><p>And then use a Mirror fo Achievement to keep a grouping spec. If your low on cash wiz/ agi or wiz/ str will be almost as good DPS as str/agi but it will save you the money of buying another MC weapon for those rare time you will group unfer your 60's.</p><p>I have been str/ agi till lvl 38 then I tryed stam/agi and never looked back.</p>

[Meirril]

<cite>ericsweeney wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Once again, Blackguard's Strike is a subject of mixed opinions.  Like the poster above, I've heard many "experienced" players voice that it's a waste of 2 AA points unless you're a raider.  </p><p>Yet my opinion is the exact opposite.  It's another damaging strike, which is always welcome as a soloer.  In addition, it slows down the reuse time for the special abilities of your targets.  When you're gutsy enough to fight things above your level, especially when jumping named mobs by yourself, the strike's special abilities make a noticeable difference.  Also it's got a decent refresh rate, which means that you'll get some real mileage out of using the ability.</p><p>(I've talked to other brigand players who feel the same way that I do.  Yet we seem to be a vocal minority.)</p><p>To be honest, I messed up originally and finished the Strength tree first before moving onto Agility.  In hindsight, I would have taken Agility up to Walk the Plank.  Then I'd jump over to the Strength tree and max it out.  Then I'd return back to Agility and max it out as well.  (This is what I eventually did, just not in that exact order.)</p></blockquote><p>The ability gets better as you get towards the late game. More and more of the boss mobs in instances are being given some really annoying abilities that devistate groups. Things like long duration stiffles that the boss can recast a few seconds after they wear off. Adding 20 seconds between stiffles is godly. Being able to add 20 seconds to the recast of a devistating AE attack can turn a hard fight into an easy one.</p><p>This isn't even raiding I'm talking about. These are just instance boss mobs. </p><p>So, my opinion is finish out agility before you put the last 2 points into strength. But go back and do strength later. Though...personally I skipped maxing agility in favor of maxing int. I like the 100% feign death.</p>