good first toon solo/group/farming

[Questall]

<p>hi all,</p><p>after a break of 5 yrs decided to try everquest again, for most part cos i used to like the crafting system so much. I never played that much 5 yrs ago so i dont have any ready toons anymore.</p><p>So, the question is : what is a good starting toon, good in the meaning:fairly ez to play, good for solo, nice for in team and good for farming (and pls dont judge me on farming, we all need valuta and having a first toon that can provide for others is quite necessary)</p>

[Dareena]

<p>You have a mixed criteria, so I'll give you a few suggestions.  First off, what role do you prefer?  Do you tend to enjoy tanking, healing, or playing a dps class?  That's the most important thing to figure out before you get too far.</p><p>On the tanking angle, I'd suggest playing a Brawler (Monk or Bruiser) or a Shadowknight.  SKs can be rather indestructable with their many self healing abilities, AE damage output, plate armor, evac spell (every 30 minutes), and feign death ability (every 2.5 minutes after 5 AA).  In today's era, a SK is considered to be an "ez mode" tank.  Yet they also lack the damage spiking abilities of Brawlers (which is good for soloing named mobs), can't train through zones to get to their targets (through high Avoidance), and can't feign death almost at will (after some Brawler AA).  In my own experience, it is harder to tank on a Brawler than a SK, but I've also seen a lot more decent Brawler tanks since the current SF expansion.  Just don't play a Brawler and design it to fill a dps spot.  For the most part, the days of Brawler dps archetype characters is through.  (For a pure farmer character, most people will suggest a Brawler.  More often than not, a Bruiser.)</p><p>On the dps angle, I'd suggest a Rogue (Swashbuckler or Brigand) or a Wizard.  In prior expansions, the Enchanter casts were very powerful for solo farming named mobs.  Yet SOE has responded by making many named mobs immune to their control effects, which limits their farming capabilities.  (Though Enchanters are still one of the most sought after archetypes for forming groups.)  A Wizard operates on the classic "root 'n nuke" style of dps.  They've got the highest single target dps around, which makes them very desireable for soloing named mobs.  Also their dps output makes them valued in groups.  Yet on the other hand, the Rogues represent the melee dps characters.  At upper levels, a Rogue has enough AA available to afford taking a feign death ability for their soloing spec.  (This lets Rogues train through zones in many ways that are similar to Brawlers, though they do have to deal with a 30 second window in between when their feign ability ends and when it can be used again.)  Rogues are some of the biggest debuffers around, which make them useful to have along.  To be honest, it's currently the era of the Swashbuckler with their vastly superior AE dps.  Combine this with a free hate transfer and a single target dps outpt which is almost equal to a Brigand, which leads to them being considerably in a better position.  However Brigands are still the mastered of defensive debuffs and are capable of extreme spike dps on named mobs when soloing (due to their layering up their many debuffs).  My main is a Brigand and can still be fun, but I wouldn't recommend it to a player who was looking for a mainstream class.</p><p>On the healer angle, I'd suggest an Inquisitor.  They have multiple control effects for soloing, plate armor, the highest healer melee dps output, powerful buffs which increase the melee dps output of your group, and strong healing ability.  Though most people would consider Templars and Defilers to be the "top healing classes", an Inquisitor isn't in that bad of shape.  Combine it with their ability to get a 2nd group cure ability in the end game scene and you've got a strong class.  They even have a special emergency self cure to remove control effects on themselves, which is always useful.</p>

[Questall]

<p>Thanks for a quick yet thorough reply. In most mmo's i tend to go for a healing class first, coz they're wanted in grps but i already noticed here on the forum that grouping isnt that ez anymore, so i guess ill favour a dps class, prolly the wizard.</p><p>Still updating the game (been going on for a couple of hours now) but looking forward to start my wizard, im guessing an erudite is still the best race for wizard or does race not matter?</p><p>Plus, do u have any tips to make some money in early game?</p>

[karrani]

<p>I find that race doesn't matter except for one trait.  Track.  All my toons, from SK to Coercer are a race with track.  ( scouts, of course, excepted)  If you are mainly soloing or farming, pick a class with track.  Makes life so much easier.</p>

[Dareena]

<p>To answer one of your questions about income, see the very recent thread called "How Do I Make Money".</p><p><a href="http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/posts/list.m?topic_id=490921">http://forums.station.sony.com/eq2/...topic_id=490921</a></p><p>As far as races go, I'll have to admit that I'm falling in love with the Kerra race.  Now the Erudite racial ability to Feather Fall is very nice.  (Many races have this ability.)  But since I'm used to my scout main, I find that my Kerra selection has been a very nice choice on my Coercer (which is my tribute to Hello Kitty).  As a Kerra, I can use Track like a scout.  In addition to the Track, Kerra also get access to the scout's Safe Fall skill.  Basically Safe Fall is a skill which can be leveled up to ignore amounts of falling damage.  At 90th level, I can jump and fall of most things without worrying about it.  Yet at the same time, those same falls which cause no damage to my Brigand might even kill my Inquisitor.</p><p>For PvE, the Feather Fall ability is probably better.  (Though you can also get this ability off of items.)  However it doesn't function while you're riding on most mounts, which limits its usefulness.  (It works on flying carpets and flying disks.)  Yet for Battlegrounds scenerios, PvP, and PvE encounters with knockbacks / multi-level geography, the Safe Fall is superior.</p><p>I'd personally say that people should pick up Safe Fall through their race and get Feather Fall through one of the various in-game items (be they bonus LoN loot, the 80th harvesting cloak, or one of the various limited time Live Event items).  But then again, it can be hard for newer players to get access to Feather Fall at lower levels.</p>