With Monks and more, Who needs Guardians... (Not a flame, asking for help)

[Sililos]

<div></div>Im finding lately it impossible to levelup or compleate quests.I just cant find groups nor kill anything even green, Nearly nobody makes Guardian skills, whats the point of our class when everyone wants Monks or the other tankable class with DPS or healing skills.Natrely i want to stay a Guardian but its truely getting too me how impossible it is to get anywhere with one.Any advice for a 49 Guardian whos without a group?Soloable leveling places i wont die in or spend 2 years working on one level at?<div></div><p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class=date_text>09-28-2006</span> <span class=time_text>05:37 AM</span>

[Lukesharp]

<DIV>There are a few different ways of getting a group, though the main two IMO are as follows.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Join a guild, it is usually relatively easy when in a guild to get a group together.</DIV> <DIV>Look for a healer that is LFG and offer to group with them. If you have a tank and a healer then it is usually pretty easy to fill the other slots with dps, particularly if you are doing instances.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>With regards spells, again if you are in a guild then the guild alchemist can make your spells, all you need do is provide the raws / rares.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As for places to level, at 49, you should be in SS by now, so clefts of Rujark or similar, though admittedly as a 70 guard it has been a while since I have been there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hope this helps</DIV>

[Sililos]

<div></div><div></div>Sadly it doesnt.Im in a guild., The level 60-70s work together and dont help the smaller guys much. Im one of the few smaller guys.... well....They do help this monk who joined recently, But he also two boxes a warden running after him and has years of EQ2 knoledge from anoughter server. Seems messed up to me. Help the guy with his own personal healer and experiance over the newbie whos alone.They do offer to do my skills, But i need to find rare loams for that natrely, No luck there.In SS i cant kill anything, my armors all between 40 and 49 in useage level.When looking for groups 99% of the time iget rejected becouse people want paladens or Monks and occasionly even SKs over Guardians, i dunno if its justthe server im on or what but there seems to be abit of a anti Guardian feeling going on. Cant really blame them, whats the point in defence if you cant beat your opponant down? Just means you take longer too die.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class="date_text">09-28-2006</span> <span class="time_text">06:12 AM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class=date_text>09-28-2006</span> <span class=time_text>06:14 AM</span>

[mctiger3000]

<DIV>I Have no problem finding groups as a guard.  Just ask for instaces zones not competive zones.  As for the solo deal i can solo blue tripple ups or yellow single ups so you need to rethink ya solo strats make shure ya use dolls and H.O.'s they help.</DIV>

[vatorman99]

I have to agree with Luke in that if nobody wants you to join their group, just start one of your own.  The two key parts of a group are the tank and the healer(s) and you already fill the tank spot.  Once you get the healer, the other spots will just fill right up then you're ready to go.Personally, I've never been passed over when a group was looking for a tank.  It's been in my experience that if a group needs a tank, they'll just take the first one that comes along.  Why wait longer for that "perfect" tank?  Any fighter can pretty much tank any heroic instance in this game and waiting for a specific class to jump in is just waisting time...<div></div>

[Amhrazul]

I've never had a problem getting in a group that advertised on the chat channels. I always felt that well rounded groups preferred guardians. 2 or 3 man groups might be looking for the dps tanks but a group that has real dps wants the guardian.

[Terron]

I have a level 57 guard that I mostly solo with. I don't progress quickly but i do do so much fast than at the beginning of the year. Partly that is because my equipment has improved - I got lucky and found 2 cobalt the first time I went mining in SS (pre LU24) I have not have any luck finding loams and have just got my first  adept III (and a couple of cheap masters for less useful CAs). I not not find an ebon until I was above 50 so my armour in the 40s was so-so - mostly fulginate. Even at the worst times I was always able to kill solo greens, though initially blues were beyong me. You should be able to kill solo greens and blues without up arrows which should let you do the solo quests available on the beach in SS, such as the faction quests. That quest experience will make up for the low kill xp, and the money will be useful. Some of the writs do not involve killing things and could be done at 49 if you are careful to avoid the mobs - gathering orbs and relics in the caves below the eye of Anuk (a good place for soloing in the mid 50s). See if you can talk your guild into helping you with any HQs you haven't done, the guild will benefit from the status, you'll get some xp and some equipment. I found Splitpaw to be decent for soloing. If you can get a totem for invisibility Harclaves can be done fairly quickly and the xp award on completion is decent. If you can't kill solo greens then either you equipment and CAs are really bad, or you are doing something badly wrong, which seems unlikely given you level. Go experiment on something you can kill, or at least run away from and see if you can find ways to kill them quicker. <div></div>

[Raahl]

<DIV>Never had any issues getting rejected from a group because they wanted a different class for a main tank.  Perhaps you are just having a string of bad luck.  </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><p>Message Edited by Raahl on <span class=date_text>09-28-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:53 AM</span>

[JudyJudy]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sililos wrote:<BR> Im finding lately it impossible to levelup or compleate quests.<BR>I just cant find groups nor kill anything even green, Nearly nobody makes Guardian skills, whats the point of our class when everyone wants Monks or the other tankable class with DPS or healing skills.<BR><BR>Natrely i want to stay a Guardian but its truely getting too me how impossible it is to get anywhere with one.<BR>Any advice for a 49 Guardian whos without a group?<BR>Soloable leveling places i wont die in or spend 2 years working on one level at?<BR> <P>Message Edited by Sililos on <SPAN class=date_text>09-28-2006</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>05:37 AM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR><EM>My advice to you is to start your own groups if you're having trouble finding one.  This way you can build a reputation as a solid tank and make friends in the process.  Any fighter class can tank heroic content - instance or not.  So I doubt it has anything to do with your actual class.</EM></P> <P><EM>In fact, most brawlers have to deal with the following:</EM></P> <P><EM>l33t dood next to me:  "group looking for plate tank for den PST"</EM></P> <P><EM>Me:  "Hey man, I can tank it for you"</EM></P> <P><EM>l33t dood next to me:  "you're not a tank you're dps"</EM></P> <P><EM>Me: "Seriously, brawlers can tank it - no problemo."</EM></P> <P><EM>l33t dood next to me:  "if we need a train thru SoS, i'll send you a tell kk thx"</EM></P> <P><EM>Me: /sigh</EM></P>

[selch]

LOL, become a monk and see the meaning of "useless" <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[nomatterwhat]

<P>I can solo just fine with my guardian (just fine being white ^ to yellow.  I can probably take on a yellow ^ if I found one)... and my equipment is about as average as they come.</P> <P>maybe you are putting your stats in the wrong place.  I put everything on sta (providing it wont leave my resists too much in the toilet), and rely on a good solid axe with offensive buff for str.</P> <P>Here are some popular guardian myths:</P> <P>1) Guardians cannot solo.  hogwash.</P> <P>2) Buckler AA is the best thing since sliced bread.  yeah ok, talk about overexaggerated hype.</P>

[Sir_Halbarad]

<div><blockquote><hr>Sililos wrote:<div></div><div></div>Sadly it doesnt.Im in a guild., The level 60-70s work together and dont help the smaller guys much. Im one of the few smaller guys.... well....They do help this monk who joined recently, But he also two boxes a warden running after him and has years of EQ2 knoledge from anoughter server. Seems messed up to me. Help the guy with his own personal healer and experiance over the newbie whos alone.They do offer to do my skills, But i need to find rare loams for that natrely, No luck there.In SS i cant kill anything, my armors all between 40 and 49 in useage level.When looking for groups 99% of the time iget rejected becouse people want paladens or Monks and occasionly even SKs over Guardians, i dunno if its justthe server im on or what but there seems to be abit of a anti Guardian feeling going on. Cant really blame them, whats the point in defence if you cant beat your opponant down? Just means you take longer too die.<div></div><p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class="date_text">09-28-2006</span> <span class="time_text">06:12 AM</span></p><p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class="date_text">09-28-2006</span> <span class="time_text">06:14 AM</span></p><hr></blockquote>I would consider whether this is the right guild for me personally.Here is a plan that might work.Hang out in places that is green / blue to you. You tank much better there and since not many of your level will be there, you can grab groups that are lower than your level. Go for some legendary equipment of the T5 zones. Make friends, especially healers. Do quests together, explore new places together. Help them. This help will be returned to you someday <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />When you are equipped in T5 legendary and the most important CA's master or adept III, move into SS. Take your new lower level friends with them. Meet new people. You will come by some people who are nice and have a nice guild. Don't be the mascot of a 70's guild.</div>

[blitzz]

<P>Kinda hard to explain but ill try. I use to play a wizard and leveled a guardian alt threw t5-t6-t7 which is now my main. What ive tended to notice is for solo grps alot of people dont want a guardian for the terrible Dps we do unless u got a perfect AA line setup. and any other well equiped fighter class can tank. Now when it comes down to the tougher zone such as Nizara, and HOF alot of people prefer to take the plate tanks zerkers/guards. All in all not to sound like a [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn], but Guardians are really not the best class to be playing as a main UNLESS Your pretty much a MT in a guild. I know when i was playing my wiz I rarely ever played my guardian alt. Until i had the opportunity to create a new guild and be the Main tank for raids. Honestly Guards arent needed much unless your raiding. Fun CLass to play but in very low demand unfortunatly.</P> <P> </P> <P>Plus its so far into the game alot of the higher level players tend to only level alts with the people they know because Pick-up groups are almost always a complete mess. I cant count how many times ive grouped with a tank that didnt know [expletive haxx0red by Raijinn] is going on with my wizard. Which completely turned me away from any pickup groups unless i absolutly have to because some of my guildees arent on and im not raiding. Might wanna take a look and think back has ppl died ALOT grouping with you? Maybe u got a bad rep somehow and ppl refuse to grp. I know there is a few guardians on crushbone i can honestly say id never even think twice about grouping with them. (Id rather run off a cliff 15x to pass time) Alot of factors in being a tank and having a good rep is deffinitly a major Plus.</P><p>Message Edited by blitzz on <span class=date_text>09-29-2006</span> <span class=time_text>02:51 AM</span>

[Jeffmaster]

as soon as I can find a guardian to group with I invite him right away.

[Hirf]

Bum around Sinking Sands. Spend some time harvesting for the rares you'll need to get Mastercrafted armor, weapon, and shield.Consider the STA line for some extra damage. 76% double attack is pretty nifty if you want to do some soloing. If you want to focus on grouping, try the WIS line for the +mit.Most brawlers I've met on my server hate to tank, and look for a plate class to do it so that they can DPS.It has long been my opinion that while crusaders and brawlers make good single-target tanks, warriors make excellent multiple-mob encounter tanks. As suggested above, try putting together your own groups. Grab a healer, and shoot for classes that do nice AE damage (conj, warlock, wiz, necro, swash, etc). Ask them to give you a few seconds to establish agro, then let them AE the encounter down. You have a reactive taunt, two encounter taunts, and one out of encounter AE. Play to your strengths.IMO AE groups are more fun anyway. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[JNewby]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sililos wrote:<BR> Im finding lately it impossible to levelup or compleate quests.<BR>I just cant find groups nor kill anything even green, Nearly nobody makes Guardian skills, whats the point of our class when everyone wants Monks or the other tankable class with DPS or healing skills.<BR><BR>Natrely i want to stay a Guardian but its truely getting too me how impossible it is to get anywhere with one.<BR>Any advice for a 49 Guardian whos without a group?<BR>Soloable leveling places i wont die in or spend 2 years working on one level at?<BR> <P>Message Edited by Sililos on <SPAN class=date_text>09-28-2006</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>05:37 AM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>hah be happy u have it good nwo.. u are being furher nerfed soon <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P>

[Sir_Halbarad]

<blockquote><hr>JNewby wrote:<div></div> <blockquote> <hr> Sililos wrote: <div></div>Im finding lately it impossible to levelup or compleate quests.I just cant find groups nor kill anything even green, Nearly nobody makes Guardian skills, whats the point of our class when everyone wants Monks or the other tankable class with DPS or healing skills.Natrely i want to stay a Guardian but its truely getting too me how impossible it is to get anywhere with one.Any advice for a 49 Guardian whos without a group?Soloable leveling places i wont die in or spend 2 years working on one level at? <div></div> <p>Message Edited by Sililos on <span class="date_text">09-28-2006</span> <span class="time_text">05:37 AM</span> </p><hr> </blockquote> <p>hah be happy u have it good nwo.. u are being furher nerfed soon <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p> <hr></blockquote>Why don't you go back trolling the zerker forums?<div></div>

[Makkaio]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Sililos wrote:<BR> Im finding lately it impossible to levelup or compleate quests.<BR>I just cant find groups nor kill anything even green, Nearly nobody makes Guardian skills, whats the point of our class when everyone wants Monks or the other tankable class with DPS or healing skills.<BR><BR>Natrely i want to stay a Guardian but its truely getting too me how impossible it is to get anywhere with one.<BR>Any advice for a 49 Guardian whos without a group?<BR>Soloable leveling places i wont die in or spend 2 years working on one level at?<BR> <P>Message Edited by Sililos on <SPAN class=date_text>09-28-2006</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>05:37 AM</SPAN><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>I'm a very casual player due to real life responsibilties.  My guild, which is pretty close knit with a bunch of IRL friends, goes to bed most nights before I even get in the swing of playing.  I would say I solo 75% more than I group.  Being a successful solo player depends on a number of things.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>1.  Stats.  I may get argument from some, but to me, the more health the better.  I have my AAs set up to pump up stamina first, strength second for more power, then agility.  All of my jewelry is stamina-based, with strength second and agility third.  I always have a bow with stamina mods equipped, even if I never use a bow.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>2.  Of course, the best armor with the highest mitigation you can get.  I use all master crafted imbued stuff.  Can't beat the heal and extra damage.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>3.  Get the best food and drink for your level.  The best foods and drinks last for about 5 hours 30 minutes, modify a couple stats, and have the highest health and power regens.  You will definitely reap the benefits of investing in foods.  Faster regen = more kills = more chances in loot = more coin.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>4.  Find a decent mod potion for your level.  Since I spend most of my time looking for stuff that pumps up stamina, I use a strength potion.  The extra power and damage is useful.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>5.  I use ogaming.com to find mobs as I level up.  I use it to find repeatable quests, too.  Go to the advanced beastiary search in the EQ2 area and put the level above you for Experience Level and then click the soloable box.  At this point, you want to fight yellows.  Preferably yellow ^.  With my set up as described above, I can kill these with at least 1/3 health left.  Use your mend AA ability whenever it is up, as it provides decent proc affects during your next encounter.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>Using all of the above info, I've stuck with solo yellow ^ through almost all of my levels.  You get a decent clip of XP.  I do about 10% XP in 45 minutes.  That's a bit slower than group XP, but it also depends on what you are doing with the group you get into.</FONT></P> <P><FONT color=#ff0000>Since you are soloing, you keep all the loot.  I'm a rich little guardian for spending a lot of my time hunting solo.  I pick NPCs over monsters if I can help it.  NPCs seem to drop more loot than monsters.  Also, look for soloable nameds as you can get chances at master chests, too.</FONT></P>

[Boli32]

<div></div>I dunno about the rest of the healers out there but I hate to solo and nag any tank on my guild roster to group with me as soon as he comes online. Suffice to say when you hit T4+ as a healer your friends list gets full (and I mean full) of tanks, all mine had little notes next to them saying if I thought they were a good tank or not. (One had don't group with him, never taunts next to it... if I remember <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />)The best advice is to go down a tier... Permafrost perhaps? they'l be blue green to you and gather groups... mix it up with quest soloing yellow but what you need really is a healer and a dps on at similar times to you you can lvl up together. (it always works better if you, the tank, is a couple of lvls higher than them as them) At the end of each successful group I allways sent them a /tell asking if I could put them on my friends list and to send me a /tell if you ever needed a healer (insert tank here).At the start I soloed much of it untill my mid 20s when I started using the above method, sometimes grouping a few levels below me, below par or average gear fpr you is top of the range gear for them, the cunning aproach in this is becasue of this disparity in lvls whatever you do quite efortlessly sometimes looks GOOD.After a while you'll starts to get /tells or invites as soon as you log on as long as you keep in touch with the peeps you like/were good in the groups you have joined. They soon caught up of course but they'll still thinkof you as the awesome tank who helped them out and they'll defend you fiercly as long as you make an effort to continually improve your gear/spells<p>Message Edited by boli on <span class=date_text>10-04-2006</span> <span class=time_text>04:00 PM</span>

[Figfore]

until kos i solo 90 to 95 percent of game. (HQ only thing i would group for). If you are trying to solo at level 49 to 60 it will be tough. I found the first few levels where hard because of equipment. I went to the Island straight out from ss dock that you climb up the wall and fight the treasure chest on the top. These were 50/50 at first on win or lose but i found it to be good xp plus you get good responds of things to fight. The best part was the harvest nodes that also spawn here. Got my armor, adept 3s, and money to spare. I spent 2 levels and a good month on the rock of plenty i called it. This made my toon good enough to take on the 3 up blues and 1 up yellows.  I only play about 15 hours a week so its really not that long just have to keep at it.

[Marbus]

My guardian is only 32 and my monk almost 50 but I can say that I havne't had a problem finding groups with either. As I have 2 kids my play time is erratic so I usually solo but in general I get 3 to 4 tell per night on the monk and at least 2 on the guardian asking if I would come tank. Maybe it's just the levels I'm at I don't know.Both classes are heavily dependant on armor and weapons though IMHO. A well equipped monk can tank anything non epic and some epics and a well equipped guardian can solo just fine, 95% of all my exp so far has been that way. Given the Guardian can't level nor kill as fast as the monk, but it can be done effectively.Marb

[Lamprey_02]

<DIV>There is really no trick to it. Say you're lvl 49 and bored. Type this in:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>/who all priest lfg 44 50</DIV> <DIV>/tell [priest] Hey, I'm a 49 guardian, would ya like to start a Permafrost group with me?</DIV> <DIV>/invite [priest]</DIV> <DIV>/[40-49 channel #] Upper 40s Permafrost group looking for DPS, got tank/healer!</DIV> <DIV>[At this point you will get spammed with a lot of tells, just wade through and invite 4 DPS classes]</DIV> <DIV>/groupsay Ok gang, meet in Everfrost at the bell, we'll move out from there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What's so hard about this?</DIV>

[RipFlex]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Lamprey_02 wrote:<BR> <DIV>There is really no trick to it. Say you're lvl 49 and bored. Type this in:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>/who all priest lfg 44 50</DIV> <DIV>/tell [priest] Hey, I'm a 49 guardian, would ya like to start a Permafrost group with me?</DIV> <DIV>/invite [priest]</DIV> <DIV>/[40-49 channel #] Upper 40s Permafrost group looking for DPS, got tank/healer!</DIV> <DIV>[At this point you will get spammed with a lot of tells, just wade through and invite 4 DPS classes]</DIV> <DIV>/groupsay Ok gang, meet in Everfrost at the bell, we'll move out from there.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>What's so hard about this?</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>I'm lazy?  <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>I have the tiniest Ratonga Guardian with cool shades on.  I tank things 3-5 levels above me all the time and keep agro... I just get a good reputation and a few laughs from group members and they add me to their friend list.  So when I log back on I get the tells.  <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>"You're going down!", "Don;t mess with me !" .... - RipJack Monterey</P> <P> </P> <P><BR> </P>