First Impressions

[Xlech Du'K]

<DIV>Hmm...</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I must say, I am a bit dissapointed.  You see, I came here in hopes of finding new information to use for my SK.  Though, honestly, I'm really not suprised to see so many complaints, it seems to be common to forums for games everywhere. So, I guess perhaps I'm not the one needing guidance on this class.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Though I must ask, why would you ever complain about a ShadowKnight?  No, honestly, I can't even count how many hours I've been playing on this character and it only keeps getting better.  The only bump I ran into was a weakness to spellcasters.  I fixed that with some nice new resist armor that boosted all my resistances up another 200 points or so.  Problem solved.  Now I get to laugh whenever I fight greenies for quests and see a flood of one resisted spell after another, followed by knocking the enemy on their rear in mid-cast.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I must admit though, I far prefer soloing.  Perhaps that is the true specialty of this class?  I complete pretty much every quest I can get my hands on, except for collection quests... I find running around hunting for just the right piece far too boring to be worth the reward, so instead I sell off collection pieces for a pretty good cash flow.  Just fighting to gain experience is asking to get bored out of your mind.  You should ALWAYS be working towards a quest, there's more than enough of them.  If you don't want to do some of them, delete it later when it's too low a level to bother with.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Perhaps many of you have trouble with the strategy behind the class.  One needs to keep a good balance of firepower and efficiency, first and foremost.  If, in a fight, especially solo, either your health or your power is dropping much faster than the other, you'll need to change strategy mid-battle to keep up.  For example, if I'm taking on a yellow and quickly find it can't really even hit me, then I need to slow down on the power usage, lest I end up sitting around for long periods waiting for a depleted power bar to fill up.  On the other hand, if, say, I go to fight a heroic green and find that it's actually a pretty mean fight, I need to start uping the damage, which will cost me quite a bit, but is well worth it.  And, of course, there is much more, such as knowing what to fight, when and where to fight it, how to pull properly, what kind of equipment to get and how much to spend on trying to upgrade which skills, etc. etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Then there's adapting your character to your race.  I play a human, and a pretty agile one too.  As a result, I actually have a pretty high avoidance as well as decent mitigation, which, coupled with high damage and moderately frequent counter-attacks, means that I can literally turn on auto-attack and sit back and look through my quest journal while fighting a half-dozen melee greens.  I almost pity lower-level stuff I fight, that just has to be embarrasing, to not even be able to hit a tank, none the less something that's supposed to be agile.  Another point in case, strength vs. intelligence.  As a human, my strength is significantly lower than many other shadowknights of other races.  At the same time, my intelligence is about double your average ogre right now from various item bonuses.  So, my attack skills, such as power cleave, really aren't that great.  However, my spells are far better than normal, allowing me to use a combination of spells and heroic opportunities to back up my melee attacks with magical assault.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Oh, and I noticed some of you played the class for the horse?... That's... really a bad reason... I mean, that's a REALLY bad reason to be a shadowknight.  I chose shadowknight for roleplay, and actually I didn't even know I could get a horse until just recently.  The 10% speed increase is nominal, but getting to ride around on a horse is just kinda fun.  And, really, that's all that spell is about: fun.  Not being an uber speed demon, not using height advantage or ride-by attacks or charging into battle, but just for fun.  And in that, it does it's job well.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Take my advice- if you don't like a class, don't play it.  Don't come running to everyone on the forums and in ooc to say how much the SK class stinks, or how pathetic they are at whatever it is you don't like, just don't play it.  And, really, remember your role- soloer, higher damage tank, puller, and someone that would have to either be trying to lose aggro, or have a not-so-bright wizard that thinks they should just chain-nuke everything they see, including things you aren't even fighting yet (trust me, I know this one from experience, and the only problem I had was he/she wasn't just nuking, they were AoE nuking).  And, please, give your local healers a break every now and then, and try out the lifetaps- they really do stack up after a while, and it can help keep you alive that much longer.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And remember: you tank for your pet, not the other way around.</DIV>

[megatra]

<P>You'll always find complainers here. I am one of the few who don't come on here and [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot]. I am happy with the SK. Good job choosing SK and enjoy it <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P> </P> <P>Vincenzo Luvineri of the Shard<BR>50th Level Shadowknight of Crushbone<BR>Fallen Disciples</P>

[Pirotase]

<P>I am happy with my lv47 SK too ~~ so you are not alone =) </P> <P>I can do very well no matter solo , grouping ( as MT , off tank ) even raid~ </P> <P> </P>

[Rylight]

<DIV>great post, I agree with absolutly everything</DIV>

[Vak Mallek]

<div></div>... <div></div><p>Message Edited by Vak Mallek on <span class=date_text>06-06-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:53 PM</span>

[far]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Xlech Du'Kov wrote:<BR> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Take my advice- if you don't like a class, don't play it.  Don't come running to everyone on the forums and in ooc to say how much the SK class stinks, or how pathetic they are at whatever it is you don't like, just don't play it.  And, really, remember your role- soloer, higher damage tank, puller, and someone that would have to either be trying to lose aggro, or have a not-so-bright wizard that thinks they should just chain-nuke everything they see, including things you aren't even fighting yet (trust me, I know this one from experience, and the only problem I had was he/she wasn't just nuking, they were AoE nuking).  And, please, give your local healers a break every now and then, and try out the lifetaps- they really do stack up after a while, and it can help keep you alive that much longer.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>You failed to mention important things like remember to breathe while playing, try to type using two hands, and the likelyhood of that actually being a chick on the other side of someones female avatar is lower then you think.</P> <P>That said you are entitled to your opinion of the class but i thought Id mention a few things.</P> <P>There is no ROLE of soloer. Its a play style sony didnt decide, HEY LETS MAKE A MMORPG but make one (or three) classes for soloing exclusively, you get all the benefits of having a huge universe but without the hassle of having to meet other people to do stuff, its like a console but better because we can charge them each month for the same content and constant bugs!</P> <P>Im not saying that sks cant or shouldnt solo, but it is not a role, its an option, and anyone can solo with any class. Its not really a selling pt you should try to make for a class. A high DPS tank. DPS on higher mobs is highly mitigated from the tanking position (reading in front of mob) due to stuns, parry, dodge skills of the mobs your fighting, so if you are standing in front of the mob your dps is negliable and the real importance is keeping enough aggro (tanking green mobs just doesnt count, you dont tank them, you simply slaughter them), if you are attacking from a non tank position you do the same amount of dps as the paladin in a similiar position (more with pet) but you dont tank or buff nearly as well.</P> <P>Puller? Puller? This is no longer a job in eq2, there is no fd pulling to split mobs anymore, and to tell ya the truth im sad to see it as a lost art, there are several classes with far better pull ranges, the differances among the differant classses in pulling is trivial.</P> <P>Our lifetaps stack up after awhile? lets see your saying i could heal myself for literally hundreds of hps by the end of an encounter? maybe even up to 10% of my total life, something a paladin can do every 7 seconds... WERE SAVED.</P> <P>/Halleloujah we are saved by bannana bread.</P>

[DUNN]

<P> I always say you have the right if you want to.  But to each his own. </P> <P>However before you bistow your wisdom on us i would advise to please reach the lvl of 50 or at least close to it.   Then come and share what you found out along the way .  You will learn much after you have accomplished such feat.  I am sure  the new and upcoming SK would much appreciate it then and us older ones might learn a trick ot two from your experience.</P> <P>The road is not as peachy as you currently see it and you may find some disapointments  along the way.   Also like the previous poster said soloing is not a role.  I would advise you to look at what role we actually do play.    If you continue to think that soloing is our role you might run  into some problems later when a group play is necessary. </P> <P>Message Edited by DUNN on <SPAN class=date_text>06-06-2005</SPAN> <SPAN class=time_text>10:47 AM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by DUNN on <span class=date_text>06-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:59 AM</span>

[wakkogooch]

<DIV>my 2 cents</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1. i love playing my SK. much better than my EQ1 SK. i believe there is a better balance with other classes in EQ2.</DIV> <DIV>2. i still think pulling is an art. it just plays a different role. as a puller the further you get away from your mob and pull, less likely you are to pull any other nearby aggros. this is key, especially in areas where aggro pathing crosses. it's nice to sit in a non pathed area, and pull to it, and as a tanking class, SK's ability to disance path to get aggro ina group is superior than most i've seen. sucks to send one of your casters out to pull and then try to steal aggro from them. most of our taunt spells in this game are power thick and eat a significant amount of power. </DIV> <DIV>3. soloing rant. i agree and disagree with both sides of this. i don't think the point here is to say that soloing is the main feature of a SK, but when it comes around to it, as a group, SK's tend to be viewed as a secondary tank, and by all rights, if there are pure tank classes to be had, this is the role we play. we can main tank, but in the grand scheme of things, you might say SK's are too balanced between tanking and nuking skill to be a main tank most of the time. that said, due to the balanced nature of the SK, he makes a formitable soloer. as a player looking for a class that he take to endgame on his own, SK's are one of the few you can get there soloing for the most part. Now don't get me wrong, others probably can, but it's just fun to do it as a SK where other classes may get dreary soloing all the time, SK's make it interesting.</DIV> <DIV>4. on the group issue, SK's as a tank are ok, but not the prefered role in a group. As much as everyone would like, as a grouper, SK's are a semi tank. ina raid, they should be an intermidiary at best. let me explain. considering a SK's skill set, he is good for rescue interceptions, his primary role should be to look out for the casters. He has the skills to tank and to [Removed for Content] of the enemy with powerful (smack'em in the face and insult their mother) taunt skills. this makes him good for protecting casters when aggro gets pulled off the tank. so tanks can do their job, SK's need to take the role of protector till the tank can reaquire aggro. skills like rescue and evasive m. are good for these reasons, or intervene. great for swallowing damage till aggro can be taken back by the tank.</DIV> <DIV>5. i'm still only a 36SK, working my way slowely, but i've grouped twice since i started the game. i level fairly slowely(shows 46 hours play time, but i also did alot of selling before offline selling came along.) disadvantage of soloing is not getting the epic drops, but i get all my own loot, i sell it and buy the epic loot from the  brokers. it's how i play, others group their way to the end, i and many others solo. it works for us. anyways, thats my 2 cents, take it as you like.</DIV>

[wakkogooch]

<p>Message Edited by wakkogooch on <span class=date_text>06-06-2005</span> <span class=time_text>11:55 AM</span>

[far]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> wakkogooch wrote:<BR> <DIV>my 2 cents</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2. i still think pulling is an art. it just plays a different role. as a puller the further you get away from your mob and pull, less likely you are to pull any other nearby aggros. this is key, especially in areas where aggro pathing crosses. it's nice to sit in a non pathed area, and pull to it, and as a tanking class, SK's ability to disance path to get aggro ina group is superior than most i've seen. sucks to send one of your casters out to pull and then try to steal aggro from them. most of our taunt spells in this game are power thick and eat a significant amount of power. </DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>Pulling was an artform in eq1 due to the fact that every mob had a ring around them and other mobs of a 'friendly' type inside that ring would come with them on a pull, but with snappy use of snare, harmony, feign death, seemly impossible rooms full of mobs could be biten off in manageable peices. In eq2 I have yet to see any reason for this, a guardian is as good as a zerker is as good as a <insert class here>. Theres no art too it, wait for the proper moment and pull with whatever (damage pull or taunt pull depending) its not hard, its not a skill anymore its being only vaguely self aware. But i miss being able to say I split the magi room in guk, or karnors hand room. This is apples and oranges and I feel sick it was something that was deemed irrelevant to gameplay, it hurts monks and sks equally, (pulling plane of fear was [Removed for Content] joyous when done right (before a solo AE group would come in and rock it). Its part of the dumbing down of eq2 that is painful.</P> <P><BR> </P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> wakkogooch wrote:<BR> <DIV>my 2 cents</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3. soloing rant. i agree and disagree with both sides of this. i don't think the point here is to say that soloing is the main feature of a SK, but when it comes around to it, as a group, SK's tend to be viewed as a secondary tank, and by all rights, if there are pure tank classes to be had, this is the role we play. we can main tank, but in the grand scheme of things, you might say SK's are too balanced between tanking and nuking skill to be a main tank most of the time. that said, due to the balanced nature of the SK, he makes a formitable soloer. as a player looking for a class that he take to endgame on his own, SK's are one of the few you can get there soloing for the most part. Now don't get me wrong, others probably can, but it's just fun to do it as a SK where other classes may get dreary soloing all the time, SK's make it interesting.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>Again this is a playstyle choice, tanks in generally have the ability to smite the crap out of greens due to the + defense skills (adept 3 circle is 12 defense) making the defense inbalance making greens effectively grey (a 2.5 level differance) combined with the carress line which effectively drops them a full level we are at a 3.5 level advantage to the sk, and bumps down solo encounters that are barely red to white, whites to blues, blues to greens, and greens to greys, any class with a defense buff (let alone with racial traditions for it combined with defense) to a trivial level. Allowing green/blue non casting heroic encounters doable (and even some casters like agony/apathy). This is pathetically lame, although slightly better than circle kiteing... but again its a question of play styles, but either method for doing group encounters is painful and time consuming. Again a personal choice. Tho im not above duoing said encounters it seems to go exponentially faster</P> <P>Soloing will mean you will not get such wonderful items as the golden efreeti boots and screaming mace (geb requiring 6-12 people for mago, and a 3-6 man group to hunt the mace) and these items are really things you will want to have ready for any expansion. Let alone prismatic weapons and raid loots such fabled items are generally 2x as good as legendary). (im a only a legendary sk myself)</P> <P><BR> </P> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> wakkogooch wrote:<BR> <DIV>my 2 cents</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5. i'm still only a 36SK, working my way slowely, but i've grouped twice since i started the game. i level fairly slowely(shows 46 hours play time, but i also did alot of selling before offline selling came along.) disadvantage of soloing is not getting the epic drops, but i get all my own loot, i sell it and buy the epic loot from the  brokers. it's how i play, others group their way to the end, i and many others solo. it works for us. anyways, thats my 2 cents, take it as you like.</DIV><BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>46 hrs or days? 46 hrs and i would have to stand up and clap, days well we in the approx playtime. Fabled and mythical items are just breaking onto the brokers on my server (innothule) but still priced for the extremely wealthy, and would take days to even get the lowest tiered items i want which are paltry in the upgrade department of my armor. To afford such items you would need to be a high level in demand armorer or tailor some such crazy thing, I am a simple carpenter 34 weaponsmith 33 and alchemist 32.<BR></P> <P>Although most importantly glad to hear you are enjoying the class and i hope that spans yer entire lifetime as an sk. It didnt for me but I can retire awhile to other things and wait for balance from MY perspective (however skewed that might be).</P> <P><BR> </P>

[Exmortis_MT]

<P>To the OP.</P> <P>Yes I will always be a shadowknight as a main, but many of the complaints here are valid why?  well read.</P> <P>Im now 50, haveto update profile.</P> <P>1. with no ranged weapons we lose out on stats as do Pallies, Unfair BS.  If we cant use a bow, then their shoudl be something else we can fit in this slot for stats, as casters can,  Utter bullcrap that we get biffed in this way.  I coudl careless if I can use a bow, even if it means i lose every pull contest in both range and speed, but look once at a pristine cedar bow, and you will be as annoyed  as me.</P> <P>2.  Our lvl 50 awesome midigation debuffer is useless, I cant even get it to land on greys let alone anything else.  So what good is a spell that is resisted 100%?</P> <P>3. Lifetaps are useless, mobs hit for 1k to 1.5k in XP groups  and nearing 2k for named, and over 3k for raid mobs (some) but dont worry Im an SK i can heal 77hp every 15secs,......WOOHOO.  Ask a pally what it can heal in 15secs?  if they dont increase it, then increase the damage, 77hp at level 50 means ZERO.</P> <P>4. Our HT is a mere mosquito bite in EQ2.  Resisted lots unles you have master 1,  even then I have 1851DD every 30 minutes, that can and is resisted.  ask a pally what his lay hands is and when the last time it was resisted?</P> <P>5. A whole AE ability line that uses 2 handed weapons has been broken since day 1, it only effects one target.</P> <P> </P> <P>Those are just a few issues that should have been fixed.  I love the class, but it needs attention from the debug team.  And as usual we are the least fixed in game to date.  Now maybe the melee fix will help, Im hoping, but I wont hold my breath. Shadowknights are the least liked class of SOE, as they were in EQ1.</P> <P>Some of the posts here are kinda over the top, Im in the middle, I like the game, I liek the class, I just want some fair attention like so many other classes have gotten.  Not whole sale addons or anything, just good ole fixing.</P><p>Message Edited by Exmortis_MT on <span class=date_text>06-07-2005</span> <span class=time_text>08:26 AM</span>

[Uggli]

<span><blockquote><hr>Exmortis_MT wrote:<div></div> 5. A whole AE ability line that uses 2 handed weapons has been broken since day 1, it only effects one target. <hr></blockquote> Actually sorrow (level29) works just well and hits all mobs in range. Just recently dinged 42 so don't have the upgrade yet, but I would be surprised if it's still broken.</span><div></div>

[Exmortis_MT]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Uggliey wrote:<BR><SPAN><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> Exmortis_MT wrote:<BR> <BR>5. A whole AE ability line that uses 2 handed weapons has been broken since day 1, it only effects one target. <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Actually sorrow (level29) works just well and hits all mobs in range.<BR><BR>Just recently dinged 42 so don't have the upgrade yet, but I would be surprised if it's still broken.<BR></SPAN> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P><BR>agonizing cry is broken, broken, broken.  nice to know SOE fixed sorrow, nothing like fixing the barn door after the cows have come home.</P> <P> </P>