Some questions from 2 new paladins

[Feralon]

<DIV>My brother and I just started playing EQ2.  We both went with Barbarian Paladins.  We will likely be playing as a duo 95% of our playtime.  We are not to concerned with being 'uber' but we do want to insure that we are a viable duo so we can see as much of the content as we can.  Some questions we do have:</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Are two Paladins a viable duo or does the 2nd one become a bit redundant?  We don't care if it takes us longer to kill stuff as long as we are viable</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>How important is agility?  We are coming up on our first opportunity to pick +4 stat and we both were thinking of grabbing agility each time to balance against our already higher str and sta.  Agility helps with actually hitting and also dodging blows yes?  Or should we just go with str/sta?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Any other hints or tips you all could give us?  So far we are having a blast with the game though </DIV>

[GilfalasElaandrin]

<P>Actually when you get higher levels you will find that 2 Paladins in a group will be somewhat problematic, as several of our higher level attacks have dot components. This is a problem because once one of those attacks land, they BLOCK That attack from even being used on the monster untill it's dot has run it's course.</P> <P>This means that in combat one of the other of you will be blocking the others most powerful attacks during combat. This won't affect you until about level 25+ but it does get very annoying very fast.</P> <P>The same goes for group buffs as well. Basically you cannot buff anyone in group that the other paladin already has a buff on, which again becomes very annoying.</P> <P>Agility is nice to have but as a heavy armor based tank it is not really our main focus. You really want to be boosting Strength IMO. That is where we get our best bang for the buck. It helps damage and is the primary statistic that determines our power pool. Wisdom also helps but is only about 1/3 as much as a str increase. And stamina is always good since it always gives more HP.</P> <P>My personal theory is max out your power pool and power regen. The more power you have the more you can use in a fight and power gives you offense AND healing so it is a win win for you.</P> <HR> <DIV>Agility helps with actually hitting and also dodging blows yes? <HR> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Hitting no, dodging yes but not that much for a heavy armor tank. If you were a monk or bruiser type then I would say yes, but as a heavy tank I would concentrate on exagerating your strengths since it will work better than trying to reinforce your weaker part.</DIV>

[uzhiel feathered serpe]

<P>I respectfully disagree :smileywink:</P> <P>I duo with a lvl 45 and lv 47 Paladin friend and we have tons of fun. Whats happens is we cycle through attacks, so when I use my Refusal of Grace he uses his Sworn strike. We both have Kasines and when one of us starts to get hit hard the other one taunts off and starts tanking. We both trade heals, wards, and buffs, and can easily kill lvl 48 grp mobs. </P> <P>The trick to cycle different abilities and heal each other, when switching aggro.</P> <DIV>I dont remember my skills and spells at the lower lvls, but cycle though diff ones and its a blast.</DIV><p>Message Edited by uzhiel feathered serpent on <span class=date_text>05-05-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:09 PM</span>

[Zaloorb]

Be very careful considering stats and what they do for your ability. Also take into consideration what your role in the group will be. Who is tanking vs. whos is going to be dps/healer. It is best to have the tank with high agi and sta because this will increase the amount of time between heals (and hopefully between deaths hehe). Strength is important but not as much as avoidance and mitigation, which are effected by agi and sta (While mit isnt affected by sta directly, it increases your hp which increases the effectiveness of your mitigation rating). Most important for the tank will be good armor and a good shield. The shield will increase avoidance while armor will directly increase mitigation (Mitigation means damage avoidance if you were wondering. The higher the mit, the lower the dmg you take when you get hit)  While one tanks and holds the aggro the other should target him, warding, healing, and acting as the dps for the two of you. While the tank will be spending pow on taunts (and using a 1 hander which will have lower dmg) you should be attacking, yes, but only use attack skills sparingly to save pow for heals. With these things in mind it is important that use increase your pow on the person that is healing. That means focus on str and wis to increase your power pool. The str will also increase your dmg output coupled with the fact that you should be using a 2handed hammer or sword which will have better damage than 1 handers.  As for the skill blocking with 2 pallys, yes it bites. But there are benefits to having 2 pallys. While one tanks, the other can use skills that debuff you but buff the target (Offering or armament) or skills that increase shield skill and parry ability (such as Aegis).  All in all good luck with the duoing. Having a healer that doubles as dps is always nice and allows for great duoing opportunities. Good luck. Zaloorb Tundrasteppe 44th Season Paladin Initiate of Phoenix Legion, Oasis server <div></div>

[Boli32]

Personally if you were goign to duo all of the time then I would throw yourself at different aspects of the class - i.e. Your brother could take the more more Stamina more health - best tank role while you could concentrate on the more power - better heals etc. etc. That way you would each have an identity when playing the paladin and arn't mirror images of each other so you complement each other. As for the "abilitites blocking each other" problem... if this DOES turn out to be a problem - just have an agreement as to who deals what DoT or just create a macro where you would say in groupchat: OathStrike DoT Dealt  or somethign equivilent Both of these tactics allow you to easily decide who would get each spell upgrades.<div></div>

[Feralon]

<DIV>Thanks guys for the info and advice.  We really have just gotten started so niether of us has any idea what the mid and end game will be like as a duo yet.  I'll think twice about going agil then - if its just defense then it seems less important.  The EQ2 manual describes agility as also effecting your ability to land a blow so I was thinking agil would help with sustained dps as much as str might - but that wont be the frist time a manual was wrong about something</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I imagine my brother and I will find ways to make our roles unique.  We already are gravitating to the main tank and off tank roles for each of us (i.e. using off tanking for a bit of crowd control) - but we aren't even paladins yet so we dont have the ability to heal each other yet - I imagine our tactics will continue to evolve as we level</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>thanks again</DIV>

[Boli32]

Keep an eye out for a /respec option in the update notes... if you are heading towards the higher levels you would be more sure of your skills and might wish to change your training options when you are more sure of where you are heading. <div></div>