New pally question

berto · 01-05-2009, 05:38 PM

Sorry if this has been discussed 100 times already.

Do I want to use a 2hander or 1h +shield combo when soloing?

I assume I stay in the offensive stance too?

Thanks

Vain · 01-05-2009, 08:35 PM

Whatever makes the mob dead fastest and keeps you alive, really.

If you have a 2h that you dps well with and can keep yourself up, then use it. I've almost exclusively used sword+board - it may have hampered my dps at one point, but it always kept me near the green so that there was less down time healing, etc...

Once you end up with your epic (or any other hard-hitting 1H) and Knight's Stance, a 2H will not be necessary.

NANEEJE · 01-06-2009, 02:07 PM

2hander will get you killed faster, but do more damage.

Can you live with that? If you are in a group, and NOT tanking, or taking any damage, you can 2hand away, but the shadow lines made it very nice to use sword and board allllll over again.. way cool passive buffs for that. Enjoy SMILEY

Kordran · 01-06-2009, 02:41 PM

Whether to use your offensive stance really depends on your gear. You'll do more damage, but you'll take a big hit to your avoidance, and that can really compound problems for crusaders who tend to have lower avoidance than warriors. Just as an example, I typically solo in offensive on my Paladin, but my unbuffed avoidance is around 63%. That's not something I would do if it were in the high 30s or low 40s unless the mobs conned green to me.

berto · 01-06-2009, 03:04 PM

Is a paladin a bad starting choice for a beginner?

Kordran · 01-06-2009, 07:51 PM

bertoxx wrote:

Is a paladin a bad starting choice for a beginner?

If you're completely new to the game, I honestly wouldn't recommend any of the tank classes simply because the tank is the core of the group; if the tank is inexperienced and/or poorly geared, it's just going to be an exercise in frustration for everyone in that group. Regardless of who starts a group, people generally expect the tank to be the leader, and make decisions about where to go, direct them as to what to do, decide what strategies to use in an encounter and so on.

Knowledge of the zones (overland, contested dungeons and instances), understanding how to pull correctly, knowing what a particular mob does (fear, stuns, stifles, AE attacks, etc.) and how to position it, how to manage threat and control the encounter and a good general understanding of how the other classes work is essential to being a "good" tank in the game. A lot of that comes from the experience of playing the game, and that's something a new player just doesn't have.

Paladins, specifically, can also be somewhat more challenging to play well because they're a bit more complicated. Being a hybrid defensive tank, gearing up correctly is important and as I mentioned in a previous post, they start at a deficit with regards to their avoidance and that hurts when tanking difficult encounters. It's possible to use gear to overcome those deficits, but you'll spent a lot of time and plat gearing up.

If you're looking towards end-game and raiding, another consideration is that it can be tough to find a slot in a raid. Raids typically have two plate tanks, a Warrior (usually a Guardian) as the main tank (MT) and a Crusader (typically a Paladin) as the main assist/offtank (MA). There's a lot of competition for those slots, so opportunities are slim for new folks coming up unless they're very, very good players.

I don't mean to be discouraging, and if you just play casually and perhaps solo or duo a lot with another player, the Paladin can be a fun class. But if you're thinking long-term, towards being a tank for group instances and raids, then I wanted to give you a sense of what's involved.

Loxus · 01-07-2009, 11:16 AM

When you say beginner, do you mean:

"beginner - never played a MMO before".

or

"Beginner - Played (insert MMO here) for X months and thought I'd give EQ2 a shot".

Then again your station name is bertoxx so I'm assuming it's the latter

The science of playing a tank in eq2 is pretty easy; stand there and get the snot beat out of you just like EQ1. It's the art of playing a that will take you some time to learn and this revolves mostly around group play. Moreover, most groups look to the tank to be the leader of the group, to keep them safe, and show them a good group experience. Hehe Relax it's not that hard.

I would suggest you play what you think you would like to play. IE, if you like the idea of the Pally, then play it, but don't think you're alone. Do a /who all paladin on your server. Pick a name and /tell them and ask them if you can ask them some questions. The pally community is pretty friendly, you may run into one or two putzes out there, but it's pretty rare. Just ask questions and you'll do fine.

If your on Everfrost look me up, I'll help ya out.

Loxus Maul 80 Shadowknight Paladin

berto · 01-07-2009, 02:32 PM

I played EQ1 and WoW for a few years, I gave EQ2 a try at launch but it sucked, thought I'd give it another shot after hearing how much it improved and I must say... I like it alot. Though it can be overwhelming at times and hard to keep up with all the quests.

My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor.

Kordran · 01-07-2009, 03:55 PM

I'd recommend going to Timorous Deep and running through the quest lines there. Not only will you get some good AXP, you'll get much better gear that will last you into your mid 20s (some of the jewelry even longer). Also, start working in your armor quest lines (the guy is in Qeynos Harbor, not far from where the bank/clock are). While not as good as mastercrafted, it's pretty good for the level.

Handcrafted armor is the junk that armorers make to skill up on. It's not something that any player should actually be wearing. If you have the patience for it, work up your harvesting and start whacking on rocks in Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest. Hope the random number generator sends a few steel clusters your way and find a friendly armorer and weaponsmith to make you some steel armor, shield and/or a sword.

Zapat · 01-07-2009, 04:21 PM

bertoxx wrote:

My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor.

u know what bro, i (and some other dude) stated this before... but if u wanna be a true bada** at being a Pally, u gotta gear and spec urself to solo like a freakin' juggernaut, and be very self reliant, u can MT with the best of 'em so long as ur one of those Pallys who doesn't rely too heavily on others... and no that doesn't mean u HAVE to have crazy-a**Fabled gear (of which i have none) or nothing but adept and/or master spells (although these things do help LoL). i myself run with decent-at-best gear and mostly apprentice spells... and yet i havent had too much problem MT'ing anything

AA's are a Pally's best friend, and will truly help u distinguish urself as MT/OT/backup healer/backup DPS, whatever... my advice is to get ur Crusader Tree goin first to get ur desired stat boosts, move on to the Pally tree and go whatever route you'd like to get the Shield Block Mastery and Smite Evil endlines (these are awesome for being an MT)... as for the Shadows Line i still havent got the chance to play around with that yet, but from what i've heard is quite awesome.

and just so u know, i had never played an MMO and went straight to EQ2 and rolled a Pally... but u gain experience by doing...

...so get ur a** out there and do some work son... peace

Loxus · 01-08-2009, 02:35 PM

bertoxx wrote:

I played EQ1 and WoW for a few years, I gave EQ2 a try at launch but it sucked, thought I'd give it another shot after hearing how much it improved and I must say... I like it alot. Though it can be overwhelming at times and hard to keep up with all the quests.
My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor.

You should be fine then, just know that tanking in WoW is nothing like tanking in EQ2. It's not rocket surgery or anything, but it's definatly different. If you played a tank in EQ1 you're golden, it's pretty much the same.

Tanking is very dependent on gear and upgraded spells (AD3's), Shoot for mastercrafted armor and weapons at 32ish up to 72 adapt 3 your taunts after 35- 40ish level and maybe your wards and crank out all the quests you can. Don't spend too much time (or money) worrying about gear too much as you'll outlevel it quickly, but don't slouch on it either. You'll be 80 in no time.

01-06-2009, 02:07 PM	#3
NANEEJE Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Jax Fl, Seattle Wa. Posts: 357	2hander will get you killed faster, but do more damage. Can you live with that? If you are in a group, and NOT tanking, or taking any damage, you can 2hand away, but the shadow lines made it very nice to use sword and board allllll over again.. way cool passive buffs for that. Enjoy __________________

01-06-2009, 02:41 PM	#4
Kordran Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,484	Whether to use your offensive stance really depends on your gear. You'll do more damage, but you'll take a big hit to your avoidance, and that can really compound problems for crusaders who tend to have lower avoidance than warriors. Just as an example, I typically solo in offensive on my Paladin, but my unbuffed avoidance is around 63%. That's not something I would do if it were in the high 30s or low 40s unless the mobs conned green to me. __________________

01-06-2009, 07:51 PM	#6
Kordran Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,484	bertoxx wrote: Is a paladin a bad starting choice for a beginner? If you're completely new to the game, I honestly wouldn't recommend any of the tank classes simply because the tank is the core of the group; if the tank is inexperienced and/or poorly geared, it's just going to be an exercise in frustration for everyone in that group. Regardless of who starts a group, people generally expect the tank to be the leader, and make decisions about where to go, direct them as to what to do, decide what strategies to use in an encounter and so on. Knowledge of the zones (overland, contested dungeons and instances), understanding how to pull correctly, knowing what a particular mob does (fear, stuns, stifles, AE attacks, etc.) and how to position it, how to manage threat and control the encounter and a good general understanding of how the other classes work is essential to being a "good" tank in the game. A lot of that comes from the experience of playing the game, and that's something a new player just doesn't have. Paladins, specifically, can also be somewhat more challenging to play well because they're a bit more complicated. Being a hybrid defensive tank, gearing up correctly is important and as I mentioned in a previous post, they start at a deficit with regards to their avoidance and that hurts when tanking difficult encounters. It's possible to use gear to overcome those deficits, but you'll spent a lot of time and plat gearing up. If you're looking towards end-game and raiding, another consideration is that it can be tough to find a slot in a raid. Raids typically have two plate tanks, a Warrior (usually a Guardian) as the main tank (MT) and a Crusader (typically a Paladin) as the main assist/offtank (MA). There's a lot of competition for those slots, so opportunities are slim for new folks coming up unless they're very, very good players. I don't mean to be discouraging, and if you just play casually and perhaps solo or duo a lot with another player, the Paladin can be a fun class. But if you're thinking long-term, towards being a tank for group instances and raids, then I wanted to give you a sense of what's involved. __________________

01-07-2009, 03:55 PM	#9
Kordran Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2005 Posts: 2,484	I'd recommend going to Timorous Deep and running through the quest lines there. Not only will you get some good AXP, you'll get much better gear that will last you into your mid 20s (some of the jewelry even longer). Also, start working in your armor quest lines (the guy is in Qeynos Harbor, not far from where the bank/clock are). While not as good as mastercrafted, it's pretty good for the level. Handcrafted armor is the junk that armorers make to skill up on. It's not something that any player should actually be wearing. If you have the patience for it, work up your harvesting and start whacking on rocks in Thundering Steppes and Nektulos Forest. Hope the random number generator sends a few steel clusters your way and find a friendly armorer and weaponsmith to make you some steel armor, shield and/or a sword. __________________

01-07-2009, 04:21 PM	#10
Zapat General Join Date: May 2005 Posts: 23	bertoxx wrote: My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor. u know what bro, i (and some other dude) stated this before... but if u wanna be a true bada at being a Pally, u gotta gear and spec urself to solo like a freakin' juggernaut, and be very self reliant, u can MT with the best of 'em so long as ur one of those Pallys who doesn't rely too heavily on others... and no that doesn't mean u HAVE to have crazy-aFabled gear (of which i have none) or nothing but adept and/or master spells (although these things do help LoL). i myself run with decent-at-best gear and mostly apprentice spells... and yet i havent had too much problem MT'ing anything AA's are a Pally's best friend, and will truly help u distinguish urself as MT/OT/backup healer/backup DPS, whatever... my advice is to get ur Crusader Tree goin first to get ur desired stat boosts, move on to the Pally tree and go whatever route you'd like to get the Shield Block Mastery and Smite Evil endlines (these are awesome for being an MT)... as for the Shadows Line i still havent got the chance to play around with that yet, but from what i've heard is quite awesome. and just so u know, i had never played an MMO and went straight to EQ2 and rolled a Pally... but u gain experience by doing... ...so get ur a** out there and do some work son... peace

01-05-2009, 05:38 PM	#1
berto General Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 11	Sorry if this has been discussed 100 times already. Do I want to use a 2hander or 1h +shield combo when soloing? I assume I stay in the offensive stance too? Thanks

01-05-2009, 08:35 PM	#2
Vain Lord Join Date: Jul 2008 Posts: 190	Whatever makes the mob dead fastest and keeps you alive, really. If you have a 2h that you dps well with and can keep yourself up, then use it. I've almost exclusively used sword+board - it may have hampered my dps at one point, but it always kept me near the green so that there was less down time healing, etc... Once you end up with your epic (or any other hard-hitting 1H) and Knight's Stance, a 2H will not be necessary.

01-06-2009, 03:04 PM	#5
berto General Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 11	Is a paladin a bad starting choice for a beginner?

01-07-2009, 11:16 AM	#7
Loxus Server: Everfrost Guild: Devecia Rank: HMFIC Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 343	When you say beginner, do you mean: "beginner - never played a MMO before". or "Beginner - Played (insert MMO here) for X months and thought I'd give EQ2 a shot". Then again your station name is bertoxx so I'm assuming it's the latter The science of playing a tank in eq2 is pretty easy; stand there and get the snot beat out of you just like EQ1. It's the art of playing a that will take you some time to learn and this revolves mostly around group play. Moreover, most groups look to the tank to be the leader of the group, to keep them safe, and show them a good group experience. Hehe Relax it's not that hard. I would suggest you play what you think you would like to play. IE, if you like the idea of the Pally, then play it, but don't think you're alone. Do a /who all paladin on your server. Pick a name and /tell them and ask them if you can ask them some questions. The pally community is pretty friendly, you may run into one or two putzes out there, but it's pretty rare. Just ask questions and you'll do fine. If your on Everfrost look me up, I'll help ya out. Loxus Maul 80 Shadowknight Paladin

01-07-2009, 02:32 PM	#8
berto General Join Date: Dec 2008 Posts: 11	I played EQ1 and WoW for a few years, I gave EQ2 a try at launch but it sucked, thought I'd give it another shot after hearing how much it improved and I must say... I like it alot. Though it can be overwhelming at times and hard to keep up with all the quests. My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor.

01-08-2009, 02:35 PM	#11
Loxus Server: Everfrost Guild: Devecia Rank: HMFIC Loremaster Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 343	bertoxx wrote: I played EQ1 and WoW for a few years, I gave EQ2 a try at launch but it sucked, thought I'd give it another shot after hearing how much it improved and I must say... I like it alot. Though it can be overwhelming at times and hard to keep up with all the quests. My name is Jorell on crushbone if anyone cares feel free to throw me some advice. I just hit 20 and picked up some carbonite armor. You should be fine then, just know that tanking in WoW is nothing like tanking in EQ2. It's not rocket surgery or anything, but it's definatly different. If you played a tank in EQ1 you're golden, it's pretty much the same. Tanking is very dependent on gear and upgraded spells (AD3's), Shoot for mastercrafted armor and weapons at 32ish up to 72 adapt 3 your taunts after 35- 40ish level and maybe your wards and crank out all the quests you can. Don't spend too much time (or money) worrying about gear too much as you'll outlevel it quickly, but don't slouch on it either. You'll be 80 in no time.