Hi, my wife and I are ready to start playing. We are WoW and eq2 vets and I am an eq1 vet. So the questions I have, please, are: We want to be able to duo a lot of content, so would a pally/Druid work? How close to the eq2 pally is the vanguard pally? After low levels I hated the cool downs of the heals, even after putting AA points in. I'm reading vanguard pallys can't do damage at all? How well can a Druid heal in this game. Seems like they are backup only. Are we choosing bad classes to duo content? Also, in eq1 u had ten spells to choose from per load, but I'm eq2 it seemed like there were 30 buttons to hit. WOW was in middlef if I recall. How is vanguard? In eq2 we used a pally/Mage and were pretty darn good. Thanks!
First and foremost, welcome to Telon to you both and I hope that you both enjoy our community and decide to remain. To your questions, I will comment upon what I have direct knowledge of; I love my Druid. I have yet to find a company with whom she has not worked well. That said, my most favored duo in VG is a Blood Mage and a Necromancer, but from what I have read, seen and personally experienced, I would feel comfortable in assessing your choice of duoing classes being quite strong and ones with which you both should be pleased. Even if the Druid is settled into a back up healer role, the fact that the Paladin can heal self will offset any of that and the damage that the druid can do, along with the lulling capabilities and snaring, rooting and dotting abilities would be a huge help as well...not to mention Druid berries which are always a huge plus, in my book. If you have any questions and would like to speak with someone directly in game or here via the forums, please feel free to give me a shout in game (I am always in /tavern, /craft, /dip, /diplomacy and /help, so asking for Aasha will find me if I am on in any form) or feel free to PM me here and I will reply asap. The very best to you both!
If you're looking at more "hybrid" type classes, you can't really compare Vanguard to other games. While a Paladin for example does have heals, it truly is a tank class. Not half tank/half healer...more like 90% tank and 10% healer. I am sure the druid is similar in that it's a DPS class first. Although, I am sure you can gear up to boost healing if you choose too. The nice thing though is that the actual healer classes are good at other things too. So, I'd say they are the hybrids of Vanguard. Disciple can melee DPS [and arguable tank] as well as heal (through melee attacks primarily). Blood mage can range DPS and heals through DPS spells. Cleric can melee DPS and is your standard casting healer. Shaman come in three flavors - all have casting heals but you choose a path of either range DPS (phoenix), melee DPS (wolf) or more of a tank/melee DPS role (bear). Ultimately though, since you can solo any class in this game any duo would work too.
Thanks for the answers, really appreciated. The concerns I have is are there people to group with if we have issues with the healing aspect. I remember many years ago in wow it was hard to get a tank and healer for five mans. Luckily we were tank n healer. I really want to see the dungeons and don't want to be prohibited by not finding groups and not having a tank/healer. Eq2 we never had to group, was pretty easy and then Mercs killed the grouping aspect. Eq1 in the glory days was group or be very selective and miss a lot of content. Honestly, I read hours of stuff on vanguard, but not sure if what I'm reading is still applicable to present day. I'm rally confused why someone would choose a warrior over a pally over a dread. I think dreads can self heal?
Ikasawak wrote: I think, and can only speak of personal opinion here, and those that I have seen since I started back in open beta, what makes those decisions for those players is the actual preference in game play more than anything else. Now me personally, I create a character for RP reasons, as I am a guild leader of a RP guild and that is a major facet of my game play, so that greatly motivates my choice for class, and prior to actually getting to the character creation screen in game I have a background story, if not already written, then very much developed before a single option is selected.
Ikasawak wrote: Yes, I can relate. I only came back early this year and poured through whatever information I could find on the internet. A lot of is outdated and even more so since last August with the F2P changes. I cannot really comment on the grouping aspect since I don't really know, but the population has increased and I see people LFG quite often. When I played vanilla WoW, I was a cleric and waited hours at times looking for a group. It's a problem that never goes away and affects all classes IMO. A guild sometimes helps, but ultimately you always have to be aggressive if you want to group. Having a tank/healer helps a lot because it makes it that much easier to just start your own. The warrior class underwent some changes recently and I believe is now considered more or less on par with the other tanking classes with respect to holding mob aggro. So, I don't think it would be a poor choice. It just depends on what style of play you like. Dread Knights can heal through life taps.
I think Druid and Paladin would be a good duo up until you hit 50 and start looking for full group content. I duoed with a buddy of mine, he did DK and I did Monk and we blasted through 90% of the content in game at lower levels (even a lot of the higher level stuff). I think Paladin and Druid would be good but a Necromancer and Paladin may be better due to the fact Necros can enhance the damage numbers of Paladins and at later levels throw off heals and ressurect. Druids are good at bursting a class down but pull aggro a lot. It's how and what you and her think is a good combo, in my opinion I think you would be better off with the Necromancer Paladin, but Druid and Paladin will work to.
I really cannot see anything wrong at all with a Pally/Druid duo. No, a druid is not an extremly powerful healer, but the Pally can heal as well, so between the two you should have all the heals you will need for content that could be considered duo-able. Do not be disappointed however if there are dungeons you cannot do without a group, because there will be some of those. The main thing is to play the class that you want to play, because you will be playing it a very long time. Vanguard has huge amounts of content and so many different paths you can take. It is a bit addicting too! So choose something you really want to play, and get ready for a long ride! Welcome aboard! Schiller
The druid class itself is about to go through some changes. You'll want to check those out first. http://forums.station.sony.com/vg/p...?topic_id=59210
Ikasawak wrote: Few tips to help you on your start: Joining active guild helps alot with looking for group mates, there are alot og big and new active guilds, do nto be afraid to lok around for one that you think is a best fit. Community here is great, ask nicley and you will almost always find assistance. IF you hear nothing in response though, usually means no one on knows, not that we are not listening, but no need to spam open chat with "No idea". Vanguard is a big game, and unlike most, has three full spheres of play. Ensure you check out crafting and Diplo. They can be rewarding, and great time sinks when only one of you can play. Give vanguard a fair shake, it has a lot more to it then any game, much like your early years of EQ you cant just log in and 10mins later say you have exerienced the game. But the danger is, once you do, you wont want to leave.
Again thanks for all the info. We always pick one game and stay with it for 3 yrs or so. I just cancelled our eq2 subs, so that makes more time to play. Im in planetside2 beta and its insanely fun, but since its beta u can't play it at times. Will sub to that when it goes live. It's my first fps and its a nice change of pace. So, I think we are going to start gold subs in vanguard and create the characters tonight. Will definitely look for a guild. My biggest issue with guilds is almost every guild I've joined in the past few games boast huge members that are online, but when I play there are like...... 2 people on lol. Granted I play early evening EST. 2 people in a guild usually amounts to one person that never talks and the other is a crafter lol. We are leaning towards dread knight and psi now. What do you guys think? Also, I may create a third account and roll a cleric on a laptop for a heal bot. Is this feasible or a bad idea. I'm honestly just worried we won't be able to do things in the game if there are no groups to provide the necessary dungeon hack group of tank, healer etc etc. My favorite game was EQ1. I quit when computer couldn't handle it n no money to buy a new one. I tried eq1 again last spring, but it just isn't the same with the Mercs...IMO. I'm hearing vanguard is the true eq2?
Started a pally/ psi. The info everyone provided was great help. The graphics are much better than expected.
I read that there are mercs here as well in some thread somewhere. Mercs help lower level characters, low-level population server characters, or people that don't want to group long, level easier. Nothing says you have to use them.
fggg wrote: There are contracts that are available through diplomacy, allowing for a short time for a the summoning player to have a time limited pet, 15 minutes if memory serves me correctly. The "pet" summoned will be the same level as the summoning character. If anyone is looking to give these a try, give me a shout in game, as I have a few of the contracts in my various character inventories that I tend not to use. Aasha and Thalatth are my mains, but I am always in /tavern, /craft, /help, /dip and /diplomacy, so give a shout for me there and if I am on I shall answer!
i can recommend drunken munk +disciple as duo. drunken monk can tank dungeons pretty well. probably all dungeons
