Okay guys, after about 2 years of Ragnarok (dont ask) I decided trying something new. And woah, on the second day of L2 I already fell absolutely addicted. Besides being very beautiful, it has some charm (man i cant help but love that huge Shillen statue on DE village), I dunno... just in love with it :)
For a starting character, I made a Dark Elf fighter at Gustin server. I am still not sure of the differeces from The Shillen Knight to the Bladedancer (even tho I read all the skills over and over). I'm not decided what to take (well, when i hit the level to choose it). If that helps, my main interests are a character that can solo nicely and be useful on Sieges. If any of you oldschoolers would help me, I'd be glad! Please feel free to PM me with that... plus really any suggestion you guys think useful.
To finish my first post, thanks to the topics in this Forum related to newbie questions, really helped a lot! And yes, I gotta agree that friendship is whats cool on any MMORPG. Just hope I can make some here, soon :)
Shillien Knight is an 'Aggressive' tank. (Hate/Lightning/cubics)
Bladedancer is a 'Support' fighter. (Due to the dances)
Both do fairly well solo, although I would give the edge to the SK. It might be a bit more expensive to go all out, but that also gives you more power as well. Both do fairly well for siege, BD in demand for the dances again, while the SK can do fairly well himself. (Nukers/Archers are 'the' pvp classes, although the upcoming expansion is starting to show a few nerf/boosts to reduce the gap a bit. Prob 5-6 months out yet though.)
Both will cost about the same to equip, although let me be the first to warn you...YES, L2 is a grind. It is however more of an adena grind than a level grind. (Just wait until you see some of the prices in Giran!)
Personally I would recommend the SK over the BD...seems like you can't go more than 2 feet without bumping into another BD soemtimes. But I leave that up to you. Both share quite a few of the same skills, but the BD gets dances instead of the SK's hate and defensive/attack skills. Once you make the second class change the BD's playstyle changes a fair amount, while the SK tends to do what the Palus Knight did, just more and better.
If your not sure, just visit the Monster Derby track and watch the various chars fight in the arena. (You will need to talk to a gatekeeper at a non-starter town, to have the free-teleport to the track option however.)
Oh, many thanks on these guidelines. The way some people told me in game, simply BD were awesome and SK teh suck. Good to see that it seems more a matter of perspective. :)
Anyone out there would add something and give me some info on the topic? "Functions" of each class is welcome (altho sounds pretty obvious that BD is a support class with some half-***** damage if needed).
BDs do not have half-***** damage. With Focus duals and dance of Fire, we do plenty of damage. BDs are always wanted in groups, which makes for fast lvling and makes the damage output of the party much higher and quicker.
I've never played an SK, but it does seem like a lot of fun, once you master all the skills that you have and when to use them correctly. SKs are the most damaging tank due to all of the skills that it has, but it also considered "the worst" PvE tanks because DE fighters have 32CON.
Yeah, the very first time I went through the east gate and saw then hand rising from the center with that energy connecting it to the swirling vortex above... that was when I knew I might stay longer than a week.
Then I saw the rest of it below the grating. That was a profound moment.
BDs do not have half-***** damage. With Focus duals and dance of Fire, we do plenty of damage. BDs are always wanted in groups, which makes for fast lvling and makes the damage output of the party much higher and quicker.
I've never played an SK, but it does seem like a lot of fun, once you master all the skills that you have and when to use them correctly. SKs are the most damaging tank due to all of the skills that it has, but it also considered "the worst" PvE tanks because DE fighters have 32CON.
Even without those dances/focus, the Duals a BD uses give it a very respectable damage output. More damage basic damage than the SK gets with a one handed sword as well. So I agree that in no-way is the BD damage gimp. The SK's simply have more offensive and defensive skills to play with that give them a boost without needing to have a party to make the most of their dances.
As far as the low CON goes however....in most cases the lower HP is negligable. Only in Raids or some PVP cases will that be an issue VS choosing other tanks. And for that you could always choose a Health SA weapon to even the odds up a bit.
Quite helpful post, thanks for all the input, mates.
I'm leveling now, looking forward to lvl 20. In fact, both sounds really interesting now, and balanced even if each one has a different "function". Both are very interesting, and I'm still undecided, but now I rest assured that any of the choices would be nice ones.