I'm sure something like this is posted once or twice a day, but meh...
So I've canceled and reinstated my L2 account several times since beta. Every time I come back I can't decide what to play, which is probably why my highest is only 41. With all the nerfs... I mean "adjustments" to the game each expansion I never know what's good anymore.
So here are my choices:
1) Sorceress
2) Spellhowler or Phantom Summoner (right before class change here)
3) Blade Dancer
I don't currently 2 box, let alone 3 box... ><, and I'm currently guildless though I do have friends. So I need something that is pretty good solo.
My concerns:
Sorc and SH have downtime with mana but kill fast.
PS is expensive and I play legit. Also I would think they are PKer bait with the summon level visable.
BD Seems like a decent middle ground actually and the one I'm leaning to. But their buffs seem so few and far between (IE need high levels before you have a nice set of skills.), and I already have a nice collection of robes and caster gear.
And to make this post even more involved if you do suggest a class what armor progression do you recommend?
If anyone bothers to reply I thank you for your time and input. :cool:
Good to solo are the SH or PS - the PS is more good to solo, the SH is probably the more solid class.
PSs can, unlike SHs, level very cheaply (you can kill fine, to everyone's surprise, without beast SS), and can manor or fish to supplement your hunting and gear.
well, thats certainly a common problem that many people face as each class posesses its own difficulties and stregths;
lets start in the order youve listed and try to take you from lvl 40-as high as i know to go;
1: sorceror; of all the mage classes this one is the hardest to play (harder than SPS) but the most versatile despite its lack of nukes. in speed setup youre an awesome pvper and can interrupt almost every other nuker if you can hit first. in groups youre an excellent AOE DD and when grouped with a warlord/destroyer and any buffer you can very easily pull massive trains and bring em all down rather fast.
compared to other nukers your nukes cost more MP to cast. you have body to mind lvl 1 which is only semi effective and pretty useless after B grade.
and NO. you DONT need sleep to kill anything. and YES you can solo but it will just take a bit longer than other nuker classes (even sps)
2: Spellhowler; if youre gonna play this one there will be no whining about soloing nor about pve. pvpwise if you can learn to catch your opponent casting on someone else, slap them with some silence and nuke away. other than that youre gonna have to pick up your teeth with broken fingers. youre a glass cannon. a slow one at that.
3: Phantom summoner; not a fast levelling class by any stretch of the imagination. anyone who has said otherwise is dreaming. setting yourself up incaster gear and sending the summon to kill while u nuke only renders your summon useless as youre bound to kill your target before the summon even starts whacking. meleeing mobs to death is even worse; you wont spend mana healing your summon until you pull more than 1 mob.
yes it is expensive but only when you make it expensive. use only beast shots u dont need to spam bsps and nuke to B grade (where you dont rely on anything for gear - ive seen lvl 6x PS use C grade and outdamage a same lvl glad at a raid). try to raid cause its fun.
suggestions for gear ... if youre set on the class get cheap gear. youre not dependent on it to level anyway. just make sure you keep yourself buffed defensively and know some healer friends.
4: Bladedancer; by far the more common choice out of all 4 suggested so far. by reason of no other than you can dance and are REQUIRED at every raid/siege/open war/pvp event ever listed. your dances are POWERFUL. you may not think so but at B grade and higher you gain more from the dances than you do at low level. heavy armor is the choice of many, as well as either duals with Haste, Focus or Health. this class will spend more on the gear it uses rather than consumables such as potions/shots.
after all that you only really need to remember the choice is yours and rerolling isnt unpopular :) hell there are still a lot of us that havent even been in B grade gear yet.
I love my BD... currently level 45. But I also am trying to learn on my new Human mage (going to be a necro).
BD's are loved in parties once you get up in levels, and your dances are great. And honestly, attack aura and defence aura arent all that bad self buffs... Plus you get hex and power break to debuff mobs. Although not a powerhouse, definately a fun and diverse class... Fun to solo, great to party... amazing to raid
haha yeah im enjoyin leveling my BD tho... Once you hit around 42-46 go to the crater under IVORY TOWER... I get some of the best spellbook drops out there... Which has saved me several mill because I just save them for when my Necro needs em... Just get a buffin or healin buddy and head out.
Wanna know whats a blast? I duo with another BD pretty often too.
If you just want to level fast and cost efficiently, go SH.
With herbs, SH don't have any downtime with mana if you're smart enough to use body to mind. Get a demon set and +3 homunculus with acumen and you can two-shot pretty much every mob(field, not cata..) in your level range up to lvl 60 or so. After that, either get an OE homu or sov and you can still two-shot everything. Or oneshot if you use curse death link.
You don't really need a buffer either, just use magic haste potions or greater magic haste potions and exp somewhere where you get herbs. Also +4 wit and +4 int tattoos help a lot, but that goes without saying.
If you just want to level fast and cost efficiently, go SH.
With herbs, SH don't have any downtime with mana if you're smart enough to use body to mind. Get a demon set and +3 homunculus with acumen and you can two-shot pretty much every mob(field, not cata..) in your level range up to lvl 60 or so. After that, either get an OE homu or sov and you can still two-shot everything. Or oneshot if you use curse death link.
You don't really need a buffer either, just use magic haste potions or greater magic haste potions and exp somewhere where you get herbs. Also +4 wit and +4 int tattoos help a lot, but that goes without saying.
thats great pve setup.
what happens tho when you encounter someone who's at war with your clan? if you arent fast enough to cast, youll die faster than you can spell CP.
That reminds me of an old clan mate of mine. Me and an SH were at shrine of the loyal killing our 700 mobs for 3rd class, and my clan mate (mid 50s SH subclass) came to visit. He shouts on vent "look I'm 2-shotting!" (CDL'ing) - and when I turned to look, he was dead :D
I'm so tired on harping about how good SHs are for those who play smart.
I'll just stick with the basics.
SHs have little to no downtime. Pick a good spot to grind and /walk... banking on clear mind and the new ( allbeit moderately pricey ) mana pots and you will go on like no other class in the game. For the rich.. replace hurricane with deathspike for an additional boost of mana efficiency. While you're at it... carry your weight in heal pots so you can body to mind without relying on leaches to get your hp back. No.. the UPTIME might not be as good as a summoners... but I guarantee no other class can get as much exp within the time frame. I <3 Shadow Flare.
As for skills/ pvp. Well... SHs are still the same glass powerhouses... with the endgame being well worth the wait ( though the wait is definately shorter than the rest of the classes. You have two great nukes ( with mad perks ) to look foward to and amazing toggles that makes you PAIN INCARNATE. No... you don't cast as fast as the other mages... but you hit oh so much harder. The right gear fixes that though... so now all you'd have to worry about is nerfs... the sleep/ debuff one being the only one that hit you. All the while silence had nice boosts to it~