I started the 14 day European Trial yesterday and I love the game so far. I will definately be subscribing after my free period.
I am completely new to the world of Lineage 2 and would like a little advice on some classes from some of the experienced players please. First a little bit of info on what I'm looking for to make it easier for you to advise me. Basically, I am looking for a ranged class, either Archer or Mage that is inexpensive as well as reaasonably fast to level. The class must also be pretty good in PvP as that will be a focus for me at a later stage in the game. The main classes that I have been looking at are:
Which of these classes do you all think would suit me best, given my criteria? Or, are there any other classes that would suit me better than those I mentioned?
Thanks to all who reply to these questions, it is much appreciated.
Welcome to Lineage2! May I ask what server you are on? If you are on Erica (the best server, btw), lets chat.
You will get lots of advice here, but remember that free advice is usually worth what it costs you. We each have our opinions about classes, good ones and bad ones.
I would suggest you try several different types of classes (mage, archer, dagger, healer, the two dwarves, etc....) and see what you enjoy the most. If the time passes quickly and you realize its 2AM, then you have found a class you like. Choose that one, since you will be spending a lot of time on it.
Don't choose one just to 'level up fast', that is a road to frustration. Look inside yourself to see what kind of person you are. If you like to help people then you may like being a healer of buffer. If wealth is important, a dwarf. If having people fear you and respect you melts your butter, roll a high damage class.
Spellhowler(SH) and Necro are your two nuker options. Spellsinger(SPS) aint worth the effort.
For archers, Phantom Ranger(PR) or Hawkeye(HE). I'd skip the Silver Ranger(SR) due to their lack of dmg compared to the other two.
Both the nuker classes are good at solo play thru the lvls, lvl fast and aint that expensive either. Necro is more expensive if you use death spike as your main nuke, but if you Curse Death Link thru your lvls it is cheap. Necro is also the better one in PVP in end game.
All archers are good at end game, but expensive in the start IF you lvl with a bow. I'd suggest that if you pick an archer, you use a dagger from 1-52 lvl atleast, then change to a bow.
HE is the current number 1 archer, it is well balanced in all aspects(between the archer classes) but PR is the biggest hitter of them all, but somewhat weaker in damage soaking.
Bottomline is that all 4 classes are good in pvp, lvl fast and aint that expensive in the long run.
Rum, so far I have been playing on Franz and currently have a 10 DE Mystic, 10 Human Fighter and a 5 Orc Fighter. I still havent decided which server to make my home though.
I have to say that I am looking at ranged DD's and am leaning more to one of the Archers rather than the Mage classes.
Charmille, does the extra damage that PR's do even out against the extra survivability of the HE, or are HE's generally better? Also, do either of these classes have trouble finding groups to grind with or clans at later levels?
Once again, thanks for the quick responses guys, much appreciated.
both archers are exactly even balanced until level 61. after this time, the HE gets a skill that increases his carrying capacity. most people use it to carry extra CP potions instead of shots or arrows though. for that reason many argue HE > all.
For a beginner the first thing we need to talk about is limitations of the classes.
Archer or Mage are both solid in PvP, although archer is insanely better at buffed PvP and Mage (specifically necro which isn't on you list) is best at unbuffed PvP.
Archery and Magic are both good at solo.
Archers and mages are both limited by mana in what they can output.
2 of the archer classes and 2 of the mage classes (one of which is not in your list) get active methods to regenerate mana.
Hawkeye
Phantom Ranger
Spell Howler
Necromancer (not in your list)
Because passive mana regeneration is so bad in L2, one of those four are the best choices for nearly ALL purposes.
Thus the following two should be completely ignored
Spellsinger
Silver Ranger
Pick one of the following four for your best choice:
Hawkeye - longest range, toughest archer
Phantom Ranger - Most damage and most efficient in game period, glass cannon of archers.
Spellhowler - Most efficient mage, (note there is no real reason to play a pure nuker mage right now as archery/necromancers are so insanely better)
Necromancer - 99% of the damage of a mage, double the effective HP, (toughest high-end damage dealer in the game)
All of the best 1-hit wins in the game... one of the best soloist in the game.
Honestly for PvP... Hawkeye, Phantom ranger, or Necro... Everything else is at best "2nd class".
For archers, Phantom Ranger(PR) or Hawkeye(HE). I'd skip the Silver Ranger(SR) due to their lack of dmg compared to the other two.
End game, SR owns. Before that, HE does. PR, imo sucks.
SR owns in end game because as buffs get stacked, it becomes more and more about how often you crit rather than how much you crit for.
HE owns mid game because they have high crit rate AND high crit dmg. Their crit rate isnt as high as a SR, but its still good. Their crit dmg isnt as high as a PR, but its still good.
PR sucks because they cant take hits, they dont crit nearly as often as the other 2, and they stun easily.
I have to disagree MrTeedOff. I'm a heck of a lot more afraid of Hawkeye's than I am of SR's.
And being able to out-pot somebody can be a huge advantage in mass PvP.
Also, why the hate for Spellsingers? They're a VERY specialized class.
Their job is to cast before anyone knows you're casting. When you hit Mystic Muse you have 0 delay on your spells and you have almost instant casting speed.
The down side is that they have lower M.Atk and they have bad MP management.
xD Go Destroyer. Cheap to level, I have an OPA +9 and a gs +5 which I use, one for PvE, the other for PvP, if they were not OE'd it would only cost about 31-33m to get that. (Gustin)
Which is cheap compared to other classes that get 'one' B grade weapon for the same price? And Destroyers are uber at both PvE/PvP ..btw changing servers? Look at the world discussion, she which is more active..I'd say Gusting (for more drama) or Hindesmith (waits someone to tell me why hindesmith is worth playing on)
If you like the melee playstyle, a Destroyer, Glad or Tyrant would be good. I suppose Daggers classes are OK also, and they have a nice bag of tricks to use. But, the image of the typical dagger player is what is most different from other melee styles, and that would have to be considered.
if you really have the patience, the best bet you can do is to make multiple toons level them up at least 40+ and see how you like them. if you really like the style of an archer, go archer. it takes plenty of time to level any class so you'll get to know it well and if you find you dont like it, its very easy to reroll.
as for servers, I wont say hinde is better or worse, I havent played on any server but hinde. it does however have active sieges/wars with no single alliance controling the server. power shifts over time. As it has been said before, I shall repeat; hinde has a history of rising up when pushed, IE bad castle lords or alliances trying to dictate to the whole server tend to get the boot to the dirt. all the while it has an active population and plenty of friendly people willing to help as they can. (and clans to find all play times/play styles)
Archers and Necros own. High end Sorcerors can one shot people with Prominence. High End Spellsingers can 2-3 shot many people (2 casts from a SPS is faster than oen from a Sorc). Since leveling up to a more "PvP'able" level I have noticed that archers (high 6x-low7x) actually don't hurt that bad unless they crit. If they get the jump on you and you don't react fast enough you're dead, though. But for the most part similar level archers don't kill me that often unless they crit on first shot (for a 1 shot) or crit low twice in a row. If they don't kill me in 2 shots they'll be Gloomed-Feared-Anchored and it's an easy win.
High End Shadowhowlers hurt with Silence, that crap seems to always land for them, and their nukes hurt muchly.
If you go SPS I would concentrate on leveling to at least mid 6x before even thinking about PvP (their +3 top jewels + your low M.Atk makes for not so good dmg when fighting players of similar levels even). At high levels, though, they are vicious PvP'ers. You're dead before you even notice your CP/HP moved, Lol!
Tyrants are good, Dark Avengers that I've seen are good. I've seen some good Gladiators.
But for the most part, Archers and Necros rule PvP.
Don't forget the summoners, I've seem some vicious summoner PvP'ers - Kai the Cat hits hard - I found out last night :(
High end Sorcerors can one shot people with Prominence. High End Spellsingers can 2-3 shot many people (2 casts from a SPS is faster than oen from a Sorc).
Are you a PR guy? This is a load of crap. Any nuker can one-shot under the right circumstances, but only on a CRIT that doesn't happen that often without the right buffs, not a big difference in damage per nuke. an SPS is only about 15-20% faster than a sorc with the same setup.
Thanks very much to all who have replied, this game seems to have a great community.
I have decided to try out a Human Fighter going the Hawkeye route. If I am still enjoying it by around about level 50 I will stick with it, otherwise I will re-roll a Spellhowler or Necromancer.
I have rolled a new Female Human Fighter on Hindemith, as even though I am from the UK, I work at night till 3-4am, so I thought that an American server would suit me better. Hindemith, had the best Ping of the US servers and I liked what I saw from the Server Personality Profile. My toons name on Hindemith is Triduana if anyone wants to look me up.
Once again, thank you to all you kind souls who took some time out to answer my questions. See you ingame.
High end Sorcerors can one shot people with Prominence. High End Spellsingers can 2-3 shot many people (2 casts from a SPS is faster than oen from a Sorc).
Are you a PR guy? This is a load of crap. Any nuker can one-shot under the right circumstances, but only on a CRIT that doesn't happen that often without the right buffs, not a big difference in damage per nuke. an SPS is only about 15-20% faster than a sorc with the same setup.
How many nukers do you know that go grinding/PvP without Empower/Acumen/Death Whisper/etc.?
Not many. Me, soemtimes - but I'm getting out of that habit.
From what I've seen in Arena (and we always have a bot and don't mind buffing anyone who asks) Sorcerors were 1 shotting people quite often. Necros were Gloom/Anchoring through high lvl melees hitting them. SPS were owning archers with 2-3 shots. Spellhowlers were silencing other casters with almost 100% land rate.
I killed a few archers, and didn't have to crit. I seen a hero sorceror 1 shot a 7x archer - it was funny. I seen many archers get owned by Spellsingers. Archers certainly are cool, and powerful, and have high crit rate - but they are dependent on their crits - their damage is irregular.
I know tons of nukers who go pvp without death whisper :p
QFT lol
But seriously.. arena, enough said. half the people there run around with no hp and no buffs.. of course you will 1-shot them, hell some people don't even have gear!
Even a 78 Storm Screamer needs at least 4 shots to kill me when I only have PP 60 buffs.. no resists.. not to mention pot spammage will increase that to 7-9 shots :p
You're right though that archers depend on crits to do damage, and shields hurt us alot too. But give an archer enough buffs and it won't matter..
go for hawkeye, they got lots of HP/CP (most of any archer class), do lots of damage, hardly ever miss, have high crit rate and fastest attack speed, and look cool while doing it.
Also, why the hate for Spellsingers? They're a VERY specialized class.
Their job is to cast before anyone knows you're casting. When you hit Mystic Muse you have 0 delay on your spells and you have almost instant casting speed.
The down side is that they have lower M.Atk and they have bad MP management.
Spellsingers are very good at Gatehopping/Gank/BSoE.
When you have ONE unbuffed 20+level-below-you target, they work out just fine....
However, in extended PvP, against even-leveled, even equipment and even buffed targets they suck.
Your opponents WILL be buffed and will take 600-800 damage from your most powerful attacks. Sure, you can spam your nukes and eventually kill them, but you will be VERY low mana after only a couple of them.
This is provided you get the first shot... Spellsingers die in ONE SHOT to a buffed archer.
Note, that ALL buffed nukers at their third class change will be casting extremely quickly and thus their casting speed really stops mattering... who cares if your cast speed is 1200 or 1331? You are saving fractions of a second on each cast as compared to a Necro... and you have not even HALF the HP... you also will be OOM shortly into the fight and wil require 18 seconds of walking/sitting to regain ONE nuke (for 800).
The hate for spellsingers is due to playing one... its a dead class.
hi..im also an european player...it was a friend that take the responsability for the sieg server...although my ping is quite high, the friendship i found, worths it...as for a good class,as a swordsinger, you must know yourself...im for the party?for myself?...if your choice is the last one, either archers or mages are for you...i like more to help others...i suggest to try the orcs classes...they are quite interesting, fun, and you intimidade just for your looks...:D...tyrant its probably the most interesting class in this game...destroyer rules a lot...and either an warcryer(im doing one...;)) either the overlord class are amazing and feared...hope you enjoy this 14 days,and like me and others european, stay for a bit longer...;)...most of all, have fun...
Also, why the hate for Spellsingers? They're a VERY specialized class.
Their job is to cast before anyone knows you're casting. When you hit Mystic Muse you have 0 delay on your spells and you have almost instant casting speed.
The down side is that they have lower M.Atk and they have bad MP management.
Spellsingers are very good at Gatehopping/Gank/BSoE.
When you have ONE unbuffed 20+level-below-you target, they work out just fine....
However, in extended PvP, against even-leveled, even equipment and even buffed targets they suck.
Your opponents WILL be buffed and will take 600-800 damage from your most powerful attacks. Sure, you can spam your nukes and eventually kill them, but you will be VERY low mana after only a couple of them.
This is provided you get the first shot... Spellsingers die in ONE SHOT to a buffed archer.
Note, that ALL buffed nukers at their third class change will be casting extremely quickly and thus their casting speed really stops mattering... who cares if your cast speed is 1200 or 1331? You are saving fractions of a second on each cast as compared to a Necro... and you have not even HALF the HP... you also will be OOM shortly into the fight and wil require 18 seconds of walking/sitting to regain ONE nuke (for 800).
The hate for spellsingers is due to playing one... its a dead class.
your arguments are invalid. you are comparing SPS to end game HE and end game necro. you cant do this. it would be like comparing a calculator to a filing cabinet. there are no similarities so no comparison can be drawn.
yes, my zebra is quite tame, not like this office furniture here; i am sure that chair would eat you given the chance...
the people that play sps and sorc both know what they are designed for and why they exist in pvp. and no, you dont bring an end game SPS to an archer zerg, everyone knows this. apples, and oranjs.
what was the sps and sorc designed for then? the answer is simple; NON end game pvp.
lol yes! ive seen lvl 54 sorcs take down fully buffed 6x tanks and die next hit to a 4x dwarf. hell ive DONE it.
the whole game does not revolve around the 77+ crowd. and people should stop trying to think that way too. have you, thalenduros, seen the posts whining about classes not having any fun? those posters were all told by someone that their classes pwnd in pvp; well they arent end game and they arent pwning ppl.
hmmmm.....
this tells me that indeed 77+ is not always the most fun pvp.
might be the fastest and most successful when drac/focus is involved somewhere, but definitely not the absolute of pvp.
When I signed on as a Spellsinger it was as an elemental mage... with no black magic.
It didn't say "stop levelling at 5x, because you will not be comparable to other nuking classes after that point."
Oh come on... you don't believe that that is the way it was designed and neither do I.
Necromancers are not supposed to be everything mages are + a lot more + double HP and archers are not supposed to deal so much damage that every other class might as well not exist.
Mage damage should either be similar to archery damage in sustainability or mage burst damage should significantly outweigh archery leaving archery as a more sustainable but less bursty damage output.
There should be give and take advantages and disadvantages for all of the classes... and there just plain aren't right now.
My arguement is to not play Sps because it has SO many downsides and nowhere near the upsides other classes present.
If you don't agree I would appreciate some logic and proof behind your claims.
the only way to prove this point woudl be to find a dev quote saying spellsingers are designed to be worthless in endgame.
The whole point of balancing the classes (C5's monikor) was so that every class had a chance at killing every other class (I would assume at every level since the game is PvP-based).
QF[Not]T.
I could start talking about almost instant reuse HP/CP pots but that's been discussed do death. Some people blame the addition of CP to the game but that again has been discussed to death.
Mage classes (without servitors) should not have sustained high damage output, they should be high DPS without the ability to sustain them (Sorc being the perfect example) over long periods of time - this isn't the case for at least 2 Mage classes (B2M and lower than average mana cost on Death Spike for Nec/SH).
Archers should be somewhere in between Mages and DD, but below daggers in DPS. Frankly, an Archer should not be critting more than a Dagger. They should have a higher base hit due to their slower attack speed, but they should not crit for more than a mage, either, esp since they can attack from 1000 (?) range at high end and I've yet to see an archer get interrupted shooting an arrow while I spell is hitting them (unless you manage to get close enough to Gloom+Anchor/Fear them, something only one mage can do and only due to Transfer Pain - sorry if the archer 1 shots your servitor from 1k range, though :().
Mystics should get a boosted Mana regeneration (with Buffer/Healer classes getting the biggest boosts esp Oracles/Elders/Prophets). Classes need to be rebalanced so that innate/racial bonuses/detriments really matter (so that your cast speed/M.Atk/HP, etc. really matter and you really need to think before clicking "create"). Necromancer Transfer Pain should be nerfed to half effectiveness at each level (so 25% at TP5 instead of 50%) because they are not "true" summoners, but rather a sort of hybrid (like an Elven Elder IRT Buffing and Healing). Necro really should have been a DEF class, to enjoy lower cast speed (meaning they can't Gloom+Fear/Anchor you at awesome speeds - provided people start noticing the effect of DEF cast speed, which isn't the case now). Their M.Atk doesn't matter cause Gloom almost always lands on similar leveled players even with high OE's non-boss jewels and that makes their other spells dependable anyways.
Shield Block for Spells I felt was a great change (despite being a mage :) ) - but the top DD classes and buffers still need alot of work to make them "balanced".
People really talk like Archers owning people are a new thing :P
In EQ (my experiences, of course) Archers were severely overpowered in PvP similar to L2. They could 1-2 shot almost anyone cause their crits were insane and not even walls blocked their arrows (at the beginning). It was even worse cause they only needed 1 Arrow (Endless Quiver AA). Necros could tank Warrior classes with lifetaps (Dmg to you, healing to me) that were instant cast compared to other mage classes, and Wizards could 1 shot you with Mana burn (4dmg/mana unresistable, and crit 75% of the time for 15-20k). Ever seen a raid mob drop in 1 second, ask all the Wizard farm teams that would Mana burn 1 raid dragon/hour.
People complain about griefing but on Sullon Zek Wizards would sit outside the city and 1 shot you with **** near unresistable nukes when you spawned (ruleset was very similar to L2). You weren't even safe in the city, they could kill you there too. They would lower their City Karma but those are probably the same guards they farmed for cash to buy their spells, anyways - so they didn't care (guards were one shot for them). Enchanters would charm you and make you fight guards (unresistable charm), and bards would train you with mobs (cause their runspeed in L2 would be 1 million, Lol).
L2 isn't any worse off than any other game :) It's actually not bad as far as balance goes, it's just that NCSoft has been really really slow to work on it - and what work they've done really hasn't done much IRT class balance (like make Curse:Fear a usable skill in PvP, thanks though :) )
They really need to make dwarves usefull, I have a few dwarf friends and they level so slow because they cannot get groups, and everytime I get a group with space the group refuses to invite them. I feel so sorry for them, but I admire their grit for sticking with the class/race that they love to play.
I agree with alot of what you said, except the statement below.
The whole point of balancing the classes (C5's monikor) was so that every class had a chance at killing every other class (I would assume at every level since the game is PvP-based).
The game is not designed around that form of balance. It has been said up as a Rock Paper Scisors type of balance. Any class should not be able to beat another class 1v1 if it is not thier element.
I didn't said should, I said had a chance. Plus, I'm pretty much quoting NCSoft... Their C5 advertisement mentioned the new balanced PvP system where all classes have a chance to defeat another (not in that wording, but that was the definite meaning). Are you an L2 developer - cause you're basically telling me they don't know what they're talking about - and you do (not meant to be offensive, btw).
When you have a server with 50% Archer/Necro population, one has to wonder what form balance the game is based around. Every class should have notable advantages/disadvantages the intice people to play them. ATM, people play certain classes to be "different" or "look good" or because their clan needs that certain class (i.e. your clan as 15 archers and they like Queen of Cat buffs so you rolled a WK, or they need buffers/healers so you rolled a Bishop or god forbid - Elder), not because it rocks (and it doesn't have to rock as hard as every other class, just have something good to say about it).
There are too many useless classes in L2, especially in relation to PvP/Siege Warfare.