New player wanting a few questions answered please

[synergy]

Hi, at the moment I'm feeling the need to fill the MMO gap in my life

I've recently played such MMO's as WoW but found them eventually unfulfilling, DAOC was a great but flawed game in its time and one of the most enjoyable MMO's i've played to date. Thing is, I haven't played it since beta/release - i stopped playing before the first expansion.

There always used to be problems with horrible class imbalance (minstrel pwns all, thane sucked unfortunately I rolled the latter as my first original char lol) - How is this these days?! Are the new classes horribly overpowered or do they lend new and exciting things to groups.

Buffbots - How are these handled these days? It used to be that anyone with enough free time and money (and lack of RL social skills ) would level a second character so that they could give themselves an unfair advantage over anyone who didnt.

Powerlevelling - I read something about how you have to be grouped these days and within 10 levels or you wont get any XP. Is this true? If so this sounds like a good idea

PvP - Daoc always had great PvP, how has this progressed?

Finally, can anyone suggest a good combo for 3 people coming back to DAOC - one a veteran and the other two who havent played for years. We will be primarily just playing as a threesome, PvPing and PvEing too.

 

[HappyG]

There always used to be problems with horrible class imbalance (minstrel pwns all, thane sucked unfortunately I rolled the latter as my first original char lol) - How is this these days?!

Thanes still suck, Mincers are okay tho

Buffbots - How are these handled these days? It used to be that anyone with enough free time and money (and lack of RL social skills ) would level a second character so that they could give themselves an unfair advantage over anyone who didnt.

BBs are a must for stealthers, and most of the PvP groups have one or two... They are also very nice to have in PvE.

Powerlevelling - I read something about how you have to be grouped these days and within 10 levels or you wont get any XP. Is this true? If so this sounds like a good idea

Well you can PL your char to 50 in 2 days, but with Catacombs leveling became much easier, so thers not that much PLing going on anymore.
Anyway reaching lvl 50 nowadays is like getting lvl 20 3 years ago, real grind starts when you have to get ToA equipment

PvP - Daoc always had great PvP, how has this progressed?

Still has best PvP seem in MMORPG .

Finally, can anyone suggest a good combo for 3 people coming back to DAOC - one a veteran and the other two who havent played for years. We will be primarily just playing as a threesome, PvPing and PvEing too.

Depends on the realm youd like to play in.

 

[eggy]

Hi, at the moment I'm feeling the need to fill the MMO gap in my life

I've recently played such MMO's as WoW but found them eventually unfulfilling, DAOC was a great but flawed game in its time and one of the most enjoyable MMO's i've played to date. Thing is, I haven't played it since beta/release - i stopped playing before the first expansion.

There always used to be problems with horrible class imbalance (minstrel pwns all, thane sucked unfortunately I rolled the latter as my first original char lol) - How is this these days?! Are the new classes horribly overpowered or do they lend new and exciting things to groups.

Hiya, firstly, you have chosen an FH name which is the same as the name of my guild, which is both confusing and ironic, seeing as you are posting in the Newbies section, ha ha!

1 on 1, there is massive class imbalance. Warlocks will kill almost instantly any class most of the time, minstrels will still beat the living crap out of most other classes, sorcs with moc3 lifetaps and now RR5 ability is very OP, bonedancers are pure 5second interrupt nukers...yes, it's still the same.

TOA abilities, RR5 abilites and new RAs make the balance worse. Midgard arguably are the most OP realm 8v8 still, fitting an incredible amount of utility into 8 slots; impossible in Albion. ML abilities are semi-class-based, tipping balance further. For example, Thornweed Field, a large radius DoT spell (very effective) is given to Wardens and Bonedancers, both very commonly used in hib/mid groups; but Reavers on Alb, which means giving up a slot that could quite possibly be used for something with greater utility. Healers (Mid) get Forceful Zephyr and Phase Shift (+ 3 healers in group)...Clerics cannot even access the spell-line, and minstrels aren't commonly used any more (takes up a valuable space). The list goes on.

Buffbots - How are these handled these days? It used to be that anyone with enough free time and money (and lack of RL social skills ) would level a second character so that they could give themselves an unfair advantage over anyone who didnt.

Every single soloer is fully buffed. Everyone is buffed, I'd say at least 50% have buffbots.

Levelling is EASY now, especially with Catacombs and free levels. You can get 50 in a matter of days without powerlevel.

Powerlevelling - I read something about how you have to be grouped these days and within 10 levels or you wont get any XP. Is this true? If so this sounds like a good idea

Completely untrue. You have BETTER benefits now than ever for xp. If you are sufficiently lower in level than the group leader, your damage/ability to take damage is boosted, meaning you can level with a larger range of people now.

PvP - Daoc always had great PvP, how has this progressed?

Would take 100s of pages to write about it. New Frontiers is all about keep-taking, siege wars, bridges, large fights. You still get full group action (and lots more of it with upcoming Island patch). Hundreds of new abilities/RAs/Artifacts (could write another 100 pages about these) change RVR a LOT.

Finally, can anyone suggest a good combo for 3 people coming back to DAOC - one a veteran and the other two who havent played for years. We will be primarily just playing as a threesome, PvPing and PvEing too.

You didn't mention a realm. One of the most fun duos is Sorc/Cabalist (mez/root, 2 x pet (ML9 pets act as if they were level 70 or so), body debuff, lifetaps, moc3, soi, brittle guards etc etc) Add a cleric and you have a good trio.

Any questions, feel free to PM me. I hope this was somewhat useful, although you must realise you were asking very general questions which are hard to sum up in a short space of text!

 

[synergy]

Many thanks for all the detailed and kind replies, as for the realm we will be playing Midgard on Excalibur. Any suggestions for those class duos/trios?

Also, could you please detail on the new classes and their roles. I've been looking for info but any new class guides are evading me.

Nice to hear about the easier levelling and improved PvP/RvR

 

[Alan]

Everything i wanted to say has been covered above Some classes still are way overpowered than others (eg RR5 sorcs with MoC) and some are still underpowered. But in my eyes the balance has improved over the last few years.

If you are starting Mid, then maybe take advantage of the future patch notes, Thanes and Valks are a pretty poor class currently and I believe find it hard to get groups - but with 1.79 they will recieve a new buff (aka pet spam) which will be heavily desired in epic raids so maybe dust off that old thane ?

Apart from that havent played mid to any extent so couldnt comment on the classes or a viable trio.

 

[synergy]

Lol its been so long since i played my Thane theyve probably deleted him. He was probably specced terribly too i think daoc those years ago was probably my first mmo.

 

[synergy]

Sorry, a question i forgot to ask - ever since playing the EQ enchanter I've loved CC classes. Whats the best Midgard CC class? Healer?

 

[Alan]

I think thats still the case.

daoc.catacombs.com still exists and is pretty much up to date, that could confirm if any other classes have CC - but im sure its still the healer.

 

[Mikah75]

..

healers rock the highest utility in the game
instant mezz
instant aoe mezz
instant stun
instant aoe stun
stun
mezz
aoe stun
aoe mezz
heals
buffs
root
power regen= rox

http://daoc.catacombs.com/cbuilder.cfm
take a look healer is very good choice.

 

[Herjulf]

How is this these days?! Are the new classes horribly overpowered or do they lend new and exciting things to groups.

Melee have fallen behind alot when it comes to utility, casters such as Sorc are very much "overpowered". The new classes, well some are indeed overpowered, Warlock in particular. However warlock have been downtuned slightly, but are still very strong. Vampiir and banshee are also sick classes that havent been given the attention they deserve with the ol´ nerfbat.

Overall melee classes havent changed much, Masterlevels give some melee classes some pretty decent tools, but overall. TOA is caster love.
Picture this: Direct damage spells that with TOA items being able to be reduced to "cap" speed of 1sec, of 500 - 1000+ Damage per hit.
And when solo casters running around they have little nifty "brittleguard" pets that take hits for them.

Buffbots

Nothing changed, but as EVERYONE have buffbots and those that dont gets one, it doesnt matter much. Its mostly buffbot imbalance spec AF shield for certain realms for example that makes some buffbots better then others.

PvP - Daoc always had great PvP, how has this progressed?

Stupid PvP in ways these days, but PvP will VERY soon get some love with the new PvP island Agramon that will bring back the old style PvP.
An island where u wont have to fight NPC´s, and natural chokepointsfor stealthers etc.

Finally, can anyone suggest a good combo for 3 people coming back to DAOC - one a veteran and the other two who havent played for years. We will be primarily just playing as a threesome, PvPing and PvEing too.

[/QUOTE]

Dunno what realm, but if mid i guess Warrior, Shaman/healer, Dark SM/Runemaster. a good setup for PvE and PvP if trioing i guess.

 

[Herjulf]

healers rock the highest utility in the game

Dunno about utility in healer *cough* but they are good at the two(three) things they can do.
Heal and CC/intr.
Even though so limited span of "utility" the healers qbar is most likely one of the most advanced one.

 

[synergy]

Well thanks everyone for your posts, I'm pretty sure that healer is what I want to be. I looked at the character builder and it really does seem they have the best CC in Midgard (though plenty of other classes have 'some').
And of course, I'm a 'Healer' so finding a group will never be hard I hope

How high can I spec in pacification without gimping myself in other things, i read somewhere you want to be 30 mend for the spread heal, but i want my pacification as high as I can Please advise.

 

[Ryuno]

If you browse the catacombs class forums for the healer, im sure you will find the info you are after. Spec is what everyone is talking about there.

Personally ive never played a healer so can't give you any sound advice sorry

 

[Vell]

For a 3some in Midgard, assuming you will be a pac specced healer, having a Spiritmaster and Warlock would make a very powerful group. While you are lacking a tank for the traditional taunt tactic, you have a good duration stun, and uber pbae damage, all 3 classes can heal (if specced appropriately), and good ranged damage too. Levelling to begin with may be a little more difficult, but will become easier as each class gains more abilities.

If one person wanted to play a tank class, either a warrior or thane would be best. While Thane's struggle to begin with, once they get higher level, and once the ability mentioned by Tears is added, they will be a nice class to play. The Warrior is better at being a tank, but a bit less versatile, since the Thane can join in with the spell casting if he/she feels like it.

I would recommend either going to 30, or 39 mending, and then the rest in pac if thats what you want. Spreadheals > all

If you need any help or advice once you're in game, feel free to give me a /tell on any of my characters if I'm online

 

[Jobbegea]

if you guys are 3players + a bb account and gonna play mid.

choose thane and a savage/zerker + aughealer + aug shaman buffbot.

thanes are very nice pve class and get a pve boost later aswell for high lvl mobs. thanes have better util in rvr then warriors. insta pbaoe interupt, insta damage and AE spells to interupt caster boxes. The have acces to battlemaster ml. so BG/grapple is very nice in fg fights. + static tempest RA is a very nice defensive RA if you have to defend yourself as BG'er or for zerg bombing. A well played thane rox big time in a FG.

savage and zerker have nice frontloading damage in pve. zerker got banelord interupts in rvr that is very nice, savage has acces to battlemaster aswell, but also warlord that is nice in rvr (pet flee and warguard and siege haste for example)

aughealer is just needed in pve as in rvr. doesn't matter wich ml line. perfecter or sojourner. perfecter for pve of rox, and soj for water breath/phaseshift (damage immune for 10secs) and forcefull zephyr (little tornado that picks of target to a ground target), but still perfector on healer is nice aswell in rvr. the celerity/haste buff owns in pve and rvr, much faster hitting with your weapons.


this is just a grab of the lots of choice you have as a small man group.

 

[Thegreatest]

For PvE I would suggest Healer - Supp SM + Summ SM for PBAOE focus pulling...You would lvl quite fast killing 4-5 yellow/oj mobs at once . This setup probably won't work out quite well if you wanna rvr with 3.

Other setup you could try is Aug Shaman + 2x tank (berserker/savage/warrior preferred) for non-stop tearing thru oj/red mobs.

 

[Kathal]

Many thanks for all the detailed and kind replies, as for the realm we will be playing Midgard on Excalibur. Any suggestions for those class duos/trios?

SB, WL, RM.
SB for poison traps and grp stealth, WL for traps and uber insta dam, RM for speed, debuff and dam.
The SB will have to be ML10 Spymaster.

This is ofc for RvR

 

[Herjulf]

SB, WL, RM.
SB for poison traps and grp stealth, WL for traps and uber insta dam, RM for speed, debuff and dam.
The SB will have to be ML10 Spymaster.

This is ofc for RvR

extremely funny setup, stand and w8 for inc to run into traps, then BLITZ from stealth. Good fun.

 

[living]

Sorc,Spirit Cabalist and a Cleric with DI is the most sickening overpowered combo EVER!

Bolt range mess insures u to get ur mess off on any solo/duo/trio out there (unless they got a bard). And the nukes hit as trucks while the cabalist got the enemy casters nearsighted =)

but science u want to plai mid/excal (and we certainly need more ppl here!) it becomes a little harder But i suggest using casters for small grps in rvr as u need to drop the enemy fast these days (or u get loads of adds)