Hello,

I'd like the boards advice on suggesting a class to play in EQ2. I played EverQuest religiously for 4-5 years back in it's prime, and I've always played DPS melee classes. I really enjoyed playing Rangers, Rogues, and Monks.

I'd like to ask everyone's opinion on the versatility of these three classes here in EQ2? Specifically, Ranger, Swashbuckler and Monk.

Is their DPS in raids viable? Will I be invited to parties? If not will I be able to solo?

Thanks! 

I have a monk and I love it. It's a good solo class, can DPS in groups and do ok on raids.  I

Originally posted by zunarn

I have a monk and I love it. It's a good solo class, can DPS in groups and do ok on raids.  I

I would agree. If you like melee classes Monk is a good class. Or brusiser. I think they do a little better in the dps area. But both are great for soloing.  I soloed a bruiser to 80 with ease.

The monk and bruiser are excellent solo classes and they are great if you plan to solo throughout the game. The monks and bruisers that I know sometimes complain about having a difficult time finding groups and also have very limited raid opportunities.

Swashbucklers may not solo as well as monks and bruisers but they are more in demand for groups and raids, so your choice would depend a lot on what play style you prefer. They have higher dps but aren't as sturdy as a monk.

Rangers are a high dps class and the ones that I know seem happy. However most of the raiding rangers that I know betrayed to assassins to get higher dps. I would recommend that you check the class forums on the official forums and check which roles the classes fill at end game if your intention is to play long term.

Between bruisers and monks bruisers seem to be in bigger demand. 1 swashbuckler per raid is usually wanted but again people want more of their counterpart, brigand. As a monk or bruiser you will be called on to tank in some capacity on raids, not as much as the plate tanks though. For groups you will often be asked to tank as a brawler (bruiser/monk).

I play ranger full time and raid, we got all of TSO content down excluding avatars, anashti and only killed first 2 guys in yeksha's (leaving 3 to go). As a ranger yeah assassins can often out dps me but that is about it, ahead of most people, the people ahead of me on parses change fight to fight so I still end up first/second on 'zone wide' parses. Most other raiding rangers I talk to seem to get crappy group set ups on raids for buffs or just plan don't know what their doing so they go 'dps easy mode' and either roll an assassin or betray.

I know Swash and Monk are great for soloing. Sure, ranger has high dps and all but they are last on the soloing list from these 3 classes IMO.

Swash is probably easiest to find a group with out of these three because of the utility it brings to the group/raid. First and foremost aggro transfer

 i read online that warden are very wanted and not just for healing duty ,i read that they do decent dps and very hard to kill 

dont know if that old news or if its even good anymore since not lot of gamer post their secret lol

Druid is a fun class imo, but compared to the other healers it can't hold the candle sadly. The healing ability is very sweet but the druids have very weak buffs/debuffs compared to shaman/cleric. But i say go for whatever class you like! I was just doing a small comparison from my experience

I'd go with a Rogue if I was you.

Rangers bring one thing to a raid, DPS. If you want to raid as ranger you better bring damn good DPS since you don't bring any buffs. As for soloing I'd assume they are about mediocre and group should be ok.

Brawlers (Monk & Bruiser) can't tank as good as a plate tank, does less DPS then rogue so a raid would rather bring a rogue/predator if they needed the DPS or a plate tank if they need a tank. There are of course exceptions where some players have the skills to outperform plate tanks/scouts, but you need to very good. As for soloing they are very good and can tank/dps most heroic zones.

Rogues have some descent buffs for the group and good debuffs + they do good DPS in raids. They are versatile in raids which means its better to bring two swashies then to bring two rangers or brawlers. Solo they are just one step below brawlers (if you put the AAs in the right place) and they are good for groups.