Alrighty, I played EQ2 a year or two ago until level 30 or so.  I stopped due to there not being many people to play with at lower levels and soloing just isn't something I find fun.  I met a few people playing another MMO and found out that they all play EQ2 also so I fired my account back up.  We are all going to roll new characters on a new server.  So far the group makeup is as follows:

Monk

Ranger

Fury

**Insert my character here**

Seeing that I have little to no knowledge about the nuances of all the classes I really do not know what to play.  I am pretty sure I am going to fill the heals slot and that is fine.  I just would like to know which one to go with.  My minimal research is telling me either Warden or Templar with a strong inclination toward Templar.  My group will be leveling almost exclusively together (we all hop on around the same time and get on Vent etc. on just about a daily basis).  Eventually we will be raiding and all that end game goodness also so that is a factor.

Any opinions on which class I should go with?  Downloader says I have 13 hours to go so I have some time to make a decision.  Oh, bonus points for race selection information also.  If race doesn't impact gameplay too much than I am going with whatever I find interesting.

Thanks.

I came back to EQ2 a few weeks ago. Based on what I've seen and learned thus far, I would recommend a druid over a templar. If you have a set group, you'll be able to contribute more DPS while still effectively healing. Plus (and this is a huge one for me) the druid gets to port around, reducing travel times. This will add up to TONS of time saved later on. In addition to dps and sufficient heals, I believe you'll also get Evac, which is handy in more ways than one.

That being said, the decision is ultimately yours, and if you chose a Templar over a druid, you'd have no one to compete with for loot since you'll be the only one wearing plate. Hehehe.

Err, its been awhile since I played, but don't Furys heal? HoTs mainly?

Monk I would assume would be tank, they take spikey damage, so I would go from there.

Templars have large slow heals iirc. Is Warden the good guy version of Defiler? I would go with that. The wards would probably be the most effective in healing a Monk.

A fury is a druid healer.  The fury is the most caster dps oriented healer.

The other two healers are the shaman based and the cleric based.  Shaman has wards that provide a protection and cleric has heals that put a heal proc on you so every time you get hit you heal some.

Clerics are generally considered the best healers.  Shamans are also good but have longer casting spells so templars are better.  With your group makup I'd go with the templar and I'd spec maybe more battlecleric since two healers is a bit much and battle cleric will give you better dps on your templar.

Shaman - Defiler/Mystic

Cleric - Templar/Inquisitor

Oh and they just changed racials so now race does matter.  You will want to play with this some looking at the racial options before you make a final race decision. 

I may be somewhat biased, but I would recommend a melee specced mystic.

The wards should help with the spike damage the monk will be taking. With a cleric, the reactive heals only mitigate damage by a set amount per hit, a ward will absorb any amount of damage up to the ward's limit.

In a pinch, the mystic can also off tank. (I am both my groups healer and its tank, I can usually handle up to even con heroic named without an issue).

I played a Monk up to level 80 on EQ2 for over 4 years. Had full raid gear etc and tanked every instance in EQ2 to date. (Well, up until 6 months ago)

My first choice would always be a good Warden, as a good warden could usually keep me alive as a solo healer. If Warden doesn't appeal to you, i'd go for Mystic, as the wards etc is a much better option than cleric. I never found a good enouh Cleric to keep me alive when solo-healing. But there were plenty of Warden's and Mystics who could do so.

So yeah, consider a Warden. If you get good at it, you can pretty much solo heal nearly everything instance-wise in the game.

Ok, thanks for the advice.  The tank changed his mind and rolled as a paladin and the fury went wizard.  I have an 8 templar right now and I am going to give Warden a go tonight to see which I find more appealing.

If I were your I would roll a Warden, they are similar to furys, But I would say have the best in game. Both the fury and warden buffs stack and heals stack so no worrys.

If you want to get an easy spot in raiding go templar or defiler.

Originally posted by Slaynn

Ok, thanks for the advice.  The tank changed his mind and rolled as a paladin and the fury went wizard.  I have an 8 templar right now and I am going to give Warden a go tonight to see which I find more appealing.

So ...

Paladin
wizard
Ranger
your healer

one of the DPS should roll an Illusionist still do good DPS but can bring so much to the group utility wise, plus you would have little no downtime.

with that group setup you can play just about any healer and be successful.

templar/Defiler/Mystic - if you just want to sit back and heal/buff. but with that solid of a group you may want to look more toward a DPSing healer.

Fury - has good intell buffs for the pally/wiz and plus if you get your friend to roll an illusionist have him put time compression on you and just nuke away.

Inquisitor - go battle cleric, pick up a good two handed weapon and just smash face. As well as some nice melee buffs for the Paladin and Ranger(yes ranger still does SOME melee).

I recomend a Shaman, or maybe a Templar. For high hitting mobs a Shaman is the best combo with a druid/cleric.

For the better group you need a Bard, Enchanter, Tank, 1 or 2 DPS classes and 1 or 2 Healer. Now days, well in end-lvl most groups only need 1 healer if the groups characters are good equiped.

If you want to be realy picky a melee group should look like: Guardian or Beserker, Dirge, Coercer or Illusionist, Assassin, Inqisitor, Defiler or Warden or another scout.

For the more Spell/casting group: Paladin or Shadowknight, Illusionist or Coercer, Troubadur, Warlock, Fury, Cleric or shaman or anther mage DPS.

Its not that important, but run Instances without a bard or enchanter can be rough, indeed if its a hard zone.

Actually, in EQ2, especially in the later years, I was always glad to find any kind of group.

Originally posted by pencilrick

Actually, in EQ2, especially in the later years, I was always glad to find any kind of group.

Right now if you are max level and wanting to run TSO content getting a group is trivial.  You would need to work hard to not get a group :P  At least this is how it is on Najena the server I'm on.

If you are lower level then getting a group does require some work.  If you are in the 70s you will need to do SKY instances and getting groups can be tough.  Later 70s you will need to start doing Kunark groups.  Until you are 80 or maybe 79 you won't really be able to do much in TSO groups.

At lower levels you will have the best luck if you create a group and pick up people using chat in the level channel and the 0-10 channel.  Or even better be in a guild and twist everyones arm to come memory you for juicy lower level named AA XP.

pick a fury.seems to fit the best with your group as they can port people around which is a huge time saver and they have run speed buffs as well.They can also dps better then other healers, which will be great when you guys are questing together.They can heal just fine too.