My wife and I are getting bored of LotRO and I'm thinking we may want to try Vanguard out.

Can anyone give me a brief rundown on the realtive stength of the clases. Which are good in groups, which solo, are there any classes that are weaker than normal, any stronger? It doesn't have to an extensive rundown - just a starting point.

Is there a recommended server at this point?

Any hints/recommendations for n00bs? :P

Thanks and take care

No offense to VG because I do think the game is good, but lack of player base its not a good choice. I'd say go EQ2, SoE has really improved this game alot since launch and will soon be launching a new Starter Area - Halas this month. With a you and wife combo it will more then likely get boring around level 20 - 79 but once you get to 80 things move and you will have more fun. And if u follow forums on EQ2 you can get to 80 fairly easy just following the quest lines on eq2wikia

i never got far in the game but I have played it a couple of times and I personally find the (albeit small) community helpful and always happy to see a new face. 

I enjoyed the blood mage, essentially a healer than can dish out some pretty good damage as well, but i've been told its a harder one to level.

if your serious about trying it out look at the other recent posts where a bunch of mmorpg.com guys are getting ready to try it out and form a guild.

Originally posted by Goldknyght

No offense to VG because I do think the game is good, but lack of player base its not a good choice. I'd say go EQ2, SoE has really improved this game alot since launch and will soon be launching a new Starter Area - Halas this month. With a you and wife combo it will more then likely get boring around level 20 - 79 but once you get to 80 things move and you will have more fun. And if u follow forums on EQ2 you can get to 80 fairly easy just following the quest lines on eq2wikia

Last week I would have - and i think i did - say this too. But last night I changed my mind.

Recently I re-upped my SOE station account and have been playing EQ2 which impressed me. I saw lots of people, lots of helpful community, and a decent number in the starting areas.

However, after playing - I noticed that EQ2 is basically top heavy and it has been very difficult for me getting dungeon groups as I level a new toon. It is much easier with my lvl 82 toon.

Last night, I tried out VG again (since i'm paying for it), and was really surprised at not only how full the newb isle is, but how willing to group people were. (And this is compared to 6 mos. ago where I experienced a ghost town on the free trial isle on a Sat at primetime). Same great community experience and a very active and mature region say going on when I checked out my other toons.

Again it seems top heavy, just like EQ2 but I saw lots of interest when someone was putting together lowbie groups. I never saw that in eq2. I'd try to get a Kaladim (lvl 30ish) dungeon together and you could hear a pin drop. But in VG I grouped at three different lvl ranges - 14 to 17, 32 to 35 and some 50s over at Tet (there is newer content for this level, was really surprised to see others hunting here).

Granted it could be an anomoly - it could be the recent article written here, but for the time being I'm gonna play some VG again).

P.S. I was on Seradon

P.S.S. I'd suggest any of the healers duoing with any of the tanks - every class in VG is better than that same class in another game, imo. You'd have great survivability although it may be slow kills, but its always easy to add dps through p.u.g.'s when you need it. There is nothing more desperate for a group than a lvl 34 rogue in VG.

I've thought about trying Vanguard a million times but I always end up rememebring how burned I was by SoE. I always end up deciding to keep my vow to never give another nickle to SoE again. I know its not likely helpful to you but I have to just give a word of caution.. beware SoE.

Originally posted by fcazares

I've thought about trying Vanguard a million times but I always end up rememebring how burned I was by SoE. I always end up deciding to keep my vow to never give another nickle to SoE again. I know its not likely helpful to you but I have to just give a word of caution.. beware SoE.

But here you get to blame Brad McQuaid for all of VGs problems, you may hate him so much youll forget to complain that SOE isn't supporting this game like it should....../wink.

EQ2 must be a blast since those players are busy trolling non EQ2 forums instead of playing. :/

Here is a rundown of each class.

Tanks

Paladins:  Overpowered tanks with many utility abilities including Invulnerability, rez, group invulnerability, healing, undead bonus damage.  They are overdue for a nerf.  Sword and board preference.

Darkknight:  Nice tank with invul, self healing, pet.  2 hand weapon preference.

Warrior:  The worst soloing class.  No utility abilities.  Dual welding preference.

Blood Mage:  A cross between a sorc and a healer.  They nuke and heal.  Possibly the most unique and difficult class the play.

Cleric:  Worst dpsing class.  They can use heavy armor.  Solid healer.

Disciple:  A cross between melee and a healer.  This Bruce Lee class does healing by hitting mobs.  They can Feign Death.  Overpowered.  Great soloers.

Shaman:  They are well rounded healers.  Poor dpsers.  Bear shamans partner very well with warriors due to their endurance regen buffs.

Sorcerer:  Best dpser in game.  Glass cannons.  They are kiting soloers.  Nice pleathora of spells to use.

Psionicist: They can charm, mez, evac and dps.  A step down in dps from sorcs but a step up in survivability.

Rogue:  Strong melee dpsers.  They can mez, evac, push aggro.  They really shine in a group setting and are almost as bad a warriors for soloing.

Rangers: Strong dpsers who can solo well.  Arrows or melee options.

Bards:  If played well, are overpowered.  They are super welcome in groups due to their songs, mezzing, dps...  A really strong class.  Solo well and shine in groups.

Necros:  They have a pet and FD.  Really strong soloers and strong dpsers

Druid:  Really tough to play well.  Poor dpsers, poor healers.  However, in PvP they 1 shot people.  They own Sartok (PvP).  If played well, they can top dps parses but I know of only 1 person who can.  They solo well.

All classes can solo and all are played and enjoyed in game.  Pick what you like and you'll have a blast.

I just wanna add, if you get a dk two hander with a sword and board pally. You can roll through a lot of group content from your survivability of Heals and Life tap. It's really great honestly.

Originally posted by Zorgo

Originally posted by Goldknyght

No offense to VG because I do think the game is good, but lack of player base its not a good choice. I'd say go EQ2, SoE has really improved this game alot since launch and will soon be launching a new Starter Area - Halas this month. With a you and wife combo it will more then likely get boring around level 20 - 79 but once you get to 80 things move and you will have more fun. And if u follow forums on EQ2 you can get to 80 fairly easy just following the quest lines on eq2wikia

Last week I would have - and i think i did - say this too. But last night I changed my mind.

Recently I re-upped my SOE station account and have been playing EQ2 which impressed me. I saw lots of people, lots of helpful community, and a decent number in the starting areas.

However, after playing - I noticed that EQ2 is basically top heavy and it has been very difficult for me getting dungeon groups as I level a new toon. It is much easier with my lvl 82 toon.

Last night, I tried out VG again (since i'm paying for it), and was really surprised at not only how full the newb isle is, but how willing to group people were. (And this is compared to 6 mos. ago where I experienced a ghost town on the free trial isle on a Sat at primetime). Same great community experience and a very active and mature region say going on when I checked out my other toons.

Again it seems top heavy, just like EQ2 but I saw lots of interest when someone was putting together lowbie groups. I never saw that in eq2. I'd try to get a Kaladim (lvl 30ish) dungeon together and you could hear a pin drop. But in VG I grouped at three different lvl ranges - 14 to 17, 32 to 35 and some 50s over at Tet (there is newer content for this level, was really surprised to see others hunting here).

Granted it could be an anomoly - it could be the recent article written here, but for the time being I'm gonna play some VG again).

P.S. I was on Seradon

P.S.S. I'd suggest any of the healers duoing with any of the tanks - every class in VG is better than that same class in another game, imo. You'd have great survivability although it may be slow kills, but its always easy to add dps through p.u.g.'s when you need it. There is nothing more desperate for a group than a lvl 34 rogue in VG.

 Yeah the Isle is always full, It was just when i left the Isle is when everything went cricket on me. Yeah if u can play at certain times u can find groups but when i can play the majority of my time its a vacant lot for groups. I was just like u in this regard because i did get off the isle and found a group and we went far into a dungeon and then i seen from that group after that night one guy once and then that was it. So soloing in VG is boring i really hate leveling in games that reach this point because everyone is either just starting or is higher level. They need to make the xp in these levels personally in my opinion easy to optain then back to normal round 45 or so, yeah u will miss alot of cool lower level content but playing with people and experience high end content is just as good in my opinion.

Regarding the XP curve....many have stated it is too fast and you out level content and even quests you're working on.  They boosted the XP curve way back when and now you can even get XP potions.  Imo, since the leveling goes fast especially if you group xp up, its tougher to find people your level to group.  Conversely, they added in Mentoring.  Mentoring allows anyone level 11 and up to "level down" to your level and group with you.  So, you can group with anyone in game.  Just post in in OOC that you're willing to Mentor.

Hope this helps.

Originally posted by Raav

EQ2 must be a blast since those players are busy trolling non EQ2 forums instead of playing. :/

Here is a rundown of each class.

Tanks

Paladins:  Overpowered tanks with many utility abilities including Invulnerability, rez, group invulnerability, healing, undead bonus damage.  They are overdue for a nerf.  Sword and board preference.

Darkknight:  Nice tank with invul, self healing, pet.  2 hand weapon preference.

Warrior:  The worst soloing class.  No utility abilities.  Dual welding preference.

Blood Mage:  A cross between a sorc and a healer.  They nuke and heal.  Possibly the most unique and difficult class the play.

Cleric:  Worst dpsing class.  They can use heavy armor.  Solid healer.

Disciple:  A cross between melee and a healer.  This Bruce Lee class does healing by hitting mobs.  They can Feign Death.  Overpowered.  Great soloers.

Shaman:  They are well rounded healers.  Poor dpsers.  Bear shamans partner very well with warriors due to their endurance regen buffs.

Sorcerer:  Best dpser in game.  Glass cannons.  They are kiting soloers.  Nice pleathora of spells to use.

Psionicist: They can charm, mez, evac and dps.  A step down in dps from sorcs but a step up in survivability.

Rogue:  Strong melee dpsers.  They can mez, evac, push aggro.  They really shine in a group setting and are almost as bad a warriors for soloing.

Rangers: Strong dpsers who can solo well.  Arrows or melee options.

Bards:  If played well, are overpowered.  They are super welcome in groups due to their songs, mezzing, dps...  A really strong class.  Solo well and shine in groups.

Necros:  They have a pet and FD.  Really strong soloers and strong dpsers

Druid:  Really tough to play well.  Poor dpsers, poor healers.  However, in PvP they 1 shot people.  They own Sartok (PvP).  If played well, they can top dps parses but I know of only 1 person who can.  They solo well.

All classes can solo and all are played and enjoyed in game.  Pick what you like and you'll have a blast.

 

 These are basic descriptions. The rogue I used to play for example, was the greatest incarnation of any rogue in any MMO Ive played. I truly loved staying hidden while attacking and getting bonuses for doing so. The utility abilities were ingenius. You could make your own poison darts with mez abilities, DoTs, and all kinds of stuff. Not to mention you could copy other classes spells with a bit of scroll forgery. It makes me sad my rogue is stuck on the PvP server where its pretty much a ghost town. Still, greatest rogue ever.

If one of you are going to play a healer I would suggest the Bloodmage, I loved mine :D.  I would still be playing if all my friends didnt leave :P (/bitter).  Like someone else mentioned it is a difficult class to learn but WOW once you do it a very fun class.  Nuker and healer all rolled into one.  I really loved all of Vanguards classes.  They took a unique spin on all of them: tank, healer, mage, rogue.

Arcken, you may submit a petition and they will transfer your character free of charge to the server of your choice.

Originally posted by Raav

Arcken, you may submit a petition and they will transfer your character free of charge to the server of your choice.

 Awesome, thanks for that bit of information

Thanks for all the info. I saw this over on ythe Sony boadrs (I can't write there): "That said the Bard itself has some passable support abilities of his own with poison cures, disenchant and CC skills (until lv51 at least) as well as his songs."

What happens to the Bard's CC at 51?

BTW I am on the Trial Island now and liking it. :)

Bards are really quite powerful.  They have a breakable mez on mobs.  Meaning a group member can hit it and break the mez.  Unlike the PSI mez which you can't break until the PSI releases it or it wears off.

Bards are super welcome in groups and I've seen them do really strong dps and even tank in a pinch.  Plus they are quite fast.

Why did the guy say they had CC until 51, though?

The diffrence i see, between eq2 and vanguard, its the quests.   Vanguard i seem to be following one mabey two quests involving mobs, a few for diplomacy (a very annoying card type game) and crafts.

EQ2 its quests everywhere, most mobs are tied into something.

The problem with vanguard, is if you dont like diplomacy, and your not a crafter, you end up grinding faily early.  Quests just seem so sparse, and theres huge wide open spaces and lots of the same few mobs, some seem to have no purpouse.  Perhaps im missing something where the npcs dont advertise a quest, but i tried talking to most just doing the diplomacy stuff.

The trial island is a huge turn off from the game, gives you a feeling of low content, and a very linear quest line.  I have yet to have a moment where i loaded up on 4-5 quests, went out and finished them all before turning them all in. 

Please say that trial island is a horrible representation of the game, it cant be this bad all the way through?  At lest EQ2 has a populated pvp server and enough content to keep a solo player happy through endgame on a few characters.  Vanguard feels so thin in content compared.

You're annoyed by the diplomacy game? I'm finding it fun. :P

I liked EQ2, but there are a couple good things I see in Vanguard. The counterspell mechanics seems interesting. I have to see how that will work out. After playing the troubador, it will be nice to play a bard that can DPS.  The initial mob models are pretty sweet. The combat animations seem first rate.

I guess time will tell.

Originally posted by crunchyblack

The diffrence i see, between eq2 and vanguard, its the quests.   Vanguard i seem to be following one mabey two quests involving mobs, a few for diplomacy (a very annoying card type game) and crafts.

EQ2 its quests everywhere, most mobs are tied into something.

The problem with vanguard, is if you dont like diplomacy, and your not a crafter, you end up grinding faily early.  Quests just seem so sparse, and theres huge wide open spaces and lots of the same few mobs, some seem to have no purpouse.  Perhaps im missing something where the npcs dont advertise a quest, but i tried talking to most just doing the diplomacy stuff.

The trial island is a huge turn off from the game, gives you a feeling of low content, and a very linear quest line.  I have yet to have a moment where i loaded up on 4-5 quests, went out and finished them all before turning them all in. 

Please say that trial island is a horrible representation of the game, it cant be this bad all the way through?  At lest EQ2 has a populated pvp server and enough content to keep a solo player happy through endgame on a few characters.  Vanguard feels so thin in content compared.

Let me start by saying that EQ2 has got tons of content but it also has loads of expasions. Vanguard has tons of quests and content, you obviously were not looking in the right place. You could play Vanguard for 3 years and still not see all the content.

Vanguard is vast and the point you are missing is you need to travel to see all content,it does not lead you by the hand,you need to explore. From your account iut does not seem like you even played the game for that long, care to give me a discription of the content you did see?