Good morning all...general discussion on classes, etc.

[imkain]

Just reinstalled AoC after taking a full year hiatus. Got married and dedicated my time into my family and work. Now I am coming back to AoC and attempting to get back into the game. I have a level 44 Guardian, specced for tanking. However, I wanted to run an alt. I am trying out different classes. Since I am F2P my character slots are limited to three. So I only have two slots. So I created a Conq and wanted to know the benefits and drawbacks of this class. I also wanted to know what the best mage class would be. I have tried most of the classes/characters for a few moments to see how I like them.

I love the Guardian, however I know that DPS is not its strong suit.
Assassin is very squishy, dies a lot, but puts out a LOT of DPS.
Priest of Mitra was a really nice healer, with Tempest of Set being nice on heals, but DPS was good too, while the Bear Shaman was pretty good balance of melee, heals, and CC.
I did not try out the Ranger, as I did not know how a Ranger would be in a game like AoC.
I never tried the Necromancer.
Herald of Xotli was nice, but I couldn't get into it.
Demonologist was cool and put out some sick DPS (IMO).
Dark Templar is a death tank (melee and magic)
Conqueror I have not made an opinion at this time, other than I like the starting banner.

So that has been my observations.

Any other aid/advice would be appreciated. Sorry for being away for so long. Also I have seen a lot of patches since a year has passed. What has been added/removed? Are there any new benefits/drawbacks for F2P players?

Any and all comments/replies are appreciated.

Best regards,

Kain

[Shax84]

You could read up on the monthly letters, and the update notes if you want to know what's new in the game.

http://www.ageofconan.com/news
http://forums.ageofconan.com/forumdi...6-Update-Notes

Some classes have received a few buffs and rebalances. There has been no complete revamps the past year. Guardian, HoX and Berserker Barbarians got the most notable changes.

Achievements, World Bosses and T5 is the new stuff in game. Lots of information on the forums and in the newsletters.

In regards to choice of alts... You are going to level up all of them anyway, so pick the one most interesting of the archetype you don't already have. I'd pick a rogue since you already are familiar with the combo system and melee. Either Assassin or Barbarian, where both are fun and in demand in endgame content.

I would disregard Ranger, since in it's current state the class is very tedious and lacks dps compared to the other rogues.

[Mellaus]

If you only have 3 character slots, i would pick DT, ToS and necro.

DT because it's the best tank, as in it is much more versatile than anything else, it can be super tanky, or super dps, or both with the right gear. Although being ftp you won't get your dt to be as crazy as it can with khitan/t3.5/4/5 gear. Still, DT is just too awesome to pass.

ToS because it's the easiest healer to nuke with, it got all the tools you can expect from a healer but can also be a huge dps asset in every single configuration, it's also the mages best friend.

Necro because it's the best dps class by far, able to adapt to every possible encounter, being single target, multi target, with pets, without pets, close range, longue range, whatever.
Pick any circumstance, necro has a specc and a gameplay to be the best dps.

Those 3 classes are i believe the strongest classes in game. They have huge numbers of tools to play with and insane potential.

[Shax84]

Necromancers, best dps class "by far"? Think you might be stretching it there. It is in the top but as others, need tailored encounters to shine. A new player would have to take a steep learning curve in order to be the best dps class in any encounter as you claim the class to be. Necromancers although with pets are far from being autopilot. There are synergies, feat specs, pet differences and damage types to be learnt before a Necromancer can use these to an advantage to rise above an Assassin, Barbarian, Conqueror or Dark Templar in a filtered parse at for example Imp or Zodiac animals. Or before the Necromancer can rise above a Demonologist or Tempest of Set in aoe fights where protection is lower.

All classes have their advantages, and there is no "best" class although a maxed Dark Templar is pretty close to being godlike. It does take around 1000-1500 hours though in order to gain enough experience, gear and alternate advancement towards getting there. Other classes has much shorter path to being badass and if played with efficiency, the Conquerors, Barbarians, Assassins, Heralds of Xotli, Demonologists, Tempests / Pom's and Bear Shamans can be pretty geared and good after just 200-300 hours played.

[imkain]

Good info thus far. So my question is why is the Guardian less of a tank compared to the Dark Templar?

Has anyone had experience with the Conqueror?

[imkain]

All classes have their advantages, and there is no "best" class although a maxed Dark Templar is pretty close to being godlike.

That sounds pretty OP in my opinion, but it sounds like how the Paladin is in WoW. Pretty much Godlike without any drawbacks. However, would a F2P person be able to achieve the same level of Godliness that a paying player can attain? I personally think that the Guardian and the Conqueror would be better alternatives to the Dark Templar, but that is going by a small amount of experience. As stated I have a level 44 Guardian, and that is the highest I have achieved in the game with a character.

[Shax84]

Yes it is very OP and could get tuned further down on damage output since it is after all a soldier tank class.

No. There are areas with loot required to excel at the DT class that is not available for a free to play account. You are also limited on how much gold you can obtain so you can't get the more expensive stuff like Ibis for example.

The DT would want three kits of gear. Each kit contains 8 armor pieces, 4 accessories and 2 weapons. 14 pieces of equipment to complete a kit. Accessories and armors can be matched together too of course so unless you are a completionist there is no need to farm too much. However, you would want a heavy armor dps set, a full plate tanking set and a full plate protection tanking set. You would want a few swords, shields and talismans too.

There are comprehensive guides for each of the classes on the sub forums.

[imkain]

Yes it is very OP and could get tuned further down on damage output since it is after all a soldier tank class.

No. There are areas with loot required to excel at the DT class that is not available for a free to play account. You are also limited on how much gold you can obtain so you can't get the more expensive stuff like Ibis for example.

The DT would want three kits of gear. Each kit contains 8 armor pieces, 4 accessories and 2 weapons. 14 pieces of equipment to complete a kit. Accessories and armors can be matched together too of course so unless you are a completionist there is no need to farm too much. However, you would want a heavy armor dps set, a full plate tanking set and a full plate protection tanking set. You would want a few swords, shields and talismans too.

There are comprehensive guildes for each of the classes on the sub forums.

Thanks for the information.

Now how about the Conqueror character class?

[Shax84]

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthr...ow-to-PVE-CONQ

[imkain]

http://forums.ageofconan.com/showthr...ow-to-PVE-CONQ

Thank you sir. I will look into this information. How about the population of the server. I read a couple forum discussions and some people seem to be griping about the population, but there are some people that will normally gripe about anything. Wanted to know some other people's opinions on this.