Gambit7

Necro is fun and was originally my first choice. I got burnt out on him on beta I think though. If you like managing your own Army then Necro is the way to go. My tactic was pestilence and minions. Throw DOTs while my army brings em down and I run around (goes well with fast run speed, endurance, and recovery). They dont use as much mana as the Tempest either.

Tempest seems to ramp up rather slowly... honestly, I'm not having as much fun with him as my necro or conq. I'm sure in the later lvls though he's a powerhouse. They're real squishy too, and if you dont cast a HOT before battle ur basically dead much of the time. I'll give it some more time I think though.

All these damned classes are good, that's the problem. They did a helluva job in this. Even the ones that are "bad," are usually only bad for a short duration of the lvl grind. I heard conqs. were fun at first, but suffer in endgame... whereas a bear shaman or tempest might be boring at first but dominate later. All will require re-specs of course at some point.

My conq. is specced for dual-wield proc dmg right now. 2-hand gives you more range and fatalities but dual-wield overal procs more and gives more dmg. on a per engagement basis. 2-hand is great if u can chain mobs though. Smart conqs. will switch depending on the battle.

I played 8 lvls of ranger and it's a damned hard class to play when in FPS mode. I'd say it's not worth it in 1st-person until ur in a hard engagement or in a group. Their dual-wield is gnasty after you whip out the ranged bow combos. (sigh)

So much fun, so lil time.

p.s.
There's a serious lack of ranged people in the ranks for every guild on every server right now I think. So if you're torn on a class... pick a ranged DPS (mage, priest, or ranger)

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SharinganTH1422

Just wondering about the healing class (Priest of Mitra I think), I reckon if one or two people were to take that up and level-up high, they would be extremely helpful when raiding and PvPing in a group.

I'd personally be considering an Assassin, one of the mages, or one of the soldiers...being a Dark Templar just sounds so damn

Edit: (So basically over half of them . As you can probably tell I'm an indecisive person)

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Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Turbinator

damn, I pulled all nighters like that back in diablo2 heyday. Sounds great

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Humvee

Whooooo! I pulled the 14 hours straight too. Although when i went to bed i slept for 8 hours.
If your curious: 14 hours will get you to level 22. I finished all tortage quests accept 3 in Archelonian Ruins.

If you just quest and nothing else you'll hit 22 within 10 hours. I did a little grouping with the guys on TS and tried my hands on the PvP minigames.

Turbinator

and..????

minigames - hows brawling .

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Nemesis

Well here's the thing that most people probably don't realize about the healing classes in AoC.

You can kick serious ass. Think Midgard healer from DAoC kind of ass kicking.

Depending on what one you choose, either how much you heal translates to how much damage you do OR how much damage you do translates to how much you can heal.

So you are not just a heal bot following around the party while they have all the fun.

Most, if not all (have to check on that) heals are DoT's as well so it takes more thought than just insta heals, wait till refresh, insta heal again.

Just something to keep in mind.

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It's all in the Reflexes.

Turbinator

sounds good.

Like you said all heals are in fact DoT's, only a few instant and with long cooldown times, devs wanted to remove heal botting that you see in wow and will see in war(no flames plz, I'm just stating a fact).

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Humvee

lol. Minigames are exactly how they were in Beta. Minus the bad performance. The main goal in Team Deathmatch is to stick together. I tried telling everyone that at the get-go, but they didn't listen and we fell apart. Looks like the level ranges go in 10's. BUT, your level gets bumped up to level 19. You dont receive any new skills but what i think happens is you get the HP and stats you would normaly have at level 19. If you're level 20 and enter a pvp mini game then you'll stay level 20 and just kick ass.

The Bear Shaman can't stand more than 2 people hitting on him. If i was in a 1 on 1, any class vs me im confident i would win. Although im always confident with all my charecters. All the classes seem to be pretty balanced, to be honest. It's just knowing how to play your charecter and you'll be good.

Group Questing was a hoot! There is also the Apprenticeship system ingame. I was level 17 and everyone else was around level 10-14 or so. When I asked if they wanted to be my Apprentice they jumped up the level 16. I think this is the same as pvp mini games- no new skills just the states your charecter would normaly have at that level. The XP i recieved might have been a little less, i didn't really check. But it seems like the apprentices were getting XP and Skill points as normal.
FYI, Nobody even trys to gank you when you have a level 17 and three 16's in the group running around on White Sand.

I think im quoteing Demonte when he said "It's like a school-yard brawl". It was! While we were in a group and in a instance you'll come across another group. And both groups are just waiting for the other group to do something. If nobody does anything then its a informal treaty and both groups go about their bessiness.

Oddly enough you still have little guys running around coming up to groups and trying to gank. It's hilarious when the entire group turns on the single guy and demolishes him in a few seconds. Poor Nimpu....

Gambit7

Many of the heals on AoC are actually "succubus" type heals or proc type heals also. You'll literally suck the life out of a group of mobs and give it to your friendlies, or you'll crit dmg. someone and pop some kind of AoE heal. It's a very creative system. Not cut and dry at all.

p.s.
Indeed... poor Nimpu. But that's what he gets for killin our Crocodiles and not groupin!

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Turbinator

necro sounds alot of fun, managing ur own army hehe.

In terms of conqs suffering end game - no one knows since no one has played it

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Hion

WoW after listening to the stories and strats of Priesties...I might have to go back to Healing main again...woot!!

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AoC - Ars Tactika Guild Co-Leader
Nast - 75 Priest of Mitra
Hion - 6 Assassin

WoW
Anastacea - 70 Priest
Hion - 70 Rogue (PVP)
Caeden - 70 Mage (PVP)

"10 Mana Pots - 100g, Flask of Mighty Restoration - 25g, repair bill - 23g...coming to a raid with the Dickens in mind...PRICELESS!!!"

"Feel my radiance, you start to glow...you see my smites, let my holy damage go!!!"

Gambit7

Just get used to casting HoTs near the beginning of a battle... timing is critical. Also, u can mix it up in melee - Tempests get light armor + shields. Bear Shamans are ridiculous.

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SharinganTH1422

The Priest of Mitra (sp?), which is what Zion has at the moment, is the most heavily orientated around healing, and much less so around melee'ing than the other 2 priest classes.

__________________
Anger is a gift - Malcolm X

...If you can dream--and not make dreams your master,
If you can think--and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same...

Zarku

Like people have said, ther performance is MUCh better than the Fileplanet Beta. On my Mid-High rig, im running on Med settings for 40 fps, and high for 30.

I decided to play the same class I played primarly in beta, The Herald of Xotli. While technicaly a mage, he is similar to how the Valewalker in DAoC was a mage, lots of Def buffs and big 2 handed weapon. He does some serious damage as well, I can one shot same level minions, and hit normals for half their life with one combo. He has some group friendly buffs (inculding a dmg reducing bubble) and a group fire proc talent. He looks to me an under played class, which is always fun to be in demand.

Over all i have high hopes for the game, especialy guild cities and the crafting system later on.

Humvee

Ridiculously what? My Bear Shaman feels really mediocre. Yes i can heal myself, but i have a very low amount of hitpoints. I have melee galore, but no ranged. Pretty balanced if you ask me.