Another "New to Game, not new to MMOs" I would LOVE advice!

[seldane]

Hi guys, I'm an adult with a long history with MMOs, focusing mainly on PVP.

I am interested in ranged DPS to start with, and then I'm going to eventually try MDPS. I specifically like ranged classes with three things:

• 1) Interesting Rotations/Priorities (as opposed to one or two spammable spells)
  2) Kiting: which usually goes along with instant-cast spells
  3) Group potential: I eventually would like to work up to T4 group play and Warbands/parties. I was told not to rush leveling and gather Renown in early tiers

Classes I am interested in and would love more info on:

• Bright Wizard: Seems right up my alley because people on the forums said it has the highest damage potential/burst. My only issue is some spells are cancelled by movement. Does that make kiting harder? Are the later spells you learn instant cast or mainly with cast times?
  
  Sorceress: I saw the rotation was Chillwind->Word of Pain->Arctic Blast->Gloomburst. Unfortunately I couldn't look these up on the Wiki. Are the spells instant cast or mainly with cast times?
  
  Squig Herder: People say the rotation is interesting, but I really can't find a "rotation" anywhere on the forums. Does this class have an interesting rotation and can kite? Are the spells instant cast or mainly with cast times? I heard also this class is difficult/underpowered. Any truth to that?

Classes I might avoid:

• Shadow Warrior: I really liked this class, but someone on forums wrote "SW will be called a "hybrid" class and nerfed/ignored until late T4 but is doing alright right now regardless, decent damage but doesn't bring much to a group other than the heal debuff and raw damage, which is usually higher than engie but doesn't really touch brightwizard. SW is good if you want to solo play or roam"
  
  Engineer: People have said he is stationary and brings more utility and CC
  
  Magus: People say this class is unfinished/underpowered. I can't tell if this is a meme or if it's true? I certainly don't mind

Thanks for the advice!

[Forwe]

On higher levels, when you get access to most of the skills,the main part of Sorceress rotation, as in setting up the various dots and debuffs, can be done on the move, as they're instant casts. The second part, which tends to be Arctic Blast->Gloomburst, require you to stand still for few seconds to drop them off, but it's nothing like, for example, an engi or magus who pretty much need to stay in one spot to do anything.

Can't really help you with the other classes, except to confirm that yes, Engineers are mostly stationary.

Btw, on the top of these forums, where you see the "tool bar"(I mean,t he bar with Home, Download game, Forum and so on, you can see a Career Builder. If you click it, you can just check up the Sorceress there, and see all of their tactics, masteries, and abilities)

[Collateral]

You can check all the abilities and trees for all the classes on the Career builder page http://www.ror.builders/.

[lefze]

SW/SH are probably the two ranged classes to consider atm. Singletarget is okay enough, with a nice healdebuff, ini debuff, ranged snare and knockdown/disarm. But when you start to explore their AoE things get interesting, as it's **** broken atm, spammable cast on move screenclear that crits for up to 2,5k with M2.

Now the sad part about both classes is that the AoE is simply so strong that you will find yourself demotivated to play ST after testing it. And there really is no point to doing it either, especially SW can just slot expert skirmisher to be able to aoe leech whenever they want, even in a singletarget spec as the spec for ST and AoE is really similar anyways. And rotation wise at least SW is kinda meh anyways as their bursty builds have insane cast times where the only truly good damage you have comes from a 3 sec stationary cast.

Sorcs/bw on the other hand have really fun and rewarding rotations for doing burst, and not just debuffing. dots are castable on the move and can be set up while kiting, and then if you feel like you can stand still for a few seconds you cast arctic blast->gloomburst and the rest of the insta spells. if you feel like you have to kite you skip gloomburst and/or arctic blast and go straight for the instant spells when dots are about to go off and repeat the rotation or react accordingly to enemy hp. Also have to mention that for bombing sorc is kinda trash compared to BW unless you have a choppa popping chop fasta in party, while BW does really well in AoE spec.

So all in all for end game warband play I strongly recommend SW/SH or BW, and for more scenario/smallscale/casual play I'd recommend sorc or BW, even though bw has a bit weaker ST damage afaik.

[Aurandilaz]

BW is a god amongst rdps (general utility potential, godmode AoE), followed by SH which benefits from RunAway giving them incredible mobility. SW is about as good as SH, but the Pet can be helpful in certain situations which the SW doesn't have. Sorc is also good choice, has good dmg like BW, but lacks certain nice utilities and has slightly lesser AoE bomb potential compared to BW.
All above can be very mobile, at best you might stand still to cast 2 sec AB, or just skip that and go Chillwind - (Visions of Torment) - Word of Pain - (Arctic Blast) - Gloomburst - Impending Doom - Hand of Ruin. Depending if you are being assisted, you might not get that far in your rotation in case the victim explodes sooner than expected.
BW has about similar rotation, except they enjoy from potential flashfire that allows them to cast instant 3sec cast massive FireBall which hits like a... well something that mostly likely kills when it hits. Not to mention the BurnThrough tactic, at which your FireBalls do what the tactic says and no matter how tanky the victim will most likely heat up.

As it is now, all 4 are good choices, so it mostly comes to your other preferences; do you like a high risk class that is always about to kill itself, or do you prefer slightly lesser crits but longer lifespan?
If you solo a lot, SH or SW is excellent choice.

[ragafury]

Since you have kiting as your 2nd priority I would suggest take a closer look at squig.that rdps performs best if that's your playstyle. Many skills are instant or can be cast on the move. Be also aware that you only kite with 6 players or less usually. In warbands it has a somewhat boring rotation but a special task (bad gas).

Otherwise all 3 classes are "meta".
BW and sorcs are mostly the dps "backbone" of large-scale.