Avoiding Ability Bloat

[Breidr]

So I actually did play this game back when it was live, but most of my experience comes from T1. I played the "endless trial" quite a bit and never bothered subbing past a month once I realized T2-3 were dead and I didn't want to grind to T4 through it. Don't ask me why.

I had a few hurdles to overcome in those days. One was the sheer amount of abilities thrust upon me. When I asked around at the time the class that was recommended to me was Iron Breaker.

I don't know how true that holds now, but I've been trying the class out and just trying to keep track of my oath in PvP is tough. I sometimes forget it exists. I'm also only in my teens leveling so I don't know how much ability bloat I have to look forward to.

On the flip side I've also started a Chosen since I've never seen that side of things. With the server simplifying aura twisting I thought that might be worth a shot as well.

That aside I haven't played other characters. I just came here to have some fun and not be completely useless in T4 despite my shortcomings. Loving the server though and can't wait to play more. They certainly don't short you on character slots.

Hopefully I can overcome my manual dexterits and cognitive issues that plagued me in WoW before I quit. Was a decent vanguard and SWTOR because my ability priority was pretty much 1-6 on my bar, in order. Not sure if it's that easy here, but I can dream.

[Eathisword]

Hey there,

There are some classes that can go by using 5-10 skills.
For healers : Dok or WP
For dps : Sorc and BW.
For tank : chosen and knight.

On any of those, you can ask around for ability strings that can be used by different addons like Nerfbutton and you'll be able to play good enough quite easily.

cheers.

[Nefarian78]

I don't know who recommended you to start with an Ironbreaker, considering that is probably the hardest class in the game to play correctly due to the amount of buffs you have to reapply and keep in mind. It's not the "pro class" as many say it is, but it's definetly the wrong class to start with if you don't have much experience with the game or pvp in general.

Imo, the easiest classes to start with are these.

Kotb/Chosen if you want to be a tank
SM with a 2h if you want to be a tanky damage dealer
SW if you want a ranged damage dealer
DoK/WP if you want to be a healer.

I suggest against using addons such as Nerfed Buttons because you'll never learn to play the game, and also because it's on the devs black list.

[Fallenkezef]

Slayer is relatively simple and quite rewarding. I assume Choppa would be aswell

[Telen]

Nerfed Buttons is what youre looking for

[vianiznice]

Some skills are useless to your spec, such as the tree specific fillers. Those are the ones you tend to avoid unless they bring some sort of utility (which they rarely do).

[Breidr]

In terms of role dynamics, how hard is tanking or healing in this game? Would it be advised to stick to DPS for my first playthrough of T2-4?

[Nefarian78]

In terms of role dynamics, how hard is tanking or healing in this game? Would it be advised to stick to DPS for my first playthrough of T2-4?

Imo it's much harder to be a good tank than it is to be a healer, but maybe others will say the opposite. It depends on the type of player you are.

Tanking requires you to know all the guard-related stuff (who needs guard and when, switching, positioning), general positioning, when to hold the line and when to push, when to use your Challenge ability (and alternating it with other tanks) and you also might need to call targets (although it depends on your group). Meanwhile Healing is mostly about Positioning and Detaunting.

A really well-played tank can carry others and make a weak group into a dangerous opponent only by himself.

I still recommend you to start with a 2h SM for your first playtrough. It's by far the easiest class in the game to learn and to play, rotation wise it's impossible to screw up, if you're positioned badly you can easily get out of the danger with your tools (unlike a Choppa or Slayer) if built right, can deal insane amounts of damage in a short time, while maintaining a good sustained dps and still achieve great survivability. They also provide their group with incredible buffs like Whispering Winds (with only 20s CD), can steal stats from opponents and give them to the entire group and more.

Starting with a 2h tank is also good because you'll learn the basics of tanking and the basics of dealing damage, and then you can choose if you want to be a SnB tank or a 2h dps-y off-tank. You could even reroll a pure mdps class. Knowing what your tank can do and what they can't is extremely important for a Mdps, which is something that many Mdps lack.

[rmpl]

In terms of role dynamics, how hard is tanking or healing in this game? Would it be advised to stick to DPS for my first playthrough of T2-4?

In terms of difficulty, I'd say that from the most difficult to least: tank -> dps -> healer. However, mmos aren't THAT difficult so play whatever you want.

[dansari]

Meh. It all depends on the class you play. Healing on my RP is very straightforward. Healing on my lowbie WP is less straightforward. Dpsing on my SW is very straightforward. Dpsing on my WL or even BW is less so.

It's really easy to be a decent chosen/knight. The skill cap is lower. It's tougher to be a good IB/BG. Etc etc