Coming back to EQFollow

Ok so I've been gone from EQ for around 4 years now. Most of that time was spent playing DAoC but I quit once WoW was released as DAoC had gotten old to me. I enjoyed WoW and have always been a fan of the Warcraft series, but I found WoW to be rather repetitive and lacking in the challenge department. I level my hunter from 1 to 60 in around 14 days /played and most of it was soloed. There wasn't really much to hold me after that as PVP was merely an occasional get away for me and the end game raid content was rather lacking. And so now I've decided it's time to try EQ again after being encouraged by some friends that still play.

Since it's been around 4 years since the last time I played I'm rather out of touch with what the game has turned into and how the classes have panned out. I originally played a SK, but I decided that I wanted to start fresh this time around and I'm having trouble deciding just which class to play. I've narrowed it down to either a ranger, beastlord, shaman, or bard and I wanted to get some feedback from some of you who have been playing the game for a long time. I've always been more intersted in hybrid classes rather than straight melee or caster classes (shamans being the one exception). My main concern is soloability as I like to solo as well as group and I want a class that can do both well. Any info you can give me regarding soloability or anything else to do with the classes stated would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time.

If you want to solo (at a reasonable rate) after the early 50's, don't choose a Ranger. It's still my favorite class to play, but Soloing for anything but AA's takes far too long at higher levels.

If I were starting over right now, my first puppet would be Neccromancer, no question. From what you've described you're looking for though, Beastlord is the class for you.

Edited, Mon Dec 19 14:28:34 2005 by Gladestrider