What class should I play? part deux

Since I'll be rejoining the ranks soonish, I figured I wanted to know what class I should play.

I asked the same question a few months ago when Rift first came out and it sounded like..for the most part, warriors were considered top dog though rogues were fantastic healers (just absolutely bizarre sounding but w/e) and tanks.

Has that changed or will it change?

Do we actually need something else now?

I really don't care that greatly what I play, I just want to avoid pve as much as possible. W/e helps you guys. When GW2 comes out, I'll probably be a little more selfish, but I honestly don't care what I do in Rift.

Least played To Most Played By Calling and soul Mage -Dominator -Archon -Stormcaller -Pyromancer -Warlock -Chloromancer -Elementalist -Necromancer Warrior -Warlord (Least played Soul in game) -Void Knight -Paragon -Riftblade -Reaver -Champion -Beastmaster -Paladin Cleric -Cabalist -Inquisitor -Warden -Shaman -Sentinel -Purifier -Druid -Justicar Rouge -Riftstalker -Bladedancer -Saboteur -Marksman -Nightblade -Assassin -Ranger -Bard (Most played Soul in game) Based on Some vague articles and my own observations. Not showing pvp to pve variations. List not set in stone nor based on any form of game statistics. Basically the Mage is the least played Calling with Dominator being the least played Soul, and the Necromancer being the most played soul for the mage. I like to play rare classes just to be different, my only 50 is a Mage Archon, I have yet to see another in any warfront or pug dungeon run also be an archon. I tried Dominator but since most of their CC breaks on damage they are pointless in most warfronts and some dungeons.

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 07:05:51

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 07:06:13

@Wolfie, where did that list come from? It's interesting. @Vampire, if you're talking PVP only (since you said you want to avoid PVE) then I think it's difficult to figure out "top dog" since it changes pretty often as they put out balance patches. Initially Riftblades were the top dog, but now I'd say it's Pyros, but they are fiddling with Pyros in the patch next week. So I would say pick what appeals to you, really. The soul mechanism gives you lots of flexibility. As for the list of least and most played classes, at least within each class, the Mage list makes sense - Necro and Elementalist both have pets and are therefore very popular for leveling. Chloro gives you heals, Warlock has the life tap for mana - all popular. Pyro and Stormcaller aren't as popular since they are both pretty mana intensive. Archon and Dom are not popular in leveling except as (typically) the 0-point souls. Archon, however, I've heard is very good to have in raids since the buffs/debuffs they provide are quite useful. As for the Cleric list, I'm not shocked Justicar is most popular, as they have a ton of survivability, and the current "top dog" spec is often two of Justicar/Druid/Shaman. The healing souls are popular as second or third souls, with Warden being least popular due to them having mostly just heal over time spells, versus the Sentinel instant heal and the Purifier shield at minimal point investment. Cabalist as least popular doesn't surprise, as their spells are pretty mana intensive. Inquisitor being near the bottom is somewhat of a shock, as they are an awesome class, and Inquisitor/Justicar/x is a beastly leveling spell once you get some of the higher level Inquisitor abilities. Warrior and Rogue lists I dunno about, though Beastmaster being popular for Warriors is no shock, and I'm not surprised Rangers and Bards are the most played. Rangers have the pet and Bards are pretty awesome.

I made the list myself based on several articles I found on google since pre-beta to their latest patch, and on my own observations. But I couldn't find a list, and no one ever posted any streaming statistics from the game itself about it so I made it. Avoiding PVE as much as possible, Based on the list above with the exception of the rouge, the middle 4 of each calling seem to be more favorable in PVP, and pretty much every rouge soul is used for pvp except Bladedancer. Bard is the most overplayed because they were overpowered to an extreme heal spec at one point, but a patch or so ago brought them down a few notches below full heal spec healers. I'm seeing less and less of them now and their being replaced with Nightblade/Assassin specs. Warlord is the most least played because they suck all around. They have several buffs, that can only be used with attack points and last a very short period (25 seconds max). And many of their better buffs have a 5 min re-apply lockout but not a 5 min cooldown which seems pointless. Basically their a melee equivalent to an Archon, but with only 1/4 the effectiveness. All of Archon Buffs last 5 mins and don't require you to hit something 3 times to use it first. Some might be confused why voidknight is so low, because they are awesome and can kick the living crap out of ppl that use mana. But if you combine the fact that Mage is the least played Calling and most Clerics heal rather then hurt, only about 20% of the ppl in any givin Warfront will actually be hitting you with mana abilities. The Inquisitor is a Spellbased Cleric, Most of the melee Clerics are most popular and then healing specs are normally second. So while yes Inquisitors are and can be awesome, their not played that much as a main spec because they don't go with melee or healing. Depending what you like to do to enemy players will depend what spec you will roll. Like healing? Roll Cleric with Purifier/Sentinel/Warden Liked Splash healing like a WP or DOK from War? Roll Cleric Justicar or Mage Chloromancer Like AoE? Stormcaller Mage or Cabalist Cleric will be most preferred, It is possible to AoE with Saboteur and Reaver as well, not as effectively tho. You can go as specific as you want, for example I love traps! Back in RO I was a trapping hunter and kill so many ppl with land mines and freeze traps. I was one of the ONLY ppl to ever do it effectively to. So I jumped on the Saboteur big time. Its not very easy to trap up in PVP here tho. It's possible, just not practical. I was also intreged to try out the Riftstalker because they have 6 different teleport abilities, which in Warfronts are potentially a freakin nightmare. (Though now carring objectives in Warfronts disables some of them :( )

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 10:31:42

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 10:35:40

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 10:46:15

Thanks for the feedback Wolfie. I might go Warrior, either Warlord or Void Knight based purely on the fact not many play them. I'd probably play a Archon just by the comments you made, but I've never really been drawn to playing a caster class. Played a 40 sorc in WAR for a little while, but got bored fairly quickly. Any reason a Warlord or Void Knight is better for PvP or raids? I tend to lead groups so whatever tends to have more of a group dynamic could be more useful though not necessary. @Charl, I don't necessarily need the "top" dog class in video games, I just don't want to play class that many see as "broken." Shadowwarrior from WAR springs to mind that seemed broken for awhile as an example.

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 14:26:45

Hey guys! Vamp I hope you don't mind me piggy backing off your post but my new rig is just days away from being built (mobo on backorder) and I'd be curious too to see what class might be best for me as well. I want to avoid that "broken" class as well but I also don't like playing the class that's the fotm either if you know what I mean (*cough* palaidns, death knights, *cough*). I've always done pet classes but hoping to avoid that somewhat in rift. I've avoided tank/melee just because with a slower pc it's always been easier to play caster, less twitch involved. I'm just so twitterpatted about having a decent rig I don't know what I want to play, lol

Warlord vs Void Knight? play Void knight, Warlords buffs are hard enough to keep up and are too little to begin with, not to mention no buffs of the same type stack.

No worries Tserash. Good to see you lurking in the forum shadows like me as well. (and good to "see" you) Alright, I'll give Void Knight a shot. Good news even if I don't like it I can just change my subclass. Sounds like Wolfie likes Archon. If I were in your shoes, I'd probably try that. Same rule applies for classes in Rift. Once you pick rogue/cleric/warrior/mage you have to stick with it, but the subclass can be changed fairly easily (from what I've heard).

Low Rank PVP usually caters more to Riftblade due to its magic damage and coupled with Paladin can make an annoyance class. The thing that bugs me with Warriors is that we lack any real effect on the battlefield apart from some okay dps and a few single target CC's If your doing warrior and want to pvp 1-50 and at the lower end of the Prestige ranks have a look at Taugrim's guide http://taugrim.com/2011/03/20/guide-riftblade-warrior-mechanics-and-pvp/ Informative and also has other general PVP tips. Once people start getting gear I've noticed a trend towards Champion usually blended with Paragon or Riftblade. Using a Sword and Board is lackluster in PVP for actually bursting and is more suited to survivability and a limited assortment of annoyance tactics. Once you gear up and run with premades 2hander DPS is the only real way to kill the other team effectively.

» Edited on: 2011-05-07 22:05:16

Interesting. Who knows I might go with a mage. I was kinda hoping I could be an offensive sword/board tank. Guess every game is still copying the same ol' s/b = defense sterotype. I may fiddle with a warrior and a mage and get a feel for things.