New Player Seeking Class/Server Advice

KinslayerX

OK, i've just decided to give DAoC a try after hearing so many good things about it and it being one of the few major MMO's I managed to somehow miss.



I installed the game last night, set up my account and had a very brief play just to get the hang of it. Now, before I go any further, I need to decide on a class for my main character and that's where i'm hoping you lot come in.



First off, I don't enjoy playing support toons whether they're buffers, crowd control or healers so any of those are out. Second, i'm not a huge fan of tanks. So, that leaves with me with pure DPS toons. I've played melee DPS, pet DPS and ranged DPS and have to say that of the three, ranged DPS is my favourite. In WoW for example, my main is a fire mage and my second favourite is an affliction lock while in City of Heroes I loved my fire corruptor.



So, which classes are there in DAoC that are all about ranged DPS and essentially the 'glass cannon' of the game?



Also, while i'm asking, any info on which of the three factions, the main differences between classic and normal servers and which servers are best for someone who is a mature team player mainly interested in PvE would be gratefully received.

Stith16

Depends on what realm you play...

Albion - Wizards are suppose to do the most damage in game but Ive heard them being nerfed down.  Their bolts are suppose to be high DPS but can be blocked by some characters.  I would go with fire for single target DPS and ice for PBAOE DPS but for ice i suggest not because its mostly used in groups if you plan to solo and be your own.

Theurgists - Wind theurgist = good DPS along with speed buff and other niffty things such as blade turn make them useful for grouping.

Cabalists - Great DPS along with their pets.  I grew to like this class late in the game due to their pets being able to tank, heal, or nuke along side of you

Sorry, I dont know much about the other two realms.  If you can be a Warlock in midgard, they are considered the be the best single DPS for them and Bainshees for hibernia.

JulianDracos

Wizzards haven't been nerfed, they just suffer the same issue with bolts that the other 2 realms do.  Wizzards happen to have the most powerful bolt though.  So you should go Fire Wizard and Ice Theirgist for Alb, Runemaster or Warlock for Mid, and Bainshee (although this is a very difficult class to play), Eld (not that powerful in comparisson to the other realms bolt casters) if you are Hib. 



Hib used to be very poweful in Magic, but Elds are subpar and have mostly been given debuffs instead of DPS for their bolt casters.  You can get nearsight which is a great tool, but not something that gives you great DPS.  Animist used to be a great class, but they lost 66% of the DPS 2 patches ago.  You can still do decent damage, but it is not great.  You might try a mentalist.  You get HoT and DoT spells.  So you can cause a lot of damage to a lot of targets. 



As for the best DPS it is Baishee and Warlock.  Theurgists have good DPS and are a very annoying class to fight against.  Fire Wizzards are the bane of all the other casters on the battle field with having the best long distance spell.