Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
Most newb-friendly melee/caster classes?
Cammy
Member Posts: 864
Ok so I just downloaded the trial and decided to give this a fair shake... What I found out quickly is two things.
a) Combat is VERY good/fun and unique
b) I suck terribly (and I mean terribly) at melee 
Im not sure what Im doing wrong but I find I can use casters far more effectively right now. I would like to LEARN how to melee a bit better so as my title says - Im looking for a newb friendly Melee (and caster) class to give a try.
Since Im on the trial I can only level to 20... but lvl 10 seems to be a good measuring stick on if Ill even enjoy that particular character. For now - Im not sold on the game but Im very interested... it has a lot of elements that make a good MMO. Of course - I've only hit the tip of the iceberg so I won't know for sure if I like it until Im well past Tortage. Still - this will allow me to decide if Ill purchase the game and try out the XPAC which is coming in a few weeks.
If anyone has any tips or recommendation for a newb-friendly melee/caster class(es) I'd really appreciate the feedback!
Thanks all!
Comments
Tempest of Set
You can blow stuff up with lightning. Your a healer. You solo like a god.
Nuff said?
Never violate a woman, nor harm a child. Do not lie, cheat or steal. These things are for lesser men. Protect the weak against the evil strong. And never allow thoughts of gain to lead you into the pursuit of evil. Never back away from an enemy. Either fight or surrender. It is not enough to say I will not be evil. Evil must be fought wherever it is found.The Iron Code"
I wouldn't say there's any great difference in difficulty levels, all you need to do is grasp the concept of the combo system and that basically comes to one thing - if an icon flashes, click on it!
That said, you might want to try Conqueror or Guardian, they're pretty straightforward. Guardian is a more of a tank and takes a longer time to finish a fight compared to the Conqueror who is a dps class.
Heh... this is exactly what I was trying but I don't think I was having much luck.
I tried the HoX first due to many people liking the class. And I was noticing after one of my abilities I'd have to hit the up/left arrow - which I Did. So I "think" I was executing my combos correctly. THat said - I was having such a difficult time on mobs and the boss at the end (the slave guy you have to kill) - I was brutal
Couldn't even get close to killing him sensibly without him mashing my face ROFL
So - am I just doing something wrong or is melee generally harder to play/grasp compared to casters?
Anyone else?
Gonna give this another run here in a few... gonna try Melee again (maybe Berserker) and see if I fare any better
there is no auto attack in AOC, so you have to manually tell it to swing between your combo's at early levels. (Later in levels you have so many combo's you don't really have to worry about it.) To tell it to manually swing just click one of the arrow keys over and over. Each click being one swing.
I was doing this (at least so I thought)
In the example of my HoX character - when I got to the final boss I opened with my AoE fire spell (as he ran at me) then I would hit "5" which was the pre-combo move - followed by up/left button (believe it was button 1) ...
I would continue to do this but he would just beat me down way too fast.. honestly - I wasn't even really that close to killing him
I assume - this is me being a noob... but I guess that's where my post came from. Looking for ways to learn how to get better at that... is there a melee class I should run with and try out? Right now Im just playing around with them and learning the game mechanics but eventually I'd like to get the hell out of Tortage rofl... apparently the game really opens up after that.
Did your target have all his shields on that side? If so pretty much all damage of the combo would be wiped out. You´ll do more damage with just hitting an unshielded side rather then comboing a shielded one.
All statements I make is from my point of view unless stated otherwise.
Always use combos, regular hits don't do too much damage. Make sure you have food buff for extra hp, and pop a pot as the fight starts, use KBs/stuns as often as you can. Always hit where the mob is leasted shielded. Check to see if you have picked up any better weapons or armor along the way.
I struggled against that ugly slaver myself at level 5 in the beginning, he's not easy when you are starting out, but the satisfaction you feel when that fat f*ck finally goes down... priceless
DT and conqs are quite easy melee classes to level. You can spec them as dps and do pretty good damage.
On any melee character you want to get proficient at getting your combos off. HoX might be harder than others later because you really have a lot of alternation between casting and melee, but at lower levels I don't remember thinking they were any harder.
You know you are doing combos right when you get green arrows after you click the right direction. red arrows mean you miss. You will also see a damage boost on many combos. (some combos do things other than extra dmg). Note that you can miss in melee in AoC if you are pointed the wrong direction as well as being out of range. It is not like some games where it wont let you swing at air.
For your HoX for example at level 5ish you should have hellfire breath, slam, sweep, and your demon form power.
One thing you said that made me wonder was you said you did your AoE fire as he ran at you. The Hellfire breath is a PBAoE, it only hits foes in an arch in front of you in melee range. If he was still running I think he might have been out of range.
You should be able to easily kill single bosses that are the same level if you are hitting with all you combos and using Hellfire breath when it is up.
Switch into demon form when the boss is coming toward you. Once he is in melee range, Hellfire him, combo, combo, hit arrow directions untill the combos or hellfire is up again. Shouldn't be too hard.
Note that you can feat hellfire out later to make it instant cast, that is a staple attack of HoX.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
there is no easy way to learn combos in this game. you have to just do them untill you figure it out. if you are getting green arrows after you press the directional button you are doing it right.
trust me if you are haveing trouble with npc that stand still you'll have nightmare trying to hit people that circel strafe you endleslly in pvp. melee are hard to play and even harder to pvp with. it just takes a LOT of practice.
if you are easely discouraged then i highly suggest playing casters. mele dont get any easier to play, only harder once you try to pvp with them.
This seems to be very true - as I have noticed casters seem far easier compared to melee characters.
Im not easily discouraged though... and I don't mind learning and spending time to get better at my class. I was more curious "if I was doing it right" and it seemed like I was based on the feedback here. I rolled on a PVE server as I dont want to be "stressed" while trying to figure out the game and level up. So I wont be dabbling into the PVP part of this for a little while yet
Back to the original topic though - is there any I'd find easier to work with compared to the other classes? Regardless if its caster or melee...
I may just roll with the Tempest as the healing perk seems pretty substantial. I tried Demo just at early levels and wasn't overally impressed. Seemed like the same damage output only without any heals/HoTs
Appreciate everyone's reply - I may have to try the HoX once again as I've heard great things but was a bit let down on getting man-handled from that boss
Maybe tonight Ill have better luck lol!
Thanks again all - anymore tips/feedback would be really great. Never felt this lost in an MMO before - not sure if that's good or bad lol
If you are still looking at hybrid cast/melee classes I'd say Bear Shaman is a little easier than Hox.
People will disagree though as it does end up depending somewhat on how you feat yourself, i.e. by what powers you end up getting. Note that some feat points give you new powers. So are passive some active and you can, and I have, refeated because a character was getting too complex to play.
"Never met a pack of humans that were any different. Look at the idiots that get elected every couple of years. You really consider those guys more mature than us? The only difference between us and them is, when they gank some noobs and take their stuff, the noobs actually die." - Madimorga
casters wise
ToS is the easiest class to play (solo/group/pve/pvp). ti's basicly a very offencive healer. it does it all, healing, dps, cc and it does it well. You'r kid can play this class with 1 hand wile eating a sandwich. no combos
Pom. defencive healer. grait for raids but hard to pvp with since damage output is very low. if you like to sit at the back of the pack and heal everyone this is your class. no combos.
Necro: pet and dot class. it does have dots that return life (sort of a self heal) but not like a Tos. if you like to dot up, send pet and kite this is your class. no combos
Demo: nuke mage. yes you do get a pet but it's mostly for buffing. this class has a lot of AoE damage and straight nukes. the true mage squishy but grait burst damage. no combos
Hox: very interesting blend of melee and caster. squishy but high damage output. can take a wile to learn how to mix magic with mele. you will need to learn to use combos.
everything else is cosidered melee and requires combos.