Best Race for a BL, End game and why?

[EZ_Melodie Songbird]

Any suggestions for the race for an end game BL? I am leaning Iksar because of the extra AC and natural regin. End game stats shouldn't be that much of a problem. What are your thoughts? I really don't see the point in being a cat, don't they eat more anyway? heh and I hate buying food.

[EZ_AsturiasAurora]

I kindof like my Vah Shir as a Beastlord. After seeing everyone and their grandmother play a Barbarian as either Shaman or Rogue and now as a Beastlord, I'm a bit sick of seeing men in skirts

High-end, it doesn't really matter that much what race you choose. Epics are the same. Stats are the same with the right gear. Spells are the same. Only difference would be Faction I think. Ogres and Trolls and Iksars have issues with their abilities to go into a few cities around the world without having to spend hours upon hours doing useless factioning. Although since the release of PoP, even that's not an issue

Just play whichever one is most asthetically pleasing for you. You're gear and playing style will determine everything else.

If you want to hit the end-game faster, I'd recommend NOT playing an Iksar or Troll or Ogre. They get XP penalties still, don't they?

I think that food consumption is the same for all races. AA metabolism 'bout the only thing that makes a difference besides just getting longer-lasting food types.

**edit** - Spelling.
Click the pic for my Magelo


~"Classes are not that out of balance"--AbsorEQ~Edited by: AsturiasAurora at: 10/30/03 11:01 pm

[Yalum]

Yes, cats do eat more than your standard character (so do halflings, and monks eat less). The xp penalty doesn't apply to AAs, and it sounds like this character will be PL'd to 65, but if you want to avoid it you'll have to choose vah shir or barbarian.

Personally, I'd go troll, cause no one plays trolls and I like their pets, but it doesn't really matter.

[EZ_Melodie Songbird]

Gah I hate buying food! Thanks for the feedback. Yea this character will be 65 in a very short time and faction doesnt matter in the old world zones. At least not to me Right now I am leaning toward troll (regin) and Iksar (regin, natural ac), Ogres don't get stunned from the frount though and thats a nice little bonus. 55+ warriors dont get stunned from the frount either, anything about BL that I should know? Something like that? The reason I am making my BL is because I just want something to solo with and just picked BL out of the classes that can solo

[EZ_Samita]

all classes can solo...

some just suck at it more than others!

=)

Magelo for: Samita Alanna Amaryllis Merridok
Tradeskiller 1662/1750
J 249, Br 248, F 240, P 236, T 234, Ba 228, S 227

[Elerion]

Quote:The reason I am making my BL is because I just want something to solo with

...aren't you a bard?

[EZ_Melodie Songbird]

I want something else to solo with.....

[EZ_Arcturos]

Ogre. No stun from the front. Get it at 1st level and it stays with you. No other BL race has it. You can cap regen, hp, ac, STA, and STR with gear but you can't get No Stun no matter how many AAXP you spend.

[EZ_Shadowtiger]

Ogre would seem a good choice to me: the stun factor wold be very nice for soloing...and ogres aren't as common as Barbarians and Vah Shir.

Quote:
55+ warriors dont get stunned from the frount either


You statement about warriors is incorrect: non-ogre warriors get stunned a TON. They can buy AA that makes them less usceptable to frontal stuns....but it doesn't get rid of the problem. Vergil
Lightbearer of Mithaniel Marr

Lynal
Nightstalker

Bristlebane Server

All that is gold does not glitter,
Not all those who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not whither,
Deep roots are not reached by the frost.
-- JRR Tolkien

[EZ_IvMCrys]

I agree with the rest. Pick what you like and don't worry about stats and such. It all evens out in the endgame. In my own case i picked Vah shir since i like cats. (Plus innate safefall and sneak are very nice to have)
The increased food eating for my bst i took care of by the Metabolism AA skill. And believe it or not, there aren't a huge number of Vah shir Beastlords that actually make it past the first 30 lvls that i have seen. Most seem to quit after awhile or become bots for raiding it seems.
If you like iksar, play iksar, but don't play a race just because it's supposedly better than another. Play whats fun....

[EZ_Bertroon Daemaeg]

barbarians and vah shir get cats and dogs for pets. /yawn, no cool points there.

troll pets are alligators. sonny crocket from miami vice had a pet alligator. i rest my case, go troll

Bertroon
Marauder of Povar

[EZ_thand]

troll aligators are also so low to the ground they dont; block line of sight or other melee trying to get close to mobs.
Thand

Thand Ros 65 monk
Thanduh Ros 51 warrior

[EZ_TaiilChayser]

I went troll for my BL because of the regen (I mostly solo).. the pet (teh gator is kewl.. but hard to target) the slam ability, and the better starting STR and STA (put all your starting points to WIS). Ghoste Blanc
65 Barbarian Assassin of Phoenix Ascendant
The Seventh Hammer

[EZ_Dading001]

i'd go troll for reasons listed above

[EZ_Myrkskog]

Mine is an Ogre, good stats, no stun from the front. The pet gets pretty big, although the troll pet is alot cooler.

Im on sullon though so I didnt want to have 5 fire resist. On a pvp server ogre, on a regular troll or ogre.

[EZ_Klav of Khati Sha]

in the high end (speaking from planes of power-elemental and plane of time)

With a Beastlord you can "defy" the class limitations.
Either an Ogre or an Iksar you could be a highly effective tank for tier 1-3 xp groups. on raids in elemental it doesnt matter really. Dps classes usually hit from behind anyway. in plane of time ive heard of Beastlords tanking phase 1.
i have also been a main healer for a valor xp group. i will admit you need alot of mana regen to do this.also high suggest getting pop healing aa too if you wish to try it out.
Other than that there is really no change in Beastlords.
The class gets regrowth. Regen is not a problem.
Mana regen is capped at 19 umr for any race.
and if youre really going all the way with gear the nice bored ppl on www.eqrankings.com show that with the right set of gear you can max all stats to 305 with nice resists included.
and speaking of ogres stun immunity. there are a few items that have "Stun Resist" on them. it increases the chance of "missing" a npc stun. if you are going that high end they would prove to be an asset to non ogre beastlords who wish to tank.
I will say also that Pets such as Barbarian and Vah shir do not shrink very well. they are pretty big models.my opinion they are annoying.

and about fire resist. i play on rallos zek im a troll beastlord
i resisted 5 sunstrikes in a row from a lvl 60+ wizard when i was without my gear. its not just the flat out number 5 theres more too it than that. "We are the middle children of history-no purpose or place. We have no great War-no great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great Depression is our lives."-Tyler DurdenEdited by: Klav of Khati Sha at: 12/29/03 11:10 pm

[EZ_Melodie Songbird]

ahh ok....

Troll then, Thanks

[EZ_Derrict]

I made a vah shir beastlord, now 65. I wanted something I could solo with but I wanted to get to 65 in a decent amount of time so I decided against the troll or iksar. If I had to re-roll, I'd probably go troll because of the regen and the slam ability. I solo often in places like Nurga and Droga, the slam ability would be very nice for interrupting casters.

My vah shir has 7 hp regen standing plus 3 from innate regen AA, 9 more from spiritual dominion, and 15 from fungi stick clicky, total 34hp regen standing while fighting. An iksar or troll would have 18 hp regen standing (21 with general AA regen) and with the same spells/clicky, it'd be 45hp regen standing. Derrict Thealcoholic - Nameless Server

[EZ_Melodie Songbird]

How much natural ac does a Iksar have at 65? Is it 65 ac? one per level? If so thats fairly decent also.

[EZ_Jumping HoS]

For monks, you get 60ac extra as I recall. Not sure if thats true for BL's too.

[EZ_cathar brellhammer]

Iksars get ~42ac as the bonus.
Sabek Cazictalon
Legionnaire of Cabilis
Veeshan Server
Farstorm

[EZ_DumptyXev]

End game any class that can be an Iksar will theoretically be superior to a non iksar. all stats capped and same gear = you have 42more ac and extra 6 a tick standing regen. period. Verant gave them a 20% xp penalty and bad fac in the odl world to offset this, but these penalties really dont hurt anyone anymore. Iksar are slighty more overpowered thant he other races thats all there is to. Picking a different race is all a matter of fun/aesthetics or pref on special abilities.

That being said my bst is troll.
(both war and monk are iksar though)
Dumpty - Feral Lord<Order of Draconis>Edited by: DumptyXev at: 1/5/04 11:18 pm

[EZ_Klav of Khati Sha]

i would have chosen an iksar but being on a pvp server slam is a very good benifit. same regen plus stunning is awsome. "We are the middle children of history-no purpose or place. We have no great War-no great Depression. Our great war is a spiritual war. Our great Depression is our lives."-Tyler Durden

[EZ_Myrkskog]

Quote:End game any class that can be an Iksar will theoretically be superior to a non iksar. all stats capped and same gear = you have 42more ac and extra 6 a tick standing regen. period.

Slam and no stun from the front. OGRE!

[EZ_Kahlimaa]

Vah Shir get sneak, only BST class that does. Not only handy for selling and getting around, but handy for splitting mobs (read Monkly Business more). Since Beasts don't get harmony or paci, and have no root or snare, this is a huge bonus. Sashaan Ahimsa
Khati Sha
Malevolent Spirits

[EZ_Noxdowne]

Hey there, I hope I caught you in time for this decision.

I play a 65 Troll Beastlord and I would like to offer you my 2cp's.

From the choices you have contimplated it comes down to these facts when deciding:

1) Ogre 15% exp penalty, immune to frontal stun, too large of a pet at raids, godly base stats except agi which is a total pain to raise as a BL, slam as an ability no regen.

2) Troll 20% exp penalty, a tiny pet that doesn't get noticed at raids for it's size , decent agi, worst starting wisdom, awesome regen slam as an ability.

3) Iksar 20% exp penalty, very small pet now, inate ac bonus, best agi and wisdom for starting stats, no slam, can forage.

Did I notice the 20% exp penalty with my Troll? naw not really I mean I would have 10-15 more aa's right now but I wouldn't trade that for my regen. Nor would I trade 5% exp difference for the non-stun.

Non stunnable is a marginal benefit for a Beastlord and I will explain why.

Until you reach certain "hump" levels your pet will be relied upon alot by you while soloing. The fact that you will pretty much be jousting with mobs in an exp setting will lead you to be in the actual "tanking" position about 60% of most fights. Your pet can pretty much get aggro in seconds for you to back away from the fight. I can not recall a single loss due to being stunned from the front. When you get low on hp's simply back away from the fight. Heal pet, BW or heal self and regen mana to do it all over again.

Slam is another story. Until you get high enough to earn the hobble of spirits aa you have to realize that we get no snare ability. There are weapons and such that can do this but I have never bothered with them due to the slam ability and being able to stun the mobs from the rear while fleeing. Our pets do an AWESOME job of perma stunning fleeing mobs with just about any proc from level 54 and up.

What race would I play tomorrow on a new server?

Iksar............no question......no doubt.......in a heartbeat.

Why you ask?

Iksar have a 40 or so AC bonus at 65. Beastlords wear leather armor and some of our best items are very low in ac. I wear a BP that sells for 250-300k on Xev and it has 33ac!!! FR drops a nice BP that has 45ac and the thought horror overfiend drops one that is 50ac. For the average player that extra 40ac will be huge.

The highest base stats of wisdom and agi is the clincher though. They will be the two stats that you really can't buff. I have a very well rounded character for stats. I can get everything to 305 except wisdom and agi. I am so sick of sta gear that I would trade 70 sta right now for 70 agi. Agi is not the be all or end all of Beastlord stats but I hot 1191 ac right now raid buffed and would be over 1200 if I were able to raise agi to max.

Wisdom is your "OMFG I made it!" ace in the hole.

There will not be a single buffable stat that will mean more to you than wisdom over the life of your Beastlord. A Mage or Necro is nothing without a decent mana pool and we are no different. I have a hair over 4k mana raid buffed with C5 and I usually run around 40m with PoT9, SD, C-5 and mana song at raids. You will always be the IoS buffer or the SD caster on the newly rezzed. You will spend 600m every two minutes to keep tanks and begging rogues ( ) in Ferocity at raids and that spell lasts 9.5 minutes as I am equipped with aa's and gear.

Forage is not that big of a deal, but it can be neat to pull up items otherwise not found. Especially in the EP's

I would trade slam for ac bonus and forage. I would never trade regen for the non stun.

I have played this 65 beastlord, a 63 Iksar and a 56 Ogre so I can tell you from first hand exp the Iksar is the way to go.

Do NOT ignore mana regeneration items any way you decide. A Beastlord is not just a monk with a cool pet. We use mana alot.

Start you BL and put all starting stats into AGI if you believe that he will be an end game equipped char.

If you want to just play and have fun start an Ogre and have the Newbs oogle your big pet.

Either way enjoy yourself.

Nox


Troll Toys

[EZ_ElegyBard]

Don't pick cat, the pets are too fricking big.

[EZ_RementheBard]

Iksar all the way....they're the sexiest so omg its the way to go Ssekle's Stuff
Remmy's Stuff

"Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Lizards - SoBe"

[EZ_Zadam Inzane]

I fail to see the sex appeal in Iksars.

[EZ_Qutsemnie]

Does the earned exp penalty apply to AA exp? I thought it didnt for some reason.

Somewhere around 500AA a 20% penalty is 100AA worth of exp.

There are people in your uber guilds with 500AA.

Loosing out on 100AA is alot when you think about it.

The 20% penalty wasnt a big deal when your talking about 60AA being ALOT but when we start talking about huge AA cost it starts to be noticable again.

If I had a 20% penalty on my toon I would be 63AA behind where im at now. I cant really call that insigificant.

Its interesting (assuming the penalty still applies to AA exp) theres sort of a middle range where the penalty doesnt matter much but then starts to be a serious weight in the long hall as you rack up 100s of AAs.

Oh I put my finger on what would be wrong here.
The bonus at 65 never changes. But the penalty keeps getting worse and worse as you grind AA. (the what you gave up for that bonus). Eventually there has to come a point in your exp'n of AA nowadays where what is lost surpasses the bonus.

This wasnt true prior to AA. Every level the race bonus on most of those races got more important and more emphasised (more regen/more AC every level). So paying more each level made sense.

However when you hit 65 and move into AA you stop getting bonus' to your racial abilities every ping.

The question is do you still suffer the racial penalty to earned AA exp? HEHE essentially this is a rational of why you dont =)




My precious...Edited by: Qutsemnie at: 3/13/04 7:57 am

[EZ_Josten Port a Lot]

The exp penalties that still exist, do not apply to AA xp, two level 65's duoing together, will get an AA point at an equal rate.

~Jost

[EZ_Qutsemnie]

The exp penalty is a nonfactor for most of the game then and you still get the pocket the racial bonus with no penalty when your doing those AAs =)

In otherwords that changes everything almost completely around.

My precious...

[EZ_Zimrathon]

You should pick the race that you, think you will enjoy the most. At end game it mostly balances out anyway or can be balanced out through the use of items and such. Zimrathon
lvl55 beastlord <Watchers of the Night>

[EZ_KletianTellah]

As an enchanter, I wanted to throw this out to BLs: troll illusion (easily obtainable via the kutin's key fishing quest) gives you +1 hp/tick (even if you're a troll/iksar) and the ability to slam (just make a button for it). Still getting inconclusive results on if ogre illusion prevents stun (some tanks say yes, some say no others won't let me test on them, and anything I can tank and survive without healing won't stun me anyway)

[Uilolas]

ok...certain classes get exp faster than others.and some slower than others..and some just normal..iksar, ogres, and trolls get slower exp..and are hated in most places..seems like verants trying to deter people from playing them..vah shir and barbarians eat too much but are liked most places and get faster exp..but iksar & trolls have better regen..so better regen = troll & iksar..faster exp = vah shir barbarian thats my opinion & info.. :)

[Kittenpeeler]

End game any class that can be an Iksar will theoretically be superior to a non iksar. all stats capped and same gear = you have 42more ac and extra 6 a tick standing regen. period. Verant gave them a 20% xp penalty and bad fac in the odl world to offset this, but these penalties really dont hurt anyone anymore.

Erm, you might have that a little bit backwards. Do you think 6 regen offsets 500+ per hit mobs? 42 AC helps you reach the theoretical soft cap sooner, and afterwards, nothing.

Maybe back in kunark, where mobs hitting for 180 was scary as all heck and having 900 AC on a plate class was something to be proud of, it was worth that 20% exp penalty, but as it stands, Iksar take an extra yellow bub to level, for almost no real benefit. :crazy

[Vahaus]

I created a Vah Shir because of their innate ability to regen stamina faster than other races (about twice as fast). Not to mention safe fall and sneak (you don't use sneak often but when you really want it it was there). Stamina regen was awesome, I loved it. Up until the change to Stamina then they removed the innate ability alltogether.

My recomendation is the play the class who's warder you like the most. Each race is about even in the end-game.

[Trayn]

Im happy i made a vah shir but i made it just for the looks and wasnt really didnt expect to get where i am today. If i had a chance to change to any race i would pick iksar just for the ac/regen bonus. I end up doing quite a bit of off tanking in phase 1 in time and would love the higher ac. But it the end it all goes down to what the person will like cause stats mean nothing once you get higher its all about secondary/class stats