Party of Conformity: Arcane Casters

By Dalmarus

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May 16th, 2008

For the last couple of months, a friend and I have been wondering what class would make the best group. The topic originally started from a conversation we were having about some old Everquest times we had shared. One of those moments was watching an entire part of Beastlords hunting together on the Plane of Nightmare. If anyone wonders, they didn't seem to be having the slightest problem hunting out there either. In fact, I almost wondered if it was going much better than a more traditional group.

Now that you know where the idea for this set of polls came from, let's get to the nitty gritty and how it relates to Vanguard: Saga of Heroes.

Needless to say, I have my own theories on which class would make the best group, but I'll keep those to myself for now. I already know what I think - I want to know what the general community feel of the subject is. Over the next four weeks, I'll set up a poll for each of the class categories: Defensive Fighter, Offensive Fighter, Healer, and Arcane Caster. On the fifth week, I'll run a poll with each of the winning classes to see which one would reign supreme.

Druid

With the recent revamp the Druids received in Game Update #4, they've gone from being an average Arcane Caster to having a shot at taking the title. While I like to tease them about being "wanna-be necros", there's no denying the new and improved versions can deal the heat. They have the ability to stack multiple damage-over-time spells (DOTs), possess some impressive snares, and some serious direct damage (DD) capabilities. On top of all this, they also have the best healing abilities out of the other contenders to round out their pile of skills. Don't forget that while their pets may not be as strong as a necromancer's, it's just one more thing to add to their damage per second (DPS) rating.

Necromancer

Ignoring for a moment the fact that I'm a little more than biased towards the Necromancer class, there is no denying that a single Necromancer is an adversary to be feared. Not only do they have an enormous amount of DOTs they can stack for arguably the most sustainable DPS in the game, they also have a number of ways to avoid the icy grip of death. They can feign death, mez targets, or send their targets running away at light speed. Combine this with the toughest pet in Vanguard, the ability to resurrect corpses to fight for them, and an impressive array of possible minions, and you have a serious contender on your hands.

Psionicist

If there was ever a class that was in desperate need of the fabled revamp, it's the Psionicist. Fortunately for them, that revamp is coming in Game Update #5. Unfortunately for them, that's not in time for this poll, so they may be at a severe disadvantage. Aside from all this though, a well-played Psionicist can pump out a respectable amount of DPS. While you may not consider one the Master of Crowd Control that they should be, they do have a decent amount of crowd control capabilities. When all else fails, they also have a number of escape plans, ranging from increased speed bursts, invisibility, and more.

Sorcerer

The sorcerer may be an agro-grabbing, tissue-paper-wearing, pain in the rear for many parties throughout Vanguard, but no other class can dish out the same burst DPS they can. This may make soloing a bit of a hassle at some points in their careers, but now imagine 6 Sorcerers unleashing that massive assault on a single target. Mitigation and agro management may be important to the rest of us, but if the mob were dead before it knows it was even hit, would it really matter?

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Now it's your turn to let us know what you think!

VOTE IN OUR POLL! You have only one Arcane Caster class to make up an entire party - what is it? Druid Necromancer Psionicist Sorcerer VOTE HERE (this poll is always open)