Party of Conformity: Final Battle

By Dalmarus

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May 23rd, 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.

Bard

Aside from simple utility, the Bard's main advantage in a group is being able to boost multiple abilities for other members of their chosen party. Now imagine six bards being able to boost health regeneration, mana regeneration, spell damage, dodge and parry percentages, etc. The list could go on. Add into this the fact that they would also have the ability to continually be healing the party and you've got quite the contender on your hands.

Blood Mage

A single Blood Mage by itself is a force to be reckoned with. Now imagine a full group of six Blood Mages working in unison. Yeah, I shivered for a moment too. While I think it's possible that the group may have a bit of a hard time when battling melee-based targets, they should be nearly untouchable by casters. Their spell counter may have a 25 second countdown timer, but with 6 of them available to cast it, that shouldn't be a problem. Add into all this the vast amounts of symbiotes they can use, including a charm-type symbiote for crowd control, and you have quite the contender.

Dread Knight

With the Dread Knight being the master of a 2-handed blade, topping their coolness factor (if not their DPS) may prove difficult for another of the adventure classes. Combine the damage of their blade with the dark abilities they possess though and you have a deadly combination. The Dreadful Countenance ability of a single Dread Knight is formidable; let alone that of 5 others. They also have the ability to strip the health from their targets for a form of self-healing possibly making the difference between life and death in a tough fight.

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. 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.

Paladin

With the ability to use an AoE (Area of Effect) rescue, even with a 30 second cool down timer, grabbing agro from the party member currently being beat on shouldn't prove to be a problem. Combine all this with an AoE heal over time spell (not to mention the Lay On Hands line of heals), and you've got an impressive group of skills. The DPS may not be the highest of the groups, but the Paladins probably sit at the top of the survivability mountain.

Shaman

The Shaman is an interesting addition to this poll, because if you stuck with just one type (Phoenix, for instance), you could be very successful in certain situations, but limited in others. To give the Shaman a fighting chance in this poll though, I'm going to assume for the sake of argument that the group is made up of a combination of all three types of Shaman - Bear, Wolf, Phoenix.

Rather than being at a disadvantage, now the Shaman group may be the top contender because at this point, this is more in lines with a traditional group. If you had two Bear Shamans, they could be your main tank and main assist. You're two Phoenix Shamans would then in turn become your DPS nukers. This would leave the two Wolf Shamans to play the role of main healers. As good as this sounds by itself, remember that in the case of an emergency, all members of the party have healing abilities (duh - they're all a healer class). Taking all these things into account, the Shaman group might do better than the others after all.

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

VOTE IN OUR POLL! You have only one class to make up an entire party - what is it? Bard Blood Mage Dread Knight Druid Necromancer Paladin Shaman VOTE HERE (this poll is always open)