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Party of Conformity:
Final Battle
By Dalmarus
style="font-style: italic;">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.
You have only one class to make up an entire
party -
what is it?
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.
Now it's your turn
to let us know what you think!
style="text-align: center; background-color: rgb(160, 184, 216);"> style="font-weight: bold;">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
HERE
(this poll is always open)
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