black_magic

Hello all,

I am a long-time hardcore raider of various MMO's, including EQ, WoW, DAoC, and FFXI. I have devoted a great part of my past into the MMORPG community and up until recently I hit a bump in my gaming road.

After taking an extended break from MMOs and gaming altogether, I wanted to try something new and researched EQ2 as my next gaming preference. I invested some time into the trial and the two classes which grabbed my attention the most were, as the title states, Coercer and Defiler.

Now, I leveled both to 20, but before I activate my subscription I wanted more assurance from professionals who have a greater understanding of how to play their class.

I guess what I generally want to know is the most distinguishable aspects of both these classes.

For a Defiler, what I would like to know is:

Are they essentially needed as an important addition to groups/raids? Since I play MMOs for the endgame content, I would like to know more about the coercer before I go through the hassle of leveling one to 80 only to find out I'll have a hard time finding a group or a good guild.

As well as, what main purpose do they serve in group/raiding content?

And last, but most important, do you enjoy your class? Even if it's the most useful class in game by a landslide, if the class is not enjoyable then that defeats the ultimate purpose.


I will post the same thread in the Coercer forum to avoid potentially biased standpoints.

Thank you very much for your time.

Davngr

i play both and have raided my defiler.

basicly you will get more groups as a coercer then a defiler but you will be more important to the raid(end game) as a defiler then a coercer, granted you dont suck.

defiler is one of the harder classes to solo heal groups with and that's why i like him more then my warden, they offer nice hp buffs and awsome debuffs.

coercer is a solid dmg dealer and can solo well, also offers group buffs.


either class will probly land you in the MT group so really it's a choice between healing or dps.

Talyth

I have end-game raided with both defiler and coercer. Defiler is a healing machine with nice debuffs and great group debuffs. In addition, the class gets some really great healing gear in end-game.

This is simply false. Warding healers are by far the most efficient for groups and raiding. Druids are very much less sought after in raids. If you want to have fun soloing, level up as a mystic (for the better dps through combat arts) and then betray to defiler. Mystic is nearly as effective as a healer, but still the defiler is the cornerstone healer for a main-tank group in raids.

Coercer is a blast to play. In addition to great utility for the group, if played well, the coercer can put out really great damage. The control effects and damage types make soloing just plain mean.

__________________

Davngr

clearly you have not solo healed groups with a druid or cleric. of course a raid outfitted defiler will hardly strugle at all with herroic content but since this person will leveling a defiler to 80 i thaugt i would warn him about my experiance with the class.

Choadley

I have done it with a Defiler and with a Warden. I haven't really thought either were particularly tough in any way to solo heal with, raid or heroic. They are just different in how they do it. Anyone who is knowledgeable about their strong points adapts.

The druids bring people to full life faster once damage is taken, but with a Defiler they don't take as much front end damage because of the wards, so the amount to heal the group afterward is less anyway. If you warded intelligently, you are only a group heal away from green anyway.

__________________
You can't stop me mother fucker 'cause I'm on a boat.

"I dont wanna date her. I just wanna be able to run a blacklight over her face and prove ownership."

Talyth

I have played every healing class in this game and raided with half of them. There isn't a class that simply cannot solo heal a group. Any class played well and with appropriate understanding can heal any group in any zone, depending they don't get aggro and die because the zerker likes running in balls first into the room and cannot see the one add beating your face in because he has his own 20 to deal with.

__________________

Koinoo

I concur with Talyth. Any healing class can solo heal any heroic content. I've personally solo healed every heroic zone in the game as a defiler. I'm raid geared, but not to the point that I'm wearing all fabled (mythical with some TSO set/fabled with some legendaries sprinkled in). I've also experienced the difference of solo healing as both cleric and druid, and still prefer doing it as a defiler at this point. Each type of healer has a different skillset they can draw upon and each can solo heal easier in some situations than others.

For example, druids absolutely own the field in the fire room for the Varsoon fight, but a defiler can solo heal it just fine if they use all of the tools they are given. I've been in groups where a templar, inquisitor, mystic, defiler, warden or fury have solo healed every piece of heroic content. In some of those cases the healer didn't have mythical or a lot of fabled pieces but kept the group alive simply by being masters of the tools given to their chosen class.

Personally, I prefer my defiler. I have alts of all of the types of classes but simply know my defiler best and have found nothing beyond the abilities of my class that can be accomplished by another priest class.

And of course, even the best geared, most skilled priest of any class cannot keep alive a group that is so poorly geared/skilled that they are set up to the fail in the first place (though the challenge of keeping such a group up can be a lot of fun).