raremage

Hopping back and forth, trying to settle on a main character. At first I also had Fury in the mix, but from the research I've been doing it appears they are quite overpopulated and may struggle for groups at higher levels - true?

In any case, I am brand new to the game - less than a week - and have only run each up to level 10, so not a great personal sampling. The strengths of the Mystic seem to be debuffs and wards, the Warden HOTs and better DPS? Plus spear versus sword I guess...

The questions I have are:
1. Which is more popular in a group?
2. Is either over-populated?
3. Can they function as main healer? Or just backup? Why?
4. How are they for damage?
5. And how are they for soloing? Which is better, and why?
6. is there a good reason NOT to play either?
7. And finally, which is more fun?

Any answers / help / hints would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Calbiyum

You pretty much got it. Mystics debuff and ward and furys HoT and more dps.

1. I'd say they are both valued the same in groups.
2. I think their may be more wardens than mystics.
3. Yes.
4. Mystics dps suck wardens is good for healer
5. Mystics suck for solo as wardens are good since they can root nuke.
6. Heard wardens in end game are kind of useless atm.
7. Not sure =(

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Niber

1. Which is more popular in a group? Slight advantage Mystic
2. Is either over-populated? Druids are over-populated. Mystics are rare.
3. Can they function as main healer? Or just backup? Why? Mystics are better healers but both can function as main healers.
4. How are they for damage? Druids excel in damage. Mystics not so much.
5. And how are they for soloing? Which is better, and why? Druids are better soloers because they can do more damage.
6. is there a good reason NOT to play either? If you're solo I wouldn't recommend a Shaman.
7. And finally, which is more fun? Druids, that's why they're so popular. They're good at everything.

.. Druids = Fury/Warden

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Rhaz

You guys are dumb. Melee spec Mystic dps > melee spec Warden.

Melwin@Valor

TRUE.

Imo there is no reason to choose a warden if you dont want to make portals...

Mystic vs. Wardens:

Mystic heals first with Wards.
Can do 2k dps with meleespec while Warden 800-1.5k
Mystic has some Debuffs and Warden 0
Warden has crappy AAs

Oisin

I loved my Fury until it became a portalwhore. The reason there are a ton of them is because they are fun(portalwhoring aside). I nuked my Warden after playing a Fury for a while based on fun factor alone and the statement that Wardens heal better than Furys is a little strange. They both get the job done, except one is fun. /wink

Mystics are a misunderstood lot (along with Defilers) and it makes them rather unique. Most folks hate shaman (Mystic/Defiler) solo-ability and sway away from them as you'll be soloing A LOT in EQ2 nowadays. It takes some fine tuning and research that isn't entirely intuitive to beginning players to make a shammy solo friendly. You've already taken a good step to having a soloing Mystic by visiting forums though.

If you have a DPS friend you two will easily duo heroics. With a mastered shammy, pretty much any class can tank. Scouts a bit better than dress wearers though since long casting DPSers will be plagued by interrupts. ;p

As far as weapon types go... pretty much all healers end up using crushing weapons eventually as they tend to have the most healer friendly mods on them... dunno why, go ask SoE. There are precious little spears worth a crap and probably more swords that are healer friendly... but like I said... I'll put money on either of your toons toting crushing weapons eventually. /wink

Hope this helps.