holyness

hi i just started eq2 and am only lvl 12 and will be soloing alot cause of my work schedule and am wondering what i should upgrade spell and ca wise and wether i should go sword and board or 2hnder.Sry for the bad grammer and thx for any responses in advance.

Jalathan

Alot of pallys go 2 hander for soloing, 1hd/shield for grouping. As for what to upgrade, at your level, make sure your ward is at ad1 if you can afford it, appIV otherwise. There is also an ability that gives extra damage to undead, get that to ad1/appIV asap as well and find the undead that are scattered about the zone. You can trive on soloing on these kinds of mobs (trust me, I did it myself )

Unfortunately, I can't comment too much on the life of a brand new paladin as I've never had one below lvl 17 (both of mine are freeport rejectees ;))

Wozamil

Welcome to EQ2, and welcome to the forum. I'd pretty much upgrade most everything to Adept I and not worry about getting a master, unless you find a really, really good deal on one. You'll be upgrading spells so fast. I prefer going 2h while soloing unless you are in no hurry, but with a 1h it goes much slower. Stick with looted treasure until you get to level 50, at which point consider getting that tier master crafted armor.

Do as many quests as you can and get as many AA as you can. I think those will help more than anything.

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Oizen

In lower levels you'll find that upgrading your hotbars will be much more beneficial than your gear. If you simply wear what you loot or quest for (check out the armor quests that start with Ian in QH /waypoint 795, -20, -34) and maybe fill in the blanks using the broker, you'll be fine gearwise until you hit your 30s or 40s. I slightly disagree with Woz here as you may find yourself hardcore tanking in places like RoV and RE in your 30s. Either way you have a ways to go before worrying about gear... a legendary 2hander and your pjs might be all you need until level 30.

Keep in mind that the quality of spells/combatabilities (app1, app2, app4, adept1, adept3, master1, master2) are balanced with other classes of the same level. You'll find that most people around your level do not invest heavily into their hotbar so, if you find your self tanking you'll want to have the highest quality taunts you can get... since you are soloing... you damage output will be one of your biggest friends and your hotbar will make all the difference in this department. Jal knows what he's talking about. The only non-offense thing you'll want is your ward and then rid Norrath of those pesky walking dead. Stormhold is a nice place for an aspiring Paladin and you can learn quite a bit about tanking in that zone if you want to try out your sword and board. You might also try improving your group taunt even when soloing as it debuffs their divine resist... and you do divine damage.

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Wyntakata

I more or less did what was mentioned above. Kept my taunts at adept 3 and wore the Armor Quest stuff till the 40s. I had raided a few t5 mobs on another toon and had fabled chest and legs for level 49 which i kept till 62. I more or less solod till the 40s and never found a decent 2 hander so stuck with master crafted imbued 1hander and sheild. I also kept my AoEs at adept 3 or master. I have 4 70s already so keeping what i wanted at adept 3 or master hasnt been too hard.

As Wozamil said quests to get your AAs high. I did this and went hero line first then INT for crit spells by the 30s and it made a huge difference to soloability and grouping. I am currently sitting at level 64 with 88 AAs and that is having a huge effect on what my pally is currently capable of.

Jalathan

yah, wait until you get smite evil. That spell is just down right sick!

Wyntakata

oh yeah never mentioned i got that a few days ago and OMG yes it is sick but i love it.

Just dinged 65 and AA 89 so have my full arsenal of AoEs now - Time to go have some fun scaring the healers by pulling multiple encounters.

Jalathan

I got mine with AA 92 that I got the other night. Used it in my first raid on Sunday... Best I've ever parse, while I was alive that is ;)

Oizen

If this is your first time through EQ2 then my response isn't going to be quite as popular but I gave it some thought and if your going to explore Norrath for the very first time as a Paladin...

Tanking
We can do a lot of things but you are built for tanking... Tanks don't make the best soloers and you'll inevitably be tanking in your 30s if you don't want to miss some of the best content in the game while you discover Heritage Quests and neat zones like RoV and RE. So, contrary to most advise of the seasoned vets who've seen the begining zones and will typically grind through xp until their 50s, I'd suggest honing your skills in the tanking arena, right off the bat... learn how to "flip" mobs to prevent splash damage on your team mates. It's like driving a bus. And proximity pull (aka: body pull) to split social mobs without getting adds. /wink

Upgrade your group taunt and you'll be in great shape. You'll want to upgrade your ward, single target taunt and shield bash ASAP following that. You'll want to also get the very best amends that you can at level 49. Save up for Adept3 at least.

AA Progression
With tanking as your primary focus, I'd say as far as AA progression goes... you'll want to use your first AA on the KoS treetop then probably put a few points in Stamina as you get your first AAs until you can open up a couple of points in hammer ground as the stun is very helpful.

Then I'd improve your healing line until you get 25 AA points for your first respec. Respec 1 on top of the Crusader tree & 4,4,6,8,2 in Stamina for Divine Aura. DA will be an awesome addition to your tanking arsenal and with the HP gains in this line you'll be very pleased with what your Paladin is capable of with just 25 AAs.

I'd keep improving your healing line until you reach 46. Then it will be time for your next respec. Full Hero line along with your full Stamina line. You will be a rock-solid tank at this point and probably somewhere in your 40s to 50sin combat level.

To sum it up, I'd say up your healing line until you can afford to spec and entire line on a respec. I'd start with a base of 7 AAs in KoS going down Stamina 4,2 and up healing until a respec for full Stamina... up healing until a respec to full Hero... up healing until a respec to full Wrath... then up healing until you decide how you'd like your final spec to flesh out.

Sword-n-Board vs 2-Hander
Get both. Neither will hurt and with a nice shield bash (requiring board) a minimal quality 2hander won't improve your DPS enough to justify it until you are in your 50s at least or get a Legendary or better 2hander. Test it out and see what you like. I rarely touch my 2handers and just feel safe with my sword and board most of the time unless soloing and even then with hero line spec the fights last longer but, I'm much safer when I try to tackle something tough.

HEALING
Well... There are three healing archetypes Cleric(reactives) Shaman(wards) Druid(HoTs) each of these have two subclasses making a total of six official healer classes... why do I focus on the three healer archetypes? Well each healer class has a primary method of healing which is a maintained short duration spell (noted in parentheses above). Keep an eye on the spells running on your Paladin and you'll get a feel for what these icons look like for each healer class and know when they are up or down.

Your heals are actually faster than their direct heals in most cases and your ward not only helps them out but, your healing actually generates aggro for you! Especially your ward as any mob that hits it is going to be mad at you for warding their hit. AoE aggro is the key to your success as a tank... an AoE taunt followed by a ward is a great combo for keeping all the mobs mad.

On top of that your ward stacks and can even be cast on other players... so if you loose aggro and all of your taunts are down you may find that warding the person getting hit just might bring that aggro back to you.

When a healer is not running their primary method of healing and falling behind to spot heal with direct heals, then your team is struggling. If you sneak in a heal on yourself occasionally it might keep your hp maintained enough for your healer to chain their reactives, wards or HoTs... and that's their most efficient way of healing you and maintaining power. Again... your heals actually help your aggro so don't neglect them just because you have a healer.

A nice mechanical thing to note in the EQ2 combat system: when you are targeting a mob you can "pass-through" beneficial spells to the mob's target... if you are the tank that means casting a heal or ward on the mob during a fight actually tosses that heal or ward right back on you! If you loose aggro that heal will pass-through to the mob's target... so no need to goof with targeting when backup healing, just keep on bashing away. /thumbsup

If you need help just "/t Permafrost.Oisin <question>" or "/join Crushbone.PaladinsforRight" and get to know the community.

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Oizen

I forgot to mention pre-warding, as it's second nature but... I don't want to spoil the entire game for you... remember what I said about your ward generating aggro... you'll figure it out. All Paladins do. /smile

Keep in mind that the "esc" key or jump will interrupt your casting without costing you power. It's good to know these when you have a healer in your team... healers have this down cold... it will save you from over healing and wasting power which is all too vital for a successful Paladin. A Paladin with power is a force to be reckoned with but, as soon as that blue bar is dry we are nearly useless.