First MMO, what's a good class to start with?

[ajlongxx]

Hello I just bought this and it's my first ever MMORPG. I'm not really sure how this works at all but I'm taking a gamble with it as I enjoy games like Mass Effect, Dragon Age and Skyrim so I am hoping this has a similar feel as a RPG.

 

I am wondering what the recommended class is for beginners?

 

Thanks a bunch for any replies

[RobDingo]

I'd strongly suggest starting off with some sort of DPS class. Proper tanking and healing means you're ultimately responsible for your entire party surviving, and they both have the most nuances and a higher difficulty level. DPS is very straight forward, and while there are nuances to doing it properly, even if you aren't 100% with it, it's easier to pick up and has a lot more slack when it comes to making errors.

 

Any class/Advanced Class (AC) can be specced for DPS. I'd suggest picking one that sounds good for you, and run with it.

[Phangrrl]

I'd strongly suggest starting off with some sort of DPS class. Proper tanking and healing means you're ultimately responsible for your entire party surviving, and they both have the most nuances and a higher difficulty level. DPS is very straight forward, and while there are nuances to doing it properly, even if you aren't 100% with it, it's easier to pick up and has a lot more slack when it comes to making errors.

 

Any class/Advanced Class (AC) can be specced for DPS. I'd suggest picking one that sounds good for you, and run with it.

 

It is his first time playing this type of game and I think he has no idea what you just said hehe.

 

Warrior ,either Jedi or Sith is what he said you should take. As you play,make sure you read alot of the guides and forum posts to learn all you can. Best thing to do is start several characters and see what's the most fun to play . :-)

[Herbertllew]

I'd recommend a class that has some ability to heal itself and also has an ability that does crowd control (that means the ability to take a monster, or "mob", out of the fight for up to a minute).

 

Personally, I think Jedi Sage and the equivalent Imperial class are the strongest solo classes currently. Jedi Shadow is very strong, also.

[EVILJUDE]

a ranged damage dealer (Imperial Agent, and when advanced class comes up, then go Sniper) is probably the easiest to get into since, when your doing instances (flashpoints) and Raids, then all you have to do is stand back and mash buttons, pretty much. and your away from the action, so as not to accidentally get targeted by the enemy. all you have to do is watch around you periodically for what people call pats (patrols) where mobs walk in a certain pattern in a given area. if your feeling risky and what to give it a go, a melee DPS (damage per second) class may be a fit. marauder for Sith warrior would be ok. or an assasin, as you have both melee and ranged attacks and could shuffle between the 2 to see which one you like. another is sorcerer (sith inquisitor's advanced class, one of em anyway) where you can heal yourself, you can try healing a go if you wanted, and it has a ranged skill tree, if you didn't want to go full on melee ranged. hopefully i did not confuse you too badly....

[Dreggzender]

the durable damage dealers tend to be a good way to start in mmos.

 

trooper/bounty hunter

 

jedi knight/sith warrior

 

as far as skill trees go, it's usually easier to start with a character built for dealing damage. so any advanced class, and then pick one of the damage trees.

 

although i cut my mmo teeth as a tank in city of heros, so there's no reason to think you can't try a role besides dps as your first.

[-Azimov-]

trooper/bounty hunter

Yeah I would second that.

You have range, good armour, lots of cool looking skills, and don't have to mess about with the cover system.

[DariuszPol]

I vote for Bounty Hunter Mercenary for you and I'm talking from experience.

1. Good DPS and loot of AOE skills (area of effect so you can hit few mobs at once)

2. Very good survival abilities (shield, skill to push back mele players, healing)

3. Healer as first companions (Mako is very good in keeping me alive while I fight with gold star enemies)

4. Easy to handle since it's a range class so you never in the middle of a fight.

5. Cool. "Death from above" is one of the coolest skills in the game. Only kick in the groin from smuggler is better in my opinion (that kick work even on mobs that are 15m tall look awesome)

6. You are require to use around 4 skills. So you will always use "Unload" (most powerfull attack that have around 15s timeout if I remember). Tracer missile (massive damage + it can reset Unload cooldown so you can use it again). Rail show (good shoot that get +25% damage if you use 3 tracer missiles on a target and it's "free" so it don't rise your heat) and "Death from above" for groups of enemies. You have few additional more useless skills

7. It's great for killing groups of enemies. In flashpoints I often killed few enemies while other people could handle 1-2 of them.

 

So I suggest you got with Bounty Hunter. Trooper is probably mirror class for him on light side.

[XjerbearX]

no gunslinger love? its my first mmo as well and i gotta say i'm having ALOT of fun with the smuggler/gunslinger

[Beeteel]

U guys serious??? Like 50% of all toons out there are DPS sage/sorc. Plz dont push OP to that class to...

 

I'd say, go ranged though. Smuggler-->Gunslinger

Edited January 2, 2012 by Beeteel

[DarthCorvinus]

I vote for Bounty Hunter Mercenary for you and I'm talking from experience.

1. Good DPS and loot of AOE skills (area of effect so you can hit few mobs at once)

2. Very good survival abilities (shield, skill to push back mele players, healing)

3. Healer as first companions (Mako is very good in keeping me alive while I fight with gold star enemies)

4. Easy to handle since it's a range class so you never in the middle of a fight.

5. Cool. "Death from above" is one of the coolest skills in the game. Only kick in the groin from smuggler is better in my opinion (that kick work even on mobs that are 15m tall look awesome)

6. You are require to use around 4 skills. So you will always use "Unload" (most powerfull attack that have around 15s timeout if I remember). Tracer missile (massive damage + it can reset Unload cooldown so you can use it again). Rail show (good shoot that get +25% damage if you use 3 tracer missiles on a target and it's "free" so it don't rise your heat) and "Death from above" for groups of enemies. You have few additional more useless skills

7. It's great for killing groups of enemies. In flashpoints I often killed few enemies while other people could handle 1-2 of them.

 

So I suggest you got with Bounty Hunter. Trooper is probably mirror class for him on light side.

 

This is perfect. Bounty Hunter would probably be the best thanks to: Heavy armor, good DPS, healing skills, and Mako's healing. It's pretty damn easy to level up and not die to...well pretty much anything.

[DariuszPol]

Yeah. And it's good for PVP. In all pvp matches I was at least in top 5.

 

~ i never move to front, leave frontline to mele players.

~ mele ALWAYS fight in groups. It's like swarm :-) One is attacked - everyone else go to help them. So then from behind I:

1. put "Death from above" to do massive damage to all of them

2. "Light them up" so I will damage most of them AND put them on fire

3. dart that explode and damage few people around

4. I lock on on player that is most damage and I'm using "unload" (loot of damage!!)

5. Then I spam tracer missiles until it will unlock "unload" again (30% chance that tracer missile will reset cooldown)

6. when heat gous up so I cant fire I use rail shot :-) powerfull shot that don't require heat and do +25% damage to guy who get hit at least 3 times by tracer missiles

 

I often try to stand near some holes and places that can kill people :-) So if mele class try to attack me and I'm the faster then I use skill that push all players nerby back and throw them into pit :-D Most lucky "push back" throw 3 players into the pit at once :-D

 

Some people say that tanks score best in PVP but I disagree. If you stick to the group and fight from second line you are best support EVER. And there is no better way to help your team than doing loot of damage to group of enemies :-D

[Girdas]

Play the class you want.

 

You have the option to try out all of the classes, I suggest you do so, if you cannot immediately choose.

[KnightDLR]

Play the class you want.

 

You have the option to try out all of the classes, I suggest you do so, if you cannot immediately choose.

 

Agreed. It doesn't take very long to go through the initial planets, so pick whatever looks cool and give it a shot. If it's just not appealing by the time to you get to the final mission for your class on that planet, try something else. Each starter planet gives you a pretty decent idea what to expect from that class, and the Advanced Class just focuses your character down to a specific role.

[DariuszPol]

Yeah. I did it to. I played 3 class on beta, 2 on early access and 3 after launch to test them (not everyone until lvl 10-11 but most of them). Bounty Hunter was my choice as I said before but I decided after checking out all of them.

 

Some people have fun playing mele classes and looking at some animations (level after level it take more time to kill even common enemy), some of them want to use small or big guns from far far away and some want to use stealth and play as assasins or something like that.

 

Check it out for yourself. But I still recommending Bounty Hunter

Edited January 2, 2012 by DariuszPol

[corakil]

Dear Op,

 

Everyone who said you should go to a DPS class (a damage dealer) is probably right. They are the most straight forward class in any mmo.

 

 

You see mob, you attack it, it dies.

 

 

However, one thing you must keep in mind is that DPS is a dime a dozen. Everyone typically rolls a damage dealer and there is generally a surplus of this type of character. You can roll one as well but that will come at a cost.

 

 

The price you will pay will be difficulty finding groups to complete flashpoints and raid content as well as a harder time getting into any decent guild.

 

 

If you pick up a tank class (typically the guy in heavy armor whose job is to keep all of the mobs focused on hitting him and not his squishy allies by using abilities that add threat) or a healing class( the squishy guy in the back who heals the tank), you will have a much easier time getting groups and joining a good guild.

 

 

Tanks and healers are very critical in the success of completing content with the best rewards. Since they're role is so important, the people who play these classes have to understand their class very well as well as understanding some of the basic mechanics of the game such as threat (best way to explain threat is how much attention a player is drawing from a single mob, damaging a mob and healing your companions adds threat) and the different kinds of damage that mobs deal to players.

 

 

This may sound overwhelming but as you play the game as any class you will learn these dynamics eventually.

 

 

Spending that little bit of time on learning the classes and how to use their abilities you will do fine being a tank or healer in a group dynamic as well as a much better ally to everyone in the game regardless of class.

 

 

The one thing I stress is that you have to be a competent tank or a competent healer because if your bad at your class your groups WILL fail. However, if your good at your role then you will reap the best rewards in the game.

 

good luck

 

 

edit: found a good guide on the forums

http://www.swtor.com/community/showthread.php?t=97702

 

edit: typos

Edited January 2, 2012 by corakil

[DariuszPol]

Bur also remember that once you are tank or healer... you will have worst solo experience EVER. So if you don't play too much with the group DPS if best for you. Because playing alone as tank or healer is hard and slow.

 

Also I disagree about teams or guild. We (DPS) often form a group and THEN we search for healer or sometimes tank. And we will take 1 person only like that.

[corakil]

Bur also remember that once you are tank or healer... you will have worst solo experience EVER. So if you don't play too much with the group DPS if best for you. Because playing alone as tank or healer is hard and slow.

 

Also I disagree about teams or guild. We (DPS) often form a group and THEN we search for healer or sometimes tank. And we will take 1 person only like that.

 

 

 

You are given a DPS companion as a tank at level 10. While I haven't leveled to 50 yet as an immortal juggernaut, I can tell you that my first 25 levels haven't been the worst thing ever.

 

if your rolling all DPS and 1 healer or all DPS and 1 tank and its working that's great but I'm wondering how that strategy will work out latter in the game when flashpoints will demand a healer and a tank.

[DariuszPol]

We will simple take healer or tank to your party but as I said - we need only one of them.

DPS is still a DPS. Tank must stay still and take damage. Healer must heal tank. DPS do all the work.

Yes, tank and dsp are important in group content but in this game most of the content you will do probably solo. At least I see people playing solo most or the time.

 

And it's harder when you are tank or healer. Also remember that if you take "offensive" advanced class then you can later in the game respec from DPS to healer. So it's better in my opinion (when you are offensive type) to play as DPS to reach max lvl faster and eventualy then respec as healer. Even defensive one that have tank skill tree have dps tree. So it's ok.

[corakil]

We will simple take healer or tank to your party but as I said - we need only one of them.

DPS is still a DPS. Tank must stay still and take damage. Healer must heal tank. DPS do all the work.

Yes, tank and dsp are important in group content but in this game most of the content you will do probably solo. At least I see people playing solo most or the time.

 

And it's harder when you are tank or healer. Also remember that if you take "offensive" advanced class then you can later in the game respec from DPS to healer. So it's better in my opinion (when you are offensive type) to play as DPS to reach max lvl faster and eventualy then respec as healer. Even defensive one that have tank skill tree have dps tree. So it's ok.

 

 

Very good points, thx for pointing that out.

 

 

DPS doing all the work in a group is hilarious tho.