Everquest Classes

        The choice of what class to play is really one of personal preference.  They all have advantages and disadvantages.  One major factor in your choice of class is whether you plan on grouping or playing alone.  There are some classes that just aren't suitable to play solo.  Read the descriptions carefully before picking a solo class.  Of course, every class is fun to play in a group, and grouping is really encouraged in the game design.  Therefore,  I would suggest you choose your class based upon how you would like to play in a group.  This needs to fit your personality and how you like to play within the game.  I see the classes in three categories (with some crossover of categories):

1.  Fighter Types - or tanks as they are referred to in the game - including Warriors, Paladins, Rangers, Shadow Knights,  Monks, Berserkers, and maybe Rogues.  Clerics, Shamen, Druids and Bards can fill this role in a pinch, as can the pets of Necromancers and Magicians, but not very efficiently.  These classes see the most action.  They are always at the forefront of every battle, and they rarely find themselves out of the action.  If you like wading into every battle, shouting bonzai, and hacking off heads and limbs, this is for you.  Because every party can use multiple fighters, you will never be at a loss for a group.  However, these classes are tougher to solo and lack the means to travel and to extricate themselves from tough battles that the magic classes have.  The first time you have to run back to town to buy stuff, you will really envy that magic user's gate spell.   The lack of the ability to bind can also be frustrating to a tank.  It is also very expensive to buy equipment for most of these classes, and heaven help you if you die somewhere where you can't retrieve your corpse, forcing you to repurchase all of your armor all over again.

2.  Magic Support - including Clerics, Enchanters, Shamen, Bards, and Druids, and to some extent Magicians and Necromancers (though they really fit the third category better).  These classes, while possessing some offensive skills (especially the Shaman, Bard and Druid), are far more valuable in how they enhance the skills of other party members.  Most of them are very difficult to solo (except the magician, druid and necromancer).  Their primary role is to buff the fighters with enhancements and defenses and debuff the monsters to make them easier to hit and kill, then stand back and let the fighters do the dirty work.  Their role in a battle is then support by healing, charming, etc.  They are also very useful for traveling, healing, sneaking around and other non combat related stuff.  You may enjoy these classes better if you are the type who likes to role play more than just kill and level.  The healers are also supposed to keep track of the hit points of each party member and keep them from dying.  If you chose one of these classes, you should be happy with the fact that while you may not be the hero that demolished the monster, you were the one who made it possible for that hero to do his job.  Every party needs one or two of these classes, especially the healers.

3.  Magic Attack - including Wizards, Necromancers and Magicians, and to some extent Druids.  These classes have the ability through firepower and summoning to quickly kill monsters when the fighters start to get low, and most importantly, kill off the monsters who break off and run for help before they can summon their big brothers to whoop your butt.  This is especially true of the wizard, who has no crossover and really only fits into this category, yet does it best of them all.  Except for the wizard, These are the best solo classes in the game.  If you play one of these classes, you have to be prepared to sit back and patiently bide your time while the fighters bash at the monsters, conserving your mana to strike where it is most effective and, for necros and magicians, directing your pet to the most useful area.  You should also be prepared to spend a lot of the game staring at the inside of your spellbook, meditating to get back spent mana.

Specific Class Information and Links