Simple Combat Classes?

Ilanore

@Jovolo Thanks for that! Sounds great, definitely leaning towards Sylvan then. Any comments on Sentinel? Do they really require a super expensive handaxe?

Jovolo

Yup, also additional skills (higher lesson investment) such as weaponry to use the handaxe accurately. Sentinels are a good class when you get more established and build up your other class skills such as Survival, and Weaponry.

Sylvans have the added benefit of their Viridian form providing them with +2 to both the constitution and intelligence stats. You can get involved at a higher level of combat without needing to spend many hours hunting up to a high level. They also literally only really need transcendent elementalism and Groves up to Quarterstaff to compete. It's a comparitvely small lesson cost for what you get.

Ilanore

Ok, looks like i'll be sticking to Sylvan.(Eleusis is a pain though) Thank you all for youe help!

Xith

Just for fun, I'm going to approximate the difficulty ranking for all the classes, so in descending order:

(based on newbie suitability primarily, i.e. less coding to manage)

- Difficult -

Alchemist:   requires heavy micromanagement

Jester:      either they rock the class or fail at it

Serpent:     long reign as deadliest, but requires expertise

Bard:        misunderstood and rarely used, but massive potential

Shaman:      potent but also overestimated in ease, requires knowledge

( * )Occultist:   very dominant class, recent rework increased complexity

- Complex - 

Druid:       unreliable kit, difficult in terms of success rate

Apostate:    easiest locking class but requires expertise to succeed

Sentinel:    easy to damage spam, but hard for other tricks

( * )Priest:      requires expertise to capitalize

( * )Paladin:     knights are easy, except their fancier moves

Infernal:    requires slightly more understanding than other preppers

- Simple - 

Monk:        can often outclass an opponent with equivalent arties

Blademaster: easy to learn, but difficult to master

Runewarden:  straightforward damage stacks, prep optional

Sylvan:      decent damage, with a sly instakill just in case

Magi:        the simplest casting and ability stacking

Roughly sorted. Simple classes can be successful with almost no combat knowledge necessary for their offense. The "Complex" classes require higher understanding of combat or innovation (druid) to succeed, also requiring more micromanagement/reflexes.

"Difficult" classes require very high micromanagement/reflexes and combat understanding to succeed with but can also be the most potent if well-executed.

( * ) I marked a couple of classes as unsure because frankly I have no idea how Priests or Paladins operate outside of being irritating with Devotion. And I believe Occultism's changes placed it in that position for difficulty because new Domination requires more micro, right? Old Occie would have been in the middle tier for sure but ents were made more complex.

Note: some of the simplest classes are also most efficient at high-tier combat while potentially the most complex can encounter difficulties there. The simple classes are great for learning because you can discover their more complex sides without adding a lot of mechanical complexity.

Xith

You can rename the bottom group "classes girls can win with". ;P

lol jk don't hurt me.