Retiree Questions!

Eru

I've been debating on retiring my current main character for awhile now due to a number of reasons(dormancy, my current class makes me want to quit the game(why serpent so hard? :( and that I feel like I messed up my characters story in a few ways). With that said, I'd have about 3400 credits to play with and was wondering if I could get some advice.

A little about me - I've played off and on for years and even when I get burned out I always find my way back here, which must say something! My biggest focus is combat with hunting/gold accumulation a close second. Sad to say even after playing for so many years I haven't reached Dragonhood on any of my characters. (HOW DO YALL DO IT!?!?!?!) So this time around, I'd really like to dig my feet in and achieve things that I never did before. I.e Dragon, house/city leadership, etc.

I've played runewarden, paladin, and serpent in my time here and serpent has to be one of the hardest and most frustrating I've ever played(part of the reason why I am not liking my time here atm). Runewarden was probably my favorite due to being so tanky, multiple weapon specs and was the class that I achieved OG Achaean Knighthood with!(Why did they get rid of knight houses, these new knighthood clans are a joke!) Paladin was a close second due to damnation, but Targ makes me sad nowadays.

If I do re-roll, I'm debating between Apostate, Alchemist, Infernal, Shaman. I have 0 knowledge on any of the new classes(psion,pariah, and the elementals so I'm not sure if I should devote my time to something so new that might just end up changing entirely).

Since I've been away for nearly a year and a half, I'm not quite sure how the world is in Achaea. I'm essentially looking for a class that is good at hunting and a great duelist/skirmisher. How would I best use my 3400 credit pool to further my goals? If it's any help , I do not have the extra cash flow at the moment to buy the package deals Achaea has so I will just be using the 3400 credit pool on top of anything I get in game.

Amranu

Swap class instead of retiring. It's cheaper than losing 3400+ credits from retiring.

Eru

I'm starting to agree with that statement, however, now the question is, how are the listed classes doing nowadays?

Gallida

You reach Dragon by killing a bunch of small things over and over again. Maybe supplement it by PvP kills. Dragon is more a test of patience/supply of background noise than skill.

As far as your four listed classes go:

Infernal and Shaman have the best hunting.

Apostate is the best skirmisher, Infernal is the best group fighter. Alchemist/Apostate fall off as the group size increases. Shaman can be an excellent support role, but you won't be confirming kills as much.

Apostate and Alchemist are the better duelists, but they're both relatively linear. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Infernal will be your most expensive option due to the cost of weapons and inability to really use an SoA. By comparison, you can freely ignore offensive arties on Shaman/Apostate/Alchemist and focus on tankiness.

If Serpent combat frustrated you, Apostate and Shaman may be even worse. Alchemist is very easy by comparison.

Shecks

I wouldn't rule out serpent though. It's a 10/10 on bashing, 9/10 on utility and fun in general, and learning the combat really isn't much harder than any other affs class. If you want simple, try Runie or Tekura monk, or get Dragon and fight in that. Plenty of serps who aren't crazy into pvp get tons of kills with snipe in raids, and there's nothing wrong with that, and Evade let's you make some mistakes without embracing death every time you end up somewhere you shouldn't be.

IMO the fun of combat is the learning curve and while serp may have the highest skill ceiling, it isn't hard to get up to intermediate level (a real threat) with some practice and talking to people in game.

Iocun

Depending on how long it has been since you've been playing (and hunting) intensively, you may just want to give hunting towards dragon a new try. It's now way easier than it used to be several years ago.

Saonji

Some misinformation/misleading comments here.

Apostate and Alchemist are the better duelists, but they're both relatively linear. This is not necessarily a bad thing.

Slightly misleading here; Shaman and Infernal are both incredible at dueling, with Shaman edging out over all the other 3 if you want variety. Vodun isn't for everyone though, and is necessary versus competent people.

while serp may have the highest skill ceiling

Or this one. Serpent has one of the lowest skill floors, AND skill ceilings. It's easy to kill lowbies/midbies with, and nothing really changes when fighting more competent people, aside from them knowing when the kill window is coming. And having to actually lock rather than cheese with darkshade.

I have 0 knowledge on any of the new classes(psion,pariah, and the elementals so I'm not sure if I should devote my time to something so new that might just end up changing entirely).

Pariah is fairly meh in groups; not unsuable, but less usable than almost every other class. Bashing is incredible, and I won't comment much on its 1v1 potential since things are still getting changed with it. It's in a solid spot, though. If you're not inclined to pick up one of the toptier bashing classes (knight, serpent, shaman, pariah, int monk) then it would be worth trying to get earth lord for bashing with. Water is better but also significantly harder to get.

As for an overview of the four listed classes...

• Shaman is probably one of the best minimal arties classes in the game, it gets a lot of defensive options through Spiritlore. Probably top 5-6 1v1 classes at the moment, albeit also probably one of the top 2-3 hardest classes to actually get good with. Mobility is wishy-washy, and mostly reliant on having a lot of dolls. It gets extra movement speed in Spiritlore, though. Bashing is on the top end of the spectrum, even without arties (especially compared to other unartied classes).
• Alchemist: extremely linear and straightforward class, whose only requirement is being in a city for anchor access. Without question the best 1v1 class right now, as well as being incredibly strong in groups as Dunn has shown recently. Mobility is crap, its bashing is almost equally crap (made worse by the fact it uses EQ for bashing, and Balance for pvp).
• Apostate along with Infernal require being Mhaldorian; you didn't state what city you're in, so just putting this out there. Arguably one of the top 3 1v1 classes right now, and performs just as well in groups, but gets 'weaker' the bigger the group is since it's a pure affliction powerhouse. Mobility is lackluster, as is its bashing (albeit not the worst basher).
• Infernal recently 'lost' Necromancy and gained Oppression, which gave very noticeable QoL buffs to every one of its specialisations (aside from dual blunt which was already strong). Its ability in 1v1 really depends on what spec you go, with DWB and 2hander probably being the best overall, but snb is also a strong contender. DWC is mostly relegated to groups anymore (not to say it's bad, of course). Groups it's basically the reverse, where DWC is without question the best and the other 3 are kinda all over the place. If you have arc you're good lol. Hunting again depends on which spec, with 2hander being by far the best, and dwc/dwb both noticeably behind, then snb even more behind (the only one that can use SoA though).

In terms of skill curve with getting good on the classes... I'd say Shaman, Apostate, Infernal (regardless of spec) then Alchemist. There's a pretty large gap between Shaman and Apostate. But the latter still takes more effort than people give it credit for. Shaman and Apostate are both definitely more difficult than Serpent, so if you found Serpent hard/frustrating I probably wouldn't go either of those two... Infernal sounds right up your alley, since you expressed a like for Runewarden. Although if you left Mhaldor you'd have to drop Infernal as well.

Eru

The biggest issue I have with serpent is mostly when to snap for impatience, finishing locks and dealing with people who just spam shield or run when snapped leaves little to no counter play in my opinion. Its a fun bashing class and id you want to be sneaky just on the combat side of things I find it to be rather troublesome. Yesh I could hit darkshade first and just spam high priority afflictions but so can a monkey.

Reyson

The corrupt change actually makes Apostate a murder machine in any group.