Capped Hunting - Profession Flexibility

[Viekn]

Now that I have more time on my hands, my goal is to cap a character or two over the next few years. I have fun playing almost any profession. That being said, are there professions that are just inherently more flexible when it comes to capped hunting? By flexible, I mean are there certain professions that are better able to hunt all capped hunting, whereas certain professions might be good at one capped hunting area, but not so good/feasible in another capped hunting area? Or no, once you're capped you're more or less able to handle whatever you need no matter where you decide to hunt? Let's assume I won't be MA'ing, so the only buffs I'll have available will be self spelled or from invoker/Dreavening.

[Rinualdo]

The answer will be a pure, and that answer will be a wizard. That said, most pures can do pretty well and are very self sustaining. Fun is subjective, but if you just want to know what is easiest to cap self sustained I would probably say wizard -> cleric -> sorcerer -> empath -> everyone else and lolrogue at the bottom. The difference between 2/3/4 is pretty negligible though.

[Mobius1]

Hey, you better watch your rogue hate.

I think sorcerer is the most well rounded class, personally.

But bards have a pretty incredible toolkit with Tonis and 1030.

The problem with pures is there's stuff like vvrael destroyers? How do pures perform in the scatter?

And what is your metric OP? Do you care about how quickly you hunt? How fast you do bounties? How often you die? And what about service skills, do those matter to you? Also, some classes suck at fresh cap but tear it up once you get some post cap XP. How much XP are we talking here?

Oh, and there's also Hinterwilds. I am thinking squares will actually do better there, but I haven't had the chance to do testing there yet, until they copy characters over.

[Realk]

I'm pretty much with Rinualdo... except I rate wizards lower... overall cleric and sorcerer would come in pretty equal at 1-2 with wizard at 3 and empath 4... but the difference being so small it really is just a preference thing at that point.

[Viekn]

But bards have a pretty incredible toolkit with Tonis and 1030. And what is your metric OP? Do you care about how quickly you hunt? How fast you do bounties? How often you die? And what about service skills, do those matter to you? Also, some classes suck at fresh cap but tear it up once you get some post cap XP. How much XP are we talking here?

Bard will already be one, that's what I'm working on now. I'm thinking I want 2-3 more and wanted to hear some opinions. And just to be clear, the question is definitely flexibility to hunt all capped areas without jumping through a lot of hoops. Meaning I can handle this capped area, but not this other one because of maneuver mechanics, or because of the spells they cast mean my fight style is hampered and won't work well there. That kind of thing. My metric would be: I don't necessarily care how quickly I hunt. I pretty much do bounties one after the other. Service skills do matter, but for me the service skills would all more or less be a tie anyway between the top 3 wiz/sorc/cleric. And I would say in regards to the effectiveness fresh cap vs. post cap, I'd be OK with not being able to kill it right away, but I'd be a bit disappointed if it ended up being effectively 25 levels post cap (I know there aren't any more levels, just exp gain) to then be able to effectively hunt all areas.

I did previously have a level 40 wizard who was a bolter, and that got stale for me. At times it almost felt I was plinking stuff to death with bolts. So in thinking about a capped pure, I would definitely hope not to replicate that experience as far as hunting style.

[Mobius1]

Bard will already be one, that's what I'm working on now. I'm thinking I want 2-3 more and wanted to hear some opinions. And just to be clear, the question is definitely flexibility to hunt all capped areas without jumping through a lot of hoops. Meaning I can handle this capped area, but not this other one because of maneuver mechanics, or because of the spells they cast mean my fight style is hampered and won't work well there. That kind of thing. My metric would be: I don't necessarily care how quickly I hunt. I pretty much do bounties one after the other. Service skills do matter, but for me the service skills would all more or less be a tie anyway between the top 3 wiz/sorc/cleric. And I would say in regards to the effectiveness fresh cap vs. post cap, I'd be OK with not being able to kill it right away, but I'd be a bit disappointed if it ended up being effectively 25 levels post cap (I know there aren't any more levels, just exp gain) to then be able to effectively hunt all areas.

I did previously have a level 40 wizard who was a bolter, and that got stale for me. At times it almost felt I was plinking stuff to death with bolts. So in thinking about a capped pure, I would definitely hope not to replicate that experience as far as hunting style.

IMO, every class can handle every hunting area fine. The only thing that comes to mind that is a hindrance is vrrael destroyers who are completely immune to magic.

Another thing to consider is Hinterwilds, but I am in no position to rank classes there. But if you care about post cap performance > all things, this should probably be what your base your choice on, since as I already said, every class can hunt in every capped hunting area (some just take more XP and/or gear than others.).

[Lavastene]

I run a cleric, ranger and mage together and it is extremely fun. The cleric is the only one that is capped, but the other two are 90+.

[Realk]

if already working a bard depending on your build for him, i'd lean cleric so much more... you would have kais, and 211. 215 running constantly.. 316 to bind stuff.. 319 to protect you against manuvers... and a good balance of both spirit and elemental spells for the two..

I have a 3x capped wizard, and a 2x capped cleric..and freshly capped 10m sorcerer... out of the 3 for me the one that is the most self sustaining is the cleric... he just does whatever with minimal gear and wins

[Maerit]

Why are we ignoring paladins in this thread? Aren't they pretty much self-reliant / 100% capable in all hunting grounds?

[Realk]

paladin is cool especially if the OP has a bard rocking... I've never found them to be completely 100% capable without at least the 400's and stuff.. but I've never claimed to be good at playing one either, just sufficient enough to stance o attack etc.

edit even though I suck at paladins I also know they take a whole lot more gear than any of the other classes .. and I'll fix the typo

Paladin is a good choice also if you are okay with a money sink on a shield and plate and forever wps. The pure options you can get some 4-5x garbage and just pretty much run for life.

[Donquix]

You attempt to deliver a kick to a Vvrael destroyer's groin!
[SMR result: 124 (Open d100: 13, Bonus: 30)]
Your kick connects! The Vvrael destroyer cries out in pain!
... 12 points of damage!
The Vvrael destroyer writhes in black agony and dies.
Roundtime: 2 sec.
Roundtime changed to 1 second.

Easy.

[onurb]

I been away from the game for a while so take my comments with a grain of salt, but I have some outdated experience playing pure builds for empath, cleric, sorcerer, and wizard. Highest hunting grounds I have been to are Nelemar and OTF. I would agree with Rinualdo on his top 4 class choices but I'd throw bard in that mix as well. All 5 of those classes will do very well, so its a matter of what you enjoy. If you go with 3 characters, I would recommend cleric, empath, wizard. You will be self sufficient with your own healing and rezzing and have buffs from all the major circles, plus be able to do some enchanting projects on the side. If you go with 4 classes, I'd make the 4th a bard, mostly because of gem purification and maximizing your loot. If you make 5 classes, I'd make the 5th a sorcerer mostly because of ensorcelling. Being independent and not needing help has always been a priority for me. My time is valuable and I don't like to wait for healing, rezzing, etc. My opinions here are based off that.

final answer:
1/2. cleric/empath
3. wizard
4. bard
5. sorcerer

[neimanz1]

Gob~~~~

[onurb]

Gob~~~~

The old Gob ya, its not me anymore. Startin off fresh after a 14 year break. sup man.

[malmuddy]

I have played all pure professions solo and mostly self-spelled at fresh cap, and I would vote empath as the most versatile hunter amongst the pures. Spell aiming, 121 empath ranks, and 2x-3x PF give you offensive options and strong defense against maneuvers.