So, I posted a stupid long post about what I was looking for in a class...and thanks again for the tips...seems that a minst/skald would probably suit me best. So now comes that awful AT discussion.

I am not looking to debate whether AT should be in the game, there are enough flame rants going on currently.

So I am a casual player who may not even make it to 50..real life is quite busy atm, and I tend to burn out and go in and out of games this point in my life.

I do though, in the case I get hooked again and grind to 50, want to be as effective as possible and be a name that enemies fear. I am curious HOW MUCh does really going AT or not, make a difference? If I play my class very well, gear up properly, and run with good groups...(not sure how much I will try solo RvR)...then will I really be THAT much weaker if I do not AT?

I am curious because it seems dumb if I am a casual player to not enjoy 48 levels of my character just to be a bit better RvR.

My follow up question is...If I want to min/max my character but NOT focus AT and take away from enjoying my classes' abilities while leveling, then should I consider a skald/bard?

I know these are the Mid/Hib equivalents of the Minst and I do not hear the AT talk revolve around these two. I am fine with whatever realm really, just not sure I want to sweat this min/max minst crap...if I do get to 50 and get hardcore into RvR I may be ****** that I did not hold out and AT lol.

you want to play solo too, this leaves bard out, imho

for the AT part will give you, if you full AT, 77 extra points to put in stealth or weapon.
Without stealth will allow to have 44 in weapon.
With 25 stealth you can go until 37 weapon, not bad and you have the ability to climb walls.
With 33 stealth your weap will drop to 30.

Without AT your weapon will drop from 1 to 3 levels depending on the stealth spec

As an 8vs8 minstrel you gonna need 9 points from auto train, so you could start using instruments at 36.
For solo play you need 10 points from auto train hence using instruments at 40.

Many MMO communities are plagued by group think and DAoC is probably one of the worst as far as that goes. When it comes to DAoC, you either follow conventional wisdom or you'll be subject to all sorts of scorn and ridicule. That's just the way it is unfortunately but don't let that dissuade you from doing what you're doing which is questioning the conventional wisdom.

When it comes to auto training, I definitely question the conventional wisdom. For instance, I'm playing a ranger and the conventional wisdom dictates rangers and scouts auto train bow while leveling. Well as far as I'm concerned, if the points you gain from auto training aren't going to let you unlock an additional spell or style, it's not worth it AT ALL. In my ranger's case, I am a hybrid bow/melee spec. Fully auto training bow to 48 would give me 77 additional points to play with which in turn would allow me to take my Pierce spec from 30 to 32. You don't gain the next style until 34 so basically I would heavily gimp my character while leveling by making his best weapon totally unreliable in order to gain a tiny bit of weaponskill. As a ranger, you're going to struggle finding groups and you're going to be left to solo a great deal of the time. As far as I'm concerned, unless you plan to be full melee spec, auto training bow is subjecting yourself to a whole bunch of unnecessary misery.

Now to apply that thinking to your class of choice, the minstrel. In the minstrel's case, there is definitely something to be gained from auto training. The only way you can get 50 instruments and 44 thrust is by auto training. Obviously 50 instruments gives you the best of everything in that line but the difference between 49 and 50 is this: the last power regen song, the last DD shout and the last ablative armor song. What do you get at 44 thrust? You get Wyvernfang which is a follow up style to your detaunt and it is a really good long duration snare that is to my knowledge is unbreakable by damage.

Is it worth it? That's a question only you can answer but I would say that you need to ask yourself this question. Are you going to be able to count on being grouped while your character is gimped by auto training? Minstrels solo by using charmed mobs. Charm is in the Instruments line. No skill there means no charm and...you get the picture. If you can't count on getting groups, you're going to be miserable leveling up. Will your character be totally gimp if you go 49 Instruments and 44 Thrust? Well, not in my opinion. I don't have a lot of experience with Alb characters but I did run with a minstrel quite a bit on Mordred and I don't remember the ablative song being a big deal and the last DD certainly isn't if you plan on grouping and the 4th power song is still really good power regen. As I said, you have to decide if it's worth it but I know what I would do

Finally, you don't hear anything about auto training on the bard or skald because they don't auto train any skills. As someone else said, if you want to solo, you don't want to be a bard and Mid doesn't need anymore players IMHO.

Thank you all very much for your replies, I am now rethinking my decision. Only because I know how I ebb and flow from gaming...sometimes I get hooked and play a game for a while..other times I will play one for a month or two..then not play any games at all for a few months. It just depends. I am afraid that if I live my character's life lvling by autotrain then I may end up getting burnt out and just not enjoy my return to DAoC.

So I still want a minst but I think first I will make another toon and lvl them up and have fun along the way. Then when I have hopefully found a good guild to call home and got my feet under me in the game, I will go and make a minst that the guild won't mind helping me to lvl him, since I do understand he will bring almost nothing to a group along the way to 50.

So I guess the new question becomes what to play first lol. I hate being so indecisive...

Anyone got a tip on a class that can solo and get group action and when played well be quite feared in RvR? I have ruled out my scout other then for personal fun as I have read all the drawbacks...I am benching my Minst for now.

I would rather not be a total glass cannon but I would be willing to try a caster...I just have always played a more melee or melee/magic hybrid class since Everquest days till now. I have never been huge on a pure caster class...something about weapons/armor/melee has always perked my interest.

Well thanks again though for the input everyone, I shall take all this into consideration.

Safe hunting!

Armsmen and mercs are always welcome in pve groups and pvp groups. They are both kind of vanilla classes IMO but you won't have to worry about class discrimination with those. The downside is you won't really be able to solo rvr too well if that's something you have interest in.