pweet wrote:If u listen du Dingvia u ve time till 4l2 and then u ll reroll merc. it is not about there are already 20k mercs, guess what they are out there since arms are worse and noone will pick one if he could get an equaly good merc.
and all classes are not hard to play in daoc. what u got is 4-20 buttons to smash depending on ur class, so if ur brain is able to remember 20 things u can play any class equally good.

for many ppl time-critical classes like mezzers, demezzers or even healers are not a good choice, as they tend to panic in stress situations...that's why tanks are better for some...though some even panic on tanks at inc and just hit next target + stick and anytimer

@Dingiva: what funny you found on wearing plate,if 99% of midgard meleers(not counting stealthers) use hammer?
I agree with Jezzmin,supporters and mezz/demezzers generates lot of stress,under this huge stress situations ppl going to break.
But at other side,if you will be merc,you will be often picked as MA,what is not easy too. You are responsible for picking right targets,its very important too.
And zerker who use tactic charge on,stick target and spam dblfrost,is noob.
Armsman is good too,performs very well,but Uthgard comunity is "special".

Playing Arms is still fun. Ever played a splitspecced arms? If no, dont advice others to roll a merc

I leveled a Merc, Reaver and Arms all past 43(all full temps for wilton+_). Here are my personal thoughts on all three toons...

Merc, SMASH. Great solo, great group. Simply put, your job is to go, and smash. Sure, you can be a guard bot if you like with your 42 shield, but lets be honest - you don't like them anyway, just go back to smashing enemies .... (DPS / Slam / Guard bot last resort)

Reaver - Ker-PING(insert your own Reaver proc sound here)..... Reaver's are cool. Great soloer's... but really boring IMHO. Not sure why, but just didn't enjoy it. Slam, side side side style.. pray for a block chain to land. My personal opinion, it just didn't feel like there was any MUSCLE behind it.

Arms - It's a pretty big debate to those thare are looking for the muscle of Albion, 'Do I make Arms or do I make a Merc..'. Well... As an Arsman:D you instantly throw away charge. Which is quite vital IMO for DPS support in lower BGs and completely vital for solo IMO. I had a rough time with casters that knew how to play on my Arms. I couldn't charge them. I more or less found myself looking for a way to LoS(Line of Sight) them into a trap. Morale of the story - I DID enjoy my Armsman. I did. I had an AMAZING amount of HP for when I wanted to solo, and a LOAD of DPS every 5s with my polearm You can train in mace/shield if you like - but the pole is just so lol. It's a gambling chance really. Will you miss? Will you hit? Will you crit? If you manage to hit & crit.. prepare for an eye opener of HOLY ******, BUAHAHAHA... it's funny.

I think that's enough ranting... here are some Arms videos thanks to the lovely Smokey & Blackbeard.... Sorry, no point in posting Merc videos IMO.. they're all pretty much the same SMASH!!:D

(Blackbeard) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_p_0iUeW6II
(Smokes ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pL9KflPn3mY
(Blackbeard farming stealthers ) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1BNRbsPTOs

Dingiva wrote:Why? It´s so much mercs on Albion. Everybody says "roll a merc!" because it would be easier to find groups. But (!): if everybody rolled a merc, there would be so much mercs that you won´t find any groups. And wearing plate is damn funny

Thats true. In Midgard my first Char was a Skald. And after i have created a Zerk too cause every group need this chars.
And exact this cahrs what are easy to play and every grp need them have often problems to find a grp
Cause nearly EVERYONE has a Skald and a Zerk
And my supporters get often more LWRPs as my meele chars ^^

So if you want to be a easy-to-play char, make a merc. But you must know that it will be a hard way at start cause it exist 1000 another mercs that need a grp in exp or bgs and RvR-Grps mostly dont even invite a low rr4 mercs cause it exist 300+ mercs rr5-6++

Arms is a problem too. Most grps take just 1 Shield Tank, and in Alb grps its pala cause of endu. Arms is just nice if a grp need CrossGuard, mostly PvM vs high mobs. Some years ago it was a different situation, but atm it seems most grps prefer mercs/reaver for dps and pala for block/taunt so its just not much work for a arms.

Think Arms in Albion have the same problem as Thane in Midgard Most grps dont need them really

Daene wrote:Arms is a problem too. Most grps take just 1 Shield Tank , and in Alb grps its pala cause of endu. Arms is just nice if a grp need CrossGuard, mostly PvM vs high mobs. Some years ago it was a different situation, but atm it seems most grps prefer mercs/reaver for dps and pala for block/taunt so its just not much work for a arms.

what? o_O imho reaver is a shield tank too

sure, most grps prefer reavers and mercs but IF the arms is good and well specced (my arms is solo-specced in terms of RAs, without det and purge3) grps will surely pick up arms too...stoicism is a nice feature and the anytime snare in pole-line is nice too

Idk how good is a reaver with shield, never played one Anyway reaver play mostly a offensive dps and not a block bot

Daene wrote:Idk how good is a reaver with shield, never played one Anyway reaver play mostly a offensive dps and not a block bot

reaver gets more dex from leveling than arms (23 instead of 15) - not much, but in exact numbers reavers block betterthen arms ...plus they don't have to switch to 2h/pole and back for proper dmg ...

imho it's not thaaaat much difference...arms have stoicism, plate and, with pole, anytime snare...reavers have a little more dmg and auras..mercs have charge and more dps...its a matter of the grps playstyle...imho a combination of reaver, merc and arms plus a pala is a nice setup for a tank grp