. What’s it like underwater? Are there any cities under water like under a dome or something?
No domes :) However, there are several underwater zones. One is a ruined city from the lost elder civilization of the Kedge. Another is home to the Bloodgill Goblins. Its very strange underwater. The fights become 3d :) You have to watch above, below, and all around.
2. The pets that fight for you do they stay after the fight?
Yes. They stay until you leave the zone or they die. However, the Crappy Cleric and Wizard pets only stay until the fight is over.
3. Can you fight under water?
Yep.
4. In your opinion what is the best make up for a party? For example would you say 3 fighters,1mage,1healer1rouge is good?
Now this is a tough question. I have my own taste to parties, and its much different than most EQers out there. I prefer overlapping roles, meaning two tanks, two heals, two supporters, two damage dealers. Now, obviosly you can only have 6 people in a group and thats 8 slots to fill. So, I prefer picking classes which can fill more than one slot. I tend to stay away from the Rogues, Warriors, and sometimes clerics because of this (most specialized classes).
Ideal group for me (Me being the Mage) - Paladin, Shaman, Beastlord, Bard, Mage, Wizard.
Why? Let me explain bit by bit (to give you a feel for grouping).
The Paladin is the tank. He takes the damage, and pisses the mob off enough (through his stun spells) to keep it off me and the wizard. He can also help the Shaman heal during downtime. Paladins do melee damage, but not an incredible amount (Only Bards do worse).
The Beastlord is the backup tank. He, and his pet, deal out massive damage. In addition, the Beastlord has a unique series of buff spells (enchancing abilities) which can greatly increase our capabilities. The Beastlord can cast mid level “Slow” spells, which greatly reduce a monster’s damage output.
The Shaman is the prime healer. He can cast very powerful buff spells. The Shaman also has the most powerful slow spell in the game. However, this slow spell REALLY pisses off the monster. Although Shaman can take more hits than any other non-melee class, he will still get killed easily if the monster is hitting him for more than 15 seconds. So, the Beastlord casts slow early in the fight (and getting hit, since the Paladin has not taunted the monster enough, but the Beastlord can take hits) while the Paladin builds up enough hate. Then the Shaman will cast his very very powerful slow, overrighting the Beastlord slow, and not get hit.
Bard - The bard can do anything, much like the Dnd bard. A bard melees, though very poorly. A bard however can cast very powerful songs. These songs can enhance your abilities, weaken the monster’s, do damage, make you run faster, ect ect. In addition, the Bard’s songs are probably the single biggest increase to Mana Regeneration you can get.
Wizard - The Wizard is the master of nuking shit and splattering it’s insides a mile away. When a Wizard wants something dead, its going to die. The wizard has the best direct damage magical spells in the game. The wizard however does not do incredibly amounts of damage over long periods of time, as they do not have the mana to keep up a constant flow of big nukes. Wizards, in addition, have great snare and stun spells which can keep a monster from running away and calling friends. Wizards can casy evacuation spells, which will teleport you away from the fight.
Mage - Aaah the mage. My class, my favorite class. Mages are the kings of damage. Mage pets are the best in the game, outdamaging most Warriors, Bards, Paladins and Shadowknights by themselves. In addition, the Mage is the second best direct damage dealer, able to come close to the gut splattering abilities of the Wizard. Mage can sustain far more damage than any class in the game. In addition, when the Mage and Wizard want shit dead, they will blast that worthless monster harder than you can imagine. Great combo.
5. You say that a Shadowknight works best alone but not in groups, what penalties would 2 Shadowknights get for playing as a team with no others in the partry.
No class gets penalties for being grouped. Group members simply split experience (2 Group members - Half as much exp per mob compared to a solo kill). Shadowknights, among other classes, simply don’t offer as much to a group as most other classes. To compensate for this, they excell at soloing.
6. How are the spells for Shadowknights? Any good?
Not great until much higher levels. Shadowknights get pets, but they are obsolete by the time they get them. Shadowknights have access to powerful snare and fear spells, which is why they excell so much at soloing.
7. When you make a charcter how do you decide what will it look like?
Yep.