Class Choice Guide

=Introduction to PvP gameplay= PvP is short for Player versus Player.

PvP promises a high adrenaline environment where you engage in battles not only between you and the monsters the world provides, but also against your fellow teammates. It's best to not do PvP if you are new to the game.

=Introduction to PvE gameplay= PvE is short for Player Versus Environment.

On a PvE realm you dont need to fear other players around you. In fact, it encourages a co-operative team effort to solve some artificial intelligence puzzles beyond your wildest imagination.

Team Play
Every member of an instance or raid group has their own highly specific job. To choose the correct character for you, you need to consider some of your attributes and strengths, and weigh them against your weaknesses. Although you should always aim to be all that you can be for your group, remember that a character you enjoy playing will always be easier than one you do not.

Most groups consist of 1 tank, 1 healer and 4 dps. Oftentimes, 2 of the dps are substituted for an off-tank and an off-healer. The off-tank pulls aggro away from the group in case the main tank dies, or can pull separate groups of enemies or a second boss, depending on the situation. The off-healer buffs the main-healer's heals and can focus on healing individual players while the main healer focuses on the tank.

Tanking
A tank is usually the leader of the group, and should be one of the most experienced players. He normally organizes the party and controlls their actions so they stay safe. The tank's job (with the help of the healer) is to protect the weaker-armored team members by drawing all of the enemies' attacks to him, using a mechanic called threat. Threat is determined by a combination of damage and inherent threat gain. Threat can be increased or decreased with special buffs and runes. The person with the highest threat will be the one pulling enemies. Knights wear heavy armor, usually with many HP runes, aggro increasing runes, and defense runes, and wield a 1-Handed weapon and shield. Their skills normally include skills that increase their armor, HP, and parry rate; skills that stun, hold, or control enemies; and also some attack skills. Knights are the most common tanks, due to their ability to wear plate and holy seal skills, though Warriors can also tank using abilities that can force enemies to attack them and stun enemies. Wardens are the newest addition to the tanking group, as a Warden/Warrior receives the ability to use plate armor, an increase to armor rating by 123%, and the ability to use 2-Handed weapons (the strongest weapons in the game), giving them the ability to match damage of the highest DPS classes while pulling aggro to themselves to take all the hits.

Healing
Healers are one of the most important parts of a party. As their name suggests, they heal and buff the party members, particularly the tank. Healers, like tanks, need large amounts of experience to play, as they must keep an eye on basically all the party members at once, and will also be responsible for resurrecting any fallen party members. Healers have low HP and armor, so they stay on the backline. Healers use skills that heal and improve the power of their party members. Priests are currently the best burst healers, although can suffer healing fatigue if not carefully monitored. If you want to play a heal-over-time class, try Druid. Priests specialize in group heals and quick bursts of healing magic, and Druids specialize in keeping your party members at full HP through the use of constant over-time heals and some group heals to pad their party members.

Melee DPS
The melee DPS focuses on damage, damage, damage. They deal some of the highest damage in the game, through powerful attack combos, and also can place various nagging effects on their foes. However, their position at the frontline and their comparativly low armor and HP means that if the tank loses aggro or an AoE is used by a foe, the DPSer will be placed in danger. DPSers use skills that play off one another and deal effects. Rogues are the most common DPSers if you don't mind lower armor and HP, while 2-Handed Warriors pack higher hitting direct attacks with heavier armor. Wardens can also DPS, when taking Scout or Rogue as a secondary class, matching the damage of the highest DPS classes in the game all while wearing chain armor, making them that much less squishy.

Ranged DPS
The Ranged DPS does about the same thing as the Melee, but from long range. Their skills are about the same as the Melee's DPS skills in that they deal high damage and normally are in combos. Ranged DPSers are less vunerable than melee DPSers, since they are farther away from the battle. Mages and Scouts make the best ranged DPSers, dealing different types of damage which is important to take note of because enemies have different types of defense.

What about Wardens and Druids?
Wardens are Runes of Magic's pet class. They fight melee and you have to be an elf to play one. It is now known that the Warden can be a hybrid class between high sustained burst DPS or a 2-handed wielding tank with an armor rating similar to that of a Knight, due to a class buff. Druids are basically Elf Priests (as Elves cannot play Priests). They can heal, res, and buff like a Priest, and also can control their enemies for a short time; or they can be entirely magic damage based, sacrificing their healing ability to match and surpass magic damage done by regular Mages.