New player seeking advice - Phoenix Freeshard

Hello all, it's been years since I've played DAOC and I stumbled upon this server when doing some nostalgia searching. If anyone has the time, I'd like some input on several questions:

1) Being a shard, how stable has this server been? I'd hate to invest my time only to have it go under and everything be lost forever (understood risks of a shard)
2) Is Tailoring still the way to go when leveling up in order to salvage/trinket at 50 for quick beginner money to build a template?
3) What would be better for a mostly solo player who also wants to build PVE raid groups, Paladin or Minstrel? Can a templated Paladin be main tank? Do Paladins have the celerity chant on this server?
4) I read the rules/forum regarding scripts/macros, and it seems I can have a macro that triggers all my chants, I just can't put it on an automatic loop, I have to manually re-activate it each time. Am I interpreting that correctly?
5) Is solo PVP even feasible here or should I plan on making a different melee class that can get groups?

Thanks for any input, especially on whether Paladin/Minstrel would be a more fun PVP/PVE choice (I only remember them from the live clients where Paladins were nearly unbeatable 1v1, so not sure how they perform on this shard with the different abilities)

Fri 20 Mar 2020 9:09 AM by chewchew

1) Being a shard, how stable has this server been? I'd hate to invest my time only to have it go under and everything be lost forever (understood risks of a shard)

So far very stable. Performance is very stable, there were only some minor problems right after release when there were huge SI raids and stuff.
And player-numbers look very good for a freeshard. After running for more than one year now, there are still more than 1k players logged in during primetime
(depends a bit on your timezone, but generally I think all timezones are fine, you can check player numbers here: https://unixgeek.com/phoenix.html).
I think holding this player numbers (even with events like wow-classic release in between!) comes from the staffs attitude to be open for changes (the changes itself are debatable, but well... the player numbers are reacting positive (compared to eg. Uthgard, where the staff had a no-changes attitude))

2) Is Tailoring still the way to go when leveling up in order to salvage/trinket at 50 for quick beginner money to build a template?

There are some crafting changes here (mostly making crafting easier, eg. craftqueue, craftskills available on whole account, etc), so you should check out the forums for a trinketing guide. Also templating here is very cheap; jewelery is taken mostly from rogs and you can find many cheap rogs in the housing market.

3) What would be better for a mostly solo player who also wants to build PVE raid groups, Paladin or Minstrel? Can a templated Paladin be main tank? Do Paladins have the celerity chant on this server?

Dont know much about solo play. But for pve raid groups paladin is better. He doesnt have celerity chant, but he is buffed here compared to the patch this server is loosely based on (classic). He is doing very fine as main tank. One big part of endgame pve are the two custom instances for one group. And paladin is well suited to tank in there while minstrels dont get invited for these instances.

4) I read the rules/forum regarding scripts/macros, and it seems I can have a macro that triggers all my chants, I just can't put it on an automatic loop, I have to manually re-activate it each time. Am I interpreting that correctly?

Yes, thats correct. You will have to manually press a button to turn them on, but you are allowed to use just one button to turn them all on.
But since the server is loosely based on a classic patch setting, theres not too many stuff to use and therefore not too many buttons to press in general.

5) Is solo PVP even feasible here or should I plan on making a different melee class that can get groups?

Sorry, I dont know about solo pvp. But paladins are nice in group pvp, too.

Fri 20 Mar 2020 10:30 AM by Ele

Welcome! Just a few additions to chewchews post:
2.) For trinketing it is noteworthy that sideskills can be leveled up indipendently from a main tradeskill. The order is someting like this:
a) level a non-salvaging tradeskill (alchemy, spellcrafting) to 200 -> b) build trinkets until woodworking/metalworking are at 200 -> c) level fletching, armorcrafting and weaponcrafting to +-300 (last arrows, 3rd tier gauntlets, 3rd tier shields). It is really cheap, takes about one hour and brings metalworking and woodworking close to 1100.
3.) The high-end instances Darkspire and Halls of Helgarth are not very popular on alb. A paly is sometimes included in groups there, but it is not mandatory. A popular way to farm feathers and gear on alb is a Boss-run in Llyn Barfog, for which a solid tank, like a paly, is mandatory. It is usually done with a grp of 4-5 (Tank, Cleric, Theurg, Necro).
5.) Solo PvP is difficult, to say the least, especially on a visible toon without speed. Expect that only few groups will respect 1v1. Adds are quite common. That beeing said, I have not visited the "solo zone" after the latest patch, which gave a killtask in this zone. Will have to check if it is better in there. Regarding the 1vX problem: Minstrel has the superior toolset to cope with adds due to pet, mezz, SoS etc. But because of the buffs given to the paly (2,5 x specc points), you can take a lot of dmg while your own dps is ok, as long as you do shieldswaps between 2H-swings, giving you good chances against the usual ns/ranger duos. Both minst and paly are good for groups too, with the minst beeing included in literally every group. In caster-heavy groups, arms is often picked over a paly, but apart from that, they are in an ok spot IMO.

Fri 20 Mar 2020 4:02 PM by hefrocko2

Thank you for the replies, some of the QoL changes look great, I'm glad to hear the Paladin and crafting received a lot of attention. I'll continue my research and looking forward to seeing you all out there