Shattered Kingdoms

1. Mercenary
2. Priest
3. Barbarian
4. Warlock
5. Sorcerer
6. Shaman
7. Necromancer
8. Paladin
9. Hellion
10. Bard
11. Scout
12. Swashbuckler
13. Rogue

Most important factors influencing pve ability:

1) Soloing
2) Large group
3) Small group
4) Travel spells
5) Locating

It has been my observation that the vast majority of the most successful PvE characters for a long time have been grey aura. This seems to be the single most important factor for PvE success, far eclipsing class. The common sense argument is that this is because of their flexibility in grouping up. The asymmetry they have with the protection spell also helps them here. Given that, I would say the worst classes for PvE are hellion, necromancer, and paladin. The worst races are elf, deep-elf, and griffon. This is purely the result of logistics, not game mechanics.

The counter to this is that there are more items that can only be obtained by good or evil characters than neutral characters, but I don't know if it is successful in achieving balance on this front.

My vote for the best overall is probably priest, because they can pair with the majority of other classes to be effective, they can gate, consecrate at the point of equipment acquisition, and they can resurrect party members in the case of partial party kills. Their only major weakness is solo PvE, but a resourceful priest can be decent at that, too. Just my personal opinion, and I won't begrudge people for saying mercenary or warlock or even sorcerer is better.

I won't do a lot of end-game material without a priest, unless it's a quick trip to the grey wastes. I certainly believe priests are the most PvE-useful class in the game. I sometimes miss playing one, but then I remember the insanely long line of people wanting brewing and consecrations done, and then I remember that I'm glad I don't have one. Still, game seems to be a bit short on priests lately.

I am going to necro this thread since I feel swashies are pretty [REDACTED] still. So much so that I haven't even seen a long played swash in ages. I think giving swashies evasion would be a good start, maybe even streetwise. Thoughts?

At a glance, I’d support it. But I’d need to think about how their abilities can break the class.
Evasion wouldn’t really help them in melee vs melee, would it? It would just make them less vulnerable to spell casters. Right? It’s a decent place to start maybe.
But I think their big issue is that they can’t tank, and they’re supposed to be a front row fighter.
So wouldn’t it be more beneficial to allow them to eparry against bare hands and massive weapons?
I’d like to be able to grab a swash and run out to the dreamscape without having to worry about them being squishy.

I think streetwise is still too OP, so I’m hesitant to give it to other classes. But giving a swash streetwise would also be just another “incentive to play a swash” without fixing the overall issue about the class.
I think there should be more ways to defend against streetwise. Invis/hidden perhaps. Perhaps NPCs have to be able to see in the dark if the player is in the dark?
Maybe give a nat 20 Roll where someone could see past these. But someone would need to pay over and over again to get a location on someone that falls under these categories.
Also, buff the scry crystal ball if locating players is super easy now.

But main point: evasion could be cool. But make swashbucklers less squishy.

Playing with the different NPCs I can find. Swashbucklers are only useful where weapons are involved. Otherwise you just grab a barbarian. I have yet to find a GM merc to charm. Swashbucklers are useless PVE, like more than sorc are.

Hence the ability to parry all types of melee attacks, yeah?

No, I think there should be a boosted dodge for those attacks. There is less reach on empty hand attacks and slower attacks with massives, it should allow the swashbuckler to move out of the attack faster. If you boost the parry then they get access to more of their skills. I have thought from the get go they should have some form of enhanced dodge for these situations.