It's been a long time since I played Everquest (I); never played EQ II.

Back then, a Warrior was the best tank but the hardest to use tanking.
They had the most armor and mitigation, making them the most efficient choice.
But a Shadow Knight or Paladin had superior threat gaining mechanics, so the DPS could kill faster or otherwise behave more recklessly with the tank able to hold on to threat.
Back in Planes of Power (the last expansion I played), a Monk with a lot of armor stacked could tank as well, but aside from a few Monks on the server (notably Delnatha, in Afterlife) not many of them did it well.

Most groups wanted a cleric for the healing, because of the spell Complete Heal.
In a raid environment, you'd have multiple clerics casting C.Heal, in a chain such that it would land on the main tank every second (or whatever interval was necessary, to both keep the tank alive and spread the healing threat across enough characters to not piss the mob off terribly).

Everyone needed either an Enchanter or a Shaman.
The Enchanter had superior haste and mana regeneration, but inferior slows.
The Shaman had superior slows and debuffs (similar to the Chanter buffs, in overall effect) but inferior haste/buffs.

You didn't really need CCs, if your puller was careful.
But having them, would really save the day often enough that every group wanted either an Enchanter or a Bard.



I boxed a Cleric, Druid, Rogue and Bard.
My roommate was a Warrior in Afterlife.
My other roommate was a Shaman.

That made a six man group.

I'm not sure on where the game has gone, but I'd be tempted to experiment with multiple Necromacers or Beast Masters, and possibly to kite with Druids.



EQ1 Joke:

Q: What did the Ranger say to the other Ranger?














































A: Is this your bind point too?