Prophet equipment suggestions

[RuneKatashima]

Hi, new to L2 since it became Free-to-play. I have a friend who played it in the pay-to-play days but his answers aren't quite adequate for what I am looking for.

As I am leveling, what are the benefits of Light Armor and Robes?

I am looking at Robe Mastery and Light Armor Mastery and LA Mastery looks like it gives me some pretty nice stats. Yes, I am considering the MP that Robes give me as well.
I am not yet considering end-game gear. I just broke in to C-grade. So I am wondering what the best to roll with is.

Also, advice on 2-handed staff vs blunt 1-handed+shield?

Please don't tell me to not worry until I am max level. That doesn't help me :/
Thanks and love <3

[Smittie]

If you are not too high lvl alraeady, reroll. There is almost no benifit being an iss from prophet side.

Just make a warcryer or overlord and breeze through the lvls with infinite mp.

[RuneKatashima]

Thanks for the response but I don't think that answered my question. I'm just wondering how LA Mastery works. Does it really increase my casting speed more than Robes? MP recovery too? It doesn't seem like armor should give a bigger benefit to magic casting than Robes. Robes give MP sure but I don't see that as a stronger benefit.

Aside, are you implying the Prophet is a non-viable class?

[Smittie]

No, it doesnt increase.

It lessens the penalty you have from another passive.

Im not implying prophet is non-viable class, but considering this game is 8 years old, and most players are 85+ at this time, finding parties for a pure buffer class might be very hard. Especially since most ppl you will actually find around your lvl will have mentor buffs, which are far better than any buff you have.

Prophet suffers from beinga mystic, it isnt really capable of killing much of anything on its own, where as the other classes that also go iss can.

Perhaps try overlord/warcryer/bladedancer/swordsinger instead?

I understand that you like the prophet class, but its playstyle doesnt really work in this environment where you dont have ppl of same lvl all around. And in my opinion the class was badly designed from the start, especially the way they made the warcryer and overlord so much superior in almost every area of the game.

There will ofc always be ppl that had prophets that could kill tons of stuff, but they had gear you can only dream of obtaining any time soon, and should not be considered the norm in any way.

Some ppl might even tell you they did "just fine" in heavy and duals back in the day, but their other iss-class counterparts did more than "just fine", and trust me, you dont really wanna be a lvl 80+ prophet looking for groups in this game, there is absolutely no incentive for ppl to group you.

[RuneKatashima]

Oh, okay. Thanks.

Yeah I was wondering why the LA Mastery said "Increases casting speed by 91%" because that would be a ridiculous buff I would think.

Hmmm, well this kind of sucks :P

Anyway, thank you very much Smittie.

[Tiferet1]

To add something to Smittie's post, the penalty for the use of a light armor comes from another passive skill, Magician's Movement. It severely nerfs the casting speed in case you wear armors other than a robe set. That's why the LA mastery gives an apparently high casting speed bonus, while in reality you cast slower.

[RuneKatashima]

Thanks, that does explain it. So I guess a melee Prophet is non-viable?

[Smittie]

Correct.

Makes a swordsinger or bladedancer and become mentee at 40, is the best way. Unless you wanna drain drain drain your way to 85 on an orc mystic.

[RuneKatashima]

Haha, no, not really :P

Swordsinger or bladedancer sounds nice.

[Barbaro]

guys sorry you made ur point very clear and since i made a PP (lvl 61) im wondering if i should continue with him or back to my orc mystic lvl 30.

Which one is better? the Ol or WC? i just want him for buffs and not to buff tons of ppl i mean im searching for the best buffer in this game, actually i want all my characters have a good support anytime without mentors help, having a mentor for each one of your characters is not that easy.

I really dont know whats the best choice and a friend ingame told me OL's are best by far but i didnt understand exactly why, he said lots of things lol but didnt pay too much attention and the best example was him, in a killing spre with the OL (was using a skill uhh cant remember the name but he had to low his HP a lot to do more damage).

[Smittie]

OL is probably the easer one to lvl out of the 2.

If I was to make an Iss, without having any form of support available to me, I would probably make a bladedancer and try to find a good mentor though.

If one doesnt wanna rely on mentor buffs, I would make an overlord.

[Trenshero]

OL levels easier and faster than anything else. Even compared to WC it's better because it has Soul Guard which the War Cryer lacks - you can pull almost anything onto you, seal of Winter, and just plow it all down on an OL in instances where the MOB pack would burst a WC down due to the P.Def Difference and higher MOB Attack speeds. An OL will level at least twice the speed of a BD, but BD's tend to make better Iss Enchanters due to the Race Stats and Passives.

[Smittie]

Im not sure OL outlvls Swordsinger, given the premise that its his first toon and he would not have access to ISS buffs. The song/dance combo will make up for not having sonatas from mentor buffs, and they could probably find some way to pole small groups of mobs too.

Swordsinger slightly faster than Bladedancer I think, due to the self song that gives crit modifiers.