Returning player, need advice on classes

[KBoogle]

I haven't played from around the C4-Interlude time, and want to figure out how much has changed.

I remember that Overlord was king for Siege buffs, and WC was the best overall for group buffs. An SE was a better choice for mages cause it also acted as a mana battery. Is this still the case? OL were very popular back then, you could find a clan easily.

Also I remember Necromancers were king of PVP Casters due to the debuffs/stuns they had, but it was pretty expensive to level them if you didn't want to spend in fortune on cursed bones, and their summons weren't very good. Whereas the SS was very good at PvE because of high mana efficiency and very high cast rate, and the SH was better in PvP due to the damage of their nukes.

Is that also still the case? And what about the affordability of BSPS? They used to be very expensive... made leveling casters pretty hard.

Is there any class that's very high in demand now? Or have they rebalanced them to bring them closer in line to each other?

[Lawman]

Others can answer these questions a lot better than I can, but let me make a few suggestions.  OLs are still in demand, but there are far more of them than there used to be.  All the classes play a lot more alike after awakening than they did before.  By that I mean there is not a great deal of difference from one feoh to the next, one yul to the next, etc.  You might consider the new classes.  Eviscerator and Sayha's Seer are both fun to play and a bit different than anything you've done.  Eviscerator is stronger for PVE and Saysa's Seer for PVP.  BSPS is still expensive, but if you are willing to spend any real money at all, they are VERY cheap in the L2Store.  As for the classes, summoners seem to be out of favor and they strengthened the feohs fairly recently, making them way more popular than they were.  I know some tanks who were unhappy with the changes that were recently made to them, but I've never played a tank so I can't give details.  Good luck and I hope you enjoy playing again.  

[Helv]

As for high demand, for parties 100+ (and given how fast you can lvl up to 99 nowadays only those really matter) healers and tanks are the most wanted (hard to find). Also, for AOE parties Feohs are needed.

As for buffers, DC is still pretty cool because of drums and criers harmony which combines wizard+warrior boost, but for many 101+ players Hierophant (PP) is the best because it has Prophecy of Might

BSSR are still pretty expensive. The drop rates of everything have been decreased to the point where in some places you do not get a single drop for hours, not even a crafting ingredient. In solo zones a chance of a mob dropping adena is close to 20% I think.

[SinPalabras]

Let me say this right off of the bat:

1. If the cost of shots back in C4 was something that caught your eye, be prepared to have your mind blown by the overall cost of weapons and armor in general these days. It can cost you billions of adena just to equip to be a "high" low level tier player. I'm not saying that to discourage you, it's just the basic reality of L2 now.
2. Don't fall for the "free to play" marketing spin. Yes, it's free to have an account, log in and play. But given the dearth of drops (adena, mats, and whole drops are almost nonexistent) coupled with the fact that just about every event involves some aspect of the L2store and Ncoins, I think it's safe to say that L2 is anything but free to play. Have your credit card ready.

The above notwithstanding, it's still a fun game. As much as people complain about it, most people quit only to come back a few weeks or months later.

 

 

[KBoogle]

Hm, I see, interesting. I just read up on "awakening", this is something new. They basically streamlined the classes it looks like.

What about crafting then? Do things still get crafted at high level, or is it mostly from quests? I think last time I played the top-tier gear was from very difficult quests. I want to make a spoiler, but is there any point to it still?

[GentlemanJim]

NCSoft destroyed spoiling long ago.  Don't bother.  Crafting is still done and NCSoft often includes craft packages in events.  Putting together the crafting materials from scratch, however, is a major pain.  HELV is right.  Healers are in huge demand and much loved.  If you want to advance by being in a lot of parties, healer is the way to go.  You will never have trouble finding groups.  Tanks are valued as well, but only for certain quests/instances.  Many quests do not require a tank.