I played EQ from Dec. 2000 (pre-Velious) until late 2004 (before the DoN release). I got a cleric to level 70 on a PvP server. I thought I had quit MMORPG's for good, but I again feel the call. WoW is not an option. I just bought EQ2, and I have some questions. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
(1) Playing a cleric for 70 levels got me very jealous of the abilities possessed by the melee classes. I would like to play a tank, but also something with decent DPS. The Berserker seems an obvious choice. However, I have heard that Berserker DPS was recently nerfed. Is this true? Also, I know the combat system is about to be changed. When exactly is this change supposed to happen? And when can one expect reasonably accurate results on the effects of the patch?
(2) I am interested in trade skills. I do not believe that there is any one stat or attribute associated with tradeskill progression (like INT and WIS in EQ). Please correct me if I am wrong. Does race or class affect tradeskill progression (other than racial-trait modifiers)? Is there any one tradeskill that is a surefire moneymaker? Also, in EQ, tradeskills for the most part made sub-par items (relative to raided items)... except for a few rare cases, like food and drink (notice how higher-level EQ toons would have all kind of raided gear... but still very nearly all be carrying Kaladim Constitutionals). Is this a trend continued in EQ2, or are all of the tradeskills viable for reasonably-useable high-level items?
(3) One of the big turn-offs for me about EQ2 was the lack of PvP. I know that the new expansion plans to introduce PvP... in an arena setting. Are there any plans for there to be PvP-based servers? I know that the general spiel from EQ2 devs is something like "EQ2, as EQ1, is based primarily towards PvE, blah, blah, blah..."
That's all I can think off right now. Any help, as I said, would be greatly appreciated.