Starting over on Live. Need advice please.

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Risiko, Dec 11, 2017.

  1. Risiko Augur

    My brother and I have spent the last few years or more playing on TLP servers, and had a blast. Ultimately, we decided it was time to get back to a Live server, and continue on.

    After being away from Live for so many years, we were lost when we came back to our mains, so.... we are starting over from level 1. Yay. I love leveling.

    We are playing a Shadow Knight and Enchanter with a 3rd account box (probably a bard) and 3 mercenaries (Healer and 2 Caster DPS).

    Here are the things we are needing advice on as it pertains to Live servers today.

    1. What expansions should we stop our leveling at to progress through those expansions content for special AAs, Augs, etc?
    2. Do you still have to do a side quest to get Journeyman 5 mercenaries, and at what level do we need to stop and do that?
    3. Will a SK tank and Enchanter crowd control be sufficient for duoing (with mercs) in the latest expansions, or should we have gone with a different tank and crowd control?
    4. Will 1 merc healer and 2 merc caster dps be sufficient for all group content up to current? Should we go 2 merc healer and 1 merc caster dps or some other combination?
    Any other advice?
    Thank you.
  2. Tucoh Augur

    1. You'll be auto-granted up to around 95 (maybe 100 with the release of Ring of Scale?) so you won't have to make any decisions on that for a while. When you get there I recommend getting the high value AAs and trying to focus on leveling.

    2. Yes. Not sure what level you'll be able to do it at. I'd try it at the min level, 85.
    http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=7485

    3. Yes. The ENC should be able CC enough and the SK, once geared and AA'd, is really strong.

    4. Easy content: 1 healer, tough content: 2 healers. I'm not sure how good they are in RoS, but at 105 at least you'll find that the ~33k DPS they put out is so far eclipsed by your characters (who will collectively top out at around 150-300k sustained DPS) that the extra healing granted by a second healer increases your group's efficiency simply because you can sloppily pull entire groups of mobs instead of solo pulling.



    Un asked for advice: I heavily rely on a bard, but I wouldn't use one in your group. They're easy to box, sure, but an enchanter/bard play very similar group roles. I'd recommend a druid if you want to be responsible for healing, and a wizard if you don't for the reasons stated here:
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/3-box-warrior.245740/

    Briefly, a wizard (bolstered by an enchanter) does top-shelf DPS and synergizes with two caster DPS mercs very well.
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  3. Risiko Augur

    Thanks for the advice.

    My brother has been wanting to play a mage for the 3rd account. I might try to convince him to go Wizard instead simply for the evac and ports alone.
  4. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    If you are looking at boxing a toon, I would also recommend a wiz as later with alliance spells the wiz mercs the dps will be great. Also pairing wiz mercs with a chanter is good.

    I would also take into consideration the following when making any sort of end game group.

    Tank, heals, cc, track.

    For tanking in group content I would rank SK top for snap/ae agro and their dps. Warrior is also great, Pally is good but I feel ae agro is harder to maintain. ( I play a pally in end game right now )

    Heals can be from a merc but if you run a SK you can get by with a druid or a shaman. That covers a slower and or tracker...

    CC can be done in a few forms, sk single pull, druid, ae root, shaman ae root, enc single pull, bard single pull, mez’s from them etc. Or pull em all and tank em...

    As you can see just about any class works well enough if you use the tools givin to ya.

    All of this info is for end game, been forever since I did low lvl content.
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  5. Tucoh Augur

    A mage would make a good third, their pet can help off-tank, and if you're slumming it too much with gear on the SK the pet can stand-in to help tank. The mage's call of the hero ability makes questing a little easier because you can port around, and you can also use the mage to quickly move your group around the map by running past mobs and CotH.

    However, once the SK is geared/AA'd a mage will turn from a central part of the group that has a respectable tank to a half-wizard who has a single DoT (their pet) and can Call of the Hero.

    Either option is good, really. I box a mage and have no regrets.
    Risiko likes this.
  6. Metanis Bad Company

    I think Tucoh did a great job answering questions 3 & 4.

    Re: Question #2 there is a single quest in The Feerrott (House of Thule expansion) that leads to a journeyman level 5 merc. That quest is "No Heroism Without Fear". This is the zone and the expansion you will begin as a level 85 Heroic character. I always thought that was a much easier way to get the J5 merc than the original method in Seeds of Destruction. See https://articles.eqresource.com/mercoverview.php


    Which leads us to...

    Question #1, where to play?

    If you are going the Heroic route I would suggest doing all progression beginning with House of Thule. If you are going to level up from 1, then perhaps you want to just taste each expansion briefly then move on as levels permit. Although Planes of Power and The Serpent's Spine stick out in my mind as compelling and worthwhile expansions you might linger in.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EverQuest_expansions
    Gyurika Godofwar and Risiko like this.
  7. Mehdisin Mahn Augur

    for your box, a wizard mage or druid are all viable and appropriate options for your group makeup. the benefits of the wizard and mage have been discussed, but personally I would go with a druid. end game druid dots are $, and they get the utility of being able to heal when you need that little extra, and port your group around.

    the downside is that at lower levels druids kinda suck.
    Risiko likes this.
  8. Risiko Augur

    We will definitely be doing the HoT merc quest. Thanks.



    We are leveling up from level 1. We are junkies for the ding ding ding of leveling lol. House of Thule is definitely one of the expansions we intend to spend some time in.

    The main thing that I am kind of looking for in this thread is when, where, and what we should be taking the time out to get/obtain/earn in the way of Augs and AAs based-on quest progression. I'm trying not to get us to level 105 with inefficient gear and augments. It's easy to get the levels, and these days with auto-grant AAs, it's pretty easy to get them too I would think. What's not easy is making sure you have the right augs and special AA's (if in fact there are any these days) to be viable in the later expansions.

    For example, I know from playing a warrior in the past that there are very nice AC augments in Omens of War that make a huge difference in your ability to tank. Obviously, these augs are replaced in later expansions, but I honestly don't know where and how yet.

    It would be nice if there was a guide somewhere that had a list of things like ... finish xyz quest line to get abc augment before moving to the next expansion. Obviously, it wouldn't be efficient to complete every single quest in every single expansion before moving to the next expansion, but it would be nice to at least know we are hitting the core quests that are highly beneficial for being able to take on the next expansion in line.

    Thanks for the information.
  9. Risiko Augur

    I keep seeing people recommend a druid in place of the enchanter, and it makes me wonder about crowd control. Is crowd control (in other words, mezzing) not a thing in later expansions? Is it all pretty much AE tanking at a certain point, and crowd control is nullified?

    Really curious because I know my brother was interested in playing a druid, and I kind of highly suggested he do the enchanter instead for crowd control.
  10. Ofearl Slayer of all things Stupid

    For the quest stuff, take the time to read the achievement rewards. Plenty of cool stuff there and augs as well. I wouldnt worry so much about staying in one area to long. Plenty of websites to search for different augs and gear for certain levels. Also hunter achievements for bags. If gear driven to move around, remember tanks are gear dependent, and once into HoT the mins will start to hurt if under geared. Don’t be afraid to snag rot gear also.
    Risiko likes this.
  11. Tucoh Augur

    I haven't done RoS (releases tomorrow!) yet, but CC hasn't been necessary for the last few expansions once you get a decently geared/AA'd tank. If you're choosing to gear/AA as you level I imagine you'll be able to consistently pull groups of mobs and tank through them.

    SK/Dru/Bard would be a great combo. As would SK/dru/enc, SK/dru/wiz and SK/dru/mag
  12. Riou EQResource

    Believe it is in CotF that the Hero AA come into play from doing certain achievements and expansions past that continue it, so starting with that one and on you will start wanting to basically do as much of the content you can (Named only become a part of the Hero AA with EoK)
    Gyurika Godofwar likes this.
  13. Mehdisin Mahn Augur


    I assume you'll be group geared until you hit max level at a minimum, CC will be pretty useful for a long while. The chanter is a good supplement to wizard mercs + in the later game they're no slouch in and of themselves when it comes to DPS.

    Personally, I prefer having CC but the choice is ultimately up to you guys and how you intend to play.

    Additionally, if you ever intend on raiding end game chanters and druids are both fairly desirable.. SKs not so much (everyone and their brother has a pocket SK, no pun intended).
  14. Mehdisin Mahn Augur

    SK / Dru / Enc would be hurting for dps in the middle game. In luclin era I think it was, mob HP went way up without a corresponding dps increase for those classes. druids / chanters didn't get a proper adjustment for a while.

    luclin is when I ended up shelving my druid in favor of a chanter
    Tucoh likes this.
  15. Tucoh Augur

    Yeah I can see that, and it's an important consideration. All my advice is for progressing through the last few years of expansions.

    I will say though, that the pre-85 game goes so fast and is generally so easy due to mercs/gear that even an under-powered trio should muscle through it.
  16. Mehdisin Mahn Augur


    fair enough, but it doesn't sound like the OP wants to just 'power through' anything =)
  17. Thraine Augur

    SK / Druid / Chanter would be a very effective trio
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  18. Atvar Augur

    Another option is to put a druid on a free to play account just for ports (and track if you don't go with bard).

    Enable auto grant aa so you can concentrate on leveling, questing, exploring. AA grinding is utterly pointless.

    I can't think of anything major to stop for besides epic quests, and you'll have a hell of a time finding a lot of the old world raid mobs up for epic 1.0. You'll need to be leveled well above era to do these with a 3 box group, unless you ask for help from other players.

    House of Thule expansion and beyond is where it becomes worthwhile to try and complete all the hunter/progression for bags, stat boosting aa, mounts, illusions, etc. That is a loooong way away from level 1.
  19. Risiko Augur

    Just a little update.

    As of last night, our trio hit level 64. We have mainly just been focusing on levels, and doing the daily quest for waist/back/shoulder gear.

    We're looking forward to doing the House of Thule expansion. For the most part right now, the mercs are carrying us through everything. We ended up getting a Tank, Healer, and Caster DPS just to get things going. We will switch over to Healer and 2 DPS mercs later on.
  20. Wyntyr Journeyman

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