I box a Ranger and Shaman on Mangler, want to add a 3rd. Trying to decide between Bard, Enchanter or Mage. Anyone have any suggestions, or experience with any of these options?
Mage mainly since you need a tank for progression. Mage will give you coth, dps, pet tanking, low focus, and not gear dependent. If you have a tank friend playing with you, the bard or chanter are great options and greatly add adps to your ranger. Both can AE mez, however a bard will require more focus since some quests/missions have multiple linked adds. My main setup is Ranger, Warrior, Shaman, Chanter/Bard and can do just about anything in EQ group wise. From 2008 to 2015 I played Ranger, Mage, Bard, Shaman and had no issue with progression or group content. I switched my mage and bard to a Warrior and Enchanter around COTF expansion since it is less work.
Enchanter till Omens launch, bard after that. Ranger can tank pretty much anything other than Tipt trial, but I mean youd have charm pet for pooka slaughter train there soo meh. Bard/Rng/Sham will probably last you till you run out of steam and quit. If you are incredibly resilient and make it closer to current content add a real tank somewhere around ROF.
Mage and ranger do well in Luclin through OoW thru ranger range DPS, don't make that you niche unless you main a mage lol.
My ranger/ranger/shaman group with one player on one ranger, one player on the ranger and the shaman ran out of steam and hit the wall in EoK during Droga progression.