2 Box Question

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Kluwen, Sep 4, 2013.

  1. Kluwen New Member

    Hello all,

    Looking to start a 2box group to help level up a Pally. I am debating between Pally/Cleric with two dps mercs, or Pally/Wizzie with a dps merc and a healer merc. What do you think would work better? By better I mean ease of use and efficiency. I've never boxed before so the more user friendly the duo the better.

    Thanks
  2. Kurayami Augur

    Pally/Cleric would give you more control for sure, but a lot of the abilities would overlap honestly. You would be a very well healed group even without mercs, that's for sure! This can be very useful for areas where mercs aren't allowed, but if you really want a healer box, I might recommend a shaman or druid instead so you have more bases covered. This would be pretty versatile in terms of what mercs you can use too, it wouldn't have to be 2 dps all the time. Could use a healer instead for a particularly AEriffic named for example.

    Pally/Wizard, a cleric merc can do well, but you'd need to supplement healing as the pally to make it really work, especially against named. Would have great dps once you got good with the wizzy though. Problem being, you'd have far less versality merc wise with this setup, you'd pretty much HAVE to use at least one healer no matter what.

    One issue that either of these setups is going to have potentially is pulling. Not sure how good pacify pulling works nowadays, but I don't typically hear too many swear by it.

    In the end it is up to you on what you want, superior survivability, superior dps, pulling, etc.

    Edit: Pally + Wiz probably be the easier of the two options, considering you don't have to worry about healing with a merc doing all that. Pally + Cleric would be better healing, but you'd have to get good with your cleric, and not ever get drowsy, lol.
  3. Quatr Augur

    Whenever someone asks "What would be the easiest character to box with X", in most cases the default answer is "Bard". The Bard will single pull for your Paladin all day long, add haste/overhaste/slow/snare/AC as needed and look good while doing it! :D

    Not that other classes won't work, but I find my Bard to be a near-perfect support character when boxing.
  4. Elsewhere Elder

    I have a 66 Paladin that I have boxed with about 8 of the classes, Cleric included (but not Wizard). My current pairing is with Magician with a healer merc and that trio plays just fine, much like a wizard would, although I prefer the constant damage and back-stabbage of a pet and the option for an additional off-tank.

    When grouped with my Cleric, I always got the feeling that unless I was running content a little too high for my level, that the Cleric was under-utilised. Sure, having amazing heals was reassuring, but 90% of the time, the other priests would have been a better pick for more added utility, and their heals would be more than enough.

    If I had to start over, my top picks would probably be Magician, Necromancer, Shaman or Druid for 2nd box. But out of the 2 you have specifically mentioned, I would go Wizard over Cleric.
  5. Poepoepoe Journeyman

    My opinion - I would not do cleric. Your paladin will already do a lot of self-healing (a lot is passive at higher level) and would be redundant with a cleric - better to just use a cleric merc when you need extra heal.

    If you plan to play to a high level, you get more mileage if your 2d box provides dps and utility.

    Wiz would be ok - but they have a lot of downtime and mediocre sustained dps (i.e. killing for xp for 4 hours). They have amazing disc/burst dps for named, and they can port you around which is very handy.

    Personally I'd do a bard (adds a lot of dps to your wiz mercs + utility to you), or a caster pet class (mag or necro) - they both will do decent dps (necro better for sustained), and both provide a good backup tank (pet) with the right AA.
  6. Elsewhere Elder

    I re-read your OP and noticed this line, so wanted to drop a few boxing basics. Boxing is really all about the hotkeys, getting the most out of minimal key-presses. (This is on the assumption of playing 2 accounts on a single machine, as I do)

    As a general rule, if you have never boxed before, I would always start with a pet class (Mage or Necromancer essentially, not BST) on the 2nd account. The main reason for this is that you get the most out of your class with the minimum number of key presses. A Mage pet will fight for you all throughout the pull on a single hotkey at the start.

    Secondly, having a pet as a off-tank can be very useful while you get used to boxing.

    Third reason is that if the mob moves by switching targets or at 20% health, your pet/dot will stay with them, rather than having a melee stood there swinging at thin air.

    For example, if playing Magician, you can play at a high percentage efficiency by having just 2 hotkeys.
    1) "Incoming" - /Assist Paladin, send in pet.
    2) "Nuke" - /Assist Paladin, Cast nuke + sit afterwards.

    When playing my pair, I spend about 80-90% of my time on Account 1 (Paladin) and only switch to the Magician to hit these hotkeys. This would make a typical pull go something like this:

    Paladin wanders out, stuns mob, brings it back to camp.
    Switch to account 2 - hit `inc` hotkey - switch back to acc 1
    Paladin can then do whatever he wants, including rotating the mob so pet is backstabbing, stunning adds, healing, Yalup, whatever really.
    Switch to account 2 - hit `nuke` hotkey - switch back to acc 1
    Loot + repeat.

    You can add additional hotkeys for things like casting Damage Shields, Heals, Follow, Dot, Haste, pet spells, anything really, so its always just a switch-hotkey-switch action and you don't spend too much busy time.

    Druid or Shaman also make excellent 2nd account box partners, but for a first time boxer, I would go Magician (1st choice) or Necromancer (2nd choice)
  7. Kluwen New Member

    Thank you everybody for the info. I tried the pally/wiz combo last night and to be honest I don't know if I like this boxing thing. Maybe it was because I tried it in the tutorial which required a lot of running around. It will probably be much easier once I can find a static camp to park the box character at. I really just wanted to create the second box, on a free account, to help my pally get up to higher levels faster. That way it wouldn't be quite so painfull along the way to being able to group.

    Anyway, I think I will take your advice Elsewhere and give the Mage a go. I am sure setting up the hot keys and having static damage from the pet will help with the micro management a bit. Maybe I'll give necro a try. Set up some hot keys to send out a couple dots, then switch back to pally.

    Also, as far as bard goes, have they changed bards playstyle? I am returning after being gone for many years and I remember bards needing a lot of attention while playing....weaving. Does weaving not exist anymore?

    Thanks again,
    Klu
  8. Borek-VS Augur

    /melody - fixes (90%) bards finger tapping problems.

    And if you're just in the tutorial, or low levels in general, there's not a lot of point in boxing, except to get in practice for higher levels. Things die too fast, and the tank merc is too powerful, for boxing to be really efficient.