Hi all, I've been away for close to 6 years now. I originally left to take a break about half a year before LOTRO was release and played that sparingly until SWTOR was released and have casually played that a tad since its been released. I am 42 years old and started gaming when PONG was released and have not stopped. When EQ released in 1999 I was 28 years old and instantly hooked into this unreal huge universe and fell in love with EQ. At the time I became a Hardcore Raider and poured many many hours a month for years into EQ. Before I left in 2007 I had even set up a room in my house with 6 monitors ( 3 on top / 3 bottom ), 6 keyboards, 6 mice and played my own group when not raiding like a master pianist heh. I am really stoked about EQnext and the EQ building mmo coming out and will for sure be playing those. Even though I've dabbled in the other two MMO's I mentioned above I've not really played more than maybe 5-9 hours a week ( sometimes going months on end without playing ) since leaving EQ. My life has changed greatly since being 28 years old 14 years ago, including three kids and now owning my own business. But since reading about EQnext I have been drawn back home to EQ1 to hang out until I can play EQnext. It was cool to go through many old accounts and look at decked out ( for the time) chars including my "main" and seeing all the rare digital items I still save as if I have them in a safe deposit box like pre-nerf COS etc... Any woo I will not be playing my old chars or drawing from their wealth in anyway this time. With all that said here is what I'll be doing. ------------------------------------------------------- 1. No end game raiding or guilds since my time available is not set in stone with family and business commitments 2. I will be making my own 6 box group to explore all the nooks and crannies and I can find without worry of leveling fast at all 3. I will help others looking for a group by allowing them into my own to help anyone in need and have someone to chat with 4. I do want to accomplish the hardest 6 man group content the game has to offer at each level. 5. As I over level raids I want to go back and see if I can 6 box the older content for fun 6. More than likely turn on full AA grinding and turn off experience for long periods so I can eventually see all I want before over leveling albeit I do not rumbler what level you can start doing that or if you can slow leveling down somehow before then ... I hope so 7. I am NOT playing on my old server where all my wealth and treasure is collected so I am making my self start fresh on VOX and build myself up from scratch again I am really excited about being back and just went Gold and pre ordered collectors edition of new one coming out and did same for the current one out .... It said I was suppose to get some goodies with RoF collectors but not sure how to claim for them yet. If you on VOX I hope to see you soon. I will update this thread with toons names when I make them all. P.S. Random question Which group do you think will be the easiest combination of boxing and getting job done for the hardest group content game can throw at me and being able to revisit out leveled raids as I go? 1.) SK, SHM, Bard, Ranger, Mage, Mage ( are rangers capable of just being a bow ranged class now?) (healing problems here?) 2.) SK, SHM, Bard, Cleric, wiz, Mage ( does this have enough DPS?) 3.) SK, SHM, Bard, Wiz, Mage, Mage ( does this have enough healing ) 4.) SK, SHM, Druid, Mage, Mage, Mage ( does lack of bard and wiz hurt this build?) Really kind of hoping number one has enough DPS / healing / ease of use / ranger able to use mostly bow to do the highest group content but not sure have not played in Soooo long. I listed them in order I'd like to play them if viable so any thoughts and suggestions would be much appreciated before I begin my year long or so journey back into the wonderful world of EQ this weekend! Regards, I'm Back!!!
I've experimented with quite a few combinations, and I think that shaman, bards and rangers are all quite weak at the end game these days in a caster orientated group. The ranger and bard however have the advantage of being easy to box. If you're intending to tackle all content, you're gonna want a backup healer and a backup tank. A paladin or sk as main tank can serve as your "backup" healer for a short time -- they have sufficient abilities to survive without a 1-tick charmed/feared/knockback'd healer. A mage's pet or a ranger/monk can serve as a backup tank for a short time. A bard or enchanter can provide the CC you need. As for DPS: both wizards and mages provide tons of it. Their concentrated burst DPS matches well with the boxer play style. I've found that a wizard in a group like war,clr,nec,enc,wiz,rng is almost always outdps-ing the entire group. On a normal mob, without burn in say Xorbb, fights last for about 25 seconds, with the wizard doing 50-60% of the DPS, followed by the necro+enchanter then ranger+warrior (ranger meleeing). In short, don't add a ranger if you're looking for DPS. Even an enchanter will out damage them on these kinds of fights AND boost your wizard even further into ridiculousness. As for your groups: 1.) SK, SHM, Bard, Ranger, Mage, Mage ( are rangers capable of just being a bow ranged class now?) (healing problems here?) Rangers kinda suck in this kind of group. Just add another Mage or Wizard if you are looking for actual DPS. 2.) SK, SHM, Bard, Cleric, wiz, Mage ( does this have enough DPS?) DPS will be fine. The wizard alone could do sufficient DPS, but with a mage as well the group will do fine. 3.) SK, SHM, Bard, Wiz, Mage, Mage ( does this have enough healing ) Shaman heals are poor until their final levels when they finally get a fast casting single target heal. Before that, their fastest heal was actually a group heal. In blue content, the shaman will do fine no doubt. If you want to tackle the hardest stuff (like missions) I don't think this will cut it. 4.) SK, SHM, Druid, Mage, Mage, Mage ( does lack of bard and wiz hurt this build?) The most self sufficient DPS class currently is the wizard. Their biggest boosts come from adding spell haste and an enchanter. A mage is a little less self sufficient to their best DPS, and I think their biggest boosts come from adding spell haste, a bard (for pets) and an enchanter (for spells). However, the lack of either a bard or a wiz won't hurt you much. This group is still heavy DPS. I'd still add a wizard though if only for teleport bind (all RoF zones can be bound in, so only need to run the wizard). My personal preference is something like pal (for heal support and buffs), cleric (for heals, auras and spellhaste), enchanter (for auras, cc, slow and medium dps), mage (for coh, backup tanking and excellent dps) and 2x wizard (for ridiculous dps and teleport bind in 2 locations). I'd consider also: sk, clr, bard, mage, mage, wiz -- bard works well with the mages and can slow. Or: sk, clr, enc, mage, wiz, wiz -- in other words, no shaman, let either the enchanter or bard handle the slows, get the best heals and auras from cleric while not sacrifycing a DPS spot.
I LOVE BEING BACK ... One forgets how incredibly deep EQ still is compared to most newer games on the market that hand hold every single thing even though EQ has made a lot of things easier the complexity is still there in many regards I think I like the number 2 option the best so far seems like that group could handle most anything group wise in the game SK - Tank and puller Shaman - really great at buffing up the group and a pet Bard - easier to box than chanter I think and helps pets out better as well as a tracker for group Wizard - ports and DPS Mage - DPS , tanking pet until my SK has enough AA's , port group directly to camp Cleric - healer for latest expansion when I arrive there and Merck no longer can keep up So this lets me control the SK mainly and position mobs with the 5 casters staying out of way THOUGHTS? What would I miss by letting bard handle slows and dumping shaman and adding a Mage for another pet and DPS to so current high level group content? So .... SK - Shaman - Bard - Cleric - Wizard - Mage Or SK - Bard - Cleric - Wizard - Mage - Mage Which of the above is a safer bet for high end full group content ?
I am currently playing a group very similar to yours I'm on Vulak however. My setup is sk, cleric, chanter, Mage, wizard, shaman. I made chanter instead of bard because my guild needed another chanter. However I have grown to like the choice. There are named mobs with leashed adds that can't be split but chanter can control them just fine I could probably do them with a bard also however. I wouldn't go without a cleric healer. I like having almost full raid buffs without having to ask for them. Shaman adds pretty good dmg with group panther and champion hitting 4 pets+ tank and nuking. The Mage and wizard are the main source of dps but the shaman and enchanter aren't to terrible. Stuff dies fast with this kind of set up I don't bother doting with shaman I just group panther and nuke with sting of the queen and glacial advance. Also the shaman buff they put on tank which procs a heal+slow is nice to help with agro (by lvl 75 wiz can crit for over 20000dmg so more agro for your tank never hurts) To answer your question directly I would go sk, cleric, shaman, bard , wiz, mage out of those 2 choices.
