I got my wife to try EQ and she is enjoying it quite a bit, and is leveling a beastlord. The extent of our playing will probably be level 70ish and grinding aas, doing our epic 1.0 and 1.5s and stopping around Planes of Power in terms of content. My issue is what to level with her, as I have played most all classes to 80+ other than: Berserker Cleric Shaman Monk Warrior Enchanter I was tempted with the shaman except for the overlap in some of our abilities, as well as the berserker and just having the two of us use a tank and cleric merc. Monk seems too close as well, and honestly (and no offense to great clerics and warriors) is there any reason to play one with mercs being available, especially for non raiding folks? Any advice is appreciated!
I can't think of any raid instances that you would be forced to do, so there's no absolute requirement for a healer class, that's true. Of the ones you list, I'd favour enchanter. Beastlord can get a little short on mana at times, so that helps, and is a good backup for charming. You'd be missing any form of snare (although beastlord hobble AA starts at 59), and of course no ports or tracking. Clerics and warriors are better than their mercenary equivalents when properly played, but that only really becomes relevant at much higher levels. If you buy some extra merc slots, you can experiment with switching between types to find the mix you like best - but 2 x tank is going to be most effective for you, most of the time.
The mercs really do a good job for what they are. Only pitfall I have run into is with bad pulls. What invariably happens is 4 mobs are beating on the tank, cleric tosses a heal, the 3 mobs that haven't been damaged yet attack the healer who then runs around like a chicken with its head cut off trying to lose them. Since your wife is running a Beastlord, pretty easy to just have her switch the pet targets so it keeps aggro. Mostly works, depending on who has the merc tank, you can click the mob you want it to attack in sequence too and it will switch targets. As Borek says, an Enchanter fixes everything. Just a Mez or a Dazzle tossed on misbehaving mobs and all your problems are solved. Chanters bring a lot to the table besides being a mana pump: Debuffs, DOTs, DD, Haste, ... Shaman is a good choice too of course. With a healer merc you get to explore being something other then a healer and a buff monkey. Healer mercs actually make playing a Shaman more interesting. One other thing to consider although you specifically left them out. Any type of damage shield you can put on the tank helps keep aggro away from your finger wagging characters. Even a Wizard's radiation damage shield is better then nothing during a bad pull.
Ty for the great replies. I had one more question regarding berserker. I saw someone refer to monks as playing whackamole but do zerkers get more skills than auto attack and frenzy?
I'm 99.9% certain that Damage Shields do not make any hate at all. Their damage is totally unattributed (to the point that you won't gain any exp if a damage shield was the only thing that dealt damage to a foe, e.g. when powerleveling an alt with DSes). Someone else correct me if I'm wrong. Damage-dealing defensive procs (such as the ones a magician can provide from Depths of Darkhollow onward) are probably another matter, but damage shields seem to be pretty clear-cut. Yes, they do. Berserkers actually get more buttons to press sooner than monks do, and early on berserkers have more actual decisions to make about which skills to choose to use at any given moment (minor though those decisions often are - but, for instance, their stun ability and their snare ability share a cooldown timer). A good deal of the whack-a-mole inherent in playing a monk can be cut down on by creating multi-line social hotkeys and binding multiple hotkeys to the same keyboard button press.
Hmm interesting. I know they have a lot of throwing skills but am I correct in assuming that most of their dps is from melee and not ranged?
Correct. They gain convenient access to some fairly strong throwing weapons for their level, as they level up, and can snare and stun, which means they can kite better than the other pure melees can, but their strong suit is definitely melee.
Throwing skills such as Axe of Zurel, Brutal Volley and Brutal Axe Throw are used at point blank range and have a short reuse (12 seconds), relying only on auto attack and frenzy will significantly reduce your overall contribution. These "skills" are actually Disciplines that don't lockout the combat window. The earliest "volley" is Rage Volley at level 61, prior to that yes, auto attack and frenzy with the occasional combat window discipline is the about all you will do for damage.
That's mostly what you use in lower lvls, cept for the occasional stun/snare/throw. Once you get to 50s you start getting discs that will add a little variety. It won't really pick up till 60-75 though. That's when you start getting more AA and discs to click. Your ber is essentially a warrior in chain until you get levels and AAs All melee are like that though. Very few options in the low level till you get higher and get discs/AAs to click. At which point you must master your keyboard for all the right timing on the tons of abilities you need to use. Though 70s you won't have too many.
Given a duo with a Beastlord and a fairly casual playstyle I'd go with a Merc Cleric and Tank. You really don't want the gearing up issues tanks have, Merc Tanks are pretty decent, and so are Cleric Mercs. If you do that your question turns into "What class do I add to a Cleric, tank, Beastlord group?" Lessee healing, tanking, DPS, pulling/utility... well despite the fact that Beasts have some utiliy and could theoretically pull I'd suggest your group is a little short on pulling and utility (not that more DPS isn't nice). I'd go with a Bard - pulling, some CC, help with mana and/or melee DPS. Such a setup lets you and your partner play the more active roles in the group while getting the most out of the mercs operating on their own. It also makes things easier if you decide to box a toon or add another player to your group.
An actively played enchanter would probably be the most effective, but clerics are nice too. I use a cleric with my beastlord, but only because it's an easier class to box. Live clerics bring a lot that merc clerics will never do...active healing instead of reactive healing, ae heals, various emergency aa's and balance clicks, pulling tools, auras, DI, combat rezzing, reverse damage shields, root-parking, and being smart enough not to stand in melee range.
This is accurate in that the player casting the damage shield does not generate any hate. What I am noticing With no damage shield on tank and mobs at 100% health, Cleric starts casting heals and gets aggro. This is even after a delay to where the mob everyone is pounding on is half dead. With nothing but a damage shield on tank, no switch targets or anything, soon as mobs get to ~90% health from the damage shield, Cleric is pretty much safe to cast away w/o drawing aggro. Almost like they have an entry in the hate list of 'I don't know who it is, but when I find him' from damage shields.
A well played Chanter is a very good thing. Wife and I have a Ranger / Chanter pair. Chanter speeds the melee, cracks the casters, and handles de-buffing on the MoBs; then does the best DPS a Chanter can. Ranger handles tracking, pulling, melee DPS, and tanking. (good augs and max AA's help a lot with using a chain class as the MT). The foursome is filled out with a Cleric Merc (a Rangers new best friend) and a Wizzie Merc for some really good added DPS. (the Wizzie merc is somewhat situational - as the Ranger can deal out great Melee and caster DPS in bursts.) -R
A beastlord is one of those classes that are so versatile you can literally pair them with any other class and be successful. The most common duos with a beastlord are the same classes that every else and their mother boxes (shaman, bard, enchanter) and they are popular for a reason. Another very good duo with a beastlord is a druid. The rest of the ranged dps classes also make great duo choices. (Necro, mage and wizard) What I am trying to say is, "It doesn't matter play what you enjoy!"
