Given the current state of the progression servers, what 3 box would you recommend mainly for gaining experience with some named farming centered around a main character that would be desired for raiding? One important aspect I am interested in would be how viable are they now and how viable will they remain through the life of the server. Possibilities (first listed would be main): 1) Monk/Shaman/Druid - all bases covered with ok to solid DPS. Main question here is how well will a casual guild geared monk be able to tank through the expansions? 2) Monk/Shaman/Mage - outstanding DPS, no ports (snare covered by Shaman snare necklace) 3) Enchanter/Druid/Mage - How solid is the enchanter through the expansions? I know they are top notch in grouping now, but will they remain viable past PoP? Do enchanters do well in raids? Can the Mage pet serve as a tank for this group given the current state of pets? I know on live they can, but when does that occur? Is this group dependent on charm pet for tank now until mage pets get to live levels? 3) Enchanter/Cleric/Mage - similar to above but no ports or fire/atk debuffs (when do these become useful?), but better heals and rez. Snare covered by cleric snare necklace. 4) Paladin/Enchanter/Druid - Low competition on raids for pally main. Would the dps on this group suck unless it relied on the charm pet? 5) Paladin/Enchanter/Wizard - would you be able to function with only a paladin's heals? Solid dps if so. 6) Beastlord/Cleric/Mage - Very nice dps with 2 pet classes. How can beastlord tank exp mobs through the expansions? Could even main cleric with bst/mag behind. Would a raid geared cleric be able to better tank exp mobs than bazaar/single group geared beastlord through the expansions? 7) Other ideas? I like many, many of the classes and have trouble deciding on one to be a main! Thanks for your input.
Longevity in mind, Shadow Knight, Shaman, and Monk would be my three. Typically, all 3 would be raid desirable with SK becoming more gear and AA dependent with each passing expansion. I'd probably main the Shaman. With the exception of porting, the trio covers all bases of a group. - Crowd Control via single pulls with the Monk - Tanking Covered by Shadow Knight - Snares covered by Shadow Knight - Heals and buffs covered by Shaman - Slows (mana efficient) and debuffs covered by Shaman - Damage covered by Shadow Knight, Monk, and Shaman. This would be an amazing trio well into Omens.
My favorite 3box is sk cleric chanter. They only lack dps and a chanter pet makes up for that. Or just invite literally any dps to your group.
That one guys 3box set-up sounds great! + you can team up with your DPS friends when they are online for a lovely group! If its only for some group-content named farming, you can basically tank most of named mobs with your Shaman once they slowed. But for the long run, you need a proper tank class. A raid-geared monk can do a lot too, but you need to keep him sharp and up to date with AA's + lack of taunt skill is a if say a tough hitting mob resists slow, and goes nuts on the debuffer.
For a lot of expansions, SK + Shaman make for a solid duo which leave a variety of options for a 3rd. need better CC, add bard, maybe ench need better dps, add rogue, wiz, mage, monk, necro (maybe) need better heals, add cleric you could set up the sk / shm as your bread and butter and add in whatever class you felt like playing with or most fit the situation, or whatever wasn't LFG in the area
SK, Shaman, Necro Strong Tank with good aggro Heals, Buffs, solid dps DPS, CC, emergency rez Another interesting combo would be Paladin, Druid, Bard This trio would start off slow but as expansions unlock they would scale up dramatically
I am rocking a pally, Druid, Bard trio. Still low level but alot of fun and quite durable. On Phinny.
Monk/Sham/Bard is my favorite if you plan to try and 3 box very difficult content. Could argue sk over monk (never played sk so honestly don't know), but the sham slow/longevity and bard resists are irreplaceable. This is imo, best for attempting to solo crazy (prebuff dracoliche in era, for example). For just normal group stuff and AA accumulation, i'm sure there is better.
SK/Shaman duo has to be one of the most insanely boring combinations to play, in my opinion. My brother and I leveled up a SK/Shaman/Necro to 40 and decided to reroll out of pure boredom. I am currently playing a Beastlord, like the masses, and am having a blast. I would say their tankability isn't very great, and DPS is decent (keep in mind no double attack,); my brother is on a ranger and has way more damage and even tanks better than a Beastlord due to their AC. If you want to rock the trinity, I recommend playing a plate class, maybe a Paladin. The best XP in game from 1-40 is all in zones with undead, and you can pick up a ghoulbane early for some of the best DPS in game. From 41-60, your group shouldn't have to rely on your DPS, and Paladin's are some of the best tanks/support. For DPS I would recommend the Beastlord, just because they're a ton of fun, have Beast Crack (at level 41,) lesser shaman buffs, and slow. For your heals, I would play a druid as cleric won't be a necessity as both paladins and beastlords have big heals early on. Both get Great Healing in their 30's, and druid will be basically on the same healing progression. Druid is also a great first character as even with Nexus, you can make tons of money porting people around. You should have most of your ports (if not all,) by 40 and can sit in Nexus and Zephyr (punt,) people. Many times you will get 100pp donations. More than anything, play what's fun for you! I've been stuck in the trap in the past of playing what looks good in theory but is awfully boring (going from maining a bard since 1999 to playing a passive necro is a horrible idea ) Good luck!
Lots of good trios already suggested, basically what I believe you need is. 1. A main that will act as tank, this should be your raid main as the trio will benefit most from having a raid geared tank. War, SK, Pal, Ranger, Monk, Beastlord all work to varying degrees. 2. A priest healer, Cleric, Druid, Shaman. which one works best depends on the other 2 chars and what needs you have covered already, Cleric the best hp/ac buffs and heals hands down, Druid adds lots of utility like ports, snare, DS and is an adequate healer for most content while leveling, might wish you had a cleric on high end named fights though. Shaman, nice slows, debuffs, haste and decent heals. 3. Extra dps/utility that preferably fills in gaps that exist in the other 2 chars. Enchanter, Bard, Wizard, Necro, Mage etc. Ideally you want a Trio that has in rough order of importance, Tanking. Heals. Single pull ability. Dps. Rez (druid and shaman get this in PoP? or now via AA? not sure). Invis/IVU. Mez. Mana regen (although can get 4 hr KEI easily in nexus these days). Snare. (make sure to dispell sow and nuke hard at 20% in dungeons if you don't have it.) Ports (/join taxi but having your own is still handy until at least guild hall expac)
Ranger - Shaman - Bard This one evolves at 60. Before 60, ranger/shaman/bard functions the same as any other tank/healer/bard trio. Rangers can tank just fine with decent twink gear, and once shaman get 50+% slows they're not significantly disadvantaged over plate tanks and have great snap aggro and decent dps. Having a taunt button is important. Ranger can do most of the pulling to allow bard to /afk next to healer, but bard can split if necessary. At 60 this trio evolves into shaman tanking with torpor and slow with ranger /autofire dps'ing. Combat for the ranger requires only /assist and /autofire, with a dot thrown in there if you're feeling frisky. No kicking, no repositioning between mobs. You'd actually play the sham. At this point sham is slower, tank, and healer. Those 3 rolls normally require 3 characters, OR 2 characters if shaman is torpor healing tank as well as slowing. However, torpor on a melee means losing the majority of their dps to the slow effect on torpor. Ranger brings track that covers nearly the entire zone and can weapon shield engage tricky, slow-resistant targets. Ranger is exceptionally cheap to gear. Craft a seru bane bow for ranged damage.
Cleric/enchanter/wizard Charm pets make the best tanks and have crazy DPS. Cleric for complete heal pet and keep your enchanter alive when pet breaks. Wizard for low maintenance good DPS, ports and evac. Effectively dpsing multiple Meele is difficult with this set up you just need one or two macros on the wizard/cleric and focus on the enchanter.
Can a shaman effectively tank in this 3 box group throughout the expansions or will you need a plate tank at some point for group content? TLP Addict: I like your philosophy. Well written and thought out. A couple of questions: Why do you have snare so low on your list? I would think it would be right under single pull ability. Also, do you run a 3 box combo following your philosophy; and if so, may I ask what it is composed of?
I would just suggest a couple things: 1. You definitely want a tank and you probably want it to be your main (assuming you are raiding). Have a raid geared tank (even a monk / ranger / bard) just makes life easier for your box crew. 2. Goes without saying you need some sort of healer. Cleric obvi the best, but druids and shamans get decent heals and add a ton of utility. 3. Wildcard...you really just need to decide whether you want more DPS or Utility. That being said, I use a Monk (raid geared) / Bard / Druid and it's pretty awesome. I've recently added a cleric that lets me DPS with the druid and its actually quite a bit nicer.
beast, cleric, mage is pretty solid. I personally did that 3 box crew last progression and it worked great for me.
I think many of these people are forgetting that you need a tank for mighty buffed mobs. I used to 2box mighty buffed mobs in kunark, using a charm pet. But, once you add a 3rd person, you need a tank. The reasons I love having an sk: The ability to instantly take aggro on anything. You can lifetap if you're late on a cheal. You can scout every zone for named mobs with circlet of Shadow plus feign death. You can single pull very very well (using dooming darkness + fd). You have snare! (Dooming darkness also overrides sow) Paladin/warriors just lack the abilities to be the best tank in a 3box. I could never play a warrior unless it's specifically for raids. Warriors are only > shadowknight because of their ability to use defensive discs, on raids. I stand by sk/enchanter/cleric being the best 3box. Anyone who replaces cleric with druid is not doing it because it's a better 3box, but just for ports/tracking. Same with bards. Obviously there is no comparison between bard and enchanter. Chanters dominate. They are the only class that can solo specific mobs solely because of charm. On top of that, they are the only class who can crowd control a dozen mobs. You can pick different classes based on preference, but I don't know of a better combination if we are talking about efficiency in killing and the power level of mobs able to be killed. Anyone's 3box who includes chanter, but no taunt, is doing it wrong when it comes to killing big targets. You'll die way too often when your charm breaks during a named/boss.
