HI, I'm returning after a several year break. I see lots has changed since I played last so I have a couple of questions that I hope find an answer. Back Ground. My 3 box is SK main with Bard and Mage box. All are lvl 100 with group CotF gear and 10k aa's Can I skip The Darkened sea and just jump into TBM? What should my merc setup be? Can mercs tank in TBM or should I focus on getting SK up to par? What about mage pet? Cheers
1. If you don't have EoK, go back to gribbles and get 105. Once 105, yes you can skip TDS. 2. Assuming gold accounts, 2 wiz mercs and one healer merc. Make sure you have ans extra merc slot to swamp to a healer for names. 3. Merc tanks are usable provided you have DPS. But why would you roll a real tank and use a tank merc? Real tank soo much better.
The best way to enter any expansion is with the full 20 slots of the previous expansions gear, levels, AAs, spells, etc. That being said...TBM handed out gear like a creeper hands out candy on halloween. Just don't try to enter EoK without TBM gear.
1. Yes. Do progression (tbm.eqresource.com) up till Into the Temple B, do more quests to get remnants of tranquility, funnel the remnants of tranquility to your SK, buy vendor gear + augs. You may want to level via Gribbles/TDS/TBM to 105 before getting the augs so you can get the level 105 resplendent sulstones of the sturdy. This thread can describe progression from CotF -> EoK pretty well: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/finally-moving-on-from-cotf.237553/ 2. Depending on what you're fighting, 1 to 3 healer mercs and 0 to 2 caster DPS mercs. 3. You'll probably have to try out the tank mercs, mage pet and SK in different content to get a feel for it.
Also if you have the cash, get some of the EoK spells, like Chaotic Fire and Summon Firebound Orb for your mage, in the /bazar. Avoid mage Dichotomic Companion, rest of 101-105 spells are pretty much as usual. You should be able to get EM XVI in /bazar as well.
