Hi, I have been back in EQ for a few months and getting groups is proving to be difficult, other players do a lot of boxing and they aren't too keen on bringing in "outside players" for whatever reasons, which is fair enough - I really enjoy EverQuest so I don't want to write it off so I feel I need to jump on to the boxing scene to make it through content myself. I created a BST because I liked the idea of melee plus magic, and I have invested time and progressed to a point where I feel I cannot really consider not using the BST by re-rolling to something else - I am at a loss as to what would be a sort of 'optimal' boxing class to work with the BST - are you veteran players able to give some ideas on what to use and why? Thanks!
Bard / Druid / Wizard / Mage Bard: Can split/pull mobs, and can afk with /melody + auto attack for great adps. Druid: Buffs, Ports, back up/main healing, evac if things go south, and good dps through DoTs and nukes (if you decide to go that route). Wizard: Ports, evac, 1 Hot button = dead mob. Wait for 80% health, swap to wizard, hit 1 button and then go back to dpsing on your mob and watch it die. Mage: Free pet gear, good DS, CotH, another pet (tank), and like wizard, can set up one hot button to fire off spells. /assist BST, /pet attack, Malo, fire nuke 1, fire nuke 2, big shock, 2nd big shock.
Awesome, thank you for responses. I had been leaning towards a Bard or a Druid - of these 2, what would I get better mileage from in, say, straight forward group content like Deadhills HAs or TBM missions? Thank you.
Bard used to be the best but now probably any tanking class will be better. I used to tank things myself but because of how mob dps has skyrocketed a tank will make most things u do a lot less troublesome.
Bard would be easy mode. But if youre willing to put a little more effort into your box team, a Druid would allow you to push further and into harder content. Bard would allow you to CC and break the mob pack of 4-5 and pull 1 out of it. Druid would allow you to take on those 4-5 mobs. Youre gonna break a sweat and probably have a pucker mark in your computer chair, but you'll live
Personally, I find bst and zerker can mow through content. Either 2 healer mercs or healer+tank. Bst pet doesn't have too much issues with aggro, and if need be bst can tank better than zerk.
Once a Druid gets Veil of the Underbrush (whatever the Fade AA is called), as long as a mob is Snarable, splitting groups is cake. Run in Snare one or two... kite and fade. Anything snared is going to stay where it is... anything else is going to (after a pause) wander back to its spawn point. You can then either snag up the non-snared quickly (if the snared mob is far enough away) and collect the snared after first mob is dead. Or Wait for the non-snared to go back and pull the snared to your camp. When you add in the Knockback-n-Root AAs, this makes for some pretty good (but a little ghetto) CC. As always with a Druid, we are powerful when we have room to work.... however in a tight dungeon, things can get a little hairy.
See i never knew that a Druid got a fade. I have never honestly played one past 60, just grouped with them. Just strengthens my arguement for Druid > Bard box. But! Bard is easier, Druid will take more effort/attention, but they pay off is also that much higher
We get our fade (Veil of the Underbrush AA) at 95. It took a solid 2-3 years of me pestering Elidroth and the others to finally help us out. It has a reuse timer of a couple of minutes but it's good for the occasional bad luck or strange pathing on a pull.
Well as a Druid (first char and always will be my main), I thank you Moogs. I do the pulling for my little box setup and I use our Fade a lot. It is amazingly useful.
The best Combo I have seen since coming back last year is Beastlord+Magician. That 2 Box can stay out in the wilds forever as the Beastlord is a good enough shaman and the Mage Pet plus the Beastlord Pet plus the Beastlord can mount a lot of DPS, especially if one of the two has a DPS Caster out and the other has a Healer Out(if needed else 2 DPS Casters). That is just a enormous amount of DPS
A tank isn't nessisarily needed with a good enough EM item the BST pet can do very well even against EoK names, just use the protection spell instead of aggression. It is a drop in DPS but as long as you know what to be hitting as a bat it should work out fine. A Bard is a great box for a BST. I personally run BST, Bard, chanter. If I could afford it I'd throw in a sham. it's a wonderful trio. But if you choose to go with a tank just go with a warrior, they're very good at holding agro with just a couple key presses . So when it comes to you burning you don't rip agro from them. A SK is a great tank but when a bat is burning they have to work harder to hold agro from them, not saying they can't just saying you have to spend just a little more time on the SK to lock in agro. A Paladin....just forget a paladin...lol. Anyway in closing I'd just use a BST BRD combo and use the pet to tank, just get a T2 EM. Or just go with BST WAR.