My wife and I started playing again a couple weeks ago. We played way back in the day, from release up until that other big game came out around 2004. We played briefly off and on a couple times since but our max levels were only 67 and we don’t have any experience with missions, HAs, etc. My wife wanted to play a Mage, and I always though Necros were cool way back when so we started those up. We’ve reached level 68 on a live server (Drinal). Mage+healer merc, Necro+ DPS caster merc and we basically have completely overpowered everything even with self found gear. I’m starting to see the necro has so many great tools that seem much more useful soloing than even in a 2 person duo group and I’m starting to question my choice of a Necro to duo with my wifes Mage. We have been thinking about boosting to Heroic Characters and I’m thinking about changing my class to something different. But not having any experience with any higher content I’m having a hard time deciding what class. We like the challenge of duoing content, killing named spawns, with occasional grouping, and probably won’t get into raiding at all. I’ve been considering Mage+Enc, Mage+Wiz, Mage+Shaman, Mage+ staying with the Necro. I’m looking for thoughts and suggest regarding how these would play out in higher content.
I have no suggestions for you, but bumping this since no one answered! Good luck, and I think it is great that you and your wife are playing!
Mag plus enchanter would be a great combo IMO. The chanter pairs well with the mag, and do some pretty good dps when played well. I haven't a clue if they will out dps your necro, probably not in a duo scenario, but they'd be a good pair. Shaman would be a great pair also as their dots get really good later on. You could also just go with a true tank like an SK. But, what you need is either crowd control or single pull ability. You can always do the pull and coh trick. And, you could do a straight dps role like a zerker. Pull with snare on zerker, coh back, then tag single and kill. Actually, a ranger may be a great class for this duo as they bring all sorts of utility. But, I think a necro is great as your kills are longer so they can actually do most of their dps. I'm always a fan of minimizing gear rolling / rotting though, so my crew has one of each gear type.
I've had good luck with the mage/shaman duo. Another option in a similar vein would be beastlord - the pet is as survivable as the mage pet, so you can use it as a tank/offtank, the beast itself brings slows, some buffs, and the Spiritual line of HP/MP regen, plus Paragon and Focused Paragon for more mana regen options. If you want to go out of the box a little bit, mage/bard is also interesting. The bard can pull, and then buff both the magic and melee sides of the mage equation, and do crowd control if things start to go sideways.
There is nothing wrong with Magician + Necromancer with mercs that is about as good as it gets. With a Wizard you trade the ability to decide which MOB dies in a fight for fewer choices in how it dies. Pretty much you just drop bombs on MOBs and kill any runners. They do have porting and evacuation spells which I find necessary to enjoy the game. Enchanter crosses the line 180 degrees from Wizard. Complex character to run with a great spell line up. I am not comfortable running them because I am always insecure about running them right. Lots of people enjoy the challenge and even a badly run Enchanter is more useful in a group then no Enchanter. Shaman is another character I run but IMHO stink at. You will find somewhat contradictory advice when it comes to their utility that really boils down to what you are doing at the moment i.e. raiding or leveling. Their slows are really important killing named with a zillion hit points but for leveling stuff can drop so fast they are almost irrelevant. Game really changes in the 70+ levels though. Tank mercs become somewhat useless, healer mercs are still valuable but will have trouble keeping up with healing the tanks. It is kind of like you get a free pass to level 50 with the current game, then the challenges start. If you are going to buy or otherwise get a Heroic character you should consider a wider range of characters that can serve as buff monkeys for your existing characters to help bring them up. A Ranger for head shot with their level 85 merc is a good character to have along. Ditto for a Druid with their damage shields and transportation.
Yea.. as already posted a mage Plus works well with others. I have played and enjoyed mage/bard.. more of power mage style..pulling tracking CC.. AC songs.. Mana support. CoH and a bard dragging with a corpse of the mage added inner zone travel and rez options. Druid is solid option as well. Tracking.. mix of healing and dps.. with added dps support. merc options.. err or playstyle options. Shammy is similar.. lots of suppport and depth. Chanter adds a ton. CC support..Adps etc.. in the end i pick the nec.. and enjoy myself
tankie type is fun too.. sally or monk can be fun if that is given playstyle.. also ranger or beastie.. i like the idea of track if your a named chaser.
I box chanter/druid/mage with tank/healer/wiz mercs. Pretty effective combo. Even if you pick anything else I suggest making an FTP account with druid so you can have ports/evac/tracking.
Druid and mage is awesome combo. The best part about druid is being able to shift roles to whatever your current group and content requires, dps, support heals, utility, and a druid with mage coth is a great pulling combo. My wife and i used to both box, me druid and ench, her wiz and mage. Wasn't much we couldn't do in group content and there druid adps for casters is incredible.
Mage is a good duo with basically anything, but I feel like enchanter or druid stand out above the rest. Enchanter gives you dps support for the mage, while being good dps themselves, control for any situation, and debuffs to make the pet a more reliable tank. Druid gives you dps support for the mage, good dps themselves, healing so you aren't relying entirely on mercs, and ports for convenience.
I haven't tested necro/mage pets in RoS, but in EoK at least tanks are so powerful that once you're geared a sk/mage or war/mage duo will be better than any other duo with a mage.
