I am diving back into Everquest after years away and I am starting on a new server. I have been using an Enchanter/Druid combo the past few days and it has been working well. I want to try to add a third box to the term but I am have difficulty choosing between a few options. I know I probably should choose a tank, but if possible I'd prefer to choose a character that I might one day raid with once I hit max level. Preferably, i would love the third box to be a Wizard but I realize that may not be ideal. My other thought was to go Beastlord so that I would have some pet tanking ability. I had heard that while Mages are still strong in the group game they have been struggling a bit at the raid level. Any thoughts or recommendations?
I run Chanter/Druid/Mage. CotH is incredible utility. Chanter and Druid can combine Invis and Undead Invis on mage, then she can get through a mix of live/undead and CotH group. Lets me get into some interesting places stealthy. Makes a lot of autofollow issues moot - just sent mage alone and CotH. Great damage shield. Pet toys for chanter pet too. Pet can tank quite well if tank merc buys it. Arcane Distillect aura augments ALL pets IIRC. On a burn, if mage uses Host, chanter uses Phantasmal and Druid uses Spirits and Myconids, mage's Storm of Many packs a mean punch. Mage also greatly benefits from chanter's and Druid ADPS. And you don't need to position mage for melee.
If your goal is to raid, BST seems to be really in need by different raid teams, and would complement your setup nicely. If your goal is to make the most powerful trio you can, an SK or warrior is your best option.
I also box an Enchanter and Druid but my main is a Necro. There are things that the duo can't do due to un-mezable mobs. When that happens, I'll bring in my Necro for my Enchanter to feign pull. I wish I had all three up to do that (I can three mobs at a time with the necro's ability to off tank with the pet and skele swarm). I love the idea of a mage; with two healers and their pet there isn't too much you can't handle. I also like the idea of the SK (all the necro stuff plus tanking). The problem I have with a three box (and two box for that matter) and a tank, is that I can only really focus on one character at a time and, for me, that is mostly the Enchanter to get things under control and maintain them. Due to that, I'm not sure a tank would really help me since they take focus too (I need the pet or merc to drive itself). Since a merc tank with two healers is pretty stable, I think the DPS might be more valuable than a tank.
I would do SK, they have a good selection of utlity (self invis, etc.) to get around, their feign can be used to help single pull instead of depend on mez, their AE aggro tools make it easier to keep aggro on mez immune mobs... that gives you 3 toons with a merc each to switch between DPS / healer as needed. The mage is nice and CotH is definately useful, but I don't think their pets can manage multiples as easily.
