I am returning to EQ and have a friend joining me that is a first timer. After reading over this forum, my friend is going to play a druid and I am going to box an enchanter with either warrior or mage. We would have healer merc, rogue merc and wizard merc. We are very casual and will only play couple nights a week therefore no raiding, just group stuff. All three accounts are subscribed but not going to boost to 85. Friend is new to EQ and I want him to see some of the old stuff. I have fond memories of WoS, MPG, LDoN missions and DoN missions especially Creator. Can mercs do LDDoN/DoN missions? For leveling and instances like DoN missions, which is the better tank for a boxer, warrior or mage pet. I box on 2 machines so no alt-tabbing needed. I will be pulling/"maining" with the enchanter. Tank will be on my laptop to the side. I remember the mage has that spell that can summon you if you pulled too many but I keep seeing a lot people saying they were using the mage tank pet but would rather it had been a warrior. Why is that? Does warrior hold agro better or can survive hits better? Warrior will be geared from drops and missions not from raiding. Who is better tank for the Creator mission? "Play what you want to play" does not apply because I remember liking both classes, just not sure how they have evolved since I last played.
Welcome back. That sounds like a great plan. Yes, mercenaries can do shared missions (just not raids). A geared warrior is better than a pet any day. A pet is a great backup and very useful as an off tank when you can't mez. You may find trouble holding aggro below level 70ish, only because the tools just are not available.
Hhhmmm...I was going to pull with enchanter using pacify line and would mez any adds that I got. But if I got too many, I guess the druid can evac us. Sorry, remembering the mage's summoning saving puller from wiping group. Oh yea, we used a camp fire to get back to camp after evac. Apologize, having flashbacks. Its been a long time since I played and there were 3 of us 2-boxing. Must have been before mercs. Seems scary to rely on merc for healing. Way back when, I played tank and healer, friends played the DPS/support. I remember pulling with cleric using pacify line and would pull to the tank usually warrior or paladin. One friend play druid and mage. He would summon me if I got more than 1 mob. Other friend played beastlord and shaman. Sorry rambling, just remembering how fun it was back then and this is playing without chatting. We had to type everything. So glad I have teamspeak now and glad to be back!
If your chanter is overpulling, time to relearn the class. You can blanket fog immediately if something goes wrong.
Stick with the warrior, it'll out class the mage pet very easily. Warriors can hold aggro on multiple mobs, and when geared/AA'd (which won't be hard at low to mid grade levels due to defiant gear and autogrant) will have vastly superior defensive abilities.
Not sure when you last played but just you and friend could level up well from the tutorial and progress from there to help him learn the game and to refresh you. You get some nice armor/haste stick/bag and free merc in there. All of the ldons require a minimum of 3 players and can include a merc as one of them. But mercs are not allowed in raids so cannot do any ldon raids using merc to fill spots. I don't remember on the DON's if you can use mercs but since most of those are raid based I would think not. Once you and friend get up a couple levels you can solo most of the old content - including epics. So to help learn the game and to have more fun maybe ditch the mercs now and then. The campfire you used was the fellowship campfire and there is a guy in POK that will help you do that - he is under the find key - takes 3 players to make one. The mage spell you remember is COH ( call of the hero) is level 55 mage spell. And finally make your tank an SK - they rock! Just made one and having tons of fun with him.
I disagree with a Warrior being, "far better" than a Mage pet in a BOXING situation. Yes, OF COURSE, even a mediocre Warrior will bury a pet if played exclusively, but for boxing, I go pet. Here are my reasons: Warriors are pretty easy to box, but Mage pets are EASIER. You also get the advantage of the DPS of a Mage (which is significant), and can heal a pet. I've yet to see a Mage that can heal a Warrior. You also get the benefit of a yummy DS, and Call of Hero, which is priceless when running boxes. Once you've built your pet AAs, you'll be FLOORED with what they can do. Once you've developed all of the DPS AAs for the Mage and set up a few macros, you will never think about a Warrior ever again. You can focus on your Chanty. PLEASE don't get me wrong, the MT of my guild (a GOD of a Warrior), has saved us countless times while we were, "battle rezzing." I love Warriors to death, but in this situation, Mage pet seems like a viable option.
We started our group. Pulling with enchanter to warrior is working well. Merc healer is not too bad. Took some research to get merc dps working right by setting one of us as main assist. I like having one rogue merc and one wizzy merc. Patience needed with my friend though. The concept of spell bar vs hot bar and spell sets. He will get it eventually. I might try 3boxing when friend is not on. I miss playing a mage. Maybe a mage, cleric and ranger? Anyway, I wanted to thank all who have made comments!!!
