I haven't played EQ live since lvl 75 or 80 was the cap, so it's been a hot minute. Came back this week to play on Aradune but now the server issues are driving me off. I don't have 2 hours to wait in queue when i get off work. If I play on Live it will be a Beastlord on FV server, I want to main this class so any 2/3 box classes would come secondary. I ask a lot of these questions because I have no idea about the current state of the game, and I can't imagine most classes play remotely close to what I have in my mind (lvl 65-75 era). Whatever classes/accounts I play will be payed for subscriptions not F2P. 1) How far can I get pet tanking? Lots of box posts I see say you NEED a warrior/knight however these people also seem to main these classes.. like if you box an SK you are going to spend the majority of your time on the SK and I don't want that. Can I box a tank without all the effort going into it? Can I do level up to max and do current level content reasonably well pet tanking? Can I kill nameds? 2) I'm old and lazy. I refuse to 6-box and work harder playing a game than I do at my job. 2-3 box is my max i'd say, and these need to be pretty low maintenance compared to the BST I want to focus on. 3) Options i've seen recommended: BST/BST BST/BARD BST/MAGE BST/DRUID 3-BOX OPTIONS. ANY OF THE ABOVE + ?? BST/MAGE/?? ETC I don't know anyone playing this game, and while "just group" sounds nice and i'd like to be able to eventually, what I really want is a smooth journey through the levels and gearing up, and the option to basically go wherever I want in the game instead of "Well.. you can solo this 2% of the zone, this corner basically but don't go further in you'll just die". EDIT: How bad am I gimping myself maining BST..? Like how much am I going to have to skip because i'm not playing SK/SHM/CLERIC.
HI and WB. You cant go wrong with a mage imo. Low maintenance boxing? Id say a bard using /melody would be a good fit for Bst/Mag.
bst/mag/bard would be excellent when you think of the total dps between toons and pets plus bard enhancements.
Beastlord + 1 or 2 other boxes can do most of the content in the latest expansion. If you want to get the most out of your beastlord, a bard is 100% your first choice for a supporting character. A third character is less obvious. From your post you've done your research and have probably read this thread: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/beastlord-duo.258704/ For my money I like the below options: bst: dual warder tanking, 100% uptime on dichotomic fury and some synergy on other ADPS ber: high DPS, some ADPS for the bst/warder/brd sha: healing, ADPS, CC, DPS rng: provides some ADPS, some CC, takes advantage of brd/bst ADPS and tremendous mana regen dru: healing, DPS, CC, some ADPS If it were me in your shoes and I wanted to main the bst, I'd do bst or ber. I'd also recommend looking at getting inner space boxer. If your goal is to ably do ALL the group content in the game you'll be best equipped to do that with a plate tank. Warrior is the easiest tank to box. Bst/brd/war is a tremendously powerful combination. Note that even if you tried to main the beastlord you'd find yourself driving from your warrior primarily. This thread: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/warr-bard.228506/ talks about war/brd combos and even war/brd/bst.
I agree that the 3 box is a great and easy way to always have a full group. I don't use any software to box, but I hear great things about [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software]. Also,to the OP, don't focus too much on what's "BEST" , so you don't forget about what's the most fun for you. (IMO)Enjoying the classes you play is key to the longevity of your enjoyment of the game.
I box 2 mages. There isn't anywhere I can't kill with them. I can kill ToV named with them. Tier 1 named usually present little or no challenge. You can finish your ToV partisan and mercenary tasks with them easily. The biggest problem with a 2 mage team can be pulling in an area where the mobs are highly condensed. A mass pull can be problematic. In ToV this usually isn't a big problem. In the lower level zones there's a lot of fantastic content to explore with a 2 mage team. And no, you won't be relegated to the mob corner of the zone, Two mages kick butt.
The only thing that makes me wary of like bar/bars/war is they're all melee.. it can't be that easy to micromanage 3 melee can it? Vs like.. another bst or mag, or both. Is the gain from tanking yourself instead of pet tanking and playing 3 melee instead of 1 with 2 casters worth the trade off. Like the guy above plays mag/mag and can do anything in the game? So how necessary is the WAR really..? Pet tanking doesn't seem to be holding him back?
I’d recommend going 3 box over 2 box if you can because it opens up options. You’ll have more utility with more classes, and something that may be often overlooked, but you need minimum of three people to drop a fellowship campfire, and campfires help a lot with moving around the world. As for class combinations, i reckon I’d go with beast mage bard. Mage and bard are easy to box with good synergy. And bard can help you split those difficult camps. I’d probably go with 2 healers and a melee dps merc. Though you can experiment with what works best merc wise. On the subject of mercs, make sure you get the J5 merc quest done as soon as you can if you haven’t already got access. This will give you the best mercs possible. Personally I play SK, shaman, bard, and yes if you do go with a plate tank option, you will have to give them dibs on everything to be viable. Having said that, once you make it to max level you can play however you want, and swapping to beast lord as main, and grouping with others will become an option. On a bit of a tangent, I’m considering creating a pet based 3 box myself once I hit max with my main set up. Not sure if I’m going to go with beast mage mage or beast mage necro (dots revamp yay) but I reckon it’ll be interesting.
It’s not that difficult to manage melee to be honest, you just have to position yourself well on the target ring and ayutofollow will do the rest, I use sk shaman bard, and have all 3 meleeing.
I play BST main and box (leisurely) MAG and RNG. RNG melee/ATK buffs stack with BST buffs , and smaller DS stacks with MAG big DS. RNG calm/snare + MAG coth split work for most of the mobs pulling. BST warder + MAG pet can tank almost anything in the game, including ToV T2 nameds. RNG is easy to box with /autofire. MAG casts 4 DD spells + swarm pet by a hot-key button. Decent consistent dps combined from just 1 button click per toon. BST synergy does wonders to the pet squad (permanent and swarm), Dissident from 3 toons adds significant dps when needed. RNG tracking and MAG group-coth features are very useful. Some missions/encounters (high-level Hero missions) need a serious CC or AE tanking, and are almost impossible to fight in such group, so I have to get help from or join a good plated tank. Everything else (Mercenary and Partisan tasks) are easy to do. Once fully develop the trio you can experiment by replacing RNG with a BRD or SK or whatever else you may like.
I'd recommend using inner space boxer either way, but it wouldn't be so bad to 3box without it. Just a lot of alt tabbing to refresh abilities.
Always start with the (plate) tank. They're a lot harder than other classes to play catch up when you decide you need one later. Warrior is very easy to box.
A bard and a beastlord is the way to go, if you’re planning doing current content, then you’ll benefit from the bard’s DoTs nicely. I don’t recommend a third box, but if you have to have one, Then make it an SK.
You’re only limiting yourself if you don’t go with the 3rd box. That extra character adds a lot, and can potentially make or break what content you can do. There’s more pros than cons to running a third box.
Unless you’re god’s gift to boxing or using 3rd party software, it’s rather difficult (my opinion) to match the consistency of a melee Merc in current content. He would undoubtedly benefit from a 3 box in older content, but not as much in current content.
/autoskill and a simple macro or two make boxing melee relatively trivial. Especially if you're one of those boring, ez-mode Berserkers .
DPS Macro 1: Faceroll, Faceroll, Faceroll Burn Macro 2: Faceroll, Faceroll, Faceroll https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/berserker-top-dps.239518/ Checkmate!
