So been running a 4box of sk/shm/mage/bard with a healer and caster merc. caster merc hasn't been doing crap is casting and just sits there. wont assist or anything and its upset me enough to add a 5th toon. I have a 51 mage on another account that is the same as my box team. also have a 60 wizzy I can add to team. Was leaning towards mage for ease of boxing. Would a sk/shm/mage/mage/bard be a good setup up or should I look into another class? don't really want to add a melee since to many discs and always have to be in right position to be useful though I know a zerker or bst would be a good addition. any advice would be welcome. thanks
You could also try a rogue merc. I was not happy with my caster merc either and went melee with the rogue and he is still a little slow on the uptake but I just have him set to burn not on assist or like that Personally I would make a Ranger so you can auto fire and they have some other benefits and don't take much interaction in a box group
With mob HP heading to the moon starting in TBM the dps will become an issue. That group needs some dps boost, a zerker or a rogue would be a practical solution.
try the rogue merc first, and if that doesn't perform well enough then yeah, adding a mage is probably your best bet.
I am currently running sk/shaman/bard/mage I was thinking of dropping the mage, for a rogue merc. Probably a bad idea? Or would a beast be better dps than mage?
This is not an easy answer because there is a level of difficulty on boxing a melee vs a caster. Since your group is already primarily casters and can be setup very simply to add another, I would add a mage as mage. If you want to maximize your dps, add a zerker or rog to that mix but expect to spend more time on it as you tab through your crew (positioning and getting your melee attacking going). However if you use some software that helps with it, that doesn't matter and go with what you want. I wish I could figure it out. I run war/shm/bard/zerk/zerk and healer merc if I'm lazy or drop the merc and add bst or cleric depending on my mood. These days I don't really care to maximize so I just use the merc healer and spot heal with sham. I can't do the ToL missions but can do all the rest of the content I need. Good luck on your project!
