I am relatively new to EQ. I have two EQ accounts and I just want to play. I'm in it to level up and have fun. What two classes can I play together that would relatively simple to play together? I played world of warcraft for the longest time as a warrior and rogue but got sick of that game. I've had friends who have played EQ through the years and really want to give it a try but want to do some duo play to make leveling up easier, even with mercs. Would a warrior/rogue combo do well or is there another combo that includes a warrior or rogue that isn't too complicated to play?
Well, assuming your going to run a healer merc with the warrior then your second account could be a class that would help you with buffs who will then run a dps merc. The rogue mercs are pretty good. So it would kinda be doubling up if you had a rogue too. I like chanters as the second one for the haste, mez, etc
Enchanters are great and you can play them easy enough - they also can do allot of different things crowd control, charm, Dmg over time & Direct Dmg, some great party buffs and then some - You can make the character easy to play by just focusing on one or 2 of their options, crowd control is imo the best thing they can do and you should use it - Rogues are super simple to play
For best results you need a tank and a damage dealer (DPS class). Let a merc be the main healer as playing a healer is difficult, especially for boxing. Backup healing is good to have tho. Many combinations are possible. Some are more defensive and might kill slower while other combinations can kill or travel faster. The tank can be a WAR, SHD, PAL or a pet class. Magician and necro are fine while the beastlord pet is weak at lower to medium levels even with slowed mobs, but it does get stronger after that. You want to have snare, slow and root/mez/charm in your group for crowd control. A bard can do all but root and can even single pull. A few examples: DS = Damage Shield CC = Crowd Control MEZ = Mesmerize (putting a mob to sleep) Evac = Does quickly port the group to the safe spot of the zone. Charm = The caster can control an enemy (NPC or PC) like a pet. Snare = Does reduce movement speed which is good for fleeing mobs or to escape. Haste = A buff that does increase the melee speed/DPS. Ports = Spells that offer quick travelling to some firm zone locations. Easy difficulty: SHD + SHM - snare, slow, haste, root/mez/charm, evac, ports, DS, tracking Tons of buffs but is not the best duo for pulling and CC. The duo has medium to high DPS. PAL + DRU - snare, slow, haste, root/mez/charm, evac, ports, DS, tracking DRU does receive mass snare/root and both have the aggro reducing lull/harmony spell lines for easier pulls. Very defensive duo as both classes are good backup healers but does lack slow and haste. DRU can mez and charm animals (only). DRU can be replaced by a bow RNG for more DPS but less CC and support. The duo has low DPS. Medium difficulty: WAR + BRD - snare, slow, haste, root/mez/charm, evac, ports, DS, tracking BRD is the best puller, WAR is the best tank. Pretty straightforward with single pulls but does lack advanced CC. The only listed duo that can open locked doors for rather low level zones like Old Sebilis, Ssra and Vex Thal. The duo has medium DPS. High difficulty: MAG + ENC - snare, slow, haste, root/mez/charm, evac, ports, DS, tracking Two pet classes with many buffs and auras. Very versatile duo that can handle nearly all situations with great mana regen. Mage pets do become good tanks at medium and higher levels. The duo has medium DPS. NEC + BST - snare, slow, haste, root/mez/charm, evac, ports, DS, tracking Two pet classes. Not the best duo for pulling and CC but can offtank mobs and heal their pets. NEC can mez and charm undeads (only) and can grant the mana hungry BST some of it's mana. The duo has high DPS. Btw: All listed duos do have invisibility and invisibility vs/to undead covered.
You might also want to try Ranger and Shaman. with one tank and one dps merc. This is an easy pair and you should be able to handle most non raid content.
start this idea with this- What do I do with a bad pull of 4+ mobs? 1) Die and rez after and get back to camp before repops 2) Evac and get back to camp before repops 3) Crowd Control Like sure SHD has FD, but shaman eats the aggro then. Bard is good, but to be adaptive to crisis situations whilst also tanking can be a struggle, also, puller takes haste with it unless you crawl. How do I deal with Invisibility <and> invisibility to undead. (pots are easy solution, but randomly fade, but also are pretty insta cast. Do i want to rely on gearing a tank through 120 levels , or work tank merc AAs and play dps DPS? Mercs do not CC or Evac. Mage pets are easy free tank and CotH is a huge asset. MAG / ENC can win EQ content up to current raids and can run 2 pets and CC, MAG or NEC w/ Bard is similarly qualified and can pick locks and track. MAG with NEC or ENC can be some of the highest dps in the game. FWIW, my daily driver duo is Magician and Druid. Druid and mage on CC is dps, tank merc / pet and in emergencies the duid can kite. <exodus> is nearly instant evac and keeps you in same zone to break fails. Daily life is made MUCH easier with tracking and ports, very solid dps and very solid on heals, damage shields and druid skin has MR component for casters. There are also a surprising number of places a duid can also run a pet.
Warrior/Bard Bards are princes in this game at everything Warrior are kings at tanking 2 healer mercs
a mage is easy to play , and got tanking ( pet ), dps and pulling ( if another one in group ), covered. i play mage + SHM , on hard to CC rooms with lot of adds, , i cast COH ( call of hero ) on shm ( about 5 sec cast )< then cast aa AE root from shaman ( can root up the 8 mobs ) ,when COH land on shm , agro is cleared --->> can reapply if needed, kill what you need / want after. on hard to pull cave with narrow tunnels, i make my weakest pet ( i want him to die fast before merc can heal him ), send pet to the mobs and i start running away to a * safer * area , cast AA AE root ( or single cast aa root if you want only one mob killed ), and be coh to clear agro , then kill what you need to, ** i got different lenght for my COH cast AA coh is about 5 sec cast . i made several hotkey ( with /pause ) to have a 10 sec,,15 sec and 20 sec lenght ) if i am in tight narrow tunnel and need time to agro and run away to do my cc tricks* ~and at higher levels shaman aura have a 20K hp boost on everyone in group , pet and summoned pets and 75 % haste ( summoned pets love it ) the servant line of pet from mage have decent agro ( even more with shm haste from aura ), most of the time mobs stay at these summoned mobs , so not having to heal much the main tanking pet ** so for me it is maybe the easiest way to go, real tank are ( can be good ) but are very gear dependent,( specially at higher levels ) and pretty need to be all access all the time to be able to use prestige augments and gears,
Not everything is this easy, like on paper. You going to have mobs spawn adds on top of you or outta nowhere. Some will be resistant to root too. Thats where mez comes in. And other times they resist mez but can be rooted. Other times they resist both and thats where charm comes in. All easy said and done on paper, but its a whole new story when you get punched in the face by the mob. I'd only do mage if you play 3 or more, Coth is really nice for moving the group, especially with how bad follow is. Bard is way easier to upkeep then a mage. turn on the melody and forgot about it unless its time to CC. With warrior you can tank the CC for a bit while you rush to the bard and get the CC going. Mage + SHM both are squishy, when random add comes you dead. At 95+ you'll start dropping real fast when random add starts to wail on you. Ah this is the newbie zone too, so likely the person doesn't know where all the camps are and where to stand and so on, and very likely to get that random add. Might be different story with Mage +SHM if you know the camps and everything. Also think about AAs, mages take a long time to activate their AAs same with shamans. Bard though, I can activate like all the AAs super quick and the AAs they are good too. Beneficial for the warrior as well. Boxing and waiting on something with 4 second cast time, thats not good you want quick classes. Bards are quick. Turn on melody and activate all AAs in 3 seconds switch over to the warrior and forget about the bard for the rest of the time unless you need to CC or change targets. Root cothing, that takes quite a bit of skill too, and reaction. Bard/Warrior easy and effective. Don't have to worry about if the spell casting macro is still going or if it needs to be pressed again.
Monk + Shaman is fun and can do a lot together. Monk does ok dps and in a pinch can take a hit, can pull and fd split. Shaman can do ok as a healer, good as a buffer, has good dots, and slows; also has a pet but its nothing to write home about with the class not being considered a pet class. If decide to you can have the shaman have a tank merc and the monk either have a healer or dps merc to supplement either. Not the peak combo, but very fun.
Best 2 boxes are... WAR/SHD/PAL with SHM/BRD MAG with ENC Many other combinations work of course. Note you can also add a FTP 3-box which will add to you the ability to campfire. For instance, if you just want the DRU/WIZ for ports and snare, you can FTP box them. You don't even have to play them. Just drag them around and use them for the utility and the merc. Example: MAG/ENC with a FTP DRU adds track, port, snare, campfire, you can just CotH the druid and you don't even have to actually play the druid. Just stand it nearby in a safe space.
Paladin Necromancer Have the Necromancer tank with pet, paladin is backup tank and used primarily for heals/ corruption cures. If you decide to solo, drop the paladin and go necromancer. Give you insight in in era group missions
paladin doesn't make a lot of sense. you can get all the cures from a shaman too. they even get a curse removal clicky and the shaman is going to contribute a ton more damage with their dots and auras.
