Boxing EQ, as a returning player... Have a few questions

I have previously played Everquest, from release through the early stages of Planes of Power. After leaving EQ, I started World of Warcraft with friends; for the last three or four years, I've been 5/10-boxing Wow.

Recently, I clicked on a link advertising Everquest as Free to Play, and the nostalgia has me considering a return to Norrath.

If anyone can answer some of my questions, that would be greatly appreciated.




My system is fairly high end. When gaming, I'll typically have iTunes playing, Xsplit Broadcaster streaming my play (in 1080p HD, to www.twitch.tv/ualaa), and several Firefox tabs open.

I'm using:
CPU: i7 3930K (12 Threads, 6 physical cores), overclocked @4.5GHz with a Noctua NH-D14.
Ram: 32GB (Corsair Vengeance) DDR3, 1600Mhz CL8.
Video: eVGA GeForce 670 GTX, 4GB Superclocked
Gaming Drive: 2x OCZ Vertex 3, 120GB SSDs striped (Raid 0)
Connection: Shaw Broadband 250 (250Mbps Down, 15Mbps Upload)

I'll be boxing with Inner Space (IS Boxer and EQ Play Nice), as I'm very familiar with the program, love its power/flexibility, and already have a lengthy subscription to it.

1) How high can my settings be, if I want to run 6 accounts smoothly?

2) How many accounts can I run, if I use low/medium settings?

3) Which settings are generally the most taxing on a system?




My initial thinking was a six-box, as that is a full group. However, a four-box or five-box has some interest in that there would be space for other players to join the group down the road.

My interest is primarily in single group content, with some raid content from previous expansions; definitely won't be joining a progression guild.
Mostly, I'd like to level as a group, visit level appropriate dungeons, and explore places I remember visiting previously...

4) How strong are Mercenaries? Can a group use a tank mercenary for both leveling towards 90th and content at 90th? Can a healer mercenary be your primary healer at 90th? Can you use mercenaries in a full group, or is the cap six members in a party including the mercenary?




EQ doesn't seem to have an 'Interact With Target / Click to Move' functionality, where you can macro a melee character to attack and stay with a mob, so I'm interested in a predominantly caster based group.

I'm leaning towards four DPS characters: Mages, Necromancers, or a combination of the two. Previously, I preferred Necros to Mages, but have been away from the game for close to ten years... so either class could be quite different from what I remember.

From what I've read, Mage pets are superior to Necromancer pets... I'd ideally like to send a pet to each target in a camp, to occupy the mobs and give me time to deal with them.
Mages can summon gear for the Necromancer pets to equip; I like Call of the Hero... but dislike not having Feign Death on the DPS.

5) Can a mercenary hold threat on a Mage who is unloading their nukes, or on a Necromancer who applies a full stack of DOTs? Can either a Mage pet or Necromancer pet hold threat in such a circumstance? How long can a pet survive, with the attention of a light blue mob or a dark blue mob?

6) Would I be better off with Mages, who would focus fire to burn down each target in succession or with Necros who could each place a dot or two on a target to cumulatively kill it quickly without any single caster gaining much threat in the process?




In addition to the DPS, I'd like to go with two of these three (Bard, Druid or Shaman), for support in the form of character buffs, healing, rez if necessary, ports/run-speed, invisibility, or other miscellaneous utility effects.

I'm leaning towards a Druid and a Shaman, because my previous main was a Druid (so I have access to a level 60 Druid) and my roommate had a Shaman (which I always appreciated having around); from what I've read, most of their buffs will stack.
I'd like to have a Slowing character, for more challenging content.
I like the idea of both my utility characters being able to heal.

However, I'm primarily running a caster based group, so I'm not really sure which two characters would add the most... or even if an Enchanter should be one of my two utility characters (I don't really want to manage crowd control).
Or even if a fifth DPS with one utility character might be a better option?

7) Which two toons would you add to a 4x Caster DPS group?

It sounds like you know most of the answers.

What i sugest is: Box 3 players. Using a tank merc, a healer merc and a rogue/wizard merc will give you a full group and reduce the hassle of controling 6 ppl.
There are quests to gain advanced mercs, you should do them if you go that way.

I box with 2 PCs, so i do not have your problem, however you will find that you look at one character most of the time. That is the "whoa" character, that shows you the game and should have the best resolution. The others can run on the basics you need to play.

If you want to run a wizard merc you should consider a chanter in your group for KEI, but some bottles and a shaman can replace it. A druid would be convenient to travel the world. It´s rather huge nowadays.

Your machine can handle what you want to do.

Mercs are tough up to about 65ish, then tanks start to lose some oomph, and clerics start to 'forget' to heal for some reason. I never read the fine print, but I believe the merc contract states it has to let a player character die at least once an hour to fulfill some SOE obligation.

You need a tank and a cleric for grouping after 55-60. You could probably get away without them, but I find with boxing, it's much easier to let a merc handle the heals (and paying attention to when they decide to let me die) and the tanking is nice because they initiate the mob quick enough.

It has to be. They'll just stop and you have to suspend them just to get them going again and despite what SOE says I'm pretty sure they'll buff someone instead of heal the main tank if a buff fades

My machine is a 3750k @4.5 with 16gb and a 7950. I 3-4 box with all settings maxed with aa and af forced via ccc and its nice and smooth. (AA and AF make a huge difference btw.)


One thing I will tell you though is you'll get nothing out of your ssd in eq. It's such a poorly coded mess.

As for what to box, bard, mage, mage, mage, healer merc would shred through anything. Our go with the typical tank, dps, healer/buffer. As long as you have a solid tank and real dps how you full the rest is up to you.

Mercs loosing their oomph, around 65th... does that translate into needing a tank class, for progression through 'One Group' content to 90th (Silver Account(s)) or 100th (Gold Subscription(s))?

I'm leaning towards:
- 3x Necromancer (DPS)
- 1x Bard (Pulls, Utility)
- 2x Mercenaries (Tank & Heals)

And adding, when/if necessary:
b) 1x Druid (Heals, Ports, Utility), 1x Tank Class

Possibly have the Druid immediately, and run a 5x Box with the Mercenary tank (my Main was a Druid, and having Ports would be very nice too)... then add an actual tank, if I reach the point where a Merc does not cut it.
Even if a Tank Merc is not optimal, are they doable as a main tank in a group at maximum level, for group type content?



Regarding a tanks...

(1) = 3x Necro, 1x Mage, 1x Bard, 1x Druid
Could I use a single Magician, whose pet functions as the tank for a group, through at least 90th or maybe 100th level?
I'd imagine the answer would be yes, with the Bard splitting groups and a Druid healer... but how does a pet fare, with Bard slows and Druid heals against a named or more elite mob (group content or much older raids... as in raids that were current 2-3 expansions ago)?

(2) = 1x Necro, 3x Mage, 1x Bard, 1x Druid
Would it be possible with more than one Mage in the group? As in, is there a threshold where 2 (or 3/4) elementals have enough staying power, to survive? Not having any melee to manage, would make life much easier.

(3) = 3x Necro, 1x Monk, 1x Bard, 1x Druid
When I left the game, Monks were fairly strong tanks in terms of mitigation but had some issues with holding threat.
Would a Monk be a superior tank, to an Elemental?
Does a Monk have enough avoidance/mitigation to survive single group content (including current level non-raid bosses), with only single group/purchasable gearing?
If I were to go 3x Necromancer (as the primary DPS), and to employ regular Feign Deaths as part of their rotation, would a Monk hold threat and be an acceptable tank all the way to 90th/100th?

(4) = 3x Necro, 1x Pally/SK, 1x Bard, 1x Druid
If neither a Monk nor a solo Elemental can cut it as a tank...
Would you recommend either a Paladin or Shadow Knight? I'd lean towards the SK, partially because of having Feign Death.
Which would you use in a boxing composition, taking into account you'd probably only get the character to a maximum of 2/3 efficiency, compared to a similarly geared player who was soloing?

you NEED a tank... NEED, not optional, must have. You wont go far without a real tank. Mages can pet tank higher levels very well but i am expecting some nerfs.

Also in every single group you have listed replace the druid with a shaman.

Which would you recommend for my tank, a Monk, a Paladin or a Shadow Knight?

I'd really like to have ports on the team...
Am I correct in assuming Shaman for Slow?
Aside from the Tank, the team will be entirely made up of casters... would an Enchanter be worth consideration?

Would Shaman/Druid or Enchanter/Druid work, or does a Bard's utility outweigh the Druid's Heals & Ports?

Either Paladin or SK, SK's have superior aggro tools. If you want ports and movement then definitely get a Druid. Bards and Enchanters both can slow.

Bard/Druid are a good combination as well so make of that what you will though I'd say SK/Druid/Bard makes a good core group.

The best advice i can possibly give is give up on this nonsense of boxing until you play the game, learn the characters and the roles. The fact that you mentioned monk as your tank means you are in for a rough road of failure if you dont take my advice first.

Fair enough...

The last I played, Delnatha (Monk) and Waihung (Warrior) were the top tanks for Afterlife, which along with Fires of Heaven (on another server) were the top two guilds in the game.
Of course, it has been close to a decade since I've played, so undoubtedly things have changed.

Regarding your setup, I think you're fine on hardware. That's overkill for EQ these days, even for multiple accounts. I'm not sure how you're using InnerSpace, but when I use it, I usually have one window maximized and the others out of sight completely, to there's no need for your PC to "draw" the other screens at all. Alternatively, you could keep them smaller towards the bottom.

I highly, highly recommend a true tank for your group. I agree it's difficult to have multiple melee characters when boxing because positioning is difficult, but if you make your main character a melee character, you can get him/her into melee range and control all of the other characters from a distance. I'd recommend Warrior or SK (I'm loving my SK so far, though I'm still in the leveling process). I would NOT recommend a monk. I played a monk in live up to lvl 70 back in the day, and monks even took a mitigation nerf around the POP days. Basically, they lost the mitigation that's granted by the first round of defensive AAs; you can use those AAs to make it up, but that means all the other classes are even further ahead with those AAs, by comparison. Sure, there are some high level monks with raid gear and thousands of AAs that can tank better (in group content) than a fresh SK with crap gear and no AAs.

For your group, you may want to just 3 box, at least at first. By the time you add in 3 mercs, you're set. The mercs are decent for me so far (mid 50s), and I've read they are really good through 65ish. Even into the 70s and above, you can upgrade the mercs to higher tiers. You could run SK for tanking, Mage (one of your favorites listed above), and shaman. The mage has the amazing pet and easy ability to nuke without specific positioning. The shaman would be for heals and slows, or even add in DoTs as needed. The slows will make a HUGE difference. If you ever feel like the healing merc isn't cutting it at high levels, you can pick up another class to box, group with another person, or pick up a DPS merc instead, and then let your shammy buff, slow, and heal. You can always add wizard, mages, or necros (you mentioned these classes specifically) for more DPS if you don't want the merc.

I have no experience playing a bard and imagine it would be a pain to play normally, let alone boxing. I am by no means a twisting expert, but if you are playing the SK as your tank, you also have FD, a bow if needed, and spells, so you can tank and pull with the SK, and you can pull from a distance easily.

One more note on the healer mercs: I am not aware of how often they are programmed to let you die, but I can tell you that it's nice having a healer merc in your group, even with your own healer. I can slow and buff with my shaman, but the cleric healer can still give me some buffs, and if I'm chain pulling to the point that my cleric merc healer is lom or oom, then I can heal with my actual healer, a shammy in my case. Eventually, if you feel your merc healer isn't working, you have a true healer ready to go.

I hope this helps.

Inner Space pretty much runs in the background.

The IS Boxer Toolkit, sets up the hotkeys you want for your mapped keys, sets the cpu strategy for which cores control which instances of the game, create a window layout from a variety of options etc.

The wizard will generate some keymaps (which are groups of mapped keys), in some general categories: Always On, General & Combat (the last two of which, can be toggled off).

You can play with a basic configuration just fine. When you push '1', it can broadcast '1' to every window.
With configuration within the game you're playing, to interpret what occurs when you push the '1' key in a given instance of the game.

There are a lot of guides and videos available, mostly made by users who have decided to share what they've done, and Lax is quick to provide fixes or updates.




I think Notinterested's comment about jumping in, is likely going to be the best.
At the moment, it is conjecture.

I'll probably go with five accounts, Druid & Bard, with either Mages, Necromancers or a mixture of the two.
Then use the mercenary as a tank.
And have the option of adding a real tank to the mix, at the point where the mercenary is lacking.

Thanks for the replies.

Merc tanks arent that great when you get to higher levels top tier HoT atleast maybe voa or rof upgraded mercs but in hot they were lacking

A word of caution on this. As far as I understand it, sending a single keystroke to multiple instances of the game is considered botting. I use [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] myself, but always keep in mind the '1 keystroke = 1 action' rule. Really easy to do this and still be effective.

/sigh

lol not sure where you were going with that post Lighteningrod, I guess you thought I was trying to say [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] wasnt technically legal, which it totally is, just trying to help folks reading these forums out so they dont get jammed up using it in ways that might not so obviously break the rules.

It was not, "[Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] is perfectly fine" but rather "It is not in and of itself against our rules".
There was an obvious reason why Piestro worded that as he did.

Yea, really the whole reason I posted was because it sounded like he was suggesting sending a keystroke to multiple instances of the game, which is illegal (again as far as I know) but Im also really tired, so I might have been way off lol

In semi-related threads:

Does it do anything for you automatically? This is easy to test: set up [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] to simulcast to all instances and walk away from the computer. What happens?

Can you press "1" in EQ?
Can you press "1," alt-tab and press "1" again?
Can you press "1" simultaneously on two keyboards, one with each hand?
Can you press "1" simultaneously on four keyboards, two with each hand?
Can you press "1" on a single keyboard and send it to multiple instances via a physical keyboard splitter?
Can you press "1" on a single keyboard and send it to multiple instances via a virtual software splitter?

I reckon those questions are up to each to answer on their own. I am not going to give it a second thought.