Thinking about playing on next tlp. Probably Tormax. Eventually Teek if unhappy on Tormax. 1 / About Haste --do these stack ? : item haste + buff haste ( enc or sham) + bard haste -- if wearing two haste items , only strongest applies , right ? 2/ About weapon ratio --How to determine which weapon is more efficient than the other ? how to read the ratio info number ? 3/ About Boxing. ( my box would be on an old laptop, if i were to box) -- SK + Druid : is it efficient ? i am thinking of Bertoluxx human sk + karana human druid duo. My opinion pros : good damage, some heals + teleports. Better than SK shaman because of tp and DS.cons : no res, town travel difficult . Would you agree ,if not ,your opinion ? -- boxing a wizard ? with who ? ( duo box ) i already played a paladin wizard box at lev 50 for a few levels (on luclin hitting the vampire cottery) after leveling each one, solo and separatly. It worked out ok. Not sure it would work out well from the start tho. -- boxing a rogue ? with who ? ( duo box) i d really like to play one beyond lev 20. What would kunark start change ? Thank you for replies if any .
Best box for a rogue is probably shaman, as you'll have haste, heals, and buffs that stack with cleric/druid buffs you might be able to pick up elsewhere. Slows also help prevent a squishy rogue from taking too much damage while tanking, and the shammy can add some pet dps that won't require additional mana. Backstab skill will suffer, but occasional grouping opportunities will help. A rogue will have trouble grabbing threat off a box shaman, especially if you land slow early, but the shaman should be able to take a few hits--more than a druid, anyway. A shaman will compete with the rogue for gear. A Kunark open changes very little at the lower levels for a rogue. Just more zones to choose from. Once you get a bit higher level, you may find your rogue desired for groups in decent xp places where there are locked doors, like Howling Stones or City of Mist. Make some friends that like Howling Stones.
Haste does stack for up to three versions. In the same category, the highest bonus does apply. v1 - Worn item haste: Cloak of Flames, FBSS, etc. v2 - Buffs: From enchanter, shaman, bard songs. v3 - Overhaste: From items that do unlock AAs, and a few bard songs. There are a few more like Monk epic 1.0 haste which should be v2, but not sure. Enchanters might also receive an overhaste aura. Parsing. For the ratio, a higher value is better. However you can also calculate on your own with delay/dmg, then the lowest value is better. Druid is nice for travelling, evac, tracking, foraging, and questing, but is one of the weakest combat classes. Most players do pick SHD + SHM. Enchanter does also work for the crowd control bonus and is better when having many adds, like in tight dungeons. The mana regen bonus is also nice to have. Wizard is nice for evac, travelling, and blasting away adds, which is some kind of CC (crowd control). Can be combined with any strong tank (pet or plate tank). Can be tricky to dual box but can be a great addition for trio boxing. MAG or BST might work at best above lvl 85. Don't do that for dual boxing. SHD or BST (above lvl 85) should be your best bet if you really want to try that. Dunno what you mean with a Kunark start.
OP is posting in the context of starting on the new progression servers, which will start with a Kunark open. So max level 60, with Kunark available. Level 85 won't matter for a while. At that point all considerations will change, as presumably mercs will be available.
1. Haste - as above mostly dont stack. Remember you can check your 'stats' tab in inventory that shows your current haste, if you want to see how different items change it. 2. ratio - this is a bit of a mystery to me too. But apparently, it is best to just get the best ratio you can. And remember that for a Rogue, by far the best weapon you are going to see in a long time is your epic. 3. I love rogues, but that are hard in the early expansions, especially with only 2-box. You need a healer, but a druid is too squishy because neither Rogue nor Druid can handle more than 1 good hit. Shaman is better, but you will be operating the shaman 90% of the time, shaman will have agro always, shaman will be casting. Rogue is just move to back and hit 'autoattack'. So your main will be the Shaman. Cleric is probably better because it can tank a little bit, and do good heals. But when i did a rogue cleric duo, i found it was fun but really pretty slow levelling. ANd you have to stick to lower level mobs most of the time. I think you would better with SK/Druid, or Wiz/pal. If you are looking for grouping, make one box an Ench, they usually get groups easy in early expansions. If you are looking for DPS, probably go a monk or Ranger. THey will fit into a 2-box duo better than a rogue. If you are like me and like to make everything difficult, then go rogue and maybe try to level a couple personas on your other account to swap between healing options.
For more details on Haste, see https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Haste Note that the numbers for haste are shown in-game in the Inventory > Stats page. However, that amount starts you with 100% haste (nothing added, this is your normal melee speed) and then adds on the worn haste (if any), spells/songs (if any), and overhaste (if any). Under normal conditions, the highest you can have listed there is 217% (base 100%, plus 100% item/buff, plus 17% overhaste). With bard song the overhaste can be 25%, so the highest then is 225%. There are some exceptions and special abilities that don't factor into this but that is the basic.
As I don't know when mercs are available on TLP servers, and how he does want to play, it is hard to give any advices. I think that it is better to think a few expansions ahead, and at lvl 85 many factors do change, and MAG/NEC/BST pets become good tanks. It will be just 2.5 years until lvl 85, and some of my class combo advices will also work below lvl 85, even that they might be not perfect there. I would just make sure to have a healer (preferably a SHM) or a pet tank/healer (NEC/MAG/BST) around, until mercs do get unlocked, so that he is not dependant on other players. Nothing is more annoying than having to go LFG and not being able to kill anything on it's own. For dual boxing it will break down to having a good tank and a healer, preferably with having slow, mez/root/charm, and snare available. Like SHD+SHM. The necro is the only class that does have all that (vs undead mobs) and does not need to be boxed. More infos about boxing and some functioning or even good combos can be found here.
