What would be a good duo (with or without mercs) with 2 real players, not boxing? Looking to start with heroic characters and work our way up from their through the group game. I am open to just about anything, but my friend is set on playing a beastlord. I know druid is a popular duo boxing choice, but is it good for 2 players? Will we be ok with a tank merc and healer/wiz merc? Or I could go SK/Pal and run healer/wiz merc but not sure how hard it would be to catch up with tanking augs, etc to be a competent tank these days. Could always just run two beastlords and bounce back and forth between who is getting beat up? What is your $.02?
At the group level pet tanking is very effective - least amount of work for the most amount of gain. I'd say Mage/Nec/Bst + Ench/Druid. Also, +1 on your forum name. I believe in Kraymerica, and its revolutionary products of tomorrow!
So lets consider the challenges that a heroic Beastlord might have trouble with. Pulling singles Crowd control Mana consumption (until 101-105) Aggro (until 101) No resist debuffs No ivu No fade No dispell Mobility issues (due to no fade, around see invis/undead) Personally I think a bard would be best, but there are a lot of other good choices if there is a class you would really prefer. Mage, Enc, Shaman, Pal/Sk, would all work quite well also, and just about any other class could work just maybe not quite as efficiently. In the end I think the best choice is the one you'll have the most fun playing.
Druid would be very powerful, as would sham. Other boxes that I'd put in the top tier of duos: aggressive chanter, bard, mage, nec, wiz, sk, paladin. A friend of mine did surprisingly well w/ bst and ranger. As for AC augs, you can get a good starter set that will last you to around 100 from being a heroic toon (30AC/slot, some bits of heroics) when you can start farming from ROF/COTF/TDS. I wouldn't worry *too* much about finding enough augs to be not-.
Getting a functioning level of AC/Tank augs is MUCH easier now than before. You can get a good chunk just from earning points in CoTF heroics. Yes, you would need to do extra farming to flesh it out and ultimately get the "best", but I consider now one of the easier times to get a tank to a functional level. Usually with this kind of request, the requisite "what are your goals?" needs to be answered. Do you want to duo old raid events? Do you only care about doing group-able content? Are you okay with requiring other people and/or mercs to meet your goals? How skilled are you and your partner at fulfilling "unconventional roles," for your class? The general group roles are 1) Tanking, 2) Healing, 3) Pulling/mob or crowd control, 4) DPS. Beastlords are a good addition to most groups since they add a little something to all of the primary roles. However, they are a tough starting point since their ability to fulfill any particular role can very greatly from expansion to expansion/content level. So this becomes strongly about how each of you want to play. If you plan to always use mercs, literally EVERY combination of characters can work, and surprisingly better than you would expect. Most pairings where you can deal with mobs out of camp, will have an easier time in general content. As always, severely hard hitting mobs, or areas where getting singles is difficult or you will get spawned/timed adds in mission, some pairs will suffer more. My personal top picks from a min/max/versatility view would be Paladin, Druid, Cleric. These are the pairs that would require the least in from outside sources. Paladins are solid healers and solid tanks. You should be able to duo most content without help, even if it takes a while. Pulling/mob control can be problematic and would rest more on the BL probably but healing shouldn't be a problem as long as both are cognizant of it. Could use 2 wiz mercs or 2 cleric mercs or 1 of each depending on the content to make the process safer and easier. Druids are a classic partner for BL since they also can help fill most group roles and their abilities are complimentary to BL. You should again be able to work through pretty much all group-able content. A little more flexibility with pulling options since both classes can pull somewhat and you get solid roots/snares and healing. You will primarily have tanking issues, and possibly DPS issues. Probably best to use Tank/DPS mercs to make the process safer and easier. Clerics are the best "ohh crap" healer. Consequently that just makes things safer. They have some pulling ability. Tanking will probably be slightly less of an issue, but still the largest issue with this pairing. Would definitely go Tank/DPS mercs should you decide you want them. Next up would be SK, Ranger, Shaman, Bard, Enchanter. These are all utility oriented classes. SK's are a solid pick, they just have their own utility that doesn't really amp themselves with the BL. But the BL can fill most of the needs of the SK. I am not sure how strong SK self healing is in current content, but I imagine it would be less controlled than with Paladins, so using mercs would be desirable. Rangers fill a similar role to BL, but adds a different utility set that is better adept for dealing with adds, and provides extra healing and are generally solid DPS. Beastlord pairs. Would be very doubled up utility, though having a similar ping/pong between players and pets dynamic could be fun. But you don't gain much that you wouldn't gain from ranger/pet/charm classes. Shaman are great for the same reasons you would pick a cleric or druid, they just duplicate most of the same utility with beastlords so you don't gain as much synergy. Bards/Enchanters both are strong on the mob CC side, and can use charm to function like the traditional pet classes. It would be harder for these pairs to "max out" with a BL without including mercs. Necro/Mage would basically be setting up as a pet group. Some utility, but the BL would either need to be able to take the hits and heal it himself, or act like a caster. It would be harder for these pairs to "max out" with a BL without including mercs. Warrior, Monk, Rogue, Berserker, Wizard. For each of these classes, you are either accepting it is basically, 1) whatever you could previously solo as a BL +1, or 2) needing to have mercs. Other than killing things faster and help with pulling etc, your play style will essentially follow one classes or the others solo style. These groups can all be made in general viable via mercs. Just don't expect to be able to do tons of things you couldn't do by yourself by pairing up without mercs.
I should clarify my friend is just playing the beastlord and I am just playing one character. Looks like tanking and pulling are my needs. I'm preferable to paladin but would probably benefit more from the sk for pulling singles.
At least at higher levels, the combo of paladin lulls w/ beastlord FD pulling would work pretty well, and pally can do a bit of CC as well.
Paladin divine call/balefire. Pacify. Root/divine stun. Pulling problems = 0. Paladin + beastlord can cover most content fairly well. In a desperate scenario the paladins healing amplifiers turn the beast lord heals into shaman heals and you can probably out survive 90% of whatever shenanigans you attempt. + beast lord ADPS stacks with paladin burns for some massive #'s on short zerg fights
Bottom line is, play what you enjoy playing. Don't play a class to fill a spot in a group because that's the "best" class to play. Half the fun is playing with buddy and trying to figure out how to beat something with the resources that are available to you. When I was still playing I managed to solo the entire partisan and most of the mercenary line in Chapter-house when it was current. It took me forever and a day more deaths than I can remember, but I ended up figuring out all kinds of little tricks and managed to pull it off. Every class has it's advantages and disadvantages...pick the one that best suits you and your buddies play style.
My main character is a beastlord and I love the class, so full marks to your mate making this call. Starting out as Heroics you will gain access to quests that give some decent AC Augs so should you go tankage with a Pally you'll be OK in the group game and using mercs when a duo to start with, then you can track down more and more AC. You will both, obviously, need to "practice" your level 85 uberness as there will be so many spells and abilities that you would normally learn as you progress up the levels that you will get at day one and won't have a clue where they sit in your arsenal until you research and apply. I've never played a Pally but have grouped with many and have respect for the class, I went the SK route for one of my alts and really like the class but i would say a Pally has a lot more synergy with a Beastie. As mentioned plenty of times, do play a class that makes YOU want to look forward to getting in game. Best wishes for a successful partnership. p.s. DO NOT make a duo where a mage pet is the tank unless there is a strategic reason for it, your Beastie mate will be bored sh. Remove swearword (that i haven't actually spelled out, or filled with ** moderators) and add "bored beyond belief".
Without getting into the painful details, certain events in my life took precedent over EQ. Even though at the that I started break/retirement , RoI only raided one day a week, that day fell on a crucial one. I'm an all or nothing kind of guy and playing casual (no offense to casual players) would eat away at me slowly and make the experience not fun. Who knows, if things change in RL, I would love to come back. I miss the friends that I made in RoI more than the game tbh.
Not to insult you, but I was just looking at you as one of those that has been here forever and got an inventory number label on your neck. Where I work all inventory got that.
