Deciding between Molo, 3 PC/3 Merc, or 6 PC.

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Chikkin, Dec 26, 2019.

  1. Xianzu_Monk_Tunare Augur

    There are bonuses for a group, and then there is also a bonus on top of the group bonuses for each real player. So there is a full group bonus, and then there is a full group all player bonus that results in 22% more than a 3/3 group. That's the only difference that we got official numbers for.
  2. Raptorjesus5 Augur

    Honestly with tank/sham/bard I wouldn't bother with healing on the shaman in the majority of scenarios (ie hard boss fights or big 'uh oh' pulls), but especially so at the lower levels. Not worth the hassle over using a cleric merc. Classes don't start getting fleshed out in a modern sense until 71+.

    I'd probably just use a tank merc and a cleric merc until I was in that range, and then start worrying about the rest. But it's going to depend on your goals.
  3. Chikkin Augur


    I somehow read this thread, including the last reply by Raptor right before this one... and didn't see yours until glancing over it again! Thanks for teaching me about the group bonuses!

    In other fun things to do when a 3/3 team is working out (i'm having fun thus far) .. I thought about doing LDoN's, but I can be online-lazy sometimes and the thought of getting an adventure stone seemed too daunting. Would probably be good exp/gear where I am playing on test server.
  4. Skuz I am become Wrath, the Destroyer of Worlds.

    Up to 50, maybe even 60 a Tank Merc & Cleric Merc along with a Wiz or Rog merc is going to put you on a nice relaxed enjoy the scenery type of experience without too much hard work as you level.

    After that I would either use a real Cleric (as other poster says they are very much stronger than a heal Merc and don't have a massive attention demand once you have set them up with some key macros for big heals & saves (epic 2.0 click / arbitration later on) rather than Shaman for healing, the Shaman is a solid healer but more work than a Cleric, they do provide solid healing over time & adps / dps if you enjoy min/maxing they are strong DoTers but mostly you want them for buffs, slow, cripple, group HoT plus their weapon proc spell.

    War/Shm/Brd is itself a strong & low frustration trio but relying on Merc healers will get you killed at times as they can have stupid quirks due to pathing & geometry flaws which can render them inactive, there are some workarounds for these but they aren't going to prevent them going moron & getting you killed completely so if you can 4 box okay having the Cleric in too is going to be a big asset, eventually you may find your boxing skills develop & improve over time, most players start off boxing 1 or 2 extra but some go on to use more, I box 3 but could easily see myself boxing 4 or 5 but I think having at least 1 Cleric Merc in any boxing set up is a great thing to have to act as a backup healer who may catch stuff you miss in the heat of battle.
  5. Chikkin Augur


    I hadn't considered my boxing skills getting better, but of course they will now that you mention it. -- I hadn't really put much effort into it until the start of this week.

    I actually ended up switching my team around, and on paper weakening my group, but making my quality of life (for now) much better. I am currently using a Warrior, Shaman, Enchanter. The Shaman and Enchanter do have much overlap, but for me they are simply Buffbots and debuff/slowers. The Warrior and 2 Rogue mercs are doing all the killing.

    This has (not surprisingly) worked very fast/well up to 46, I just hit Seb because I never skip this place. --- I've only had 1 total wipe, and it was in the whole from a bad decision to Tash-pull the Gargoyole who pulled the entire zone.

    But! Of course, it's pre-50. -- I plan to spend a while at the 51/52 game to play around with Vox/Naggy, and perhaps test out Kunark Dragons (at least Faydedar, and ..... the one in the water on your way to Siren's Grotto). Then after AA's are done, and i've gotten my pretty little dragons. (I have some bigger toons to watch for them and hope to be lucky, I'll level up to 60 and stop there and do Kunark/Velious content.


    Along the way, when I find out that my overlap, or lack of healing, or any other problems I haven't run into yet have happened, perhaps instead of completely switching my group around, I will instead just replace the Cleric merc with a Real Cleric. -- The hope is that I can keep the mobs slow/crippled good enough that my (as good as i can) well-geared Real Warrior can handle them. --- We'll see!


    I AM having a blast though. The only thing I am missing right now is Ports. In the really big instances, I login my 85 Heroic Druid.



    Anyways, Cheers folks! Thank you for all the help!

    Oh, and I've still been too lazy to test out IS Boxer, or whatever programs are approved for multiboxing. I know I really should, right now I'm still overwhelmed with all the EQ changes I've forgotten.
    Skuz likes this.
  6. Raptorjesus5 Augur

    There is really no overlap between a shaman and a chanter, except for slow. Slow isn't even that important most of the time when you have a real tank unless it's a tough named or a large aoe pull. If I didn't have my shaman and chanter on the same account, I'd probably give that a go.
  7. Chikkin Augur


    Well, I have two level 92's, that were played the right way 1-92, but I still don't really "know Everquest" past PoP. I've seen zones, i've learned new things, but nothing like how I use to be (and many veterans) that is basically a walking library of Everquest information about all classes, and zones, and lore.I guess my point was that I thought the Sham/Enc would overlap a lot more, but I imagine I'm just clue. I under-use the Shaman and Enchanter, but really there hasn't been a reason to do anything different. Often they are at full mana, but they are always ready to go when a big named shows up or a pull of 5-6 come. -- But really, I haven't been charming with the Enchanter, I haven't been using the Shaman pet (I don't like pets, no idea why), and I don't dot or nuke with either one. It's the laziest 3-some I've ever been a part of it. But everything is going so smoothly and so quickly. At least for now at the first 60 levels.

    This gives me an excuse to post a mini-update on my goal of 1-grouping the progression stuff as far as I can. I surprised myself, my full group took out Naggy, Vox (Vox was really mesy because I fell down and agro'ed 6 giants and 2 crystal terrors. At the same time during all this, Vox CH'ed herself 4 times). I also killed Venril Sathir and Faydedar. --- Wuoshi and Kelorek Dar were not up, neither was Gorenaire.I'll check them again, as well as Talendor and Severilous all soon. Trakanon, I'm very worried about because he will probably port my Warrior to shrooms, and I remember his poison hurting quite a bit.

    My group was locked at level 52, but since I got Vox and Naggy on first go and they were up, I went ahead and took off the chains, so I will lock them again at 60, and finish out Kunark/Velious, Sky, Hate, and Fear.I am also going to have to figure out how to deal with Death Touches in Fear and Plane of Sky.



    Back to the subject of overlap and current order of things for my 3box-molo.... the way I'm running it right now, the Enchanter handles Clarity and Haste and Group MR. -- When needed Tash, Lull, and Stuns. The Shaman, handles stat buffs, Regen, Malo/slow/cripple/root.Oh and backup heals are loaded (helped during Vox and VS).

    In really tough zones or zones I'm really early to arrive, I camp, and have the Enchanter lull/pull for me. But 90% of the time, I just autofollow my warrior, and just treat every dungeon as if it were a LDoN, never camping. Mana has kept up just fine thus far.

    I realize I may have to make several changes and perhaps will run into problems at the level 71-85 area. Anything beyond House of Thule beginning of that expansion, will be a complete learning experience for me.
  8. Tucoh Augur

    Slow, CC, melee buffs, survivability (shaman in the form of healing, enchanter in the form of rune). Overlap isn't necessarily bad, a melee or tank supported by both a shaman and enchanter is going to be stronger than if they just had the one.

    The problem with sha/enc in the same team is that you only have so many slots and if you've got caster DPS you probably don't want a shaman and if you've got melee DPS you probably don't want an enchanter.
  9. Vumad Cape Wearer

    I box a ENC, CLR and MAG.

    I main the ENC and started the CLR before mercs to heal real tanks. I recently added the mage to sub a real tank or DPS.

    I considered going 6-box but I haven't for a very good reason. 3 box is the best way to get a full group with the minimal amount of work, but more importantly when people 6-box they rarely make room for other characters. It is a social game and with a 3-4box you will be motivated to be social and ditch those mercs. That is why I have a mage box instead of a knight. The mage can sub a tank but a tank is always welcome to sub a merc.

    The only thing I would change now about my setup is I would swap the cleric for the druid. The cleric is almost no DPS when I could use a cleric merc, I get no track, no snare and no port.

    I think that a Knight/ENC/Dru+mercs would be a great setup. ENC can easily be subbed with a BRD or SHM depending on your gameplay. If you sub shm, you can swap the druid for something else, but again I main a chanter so the rest is a support role.

    That's my story, as for your questions...

    I think for 2-box that a cleric is not a great choice. Cleric mercs heal well and that is all they do. SHM can boost DPS, DPS, slow, etc, druids can track, snare, DPS, heal and port.

    I also think that raids are not a great reason to box a healer. I think you can find someone to come with you, and the vast majority of the time you would be happier boxing BRD, SHM, ENC, ZER with your tank than a cleric. You can also consider doing a 2-box but just drag your healer around to stand idle in the group for the merc and XP so it's available when you level.

    And lets not forget that 3 is the magic number to put down a campfire.

    As for more than 3, what I said above about real players. If you absolutely never want to play with real people, PC toons will always out perform merc toons, but since you are controlling them, and you said you don't want to work that hard at the game anymore, I would stop at 3, maybe 4 boxing and let the mercs reduce your workload.

    Oh, and don't forget FTP. I have a FTP bard and druid. I utilize the druid most for the ports. If I did it over, I would level a FTP wizard too since the druid ports are not the same as the wizard ports. You can 3-box and add in a FTP druid and wizard to stand idle and get XP so that you can use them later for ports. ROS progression is so much better with druid ports and campfires.
  10. Chikkin Augur

    I need to learn about Campfires! It's one of those new things I haven't taken the time to google!