tl;dr - Don't even read this, just use the title and reply. Also thanks to anybody who puts in the time and thought in replying/helping! Hi Guys. Can we discuss this a little for me please? If I stuck with it, I would slowly level through trilogy on into Luclin/PoP and keep going until bored. I would like to be able to slowly cross things off a tiered kill list similar to the tiers on ZAM. Assuming they're up of course, and assuming that if I have a 2-3 mercs in my setup, that the zone allows mercs. I'm thinking about one of the 3(4) options. I'm thinking: 1. With a Mage Pet - Easy, Send him in, tanks good, low maintenance and can easily cycle to other windows to cast some slows/snares/dots.Easy way to be the main tank yet not be overwhelmed that it is too much a chore to cycle windows or glance at a laptop screen and click a /target or /assist macro and cast a some utility/dps. 2. With a Beast Pet - I'm thinking very similar to a Mage. Pet isn't quite as good, but could still maintanked if super buffed up, good heals, and shaman/enc slow is landed. I'm also thinking that although I would be busier than with a mage, that the Beast would be a lot more fun being engaged and providing DPS not too dissimilar to a Monk? 3. With a Ranger/SK - I'm thinking the SK is the ultimate choice, but I do love Ranger snare, DPS and dual wield spam. Also Tracking (if not on a separate toon) would be nice. I prefer a Ranger over an SK, but I have played a ton of hours on two separate rangers, and I have never played an SK past level 10. I do like lifetap type spells, and I did enjoy FD on my Monk. I would go with Rng/SK because if I AM being a melee-main tank and that engaged, then I'm not going to want to be fiddling around with another window (or laptop) EVERY single time I need to snare to not die in a dungeon. All in all, Beast sounds new and fun, if I do not have misconceptions about how well that would work as my main tank. Ranger/SK sounds safest with my previous experience and the conventional setup. Mage is a wild card just based on how easy it sounds to use as a main tank and how well their pet can tank. Mercs: I've always felt the mercs are programmed so well that 3toons and 3 mercs is the ideal setup. I've created at least 2 or 3 6man groups like this. I prefer Rogues over Wizards for mercs, so I generally have something like - My toon, a Bard on melody, and something like a druid for ports/sow/dmg shield/dot, then 3 mercs that are generally Cleric/Rog/Rog. But I'm starting to waver on that. Almar said in some other thread when I googled this forum a bit last night telling someone he thinks they would enjoy playing 6 toons over 3 and 3 mercs. I won't be using more than 2 screens, I won't be using any programs, and I don't want to be so overworked that one thing goes wrong (mob gates, snare is forgotten or wears off, pathing, summoned and wasn't expected etc) that I can't handle it. I love dungeons, and I would hate to die deep in Guk, Seb, Velk, or really any dungeon. But, perhaps you guys can tell me why playing 3 toons with 3 mercs may not be best or most fun? I also use to think that a Bard Bot with Melody is a no brainer because so much utility with so little management. But now I'm wondering if I should just stick to an Enchanter/Shaman/Druid or combination thereof and forego the bard bot.
Boxing is difficult (for me). Trio'ing seems impossible. Not just due to the lag, but even on my boxes, I barely use one of them... I box a zerk / shm: Pull with zerk and set him attacking; main shm with slows and heals. Nec / brd: Do everything with my nec, melody, slow, and attack with bard. Rng / wiz: Pull with ranger and attack, then start AoEing with wiz. Bst / mag: Pull, slow, and set beastlord attacking, debuff and nuke on mage... It's a fun idea, and i love doing it, but it loses a lot of playability As for your question, I just started a Mage / Beast box and I really am liking the combo. The only exception is snaring. A SK would be great because you wouldn't need a tank merc and you'd have a snare. A ranger would just be a major perk: Track, Snare, really good dps.. But I'd highly recommend a tank if you're going to trio. My main, a necro, constantly has trouble keeping pet alive, esp with 20k+ hits
Ryanxp, For your Mage/Beast: Although not dependable, have you tried (with any luck) using a combination of earth pet root and beast pet snare (I think it's AA? I know little about BL) and just hoping one sticks? While have zero exp with Beast and plenty of "watch others" mage experience... it seemed like the Earth pet procs root as often a a mini-penny slotmachine bank spits out winning numbers. Pretty often. I figured maybe with the two it was like a 90% type deal and to just have some kind of backup in a deep dungeon and you'll be fine. For the Pet tank, I know Necro isn't viable without a lot of babysitting, I was hoping Beast/Mage would be a lot better. Between shaman slow and cleric-merc. For your Ranger/Wizard: Is your ranger just holding agro so your wizard can AE? I haven't considered a Ranger for that role, it almost seems like a Bard with AE snare/slow and/or AE regens or mezs would hold 'ae agro' better.
Some information on AA snare for Beasts. Each rank of Hobble of Spirits reduces the resist rate and increases the duration of the snare from the proc. Rank II works in most zones except ones with really high resists. I two box BST/BRD or BST/DRU and I can't remember the last time I had to worry about trying to snare with the BRD or DRU. The pet snare rank II and above are really good.
Sk have snares similar to necro but weaker. amazing DPS and a bash, not to mention that they make a serious tank.
My bst / mag box are ~Lv.45, but very interesting note the potential for snare. Old Seb has esp been a problem, as with LGuk. Necro is the last choice when it comes to pet tanking and pet classes but I get the impression a pet can only be so good. They have their limitations. And with an actual tanking class, you can continue upgrading. But my necro has always been my main and I've seen a lot of players box them half-. With him, I am chain casting until 15% or 10%. There just isn't a lot of leeway. (And macros became more of a nuisance -- Shm: /g "Slowed and debuffed. Time for some DoTs [or patch heals, weakling]" wasn't cutting it) I didn't have much interest in the class choices; they're just 2 classes I haven't played. I've been collecting skins for my main and I know wiz used to be able to quad. With an AoE snare and plenty DDs, I just assumed the role. And I like the gameplay. Come HoT graveyard, AoEing would be a far cry from what I'd do.
To the OP: If you enjoy pet gameplay (which it sounds like you do), then I highly recommend beastlord, magician, bard as a boxed setup. You will go far and have a lot of fun along the way. In that composition, you'll want to spend most of your time on your beastlord's screen, actively managing both the toon and the pet, with some swapping to the magician to fire off pet commands and spell rotation hotkeys that make use of the /pause command. Your bard can safely be left as a melody bot for most purposes, with group DPS cooldowns used for named and other tough customers. For dealing with locations that are hard to break into, use the bard's pulling utility songs to bring back manageable numbers of foes, then let the beastlord handle slowing (and at higher levels, snaring), and focus on keeping the BST's DPS fully active. You can play with which pet you actually want to be the main tank at any given level range, though there are some good arguments for focusing on letting the BST pet do it once you get to higher levels (mostly because the BST can contribute a whole lot of efficient protection and healing for their own pet, which will ease the burden on your cleric merc, or make it unnecessary to deploy a cleric merc at all for some types of content). Since you prefer rogue mercs, BST and BRD with their many melee fighter synergies will serve you quite well. True, you miss out on shaman buffs, but you can get a lot of mileage out of AFKing in the lobby for those. As with a lot of boxed setups, having some extra merc slots on the characters can come in handy. I at least recommend carrying a full compliment of DPS mercs, and then having an extra slot on two of the characters to hold a cleric merc and tank merc, respectively. Having the bard carry a cleric merc will make wipe recovery easier, since it's not too hard to save a melody bard from dying.
I've 3boxed with Mage/Bst/Bard, Mage/Wiz/Bard, Bst/Wiz/Bard - I prefer the Bst Wiz Bard, but to each their own. Mage is a good 3box tank because I would basically send pet and not touch the toon again til the mob died and I pulled another with the bard. Mage also has the ability to invis an COH the boxed group, so if you're moving from spawn to spawn, the mage is awesome. I prefer to use my Bst to tank everything, with mage toys and epic 2.0 the beastlord pet is pretty badass. Not to mention, Bst also get haste, slows, and weaker versions of Shm buffs. Something you can't get from a merc. As a side note, I'd have the SK in your build in case you go up against a boss, pets cant tank a boss and you'll either have to burn the heck out of it quickly or ask for help.
Thank you very much for the detailed reply. After reading your post and hearing up above that snare will eventually not be an issue, I will probably main the beast lord. If I don't need a magician for main tank purposes, then I my do something like.... Bst/Brd, ClericMerc, and 2 rogue mercs... the question of course is what's my third toon.. would you suggest a Druid for ports? Shaman and or Enchanter both could bring stuff to the group, but if I already have a Bard and Beast it almost seems like Slow/Haste/Clarity are covered... maybe a shaman instead of the Druid...just for those buffs. I don't know, although the 3rd toon is almost a waste, he brings with him, a merc, so he's "paid for his price of admission" already.
I'd want to kill old raid targets, and old dungeon bosses etc as I "grow up"...but ... 1. Pets can't tank at all? Some kind of programming in the game? I'm not familiar with pet classes. 2. If I have both a mage and a beast, do I still use an earth pet, or do I use one of the others, I think water pet is a rogue or something?
