Start from scratch .. 3 accounts... 3 Heroic Characters .. Opinions Pls

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by Morgoth, Aug 20, 2014.

  1. Morgoth Elder

    Hi Folks,

    Old returning player.

    I am going to start over. I know bupkis about the current game.

    I have 3 gold accounts. I have all expansions. I will roll 3 Heroic Characters

    Here is a blank slate.

    What char's should I roll and what merc's should I use to get the most fun / progress out of the group game? I play by myself mostly as I have a crazy late night / early morning schedule. I put myself in the hands in the EQ Braintrust.

    Recommendations pls.
  2. Gnomeland Augur

    Warrior Bard Cleric for maximum progression
    Orbital101 likes this.
  3. Whosurdaddy Journeyman

    Since you're going to have 3 mercs I'd skip rolling a cleric. You can have from 1 - 3 cleric mercs on demand. I'd skip the cleric and go with a solid dps.
  4. Kunon Augur

    A Tank - SK or Pally. Your preference. More utility and would be your main focus.
    Bard - Even as just a melody bot can improve your dps and tanking while being able to pull when needed. Wont have to focus much on it.
    A DPS - Caster. Wiz, Mage, Necro. Your preference. Each has strengths and weakness but can be easily boxed since all you would need is a macro or 2 for decent damage and no need to worry about positioning.

    Then you have 3 mercs to mix and match depending on content. 1 to 3 Clerics or Wizzies.
    Xanumbik and Feradach like this.
  5. Feradach Augur

    I was going to reply with almost the exact same response that Kunon posted. Very solid group there.
  6. Hoosierdaddy Lorekeeper

    How about a shaman as opposed to a bard? Slows, debuffs, heals. Tank with an SK for pulls.

    Thoughts?
  7. Crystilla Augur

    If you drop the bard you drop solid pulling, crowd control and track .. some of those are pretty big things to me not to have but that's based on my personal play style.

    Bards do get slow (just a lesser slow than shaman get) and they can debuff as well.

    Wizard perks - easier transportation for your 3 chars (just run the one and bind it, then port back to get others and take the group right there).

    Mage perks - extra tank in the pet, coth (for group transfer, useful if doing hails on quests, etc.)
  8. Truklin Elder

    Bard is the best box class in game imo. Takes little to no effort to box one compared to other classes, id recommend knight/bard/high burst dps.
  9. Zentara Augur

    I've three boxes a couple of different combos:

    Monk/Bard/Shaman, merc tank when needed, healer merc, dps merc.
    War/Bard/Shaman, healer merc, 2x wiz merc
    War/Bard/Wiz, healer merc (x2 occasionally), wiz merc.

    By far I have the most practice with the first, but the second has been the best combo bar none. The only thing that can be frustrating is how the AI works on the wizzie mercs that makes "auto-follow plowing" through a zone less than ideal, and how they sometimes go on strike with named mobs until the characters do most of the work.

    I have few overall limitations with the second set--some missions that require an off tank can be difficult (merc tanks can't off tank reliably), and occasionally a pet tank is a better choice for various missions which I don't have, but I've done all mercenary/partisans for the last two expansions with few issues, as well as handle any group named I was interested in before CoTF T2 (haven't needed to box any of those since I also play with a zerker friend).
  10. Mintalie Augur

    SK, bard, wizzie with 2 cleric mercs and 1 wizzie merc should make everything fun fun fun.
  11. Sheex Goodnight, Springton. There will be no encores.

    Sk/pal, bard and wiz/mage probably the most versatile and powerful for the least amount of mashing.

    I also am a big fan of enchanters, but it's not as strong in non cc situations as a bard.
  12. silku Augur

    Tank, Crowd Control/ADPS, Healer

    If I was starting from scratch here would be my list and why:
    Warrior - hands down the most mitigation and easiest to box. Yes, raid geared sks and paladins do amazing things in group content. I have a group version maxed out of each of these, and warrior is the easiest to heal and most consistent to tank multiples until I could CC them.

    Enchanter - Yeah, bard is easier to box. That's up to the person doing it. If you are a competent boxer though enchanter is miles better at CC. When boxing being able to mez a target for over a minute and a half and turn back to killing the other is just $. Also having clarity, haste, and mana reverb+twincast for wizard mercs makes most content a bowl over. (not to mention IoG, Mental Contortion, charm pets etc)

    Healer -
    Cleric/Druid - Now I prefer cleric, don't even have a druid but.. the caveat that makes me even consider druid is that they can port, they can heal, they can also dps. Cleric heals better than anyone else, we all know that. But with a warrior, you don't always need the power healing of a cleric in group content. It's nice, it's easy, and it's very boxer friendly. But if you know how to use a healer and aren't afraid to work a little extra, the ADPs, buffs, travel movement, and extra dps of a druid make them a solid choice. I personally roll with a cleric.
  13. Ravengloome Augur

    Paladin Chanter Wizard

    Anything including War/Tor2 Can be done if this is the basis for the group (might need a couple other real players for TOR and some War prog)
  14. Khauruk Augur

    Biggest question is how good of a boxer are you/will you be, and how much work will you want to put into it? Assuming you're not like me and you won't be lazy....

    Tank - you want a tank. You could roll w/ a pet tank if you want, but a real tank is still better. Warrior - easiest single-target tanking powerful discs. SK - easiest agro now, can be your puller as well, has snares. Pally - cures/heals, and stuns to allow for some content harder than you otherwise would probably be able to handle; can do a bit of pulling/CC through lull/root/fade.

    Box 2 - I still recommend a healer. A real cleric is the equivalent of several mercs and has some bits of added utility. Shammy has slows, epic 2.0 which is awesome for melees, quite competent healer. Druid has ports, attack debuffs (different, but quite like slows), snares, can dps on more trivial content that mercs heal, can do some CC (roots), provides adps for casters (not to the same level as sham epic though, but worth using).

    Box 3 - utility or dps. Chanter or bard are great, esp. if you didn't pick the SK and therefore want a better puller/CC class. Otherwise any other silky provides great dps with varying utility. Mage - offtank pet, call of the hero, quite solid dps. Necro - some pulling ability, snares, can slow though not great at it (need to nuke the mob to turn it undead first, same for mez), never-ending dps but it takes a bit to ramp up. Can macro FD on it so it never gets agro. Wizard - ports, snares, quite excellent sustained and massive burst dps, and w/ lvl100 AA debuff it doesn't rely so much on other toons to debuff mobs. Monk is more clicky but quite good sustained dps if you're interested in melees. Rogue has massive burst if that interests you.

    I don't know what I'd go with nowadays, honestly. Any combo of the mentioned classes can work wonderfully well. Play what you want to play, just ask about final combo ideas before you create.

    Cheers.
  15. Coruth Augur

    If I was building one from scratch.

    I'd consider Mage Mage Chanter

    Or Knight (Prob a Pal, by sliver) with 2 Casters (Wiz/Mage). Tank, and burn burn
  16. Shang Augur

    If I had to pick 3 in this game as current, it would be:

    Paladin, Bard, Magician.

    If you have a vendetta against those, probably something like:

    Warrior, Shaman, Monk
  17. Denial_Sinfae Augur

    I have all 16 classes at 100, and mostly current COTF on even my most neglected chars. They all have at least 6500 AA thanks to the auto-grant on my neglected chars. I have two wizzies, plus my wife is a wiz.

    I use pretty much all of the combinations posted above at one time or another.

    My main combination that I use is SK / Wiz / Bard. I plow through pretty much whatever I want, without a lot of work. Usually go 1 merc healer, 2 wiz mercs. If I need extra healing, I go 2 merc healers, and 1 wiz merc.

    I used to play my own healers, but when I started branching into all kinds of other bot combinations and got used to not having to ALWAYS be clicking to a healer and being the sole reason for my survival, I found trying to go back to that is death for me personally more often then not after getting a taste of NOT needing to heal myself.

    With the recent changes to Warriors, I have kind of gravitated to using mine since damage is so rounded down, and aggro has been ridiculously easy. You don't really need to press too much after engage on a warrior, so can focus more on the Wiz DPS, bards are really simple to play at a decent level (not the best mind you, then they take a lot more work).

    I find paladins survival is ridiculously high when I play mine, but I have to actively be a part of it. SK and warrior is more passive from my experience. Thus making them a little more box friendly.

    Plus the movement speed, the track, the timed invis, the porting, the evacing etc... all make it a really nice combination. Also, the TL Group to Bind makes getting to your favorite latest place a breeze.
  18. Roundup New Member

    Are you boxing on one machine, or multiple computers? Warrior, bard would be my first 2 choices. If limited to 3 toons I would pick druid just for the utility. Back up heals, group cures, ports, port to bind is real nice, dps also. If you are able to run even one other computer get input director or similar free program to run 2 machines from one computer and put druid on second machine. Easy to set up keys to do dps or heal without having to shift focus off main machine. Bard is pretty much one macro so can do in window.
  19. Brosa Augur

    When it comes to boxing by yourself through EQ you have to consider Mercs. Non of them are reliable enough to replace a PC. There for tank for your self. It does no good to go out with 2 tank mercs and roll yourself a healer, but go out with two healer mercs and roll your self a tank and there ya go. You have a combination of clerics and wizards to do your healing and dps. In a pinch have control over back up heals (ie shaman or druid) and dps (ie wizard or zerker). If you wanted to do more of a support for one of these you should use a bard or enchanter.

    I would go with Warrior, Shaman, Bard

    If the casters are more your flavor Mage (pet tank), Shaman, Enchanter
  20. Jaerlyn Augur

    I'd go for something a bit different, and go Ranger, Bard, Beastlord. (With the possible swap of beastlord to mage, if you really want coth, or druid if you want ports, and the option to heal for yourself when using a tank merc.)

    And then just adjust mercs as needed. Tank merc when a tank is needed. More healer mercs when one isn't enough. DPS mercs for the rest.

    Now, I'll fully admit it might have trouble here and there, on some of the more difficult progression stuff. But, I'm thinking it would definitely be fun. ;)