Finally after convincing my buddy to play EQ again we are bringing it back oldschool style with this new TLP server launching. Our setup is he's playing a ShadowKnight tank. His wife is going Cleric heals. I can't decide if I want to play Enchanter, Necromancer or Shaman. I'm considering canceling out Enchanter because I feel like the server will have 10000 of them and I'm not sure I'd enjoy the class play style. Necromancer I always have fun with and Shaman seem fun too, but less DPS in our trio if I'm not a Necromancer. He's going Ogre so he sort of needs the shrink the Shaman can cast. But would the group be lackluster DPS with Shaman + SK? HELP!
Well, I a n00b so take what I am going to say with a grain of salt. One of the best combos I have seen for boxing (reading the interwebs) seems to be SK /Shaman. I have also read if you had a healer, the Shaman can go more dots and slows. Having seen this in many other games, it usually gets down to what sounds fun to you. The rest you can make work.
Shaman is a good way to go. You already have a cleric, so with the 2 of them you won't have to mooch buffs. Once they get the AA's, SHM can be surprisingly good DPS. If you're worried about DPS I'd go mage over necro, for the utility of COH. You mentioned shrink, don't miss out on the clicky item for it, when the anniversary events come around again in a month. http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=5698
Don't discount Wizard. They really decide which of your enemies lives and dies. They are great for group transportation too. Sustained damage, a Magician is good to but doesn't have the same bursts as a Wizard. Nothing wrong with a necro for damage of course. Druid is good to for up to about level 51 when everyone gets run speed AAs. Really just a personal choice since you have tanking, healing, and back up healing with your first two members. If you are willing to seek out undead to take advantage of cleric/paladin perks, then necro will dovetail in nicely.
SHD / SHM / ENC - SHD / SHM is almost perfect as a duo, but SHM eats it if SK has to FD break aggro. Mana and Crowd Control (CC) are nice. MAG / RAN / SHM - Pet attack, next mob pet attack, next mob pet attack as ranger auotofollows and autofires. Pet QATTACK a string on red cons and chase the pet on the ranger- Mad fun and /easybutton farming/ CoTH massive help getting to and setting up camps. SHM for buffs, heals, dots, and especially slows on hard mobs. SHD / CLE / ENC - Madly powerful and clerics get viral heals that interact amazingly with SHD weapon procs, AAs etc. Cleric absorption shields and promised heals set before a hard pull can be useful. Spell haste is huge, as are proper CCing and mana.
I run MAG / WIZ / DRU often for farming runs, ports everywhere, Lev, Heals and EVACS are huge. Basically being able to instanly call a mulligan on a bad pull reduces wipe time for sure, especially on things you're not familiar with yet. It's not just "What can I do?", but just as much "What can I do when the shirt hits the fan?" that makes a play session better. Saving an AFK pile of buffs FTW.
