Your 'Dream' Group Composition

Because then you deal with resists, mana, and the complete inability to tank anything (on the wizards).

But didn't you just say that you'd only really lose a DPS race to a multi-Wiz group? Or do you mean that for sustained pulling/dps, the melee is just plain better?

If a war/clr and 4 wiz roll up, yes I'll lose a dps race most likely, But that doesn't make that group better.

My group will be able to do more in kunark than most groups will. This was found out on fippy, when several people started changing their outlook on mage groups after seeing mine in action.

A knight class or warrior

An enchanter or bard

A cleric

2 high dps classes

1 druid (named skatterbrains)

As much as I'd like to give the "oh, a 6-person group made up of me and my friends" this is EverQuest. So I give you my realistic dream-group. It's sub-optimal because it isn't entirely caster-DPS or melee-DPS based, but oh well.

SK: tanking, snares, pulls if needed (I had to get myself in somehow);
Cleric: heals, rezzes;
Enchanter: CC, clarity, buffs to casters and melee, charm, all-around OPness (Momma told me to marry an enchanter);
Wizard: evac, ports, burst DPS;
Rogue: sustained DPS, lockpicking, scouting/dragging; and

...the last slot is a challenge to fill optimally. Ideally we'd get a DPS with fresh utility: a mage would bring CoH into the mix, but we also lack tracking, which I've learned to like. Bard/mage could finish it off instead of Rogue/X, but I'm unlikely to get a non-boxed bard.

Thegoat, thegoat, thegoat, thegoat, thegoat, thegoat.

Ah! a thread I've been working internally and cannot seem to find the magic recipe.

I love the idea of having a bard in a group, and as user Porygon mentioned it worked well, I have two concerns.

I've been leveling up a team right now and bard mez in classic goes up to lvl 45. This severely hampers a lot of zones when you can't cc, researching further in kunark max mez is lvl 55!! There is a huge chunk of mobs that are now unmezzable, how exactly can this team handle all of the content? The best mez they get prior to PoP is lvl 57, terrible. I really want a bard to work but it seems like they don't come into their own until PoP.

I've been working on a Pld/Shaman/Bard/Triple monk team (because monk dps is actually quality right now) but I'm concerned when it tapers off, and when that will actually happen. Wondering if Rogues will parse better in Kunark and just switch them out before it becomes an issue.

You would be surprised how effective bard mez can be come kunark. With a shaman, I don't even bother to mez unless I get more than 3 mobs. The warrior will always have defensive on back up on bad pulls.

Monk and rogue will be almost equal in kunark. With the monk edging out just slightly.

With a monk in the group, you shouldn't ever really get BAD pulls. But you have tools to handle them if you do.

learn to use charm.

Imagine that, another useless post by you. You've either clearly never played a bard, or you are literally just trolling.

How would you expect him to charm, enlighten us.

Bards don't get a new charm song in kunark , velious, or luclin. It's not until PoP that one shows up, so charm is not an option.

Personally, my dream team group in kunark is this:
Warrior ( Alternatively plate tank)
Cleric
Druid (back up heals, snare, ds, sow, evacuation)
Enchanter (clarity, haste, cc and charm dps)
Monk (pulls and great melee dps)
Rogue (great dps, lock pick and dragging monk after casters him)

If you plan on doing anything serious, a bard is pretty much required.

This question is a little bit dependent only what you're planning to do. If you want to camp one named and only kill ph's, it probably doesn't matter too much.

If we're actually talking ideal group, from my experience in classic I'd go:
Tank: Paladin. Back up heals, stuns for casters/gaters, additional buffs. You could make a very strong case for an sk, but I find back up heals and rezzes tough to pass up.

Healer: Cleric. Best buffs, best heals by far. Both shaman and druid can easily main heal through classic, but if we're talking ideal for kunark dungeons, you have to go cleric.

Utility: Chanter. Hands down. I'm not entirely sure how people group without enchanters. The bard in classic has been very underwhelming. The chanter makes everything better, and can sustain top end dps if they're decent.

DPS: Mage-Wizard-Necro is going to be the best overall dps in each situation. If you ran a sk tank, you could switch the necro to another mage and have a bit more burst.

Awww. Somebody doesn't know how to play a bard. Poor thing. Someday you will learn. I, for one, have no issues playing a bard at the highest level in both group and raid content. You should try it sometime.

The biggest problem with bards was the advent of /melody....i can guarantee you the good ones aren't using it

You are wrong.. very actually.

With the advent of "macro buttons"... It is easy switching between melodies and charm or mez, or perma snares. In fact melody, if I may say so considering this is my 3rd bard, was a great invention that allowed us players a chance to talk and interact with the people in our group.

Anyone who has played prior to /melody commands & a bard knows this... bards during classic never had a chance to chat in downtime like everyone else. We were always twisting.

As for the ideal composition:
Shadowknight
Cleric
Shaman
Bard
+ any 2 DPS of your choosing

/melody makes a so so bard to be a good bard, and makes a good bard to be a great bard. A good bard not using /melody can only stay at being a good bard.

I think this is also an amazing composition, the only drawback is I am trying to find a way to drop the Cleric, use the shaman as the main healer, swap the SK with a Paladin for offheals and rez. Then add a third DPS. I feel it's doable but then excludes some content. The exp speed is better though.