New Team Composition

[luxlunae]

I want to take a bit of a break from my clerics and try another group. I have a warrior tank I made as a bank alt but I was thinking that maybe she'd like some mage friends. Chloro Locks probably, as thats the spec I loved the first time I played the game solo.

What would be the pros and cons of throwing a Bard in there?

The ones I can think of would be:

Pros:
Buffs (are bard buffs that great?)
Better loot usage (plate + leather + 3x cloth)

Cons:
50% more spec configuration and research
I have professions for making up to level 50 cloth gear and caster weapons, but not leather gear

From talking to my guild it seems bards are only good for raids so I'll be doing my original four mage plan.

[JohnGabriel]

Do you just run dungeons? I do not use my teams for dungeons, world play only such as rifts and farming mats.

I have given up trying to level teams of every class to experiment with, Rift just takes so much longer to level compared to WoW. But so far my favorite has by 5x Ranger using the Huntsman build, and 5x mage dominator aoe build. I know it seems silly to use 5 aoe builds but with more than 3 mobs and its a big dps increase. My favorite melee is 5 x mage 61/18 Harb/chloro build. This would be amazing in PvP but since no follow in BGs it doesn't get much use.

[luxlunae]

Dungeons are my primary interest yes, although unlike wow you don't get huge chunks of xp so I generally end up doing a lot of quests and rifts between dungeons. I enjoy that they are a little more challenging than wow levelling dungeons but I do occasionally get stuck so I want to see how mages with a warrior tank go.

[moog]

Rift just takes so much longer to level compared to WoW.

Not if you use Instant Adventures to level... then you just rocket through the levels!

I didn't use them at all for my first three teams (5 mages then 5 hunters then a mixed team) so I could see the zones and quest properly.

Then I started a 5 cleric team and jumped into them as early as you can (L9 IIRC, maybe a bit higher, it was a while ago) and made it to 50 so quickly! I did step out of IA and run dungeons but the real levelling was IA.

[JohnGabriel]

Not if you use Instant Adventures to level... then you just rocket through the levels!

Thank you much. I had been avoiding IAs just to keep clear of people, but I will give it a try.

[luxlunae]

A year ago I had people being jerks to me a LOT in IAs, this year no one seems to care. I'd just bother to buff people and throw them an instant heal from time to time to help keep the whining down.

[moog]

Just don't worry about the other people - at times, I've had loads of grief whilst IAing, at other times none, but your 5 chars just cruise through IAs, so forget about the other people.

And when you do get really bad grief, raise 5 tickets about it and see if that wipes the smile off their face!

In the end, I turned off the /raid channel when doing IA - ignore them and just get on with levelling