"Balanced" 5 man compositions

[Ghallo]

So, for a 5 man team my initial thought was Pally, 2xMage, 1xWarlock, 1xPriest

However, would I be better off having 2 warlocks and 1 mage instead?

I understand having 4 different classes makes micro a bit harder, but that challenge is actually part of what I am looking for in multiboxing. My first characters to 70 were a dual box pair (a pally and a priest) ... so even if the DPS'ers are just leeches I know I can handle most things :)

I am just thinking that 1 mage for water/food would be enough - and having 2 warlock pets might be better than just 1 ... though mage CC really is better in my opinion.

Thoughts?

[reallytired]

I'm running a 5 box setup now. I'm going to do pally, 2xlock, 1xmage, 1xpriest. Currently as I'm leveling on trial accounts I have 3xlock, 1xmage, 1xpriest. For utility is the reason I picked more locks over mage, having ss/hs/paper off-tanks, more durable, etc. I had to have a mage for ports/buffs/food/water and frost line of spells.

[The IT Monkey]

I started with a priest and four locks and while it was challenging at first it has become a bit tame. What made it more so was the fact that everything died so quick that my main (the priest) really didn't need to do anything but the occasional heal.

So I switched it up. Now am running a warrior (my main), priest, mage, and two locks. Having a lot of fun but I can't tell you the dynamics of it yet as the warrior was only lvl 27 and needs to be leveled up to 36 (where everyone else is). I attained seven levels of that goal over the weekend. Just two more to go.

[Ghallo]

Well, I have my 5 box setup going. I went ahead and stuck with 2mages and 1 lock for now. The direct damage of the mages seems a little superior to the locks for grinding (since mobs die before I even need to tank them). I'll let you know what I think after I do Deadmines :)

[The IT Monkey]

Two locks= four insta-dots and two fears. AND two soulstones for four wipe recoveries an hour.
Two mages=two crowd controls and a bit more quick dps.

I think it really has to do with your play style. I enjoyed having FOUR locks because of the 8 insta dot factor.

If I had had TWO mages waiting in the wings at the level I am at now I might have gone for the two mages and one lock. As it stands I am enjoying having the TWO soulstones.

[Brabazz]

Hi

I'm also starting with 5boxing, and I'm not sure which is the right setup for me. My current prefered setup is:

1 paladin, 3 warlocks, 1 priest.
this give me 1 holy-paladin and 4 dd for questing. Or 1 prot-paladin, 3 warlocks, 1 holypriest for instances.

I'm not sure if i should use 2 warlocks and 1 mage. Sheeps are nice, but I could also use the succubus or just fear. Water/Food is no argument for me, warlocks don't need to drink (because of a healer in my group), and I can easily buy it for low costs. But buffs and ports would be nice.

I'm not sure about scripting these different dd. If I have 3 warlocks, it's easy to script them doing damage. The mage has different spells, different cooldown, I think it's harder to script a good damage-rotation/output.

[Ghallo]

Well, I am still lowbie right now, so I'm no expert, but here are my thoughts.

Outdoors, there really aren't mobs that take more than a couple of hits - mobs were built to be solo'd after all. So, start all 3 of my casters with a direct damage spell - 2xMage with frostbolt and 1x Warlock with Shadow Bolt - all bound to the same key (the 'lock macro also has /petattack focustarget). I then have a /castsequence for my lock that has her DoTs in a row... which has my mages simply casting Arcane Missiles (though you could do another frostbolt, or whatever you want) and my priest will cast 1 SW:P and then skip 3 clicks. So with 2 buttons I have most of the damage done to take down a mob.

Elites, these are a little different and it depends on if you tank them or kite them. I'm planning on tanking them, so my casting will not change much. I'll just be using frost mages ... so I'll spam frost bolt on them. This will cause the lock to spam shadowbolt, which isn't really that bad. I'll still get the DoTs on them, which will just cause my mages to cast Arcane Missiles from time to time - again which isn't really that bad. Over time I'll work out some magic DPS maximization macros, but for now I just hit 2 buttons and the macros do the rest.

[hb]

Imo for pve paladin, shaman and 3x mages are quite good. 3x sheep, good aoe threat, imba aoe, chain heal and totams <3.

[Brabazz]

I'm not sure, 3 mages are fine instant-aoe, BUT: sheeps only affect humans. Warlocks can fear and also ban/enslave elementals/demons. Also mages have a huge mana-problem, especially when bombing. Warlocks life-tap 3 times, the healer sets a groupheal, and you can go forward without waiting for drinking mages. Other things are of cause instant-fears, soulstones, more tanks(voidwalker) for special situations, more hp. Dots are also fine because they do damage while you control the tank/healer. If you don't control the mage for 5 seconds, they do nearly no damage.

My current favorite is 2 warlocks and 1 mage (for int-buffs that affects all other 4 chars, portals, 1 sheep and consumables).

I'm also thinking about the priest. A shaman would also be a nice dd while questing and a good healer in instances (and he buffs the whole group with his totems). I'm not sure which one is better, both are nice grouphealers and have good buffs for the group.

[Wilbur]

Most instances have "Humanoids" Also if you are Multiboxing properly and keeping a good check on aggro, its entirely possible to Multibox mages. Admiteddly, Warlocks do have the beenfits of soulstones/pets however I'd say the burst capability of mages outweighs this. (especially when reasonably geared)

Whilst warlocks are awesome, personally I'd go for control over damage everytime.

[kalih]

I haven't had any problems at all with mages mana with my paladin's blessings. Mages are also simple which is a big bonus. WMM instead of WWM is what I chose. That lets me go destruct-spec warlock, and go heavy DD spells.

I have been toying with the idea to lose the second mage for a leather/mail class to not waste so many drops. Hunter or balance druid... but I think I've nixed that idea, for now.

[skarlot]

my group is well into end game with quite a few 115 blues. the mages have the 30% + 30% regen going for them which is huge. while i woulndt run without a lock, the summon and SS are just too useful, the warlock is very much OOM compared to the mages. They can go through several trash pulls without drinking and with a gem, mana isnt an issue on boss fights. I have the warlock as destro and set to shadowbolt spam on trash, and maybe a curse of the elements and corruption on a boss. never tried affliction. i pretty much use the imp full time or the voidwalker when needed. seduction is a pain in the ass and the succy ends up dead, I have not found the auto recast to work helpfully at all. any pet set to non passive usually ends up dead also. the warlock CC is ok, great in Botanica, but pretty high maintenence. I have a dps spam key which is the heart of my play style (space bar!) and for me to CC or something means the entire group has to stop DPS or deal with GCD on the lock (either with /stopcasting or manually). So basically I wouldnt trade a mage for another lock. What I would consider if i started again was a pally tank. Aoe works through lower instances with a warrior but not at 70.

[Blokus]

sheeps only affect humans

Uhhhhhh....whut?