3 mages or 2 mages/1 warlock

[accused]

hey guys, long time lurker here. first and foremost i want to thank everyone in this community for being so helpful and friendly! recently started multi-boxing and have been loving it.

i also want to single out a thank you to keyclone for his fantastic program and how quickly he replies to those with problems!

now on to my topic.

i've been 3 boxing 3 mages which are catching up to a pally (tank) and priest (healer) that i already have made. once they all reach the same levels i'm going to level them as a 5 box pve team.

just now i was pondering switching out a mage for a warlock, of which i already have 1 at 61 (mages are at 23 currently). if i did this i could just powerlevel the 2 mages thru instances or whatever until they catch up to the aforementioned healer and tank.

i'm pretty sure the obvious choice is to switch out the mage for the warlock, but i just wanted other peoples thoughts and comments on the situation as a whole.

thanks a lot guys, and again thanks for everyone being so helpful and friendly :D

[keyclone]

hi accused and welcome to the forums.

many people like the locks for the omni-directional dotting capability. i lean towards mages for the dps and crowd control.. but then i have never taken a lock passed 30, so don't take my word on it ;)

[accused]

the reason i was doing 3 mages was for that crowd control. however i think with a warlock it opens up more options as a team and it still has some cc that mages can't offer (demons, fears whenever applicable, etc.).

i basically answered my own question within my post, but i posted anyways to say hi :D

[Lance]

One thing to consider is aoe potential. My current grp is pally, 3 mages and priest and I am aoeing my way through instances. Not used a sheep yet.

I have a warrior, 2 mage, lock, priest group at 60 btw. (on another server) The only thing I might miss is the ss since my priest never gets aggro with nova I would always have plenty time to move him to a safe spot to die. DI sounds trickier to use although I haven't tried yet. I am finding my new group alot faster, easier and more fun than playing "normally" but then I always liked aoeing even when I played one mage so It comes down to what you enjoy doing I spose.

If I had a 61 lock already I'd do mages personally. Then you can go either way later on. If you abandon a mage now will be a pita having to level one up from 23.

[Otlecs]

One thing to consider is aoe potential

Hellfire AoE is extraordinarily effective.

One of my teams includes two mages and a lock. When I hit the PBAoE button, it triggers arcane explosion on the mages and a [nochanneling] modified hellfire on the lock. who usually starts out with a priestly shield.

Very mana efficient, and very effective.

I have one team with no lock, and I *sorely* miss the utility.

In fact, every time I play my 68 team, I wish I'd rolled a Warlock instead of a hunter in that 5th slot, and doubt I'll play any 70s team without a lock.

[accused]

that was my other concern as well. if i leave 1 mage behind, i'm not going to want to level him ever again probably. but with only bringing 2 up right now its already going a lot faster than with 3.

aoe'ing is great fun, but with my 2 mages and pally in the group, i think i'll still have the ability to do that if i want.

choices choices :\

[Contents]

If this is your first go at multiboxing 4 classes might be a bit overwhelming. Just to get a better feel for it I'd make a new lock and run him up with the two mages, but that's just me.

[accused]

its my first run with multi-boxing yes, but its something that is coming very natural to me.

also, i'm currently only running 2-3 characters at a time, i have 2 other characters waiting in the wings at higher levels, which is also giving me time to become acustom to all the macro's, casting rotations, etc. with the current classes.

[kalih]

I ran 4 diff classes as my first group. It was a challenge, yes, setting it all up, but in the end, my warlock acts just like a mage. He goes up and down in dps and never quite reaches the mages but I get stam buff, summon, banish, soulstone, and CoE.

[Otlecs]

That's my experience too, Kalih. The lock is consistently below the mages on the meters, but the synergy between the two is great and the utility second to none.

[Toned]

Spec your mages fire and the lock destruction and it's pretty sick... CoE, 5x Imp Scorch = Sick...

[Lance]

One thing to consider is aoe potential

Hellfire AoE is extraordinarily effective.

One of my teams includes two mages and a lock. When I hit the PBAoE button, it triggers arcane explosion on the mages and a [nochanneling] modified hellfire on the lock. who usually starts out with a priestly shield.

Very mana efficient, and very effective.

I have one team with no lock, and I *sorely* miss the utility.

In fact, every time I play my 68 team, I wish I'd rolled a Warlock instead of a hunter in that 5th slot, and doubt I'll play any 70s team without a lock.

I didn't explain very well but I actually meant the possibility of speccing and using the group as a full on aoe group. Ie Arcane spec mages and Disc priest. This is what I am trying with my new group and so far it works really well. However I'm only in the 30s atm so how it pans out long term for me is still to be seen.
I did alot of aoeing with my old grp as well and it worked fine but I think my fire mages always beat my lock for damage. I was thinking arcane specced mages would be even better.