Planning ahead: moving from 4 man to 5 man...opinions wanted

[zipzip]

Hello!

I have long read these forums as I flirted with the idea of multi-boxing, and a little while ago I began my first team. Currently it consists of a level 80 druid and 3 level 70 toons: paladin, warlock and shaman.

Before I level my 70s any further, I decided I'm going to first level up a fifth account (5th account, but a 5th & 6th character...I'll level another to 70 on an existing account). If I'm going to multi-box, and hope to do some heroics, I may as well do it with a full group!

So here's where my dilemma comes from: what do I want my 5 man team to consist of? What I think I know for sure is that my pally will tank and my druid will heal. However, I need to determine what my 3 dps spots will be, and I'm strongly leaning toward two options:

(1) Shaman x3
or
(2) Shaman x2 + Warlock x1

A big advantage for #1 would be consistency, if I had to guess. A big advantage to #2 is that a warlock wears cloth, so there would be less competition for upgrades, and it's faster to gear up my team overall.

One relevant piece of information is that I don't plan to pvp at all with these...only PVE. I'm not sure how that will influence any advice you may have, but I figure that it might be a factor.

Also, I am open to other suggestions...since I will be leveling two more characters to 70 the only thing that is set in stone is that I must use a minimum of three of my existing characters: druid, paladin, shaman & warlock. I am flexible on what I keep or drop, and if people have strong opinions based on experience I would love to hear it.

Love the forum, love hearing what everyone is up to.

thanks! ~zip

[daviddoran]

I'm a min/maxer, so I gravitate towards mixed classes. Not only gear, but everything, from weird mob immunities (fire immune mobs in Heroic HoL make destro locks cry..) Also you get better overall buffs. You really start to have diminishing returns on shamans past 2-3 anyway, I run one in my heroic team, and his totems do the job perfectly. A second would mean i get more healing, faster melee haste, fire dps totem, and another earth totem (earthbind/tremor perhaps?) You have a druid as well, so boomkin makes everyone else do more damage, due to +13% dmg debuff and the +3 hit debuff, which makes life MUCH easier at 80 when you start to gear up. I like priest heals myself, easy to micro, best aoe healing by far.

Have fun with it and good luck :)

[Gormand]

I am in a similar boat in trying to decide what I will be starting up with my team (Except I am starting from level 1 :P) I am also planning on Druid heals and ATM leaning towards 3 warlocks for my DPS. But I have been considering mixing it up to increase buffs across the team.

However I think to start with I might stick with the 3 warlocks and then when I do my second team I might mix it up a bit. So I guess my advice is go with the 3 shamans to start but dedicate your gear to 2 of them, and then once you have a heroic or 2 on farm switch out one for a warlock.

[zipzip]

I'm a min/maxer, so I gravitate towards mixed classes. [...] I like priest heals myself, easy to micro, best aoe healing by far.

Have fun with it and good luck :)

Thanks! These comments in particular make me want to mix it up even further, perhaps.

I could level a priest healer (+stam buff, anyone?) and perhaps a totally different ranged dps class such as a mage. One advantage I do see in particular with more shamans is more heroisms to pop. That said, diverse buffs definitely seems to be another "pro" for a mixed team.

[Ualaa]

3x Shaman will be easier to run.
But going 1x Boomkin or 1x Warlock with them, will get you 13% spell damage, which is very nice.

Since you already have a druid as the healer, I'd probably go with the Warlock.

You already have a mixed team.
Paladin + Druid + Shaman's, so you'll be doing click castsequences anyway.
And a warlock is easy to set up a click sequence for, with either spec.

[zipzip]

To put it another way, I'm curious if using 3 of the same class is easier than using a bunch of different classes, and if so, to what extent.

How many people here have done both, and if you were starting over, what kind of format (mixed or homogeneous) would you choose?

[zipzip]

3x Shaman will be easier to run.
But going 1x Boomkin or 1x Warlock with them, will get you 13% spell damage, which is very nice.

Since you already have a druid as the healer, I'd probably go with the Warlock.

You already have a mixed team.
Paladin + Druid + Shaman's, so you'll be doing click castsequences anyway.
And a warlock is easy to set up a click sequence for, with either spec.

Thanks Ualaa...you answered my question before I even posted it! I may still go boomkin & throw in a priest...time will tell...

[heffner]

I don't really understand why anyone thinks running the same classes is all that much easier. Perhaps in the setup, but that's about it.

From a min/max perspective, IMO elemental Shaman are the easiest of all classes to macro [and gear up] and Boomkin is one of the more difficult (you have to worry about Eclipse and it's hard to use Force of Nature since it's an "AOE" spell).

I am not sure about warlock's as I have never tried playing one. If you don't have to worry about proc's or AOEs in your cast sequence, you're all set.

I love my priest for the AOE heals. I never tried using my shaman or druid as resto though. Probably should just to see how they perform.

.

[Ualaa]

I have a group which is 1x Prot Paladin and 4x Shaman.
95% of the time, it is 4x Elemental, although one can dual-spec to Resto.

Every key is in the same place for me Elemental shammies.
I have a single click macro for their dps.
In addition to this I have: Totem Default, Totem AoE, Totem PvP, 4x Cleansing, 4x Grounding, 4x Magma, 1x Mana + 3x Healing, 4x Searing.
I also have Earthbind, Fire Elementals, Fire Nova, Thunderstorm and Tremor on round robin.
That's a few keys.

My Paladin has a click sequence.
A few keys for buffs.
I have Avenger Shield, Divine Plea, Hammer of Justice and Blessing of Protection as unique clicks which I don't want to be part of macro's.

If I were to add another class, say drop a shaman and add a Disc Priest.
I would need keys for Mass Dispel, Power Infusion, Pain Suppression etc.

The more things I have to click, the more complicated the set up becomes.
The fewer classes, the less things you need to remember.

A group of 5x the same class is easier to set up, and fewer things to click on in play.
Then a group of five different classes.
A lot of stuff will overlap, for example spam dps and spam tank keys.
But every class has some things which you want to use independently.
And the more independent features you include in your set up, the harder it becomes to play a team.

[accretion]

I'd recommend either a Lock or another Shaman. I currently run Pally/Priest/Hunter/2x Shaman and the additional Shaman is invaluable for the second set of totems. Plus, Shamans can gear up pretty quickly to 3K+ with a couple weeks of heroic runs plus some selective AH upgrades. A Hunter isn't bad for pure dps, either, but they can be a liability as a new 80, plus they don't offer as much utility.

[Ogloo]

any mixed team can make it work to be honest, every group ive seen is different past the 4 shammy +1 pally tank, is different but still works, for dps, you take whatever there rotation is and make it a consequence, then you add in healing macros, and ur spamm tank macro. NEVER go with something thats easier, or "works better" just so you can do it, because if your gunna be playing the game as much as all of us do ;0, do what u like, its easy to make it work.

personally i hate locks for whatever reason, id never throw a lock in my group, but a druid OOOOO if i could have a 80 druid right now /quit 1 shammy. just ur preference and what u love to do in the game, you can make it work ;0

[Gadzooks]

Mixed teams take more work, that's for sure - just setting up your macros is a major task - but the benefits are pretty good - buffs, portals, free food and water, soulstones, fears, crowd control, ressing, DOTs, etc.

Destro and Demon locks are great for pure DPS.
Mages are great for food, slows, AOE, portals, and buffs.
Druids are great for ... everything. :) Heals, DPS, offtank, you name it.

[Ualaa]

The fewer toon types in a team, the easier the team is to play and run.
Because more of the buttons do the same thing on each toon.
The reuse time on Lava Burst will be the same as the other Lava Burst etc.

But the more toons you add to a group, the more buffs you get.
And not just Fort or Motw or AI, but proc buffs like Earth and Moon or whatever.

Just because there are more abilities doesn't mean a team won't work.
Just that the configuration will take longer.
Most of the dps can be boiled down to a click castsequence.
Once that's done its one button spam, be your make up 4x one class, or 1x 4 different classes.

With all shammies, you have a few things like Heroism/Bloodlust to watch.
Things which you won't put into an auto cast macro.
With say a Disc Priest, Elem Shaman, Boomkin Druid etc.
You have more unique independently activated tools to play with.
Which is both a strength (team can Mass Dispel, Battle Rez, Heroism etc), and extra abilities to configure and remember.

In the end its a preference choice.
I'd recommend fewer classes when starting.
And more classes as you progress.
Fewer doesn't mean weaker, a Pally + 4x Shammies can clear any heroic.
But it does have fewer unique abilities to track and use intelligently.