Getting bored with WoW

[Phanes]

So i am getting bored with wow and looking into EQ2. I have some questions.

Can someone tell me how much per month it is?

Is the group size still 6?

How much does the software cost?

Does keyclone work with it?

What is a "good" group? I would want ports, sow, heals, mana regen, dps, and tanking.

Is there a boxer friendly server/guild that is East Coast time?

Does the RAF still work? I read somewhere that it does not work anymore.

Thanks.

[Captive2]

Can someone tell me how much per month it is?


It's either $15 or $15.95 per month (I can't recall for sure), and slightly less if you pay for a longer subscription. Very similar to WoW.


Is the group size still 6?


Yes it is.


How much does the software cost?


You can generally find an "all in one" pack on Amazon or other retailers for around $25 if you keep your eyes open. That will include the original game and all expansions through the current one. If you buy now, and want the level 80+ content, you'll need to buy the expansion when it comes out next year. Again, very similar to WoW.


Does keyclone work with it?

I can't speak to this from experience. I and most other EQ2 multi-boxers around here use InnerSpace. It's a suite of programs available for around $10 every 90 days, and includes some very nice features specific to EQ2. It also works with other games, and wasn't too bad to set up. It's a fairly polished product and is being updated routinely, so that's nice.

I was at first reluctant to use InnerSpace, as in WoW that game was considered a bannable offense. I use Octopus when I play WoW. But SOE, the company behind EQ2, has come out publicly several times in posts saying they don't have a problem with InnerSpace as long as you don't use it to do specific things like create multiple keystrokes from a single keystroke - creation more than simple automation, in other words. See the wiki on this site for more information, which I believe includes some links to the posts from SOE.

In short, SOE is pretty friendly to the multi-boxer crowd. And they should be. We buy mutliple accounts, we tend to complain less than the average player because we're not all bent out of shape about overpowered classes (we just work one into our team), and we have a lot of loyalty because we invest so much time building up our teams.


What is a "good" group? I would want ports, sow, heals, mana regen, dps, and tanking.


Well, you're describing what everyone wants in a group :) I currently run a guardian, troubadour, conjuror, warden, mystic, and illusionist. This gives me:


tanking (guardian)
dual healers so I don't have to be so exact in my timing and can take on tougher fights (warden, mystic)
stacking attack speed buffs (troubadour, illusionist)
2 mez classes (troubadour, illusionist)
stacking mana regen buffs (troubadour, illusionist)
ports (troubabour has an in-zone evac spell, warden has traditional druid ports)
SOW (don't need Spirit of the Wolf with a bard, who can buff run speeds to very high levels - but I also have a warden and mystic who can cast SoW)
dps - conjuror, troubadour, and illusionist are my primary dps, although the warden does ok too. The guardian is there just to occupy the mobs; he doesn't do a ton of damage
I also get a fair number of debuffs (mystic, troubadour) and a LOT of utility spells and abilities that benefit the entire group - things like damage procs on spells and temporary buffs to things like casting speed and reuse speed.
I think many players will tell you a good group will either have a melee focus for DPS or a casting focus for DPS. It's not a good idea usually to mix the two, because the two bard types - troubadours and dirges - complement one of the damage types more than the other. So if you want to play a melee- heavy group, include a dirge to make all that dps much more effective. If you want to play a caster-heavy group, a troubadour can make them all more effective.

A good foundation for a group is a plate-wearing tank (guardian, berzerker, paladin, or shadowknight), 2 healers (fury, warden, mystic, defiler, inquisitor, templar), a bard (troubadour or dirge) and an enchanter (coercer or illusionist). Then, you need a DPS class to round out the group - and that's what may well determine what kind of bard you choose. If you like the sound of a swashbuckler or a brigand, include a dirge. If a conjuror or warlock sound like fun, bring along a troubadour.

Obviously, there are a lot of other factors, and better players than I may disagree - but this is a decent foundation from which to explore and learn the game.


Is there a boxer friendly server/guild that is East Coast time?

I can't answer this.


Does the RAF still work? I read somewhere that it does not work anymore.

I haven't heard this. If it's been discontinued I haven't seen it. My bonus ran out months ago, however, so I can't absolutely confirm that the program is still available. I would check the EQ2 website.

This board isn't terribly active right now, but was very active just a few months ago - so much of the information here is still VERY relevant and useful. Stuff that's old, as with any MMO, is pretty marginal as the game mechanics tend to change over time. But I would encourage you to read the first several pages of posts in this forum, and check out others' thoughts on group composition, tactics, mutli-boxer software options and setup questions, etc.

I've played MMOs since Ultima Online, including years of EQ1. I've played WoW, 5-boxing it up through a team of level 80s running some of the Northrend instances (nothing heroic). I like both WoW and EQ2, and tend to switch back and forth every 9-12 months. I'm sure I'll play WoW again - but right now I'm loving EQ2. This game has a greater number of classes, which allows for many interesting combinations - and that sixth spot really offers a lot of extra character to your team. Crafting offers many very viable items - my whole team at level 70 wears almost exclusively items I've made. The quests are generally pretty cool, and I really enjoy the atmosphere. I love WoW, too - they're just both very different games.

If you do give EQ2 a try, I hope you enjoy it.

[Lokked]

RAF still works. Mine is still fine. Looking at this logically, a gaming company could only stand to lose prospective players if they abandoned a simple policy such as this.

As for group setup, welcome to one of the wonderful aspects of EQ2. Not wonderful in a way that any group setup will work. Wonderful in a way that coming up with a group that works for you is a whole other challenge all on its own!

There are a number of different group setups that will give you the bonuses you seek. All you need to determine is how you wish to go about killing things:
Single Target Melee?
Single Target Spell?
AE Spell?
DPS More or Survive More? (These are directly related. If you don't DPS fast enough, survival might not help you much).
1 Healer or 2?

This will whittle down the possible DPS combinations, once answered.

The other topic is asking questions about the type of tank you want:
Is a tank that holds AE agro more appealing than a tank who has higher Physical Mitigation?
Does a tank who can heal himself or heal his group appeal more?
Does your tank's DPS matter?

There is the wiki here, which has a table showing Class by Damage Types and another table showing Class by Debuff Type, which you can use to coordinate your DPS / Debuffs. In another table it shows the Classes by Buff Type.

I'm not knowledgable enough to give examples, but take certain sure-shot triads and add a few more classes that you think might go well.
SK, Defiler, Warlock is a powerful combination. Add in an Illusionist, Templar and Troubador and you have a VERY solid caster group, possibly good enough for a raid main tank group (but don't count on multiboxing EQ2 Raids).

Or try Berzerker, Dirge, Warden, Inquisitor, Swash/Brigand, Illusionist/Coercer for a solid DPS group. If you are using the Coercer, you might be able to drop a healer, as they get Coercive Healing AA later on. The Inquisitor has a DPS buff, so you could drop the Warden in this case.

Read through the posts on this forum. There are a lot of good examples for Group Setups. Or try searching Noxxy or Asgradth or Tweedfu's posts.

Good Luck!

[Phanes]

So I played EQ1 and what I remember was. Pull a group of mobs. They get mezzed. You drop each mob one at a time.

So my question is how are you boxing mezzes? Are you just using an AE mez?

How are you boxxing healers?

Is there a macro system llike WoW?

If there is a macro system then I can envision something like.

Playing the tank full time. Mezzers assists off of tank and is using some type of delay to toss AE mezzes every xxx seconds. The healer alternates between dropping big bombs and AE heals also using a macro system with some type of delay. Debuffers/Nukers assisst off the tank and then debuff/nuke the tanks target.


That sound about right?

As for tank I would probably want the type that midigates most of his damage making playing/keeping him alive easier.

As for group compistion I would stick with what I know which is tank/ranged DPS.

[Lokked]

You know, I had en epic write-up, and then the browser in my office decided to say eff you, so....


So I played EQ1 and what I remember was. Pull a group of mobs. They get mezzed. You drop each mob one at a time.

So my question is how are you boxing mezzes? Are you just using an AE mez?
AE Mezzing, yes. Illusionist and Coercer each get it at lvl 23. The Recast Time is the same as the Duration, so this can be spammed.


How are you boxxing healers?
Healers will DPS the same as everyone else (every little bit helps) and can also Debuff. To heal, create healing macros to use used on your Number Pad.


Is there a macro system llike WoW?
There is a macro system which has advantages and disadvantages to WoW's. It is simpler, meaning less flexable, but you can cram more actions into your macro. The only thing you can macro are Slash commands, Abilities and Item useage.



If there is a macro system then I can envision something like.

Playing the tank full time. Mezzers assists off of tank and is using some type of delay to toss AE mezzes every xxx seconds. The healer alternates between dropping big bombs and AE heals also using a macro system with some type of delay. Debuffers/Nukers assisst off the tank and then debuff/nuke the tanks target.

Yes, you will be playing the tank full-time. There are no Delays available. Your Healer won't just be doing AE heals. As for assisting, EQ2 uses a Target and an Implied Target. Implied Target is the same thing as Target's Target. When your Alts are targetting your Main, they will automatically use Abilities which target Enemy or Enemy Encounter on the Tank's Implied Target. This means you can either just have all your toons target your Main and be done with it, or you can create /assist macros to have them actually target the mob. I just have them target my tank.


As for tank I would probably want the type that midigates most of his damage making playing/keeping him alive easier.
No tank will mitigate all damage equally, also there is the question of Avoidance (dodging the blow completely). Each tank gets a "Defensive Stance" which improves Physical Mitigation, Avoidance and then 1 of the magical mitigations. You should be more concerned with choosing a healer which matches your Tank's style of mitigating damage. Clerics and Shaman go with Tanks who have high Mitigation and lower Avoidance. Druids and Shaman go with Tanks who have lower Mitigation and higher Avoidance.



As for group compistion I would stick with what I know which is tank/ranged DPS.
Look up Noxxy's posts regarding group comp. He plays with caster groups.
I would recommend SK, Defiler, Templar, Illusionist, Troub, Warlock. This is pretty much the best caster group you can assemble and the most survivable. I believe this is THE Raid MT group.

For a newer feel to a new (to you) game, try a DPS Melee group (as it is fun to watch mobs die in 5 seconds):
Berserker, Dirge, Warden, Inquisitor, Brigand, Coercer. You could even drop the Inquisitor and pick up an Assassin, as the Coercer will get Coersive Healing AA later on (and 3 classes that can heal is not necessary in any setup).

Good Luck!

[Captive2]

I would recommend SK, Defiler, Templar, Illusionist, Troub, Warlock. This is pretty much the best caster group you can assemble and the most survivable. I believe this is THE Raid MT group.


This is almost the exact team I'm planning to try for my Freeport/Neriak based team. I was kicking around the idea of an Inquisitor rather than a Templar and a Coercer rather than an Illusionist - simply because those are the "evil" versions of those classes and I'm currently already playing a Troubadour and Illusionist.

Do those classes (Inquisitor, Coercer) work significantly less well with this team?

[Captive2]

How are you boxxing healers?


With my healers, I've got ISBoxer set up to pass my num-pad keys only to those two accounts. When I hit num-pad 1, this casts a single-target heal on both the warden and the mystic. Num-pad 2 casts group heals on both characters (it might be a group ward on the mystic). Num-pad 3 casts the big single-target HOT and ward. 4 is in-battle rez, 5 is death-prevention, etc.

I don't just heal with my healers. They also melee and cast damage spells. When I need a heal I use the num-pad, which only passes through to the healer accounts, so the other DPS classes just keep doing their thing. It's worked fairly well and was easy to get used to.

[Lokked]

Coercer and Inq are more fitting in Melee based teams, as they buff melee DPS and debuff physical mit.

All in all, you could get away with using a Coercer and Inq instead of Illusionist and Templar, but if possible I would just trade the Illusionist and keep the Templar.

But you're right, when it comes to doing city writs in Kunark, having all the same faction makes is much easier.

I would just go with your gut and use the Coercer/Inq. Its not going to make that big a difference with a group like that.