3 box composition suggestion

Hey everyone,

Returning to EQ after a VERY long break. My main when I started EQ was a mage and I enjoyed him tremendously. As such I am including one in my 3 box setup. From what I have read a SK is also very good to have. I know they need a ton of AAs to outdo a mage pet for tanking, but I like the extra control for breaking camps/pulling (i.e. having SK DoT a mob, the mage CoTH). In the long run I would rather put time into getting the SK gear/aas and have a player controlled tank.

Where I am really struggling is with the 3rd account. I currently have a 57 shaman on an account that I was considering but I am not sure if I would do better with a pure healer such as a cleric. Or maybe run 2 healer mercs and add a bard/enc to the mix (still not sure which one would better compliment my team).

My biggest consideration in the 3rd account is end game content. Where can I not bring mercs such that a cleric might be the better choice. Or are they only limited just to not entering raids and I could use a bard/enc instead?

Thanks for any suggestions you may have.

Also, was curious how far defiant gear will get my SK level wise, before I need to start farming for gear.

I have seen defiant gear as high as 70. Not sure if there is something above that. I really like the bard for the third slot because of the versatility. You can do all your pulls with the bard and not need to use coth. Should you get a bad pull the bard has the aggro drop AA to reset the pull. With the improvements to /melody you can melee the crap out stuff, sing your songs and only worry about mob push/positioning (from the tanks view).

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Originally Posted by moosejaw

I have seen defiant gear as high as 70. Not sure if there is something above that. I really like the bard for the third slot because of the versatility. You can do all your pulls with the bard and not need to use coth. Should you get a bad pull the bard has the aggro drop AA to reset the pull. With the improvements to /melody you can melee the crap out stuff, sing your songs and only worry about mob push/positioning (from the tanks view).

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Thanks, I will probably level a bard. Also, I do have a 59 shaman as well, I was thinking of running SK/Mage/Shaman as the shaman could take a cleric merc and I would get both buffs and the slow from the shaman, not as much CC but maybe not the end of the world as I could single pull still with CoTH. However, I am wondering how much downtime I will have without a bard/enc to do mana regen.

I think the only negative to a bard is their personal mana regen can only come from their own gear and aa's(songs and ench regen won't work). The aggro drop (Fade?) uses mana and I could have some short down time on difficult splits if I had to fade too much in a short period. Now the abundance of gear should help that out. Everything I look at has mana regen on it. Add in the regen aa's and it should be ok.

An SK is a good tank, from what I've seen.
They have the feign death, which facilitates pulling manageable groups.
A Paladin or Warrior are great options too though, if you want a player controlled tank.
Any player in melee will take threat from a pet that is tanking.

Bards seem to be the premier pulling class.
If your pulls are smaller groups or singles, a less efficient tank is an option.
For single group content, a mage pet can tank all the way up.
But if you want to do their instanced raid things (forget their EQ term), a real tank is probably a good idea.

It looks like three boxing is quite common.
As you get three mercs to supplement you.
If one of those is a healer, that takes a lot of pressure off of your healer, but most seemed to think its a good idea to have a healer of your own.

I was aiming towards six boxing.
Which would be no mercs.
So not really sure how well that would work out.
Tentatively, I was thinking: Bard (Pulls/Speed/Buffs), Mage (Tank Pet/Summoned Items/DPS), Druid (Heals/Ports/Buffs), 3x Necromancer (Pets & DPS)

Just remember, in EQ1, Tanks are not so easy, it takes good gear and TONs of AAs to be effective.. a merc will out tank any player until the player has enough of the threat, avoidance AAs maxed. Most will say 800+ AAs at least, if not more.

I, too, played EverQuest years and years ago, and since Sony's now opened up the classes I enjoy without requiring a subscription, I'm back to playing once more. I'm wanting to run three or perhaps four toons, starting from scratch at this point. The classes I'm most interested in right now are mage, enchanter and probably druid for heals/tracking/ports. From what I've been able to find online, that seems like it should be fairly adequate with using the mage's pet to tank and a healer merc. I think so, at least. For those of you who've been into this boxing situation longer than I--and that's bound to be everyone, as I played only one toon at a time way back when--does that sound like a decent composition? Is there a particular class that would be good for a fourth slot with a chanter/mage/druid team, or should those three be good enough as is? I'm pondering a bard as a fourth for /melody, but I honestly don't know at this point. Assuming I do box those three (or four?), which would be the most beneficial to have as the window that I focus on the most? I can see benefits to having any of those three as a main, but at the moment, I'm thinking I should go with the chanter as the main focus. Any tips the experienced boxers could give would be highly appreciated! It's been years since I've played at all, but I've thus far been vastly amused with the world of Norrath all over again.

I play druid/mage/chanter, seems to work pretty well. I use three mercs: J2 healer, A5 tank and DPS caster.

I've just been using ISBoxer since January, but so far it's working good. Currently in the mid 80s.

Tat

Who do you lead with, the Chanter? I think that is who I would lead with. All those CC options for pulling, Lots of fun.

I'm thinking that's what I'll lead with. Chanters just have so many options for keeping things under control, and from what I've read, mages don't take a ton of microing to deal a fair bit of damage. Not to mention that enchanters were my favorite class back in the day. :)

Thanks everyone for the input. I think for now I am going to go with mage/mage/shaman. I tried playing the bard but didn't really enjoy it. Also, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, with CoTH pulling really isn't an issue so I was thinking enchanter may be more ideal simply because they are easier to use CC abilities in a boxing situation.

An enchanter would be better for your comp.. chanter buffs are caster friendly.. crack..int buff etc.. also.. the have haste for you pets, Shaman are great.. but better for melee groups IMO.

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Originally Posted by moosejaw

Who do you lead with, the Chanter? I think that is who I would lead with. All those CC options for pulling, Lots of fun.

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Actually, I lead with the druid, just because he's the main I've played since 2000. I've only really focused on the boxing the last few months, so I'm still fairly new to "interesting" situations with tough pulls. It's just in the last month that the mage and chanter are closing in on the druid's level. Basically, I'm not the best person to ask, I guess :)

I can understand the comfort level with the Druid. It is what you like and there is no arguing with that. I loved watching players quad kite back in the day. That was just so fun to watch. I have a 66 necro (EQ) that I won't box with because he is a one man wrecking machine. :)

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Originally Posted by berrystapp

Thanks everyone for the input. I think for now I am going to go with mage/mage/shaman. I tried playing the bard but didn't really enjoy it. Also, and someone please correct me if I am wrong, with CoTH pulling really isn't an issue so I was thinking enchanter may be more ideal simply because they are easier to use CC abilities in a boxing situation.

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Ok, so I started a SK and I am loving it! So I currently have a SK/mage/shammy any input on replacing the Shaman or keeping? I will use the SK to pull and if I get bad pulls I will just CoTH with mage to get singles back into my camp. I do not like the bard at all so any other suggesstions would be great but I really do like the Shaman for healing when I can't bring mercs somewhere.

Well, just the usual druid/wizzy plug. Being able to port really is huge. I keep the druid's bind to wherever I'm currently concentrating on, so I can teleport bind the group. Then I have the other two bind together in a secondary spot, and the druid uses his secondary bind spot for that same spot. Then I have the druid's primary anchor in the guild hall. So now I have two current camp/hunting spots and the guild hall that are instantly accessible by the whole group.

I know this has little to do with optimum group composition, but we're not all trying to maximize the same things. For me, I'm definitely a scrub at this game, so I'm never anywhere near optimal anyway :)
In addition, I tend to not play very long sessions these days, so the instant popping in to where I need to be is >extremely< valuable to me.

Plus if you like this idea, and go with the druid, you still have the healing option.

Tat