5 different classes: some questions

[daviddoran]

I have a group with a paladin tank priest healer, and druid shaman mage for dps, but I am going to drop the paladin for a DK. They are currently lvl 52, so I am going to get them a bit higher to lvl 55 and park em at lights hope chapel.

My current "main" team is a 70 paladin tank a 60 paladin healer and 3 locks. I do miss the lack of AOE healing sometimes, especially when im doing hellfire. Right now i just consecrate on both paladins, and then each paladin heals a warlock, and hopefully i can get to the third before he dies. I picked the group because i wanted a second paladin for boosting toons on my main account, and warlocks so i could have free mounts, because i am primarily interested in getting them leveled to 70 ASAP, for farming gold, gear, etc.

I will most likely swap out the paladin once I get another toon on that acct to 70, so i can respec the paladin to prot for boosting. I will be experimenting with resto druid for mobility (HoTs, and DoTs from locks sounds nice) shaman for utility (totems mmmmmm) and priest for AoE spamming. Consecrate + hellfirex3 + priest aoe heals = win IMO.

[pyrem]

my team is lvl 9 now, did 1-6 in the starting areas, from 6 on i brought them to durotar. Everyone except the druid has a trainer in orgri, and the druid only needs to fly to TB. I'm gonna do the class specific quests when i'm gonna do instances, don't really need them while questing.
But i'm having second thoughts about my setup: holy priest seems an easier healer than resto shaman. I don't like chain heal because it only heals 3 people, so i'll go with the holy priest.

So i was thinking of this setup:
prot paladin
holy priest
mage (fire i guess)
ele shaman
boomkin

this way i'll have 8% crit to spells from the boomkin aura and the shaman's tow. Only thing i'm not sure about yet is the mage. Other possibilities are a lock or a shadow priest, but i'm not sure wich one would bring the most to the group.

I currently run the same group composition (alliance side) that you've mentioned--I'm actually quite surprised since 5-boxing 5 different classes is already rare to begin with. Regardless, my team is now lvl 50, and all of it done with just questing and dungeon instancing w/o the luxury of a boost (refer to my sig below). So it's definitely been a long journey, but it's a blast. I grow more giddy with every level closer to 70 as the prospect of having 5 different classes to raid with has been something I've wanted for quite some time :thumbsup: .

To answer your question, I suggest keeping the mage. I find that with this group, I one shot regular mobs (two at the most), and my mage is consistently at the top of my damage meters. I think that you'll find that most of your fights will be very quick (even through instancing) and so, you'll probably get the most potential from burst damage. Other bonuses are sheeping for CC, arcane intellect, water/food and ports.

Anyways, keep us updated on your progress...I'm growing tired of reading about x4/x5 shammies.... j/k :P ! Good luck!

[Piecemaker]

i leveled another 2 toons: a lock and a priest, so now i can experiment a bit:
account 1: prot pala
account 2: holy priest
account 3: fire mage
account 4: ele shaman, warlock (probably destruction, never had one)
account 5: balance druid, shadow priest

yeah i know, i can't make up my mind

advantages of the group with lock and shadow priest:
4 x wanding!
imp health buff + imp dps
VW for offtanking
succy for cc
healthstones
curse of the elements (helps all 3 dps)
more AOE spells
a lot more cc
more that i'm forgetting?

disadvantages:
no 8% crit
no motw
no totems

it's not 5 different chars anymore, but still 5 completely different specs!

[Frosty]

My group is in my sig. I'm not having any extra problems that I didn't have running 5 of a kind.

Well, other than it being a pain in the arse to train them all. :P

Edit - Oops forgot I'm not showing their spec's.

Prot pally, fire mage, shadow priest, resto shammy, affliction warlock.

[lacitpo]

I'm really happy to see there are a number of people out there who are boxing 4-5 classes in a 5 box setup. Not at all to rip on those doing it, but I get a bit tired of the 5 of the same class setups. I envy them in some way because of their simplicity and focused ability, but I've always been big on group synergy and functionality. Also it appears Pyrem as the same goals as I do which is raiding on his toons at lvl 70(80 for me).

I think I've settled on my group. Paladin, Druid, Priest, Warlock, Hunter

Paladin

• AOE tanking, and utility of multiple "Oh Shit" abilities.
• Ability to be a very efficient single target healer

Druid

• Primary healer for leveling. Consistent rolling hots.(unless I find druid healing for 5boxing isn't to my liking).
• Hybrid ability is nice. Bears make decent multi target tanks and are nice damage sinks with good armor. Also adds a leather wearer to my group making gearing up a bit easier.

Priest

• My favorite endgame class.
• Shadow provides a lot of passive group utility
• Emergency backup party healing.
• Mind control for CC (nothing beats sheep)

Warlock

• Tough decision but I love warlocks way more than mages. Will likely miss the ports and water.
• Summons should be pretty nice, though portal stones are found most places.
• Voidwalker offtank, healthstones.

Hunter

• Again, one of my favorite classes to play.
• Great Damage and very self sufficient.
• Mail wearer to make gearing up a bit easier. (makes 1xplate, 1xmail, 1xleather, 2xcloth)
• Pet makes a prime offtank, and traps make decent if not perfect cc.

I'll post more detailed info when I get things rolling. I think this may start as a 3 boxing setup with a friend and expand into a 5 boxing setup on my own as some time passes and I get into the rhythm of things. One thing that may be worth noting.

[HPAVC]

Your class selections aside.

Install recap and any other Addon facility that tracks time spent "idle". Let that be the gauge of your teams success now how much brain power it takes to manage the twitch of the toons.

If your running warlocks you would also look for DOT uptime and other classes perhaps TPS.

[lacitpo]

I hadn't thought of using that to gauge how efficient my group is being. Cool idea man.

I've spent a lot of time planning macros but I know I can plan till the end of time but I won't know how well things will go till they are implemented.