Your Group Setup and why

[Ellay]

I think it would be beneficial for me and probably many others if everyone lists their group/class makeup (your main group at that) and why you picked it. The pro's and con's.

For me at the moment with only being lvl 3 or so messing around I've come down to

Guardian - Best tank in terms of survivability

Warden - Fast Heals, I love HoT's, the Melee Warden is throwing me off a bit

Illusionist - Great CC , power regen , decent DPS

Wizard - Great DPS, ranged caster - easy to maximize potential.

[moosejaw]

I run a full group of 6, here are my classes.

Paladin- It was a game time decision to take a paly. No other reason than more Aoe and dps. My noobishness may regret this later.

Bard/Troubador- To compliment my caster heavy group. He melees at every opportunity. CC

Illusionist- Decent dps and group utility. Power/mana regen and CC.

Wizard-Super dps and ports. Same role as EQ1.

Mystic-Group mitigation and good heals.

Warden- Great hots and some dps when needed.

All those classes are good aligned and every class brings some sort of group buff.

Edit: All the classes have some sort of debuff. When I stack all those before I start dpsing mobs just melt down. If I were to substitute friends into my group I would use the same class because the synergy is just awesome.

[Herc130]

I just don't have much experience with EQ2 and most of my choices was based on how EQ1 plays and stuff I read shortly before making the toons. I think leveling is easy enough to 50+ probably that if I think I made a mistake in two or three classes ( I am positive 3 of them are exactly what I want) it shouldn't be too painful starting up new toons. Right now, my toons are just lvl23 with 20aa's. I am doing only lvl10 to lvl20 quest and moved out of TD where I just finished those level range quest and am doing Antonica...then GFay. Lots of mobs are grayed out now and all else are green with very few blues, so I expect to see 30aa's before I see level 30 without having to turn off adventuring exp.

Tank: Guardian- In EQ1, all classes hitpoints, melee DPS, mitigation, AC, avoidance and more are based on warriors (pure tank class...like guardian). Knights ( SK's and palidans) got less AC, hitpoints, mitigation etc, compared to warrios, but were also given spells to make up for it. Melee DPS classes got leven less hitpoints, AC, mitigation, but were given far better melee DPS. Monks are melee DPS class, but different and were given really good avoidance. I think I have seen at least two post here about EQ2 monk/bruisers tanking better then there SK...well, bruisers are avoidance tanks right? A naked (no gear) avoidance tank will tank better then a naked AC/mitigation tank anyday. They are "tanking" better because they don't get hit as much, but when they do get hit, generally it's for full damage and they'll be getting damage spikes and eventually you will hit encounters where your healer will just not be able to keep up with the incoming damage spikes. Casters were given the least of melee aspects but of course got lots of other things. All I am trying to say is they made a purpose class for tanking hard/end game encounter and then they adjusted all classes after that to do other things. It's kinda like a truck , a sports car and an economical car. It would be best if you bought the purpose built one of each for accomplishing the purpose, but some people don't need or can afford that level of ability in all purposes and thats why we have palidans and other hybrds. I look at them as a car-truck. Or a mustang with a v-6 or even v-4...eek! And that's why I went with guardian. They are the pure class, they were purpose made to be tanks. They didn't get more DPS then they need at the trade off of less tanking abilities.

Healer: Templar- Same reasons, this class is a pure class.

Healer/nuker-: Warden-this class made trade offs, but thats exactly what I need. Backs up the templar great for heals and can nuke. And I guess if spec'd right, can do good melee DPS too. Then of course travel utility spells.

Caster: conjuror- EQ1, mages pet are great offtanks. Better then some warriors with mediocer gear even. If my tank should drop, I want the pet to take over tanking. I even have heal spells on both healers for healing the pet. Killing easy targets right now and sometimes all I do is "...release the hounds" At first, I was losing agro off my guardian to my conj pet all the time, but now my conjuror has a pet buff/stance that makes the pet be more offensive then defensive and my tank can usually keep agro off the pet. Turn that stance off and the pet immediately grabs agro. I don't think a conjuror nukes as well as a wizard or warlock, but the conjuror also has a pet, and I think overall DPS will probably be similar with the added benefit that a good portion of the conjuror's DPS (pet melee) doesn't get resisted.

Caster: Illusionist- I do not know how this will play out in later levels. Right now this guys pet is actually pretty powerful and my illu. is the easiest class I have to solo play. His pet seems to tank better then the conjuror's pet and does way more DPS. No doubt that will change since I see post about high level illusionist not even bothering with summoning a pet. Basically, I picked this class because EQ1 the holy trinity was:Warrior (guardian), cleric (templar) and enchanter (illusionist). Maybe I regret it later and end up rolling a new class, oh well.

Scout: Dirge- I was going to go trabadour since I have an illusionist, conjuror, a templar and warden that can also nuke...but then I thought...all my classes also melee. And dirge offers the best buffs for the guardian and job number one is to make sure the guardian stays standing. Yes it's important to have DPS, but if the tank drops, then it's up to your DPS to tank and that is just not ideal. Plus....how much DPS do I lose with a dirge singing instead of a traboudor? 4 of my 6 classes will not be nuking as hard with a dirge as with a trabadour, but 6 out of 6 classes will now melee better right? Really, I am asking, I don't know. This is one of the classes that maybe I change later, but for now I am interested to see how he works out in my set-up.

[Frosty]

Guardian - While I'm learning EQ2, the guardian gives me a lot of room for error. (If you've seen my other posts about my 1337 pulling skills :P )
The Shadowknight was still my favorite to play so far, but as expected, didn't tank anywhere near as well as the Guardian..I'll probably experiment with a Berserker too before I make my final choice. I'm 100% sure I wasn't playing the Shadowknight to it's fullest. - I do have 1 regret in that I chose a HUGE Barbarian for my current Guardian..and it's a nightmare to see around in small dungeons right now.

Templar + Warden - I want a main healer and I liked the ports from the druid. I tried a mystic in place of the Templar, but a lot of the druid and mystic buffs seemed kind of the same. I'm sure that would have changed the more I played.

Conjuror - I played a mage in EQ1 so I thought what the heck. BUT, after working on that chart, I'm not sure just how much the Conjuror brings to the multi-box group. But I'm not sure what I'd replace it with just yet.

Troubador - I just like it.. I'm never out of power..and running is nice when I'm not on a mount. Lots of really nice buffs including a group aggro reduction and a targeted aggro imrpovement for the tank. Also has a group Evac!

Warlock - I played a Wizard first, but it just didn't seem like it was doing much. One of my alt-armys used a Warlock, and it just seemed like it was kicking butt and taking names. I wanted the ports from this class too..so it was either Wizard or Warlock. But to be honest, I've yet to use a spire port.

[Herc130]

Also for race, my guardian is a human. Human has a racial trait "diplomacy" which is an AoE (up to 5 targets) soothe spell. Some may argue...other classes get more strength or whatever other stat or I coulda choose better stats for racial traits for my human to help tanking, but if this plays out like EQ1, once you start getting good gear, any kinda stat bonus is pointless as all races will have gear that far exceeds your max anyway, but in the end being able to trick pull a few mobs that your group can handle versus the whole room that will wipe you is gold. Note, I haven't actually used this ability much yet, so am speaking from what others said in chat channels. All my other classes are gnomes. Gnomes are small naturally, so they don't obstruct my human guardians view and easier to move around in tight areas, also they can change into being a rotary flying robot thingy which I think is appropriate for a boxer

[Noxxy]

Group 1, all 80s, all rats:
Pally, Mystic, Fury (retiring for an inquis), Swash, Troub, Wiz (retiring for an illi)
- reason: very nice AOE & DPS
- once the inquis and illi are up to speed - this will be the 'perfect' pally/heroic group

Will be retiring both the fury and the wiz of group 1 and replacing with an Inquis and an illi which I am currently leveling (half way) as the fury and the wizard are not good fits for a pally lead, whereas the inquis and illi are 'perfect'

Extremely disappointed with the wiz DPS, fury just doesn't do it for me

Most of these guys are just under the 200aa cap, fury and wiz are 170+


Group 2, all 80s, all rats:
Guard, Defile, Temp, Brig, Dirge, Coer
- reason: will not die, go anywhere
- the 'perfect' raid group

Mostly 160aa+, few higher


Spares, all 80s, all rats:
'nother pally which I will convert to an SK 'someday' + the fury and wiz in a few more weeks

Spare pally has 140+ aa


Why rats? Played rats since release, I like them, they make me laugh - are they the 'best' at any type of class? Hell no!


Had to have a laugh yesterday, saw a post on SOE re the 'most desired'classes - the 2 groups I field (with the inc replacements) are basically the cream of both the raid and pug groups. As a result, I can successfully do a lot of things myself OR get a pug easy OR maybe get into a raiding guild via playing the utility classes (not like I want to do that again anytime soon!)

[Ellay]

Interesting thoughts on the Warlocks vs Wizards, how well do they stack if you put them in the same group?

Illusionists have the Timestop ability or similar, not sure but it seems if you slap that onto a Wizard they turn into amazing mode ;p

Warlocks seem like they hold hate better, I was thinking about beefing up to a 5 boxing team and just going Warlock/Wiz because they both seem awesome sauce!

[Frosty]

I added the Wizard and Dirge to the class charts tonight..I'm pretty tired so I hope I didn't miss anything. :P

It might give you a small look into stacking the Warlock and Wizard.

[HomersDonut]

I do have 1 regret in that I chose a HUGE Barbarian for my current Guardian..and it's a nightmare to see around in small dungeons right now.

Look on the broker for "Petrified <Race> Eye". They allow you to illusion yourself as any other player (and some non-player) races. Great for getting Barbarians down to a managable size.

Anyways... My typical 3-box groups.
Group 1: Monk, Swashbuckler, Mystic. (Lvl 66-77)
Great travelling speed (around the 50% mark) from the Mystic's AA. Great avoidance tanking with the Mystic wards to smooth out the damage spikes. Group feign death when it all goes bad. Evac and Smuggle from the Swash as well as the typical tracking and disarming of traps. Great DPS from the Swash though it is necessary for her to move around the fight to be able to use all combat arts (some are from front while others are from the rear. However, with the monk being able to spin a mob around (via an AA ability), this isn't a problem either. The downside is that this group lacks teleports.

Group 2: Berserker, Ranger, Defiler (Lvl 67)
A reletively solid group, though the Ranger can spike damage a little too easily. Not as useful in utility as Group 1 and still lacks travel options. Considering swapping out the Defiler for either Inquis or Fury.

Group 3: SK, Dirge, Warden (Lvl 35 - 54. Mentoring FTW)
So far the SK has tanked well, especially with the 'Reaver' line of AA's where she lifetaps constantly. Fast heals and Ports. Dirge has the typical evac, track and disarm.

There are other combo's I'm still toying with including ones with no healer and another with a Brigand tanking though these ones can hardly been seen as long term serious. And as you can probably see, I'm not a huge fan of Sorcerers for DPS- they just don't bring in enough utility for my liking.

[Crayonbox]

Guardian : I played a pure tank class for tanking since EQ1 and I much prefer to pure tanking classes over the hybrids.
when it comes down to boxing, its not really about tps, its more about mitigation. and pure tanks have the best mitigation.

Ranger: I needed a scout class and I figured with a 2nd evac for moving through dungeons and track, it makes things very easy for me.
BTW anyone running a group without track, once you try track, youll never go back. 1 scout per group is almost a must unless you like running around blind mousing over every mob.

Templar: Same reason as pure tank. I prefer pure healing classes as well. I am a bit thrown off as the AA choices for the templar are a bit centered around soloers. So I am a bit at a loss at where to put some spar AAs, but thats something I'll get around to eventually.

Wizard: Evac, port and dps without worrying about positioning or facing direction and a lot of AOE.

Illusionist: Group synergy and crack. Hate redirection, CC and dps.


I am eventually planning on picking up a 2nd healer for synergy. I am debatign between shaman and druid. will most likely lean towards a shaman.