Your Group Setup and why

[asgradth]

i am surprised to hear from above posts about the difficulties with shard instance. i am disappointed to hear this as i was hoping to do these instances myself although from my reading of those zones some boss mobs seem impossible for one person to handle.

Do NOT be discouraged. Do NOT give up... Oh yes, it is hard. It is sometimes insane. You will Wipe. You will wipe in ways that would disband a normal PUG, but do NOT Give up. And don't do the same thing over and over expecting a different result. Try different things. Experiment. That's the glory of running your own 6-box, you can do whatever you want.

After 14 tries, I finally got the book burning end-mob in Crucible to 20% last night (i want that fabled shield!). I keep wiping cause he fires off an AOE that moves my toons, and i can't move'm back too the books fast enough. Each time I got closer, but ... after 3 aoes, my toons are just too scattered for me to handle it. I've got some more ideas to try and if i figure it out, i'll post it here.

For some fights, you'll even need to make a special macro key or two, to do the stuff you gotta do. Most things can be fixed with /follow, /stopfollow, and /autoattack 0. The rest, good luck!

But, there will be certain encounters you will not be able to box, especially in VP and any T4+ Raid stuff. But don't worry, if you ever get that powerfull, just run 1 toon at a time. Look at it this way, at least that's the only time you have to run 1 toon. Everyone else is stuck with 1 forever .

I cleared the first two Befallen dungeons wednesday night, then got the the electricity trap w/ boss in the 3rd dungeon and ... went out for a cigarette and a beer after that FAIL. That fight is Insane, but I think i know how to beat it. Time will tell.

And, to enforce what Noxxy said, don't walk into a TSO 'easy' dungeon decked out in Kunark Gear and expect to win it non-mentored. They're just too hard. Once you get into T1 w/ Epics, the easy ones will be managable. Once you get into T2 Armor, all bets are off.

[victor]

those are some very comprehensive details Noxxy and Asgradth. - thank you!

sounds encouraging and i'm looking forward to taking on those zones. I've been busy this last week at work and haven't had time for much else but recently i beat Cazel the Mad and the Ancient Cyclops in the early 60's levels. doesn't sound that great compared to what you guys are doing but to me it was a vendetta victory as those were two mobs i had major troubles with back in the day trying to solo on my necro. Ancient cyclops was easy with stuns and Cazel was still a bitch and i wiped once but i figured out the send in pets first to get the ae knockback stun and then i stunned him and took agro with my guardian. haha i'm loving the 6 boxing. so much more content to go too and an expansion coming out in february. should be another year or so of fun.

[victor]

and yeah i figure i'll leave the necro in the setup until there comes a time when/if he becomes a burden. the real test will come when they are all at 80.

[mooglej]

With time on my deployment winding down from all the freedoms Ive resently defended, <2 weeks left as I type, a lot of cash for a new computer + new multibox setup + new game, I turn my attention to EQ2 after a long sabbatical. Seems all are pretty much anti stacker when you've all built your groups. Ive enjoyed boxing same type hybrids classes, that play well together or healer/dps pet classes. In eq2's case, seems the best fit would be multiple paladins setup with the right macros, group healing and main tank warding seems like a very doable option. I haven't played the game very high, or read enough knowledge to confirm or deny how well this could work out in the heat of swinging swords to down mobs in-game. I would think that a single hybrid type class would only possess a fraction of the healing potential of that or a healer type class when compared on a 1:1 ratio. Yes, maybe true, but enough of them in the same group might pull off numbers that far surpass a single healer in that spot, while at the same time being able to crush some numbers DPS wise as well.

Could anyone give me advice how this could work out? Leveling and near end game?

[Lokked]

I would at least consider switching out 1 Paladin for a Troub in the very least. Paladin's don't get any Haste or Casting buffs, and the Troub can increase all of their effectiveness while DPSing himself.

If you manage to bend your mind to align with the general multiclass strategy that EQ2 demands, this thread has a lot of good information about group setups.

Being able to create your own full group has several advantages. Decide how you want to specialize your group as far as DPS goes (AE Meleeing, AE Spell-Casters, Single-Target Meleeing, Single-Target Spell-Casters, etc). Then figure out which Healer synergizes with your Tank and DPS method.

I've never used a Paladin as a tank, so I can only speculate on group setups:
AE Spell-Casting - Paladin, Templar, Mystic, Troub, Illusionist, Warlock
Single-Target Melee - Paladin, Defiler, Warden, Dirge, Brigand, Coercer (although in this group, an SK might be better)

At any rate, I'm not experienced enough to explain why or why not to go with multiple same classes. Perhaps Noxxy or Asdgradth can chime in. I do know that your buffs won't stack, and you will be missing buffs against certain schools of magic. You might get raped in fights designed with this type of damage in mind.

[Noxxy]

To enhance a statement mentioned by Lokked:- "...You might (WILL!) get r**** in (ALL) fights (IN THE END_GAME)..."
Stacking does not work in EQ2. (Please note the super-sized 'period')
Think of it this way, most mobs are designed by the developers under the assumption that a basic team will:
- be able to put out enough dps ('dps') to overcome a mob of similar level
- have appropriate buffs ('b') to either increase survivability or DPS ('dps')
- are able to debuff certain mob attributes and characteristics ('db')
- be able to take incoming damage considering both their level and the mob ('id')
- fights last, on average, for a certain amount of time ('t') thus finding the break even between id & dps (as the longer a fight lasts, the more chance both team hp and mana will decrease - therefore, the quicker a fight (+dps) potentially, the less id taken by the team plus faster recovery (mana, etc.)

By having a stacked team, you'll be missing out on a lot of these basic team building assumptions.

For example, as you mentioed, all paladin team:
- low dps = longer fights (t) = increase incoming (+id) = -hp & -mana = death spam
- same line buffs (b) will not stack so your potentially only running a team as if 1 person did all the buffing as opposed to 6 people running buffs which again = low dps (or team attributes / characteristics / resists) = longer fights (t) = increase incoming (+id) = -hp & -mana = death spam
- each class debuffs certain mob attributes or characteristics - for example, class 'x' may debuff the mobs cold resist and str whereas class 'y' may debuff a mobs heat resist and int. By running the single classes, your missing out on the ability to debuff entire lines of mob attributes and characteristics. As you can guess, once again you will experience low dps = longer fights (t) = increase incoming (+id) = -hp & -mana = death spam
- an all paladin team may potentially be able to take more incoming damage but seriously, paladins run on mana, once that's gone it will just be a slug fest which = ... can you guess ... longer fights (t) = increase incoming (+id) = -hp & -mana = death spam

In all honestesy mooglej - have a quick read of this entire thread - grab a team you like the look of and run with that - it will save you a lot of pain down the track

[mooglej]

/noted /bubble bursted

thanks for the positive info guys. I've read the whole post and understand about buff/debff stacking. My dreams of plate wearing aoe grp healing fantasy is just that. . Again thx fr the tips.

[Lokked]

Another thing of note is that running 6 different classes is not much more difficult then running 5 single classes in, say, WoW. Don't let this seem intimidating.

Basically, set up a hotkey for each of the following:
Following/Targetting Main
Pulling/Turning Autoattack on
Major Taunt with Tank / Detaunt with Alts (sort of a panic key)
Debuff (Maybe 2 debuff keys)
Single-Target DPS
AE-DPS
Heal Tank
AE Heal

In your Healing macros, organize them like this, using these command lines:

/clearallqueuedabilities
/cancel_spellcast
Single-Target-Heal-1
Single-Target-Heal-2
Single-Target-Heal-3
/clearallqueuedabilities

Get a UI mod such as Profit UI or Fetish UI
Get the mod EQ2MAPS (definitely get this one)

If you are making a 6-man, DO use a class that can group-stealth. and DO use a bard of some sort. This is just my recommendations. Being able to stealth your entire group through most trash is extremely useful, and my Bard provides my entire group a 40% run speed bonus. No need for mounts.

Another useful idea would be to choose a race for your Main that can track, so you don't have to switch to an Alt to do it.

[Sazed]

I am new to the forum and am glad to have discovered it. I have found some very helpful posts from just reading over a few threads for a few minutes. Going to go with the title of the thread and explain my 6 person boxed group and why.

Pally- Tank that needs little attention. I went with the Pally over a SK for two reasons. The main reason is Amends, I can put it on my dirge and not have to worry about any toon generating too much hate. The other reason is I run with one healer, the pally group heals help get the casters back to full health after AoE attacks.

Templar- My healer of choice. I ran with a warden in this position when I was leveling up my toons but found that he requires way too much attention to keep the tank alive in TSO encounters. Pre pull I cast repent and the group reactive, I usually dont have to do anything else unless I get adds or it its a nasty/named mob. I wish this toon had better AA choices but the buffs he gives are very nice.

Illy- Love this toon, with myth the group does not run out of power. IA for the dirge, TC for the coercer + spell proc on pally, Illy and Coercer.

Coercer- Good caster dps, hate buff for the tank, dps buff for the Pally, dirge and troub. Coercive Healing for the templar and manaward on the MT if things get too bad. I have thought about switching this toon to a warlock or wizzy but he just does great dps with very little effort.

Dirge- My main, and best geared toon. There are better classes to fill this spot but this toon is max AA and geared very well. The debuffs that he gives, attack speed, resists, mitigation, STR/AGI make things much easier. The defensive buffs he has parry (with mitigation AA) and stoneskin also help alot. I have a mid 50s defiler on this account, I may get him to 80 one day to replace the dirge on really tough zones.

Troub-My new toon to the mix when I went from 5 to 6 toons. He is not 80 yet and is ~100AA so his usefulness is not all that great yet. Once he is able to upgrade his defensive song with the mitigation AA and get upbeat temp to put on the Illy I think he will be a good addition. The group wide spell proc buff and the deagro song is nice for the casters add the +defence song for the tank and a few other toons and he works out ok.

I have thought about switching the pally to a SK once the templar is geared well enough to keep the low HP toons up by himself. I also may end up switching the Coercer out with a Lock/Wizzy, but I just dont have the desire to lvl another toon right now. Let me know what you guys think, I see some excellent posts and would welcome any comments.

[Captive2]

Really interesting group, with two bards and two enchanters. I have never seen that setup before, but it does make some sense. By having a paladin tank, you can get by a bit easier with a single healer. It sounds like your characters are very well-geared, with raid drops, mythics, etc. Those things will likely always be beyond my reach, as I'm in a guild by myself. Does most of your dps come from your bards or from your enchanters? I suppose with the overlapping buffs it would be a bit like having 4 dps classes, whereas most groups end up with one dps or two dps classes.

The fact that you mention TSO encounters tells me you're able to survive those with a single healer. That's very interesting. I've had it in my head that double healers at that level are an absolute necessity for 6-boxing, just because the margin for error with a single healer is so thin. With the right AAs, I suppose you can help offset some of that. I may try a single healer group sometime, just to see how it works. I'd probably go with either a warden or a templar, as my very limited perspective suggests those are the two most powerful pure healing classes.

You certainly don't have to worry about mana with that group. I run a troubadour/illusionist in my group, and that pairing with expert or master regen spells means I basically can't run out of power. I suspect that later encounters may involve strong power drains, and at that point dual mana regen may be a luxury I can't do without. Today, with the content I'm doing, it's overkill. My power never dips below maximum even on epic fights.

Good stuff. I enjoy reading about other people's groups and what works for them.