3-boxing to 6-boxing...need assistance

[shdwdrgn]

I am working on expanding my group setup so I can field a full group but am having a hard time deciding which classes to use. i have looked at pretty much every post in this forum but am still just as confused. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My current setup:
Berserker
Templar
Coercer

I am currently leaning towards a defiler for a second healer, dirge for the all the normal reasons, but I cannot decide for sure.

I also have no idea about the last slot. Thinking about Brigand, since that would go well with the melee buffs from the dirge and has some nice debuffs also, but has a lot of positional items also (right?). Also thinking about Warlock since that seems to mesh well with the defiler debuffs and has some good AoE to complement the zerker's AoE's. I've heard good things about swashies too though, so I have no idea really.

I am not dead set on any of the three slots so any advice anyone can give would be greatly appreciated. My main goal is to just be able to do instances myself.

Thank you all in advance!

[asgradth]

Dirge
Defiler
Warlock

And with that makeup, you are effectively a RAID Main Tank Group. I run the same 6-box setup, but I have a Guardian instead of a Zerker. With this group, there is literally nothing in the x1 scheme of things that you cannot do. In fact, once you get your epics, t2 shard armor and 150+ AA's, you should be able to take on lvl 80-83 x2 mobs with little trouble.

Yes, DPS is low, but survivability is HUGE. You really have to try hard to fail with this team. Things won't die quickly, but they will die.. and when you walk away from the fight, you'll generally be at full health and 90% power and running off to find other things to kill.

When I 'quit' last month, half the reason was I felt I 'beat' the game with my 6-box team. The only thing I hadn't done is tank a T3 or higher Raid, and honestly, I doubt i could do it with all the movement involved in some of those fights. If you want to 'beat the game' this setup will get you there.

Make sure you spend your AA's on all the skills that make your team(group) better, instead of say... specing your warlock to solo w/ Wards and roots. There are other routes you can take, but they won't be as efficient as the above (just my opinion).

g'luck

[Noxxy]

Have to agree with asg - the 3 chars he's picked will definately give you a good combination

There is maybe one possibly for a slight change and that comes down to you deciding whether you want caster DPS or melee DPS

A simple breakdown of the team asg and yourself have put together:
- warrior + temp & defiler - always a very strong combo - have a look on flames and I think you will find that most warriors choose these two healers for heavy runs
- coer - no brainer for a warrior - some nice hate transfers (tank & target) + many other benefits
- dirge - again, easy pick - dirge + zerk = pwnage
- lock, caster with nice aoe dmg OR you could grab yourself a rogue - if you've had a look at a few of my teams you prob see I tend to favour the melee whereas asg goes for the casters - BOTH WORK - and a 'lock makes an excellent caster
- for a rogue - lot of warriors like the brig due to dispatch but personally, I like the swash - lot of AOE and hate reduction/transfer - both do great DPS and both wear chain - and both go very nicely with a dirge in the team...

Welcome to the Dboxing forums!

Please note: I just noticed on the wikia that the names I have linked are prob not up-to-date with the latest GU52 but I am sure you could prob work out which spells I am talking about

Edit: Yes, both rogues work best from behind [especially with AVAST YE!!! - yer baby - taste it!] - BUT - a good tank normally spins the mob anyway so the rest of team doesn't get ripped so really no biggy - as long as they are in melee range they will do the damage - you may have probs slipping in a poke - but that comes down to practise and firing it off on inc (when close enough) or when spinning the mob - there is only 1 real attack from hiding which can also be fired off on inc (i.e., hide the rogue before pull etc.)

[shdwdrgn]

Thank you both for your information. I think I'm definite going to do a dirge and defiler since you both agree on that and that is what I was thinking also.

I'm still torn with warlock/brig/swash

Let me think out loud for a moment...

At the most basic level I'm not sure if I want melee or caster. I think caster may be easier since there's less worry on positioning and distance from mob. But I like some of the capabilities the brig/swash would bring.
They'd be good combo with the dirge for sure. Brig would have dispatch if I went that route, and the swash would bring the hate transfer, which may or may not be useful with a coercer and dirge already in the group.
Either the brig or the swash would have better survivability due to chain vs the cloth of the warlock.

Is there some glaring item I'm missing that'll make this decision easier or am I just SOL?

Also, I assume the best way to do the RAF with my setup is to do one from each of the currently existing accounts?

[Mooni]

I'm surprised no one from the SK camp has spoken up! Not surprised because it's right or wrong, but because it seemed like they were the preferred tanks (especially for multiboxers) and according to the Level_1-9 crowd.
So while this may be the most idiotic thing anyone ever said: I thought people used SKs more than guardian/berserker types.

Also Shdwdrgn, just as a heads-up: I tried to Refer-a-Friend my last account but something went wrong. I think it may have negated my RAF program when I put in my credit card info during sign-up. Not sure, but you might wanna look around some forums to find out if there's any traps, because it was highly annoying to have "single XP" levelling like that.

[Lyssia]

I'm surprised no one from the SK camp has spoken up! Not surprised because it's right or wrong, but because it seemed like they were the preferred tanks (especially for multiboxers) and according to the Level_1-9 crowd.
So while this may be the most idiotic thing anyone ever said: I thought people used SKs more than guardian/berserker types.

Also Shdwdrgn, just as a heads-up: I tried to Refer-a-Friend my last account but something went wrong. I think it may have negated my RAF program when I put in my credit card info during sign-up. Not sure, but you might wanna look around some forums to find out if there's any traps, because it was highly annoying to have "single XP" levelling like that.

I've used the RAF a lot. You HAVE to follow the instructions here exactly as written for it to actually link the accounts.

[Noxxy]

IMHO shd - it all comes down to your own preferred playstyle

I have played a tank for years in many mmpgs (started way back in UO) - and I have grown to like 'in your face melee' - and that is exactly how I play my team - no matter if they are squishies or healers - EVERYONE melees - I know the melee dmg off say a clothy is not the best but IMHO every bit helps

Locks are definately considered the 'king' of aoe - and like you mentioned, they are basically 'set and forget' - once they are locked on they can just blast away - Asg, could you provide a few comments re the lock and how you find playing it please so we get a balanced view of both sides of the coin?

As for rogues, they really need to be close and in behind to do the damage (but that's just a practise thing)

The way I think about rogues is the same way I think about the rest of the team - just leave everyone on /follow so they are in a blob - range pull some mob and either drag through your team or do a shuffle back then forward, spin - either way the mob will end up between the tank and the 'blob' - all within melee range - this exact techinique works just as well if you /stop the blob (i.e., disconnect the /follow) and body pull to your team

Another thing I like about rogues (and I use all the time) is smuggle - now this can (AND WILL) get your team into trouble (normally at the worst possible time) but it does save a lot of trash clearing if your just after a 'speed run' in a dungeon - I tend to have smuggle on my mouse toggle (logitech G5) - so one quick flick and I can group stealth on the run (the on the run is the important part - i.e., I don't have to keep stopping to cast like some clothies which actually does save a fair amount of time IMHO)

I honestly have had no exp with RAF so can't help you in that area - I do recall a lengthy post on RAF in the past though so a mini-search might turn up some info for you

@ Mooni - the only reason I haven't mentioned the crusader line is simply because shd has a zerk and looks like they are enjoying it - simply, that's the reason why we are all playing (to have a bit of fun) so no good peeing on their parade

[shdwdrgn]

ARG I forgot about smuggle...having group invis is definitely a good thing I think. I have a G5 also, which button do you use on it for smuggle?

And you are right, I do love my zerk, been playing him since pretty much the start of eq2. However, I am aware of the cabilities of SK's also, that is why I think my next group will have an SK as a tank

Now that I know that one piece of information that I WAS missing...(group invis)...I'm thinking I'll do brig or swash for this group. Looking at abilities it appears the brig has more single target abilities, plus dispatch which is always good. However the swash has AoE (wow...good AoE with Hurricane) and hate transfer. I'm not sure how useful hate transfer will be with already having a coercer and dirge, but the AoE capability does sound nice....but dispatch can be useful also. I'm leading more towards the swash I think because of the AoE and I like some of their AA lines. Think this is sound reasoning? or am I forgetting about something else?

And for the people in the warlock camp..don't worry, I'll be having a warlock in my other group I'm sure along with the SK

I am still in interested in hearing about the lock though.

[Noxxy]

G5 settings:
- I set the mousewheel toggle/tilt to be '[' for left tilt and '] for right
- I also set it to global so ALL games use exactly this same setting (INCREDIBLY powerful in FPS...)

It makes things incredibly fast for me to 'flick' without thinking - for instance with a rogue:
- my rouge smuggle is sitting off on an unused bar with '[' as its key
- I have multiplicity as my virtual mouse
- so all I need to do is zip my mouse off to the left (I have the DPS account to the left of my tank account where the mouse normally resides) - 1 quick left tilt - then a quick flick across the screens to bring the mouse back to the tank
- honestly imho takes mill-seconds (definately seems that way now)

The beauty of the G5 mousewheel tilt and multiplicity is that the cursor has to be on the screen you wish to the tilt key to work on - this way I can set up different commands for each screen
- for instance, I normally run with a pally when going deep - '[' (left tilt) is my litte heal and ']' (right tilt) is the 'common' big one
- this comes in really handy for instance an easy mob you'll come across will be the crawler queen in (Cavern of the afflicated)
- basically, after a few whacks the mob goes underground, but still causes damage to your group so you have to train it around for a bit before it resurfaces
- if your team is taking damage, and moving, the healers can't heal (i.e., not standing still to cast) whereas there's a good chance the pally will already be in the next position for attack - quick flick of the mouse - and even though it's only a mini-heal it's enough to top everyone up before the healers get to stand still and do their jobs

Hurricane is nice - but a shocker when you want to group mezz an encounter...(i.e., keeps hitting mobs = unmezzed mobs running round) - which is something to consider

Normally - when I run sk, it's the brig - pally is always the swash

TBTH, why not try both? I mentioned it in other posts but I think it is worth doing again - just race 1 of each to 20 and see what you see - think you will find that you have 'fanbois' with whole lists of pros'cons for each of the rogues and why theirs is better - so have a quick play and see which you prefer

[shdwdrgn]

Thanks for all the good info. I think I may try them both/all and see. Doesn't that encounter mez block AoE so hurricane wouldn't break it once it is on the mobs?

I have a little bit of time to kill while I decide how I want to do the other accounts. I currently have a troub and mystic on the current accounts that i could transfer to the new accounts and then betray. They are low adventure level so it won't help me there doing it really, but they are both high level crafters so I know I don't want to delete them. My other option is to just create new characters and keep the others for the future when I make another team, but not sure when that'll be so I cannot decide.