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

[shdwdrgn]

Hmm, this does put a kink in the swash idea. The brig may be a little easier to manage since they are mainly single target. Even with the hurricane issue and mez you still think the swash is better than the brig?

Cost per month is the same, just in USD.

I was considering waiting for the automated through the station marketplace to be setup which would cut the price in half, but that would still be pretty expensive. I think you are right, I'll just park em. and start new characters.

Also just thought of something else I forgot about...Warlocks get the portals. Which can be handy, but with the guild hall portals I'm not sure how useful. So far with the three I have I haven't really missed not having portals...

Edit: Just got done playing a brigand for a bit, lvl 9 so far..pretty fun so far definitely like it. But still have to try the other 2 hehe.

Edit 2: Also, what do you recommend for races? I'm thinking dark elf for defiler and dirge, but not sure about the defiler...Thinking Sarnak cause of a couple of the traits they get.

[Noxxy]

TBTH - I do run both rogues and I like both - It's just I have run the swash for longest so I tend to favour it more - as you've got the zerk + dirge IMHO I'd prob grab the brig as then you can better benefit from dispatch - be a nice whackfest

Portals are nice in the end game so that def would be a big positive to the warlock side as it saves so much travel time - personally, I just put up with boats and bells and plan out the shortest route before I even move

[shdwdrgn]

I was leaning towards the brig for this group also for the very same reason.

As for the portals, I haven't had one in group yet so I'm use to running around, plus the guild I'm in has the majority of portal's/bells I'd need in it and with the 15 minute recast of the CoGH it should do everything I need.

Since I know what I want now, I am currently working on getting my controls setup to be the most efficient. Currently I don't think they are all that great but they have worked so far. i'm pretty sure I'll need something better when I get into doing 6.

My current setup is such that my zerk is controlled normally, either through the 1 through = keys or the mouse. I control the other two with the use of the number pad. Here's how it looks, all on the numberpad:
0 = Assist
1 = Single target spells from Temp and Coercer
2 = AoE from Temp and coercer
3 = Debuffs from temp and coercer
4 = Single target small heal (temp)
5 = Single target reactive (temp)
6 = Group Reactive (temp)
7 = Single Target Large Heal (temp)
8 = Temp's single target ward that heals
9 = Group heal (temp)
Enter: Coercer's Peace of Mind

For 1 through 3, and I have macro in each of the characters that has all of the appropriate type of spells in it. The ones with the longest cast are at the top. This seems to work well if I keep spamming it to keep them casting. I also have each of the templar's heals set to cancel any current spell being cast so that the heal will start immediately.

I'm sure there has got to be a better way to do this, but I've gone through the wiki and forum posts and haven't really found anything. The wiki is where I got the idea to do the longest recast spells first on the macros and that does seem to work well.

I'm afraid that when I start adding in more characters I won't be able to use them all to their fullest. Spamming spells is great for a spellcaster, but for the dirge and brig I should allow time for the autoattacks also.

I know this is a HUGE question since there is so much you can/could do, but I'm totally lost as to how best to do this.

Thanks again!

Edit: After reading about some of the changes coming in the next expansion I wonder if I need to rethink any setups. Probably too early to tell, but some of the changes do sound promising...

[asgradth]

Shdwdrgn: Pick one and run with it. The core makeup of the team enables you to really never fail, the DPS toon is truthfully 'your call'. I can come up with valid arguments for either toon, and either will serve you just fine. I prefer Caster since i'm more of a 'Lazy' 6-boxer and prefer not to have to worry about position unless i 'have' to.

Hate X-fer: wizards, warlocks, swashes and brigands all have hate transfer, so don't worry about that. And yes, you still need it because Drige/Coercer bring LESS Hate to the table, but you still need to Generate Hate for the Tank, this is where your dps toon comes in. It will feed hate to the Tank, making it near impossible for anyone to steal Aggro once the tank gets it.

As for account setup... Spread out the RAFs or you'll find one account/toon gains xp way too fast and you'll have to disable all xp to let the others catchup, thereby wasting the RAF. Do one RAF for each existing account (3+3 i belive).

Smuggle/Group_Invis (swash) vs. Teleports (lock): Do you want to move around a dungeon quickly, picking off only the named... or do you want to move around the world faster and trudge through all the trash? If I had to do everything over again, I might could go Swash, but only for group invis. I'm running an Illy in my new 6-box team and i'm abusing Group Invis to every degree. There's nothing like clearing 6 named in Varsoon before the 1st one can repop!! I programmed a alt-mouse4 click to be group invis. Use a key that's easy to hit, and then force a modifier like alt/ctrl/shift, so you don't accidentally hit it and un-invis at an inopportune time.

And yes, Encounter Mezz is only broken when you direct target the mob and cast a single-target spell on it. I regularly start an encounter fight with an AOE Mezz, then follow up with AOE Nukes/Dots. Whatever isn't mezzed dies, the rest of the single target takedowns are cheeze. AOE Spells Can Not break Mezz, Period. It's a game Mechanic that I found hard to grasp after spending 6 years in EQ1 :cursing: . Hurricane, OTOH, does do weird things with Mezz. There are multiple posts on the official forums on this issue, read up on them for more info.

A few more notes...

You will never be happy with your team and it's setup. Never. Accept it. Even with my 'perfect' 6-man MT Group, a group that trounces any PUG and most normal Guild Groups, I wanted More (which is why i'm starting my 3rd team). Until your entire team is level 50 or so, you really won't know all that it can do. Your team at level 30 will play Completely Different once they hit level 50 or get another 21 AAs. Furthermore, until a Toon is level 30, it won't play any different than it's opposite (guard/zerker, warlock/wizard, dirge/troub, etc...), simply because the class specific spells don't really fire up until the late 20's and early 30's and do not finish firing until the high 50s, low 60s.

Shdwdrgn: You will never play your team to it's fullest. Don't even try. And don't worry! Even if you're only playing your chars at 60-70% efficiency, you're still going to play better than most PUGS. Adding to that, all your toons will be fully configured for Group play. Your Healers won't be spec'd for DPS. Your DPS won't be spec'd for Soloing. Your Tank won't be spec'd for Soloing. Your team will be 'optimally' configured, so they'll already be more efficient than most Solo'ers who run PUGs.

And here's the kicker... Once in awhile i'll drop a group member and bring in a Guild PC who needs an update in Chelsith or something... time and again, I hear that I run a kick ass team that is 'more better' than any other group the guild buddy has been in... And the problem with that is, from that point on, they keep asking me, "Hey man, can you run me through Voes really quick", and it's like... dude, I chose to 6-box so i wouldn't have to group with you! But I do it anyways, cause I know how they feel. Don't worry about being efficient, your setup alone is already more efficient than most PUGs, and that's before you start playing!

As for keys and spells. First and Foremost: Healing. Figure out how you're going to heal your team. Only focus on the major Heals and Wards/Reactives. Don't worry too much about the 'oh krap' 5min recharge heals, I rarely rarely rarely have to use them (in fact, I can't remember a single time they saved me). Once you have your heal keys down, slowly work in the rest of your keys.

I think you're over-thinking this, just a bit. You can create a macro button that has 'all' the heals in it. Each time you push that macro button, it will activate the next available spell (it's order is a bit off, watch it as you execute the macro to learn the pattern). Therefore, in theory, you can setup hot-keys like this:
1: Single Target Heals from both Healers
2: Single Target Wards/Reactives from both Healers
3: Aoe Heals
4: Aoe Wards/Reactives

In my case, I combined 3 & 4, more for ease of use than anything else. Believe you me, with a single target ward, single target reactive and the group wards/reactives... if all those are up at the beginning of a fight, healing will not be a problem. Especially since you're running a mentored Zerker. I honestly doubt you'll have to worry about healing until you get into a dungeon.

The best way to setup your box is to do what works for you. As i've said before, I've spent over a year tweaking my setup and i'm still tweaking it everynight. I've wiped all 10 hotbars and set them up from scratch multiple times across multiple toons. I've gone through 2 keyboards and three mice. I've almost completely re-mapped all the keys on my keyboard so that I can't even type text anymore... Almost every key does a special hotbar or button. It will never be perfect, but it will always be good enough.

The best advice I can give is to just do it. Just start boxing. Don't worry that you're not using all of your skills, use only the ones you need. Don't worry that your defiler or templar isn't doing DPS, they're just there to heal and debuff. Don't worry that your Dirge isn't meleeing, his dps won't matter too much until end game anyways.

Once your team is around level 28-30, take them into Varsoon's. I betcha you'll find your current setup isn't working and you'll have to start over again (that's what I did!). And then, when you hit level 80 and start doing Shard Runs, you'll not understand how you got this far into the game with such a messed up setup and you'll have to start all over again, again! (got the t-shirt on that one too). And finally, once you start raiding... yeah, you know where I'm going

Don't worry about what you're going to do later. Worry about what spells and Abilities you have right now and configure your group to use them as you go. Then, when you hit the next level, do it again... and again... It's alot easier to deal with if you only plan for what you have access too... Cause who knows, in 2mos time you may trash your team and start over again, again, again !

g'luck and keep us posted on your achievements!

And Noxxy, to answer your question on the Wizard's DPS... She is a tad ahead of my Conjy in terms of flat out DPS... but i'm not seeing any weirdness. On the single up arrow mobs and below, stuff just dies too fast for her dps to really count... but against the triple ups and x2 roaming named mobs, she shines.

I've found a semi-decent way of keeping a mob in perpetual stun/root lock with my team (sk, illy, warden, conjy, wizard, troub)... so much so that I aoe rooted/aoe_nuked Mibble Toad and a few other named mobs in varsoon without ever having to use my SK. I know this won't hold up in RoK dungeons, but it's definately fun to aoe root/nuke orange named mobs :thumbsup:

[shdwdrgn]

Thanks for the LONG post asgradth. It helped me a LOT. I tend to over-think things trying to get the best when I could just do it and tweak as necessary.

I think I will make use of the smuggle/group invis a lot more than I would ports. I have been surviving without them so far so why not a little longer heh. I tend to be more on the lazy side so the warlock would be nice for that, but I want the group invis so I'll a scout a try..what's the worst that happens? I don't like it and remake the char? hehe

I'll give that healing macro a try. It sounds like a good idea to have the one macro do a round robin (as it were) of the different spells.

Thank you all for the help, and rest assured that I will keep you up to date and will try to help others along the way.

I have a couple of questions about the RAF. I wasn't able to find this information anywhere. How long do the perks last for? Such as the 3x bonus? I'm assuming the mount is permanent. Any other cool information they don't list about it? Is it possible to RAF twice on one account and get both of the mounts?

Thanks again!

[Captive]

I think my "temporary" RAF bonuses ran out recently. I can no longer "go to" a linked account. But my mounts are still available, so it appears those are not temporary perks. I haven't tried to claim a second mount on the same character, but I believe there are 2 available per account.

[Frosty]

Bah.. stupid home projects, I miss everything!



I'm from the SK camp.... and I friggen LOVE em. They can not take hits like a Guardian though, but the AoE aggro, and increased DPS make up for it.
Add in my Defiler and Warlock...and everything things drops FAST... I'm sure I could get a little more DPS out of this group if I dropped one of the healers, but I like the survivability of my group.



My playstyle is probably a little different than everyone else... I almost refuse to use any crowd control. My theory is that dead mobs can't hurt you. :thumbup:

[asgradth]

My playstyle is probably a little different than everyone else... I almost refuse to use any crowd control. My theory is that dead mobs can't hurt you. :thumbup:

Frosty, your theory is Valid. At level 50, with my 'dps' team from above, mobs die so fast, that the only mobs I really need to heal on are Yellow ^^^ and higher. Anything else just DIES. And SK isn't a bad tank at all. Now that mine has 78 AAs and legendary/fabled gear from all the Everfrost/Lavastorm quests, he's holding aggro and taking shots ALMOST on par w/ my lvl 80 mentored Guardian (almost). And that extra Evac + Harm Touch just makes life even more fun.

An np, Shdwdrgn... Yeah, i'm long-winded at times... you should see my technical write-ups for failures I find while at work (i'm a cpu/chipset/video tester)... Even the engineers complain I give them too much info . So how's the team coming along? What level/AA's/Interesting things have you done/tried/accomplished?

[Redbeard]

edit: made my own post and it wont let me delete this, ugh

[Redbeard]

edit: made my own post and it wont let me delete, ugh.