What do you box, and why?

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Superindeed, Apr 12, 2017.

  1. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    While I'm bored at work I thought this would make an interesting topic of discussion. I've always been intrigued by boxing in Everquest, it's one of the only games I've played where playing two or more characters at once is viable, fun, and increases the entertainment of the game for me personally. I'm interested in getting other's thoughts and experience on the subject. It's also fun to theorycraft.

    Why do you choose to box?
    What classes do you play?
    Why did you pick those classes?
    How has the experience with these characters gone? Do you have tips for other players on your box?
    Will you make a new box in the future, if so what classes and why?

    I'll start off:
    One big reason TAKP attracted me is the option to box. I chose to box two characters because I like to be self sufficient but still have the option of grouping when I can. I've never boxed 3 characters at once and I feel like I might get over whelmed. That being said I'll probably try to 3 box in the future once I get established with my current pair.
    I currently box a Shadowknight and Shaman. They've always been my favorite classes in the game, so why not play both of them. They compliment each other really well so far. Shaman buffs benefit melee characters greatly, along with good slows my SK is very durable in most situations. The SK's taps help supplement the Shaman's weaker healing with taps. There are a few big disadvantages to the pair though. At low levels It's very dependent on the SK's gear. The SK has to do the majority of the damage, since most of the Shaman's mana goes into Slow/Healing/low mana dots. This issue will get alleviated a bit when the Shaman get's his wolf pet and better gear. Another disadvantage at lower levels has been travel. While I do have SoW, the lack of Invisibly and ports has been a pain. This will get better at 30 when both classes get access to invis. If I'm deep in a dungeon I have to fight my way out for the SK due to not being able to port/gate/invis him out. It's been a tough pair to play as my first characters on the server, but with help from the community donating me gear, and buying gear from the bazaar it's been going well.

    Like I said earlier I'll probably try to 3 box in the future. I haven't decided on what classes, but a paladin/druid/dps (mage maybe?) combo sounds like it could be fun.
     
  2. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    Druid/Cleric/Enchanter

    Makes the game faster pace and lets me do about any single group camp by myself from now through PoP.

    I hate asking others for help and this allows me to limit that substantially.
     
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  3. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    Ranger/Cleric/Enchanter. Similar reasons to Darchon. I have always played a Ranger so that was set in stone. I tried to make a trio that would be future proof, Ranger and Chanter are very strong in POP.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2017
  4. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    they both play clerics to rez their dead ranger/chanters actually
     
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  5. Haynar

    Haynar Administrator

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    Sk/Clr/Shm. Its what I played on EQlive. I tried other combos, but I went back to what I enjoyed the most.
     
  6. Haynar

    Haynar Administrator

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    Any class is fine with Bum. There are no restrictions on dragging his own corpses.
     
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  7. benoeb

    benoeb People Like Me

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    Because I play on west coast times and apparently NO ONE ELSE on this server plays from 6pm to 12am pacific standard time on a regular basis

    Paladin, Shaman, Wizard

    Tanking/Pulling, Utility, & Damage bases are covered

    It has been great. Only tip I have is when you are using a pacify puller make sure to use F9 to look around corners before pulling because you think pacifying 3 mobs is "enough"

    I made a rogue for the sole purpose of unlocking doors in Sebilis and Chardok. If I make another character it will be a mage because I need another CoH bot
     
  8. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    I play on the west coast in the evening, mountain time. We'll have to do some groupage when I get higher.

    This is pretty similar to what I'm running. Funny enough I was thinking of leveling a wizard some time to run with my SK/Shaman.
     
  9. benoeb

    benoeb People Like Me

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    For sure. Props to the ALL MIGHT avatar. Super hyped for Season 2 just starting.
     
  10. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    Yeah I just started watching it again, good shit.
     
  11. Gumgak

    Gumgak Active Member

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    Because boxing allows me a basically prepackaged group that I can use when I can't find other folks to group with, or if I can't find help with Camp A, Mob B, Zone C, etc.

    I started off with Beastlord/Bard/Druid, but swapped to Beastlord/Druid/Cleric.

    Beastlord because it's what I mained back on AK and is the class I'm most familiar with. Tanking ability is actually somewhat moderate, warder is solid dps, plus I have Slow and shaman-line buffs. Cleric for solid heals/HP buffs/rez/indoor Pac, and druid for full-out utility: buffs, damage shields, backup/spot heals, snare, DoTs, Harmony and most importantly ports/evac. Synergizes incredibly well.

    The bard used to be for afk mana song essentially, until I realized I would have less downtime swapping the bard out for the cleric instead of having the druid do everything AND primary heals.

    It's gone great.

    I'm a total Alt-oholic, so I'll always have a swarm of alts. Some of the combos I've been considering have been Shaman/Shadowknight/(Bard), and/or possibly Shaman/Paladin/(Wizard)
     
  12. gardnerjens

    gardnerjens People Like Me

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    i box 3 clerics 3 wizards
     
  13. Draeko

    Draeko Active Member

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    I started boxing because I thought I wouldn't play too much, so it'd be a great way to always have a group. Almost two years and many 60s later, so much for that lol

    My first trio was druid, paladin, and enchanter. Druid's been my favorite class since I first tried one back in 2001. My brother convinced me to play a paladin over a shadowknight around that time too, and that stuck. Then I picked enchanter because it rounded those 2 out well, and high elf enchanter was my first ever EQ character. Though I lost my corpse and ended up starting my paladin after that, so it seemed the perfect time for a revisit (plus the almighty KEI eventually on a PoP server).

    These 3 sync together really well, though the dps is low without a charm pet or high end gear. I'd never boxed before TAKP, but I got the hang of it by lvl 20 or so by just jumping in and using the box switching tools available

    I'm also an alt-oholic, just like I was on live. So, I have a mage, necro, bard, a retired pally (human, I now use high elf to match my classic pally), wizard, monk, and ranger.

    I plan on making a beastlord for luclin too. I want to lvl through the luclin zones
     
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  14. Fadetree

    Fadetree People Like Me

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    Well, first and foremost, I am a Ranger. It's been that way since June 1999, I dunno why exactly. So I always have a Ranger 'main', more or less. I like druids too, because sticking with a wis caster lets them share gear to some extent and I like the GTFO factor of the succor spells. Back on live I played a ranger, druid, shaman set, but while on other emu's I got into enchanter and I really like them a lot. SO, thats what I have now, Rng,Dru,Enc. Not the best possible setup but I enjoy playing it a lot, plus I enjoy each class separately too.

    I'm not an altoholic, so I will probably stick to these mainly. I've never played bard, so I plan on trying one out at some point.

    It's going fine, having a lot of fun.
     
    Last edited: Apr 12, 2017
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  15. Tyrion

    Tyrion Well-Known Member

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    Ench Druid cleric cuz it's nearly perfect. I may sub Druid out in Luclin or PoP for a Mage for that sweet malo, coth, pet toys, tanky pet to hold mobs attention on breaks. I played dru/enc/mag/bard mostly on AK so I'm comfortable with this box. Probably use Druid to plvl Beast later on with a wiz perhaps.
     
  16. Videri-Tala

    Videri-Tala Well-Known Member

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    Beastlord, cleric, necromancer.
    I love how tanky my Iksar beastlord is, and though his damage is minimal, his pet's damage is huge. There have been times I thought he would die and he has simply toughed it out. Even just Drowsy, the 20% slow, was great for 50 levels (and I believe it overwrites enemies' haste).
    I enjoy the subtle power of clerics, and his AC and HP buffs and efficient healing allow the beastlord to chain-kill. Plus the all-powerful Pacify line.
    The necromancer brings a surprising amount of damage - I do miss her when I am just playing bst/clr - plus surprisingly good healing, twitch (even the bst (needs it sometimes), and other utility.
    These three also have very little gear overlap. Physical, wisdom, int; leather, plate, cloth. That means I don't usually have to farm/buy two of anything, and I can make use of many items/quests in some way. For instance, I got a 7th shawl on my cleric, and an eyepatch and 8th ring on my beastlord.
    One is a melee, which few people play here, allowing me to stand out and benefit from melee gear; yet two are casters and not hard to box.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2017
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  17. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    I chose to box to allow me to play when my play time allows me. I generally only reliably play m-f 8am-noon cst which is just me and the aussie felons online. I box to be able to do what I want, when I want and not have to poke around waiting on others.

    I box a bst. Beast are the best class. I can tank/dps/slow/heal. My tanking in mainly all bis gear is equal to almost any plate tank once mobs are 50% slowed but unlike them, I can actually dps. My main on AK was a beast from 08-shutdown and played one a lot during eqlive. Then I have the following additions mage/cleric/druid in that order. My trio dps of bst/mage/cleric is more than likely one of the highest trios available specially since I don't want to charm since I afk a lot for work/kids/etc

    These are the only alts I will have mainly because I have access to best in slot geared any other class I want.
     
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  18. Tarkon

    Tarkon Well-Known Member

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    I box because I wanted to play a rogue and wanted to have self-sufficiency. I originally boxed Rogue/Cleric/Mage to level up my rogue. I am in the process of leveling up an enchanter (currently level 55) to swap places with my mage.
     
  19. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    Thanks for the interesting replies everyone. How often do you guys group? If you see someone running a single character or 2 boxing, do you let them join if you're grinding, or do you prefer to do your own thing?
    I go AFK randomly, so at some points I prefer to just do my own thing, but when I know I have a few hours of uninterrupted time I'll actively seek people to group with. There's a been a few times when I see someone 3 boxing in the same area as me and I offer to join them, but I've been turned down. It's a bummer but I think at lower levels people are more often power leveling their characters.
     
  20. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    I don't generally send out a beacon when I head off to grind something because I am a very casual player. I am not the pbaoe, constant charm, always have a mob in camp kind of guy. All of my characters are max exp so if I go to camp something I am content only killing the few spawns I am required to and then going semi afk until the next round. If someone comes by and wants to join me in that, I never turn them down, but playing with me is not exactly exciting.
     
  21. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    This is what most of Lenas's dates think too.
     
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  22. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    Shots fired!
     
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  23. Gumgak

    Gumgak Active Member

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    You box a troll. A troll can never be a real beast, because it's not an ogre.
     
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  24. Sketchy

    Sketchy People Like Me

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    I started by boxing Pal/Shm/Dru. Paladin, because that is what I started EQ with during Velious Era Live, and what I also mained for my brief stay on EQMac. I love the class. Shaman I picked up to complement my EQMac pally and also came to really enjoy the class, and the two work well together. The druid was because back on EQMac I found I was borrowing my buddies druid so frequently for random things, ports, tracking, backup heals, power levelling that I knew here I wanted their utility, I also have really come to enjoy playing him. Levelling Pal/Shm/Dru from scratch was somewhat brutal, just slow kill speeds and you really need to work to keep DPS up. That said for travelling around norrath, random questing, ports the druid is just so so valuable.

    For raids I have a rogue that I swap out for the druid. We needed DPS in austerity, and I am stilll one of the only regularly raiding rogues. I have a lot of fun with him too, something relaxing about watching all that DPS fly by. I like being able to hook people up with ST keys and other lockpicking duties. Plus it is kinda fun to collect the masks. Come PoP they get some fun new abilities like Escape AA and SoS.

    I am somewhat jealous of what great ench/clr/dru teams can do, Charm and CHEAL are such op spells. But not jealous enough to add more alts to upkeep.
     
  25. Superindeed

    Superindeed Member

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    Coming on the server I found it really interesting that enchanter/cleric combo was so popular. I didn't realize charming was that powerful. It seems to be a "meta" on the server. When I played on other servers that allowed boxing, the norm seemed to be melee/healer, or pet class/healer. Will this cleric/enchanter meta fall out of favor when PoP comes around, or was that just as powerful in the old AK era?
    I don't think I could run a box with something like a cleric/enchanter, I enjoy melee classes too much, and being able to melee and run a healer feels "right" to me. Probably why my next box will involve a monk or paladin.
     
  26. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    If anything it will be even more powerful. Enchanters are a power house in POP.

    Why I play what I do. Come Luclin/PoP though my Ranger will switch to ranged attacks because of AA and tanking will be done by charms.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2017
  27. Faults

    Faults I Feel Loved

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    I play monk druid enc primarily because the synergy by pop will be outstanding and already the combo enables me to do most content.

    For the current content I rarely charm other than as a pull assist. Some value the dps - I prefer a steady consistent burn. Enchanters are far more than charm.
     
    Last edited: Apr 13, 2017
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  28. Fairen Height

    Fairen Height New Member

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    chanter, ranger, cleric. You have charm, heals, buffs, and the best DPS in game! Chanters > all
     
  29. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    Yeah, they effectively double the output of every other class.
     
  30. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    Wtb Fairen spawn