What do you box, and why?

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

  1. Jugo!

    Jugo! People Like Me

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    Used to do War / Clr / Wiz. Reason? Best in each role's category on Al'Kabor. Also minimal keystrokes.

    On here, when I started, everyone and their grandmother, and the grandmother's best friend, and the best friend's cousin, and THAT cousin's daughter plays a tank / clr / something.

    So I did it different this time around- Shm / Rog / Wiz. I couldn't really give up the Wiz, ports ftw. Shm can tank kinda sorta similarly to Bsts, (I do wonder how a big fat shield compares to losing block/riptose, etc) but not dps, clearly, hence the other 2 classes' options. I do miss pacify or being able to split stuff, however. If I ever flesh out alts, would be a pally (yeah I know what I just said) and Bard. Bard and Wiz were 2 my favorite alts on AK, and the same will probably remain true on here. Mobility ftw.
     
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  2. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    Wtb rerolled Fanglore, the correct class
     
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  3. Tarkon

    Tarkon Well-Known Member

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    Ehhh not so much in ToV.
     
  4. Ransom

    Ransom Well-Known Member

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    I started off here as Paladin Shaman Necro. On paper, this combo has everything, and is quite effective for a few other people on this server, but for me there was just too much happening. Keeping up canni and buffs on shaman while also main healing, along with an active necro (a class I hadn't played much before).

    After my break, I rolled Druid, and later Beastlord. Now my trio is Paladin/Druid/Beastlord. Druid is much less active than Shaman, and provides a dirty casual like me teleports and quick access to towns to sell. It would be hard to give that up. Beastlord provides good additional dps, slows, eventually mana regen/haste, and I can easily run up to a mob, slow/auto attack and then focus on paladin to stun and move mobs.

    Trio has rez, hp buffs, mana regen buffs (at 59), haste, slow, pacify, teleports, damage shield, snare, pet dps and a variety of gear choices. Also, animal charm in some zones (chardok, POS, PoTactics) can be amazing. On the plus side, I haven't played any of these 3 classes beyond level 50 before, so something new is nice.
     
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  5. Suriinya

    Suriinya Well-Known Member

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    I don't.
     
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  6. Beaaden

    Beaaden Active Member

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    When I box I can start camping mobs right when I log on and also any mob I want. If I single box then I will be limited to outside zones kiting and LFG all night.
    Bard / Cleric / Necro
    It is what works for me.
    Bard = puller, tank, mez, charm, mana regen, resist buffs, pacify song, resist debuff, extra snares, single target slow (not the best but works), PBAE slow / snare, fastest run speed.
    Cleric = rezzer, healer, AOE pacify, Atone, HP buffs, HoTs.
    Necro = DPS, puller, snares, mez, pet can tank, corpse summon, extra rez, FD, feeds mana to cleric, fastest mana recover in game., undead slow and charm in POP.
    With this trio there is little down time and I can pull at a faster pace without going OOM every 20 min.
    Downtime is really no more than 2 to 4 min. every hour or so. I haven't found anything I couldn't camp yet.
    Tips:
    Bard - Learn to kite, learn to charm, learn to mez, twist, mez, attack.
    Use Angstlich's Assonance to keep aggro and recast it even though slow hasn't dropped yet.

    Cleric - camp for those HoT spells and use them always.

    Necro - FD during fights to drop aggro. Use all your skill points on research and learn to research your Lich spells. Learn how to snare pull. Use Cascading Darkness instead of Dooming, cascading doesn't get resisted as much and costs less mana. Also don't AFK while in Lich.

    My bard had became my main on Al'kabor and before that my main was a necro. I think it helps to understand the capabilities of your characters in order to stay strong in those situations when you have 7 mobs in camp and want to live.

    Also if you can bard while drunk, you can bard anytime.
     
    Last edited: Apr 22, 2017
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  7. J1zmak

    J1zmak Well-Known Member

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    I play SK/wiz/wiz. I never really play solo so this brings a lot of utility to the group/guild. I can pull and tank easily with the SK. The wizards let me bring DPS, PBAE, ports/TLs/evacs with minimal micromanagement and gear investment.

    For any times I am playing solo, it's usually on easier content to farm items, keys, mats, etc. The wizards are basically a supercharged HT with a six second cooldown, so I can melt faces before taking any real damage on the SK.
     
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  8. tibbs

    tibbs Member

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    I just started yesterday, but I have a lot of boxing experience including live and other emus.

    As for why I box, it's because I've been boxing since 2003 or so on live, and just haven't really looked back. I love and prefer grouping, but man, being able to do quests without sitting around looking for a tank or healer or slower or whatever to do them is pretty freaking amazing. Making /lfg optional but preferred, and not necessary, is a HUGE plus for EQ no matter which way you slice it.

    On live I had access to 3 accounts I owned, which I played sk/shm/clr (but i started with just 1 and got the clr to raid level before starting the others, so the others were more of a duo that got integrated in) and eventually 5 boxed including my friends accounts, and was running sk/clr/shm/brd/zerker, but that's not as relevant to a 3 box server that will finish at PoP.
    On p2002, my first trio was war/dru/mag, which turned into war/dru/bst, which turned into war/clr/brd after I alt-quested into oblivion and had six 60s and 1 of every class post 40, but that server is behind me.

    Here, I wanted to try something different. After doing my original trio without a slower, I learned that past vanilla, slows are pretty key, and although I never lived without either bard speed or ports prior, I'm giving it a shot with sk/clr/bst this run through.

    I Almost went with enchanter, but I figured the FD from SK makes up for lack of mez for more difficult camps, and I still have cleric to paci, so paci + FD makes for a potent splitting trio. The no haste until 60 kinda sucks, and enc charm pet dmg is unparalleled, plus mana regen and other enchanter tools, but all in all, im lazy, and pet classes are the best for lazies, and I thought shm would be just too slow leveling with that little dps until later. Additionally, you just simply can't beat cleric heals/buffs, and SK doesn't have defensive like war, but has many more tools and better non-gear dependent aggro to make up for it.

    Finally, the bst is a weaker slow than enc or shm, and doesnt have haste until 60, but pet dps is the safest and easiest box dps ever in my experience, plus I get 50% slow included in my pet class. I know shm pets are half decent too, but the greater dps makes up for the lack of better slows/buffs, and mana regen for the cleric is pretty key as well. plus spirit strength stacks with the clr/bst buffs that already stack.

    All in all I'm excited by my trio, whose greatest weaknesses are no backup CC, no ports, only 1 gater (gonna try and actually farm the OT hammer faction while xping this time), limited to single cast sow (and not until lvl 30), and only bst slows/haste, but I think the benefits heavily outweigh the detriments, and especially post 30 and getting my OT hammers, travel won't be TOO much of an issue.

    Also my two melee (SK and bst) are ogre/iks respectively, so they start at least somewhat in a decent range for OT hammer factioning. my clr on the other hand is a halfling, which is actually the master race, but can be neither an SK or a BST, so i am forced to make more educated decisions on stats and crap, instead of just being able to make the obvious choice of halfling for all classes.

    Oh for tips:
    if you're a war, dump everything into getting good aggro weapons, cuz keeping aggro prior to getting raid geared and uber powerful is no joke. Also learn the taunt key. Only use it when you lose aggro, never to get aggro, but this also necessarily teaches you aggro management on your other toons, which is hugely helpful. Lastly be super liberal with defensive disc once you get it. Often times with multi pulls, defensive disc and not needing a heal until you down the first few mobs is way better than trying to CC on the fly, is way easier to do as a boxer, and defensive has a 10min cooldown, which is not long. Oh and another thing: a well timed furious discipline for both aggro and dps can be significantly better than defensive with big pulls, because the riposte aggro will allow your healer to fire off a couple, if not more heals without taking aggro, but furious has a significantly longer cooldown, so use wisely.
    For druid, don't be afraid to evac. Druid snare/root is an incredible backup CC and everyone overlooks the fire ac debuff DoT line, use it. using bind becomes an incredibly efficient tool for keeping peoples' inventories clear and maximizing profits from camps with the ability to port to hub zones and simply gate back. This also comes in handy for questing, for instance when I was doing my cleric epic, I just bound clr/dru at the timorous oasis, and instead of having to run there for each subsequent turnin, I was able to just gate on clr, logon druid, and gate and port him back to pok to keep playing. Egress is also king for raids and picking up late comers in conjunction with a mage, so try and get it.
    Mage: focus summons are incredibly OP. I'm not sure if they're available on this server yet, but if they are, use them. mana pres on detrimental spells and 20% improved dmg summon spells are ridiculous. CoTH tricks can get pretty fancy for pulling and for saving camps in conjunction with a druid. If you're soloing, chain casting fire pet is awesome. Mage DS + fire resist (aegis of ro or cadeu of flame) can and should always be up on tank for DS, but also actually add a substantial FR. modrods are not just for raids, they're freaking awesome always, and make for great twink weapons for newbies (8/26 1hb is pretty solid).
    Bst: not much to say here, everything's pretty straightforward. Just don't rely on melee dps. Standing back and being a ghetto shm with an uber strong pet is actually very viable, and not much of a loss for group dps, since BSTs don't actually ever get double attack skill, just a ghetto DA AA in PoP at lvl 62, and you can't med while you're attacking.
    Cleric: always keep up at least 2 DAs. Other than that, just remember HoTs bring almost zero aggro, so use them whenever you can, especially on big pulls. plus 59 HoT is only 300 mana, compared to 400 of CH. Oh also, always remember to yaulp V during fights. That extra mana regen is no joke.
    Brd: learn how to do everything. Immensely high skill ceiling, especially without /melody. Not for the faint of heart if you want to maximize, but extremely useful even as an afk bot for whatever you decide to use them for (haste/slow/regen/TRAVEL/pulling/cc/kiting, etc.)

    SK: still learning, this is probably my least played class in era. On live I didn't start mine until LDoN+, so I have very little knowledge of this era.
     
    Last edited: Apr 15, 2017
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  9. Yaximus

    Yaximus Member

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    There is a few puppet strings on the server so just ask in general and usually you can use one to get your OT hammer. I guess you didn't have recharging on p2002 so probably wasnt common.
     
  10. tibbs

    tibbs Member

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    They had vendor recharding prior to titan, but even then, puppet string charges weren't free. As this is my first trio, I was trying to be frugal through the leveling process, but if they're reasonably priced, that's a different story...

    What do charges usually run here?
     
  11. Elroz

    Elroz I Feel Loved Staff Member

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    I think a recharge is around 1k, people generally don't charge much. I'd guess you could get OT hammer for around 150-200p per charge use.
     
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  12. tibbs

    tibbs Member

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    So I'm immediately feeling the lack of track as I planned on my level process and thought about gettin seb keys later...

    Guess I'm already feeling the alt-aholic syndrome with my mains at lvl 5/6.

    Time to make a druid, and I think a mnk/enc to compliment :D
     
  13. Mascha

    Mascha People Like Me

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    @tibbs: If you see me online and need your Seb keys, I can key your group in about 30 minutes. Send me a tell. Even at level 5...
     
  14. tibbs

    tibbs Member

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    haha good to know! my playtime is incredibly scattered and unreliable with my new job and being a new parent, which is why i tend to just alt my way to self-sufficiency for quests and such, but ill let you know for sure! Thanks!

    P.S. I might wait until I'm a BIT higher level ;)
     
  15. Neealana

    Neealana People Like Me

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    Mascha is a PRO at the forager/hunter cycle !
     
  16. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    But you have to sing songs by the Hoff to repay her

    #german
     
  17. Sverder

    Sverder Well-Known Member

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    On live I played a paladin. Sometime around Luclin I started boxing a shaman for easier exp when I couldn't find a group. Later on around OoW (maybe later?) I added a berserker alt who I really enjoyed to make an occasional 3 box crew, but it was still mainly centered around improving my paladin.

    Here I wanted to play a paladin again. I really enjoy how well the class shines in single groups. Because play time is sporadic and very rarely more than a couple hours in a stretch, I felt the need to box again. I contemplated just 2 boxing with a shaman, but when you're allowed to 3 box, it is hard to say no to the power that brings. To assist my paladin, I added a druid and enchanter. The combo really has just about everything, assuming you charm for DPS.

    All 3 are 57, but I'm beginning to wish I had chosen something else. With charm, it is a very powerful set up, but I don't like the constant attention that charm requires. I want to focus on the paladin, not the enchanter. Plus, I dislike not easily being able to go AFK for a few minutes if one of the kids wakes up. I'm thinking of switching the boxes to either shaman/necro or shaman/rogue. But having drunk the charm kool-aid, it is going to be difficult to make a change...

    If I had more play-time and more consistent play times, I'd try to single box the paladin with only a shaman box for the times when no group could be found.

    Delvean
     
  18. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    Zumaik does a lot more damage than what people think. It's no charm pet but if you are like me and like to randomly afk then it works well
     
  19. Caiu99

    Caiu99 New Member

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    Right now I'm playing with a Cleric and Monk. Not sure how some of you can handle three at once. From reading through the rules I don't think input broadcasting is allowed so you must switch between windows to cast a heal or what not. I considered a Shaman instead of the cleric but I didn't think there would be anyway I could both canni dance and pull. Playing with my box I almost regret not going Druid as the healer simply for Snare. Fleeing mobs and the crappy low level root breaking so often has caused more zoning than anything else. As I get higher up though I'm sure it will get better. /gripe
     
  20. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    It's true.

    Cleric hammer pet also shouldn't be ignored. Backstabs over 200.

    Muscle memory
     
    Last edited: Apr 18, 2017
  21. Suriinya

    Suriinya Well-Known Member

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    Enchanter animations in general have a bad rap. Like any other tool, they are extremely useful in certain situations if you have bothered to learn how to properly use them.
     
  22. Locnar

    Locnar Member

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    Yeah Ive found its much easier and more laidback/enjoyable to just 2 box. While leveling up I think i'm gonna stick to 2 box, but maybe 3 when I'm camped in one place and need the extra firepower.
     
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  23. Darchon

    Darchon I Feel Loved

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    This is a bug I've been meaning to get around to posting.

    I think the Cleric pet is pulling on data from the Cleric AA swarm pet from Live.

    http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:Celestial_Hammer

    The Cleric Unswerving Hammer spell should have a normally generated pet name, not CLERIC'S PET. It also shouldn't backstab. But I haven't checked my logs yet to confirm the later... but I'm pretty sure that's the case.
     
  24. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    #ravenwinged
     
  25. Lenas

    Lenas I Feel Loved

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    Oh good, so I don't have to raise my cleric's conjuring after all.
     
  26. pharmakos

    pharmakos People Like Me

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    necro could allow you to still charm undead sometimes while having the option of using native pet. best of both worlds?
     
  27. Pithy

    Pithy I Feel Loved

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    In this era, the mage epic pet is pretty much a charmpet minus charm. Tanks like a beast and cranks out mean DPS. Just sayin'.
     
  28. Bum

    Bum I Feel Loved

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    a lot of the dps on epic is the DS, but with a pally tanking wouldn't do as much~
     
  29. Gumgak

    Gumgak Active Member

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    From my experience, it's easier to either start with just a 2-box or have a very low-maintenance 3rd box to learn how to do it, and then build yourself up from there. For example, when I started my Beast/Druid/Bard, I basically just 2-boxed the Beast and Druid, and treated the Bard as an afk mana battery. As I began to get more comfortable with the 2box, I would gradually start switching over to the bard to twist in a haste song, and then twist in mana/haste/damage shield or something, so by time I dropped the bard in favor of my cleric, I could 3box fairly competantly.
     
  30. Ripwind

    Ripwind People Like Me

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    I haven't played in a while, and my toons are all low to mid 50's, but I was originally running BL(54)/Cleric(53)/Bard(53). However, that started to feel a little inefficient after a while (Especially in emergency situations) and I leveled up an enchanter(51) to replace the bardie.