New Player - Box and Class Question

Discussion in 'General Discussion' started by Krelkain, May 10, 2020.

  1. Krelkain

    Krelkain New Member

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    2
    Hello everyone and well met! I was interested in giving this server a try and do something I haven't done before -- 3-way boxing. I've been searching the forums for some tips, but could use a little more feedback.

    To give a little history I played the game up to Velious in the way-back. I didn't play when Luclin was introduced. I later returned to EQ on Project 1999 and played there a little bit. Now that I'm aching for an MMO with distinct classes and challenge I wanted to give this another spin.

    Question 1) I'm wanting to 3-box with a Shaman in the mix. What would be good compliments to that? What might be easier to box for a boxin' newbie?

    Question 2) How neat is the Beastlord class and what manner of playstyle does it have? How tanky is it?

    Question 3) Does Al'Kabor have that teleporting area (plane of knowledge I think it's called?) If so, how do you get there?


    Thank you, everyone!
     
  2. rosenthm1

    rosenthm1 Member

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    24
    Welcome.

    1) my personal view is that shaman is a much weaker 3-box class than 2-box class. however I think tank + shaman + dps should be very strong. they just aren't gods like they are in 1- or 2- box settings. i guess one strength of them in a 3-box environment is that they can fulfill both slower and healer role, if you have two other toons you really to play and neither can fill either role. however, if you're looking to construct the strongest possible 3 box, i think in almost all settings you could do better by swapping the shaman for either an enc or a cleric, depending on group comp.

    2) beastlords are incredibly strong small-group tanks because of their versatility. at 60, you have a 50% slow, knight-like aggro tools, strong passive dps from pet, extra mana regen that stacks with most things, a pretty good "oops" button in paragon for mana crises, and the ability to tank most/all group content. there are players on this server that 3-box difficult content with beastlord tanks. and you don't even need maxed out gear to do so.

    3) yes. through the usual pok books, in e.g. nexus and most newbie zones.

    By way of background, I currently run with bst/enc/cler as my main trio. Swapping bst out for warrior gradually, though. I leveled as bst/nec/cler. If you have any questions you can contact me in game @bare, @mindell, or @jmfj.
     
    Last edited: May 10, 2020
  3. Faults

    Faults I Feel Loved

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    1,892
    1) paladin or sk and some sort of dps (I recommend mage if you go sk as the coth/fd combo is quite powerful)

    2) It plays like a dps class with excellent aggro tools, a slow, and is very tanky

    3) yes - plane of knowledge blah blah knowledge books marked with a K on the eq atlas maps.
     
  4. Ransom

    Ransom Well-Known Member

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    255
    Shamans are great, but their greatest strength is when they are very active. The problem with that and three boxing is you can't do everything you want to with your shaman. That said, some good macros to cannibalize, and you should be solid.

    Beastlords are incredible. Slow, haste, Mana regen, tank better than a monk, pet dps. It's a bit redundant with a shaman but not completely.

    If I definitely wanted a shaman and picked a trio, I'd go paladin, shaman, mage. Paladin gives extra buffs, Rez, stun for casters, and extra healing as you level. Mage is easy hotkey dps and damage shield. This allows you more time on your shaman.

    You could swap mage with beast and do just as well.
     
  5. Linkamus

    Linkamus People Like Me

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    413
    Beastlords have a lot of overlap with shaman spells. Ranger / SK / pal may be better if you are playing a shaman. However, BST would still work great.
     
  6. Krelkain

    Krelkain New Member

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    2
    Hey guys thank you so much for your input. It's been very enlightening.

    If I were to take off the Shaman and go with a Beastlord, which healer would be best? I imagine probably cleric. Druid would offer more utility but I'd probably need to focus on that one a lot too.
     
  7. Linkamus

    Linkamus People Like Me

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    413
    Cleric will be the best and most efficient healer, and has access to aego / virtue. The ability to rez yourself is also amazing, of course.

    The druid will give you more DPS, ports, snare, pot9 / glades (mana regen),,and amazing PL ability. Druids can also charm animals, which becomes pretty awesome in PoP if I recall (Plane of Storms frog charming?)

    It just comes down to what you value more.

    If you're looking for the ultimate trio centered around a beastlord, a Cleric / Enchanter is likely going to the be the most powerful and versatile.
     
  8. thucydides

    thucydides I Feel Loved

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    800
    i think it depends on your love of charming. if you're charming, enc kind of takes over your trio, and if you're not charming enc kind of twiddles its thumbs. i also don't want to live that port-less lifestyle. i recommend bst - clr - wiz.
    clr and wiz are both relatively forgiving introductions to boxing, and have the potential to scale well with your increased comfort and skill.
     
    Sketchy, Devour_Souls and Linkamus like this.
  9. Kithani

    Kithani Well-Known Member

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    66
    One thing that mages offer that doesn’t get mentioned enough IMO is their summoned focus effects, particularly for a newbie’s first trio.

    Magician can summon spell haste, buff extension, improved damage (DD only) and (offensive) mana preservation that lasts all the way to level 60. While there are some quests/lowbie items that cover these effects they all pretty much cap out at 40 or 44 and then those effects become very rare and/or expensive to maintain. Being able to summon all of this and pass em off to all three of your toons is huge IMO