6 box question

[Cbass]

I am going to build a 6 box team using ISBoxer and all the available macros and add ons for MQ2... since i haven't played in 5+ years I am going to level them from level 1.. shouldn't take too long.

So my question is this:

Because I haven't played in so long I assume there have been a lot of "small" changes I am not aware of. I would like to control only ONE toon full time... either the puller (Monk or Bard I assume) or only control the tank which could also pull with the proper team. So assuming I use bot macros for the 5 classes and only control one toon, what is the best class setup to be able to enjoy a lot of "end game" instances and exploring once I get there?

Thanks in advance guys and I will try not to be too annoying with all my "I am back" posts. I was very self sufficient many years ago and plan on being so again.

 

[SiegeTank]

"Shouldn't take too long".... to level a 6-box team from level 1 and you haven't played in 5+ years?

Guess that depends on your definition of "level" and "too long."

Not trying to sound negative here but the question you post is so open-ended that if it wasn't for the near-limitless patience and tolerance of your peers here at MMOBugs you'd be leaving yourself open to an awful lot of insincere and sarcastic responses. Kinda like you'd get on macroquest.com forums.

With due respect, I suggest you first provide some idea of your play style, what classes you enjoy (or have played way back when), what do you mean by "end game instances", how much time you have to play, which server, etc. All this info might assist willing members of these forums to provide more directed and useful response.

I'd suggest going with 3 mages and using mercs, but that's just me...

 

[Cbass]

"Shouldn't take too long".... to level a 6-box team from level 1 and you haven't played in 5+ years?

Guess that depends on your definition of "level" and "too long."

Not trying to sound negative here but the question you post is so open-ended that if it wasn't for the near-limitless patience and tolerance of your peers here at MMOBugs you'd be leaving yourself open to an awful lot of insincere and sarcastic responses. Kinda like you'd get on macroquest.com forums.

With due respect, I suggest you first provide some idea of your play style, what classes you enjoy (or have played way back when), what do you mean by "end game instances", how much time you have to play, which server, etc. All this info might assist willing members of these forums to provide more directed and useful response.

I'd suggest going with 3 mages and using mercs, but that's just me...

Thanks for the response... Not really sure what was wrong with my post but ok...Just trying to gather information on the newer game through the eyes of other MMOBUGS players. Anyway, my game is I just want the most balanced 6 man team that will allow me to do the most in the game and that can primarily run 5 or the 6 tons on strictly bots downloaded from here. For example... if the shaman bot is horrible here then I probably don't want to play a Shaman. Not insinuating the shaman bot is bad, just using that as an example. I don't care how long it takes me to level from 1, I just want a group that is self sufficient and can run the most of the content.

Again, thanks for responding. Been awhile of posting and kind of forgot how posts are sometimes ridiculed.. ahh back to the EQ frame of mind. Will take me awhile to adjust.

 

[Dealings]

youll enjoy the end game w the classes you enjoy the most

good luck

 

[Bugsrus]

I suggest sk as tank, best aoe aggro of the tanks.

At least 1 wiz, great dps and near infinite mana if you cast the right spells and the aa cap isnt crazy high.

Mage is great for the pet(backup tank) and coth, ds, dps.

I like druid as a healer if going mainly caster group, the dd aura adds quite a bit of adps and their personal dps is good too.

You cant go wrong with bard or chanter for cc, buffs and adps.

 

[imgregrice]

My 6 man team is

Bard ( pulls boost DPS)
Mage ( fav class in the game - Good DPS, backup pet tank )
Shmy ( little bit of CC , slows, buffs)
SK ( best group tank Imo as its so versatile)
Rog ( DPS)
Cleric ( obvious)

That said now that the higher level zones are more "open" I am thinking about switching the rog out for a second mage. or maybe even a wiz for aided transportation and easy DPS

Hope this helps some. I am also using ISBoxer and Petes mq2bot plugin you can find them on the forums.

 

[Cbass]

Thanks so much guys.. exactly what I was wanting. I would have guessed Enchanter is still a need in every group like this, but clearly they aren't. That's why I asked

Much appreciated..

 

[Quatarian]

I've answered this type of post a couple of times, and I haven't played in about a year or so. However, I think the basics are still the same:

If you go melee heavy, you'll want a shaman in your group as they provide more synergy with those classes.

If you go caster heavy, you'll want an enchanter for the same reason.

A wizard or druid is key for transportation.

I don't think having too much of one type of class in respect to armor (cloth, chain, plate, leather) is as much of a big deal as all the later armor "sets" are just patterns you trade in with some vendor purchases.

In general, casters require less movement and therefore look less automated.

I wouldn't name all your characters the same thing (Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Tweedledick, Tweedlevag, etc.). You are just asking for more attention.

Don't put too much faith in healer mercs. A real cleric (that you will probably automate) will have much more power and versatility.

Your tank, no matter what you choose, will need priority in upgrades before you can handle tougher content. Mage pet may be the exception.

Think about epics and their effects. Some are still useful at max level (bard, shaman) and some are utterly useless (druid).

To save a lot of time and maximize your grind, it is worth your while to have a good looting script. In that vein of thought, it might be worth your while to buy some large packs (36 slot is the biggest, I think) and some EXP potions for the group.

I don't envy the hours you have ahead of you but I always did find satisfaction when I got everything tuned just right and plowed through group content.

Good luck...we're all counting on you.

 

[dewey2461]

Nice reply Quatarian.

You can also turn up several conversations here about which is the best group makeup.

It seems this question gets asked every 6-12 months.

With that said if I was starting over would go :

Mage - Can now call entire group - great dps - currently most over powered single class. ( even after nerfs )

Wiz - moves your group - good dps - easy to box

Enchanter - Who doesn't love CC and who doesn't love being able to pull 5-10 mobs and have your team lock it all down.

SK - because I still want a melee and SK's have lots of fun tricks + FD

CLR - king of the heals - often can get cleric logged during wipe.

6th - ???


Lots of ways to go.

 

[EverquestBB]

/nods

In general, casters require less movement and therefore look less automated.

QFT. I have basically shelved my rogue, zerker, and bard because I tend to box in non-instanced zones while I am working. With that in mind, it makes the most sense to have a plausible explanation for why my 5 support toons are stacked on top of each other not moving. I use two wizzies, a magician, a shammy, a real cleric, and an SK. I think SKs tend to require less healing overall due to the taps and they are also viable pullers, but if I had to do it over again I would probably put an enchanter in place of the shammy since they both slow. My current macro seems to result in me tanking two or three at a time which is tougher for MQ2bot to handle without a CC class; and when one of them is a named I can occasionally wipe.

In short, melee classes tend to look more robotic when botted so if you plan to level in open zones where someone might see you I would also recommend staying away from classes that need to move every time a mob is brought into your camp.

 

[William12]

I would not go SK anymore if your intention is to tank end group zones. They're just so under powered compared to warriors.

Caster group
War
Wiz
Wiz
Mag
Enc
Cleric


Casters look less automated unless you're parsing them

If I was going melee it would be
War
Ber
Ber
Rog
Bard
Shm

Zerkers may suck in raids atm but they're still amazing group dps.

 

[SiegeTank]

Live and learn. I'm surprised with the expressed attitudes here against using melee in boxed grouped for dps due to their handling requirements and the obviousness in non-instanced zones that they're being manipulated by an automated process. I AGREE with this, since I box a caster-heavy group (for these reasons) but I'm surprised so many here have come around to it. Over the years I kept reading about boxers including zerkers, rogues, monks and rangers in their groups.

Wizards, druids and mages are incredibly helpful for moving a boxed ground around, between TL to bind and the mage Call of the Hero/Heroes spells. The mage pet is a crazy effective tank right now---until/unless they nerf it yet again. You don't need to equip mage pets beyond weapons anymore, which is a nice time-saver.

Three facts you need to know about mage pets:

1. Mage pets are immune to the nasty effects of some boss mobs. I have a well-geared warrior in my group and in those encounters he just "sits" in the back of my group sulking while the mage pet tanks the whole encounter.

2. Mage pet pulling: this doesn't always work but in some situations a mage pet can single pull a mob out of a pack that no other technique will work. You can discover this by trial-and-error or read comments of players who have already done the encounter. This is particularly true in the progression missions for the latest xpac, The Darkened Sea.

3. In some situations (again you have to test the encounter or read about it to know which) the mage pet can tank a named in the midst of other mobs without getting adds or passing agro to your group. You do have to use merc healers to support him, which means dropping some of your toons out and then doing the encounter a second time, if it's an instanced flag mission. When this works, it's wondrous. You can even use merc wizards for dps, if you have the space.

I'm also a bit surprised with the current preference for enchanter over shaman. I AGREE with it, just surprised. Enchanters are incredible support for a group and even more surprisingly, their survivability now is beyond belief. A well-played enchanter with a high AA count, using all their rune spells and AA's, can effectively approach the equivalent of 500k HPs. NO KIDDING. That's far in excess of the best raid-geared and raid-buffed tank. And they can maintain it all on their own. They also have an AA which once activated allows every caster in the group a one-time nuke critting as high as 500k+. It's one time and recasts every 10 minutes so it's for show and for important burns, but it IS cool. LOL

Concerning end-game group content, bear in mind this usually tends to be in zones that can only be accessed thru completing progression missions. This means each toon in your group must earn the flag. Right now you're going to be busy enough just leveling your main group of 6 but if you get the bug like a lot of us here you're going to want to add support toons because in ordinary open zones you can beef up your survivability and dps a lot by having "out of group" support. I made 2 wizzes, 2 mages and a shaman for that very purpose. Set them up out of group with their own healer mercs and you can plow thru group content, just being careful not to kill-steal the mob from your primary group. Problem is unless you want to go thru the work of getting all your support toons flagged, you lose their assistance as your main group advances thru locked zones.

Good luck and let us know how you do!

PS: You probably won't want to consider this but I moved away from using MQ2 automated scripts and towards using programmable keyboards and multiple computers. I like the Razer Naga gamepad and the Logitech G110 keyboards because not only are they programmable but they allow programming toggle keys, which is something even ISBoxer can't do---I don't think. This means you can hit one key and it will keep repeating until you hit it again ("toggle.") Set up nuke hot keys for your nukers and heal keys for your cleric/healer, hit their toggles and you can concentrate exclusively on the classes that require micro-management, in my case my tank and enchanter. Programmable keyboards are legal in EQ as long as the real player is physically present so I don't worry about boxing non-instanced zones.

 

[Cbass]

I wouldn't name all your characters the same thing (Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Tweedledick, Tweedlevag, etc.).

Tweedlevag? Oh man... I woke my wife up with my laugh when I read that. Awesome.

Anyway, thanks so much peeps. Some really solid opinions and I appreciate your time.

So check this out.... this AM I setup my team at level 1: SK, CLR, MAG, WIZ, ENC & DRU. I ran them all to POK and got their hotkeys all setup and everything ready. Then, sunovabitch, a guy runs by me with 5 of his toons auto following. 1 Shaman and 5 Mages. Nothing else. So of course I had to shoot him a tell and chat with him about group setups and his group. He has the exact same setup on another server, all maxed lvl and AA's and he just decided to come to this server because a friend asked him to. He said he can take down just about any instance or zone with this group. I am not sure which mage pets he uses as I forgot to ask, but I am rather intrigued by this setup.

He made the comment he had bot'd mixed class groups for over 7 years and he was having more fun with this 5 mage 1 shaman group than all his other groups combined.

Must_resist_this_temptation.... although, it does sound like a lot of fun. I may just have to give it a shot. Or maybe 4 Mages, Shaman and another class for snaring and other buffs. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

 

[imgregrice]

I wouldn't name all your characters the same thing (Tweedledee, Tweedledum, Tweedledick, Tweedlevag, etc.).

Tweedlevag? Oh man... I woke my wife up with my laugh when I read that. Awesome.

Anyway, thanks so much peeps. Some really solid opinions and I appreciate your time.

So check this out.... this AM I setup my team at level 1: SK, CLR, MAG, WIZ, ENC & DRU. I ran them all to POK and got their hotkeys all setup and everything ready. Then, sunovabitch, a guy runs by me with 5 of his toons auto following. 1 Shaman and 5 Mages. Nothing else. So of course I had to shoot him a tell and chat with him about group setups and his group. He has the exact same setup on another server, all maxed lvl and AA's and he just decided to come to this server because a friend asked him to. He said he can take down just about any instance or zone with this group. I am not sure which mage pets he uses as I forgot to ask, but I am rather intrigued by this setup.

He made the comment he had bot'd mixed class groups for over 7 years and he was having more fun with this 5 mage 1 shaman group than all his other groups combined.

Must_resist_this_temptation.... although, it does sound like a lot of fun. I may just have to give it a shot. Or maybe 4 Mages, Shaman and another class for snaring and other buffs. "Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in."

This will never end man... I have done so many different group configs over the years. By far my fav was the mage group. I am not running it now because I am enjoying the hell out of the bard and SK but if not for that mages it would be!

 

[aspire2008]

The boxing question comes up every couple of months, and I always seem to reply with:

"Why limit yourself to 6?"

With f2p accounts, I don't waste my time gearing up that often, saves me a bunch of time and plat, and just throw in a bunch of casters on f2p. Sure a finely tuned group of 6 can be very effective, but adding 6 more wizards or rogues can be just as effective.

Unless your computer is limiting you to only boxing 6 of course, don't stop at 6.

Gear/macro tune the 6 you play most often (limitation of instancing), then just add a bunch of f2p play accounts for extra dps.

 

[Cbass]

The boxing question comes up every couple of months, and I always seem to reply with:

"Why limit yourself to 6?"

With f2p accounts, I don't waste my time gearing up that often, saves me a bunch of time and plat, and just throw in a bunch of casters on f2p. Sure a finely tuned group of 6 can be very effective, but adding 6 more wizards or rogues can be just as effective.

Unless your computer is limiting you to only boxing 6 of course, don't stop at 6.

Gear/macro tune the 6 you play most often (limitation of instancing), then just add a bunch of f2p play accounts for extra dps.

I get what you are saying, but as my main group levels up, doesn't the content become where the F2P toons cant do much to them? I mean, can an 85 Wizzy nuke a 95+ MOB? Or do I have to level all those F2P toons also?

 

[PeteSampras]

You can just make necros/mages/rangers for out of group super easy boxing.

 

[aspire2008]

The boxing question comes up every couple of months, and I always seem to reply with:

"Why limit yourself to 6?"

With f2p accounts, I don't waste my time gearing up that often, saves me a bunch of time and plat, and just throw in a bunch of casters on f2p. Sure a finely tuned group of 6 can be very effective, but adding 6 more wizards or rogues can be just as effective.

Unless your computer is limiting you to only boxing 6 of course, don't stop at 6.

Gear/macro tune the 6 you play most often (limitation of instancing), then just add a bunch of f2p play accounts for extra dps.

I get what you are saying, but as my main group levels up, doesn't the content become where the F2P toons cant do much to them? I mean, can an 85 Wizzy nuke a 95+ MOB? Or do I have to level all those F2P toons also?

Yes you have to level up those f2p accounts unfortunately, but that should be very easy to do. I've been leveling up quite a few of my junk alts past couple of months since I started playing again, and it usually takes me about 7-8 days to go from 85 to 100 (+1000 aa, max at silver account status) at 45-50 mobs per hour grouped with 5 level 100s, killing mobs in the range of 97-103.

Would be faster if you actually setup pull paths and don't go out of combat often. Probably cut your time down by a few days.