Question for new group

[Bevo]

I know many variations have been asked, but mine is a tad different:

I am starting all over on mayong. So obviously all my toons iwll be lvl 51 to begin with. I am going to play 4 toons. Hopefull fully Bot'd except for puller or whatever.

I am looking for the best group to just level up and farm to make a ton of plat

I was thinking:
Bard puller
Wizard
Wizard
Wizard
Merc Tank
Merc Cleric

Or Maybe 3 Mages all with Air pets instead of the 3 wizzies? Maybe a Monk or SK as puller instead of bard? Idunno cause I have been away from the game for so long (when 75 was highest lvl). I just dont know what will be best to farm for levels 80-85.

Thanks for your opinions.

 

[DemonH2]

Me personally, I would either replace the bard with a dps puller(monk) or I would replace it with a real tank, some of that high end stuff kind of makes some mercs poop themselves.

 

[Krugerr]

Swap 1 wizzy for a zerker. Keep the bard. IMO that would be better, bards are better pullers, and can CC, which you will need. Optional to put a Mage in instead of the other wizzy. As bot for that is already public, and very effective.

Mage
Wizzy
Zerker
Bard
Merc - Warrior
Merc - Cleric

 

[DemonH2]

With a half ass decent monk you won't need CC, plus you get more DPS =)

Just my opinion.

 

[kukmuk]

Unless they changed it, mana burn puts a recourse on the mob that makes the mob immune to multiple hits. Basically, you cannot have a group of wizards all start their mana burn spells at once =) I would stick with the bard, the amount they can increase the dps of the rest of the group is insane (especially casters). If it were me would go with:

Bard puller
Wizard
Rogue
Enchanter (or Shaman since chanters a bit harder to macro)
Merc Tank (possibly a warrior instead, but so far I have been impressed with mercs)
Merc Cleric

Currently on Mayong I have:
Bard
Wizard (I can't live without ports, although if I had a do-over, I would have probably made another druid)
Zerker (First Zerker I have had, my rogue on Luclin was higher DPS)
Cleric
Shaman
Merc Tank

 

[Bevo]

Thanks for the feedback...

What I don't get is why so many classes? Why a Zerker, Wizard and a Rogue? Why not just keep it simple and easy and just like 3 Rogues or 3 zerkers or 3 Mages or 3 Wizards or something like that?

Seems like that would be so much easier...
Also, I don't need ports or escape with /zone and /succor

Also, about the tank.. I really don't want to gear out a tank. The merc is fine.

 

[DemonH2]

I would replace the bard with the monk and your good. The bard can increase the dps of the group, but i really doubt as much as a monk could. Good pulling, decent tank if your tank fails, Good DPS. DPS > slightly better pulling IMO.

 

[Bevo]

I would replace the bard with the monk and your good. The bard can increase the dps of the group, but i really doubt as much as a monk could. Good pulling, decent tank if your tank fails, Good DPS. DPS > slightly better pulling IMO.

Was thinking the Bard slow,the mana regen and the spell dmg songs would make up for the lack of melee DPS over a Monk. Idunno. Think I will be fine with either. It is the other 3 spots I am not sure on.

 

[DemonH2]

It entirely depends on your strategy. I am a "good offense is the best defense" kind of guy.

My reason for picking monk mainly is due to the fact that slows are now down to like "The mob was almost thought about being partially of a fraction of a percent of a decimal slowed", so its like 1% effective.

 

[hawthorne]

Even with some mobs being mostly resistant my understanding is that is only a 75% reduction of the slow. Bards slow at 55% so even if it's mostly resistant that is still a 13.75% slow. And let's be fair. Most mobs are only partially resistant, which is 25%, and thus is a 41.25% slow.

Merc Tank
Merc Healer
Wizard
Mage
Mage
Bard

That is my recommendation. Zerkers are best when paired with shamans and bards. They have good personal DPS but rogues, wizzies, and mages are all superior in that regard, in the group game. Have another healer could be nice but will reduce your overall DPS. Up to you but if you go with a shaman, swap out both mages for a Shaman/Zerker pair. Rogues have higher personal DPS but in the group game let's be honest, casters are where it's at. If you can get raid weaponry, then melee become much more viable.

If you want a bit off the wall combo I would suggest this:
Merc Tank
Merc Healer
Bard
Necro
Mage
Shaman

Slower kill speed but you have redundancies in practically every area. Backup puller, backup healer, backup tank, backup slower, ability to recover a group, and there are decent macros for all three classes, assuming you play the bard. Sometimes outside the box thinking can get you a strong, if not quite as speedy, group.

 

[imgregrice]

I would love to do:
Bard
Mage
Mage
Mage
Mage
T5 Merc Cleric.

Air pets on all 4mages
using Magebot by Dev. Bard playing Caster DPS songs and chain pulling and as long as you have a decent geared bard you could tank most things in a pinch ( for a short time. Or just use CC to hold off till mages get new pets up

I have used air pet to tank pretty much everything in the group game including named's in Korafax.

I also recall a guy that ran 6 mages in Crystallos and pulled with a bard outside the group.. he DESTROYED everything in that zone.


Then again.. I am partial to Mage



Edit: BTW the reason I recommend all air pets is for stun that many air pets chain stunning is pretty retarded

 

[Bevo]

I would love to do:
Bard
Mage
Mage
Mage
Mage
T5 Merc Cleric.

Air pets on all 4mages
using Magebot by Dev. Bard playing Caster DPS songs and chain pulling and as long as you have a decent geared bard you could tank most things in a pinch ( for a short time. Or just use CC to hold off till mages get new pets up

I have used air pet to tank pretty much everything in the group game including named's in Korafax.

I also recall a guy that ran 6 mages in Crystallos and pulled with a bard outside the group.. he DESTROYED everything in that zone.


Then again.. I am partial to Mage



Edit: BTW the reason I recommend all air pets is for stun that many air pets chain stunning is pretty retarded

Thanks... prob is I only have 4 accounts and one needs to be a puller. Maybe 3 Mages with all Air pets then.

 

[imgregrice]

In that case wonder what would happen with:
Bard
Mage x3
Cleric Merc
Tank Merc

 

[Mspudd14]

The mage x3, bard, merc tank/healer set up would be a bit unorthodox of a group but if you really look at it with an open mind would be a killer group.

Bards really are the best pullers in most situations. Tack on mage's AA malo which is rarely resisted and their snare/slow's shouldnt have any problem landing which replaces the need for a shm/enc. Add in their spell dmg increasing songs with 3 mages should make a nice boost to those mages dps. If you use merc clr on on of the mages and the shit hits the fan you can fade bard and pull up his suspended merc clr for rezzes.

Mages using Dev's magebot are really 100% hands free and great dps. Mine lacks half of his pet aa's for tanking/dps/healing but he still tanks just as well as a similar lvl'd J1 merc tank. Add in multiple air pets and the stuns would just be hilarious. ** I too have heard of all mage groups but have not seen in action. From what I have heard tho no other all one class type group can stack up.

Replacing one mage with wiz would up the dps of a single char but not significantly (unless burn mode which wouldnt be used on non named and runs risk of stolen agro which = death & zero dps) and may cost you in the overall group survivability. Specially not from the gains you get from having a pet like the air pet constantly stunning mobs with the ability to step up and tank temporarily if needed. Evac and ports be nice but with gate, succor, and zone that isnt really significant.

The only tweak I could possibly suggest though is to swap out one mage with a shm. True the bard can slow, but shm slow is better so even with mitigation slows mobs more plus you only have to cast once a fight instead of repeating song in a twist... that goes for haste and regen as well. Add in buffs like Lynx and Unity which increase hp, mitigation, stat caps, exc exc all help the dps and survivability of pets and chars themselves. Sure shm pet is one of the weaker pets in game but given the availability of buffs and pet gear from shm it would also make a decent contribution. Hell shm can even patch heal and with appropriate focus/aa their dots can crit for damn near 4k a tick so he wouldnt be nothing more than a buff bot.

Adding in a shm will free up two songs in your bards twist for other things he could be playing as well. Besides there are plenty of mac's out there for shm to make him totally hands free as well. My own tweak of Dev's magebot wont patch unless you do so manually but keeps buffs on entire group, renews clickies, and does all debuffs, dots, nukes without any input needed.

 

[Bevo]

The mage x3, bard, merc tank/healer set up would be a bit unorthodox of a group but if you really look at it with an open mind would be a killer group.

Bards really are the best pullers in most situations. Tack on mage's AA malo which is rarely resisted and their snare/slow's shouldnt have any problem landing which replaces the need for a shm/enc. Add in their spell dmg increasing songs with 3 mages should make a nice boost to those mages dps. If you use merc clr on on of the mages and the shit hits the fan you can fade bard and pull up his suspended merc clr for rezzes.

Mages using Dev's magebot are really 100% hands free and great dps. Mine lacks half of his pet aa's for tanking/dps/healing but he still tanks just as well as a similar lvl'd J1 merc tank. Add in multiple air pets and the stuns would just be hilarious. ** I too have heard of all mage groups but have not seen in action. From what I have heard tho no other all one class type group can stack up.

Replacing one mage with wiz would up the dps of a single char but not significantly (unless burn mode which wouldnt be used on non named and runs risk of stolen agro which = death & zero dps) and may cost you in the overall group survivability. Specially not from the gains you get from having a pet like the air pet constantly stunning mobs with the ability to step up and tank temporarily if needed. Evac and ports be nice but with gate, succor, and zone that isnt really significant.

The only tweak I could possibly suggest though is to swap out one mage with a shm. True the bard can slow, but shm slow is better so even with mitigation slows mobs more plus you only have to cast once a fight instead of repeating song in a twist... that goes for haste and regen as well. Add in buffs like Lynx and Unity which increase hp, mitigation, stat caps, exc exc all help the dps and survivability of pets and chars themselves. Sure shm pet is one of the weaker pets in game but given the availability of buffs and pet gear from shm it would also make a decent contribution. Hell shm can even patch heal and with appropriate focus/aa their dots can crit for damn near 4k a tick so he wouldnt be nothing more than a buff bot.

Adding in a shm will free up two songs in your bards twist for other things he could be playing as well. Besides there are plenty of mac's out there for shm to make him totally hands free as well. My own tweak of Dev's magebot wont patch unless you do so manually but keeps buffs on entire group, renews clickies, and does all debuffs, dots, nukes without any input needed.

Wow, great post, thank you. I considered the Shaman but chose 3 Mages, and Bard. I actually ran 2 mages and Wiz for liek 3 hours and then 3 mages just to see if there was a difference... and that third Mage really did make a dif. That MOB was stunned the whole freakin time. Really the only thing the Wiz brough was Snare.

 

[IDontRaid]

Monk <- Tank ez to tag off the bard on pulls
Bard <- Aura / Pulls / Songs..
Shaman <-- Ur healer... nice to have one who can buff!
Berzerker <-- Aura

what more could u ask for?? now here for the caster group

Wizard
Wizard
Wizard
Bard
merc tank
merc healer

 

[PeteSampras]

I think it depends on what pet focus you can get on using mage vs wizard. And what macs you use. Using my macs I find that:

Wizard will easily out dps a mage in group gear if mage only has group pet focii. You are talking 3-4k dps average easy on a group wizard with enc in group.

Mage you are looking at 2.5-3k dps average in group gear mostly. However, with a raid pet focii that bumps up to 3-3.5k dps.

For most the places in SoD, you don't need someone that can single pull. You can get by just fine with a straight up mezzer.

For a group for just DPSing to farm stuff:

Bard or Enc x 1 (prefer enc because they can lock down so many targets at once and almost all SoD content can easily be pulled by an enc just fine)

Mage or Wiz x 3 (prefer wiz for dps, mage for less likely to wipe, ideally at least 1 wiz for ports and 1 mage for air pet stuns)

Merc tank Journ T5 x 1

Merc cleric journ T5 x 1

If you want tougher content without worry of death, switch out a mage or wizard and put in an SK/Warrior (AE aggro while chanter mezzes) and switch the merc tank to a merc cleric. But really, Mages can solo all the named in SoD with enough AAs because their pets are just that good with raid focii.

 

[JimJohnson]

bard mage mage wiz!

 

[Alexandra]

Unless they changed it, mana burn puts a recourse on the mob that makes the mob immune to multiple hits. Basically, you cannot have a group of wizards all start their mana burn spells at once =) I would stick with the bard, the amount they can increase the dps of the rest of the group is insane (especially casters). If it were me would go with:

Bard puller
Wizard
Rogue
Enchanter (or Shaman since chanters a bit harder to macro)
Merc Tank (possibly a warrior instead, but so far I have been impressed with mercs)
Merc Cleric

Currently on Mayong I have:
Bard
Wizard (I can't live without ports, although if I had a do-over, I would have probably made another druid)
Zerker (First Zerker I have had, my rogue on Luclin was higher DPS)
Cleric
Shaman
Merc Tank

Wizards don't use manaburn anymore and haven't since the days of Dragons lol, that's an aa that nearly takes a bar of mana do to a set amout of damage. Manaburn is useless in 99% of situations. Our nukes now rival that damage, no need to burn a bar of mana on it.

There are 0 stacking issues with any of our spells.

I play a wizard and I can burn a named down in OBF in about 17 seconds, dealing over 550k damage, with only bard/pally tanking.


That being said... I think you should still go one mage, it's nice to have the mage pet as backup tank in the event it's needed.

 

[rosco]

Whoever suggested a monk over a bard is insane. Bards are hands down the BEST support class in the game. A bard can single pull better / quicker then any FD class, and the bonus to the DPS is insane. Plus once you are in good gear a bard can tank just fine, but cannot hold agro so well. I would go :

Bard
Mage
Mage
Mage
Merc clr
Merc tank

But if you wanted to have fun and not just sit there and watch your screen while mobs die, then I'd go:

Bard
Zerker
Rog
Shm
merc tank
merc clr

That group would simply rape mobs