Fulll Group looking for advice

[Verityn]

Originally Posted by astuce999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If going to start in Qeynos or around that area, I'd go:

Human SK (tanking, aggro, FD pulls when needed)
Human Cleric (heals, rez and buffs)
Half Elf Bard (pulls, mana song, CC)
Human Enchanter (clarity, charming dps)
Half Elf Druid (ports, evacs, alternative dps)
Barbarian Rogue (dps, lockpicks, corpse recovery)

This group can do everything, and can go anywhere.
I would also strongly suggest that since you have a full group, to try different dungeons instead of the mainstream overcrowded zones. There is no one-groupable content that is out of your reach with this group!

'stuce

This could easily be what our group ends up being and I do want to do some out of the way places like the Kunark dungeons that I never did. Places like Unrest, Befallen and lguk may be avoided if it's as crowded as I hear. I bet Najena and SolA are empty as always so we'll shoot for those.

[Issues]

best fg?

clr
war
enc
rog
rog
rog

[Dalven]

Originally Posted by Verityn [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Hey, you're definitely the guy to talk to about this. It's nice to know of an example group that works so I'm curious to know your chosen races, where you started if mostly human and what it was like from level 9 to 30 for example. Thank you.

We have the luxury of having a couple of players with level 60s as well as a pocket druid to help us out so we just rolled whatever races we pleased. I do know our SK wishes he made an ogre every time he gets stunned. We're currently level 17 or thereabouts after 4 sessions or so but now that we have our schedule down we'll be making quicker progress.

If you are doing this with RL friends the beginning process might be a bit quicker as we've taken a bit of time to get to know each other and get a set couple of nights a week going but its definitely been a blast so far.

[Ephirith]

If you're starting over new and you have control over six people, make a pet/caster group.

Do like

2 enchanters
2 mages
1 druid
1 necromancer

all dark elf except the druid, who is halfling. Rivervale -> Neriak is a short run.

BAM steamroll all content to 60. Ratio of enchanters:mages:necros doesn't really matter as long as there is at least 1 chanter, and you never have to worry about undergeared melees keeping you down.

Can replace something with a cleric for better functionality if you ever make it 45+, and better control of charm breaks.

[Dweed]

If you guys go the Freeport route and you are unsure about the dark elf/human hybrids, be sure to consider Dwarf pally. Solid stats, small size for dungeons, Dwarf racial armor is awesome, and of course the Dwarf jump is OP.

[thufir]

Originally Posted by lecompte [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

If ya'll are only playing once a week, even if it is for one twelve hour stretch, a group with ATLEAST a 90% xp penalty is going to be really slow going and dishearten people who are newish to the game.

Think the exact opposite here. Only people who have had a taste of going through the game without grouping with hybrids will even have a chance of noticing. In a full group the penalty is already dilute, and will be unnoticeable to newbies who have never known anything else anyway.

Being a warrior will also be demoralizing for a newbie party because of aggro control issues for multiple levels, especially untwinked. SK is easiest aggro because Disease Cloud is cheating, but Pal is fine too imo. SK also gives you the option of FD pulls later on to alleviate burden on bard/enc but I assume you prefer Paladins because you listed one.

Bard can be an acceptable substitute for an enchanter, but you will still miss one during downtime. Lack of clarity will hurt until 32 when the bards get clarity song.

Sticking as close as possible to your original setup, which I presume is there because that is the personal preference of the players involved, you get:

Human Paladin
Human Bard
Human Cleric
Human Wizard (instead of Magician - comparable dps, similar style, but comes with ports)
Barbarian Rogue
Barbarian Shaman

Easy for the barbs to join you Qeynos if they want, and around lvl 5ish you can start doing your full group in BB and do dungeons from there on out.

You could also let the wizard stay a magician, and turn the barb shaman into a human druid, but imo less good. Druids lose a lot of utility at higher levels. If you plan on sticking this out, the Shaman will get better along the same kind of curve where the Druid gets worse and let you do cooler things in harder dungeons.

Originally Posted by Verityn [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

That's good to know and I hope others agree. I just feel like I'd be happier being a medium size race if I'm going to spend a lot of time in guk and other dungeons with narrow corridors.

Yes, +1 for ogre sk, but I am biased. If your setup has a Shaman, you will never notice being huge. Shrink ftw. The immunity to frontal bash-stun + the slam is really too good to pass up. I spend as much of my time in dungeons as is ogrely possible, fwiw.

I noticed later on in the thread that you are opening yourself up to the possibility of a more Eastern Antonican style of setup, so...

Ogre Shadowknight
Ogre Shaman
Doesn't matter Enchanter
Doesn't matter Cleric
Doesn't matter Wizard
Doesn't matter your choice of Rogue, Monk, or Bard

... would be more my personal preference. That covers all your bases by being effective both early and late without too much in the way of xp penalties or boredom. Rogues do amazing dps, and monks are great pullers with excellent dps, but a good bard adds a lot of utility and can really pull your fat out of the fire in a potentially disastrous situation, in a way an untwinked rogue or monk will probably not be able to.

I am sticking with the wizard for ports because long walks or a lot of port begging are really bad for people who might not have a ton of time to play. You already have two healers so a druid seems mostly superfluous, and the wizard's mana issues will be alleviated by constant access to clarity. If you really don't care about half hour boat rides or long cross country runs, many other classes are fine here as well - magician, whichever of rogue/bard/monk you didn't take for slot 6, maybe a ranger if you are excited about the possibility of an offtank w/ dps, etc.

[Cords]

Go Half Elf Bard you can choose to spawn in qeynos as a half elf. You have better stats then a Human, and I think plate armor looks better on a Half-elf then a Human :P

[Pyrion]

In a regular group a wizard will always be less valuable than a druid. Wizard can do 4 things: DD, Port and root and snare.
Druid can do all the above things + heal, charm, damage shield, regen, buff. Druid DD is only a bit worse then wizard DD for mana efficiency, more than made up with better utility and damage shields and almost unresistable dots for the really tough targets.

Wizards really need to be buffed. There is a reason why there are so few of them.

[webrunner5]

The worse part of being a Shaman is getting the damn spells. Barb and Ogre both suck going to go get them if you are poor. If you are rich you can buy like 3 levels at a time of spells. I would just stay with a Cleric Druid combo. Having a porter/evacer is a godsend higher up. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] And a Druid in Outdoor zones is Golden.

Having both a Bard and a Enchanter in a group I think is not good. Same type of spell line except Bard heal song. Better to pick up a full time DPS. Hint, Human Monk. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Samoht]

Originally Posted by astuce999 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Half Elf Druid (ports, evacs, alternative dps)

halfling or gtfo.