Trio Group

[Gratal]

My friends and I are playing P99 and were mostly going to play with just the three of us. One a Necro the other a Mage. I was going to play an enchanter but it's just not that fun to me.

Was thinking of playing a Ranger. Does anyone have any idea if this combo will work well? Obviously outdoor zones with room to fear are fine. As well as outdoor dungeons. But can the Ranger add anything to a group while in indoor dungeons such as Guk with no tank or healer?

[Samoht]

no. ranger will not be able to DPS in that group without being the tank. NPCs will target nearest PC on aggro list, not pets. no melee will be able to join without a tank/healer. if you want to play ranger for the spells, roll druid instead. otherwise, cleric/shaman would be better addition.

[Tecmos Deception]

Necros are actually surprisingly good heals, especially since the ranger can do some down-time healing (and eventually regen) also. But that trio lacks haste, slow, and mana regen... blech.

You'll be perfectly capable if you know your limits though. Harmony and necro make for easy pulling, you've got snares and roots and a mez, LOTS of damage... just got to learn to deal with the ranger being a relatively soft target in a little group that doesn't have burst-y healing and make sure you don't pull too much/too fast.

[feanan]

make a druid. at least you can heal, sow, port, dot and nuke

ranger...meh. methinks you'll be watching your friends kill a lot of stuff ;)

[alaiwy0503]

put a shaman in that trio and profit imo

[Gadwen]

Unless you plan on exclusively fear kiting, you will be tanking and it's not going to turn out for the best. Druid, shaman and wizzy could fit into that group well. But with your two friends playing caster classes any untwinked melee is really out of the question unless you want to add 4th to handle heals.

[Gratal]

Would a bow plus spells be able to sustain any kind of damage if there were spots we couldn't fearkite? Also, we could pick up a tank and healer for dungeon groups.

[Aaron]

Yes, bow damage and ranger spells are viable. Won't be the most powerful group ever, but you can do a lot with a ranger in that group. Catch a healer and he's a viable tank until 50+.

[LiQuid]

Give up on ranger, man. It's just not going to work out. Surprised I haven't seen suggestion to add another mage to the trio. I haven't played either class much but it seems to me like the only thing better than a mage is two mages when already grouped up with a necro.

[Ephirith]

When it comes to indoor dungeons, the tough consideration here is whether to choose one of the many classes that would be nothing more than a liability to this trio, in this case a ranger, or make a compromise between something you find fun, but will also result in some synergy with the other two players.

Know this, you have to really enjoy the ranger class to put up with all the bullshit they need to put up with, in addition to how much less effective your trio will be indoors.

Maybe if one of your comprades is more flexible than you are, you can convince them to play a shaman or an enchanter or something that would facilitate a melee, or otherwise make the trio so strong they can just carry you.

[Splorf22]

My friends and I are playing P99 and were mostly going to play with just the three of us. One a Necro the other a Mage. I was going to play an enchanter but it's just not that fun to me.

Was thinking of playing a Ranger. Does anyone have any idea if this combo will work well? Obviously outdoor zones with room to fear are fine. As well as outdoor dungeons. But can the Ranger add anything to a group while in indoor dungeons such as Guk with no tank or healer?

It's not impossible but its not a good idea either (well rolling ranger is never really a good idea . . . ). I would say for class choices you have:

Good: enchanter, shaman, necromancer, magician, cleric
OK: Paladin, Druid, Wizard, Bard
Bad: Shadowknight, Ranger, Rogue, Monk
WTF are you thinking: Warrior

[falkun]

Bard's synergy with necro and mage is backloaded...we don't get our single target DoTs until the 30-40s, we don't have mana song until 32+. However, we can begin dungeon pulling at 8 with lull, and hymn is a surprisingly good heal if you don't need the burst healing. It'll outpace pact/lich for a long time. The bard should generally not melee in this setup.

[webrunner5]

FORGET THE RANGER PLZ. :eek::eek: Go with a Shaman. End of story. :D Shaman can even Tank if needed.

[Gratal]

Problem with bard is that I'd feel like a battery for the group instead of actually doing anything. I'm going to try to go the ranger route. My friends and I are all about uncommon tactics. I'll let you know how it goes

[Aaron]

Good. Ignore the min/maxers. Rangers are a fun class. Not powerful and sometimes frustrating, but still fun.

[webrunner5]

Problem with bard is that I'd feel like a battery for the group instead of actually doing anything. I'm going to try to go the ranger route. My friends and I are all about uncommon tactics. I'll let you know how it goes

You can't have a Ranger with 2 pet classes.:eek: He will have agro ALL the time and die. This game is set up that you can kill the same mob faster solo with a Mage pet than with 4 people in a group on average. He will get beat on just crazy. And with the Hybrid XP penality he will just slow you down.

[Samoht]

Problem with bard is that I'd feel like a battery for the group instead of actually doing anything.

ranger can do even less. can barely heal. can barely buff. can't really snare or root because it will overwrite necro dot and be overwritten by earth pet.

can sit back and do negligible damage with bow.

Good. Ignore the min/maxers. Rangers are a fun class. Not powerful and sometimes frustrating, but still fun.

yeah, go with ranger (not.)

[wingelefoot]

having played a ranger on live...

they're pretty bad until luclin with AM3 + EQ

as you've said, outdoors is ok for ranger. room to kite, root/snare cc, harmo pull, but really, no dps with the SET UP. indoors, you're limited to tanking and ghetto cc. i'd imagine bows to be terrible on p99 due to shitty LoS issues.

a ranger in that set up is not very viable due to lack of slow/heal. you can hold aggro well, but you'll need heals then. the best complement to the necro/mage would be chanter. it's a fun class that can solo well. give it a go~

[Aaron]

He's already said he doesn't enjoy the enchanter. Why do you guys want to force him to a powerful class that he doesn't enjoy?

[xCry0x]

You can't have a Ranger with 2 pet classes.:eek: He will have agro ALL the time and die. This game is set up that you can kill the same mob faster solo with a Mage pet than with 4 people in a group on average. He will get beat on just crazy. And with the Hybrid XP penality he will just slow you down.

This

Mage should use fire pet, fire pet does a good portion of damage from tanking and having mob eat damage shield.

If ranger steps in then the mage pet isn't getting hit and therefor does less damage.

Ranger also gets hit and has no class that can heal, or a class that can slow to mitigate the damage = bad times.

You also factor in the -40% exp penalty to the group from the ranger hybrid penalty and in addition to killing slower with longer down times you also get less exp per kill. Even if you manage to level all the way up hybrids in general are kind of blah due to not doing anything as well as the classes that compose the hybrid.

A shaman would synergize well with the group, can help heal pets, slow mobs, haste pets, eventually gets it's own pet, can stack dots with necro, can cast regen on necro.

Enchanter synergizes obviously due to breeze/clarity/clarity 2 for casters and a 3rd pet via charm.

If your plan is to fear kite everything then why not roll a rogue to run around back stabbing or a monk (monk can heal themselves via bandages and mend).

[Gratal]

Right now my friends are about 15 because they were catching up to my Ench I had from when I played before. My Ranger is 10 and already done with True shot Longbow quest, just need to skill up for combine.

If I end up hating ranger or it doesn't work I could switch to my shaman around 27. But so far I really like it.

[lecompte]

Nevermind these naysayers. Play a ranger, they are tons of fun and in a necro, mage, ranger group you can fear kite pretty decent. Enc would be better -- could even play a rogue.

[webrunner5]

If I end up hating ranger You will :(, or it doesn't work It Won't :p, I could switch to my shaman around 27. Thank God :) But so far I really like it.

And I have a Ranger and sort of like it.

[Ephirith]

Indoors, it's basically a mage/necro duo dragging the ranger around like a ball and chain. 100% liability. I find this humorous.

[Gratal]

I find this humorous.

Perhaps when we get leveled up and start indoor content I will post screens of our (mis)adventures. Right now I find it a pain in the ass getting up to 15 as CB sucks around 11 without good grouping. So I went to Steamfont.

PS. I had played this game for years and thought it was Steamfront this whole time.

[Cecily]

Monk rogue shaman make a pretty amazing team.