Could use some advice on a group comp

[kazekan]

Hey folks!

My D&D buddies and I are always looking for a good video game to play casually, and it occurred to me the other day that EQ (specifically the old-school version that P99 offers!) would actually fit nicely for a number of reasons. It's got a great community (i.e. not toxic like many other games these days), is extremely rewarding with great risk vs. reward play, can run on both Windows and Mac, and doesn't take an up-to-date computer to run. None of them have ever played before, however I played for a number of years back in like 2000-2004 and a little bit in maybe 2012 or so. I'm quite excited to show them the game. :)

With that out of the way, here's what we've got goin' on. There might be 2-4 of us on at any point in time, and we're going to be playing very casually, especially so that one of our friends doesn't become totally addicted. No pushing for endgame, no joining of a larger guild with expectations of raiding, no scheduled play times, and who knows if we'll even hit 60 (although let's assume that we will eventually). That said, I'd still like our comp to not be a total failure and be incredibly slow to level, and it would be nice if it allowed a bit of flexibility in terms of not needing a single person to be on any time we wanted to do something. Obviously the latter is easier said that done in some cases, but I'm still going to try. ;)

I personally don't care what class/role I play, and so far two of my friends have weighed in as to what they'd want to play:

Friend A: Shaman (I mentioned we should probably have one in our group, and since he played one in WoW he was all over it, lol)
Friend B: DK or Bard (or maybe Enchanter)
Friend C: Undecided, and heck, may not even decide to play w/ us.

For now we can ignore Friend C, but if Friend B decided to go Bard, would that mean I'd need to go tank 100%, or would there be a "viable" other choice? And if I did end up going tank, any suggestions on which one would fit best, or is it all the same for what we're doing?

If my buddy went DK I'd probably go Necro (pretty good group synergy, good DPS without requiring lots of gear, heals, can solo well), but I'm definitely open to suggestions there as well.

Thanks in advance, and I look forward to seeing some of you in-game!

Kaze

[Adron]

I had a group of 4 friends playing for a while, with no idea if 1,2,3 or all 4 would be on at any given time, despite everybody being in north america and 8-5'ers. We kinda accidentally hit on this combo, which was nice because we could solo or group, and every 2-3 person combo actually worked somewhere, at every level:

1)Monk
2)Bard
3)Druid
4)Shaman

We would substitute in alts occasionally, and some combos were far better xp over time than others (monk + bard was tedious), but we had fun, and killed some pretty crazy crap considering the lack of an enchanter. We never made it to 60 though, so who knows how long we could have gone without the big 4: warrior, rogue, enchanter, cleric. Never had any corpse unretrieved, and nobody rage quit! I challenge you to find a better combo of 4 with fewer crappy combinations of 1-4 characters!

[Swish2]

Take the base line of putting people in categories:

1. Tank (warrior/paladin/SK)
2. Healer (cleric/shaman/druid)
3. Caster/dps (wizard/mage/enchanter/necro)
4. Melee DPS/utility (monk/rogue/bard/ranger)

It's a good way to separate 4 people into different loot categories and ensure there is less clashing when it comes to finding items you need ^^

[Jimjam]

I have some bad news for friend B, Donkey Kong isn't actually a playable character in Project 1999.

[Dreenk317]

For casual leveling, bards actually make great tanks, and have lots of utility. Personally, if I was rolling a static 4 man. I'd prolly do

1. Bard (tank and utility)
2. Monk or rogue
3. Shaman
4. Enchanter (charm dps and CC)

Some might argue cleric instead of shaman. But imo, shaman has more utility. And in small groups it's all about classes that can do more than one thing.

In this group, bard and chanter can mez and slow and charm adds.
Bard and monk both could tank well
Shaman and chanter can both root CC and slow if the other is busy with something.
Bard, monk, and chanter, all make excellent pullers, indoors or out.

[B4EQWASCOOL]

Warrior
Cleric
Druid
Enchanter

[B4EQWASCOOL]

DK = Shadow Knight

Correct his terminology or you will be chastised.

Swish has good advice for you here. In reality if you have 3-4 people you can make just about any comp work with some creativity. Okay what you want and enjoy the journey.

Everquest stole the idea from WoW, so there's nothing to correct except for EQ to correct it...

[Gozuk]

Everquest stole the idea from WoW, so there's nothing to correct except for EQ to correct it...


Wait, huh?

[B4EQWASCOOL]

Wait, huh?

I'm not sure how else to state the fact in order for you to understand.

[Lojik]

Iksar nec/nec/shm/monk

[Jimjam]

I find a big part of the fun of a static group is just everybody picking what they want and trying to make it work.

[Dreenk317]

I'm not sure how else to state the fact in order for you to understand.

Pretty sure EQ came first.... not World of Warcraft.... I do smoke a lot of pot, but pretty sure I'm not that out of it. Where do you get your buds, Mr. beforeeqwascool?

[B4EQWASCOOL]

Pretty sure EQ came first.... not World of Warcraft.... I do smoke a lot of pot, but pretty sure I'm not that out of it. Where do you get your buds, Mr. beforeeqwascool?

I will not engage with arguments that disregard fact.

[Gozuk]

Cleric
Ranger
Necro
Bard

[rajax]

Shaman
Bard (can swap for enchanter if you want less active play style /more reliabe uptime buffs/Cc)
ShadowKnight (can swap for necro for far better damage, practically zero gear requirements and more group utility)
Monk (tank when sk/bard afk or gone, puller when feign death needed, primarily at end levels, great DPS at all levels.)

*These choices are heavily biased as they are my four favorite classes in EQ.*

All 4 classes are fine soloing when you cannot play together and for starting out when you all are learning the game and mesh together well, all 4 can “tank” if called upon particularly when the shaman can slow early with the threat a sk or bard can generate immediately. The main sticking points are:

1) The Bard will need to know their stuff or learn it fast as they are kind of the backbone especially if you lack one of the other 3. Bard is by far the most likely of these four to eat deaths as you 4 explore Everquest.

2) At higher levels you will lack at ports and resurrections. Ports can usually be found most any time for tips, I would encourage you to make friends with any LFG clerics anyway for those days when the shaman cannot play. Or, without shaman slows/regen you will likely want to stick to more outdoor zones and safer kiting.


For the record “Evil Knight” has been a character in fiction and historical accounts pretty much since writing was invented. Ever heard of Ringwraiths? Soth? Darth Vader? Mordred? Goliath? Caesar Borgia? Nobunaga?

[kazekan]

I have some bad news for friend B, Donkey Kong isn't actually a playable character in Project 1999.

Lol. Indeed. And yeah, it was a typo. :)

Thanks everyone for the feedback! Ended up traveling for work there and EQ was the last thing on my mind (which is ironic, given that 15 years ago it would have been the ONLY thing on my mind!). We'll pool all these ideas together and see what we decide upon, although as someone else mentioned, we may end up going the route of coming up with a playstyle that fits our group comp, but we'll see.

Cheers!