That group will work out alright. As Dez indicated though, it may be a bit light on DPS and if the wiz is really wanting to do DPS, he ought to roll a rogue, monk or chanter. You will not see any larger burst damage than you do from a wizard, but it cannot be sustained and over multiple fights does not amount to much. Even so though, it will still work fine as is ^^

The other challenge you may run into is mans management. Yes, bards offer great regen, but only to those around them. As your group is, the Paladin will either be pulling and tanking or the hard will be pulling. If the Paladin is pulling, s/he will run out of mana due to double duty and mana regen on only half or less the time (if s /he is away pulling, s/he cannot hear the bard song). If the bard pulls, you ruin to the issue that the rest the whole group only has mana regen for half or less the time. Not a big deal, but it will add some downtime. To alleviate, you guys could consider swapping the bard for a ranger (or monk) and the shaman for a chanter. You could also keep he bard or shaman and trade just one and the wiz for the chanter and monk/ranger.

Good luck and Happy Hunting!

I think you definitely want some more sustained dps. There are two ways to get at it I think.

First: Swap Wizard for any class with better sustained dps. Rogue, Mage, Monk are all good ideas. Another option that I think is interesting for this group is Druid:
(1) Can still serve as burst dps
(2) Adds substantially more sustained dps with his damage shield
(3) Can charm animals in certain zones
(4) Still have a porter in group
(5) Some nice short duration dots

As for the Bard...Bards are awesome. But Bards are one of the classes that takes a lot of skill to play, and asking a Bard to pull as well as CC will be a lot of work. Just make sure the Bard knows what he's getting into....it would make things a little easier on his carpal tunnel if someone else was able to pull. Also, CC is much easier on an enchanter. For a Bard to CC three mobs at higher levels requires at a minimum 6 different keystrokes every 18 seconds, more if he is charming one mob and mezzing the other two, and more if he is also attacking. Lots of fun, but lots of work, especially in a group grind.

Not sure if Raev is being facetious or not, but presumably the chanter charmed pet would tank. With no other melee that may be a viable if unorthodox option. Not one I would advocate though.

I've actually been concerned about having a Pally in the mix. Is the experience penalty for the hybrid gonna hit everybody REALLY hard?

The bard would tank, obviously. Bards have fantastic aggro with snare and while they are a bit squishy compared to a Warrior or Paladin, you have so much defense in your group otherwise (full Shaman/Cleric HP buffs, massive HP/mana regen, CC from the enchanter, Wizard root parking and stunning mobs, shaman on full-time slow duty) that it won't matter. Even the wizard can manage to be moderately effective with that much mana regen, for that matter, although of course the group would be more effective swapping him for a Rogue or Magician.

No, grouping with a hybrid is basically just like grouping with a priest who is two levels higher. If you group with a 35 paladin they would take about as much xp as a 37 cleric. Bards also have the same penalty as paladins. Casters have a 10% penalty and monks have 20% penalty. Iksar have something like a 20% penalty as well so an iksar monk would receive the same amount of xp as a hybrid (I think the iksar monk may actually take a bit more).

Obviously... :P It does make sense though in that context ^^

Thanks for the update, maskedmelon. I guess I don't understand the percentages still. I played a druid back in Vanilla so I didn't deal with the penalties. I just didn't want our group to have to kill 40% more mobs to level than having a warrior instead.

I like what you have so far:

Paladin (Tank)
Cleric (Heal)
Bard (Pulling)
Wizard (Damage)
Shaman (Offheal/Buffer)

As others have mentioned you are lacking in the dps. I would say you shouldn't push changing 2 or 3 classes if people have settled on these classes. Hard enough to get 5 people to play a game with and then try to dictate to 2/3rds of them. Group is solid other then a bit light in dps.

As others suggested I would advise to switch Wizard with Enchanter, Do not worry about overlap with shaman. There is very little overlap. Bard can pull, shaman can regen, and enchanter can charm (DPS) + Clarity the group for mana regen. Bards make perfect pullers as they can lull, charm, mez, stun, mem blur jack of all trades.

Charmed pets are insane DPS and make great backup tanks, do not under estimate them. Try to convince the Wizard that he can be 10X the dps over the course of a session as an enchanter then a wizard.

With this you have:


Paladin (Tank)
Cleric (Heal)
Bard (Pulling)
Enchanter (DPS/CC/+mana)
Shaman (Offheal/Buffer)

As far as replacing Shaman with druid, do not listen. Shaman are OP can do everything a Druid can do (Except port) + more, slows, emergency tank, pet, Buffs.

As far as replacing Paladin, again I say don't worry about it. Paladin is a great tank, can spot heal, res, stun casters, blast undead with huge proc weapons and decent nukes. Exp penalty is negligent in a group because although that player takes 40% more xp to level they are not taking 40% of the xp in a group.

In a group it is kind of done like this, xp is shared evenly among all group members adjusted by total xp to next level. So total xp is is divided by a percentage of each persons total xp to next level, you can look at it as if the hybrid takes 40% more of the split of xp between the players. So its 40% more on 1/5th share not the total share. I know this isn't perfect explanation but I am trying to say it in a different way that may allow you to picture the distribution better.:D

Ah! That does make more sense to me BlkCamel, thanks for breaking it down like that!

I'm thinking we might go like his breakdown now, after learning some stats from you incredibly helpful folks:

Paladin (Tank)
Cleric (Heal)
Enchanter (DPS/CC/+mana)
Rogue (DPS)
Shaman (Offheal/Buffer)

Getting more sustained damage, some CC, and even a mind-control. With Breeze and Clarity, maybe that'll make us more efficient and survivable!