What to add as a fifth box?

[Theron_Thunderblade]

First of all, I have no beastlord :(  My main is a paladin, whom I love very dearly.  I post here, because it seems like there are a lot of BST two-boxers and I'm looking for some insight.  This is also the only multi-boxing forum I've seen :)

Anyway, my group is:

Paladin
Shaman
Druid
Magician

I've come into an extra account kind of by accident and I think I'm going to PL it up to be a fifth box.  

My shammy is 65 and the rest are at varying stages of level (Pal 48, Druid 24, Mage 22).  

The intent is to level the druid/mage/fifth box up to 41 so they can do LDONs with the Pally, and then get them all up to 55 or so to group with the Shammy.

I'm trying to put together a group with a lot of versatility that can try challenging camps and grind through LDONs.  Anyway...

For the Fifth box I'm thinking Cleric, enchanter, or wizard.  

The Cleric brings the security of the 96% rez and Cheal, along with some good utility buffs.  Some overlap with the Paladin, but not really that much, mostly because Cleric buffs really blow away whatever the paladin gets.  Not much DPS added, if any, but again, lots of security.  Between shammy slow and cheal, not many things I can't take down.  Pacify pulling is also an option.

The Enchanter brings KEI.  Not as big a deal since it's usually pretty easy to find someone to give it up, it's still nice to be self-sufficient.  Additionally, brings the best haste, and the ability to Mez.  Dire charm is also handy to have as a very safe DPS boost, even though there isn't anything DC'able in the LDON dungeons.  Tough to bot, with mez targeting, etc., but brings a lot of utility.  Overlaps a lot with the Shaman in terms of buffs.

The Wizard brings straight burst DPS, which is something that I think my little combo will need.  Ports are already covered by the druid, as is snare.  Pretty much added for low maintenance DPS.  

What do you guys think?

[danaconda]

First of all, I don't think anyone here minds if you don't play a beastlord. We're pretty nice to people.  :D

Back to the question at hand....

Are you sure you want the 4 mentioned toons? I say this because I think you should drop the druid and replace him with a wizzie so you don't lose the ports, but still have snare and nicer DPS. This way you can drop a cleric into the 5th slot. The druid is low enough that dropping him is maybe 4 hours work in Paludal Caverns to bring up to par the wizzie.

This would make your group: shaman, pally, mage, cleric, wizzie. Mage and wizzie for DPS, pally so you don't lose aggro, shaman slows, sends pet, dots, and cleric is main healer. You got everything covered.

I am very biased towards adding a necro into a boxing situation since I find them very easy to use (been my main since Dec. 99). So finding a place for him in there is definitely something to think about. If you don't need ports, or you find them kind of "added bonus only" then I would even throw a necro in that spot.

Here's reasons I always have for necro: snare (also added damage, never a bad thing), feign death (which leads into next one:), backup 93% REZ, ghetto mez for mobs under level 55, and higher I believe for undead, and as always, necros have potential to be huge DPS machines, and it isn't dependant on their gear (but that always helps a bit) like a wizzie.

***EDIT***
I did notice you mentioned wizard. If you don't like wizard and are still dead-set on the druid/shaman in group together, then I would add necro on top of that. Still a good combo.

[Et^Cetera]

Paladin + Shaman + Druid + Magician + ??

Well, even though I dont box one, I would vote for Necro. Pet classes are always good in multi-box situations becuase you can use them at a greater level of potential reletive to the time spent at the keyboard.

Looking at the 4 classes you have already, you have all the major points covered (tank aggro, snare, slow, heals, nukes, DS, stuns + pet stuns), so really you want DPS. LDON wants/needs DPS more than most hunting grounds as you are against the clock. Necros add good DPS yet also have undead Mez + slows, which can be used heavily in Guk + MMC themes.

With Evacs, sometimes you evac AFTER the MT has fallen, so the corpse fetching ability is usefull. Also, if it all does go south, the necro can FD and rez the Cleric back in. Not so usefull for LDONS, but I am thinking places like Howling stones, Veksar etc.

Out of the 3 classes you mention:

Cleric: Seems like healing over-kill having all 3 priests in a group, a waste, to be honest. Pallys get a (90%?) rez which should do you in most situations, and there are alot of mid 50`s Clerics who would be more than willing to travel to corpses with an offer of 100pp especially with Druid transport. Buffs are covered by druid, as is most of the healing. Seems like over-duplication.

Chanter: Again, with Shaman already in group, you are getting alot of over-lap in ability. Given the level of the Chanter to Shaman, the chanter will most likely be un-used alot of the time until very late in thier life, which seems a waste. With a 2-box its not so bad, but a 5-box chanter seems to be a very high maintenance class for what you bring to the table.

KEI is nice, and very buyable in POK.  But 60 is a LONG way off if this class is being started from scratch.  Although to be honest, you dont NEED it anyway. its very nice, but not a NEED, especially with a 65 shaman with canni 5 + Q in group.

Wizard: Low maintenance, which is usefull, but again, duplication for both nukes and ports with both Druid AND Magician. Out of the 3 you listed, this would be my pick.

CC is lacking in the traditional sense, but to be honest, if you were 5 boxing, you would be hard pressed to work a CC class effectivly even if you did pull 3 or more.

You have 3+ root capable classes, and to be honest, pet-off-tanking is a MUCH easier option for CC in multibox situations. Buys you alot more "thinking" time. Given the fact your Paladin will be your main puller, you shouldnt have any pulling (therefore CC) problems till you start hitting those 60/65 level dungeons. (*read necro mez)

But like at the top of the post, I would go necro, because it brings something to the table not already covered by the other classes.

Corpse recovery
FD + rez ability.
Good steady DPS
Fairly low maintenance.
Undead Mez for Ldon themes.
Mana feeding others in a pinch.

[Theron_Thunderblade]

Hmmm...  How important are evacs?  With a Cleric to Rez and a Necro to FD, it wouldnt' be that bad...

Now that you guys mention it, it seems like a good alternative would be to replace the druid with a cleric and then add a necro.  

I'd lose evac and the snare isnt' as good on the necro, but gain an extra pet class, better healing, good dots, and corpse summoning.  

That might cover my bases better, but at the expense of evac...

From your experience, is evaccing that helpful?  It seems like it would be really important with lots of boxes.

[danaconda]

Ok, my take on evac is that it's a nice thing to have if you have it, but it's not something I would worry about. All of the classes listed except the pally would be able to gate, and doing LDoN's means you can use the magus' in the camps to travel around a bit.

My three box set-up is Beast/Cleric/Necro and let me tell you, the added damage of the snare dots is definitely nice. The level 49 snare does ~75dmg/tick which adds up nicely.

I would definitely replace druid with cleric. Cleric heals are so much better it's hard to go back to the others. I barely use any heal other than the HoT's. Cast 'em early and forget about healing for the rest of the fight.

I have successfully completed my first couple of boxed LDoN's (and actually my first ever since I don't get a chance to group much). It is such a blast doing your own LDoN. If you read my topic below (it's below now, maybe not forever though  :wink: ) you will see how I was doing. Quite fun!

Don't know if you've ever played a necro, but they are crazy powerful! They get a few dots with really nice resist mods to them (lifetaps, heat blood/ignite blood, splurt) and their mana regen is quite nice. Especially at 49 when you get lich. You'll start using the necro to mana dump once you realize how much extra mana you'll have just waiting to burn.  :twisted:

[Bulge]

Hiya, I am a 5-boxer and I definately use Evac a lot. I never stay in one spot with my group, the best fun is to progress fast in a dungeon, but this sometimes means you get into tricky situations. Evac is very handy, especially since now you get to keep your pets and any buffs that were on them, so you are pretty much in business right away.

My group is a Beastlord (tank), Druid, Cleric, Mage and Necro. The Beastlord is my main and I built the rest around him, hence my lack of a real tank. You will enjoy the fact that you have a Paladin as your Main. :)

The rest of the group was built around the concept of "pet-power"and though this has worked out fine, I must say that I start to rely on Nuking more and more.  The pets are very nice sustained DPS, but  nuking just goes so much faster. :) And with the Beastlord and Druids Mana-regen and the Necro pretty much never going low on mana, I can nuke a lot. The Necro plays an important role in this with his Mind Wrack spell: I have come to LOVE caster-mobs since I can Mind Wrack them and basically deliver a Free nuking-round to my group with it. It has become one of my mainstay spells.

The Necro is on constant Demi-lich (with Chloro on off course) and has never run out of mana for me. A necro is an absolutely great addition, not even counting the dots. Pet-power, manabattery, Mind Wrack and if you need it, a fast  Dot. Also snares! I even use the poison nuke a lot, since she is so full of mana. :)

Taking your group, I would indeed add a Wizard  and replace the druid for a Necro then. Wizard is easy to box and serious power. Since you have the wizzie you will not be missing the teleports (I could NEVER do without the ports) and the snares(also by the necro), the shammy has the SoW and the slows, and your Mage has good DPS to offer and can provide a pet for off-tanking. The Mage can also replace the druid's DS so in fact you have the entire druid covered, exept for it's mana-regen/hp buff and the high end hp-regens.

The Pally and Shaman for healing then, I think that should be enough. I have definate overhealing power with my Druid and Cleric, though I sometimes need it, not being a Tank. You do not have that problem, though I am not sure how badly you would miss Complete Heal.

Paladin, Mage, Necro, Shaman, Wizard: that is some serious DPS! And utility!

[bham]

In my opinion shammy plus pally healing is not enough. It might get you through LdoNs, but LdoNs can only take you so far. Once you start doing GoD and Omens, where the groupable loot exceeds LdoN gear anyway, you will need at least a druid and preferably a cleric to heal.

Of the 2, a cleric is a superior healer, has the best rez and can pacify anywhere, where harmony only works outdoors. A druid is superior in a smaller group, (ie 2 or 3 box) due to their versatility. For a larger group (4 to 6 box) take the best, a cleric.

Im not sure how attached you are to the low level guys. I assume you love the pally and want to incorporate the shammy as he is the highest level. So far that gives us Pally, shammy, cleric. A strong defensive combo, but light on offense and with a few holes in versatility. For the other 2 you want ports, snarer, DPS and single pulling. I will recommend 3 classes to fill these 2 spots and you pick what you like best.

1) Wizard - If you want ports take a wizard, he has high sustained and burst DPS and adds snare as well. Easy to box.

2) Mage - The mage air pet is a useful off tank. The ability to have the mage malos line land right before the shammy slow lets you slow mobs reliably and quickly. Mages have good sustained and decent burst DPS. Call of Hero is great for splitting pulls and getting out bad pulls in many zones. Easy to box. You already have one at level 20-something.

3) Necro - FD pull, snare, extra rez if cleric or group wipes, DPS, situational mez and slow, mana twitch, DOTs. Necros have a lot of useful stuff. I have never boxed one but I assume they take slightly more effort to get full use out of them compared to the other 2.

Overall, I say :-

Drop the druid for a cleric.
Add a wizard as the 5th box.
Consider swapping the mage for a necro. I wouldnt, but its an option.

[Bulge]

I agree, Shaman and Pally probably will not cut it in OoW and GoD.

Choosing between the Mage and Necro will be hard. It's that sort of decision that probably would make me take a 6th and last box. :)

[Theron_Thunderblade]

After much thought, I've decided to drop the druid for a cleric and then add a Necro.

So the team is:

Paladin
Shaman
Necro
Mage
Cleric

But now I'm tempted to add a sixth box :)  

Ultimately, I decided that the healing power of the cleric was going to be necessary.  A shaman can't really handle it and there are lost of unslowable mobs, or at least mobs that mititgate slow in the newer expansions.  The only thing I really miss about the druid is tracking and evacs :)  

Six-boxing doesn't seem that much more complicated and a wizard would give me more dps, evacs, and would essentially get free xp due to the group experience bonus :)  Just a few more keypresses for nukes.

I'd put the cleric and the wizard on my extra box (P3 1.2Ghz w/768MB ram) with an n52 and then have the others on my main box (XP2.2ghz w/2GB ram)...

Now you've got me thinking...

Anyway, I rerolled the paladin and he's going to MT the four-box group of new characters through some LDONs, starting at 20, to get used to boxing that many characters when the risk and the danger is pretty low.  

So, adding a sixth-box, as it were, would really only be adding a fifth box for the forseeable future.  The Ulfy is just going to be a buffbot for the next month or so.

[Smudmack]

I boxed;

Beastlord

Warrior

Cleric

Enchanter

Druid

Bard


This was a seriously good team for anything ranging from nameds to fast exping. Ofcourse all where 65-70 and Qvic geared which might have helped =)

[Rhajah]

What is your guy's setup for 5 and 6-boxing please?  I 3 box a lot and have it down pretty well.  I have 3 PCs, all P4, from 1ghz to 1.7ghz - 512MB ram each.  They run well with 1 toon each, but not sure how well they'd run with 2 each.  Any suggestions?  How do you keep 5 or 6 toons running smoothly with all the keypresses?  Would appreciate any suggestions.  Currently I have 6 accounts - 67 SK, 65 Cleric, 63 Shaman, 62 Druid, 60 Enchanter, and 62 Beastlord.  I'd like to do a full group setup if i could and dont mind changing the group makeup, but again need help on the best way to set up the computers, keyboards, macros, etc.

Thanks.

[Bulge]

Rhajah, read my 5-boxing thread in this forum, it's a couple threads down: that's how I do it.

All accounts on separate boxes now though: I had the druid and cleric on a single comp and that worked rather well, since I could switch between them easily also using the Strategic Commander, so alternating healing actually wasn't that hard. Still easier when all of them are on their separate computer and thus have their own Strategic Commander.

I could never do it with lots of keyboards or too many accounts on the same computer: too messy and I forget which is what and where. :)

[Theron_Thunderblade]

I've got five accounts running between two computers.  

The windows aren't hard to keep track of with WinEQ, because each window is a different hotkey.  I use an N52 speedpad to switch quickly (i.e. different button goes to different character).  It's not so bad then.  

It's just a matter of setting up the right hotkey banks.

As for horsepower, four accounts run on AthlonXP2700 (2.2ghz), 2GB RAM and the other account runs on my laptop P3(1.2ghz),768MB of ram.  

I'm toying with the idea of adding a wizard to the mix, and I'd just run two accounts on the laptop, but I'm not sure if I can handle it :)

[danaconda]

Wow man, nice setup! You got 4 accounts on one computer.... how are your graphic settings? Everything off? (not that it matters, I prefer old style graphics as it is)

My 3-box setup is spread between 2 computers. Main computer with 2 toons is a P4 1.5ghz with ~640 (or was it 768?) MB of PC133 RAM (yeah, the old stuff). The vid card is a GeForce 5200FX 128MB. I keep both accounts to a minimum since graphics aren't a big concern and my cleric is always facing the ground so I don't get any lag while pulling. I'd rather everything run smooth as ice and look like crap then having choppy gameplay and nicer graphics.

Ever since I started running LDoN's I have a renewed sense of excitement towards the game, hence I won't be grabbing any of the newer games just yet (although WoW is getting me excited too, but that's a whole new topic).

If you already have 6 accounts there's no harm in adding the 6th box. If the laptop slows down, just make the cleric and wizard sit on that box and face them both down (since you can /assist to nuke, and F1-F6 for heals) so the graphics don't bog your system down.

[Theron_Thunderblade]

I run the four accounts on the main at 800x600x32 Medium Textures.  I keep models on for Human Female, Barbarian Male, and Half Elf male, along with horses/elementals.  Framerates aren't great, but EQPlayNice helps quite a bit. I get about 25 on the main window.

Actually, now that I think about it...  Has anyone here been having trouble with ButcherBlock lately?

When I zone in, single-box or multi-box, my framerate drops to absolute crap, like 5-7 frames per second.  Even if I set the clip plane way down, it's still uber slow.  Only happens in Butcherblcok and in Dagnor's occasionally.    It's really strange.  

Anway, FWIW.