Coming Back w/ 54 Pally - what to box with

Ewenmarc · June 24, 2006, 05:25:08 AM

Long-time reader, first time poster - take it easy on me... :|

Ok, I quit EQ about 1 year ago due to boredom and frustration....my main account has/had a 54 Pally - Magelo: http://www.magelo.com/eq_view_profile.html?num=862116 , a 20 something BL and a 20 something Druid.

Some questions and thoughts:

#1 and relative to the above Magelo, I haven't used or paid for the account for almost 1 year - will Sony let me reinstate it and if so, how - who/how do I contact them?

#2 - I'm not 100% that I will keep the Pally as my Main, but I'm pretty sure I will. I do know that I will be starting a 2nd account and using him to PL that toon to the 50's - I'm 90% sure the 2nd account will be a BL - so here are my thoughts/doubts/ideas...

A.) Learning to 2 Box will be aided by the fact I need to PL the 2nd acct. for about 50 levels - so although both classes need some attention/screen time, it's not like starting 2 melees as a new 2 boxer. Basically the Pally can buff, heal and crowd control for quite a while before he can jump into a fight and both get XP - I think 36 or so for the new toon.

B.) I know that I'm on the BL forum, but this is the best multi-box forum that I have found...sooooo - here's why I'm only 90% sure that the 2nd box will be a BL

Necro - Great solo, boxed w/ a Pally at higher levels they could totally wipe Undead zones, throw in a 3rd box (eventually) w/ a cleric - absolute killing crew.

Mage - strong/diversified pets, strong DPS

Wizzy - Might be best match for Pally in non-undead settings? Easy to maintain in a 2nd box and DPS to cut my battles in half, saving mana and cutting down-time...which is one of the things that I got frustrated with before.

Druid - just loved playing this class, good DOTs, taxi always waiting, so many good things - I will always have a Druid to play, just not sure it will ever be more than a hobby

I obviously need help - I've got 1 account and a pretty well geared (or at least it was a year ago...lol) Pally to get things going - how should I proceed w/ expansion to 2 boxes - I'll worry about a 3rd after I master 2 - that will be a new post...lol...

Khauruk · June 24, 2006, 07:06:00 PM

Hmm...pally 2 box can be tough esp. once you get a tad higher than you are. Most would recomment cleric or shammy I'd think. You'd need better heals, or at least slows to keep tanking w/o super uber gear at higher levels methinks.

Another possibility, if you are having fun w/ the beast, is the classic BST/Druid combo. You could get a druid up w/in grouping range of the Beastlord w/in a day, (or other way around), and forge forth from there. It sounds like you really like both classes, adn that might be a good fit. It's a really strong duo...

Taiglin · June 24, 2006, 10:02:42 PM

Yeah you (will) really need slow. Having the Bst on the second account can work but you will lack in healing and you will loose DPS trying to work 2 melee (people have/can/do 2 box 2 melee toons but it is more work). You could level the Pally and Bst on the same account and grow a shammy on the second. While there is some overlap with the Bst/Shammy combo it wouldn't be that bad. Can take the extra shammy mana from probably not slowing mobs and drop a DoT instead /shrug. That would allow you to play both mains.

I 2 boxed a Bst/Dru for a long long time. Have added a third box and will probably switch the Dru for the cleric I am growing alongside my necro. I hate the thought of losing ports, tracking, and group fixed duration invis though.

Anyway, the real question is what do you intend to do with your duo (eventual based on what you wrote trio?). The next thing to keep in mind is the rule of thumb that DPS classes are always LFG. Last but not least is what do you think would be fun to play together and how much hands on with boxing do you think you will find to be fun. If you are doing more then one melee you have to get into positioning both toons, watching distance from the mob, etc etc vs setting up casters/healers and pulling to them.

Khauruk · June 25, 2006, 03:28:11 AM

Assuming you do go w/ BST/Druid, and want to add a third, here's some options for that third:

Cleric - change druid to straight dps/utility. Fight/kill larger things. Druids can pull in some outdoor places, and the cleric could paci-pull indoors. Gives you some nice options....better buffage, better pulls, heals, druid can concentrate on crowd control (can do damn cool things w/ root/snare + atone from the cleric).

Wizard - straight dps, easy to play. Plenty of ports, etc,...druid improves wiz mana regen (Po9 line) at higher levels, has (iirc) some minor fire/cold debuffs. Downside is mana, overlap w/ druid, resists resists resists.

Bard - straight utility, can do lots of cool stuff. Useful even just playing songs.

Ranger - king of easy DPS. /autofire, and forget. Endless Quiver and Archery Mastery3 AAs, and the very very nice bows readily available now = the god 'bot. Good outdoor pulling. Can help out in many touchy outdoor situations by readily switching to agro-kite/bowkite.

Shammy - better slows/debuffs, can do good dps w/ DoN proc spell, and w/ DoTs. Backup heals, or just good HoTs so druid can DPS.

Mage - malo debuff line, pet summoned items, stun pet that can offtank nicely enough for many situations. Good nuke dps, and has the debuffs to help both slow/their nukes. CoH is an amazing tool. Downside - nukes run on only 2 resists (fire, magic), pet can lead to positioning problems. Not as much utility as some others.

Necro - Dot, Dot, FD. Dot, dot, FD. Virtually unresistable dots in group settings (has huge debuffs built in). Snare, undead slows/mez/other goodies. Good puller for many situations. Mad, crazy, wild dps. Rezbot. Agro kiter in sticky situations. Downside: Need to watch agro like crazy, or have forever FD'ed toon.

Tank - Any of the tanks can work well in this situation. Pally to help against casters, group heals, buffs complement druid and BSTs, rezzes. SK for pulling, group mana tap, attack tap, little bit better dps than Pallies. Warrior - tank the biggest shit, more dps than knights, defensive, AE taunt, and more in their bag of tricks. Utility - better tanking.

I'd dismiss most other additions - either not enough utility, or too hard to play w/ the duo imo.

Hinthi · June 26, 2006, 03:22:23 PM

If you are looking to just box and do stuff by yourself then Paladin/BL would be a pretty bad combo. You'd pick up slows but you woud not pick up snares or heals. You will reach the point where you either have to add others to your group to cover heals or just stick to really weak content.

Paladin and Shaman would be a much better combo.

Hunni · June 26, 2006, 10:44:13 PM

BL and druid are a great combo. Snares and heals are a definite plus when duoing.

bham · July 17, 2006, 06:53:41 AM

I hear pally and enchanter works well too.

Skraach · July 20, 2006, 06:33:17 PM

Speaking as someone who duos a 68 mage and 66 bst as mains, but having frequently duoed a 54 pal with the same bst at lower levels as well as the bst/dru combo recommended frequently above, I can provide a little more idea what you can accomplish with your original option. If you were to check the paladin boards (I haven't been in a long time), they had a decent 2 box forum as well, and most would encourage pal/shm, pal/ench, pal/necro (if you love undead), or pal/cler as valid combos. There is a small contingent that like the pal/bst combo as well, as many don't realize that a pal with kei can pretty much keep up with healing 2 chars in any given fight for the duration, and still contribute modest dps. I won't argue that other combos are simpler or more efficient, but what I will do is give you an idea that this combo can work, within a given set of parameters. Let's list the pros/cons of the setup:

Pros:

1) Pal provides heals, group heals, HoT, hp buffs, self haste (underrated ability), resist buffs, cures, stuns, debuffs, crowd control (roots and lulls), and very good tanking ability.
2) Bsts add superior dps, complimentary hp and stat buffs, haste, fero (eventually), complimentary/overlapping resist buffs, overlapping cures, modest emergency heals, hp regen, modest dot/nuke dmg, crowd control in the form of pet tanking, SoW, and paragon eventually.

Cons:

1) Mob postioning when employing 2 melee chars. Bst pets add an additional challenge here, as they tend to have significant push, much like mage pets. There are several means you can use to minimize the placement issue. Static spawn camps are your friend, they let you leave one char at the fight spot while other retrieves mob. If you can find one that doesn't require the puller to actually travel in order to cast, you can cheat by using autofollow to position your 2nd char to be on the mobs back once it arrives at your camp. Just make sure the puller backs up enough to see the other position behind the mob, then toggle over and hit your assist/atk macros, and cast appropriate spells for dmg and aggro management (pal will need to spam stuns to keep aggro). If you are forced to run to get mobs, and run back, drag the mobs over your other melee, toggle over to assist/attack, then toggle back to position the 2nd character appropriately. The pet needs to be opposite the pal in all these scenarios, to minimize losing atk range from pet push. You may need to balance push with the bst by alternating sides, or just toggling over and readjusting the pal during the fight. 2 melee are not as efficient as other combos, but they do work.

2) Jack of all trades, master of none. Basically, you are using 2 hybrids who are really good at a lot of things, but not the greatest at many, if they are at anything. This will require you to compensate for you shortcomings. Obviously, you can't tank or heal against everything as well as warrior or a cleric or shaman. The easiest way to level the playing field is to do AA before levels. I know everyone says levels>aa, but to make this duo more efficient, I would suggest getting the paladin to 55 and get him CA3 by the time the beastlord catches up to him, then continue on to 59, and get key class aa on both, then to 62, get more key aas, move on to 65, etc. Since your healing is inferior to a priest class char, avoidance is gonna give you the biggest bang for your buck both tanking and healing. Since the pal is also your main healer, you might consider doing the healing aa after avoidance, to increase his mana efficiency. Keep in mind that you may have to do easier camps than others because the pal is going to have to channel his heals while fighting, whereas a cleric/dru/shm is hopefully not getting beat on while healing. Since the bst in this combo is primarily there to kill things faster, once you get his avoidance and paragon, concentrate on his dps boosting aa. All of these suggestions are designed to make the leveling process less frustrating, and keep you from being overmatched as you level through content.

3) 2 gear dependent characters. With a mage and bst, you typically dont spend a lot of time and money on caster gear upgrades, since most good items are no drop, or aa/levels will provide a greater benefit than any gear. So the beast gets whatever he wants, when he wants it. With a paladin and a bst, you are likely going to have to buy better gear for the pal before getting better gear for the beast, because the pal has to stay alive to make the combo work best. You can overcome this by camping upgrades or money making camps, but the economy of this combo is far more difficult than a caster/melee combo.

All that said, you need to play what seems fun to you. Bst/Dru is a combo I prefer over Bst/Cler or Bst/Sham, but I like characters that can do more than one thing well. Of the alternates suggested, I would pick that one, or suggest you make a pal/sham or pal/ench combo. Hope you found this helpful, and relevant to your original question.
Skraach/Anien
66 bst/68 mage