Four Boxing?

[darury]

Well, I'm now up to having 4 accounts for experience usage:

1)  65 Cleric (EP geared)
2)  65 BL (Some EP Gear)
3)  63 Druid (So-So Gear)
4)  65 Necro (Decent gear)

So, I'm considering where I could go for "testing" this out in a reasonably safe environment.  I'm thinking my best option might be to use EQW with the quarter-screen options and just running on a single machine.

My other option would be to have a friend 2 box the druid with his 63 Zerker and try some LDoN runs.  

My primary question is do I use my BL or the necro as the "primary" on my main machine?  I'm very comfortable 2-boxing my cleric and BL but the necro is a new addition and I'm still getting the hang of him.

[Tastian]

It depends what you want to do.  I mean if you were aggro kiting with the necro then the bst box could just buff, send pet, dot/nuke as a bot.  If you were tanking with the beastlord then it's easy to have 1 or 2 macros cover the necro snaring/dot'n/sending pet/etc.  I <3 clr + bst + nec 3 box and use bst as main and then just use the others as low maintaince bots.

[Shambler]

Let us know how it works out :) I am interested in moveing up from 2-boxing. However, I'm planing on doing the leveling myself.

I'm mostly hopeing my hardware can handle the boxing :) w/ decent graphics settings. 1.7GHz CPU 1GB ram and a 9800 pro that will clock like an XT.
I may have one pure bot machine with a Nostromo controler atached to it, asumeing my old geforce4 can get transfered to my ancient 450Mhz machine and that it can run eq again.. Although that machine would then have about as much Video ram as system ram heh.

[darury]

Well, I finally got around to trying it out last night in PoI.

The general plan is for the BL to tank and everyone else provides support\DPS.

Basic configuration is BL\Cleric\Druid on main computer using WinEQ.  Took me a bit to get windows sized\arranged, video resolution determined for minimal lag (1024 x 768 vs 1280 x 1024), etc.  Necro is on 2nd comp by himself since I figure he's going to be 2nd highest maintence.

I only had about 20 minutes to test it out but so far the results are good!

Druid provides buffage (DS, regen, Pot9), Cleric provides heals, Necro mostly sent in pet for DPS so far.

I'm still mostly a noob on necros so I'm hoping to get some feedback from guildies for a recommendation on spell lineups for non-kiting tactics.

Thinking I'll try an LDoN sometime this week and probably do Turkeybees in BoT since I"m comfortable in the camp.  

And yes, I fully expect the LDoN to be a loss, but it's a learning experience.

[darury]

Well, happy to report things are working better than I expected.

Completed a BB LDoN last night with only 2 deaths (BL and Necro).  These were avoidable if I had remembered to mem the Necro's undead mez.

Learned the hardway to mez the cleric mob when pulling 4. :roll:

Still getting the hang of it, but looks like LDoNs will be quite doable especially since I'll have a 65 berserker joining me (RL friend).

[Tastian]

hehe yeah they are extremely do-able 8)  It'll only get easier as you go.

[danaconda]

As for spell lineup with the necro, let me give you my spell line up (only 54 necro, but he's been my main for about 4 years and I visit the necro boards quite often to learn tactics I might not have thought of)

1. Lifetap DoT (Saryn's Kiss)
2. Darkness (use the lvl 62 or 63 one i forget which lvl it is)
3. DoT (low aggro if possible)
4. Lifetap DD (Touch of Mujaki)
5. Pet Haste
6. Lich spell (seduction of saryn)
7. Feign Death (Death Peace)
8. Situational (mez, undead 70% slow, another DoT)

This lineup is pretty good for boxing, since you won't need too many DoT's because aggro on a bot is baaaaad! Another tip you might not know of is that if you feign death with the necro after casting any spells, he will drop to the bottom of the hate list if it is successful. So initial DoT aggro will be wiped which is a good thing.

Honestly, the best way to learn how to use the necro more efficiently is to solo with just him for a little while. Click here for a link to the necro lvl 61-65 hunting forum. Try out some of the spots and you will quickly get a hang of your necro's abilities.

As for focus effects on your necro, try to get affliction haste and efficiency items, they will help.

[Bulge]

Your group almost resembles mine, though I have an extra Mage thrown in for DPS.

64 Beastlord, Main and tank, bazaarstuff with some Tier 3 PoP drops
61 Druid (bazaar stuff)
60 Necro (self-equipped which means crap from Dulak's, Torgiran's mines and worse)
57 Cleric (as above, with a decent breastplate, Architects)
58 Mage with terrible gear, Bearhide boots and such. :D

With this group I am doing the level 60 LDoN missions (with the mobs averaging around 55) and it has become much easier indeed, like Tastian said. The DPS is very good with this group, even though they have no AA's and crappy gear. Also, with the above levelrange, I will be getting level 60 missions for quit a few levels to come, so it will become easier still, before it will become harder again. :)
I did a collect within 45 minutes, however it was an easy one, only had to collect 20 and almost every mob dropped one. I had time enough to kill the two named that were up too, they were close together, luckily.

I have a different setup for the Necro though: I only have Funeral Pyre loaded as Dot and I never use it. I use her highest Lifetap as a nuke, and I use it often. Also, I use Mindwrack a LOT, I really love this spell. She has Demi-lich on constantly (with SD and Regrowth she deos not loose hp) and her mana is endless it seems. With her mindwracking every caster mob that we encounter, I can pretty much throw a nuke in with each of my chars with 2 out of 3 mobs, and that gets them down fast. Lifetap, cleric-nuke, druid-nuke, mage-nuke and my own. I could never do this as often without Mindwrack though. At these levels, the cleric nuke is actually not bad at all either!

She also twitches my BL if needed. There's truly no time for dotting, imo.
The Cleric is unreplacable for it's Paci, and I will have to get him to 65 before I let the group outgrow the level 60 missions. :( This will mean I'll have to keep 2 of the chars at 61 and one at 62, but oh well. :) I can handle adds though, but I definatley would be eaten by 3 or more. I can handle two adds (3 mobs) with some frantic taunting, and a single add is easy, but I want adds to be occasional, not the rule. ;) To put it simply, my best Crow Control is my DPS: when I have 2 adds, I nuke the first one down to a cinder fast, then start working on the other two mobs in a more leasurely way. With me and 3 pets, the DPS is still pretty mighty, and the rest can med back the nukes. Well, a heal now and then off course.

Anyway, with the nuking potential in your group I would really advice to start using Mind Wrack, it's also fun to identify the casters and start sucking them for their mana. It becomes second nature soon.

Have fun!

[Araden]

Hey Bulge,  The response I got from an earlier thread has LDoN difficulty breaking to the next tier up when group average hits lvl 63.   So at 58 to 62.99 you have the lvl 55 mob average... and when yer 63-65 on average you have lvl 60 mob average.

[Bulge]

Hey Bulge,  The response I got from an earlier thread has LDoN difficulty breaking to the next tier up when group average hits lvl 63.   So at 58 to 62.99 you have the lvl 55 mob average... and when yer 63-65 on average you have lvl 60 mob average.

Yes, yes, that's what I meant also. :) I think the missions with the level 55 mob average are called the level 60 missions though, but I could be wrong. So I am still good to go with these missions for a while, but I will have to stop advancing the druid, mage and necro at some point, to let the cleric catch up and get him to 65, so I get Pacification. Then I am ready for the level 60 mobs. :)

Did a Takish last night, and it was great fun again. It can get a lttle hairy when the cleric gets the "unaffected" message (level 56 mob) but breaking such a room is part of the fun. I had to evac twice, but with the new pet-zone-with-you feature, it's not really a problem anymore.

Still, it's more fun to get two adds and survive which I managed also. :) I guess playing an Enc could make things much easier, but I dont have one and if I had I would have to concentrate too much on the Enc instead of the Beast, which is still my Main and my funnest char.

Wow, I tend to drift off a lot when I talk about boxing. ;)

[Araden]

LoL.

Yah was just wondering when ya mentioned leaving 1 guy down a bit in lvls wasn't sure if ya was referring to the lvl you were at now or moving up a tier.

[Dhantes]

Dont think leaving one guy down in levels is a good idea myself i would actually suggest if you like doing LDONs to level in PoV or BoT or HoH or some such until all your characters get 65... at which point start doing ldons. Doing ldons as a boxer if you get the lvl 60 dungeon or the 65 dungeon kinda takes the same amount of energy out of you (having to move to camp, pull each mob, move your toons etc) why would you want to do ldons for 31 pts when you could be doing them for 51...

[Xarilok]

Level 60 dungeon = 120ish hitters
Level 65 dungeon = 350ish hitters

Now, which of those two is more likely to kill your botted healer before you can get a bad situation under control?

My wife's druid could MT a level 60 dungeon, and be main healer at the same time.  She'd get pasted in short order in the 65 ones.

Its a pretty steep power curve from 60 to 65, but the points go up a lot too.

[Hereki]

I think it makes a lot of sense to arrange to have a 65 tank for level 60 LDoNs - which you can with your own group.  Points may come slow, but the adventures are much easier, and good experience for the lower characters.  Accumulate AAs and LDoN gear (DPOC for mage and beastlord, for instance), then level to 65 when you need access to extra AAs, and you have confidence in your teams abilities.

[Bulge]

Well, I sure hope that the hits by mobs does not go from 120 average to 350 average, because that will indeed be so much harder. :)  I notice that mobs in my level 60 ldons hit for over 200, btw, but maybe you were referring to average hits, Xarilok? If they go from 200 to 350, I think I can live with that.

Anyway, it is true that my level 64 BL (with 10 non-defensive aa's) can stand up as a tank to even 3 mobs simultaneously now, however those situations do need serious attention to healing and aggrocontrol. Having two adds is not the rule however, it usually happens only when my Pacify gets resisted and I now simply succor which is much easier and will only set me back a few minutes. But when mobs all of a sudden start hitting for 3x the amount (level 65 adventures) then even a single add might become a nuisance and I think I would rather work on some defensive aa's first then and maybe gather some more Raid-gear (got two nice upgrades the other day).

So I think I will stick to my original plan (agreeing with Hereki) and work on my Beastlord and cleric getting them to 65, while the others can get some aa's. LDons are fun and and if I would level my other toons up simultaneously I would have to stop doing them, since I can not do these ldons without Pacify, that much is sure.   It's not the fastest and most efficient way of doing ldons (having a real group with a chanter is MUCH more efficient :D) but it's definately the way I have been playing this game for the last 5 years (slowly) and for the same reason I can live with 30 points an adventure. ;)

Thanks for all the advice though!