Hi Folks - My situation

[Arex]

So here is my situation and I am hoping some folks can provide some feed back.

I play a 57 Iksar Beastlord and the wife plays a 58 Shaman.  So far a great duo. Some folks have mentioned that Shaman and Beastlord are pretty redundant later in levels but we are both stubbon and wont change our main classess =)

Now my question is; in your opinion what class should I use for a third class? My two classes I have been playing the most are my necro (also 57) and druid (51) and I would prefer to discuss these the most. (although other suggestions are fine as well)

The wife doesnt play as much as she used to so that also leaves me with looking at a duo situation as well.

Little bit of testing in Nurga shows that I simply mow down those goblins with the necro and beastlord duo. With the druid I feel a bit safer but it is much slower.

Is that just level based? Those with higher level druids does this DPS gap fill up as I gain levels with the druid?

So to summarize...

Beast/Necro Duo or Beast/Druid Duo with 70% of the time a shaman is with me?

I hope this makes sense.

Thanks in advance,
Arex 57 Iksar Beastlord
7th Hammer

[Boku]

Personally I'd go necro no questions asked. Now that you can fd and the pet  stay up indeffinatly, you could load up the dots, send in the pet and then fd the other character.

[Dhantes]

if you like to tank at all go druid heh... to me i HAVE to be tanking or im not happy the necro may let you gain aa's faster via dot kiting in the future but the druid will allow you to tank and have a more enjoyable and safer experience in my eyes...

[Xarilok]

You won't be in Nurga forever.  I'd like to see a necro keep you healed in PoP, hehe, would not be fun.  A druid could do it easily.

Also, don't forget Dire-Charm.  Most of the DPS from a boxed necro is from pet, and with Dire-charm, a druid has a pet too.  Plus, dire-charm pets take no exp as long as they do less than half the damage to the mob, so as long as your beast and the druid's nukes do 51%, you get full exp.  This isnt hard to do at all.

Dire-charm druid+level 65 nukes is about as much dps as a boxed necro.  A necro played to full would out-dps a druid, but 2-boxed, the dps would be similar, if not in favor of the druid.

So, you get ~same DPS, with the druid adding: better snare, heals, mana/hp buffs, str buffs (better than a BLs), resist buffs, regen buffs, ports, evac, etc.  A necro is only snare/dps.

I'd go with druid.  Can do more with one, and ultimately go farther and get exp faster.

[Araden]

Xarilok,  that was changed.  DC pets take no xp so long as you do at least 1 damage to the mob.   Same with regular pets.    The change was around 6 months ago ish I think,  not sure specifically.

[Bulge]

I think a druid would last you longer, when you start hitting the higher level mobs, if you are not planning on changing tactics and start aggro-kiting that is. Like the former poster said, you have to think what you will be doing later on.

Aggro-kiting, (notwithstanding the fact that it's boring) may use the Necro to it's full potential, however it would nullify some of your own and the shammies potential(slowing to an extent, melee-buffing, regen-abilities). It can yield awesome xp, but then again, a soloing Necro would get even more xp, and this is not about playing a Necro, it's about adding potential to the Duo that you both like to play.

I presume you want to be taking on the mobs like you do now, with some seriously melee-buffed hands-on combat, taking on those heavily slowed mobs backed up by decent mana-regen and the pets for added DPS. With this duo and fighting style I think that *most* of your encounters up to the higher end game will use the potential of the Druid more then the potential of the Necro. I think you will be lucky if your Necro can get a single  Funeral Pyre to work all its way on the sorts of mobs that you guys will be churning through. The hands-on sort of mobs. Later on mobs will get more hp and you will be able to use some of the dot-potential for sure, however mobs also start hitting much harder so you will be longing for some serious healing too.

The necro's pet will be nice, but if you want to keep tanking in the future, you are going to need the druid more then the necro, unless you are willing to go for a more hands off style. The druid will help you with hp-regen and Hp-buffs also. And indeed in the even further future, the druid will become a pet-class too, though you have to pick your zones a little more carefully then. The Necro is more then a simple aggro-kiting DPS-machine too off course, but I still think that the Druid will fit you better, if you are not planning on drastically changing your play/combat style.  Go druid!

There are other combo's off course, but I won't bother you with that, since that's not what you are asking. :)

One thing you may want to take into account is wether you or your wife intends to play the Necro/Druid solo too.  In that case, pick the one you think is most fun. :) (still druid for me, I'd make a battle-druid. ;) )

[danaconda]

If you've ever read any of my other posts you will notice I tend to lean very heavily on necro's....

In this case, however, I would actually say use both! Let me explain...

If your wife is playing the shaman, there isn't much use for another healer. In this case a necro would be extremely fun to add to the group. If your wife isn't on and you want to duo with the beast, then go druid. If your wife isn't on and you want to duo with the shaman, go necro. And if you get ballsy and decide to three box any of the chars, I would go druid/necro/beast (unless druid/nec on same acct, in which case you would replace a shaman in there).

So my advice would be keep both characters in mind and try a few different situations and see how you like it best.  :D