Question - Advice on where to start

[Jalerian]

I am new to these forums and I am a bit overwhelmed! There is so much info and different terms and programs I am getting lost. It seems to me that MacroQuest2 is the primary program with everything else using that to do various different things. What confuses me is: What is the difference between Kissassist; or EQBC; or Autocleric/autobard/autowarrior; or these other seemingly class specific things like shambot or IHCEnch; or MQ2Melee with holyshits and downshits...I have read so much over the last few days that my head is about to explode! (Actually a good thing because it means there is a ton of depth to these projects).

I am on a TLP, use ISBoxer, and I am interested in a couple types of setups:

1) 6 box where I manually play most of the characters during combat (using ISboxer), but the MQ2 keeps all buffs up to date. This is probably the type of setup I am most interested in/is safest. FYI: I run SK/CLE/SHM/BRD/BERx2.

2) 6 box where I manually play SK with melee via autofollow and ISboxer, but Cleric, Shaman and Bard are run by program to heal, slow, mez and buff.

3) 6 box where I play the puller (bard) actively...bringing the mobs single to the group and the program plays the other group members to munch the mob while I chain pull a new one.

4) I play a character on raid manually and a second 1-5 box is on autopilot in the background leveling (at first) and eventually just killing plat dropping mobs with me checking in very often.

Are any or all of these scenarios possible? If so, which should I start with and what program/macro/ini would be best to learn first? Which program/macro/ini would be best for each of the given scenarios?

Thanks a ton for your advice!

 

[vivviv]

Start here do some learning first
https://www.redguides.com/community/threads/26002-KissAssist-Instructions-amp-Settings-Info

 

[Inkie]

What is the difference between Kissassist; or EQBC; or Autocleric/autobard/autowarrior; or these other seemingly class specific things like shambot or IHCEnch; or MQ2Melee with holyshits and downshits...I have read so much over the last few days that my head is about to explode! (Actually a good thing because it means there is a ton of depth to these projects).

Kissassist/Autocleric/Autobard/Autowarrior/shambot/IHCEnch are all designed to do most things for your character. Kissassist was built to have a pretty general framework that you could customize to your liking, which spells to cast, what pet to use, etc. Many of the others are based on what the creator believes to be the best choice available for that class. They tend to be easier to run but are not as easy to make play the way you want.

EQBC is often used primarly as a communication tool, one character can send a command to other characters and they follow directions.

Mq2Melee makes some regular functions for melee toons easier, i.e. bash, kick, etc. it tends to be more for reactive and less proactive.

holyshits & downshits can be used by any class and are "in these specific circumstances do this specific action" which is a blessing and a curse.

I am on a TLP, use ISBoxer, and I am interested in a couple types of setups:
1) 6 box where I manually play most of the characters during combat (using ISboxer), but the MQ2 keeps all buffs up to date. This is probably the type of setup I am most interested in/is safest. FYI: I run SK/CLE/SHM/BRD/BERx2.
2) 6 box where I manually play SK with melee via autofollow and ISboxer, but Cleric, Shaman and Bard are run by program to heal, slow, mez and buff.
3) 6 box where I play the puller (bard) actively...bringing the mobs single to the group and the program plays the other group members to munch the mob while I chain pull a new one.
4) I play a character on raid manually and a second 1-5 box is on autopilot in the background leveling (at first) and eventually just killing plat dropping mobs with me checking in very often.
Are any or all of these scenarios possible? If so, which should I start with and what program/macro/ini would be best to learn first? Which program/macro/ini would be best for each of the given scenarios?

1-3 are definitely achievable, 4 is not entirely clear, if you want the group to kill in zone A while you raid completely independently in zone B that's workable depending on your PC stats, if you want the other toons automated on a raid that becomes more complex.

Because you are on TLP, I would focus on KISS, Autocleric and Autobard (maybe). Kiss lets you select what spells to use when, it's a framework that you can customize (some) to match your characters spells / abilities. I know autocleric has logic for the lower levels on TLP to decide which heals to use but I am not certain if Autobard has the same logic. It may or may not know what to do with a TLP bard.

Autocleric will basically make your cleric decisions for you, it has some options and you can do things like set heal points and etc but you don't get to choose much which spells you use and you don't do a lot for dps if the cleric is FM. It is however very easy to set up and let run.

I would take the SK/CLR/BRD/BER out to a convenient place with some blues / light blues that you can manage pretty well (take shaman but leave out of group and outside aggro).

Run autocleric on CLR, and work up the SK/BRD/BER Kissassist .ini's to use the spells how you want them used. As your group gets more tuned to how you want you can add in the 2nd BER and Shaman.

 

[Jalerian]

Thanks for the tips. I will start with Kissassist and see where that takes me.

- - - Updated - - -

I decided to start by working with one character at a time in Kissassist. I loaded up my 6 box using ISBoxer and then ran Kissassist on my shaman. I edited the ini file only in the buffs location. I was able to get the shaman to do group buffs like Focus of the Seventh and talisman of celerity. He updated them after they wore off. After seeing that this worked nicely, I added in Ferine Avatar |melee. That did not work well at all. It only gave avatar to the shaman and very occasionally to the tank. But it never once gave it to the 2 berserkers. Why would this happen? The very same behavior occurred when I changed it to caster and no modifiers.

The second area that I worked on was slowing the mobs. I put DPS=Turgur's Insects|98|debuffall|slow. This was very hit or miss. Sometimes it would start casting slow immediately, but most of the time it would not start until very late in the fight, and sometimes it would never cast it at all. Any ideas on how to improve the reaction time?

 

[kaen01]

that |melee behaviour is being looked at, and i believe ctaylor have something in the works.

 

[Jalerian]

The second area that I worked on was slowing the mobs. I put DPS=Turgur's Insects|98|debuffall|slow. This was very hit or miss. Sometimes it would start casting slow immediately, but most of the time it would not start until very late in the fight, and sometimes it would never cast it at all. Any ideas on how to improve the reaction time?

I had a thought about this today: do you have to have the person that is targeted when the /mac kissassist is run on the shaman also set to be the main assist in the group window? I never do this when I just box by myself...is it required for kissassist to work properly?

 

[kaen01]

i allways do my social for starting kiss:

/mac kissassist assist tankmaster2000
/mac kissassist tank tankmaster2000
/mac kissassist puller tankmaster2000

that way i can make my ini changes mid fight if need be and hit the social for a restart

 

[vivviv]

I had a thought about this today: do you have to have the person that is targeted when the /mac kissassist is run on the shaman also set to be the main assist in the group window? I never do this when I just box by myself...is it required for kissassist to work properly?

I believe so. Have one party member, your tank, set as main assist in group window of everquest. I believe kiss will do this if you have one teammember assuming the TANK role in KA. Always have the team members in ASSIST role targeting the Main Assist when starting KA.

 

[Jalerian]

I set the main tank (who is not running Kissassist) as the Main Assist via the group window and the shaman starts slowing immediately every time. It also improves the behavior once debuffall is enabled. With this in mind, if I only have part of my group running Kissassist (shaman and cleric for instance) does it mean that in order to heal the tank properly, I will need to have the SK (who will not be running Kissassist set as main assist and main tank via the group window?

 

[vivviv]

I set the main tank (who is not running Kissassist) as the Main Assist via the group window and the shaman starts slowing immediately every time. It also improves the behavior once debuffall is enabled. With this in mind, if I only have part of my group running Kissassist (shaman and cleric for instance) does it mean that in order to heal the tank properly, I will need to have the SK (who will not be running Kissassist set as main assist and main tank via the group window?

Yes