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Question - How much better will my eq experience be if I bite the bullet and add an SK to my crew? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter smerve
- Start date
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- Dec 29, 2017
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Infinitely.
- Joined
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I guess I could expand.
Groups generally speaking: a group is comprised of a tank, a healer, a crowd controller, and 3 forms of DPS
You currently have....DPS (Nec, Mag, Bst)
You currently have a crowd controller (Brd)
You currently do NOT have a tank, nor a healer.
You're missing two key pieces to dying less and winning more. Please choose a tank class, and a healer. The SK paired with the Shaman is a good choice.
Given the makeup of your DPS a Necro can mana tap a mage can mod rod, and a beast can do some mana like thing as well, which all give back to the group.
The shaman can do tons of fancy buffing
As far as tanks go SK are incredibly resilient. Can tap their way to victory.
Starting with a shaman and an SK can be difficult, but if you have to pick a class to go with a shaman early levels it's best to choose one that can offset their lower healing abilities at those earlier levels (Like an SK!)
Please add both the shaman and the SK at the same time. Leveling 2 toons at once is twice as fast as level 1 toon twice.
Groups generally speaking: a group is comprised of a tank, a healer, a crowd controller, and 3 forms of DPS
You currently have....DPS (Nec, Mag, Bst)
You currently have a crowd controller (Brd)
You currently do NOT have a tank, nor a healer.
You're missing two key pieces to dying less and winning more. Please choose a tank class, and a healer. The SK paired with the Shaman is a good choice.
Given the makeup of your DPS a Necro can mana tap a mage can mod rod, and a beast can do some mana like thing as well, which all give back to the group.
The shaman can do tons of fancy buffing
As far as tanks go SK are incredibly resilient. Can tap their way to victory.
Starting with a shaman and an SK can be difficult, but if you have to pick a class to go with a shaman early levels it's best to choose one that can offset their lower healing abilities at those earlier levels (Like an SK!)
Please add both the shaman and the SK at the same time. Leveling 2 toons at once is twice as fast as level 1 toon twice.
Appreciate the insight! For some odd reason I thought having a 3 decent EM earrings and CC would be enough to not die... and 40% of the time it works. However, for the other 60% I want to throw my computer out the window.
I figured that starting them both was going to be the suggestion.
Alright DB....Take my money :p
Thanks again for the help.
- Joined
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I would argue you're experience up to this would point would have been better if you'd have chosen just the Shd, Shm, Brd, and Bst which would minimize your DPS, but put you in a position to live through much harder fights and for much longer. The DPS portion is what is going to determine how quickly you kill, it's the tank, healer and CC's job to increase your life expectancy. While it is possible to "throw bodies at your problems" it's a less than ideal method of leveling up.
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Tanks are no harder than gearing any other toon. In fact, having a tank will make it easier to gear a tank and all the other plebs that follow the tank around.
I feel like your problems may be more related to your automating and/or just fighting out of your level range.
A well developed mage ( max AA, best pet earring, etc ... ) can solo named in the current content.
You have two pet tanks and are having issues. Are you using healing mercs for the last two slots?
If so are you blocking the known "bad" spells so they don't cast them ?
Are you fighting level 110-113 mobs? or are you trying to do level 120 content? (ie. punching above your weight class) .
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To directly answer the question though.
Yes. Having a well geared/fully developed SK will likely make your group run smoother. Adding a shaman at the same time gives you a LOT of synergies for your group. Make sure you get the shaman and sk epics. Both are "must haves".
Leveling a tank though is somewhat difficult. AA's are VERY important. With out them + gear you SK is going to get light up. Expect to tank with your pets until after you can get over the hump.
Also, don't neglect your automation tools. You can have the best character in EQ and if they aren't casting they go from hero to zero.
A well developed mage ( max AA, best pet earring, etc ... ) can solo named in the current content.
You have two pet tanks and are having issues. Are you using healing mercs for the last two slots?
If so are you blocking the known "bad" spells so they don't cast them ?
Are you fighting level 110-113 mobs? or are you trying to do level 120 content? (ie. punching above your weight class) .
--------------------------------------------------------
To directly answer the question though.
Yes. Having a well geared/fully developed SK will likely make your group run smoother. Adding a shaman at the same time gives you a LOT of synergies for your group. Make sure you get the shaman and sk epics. Both are "must haves".
Leveling a tank though is somewhat difficult. AA's are VERY important. With out them + gear you SK is going to get light up. Expect to tank with your pets until after you can get over the hump.
Also, don't neglect your automation tools. You can have the best character in EQ and if they aren't casting they go from hero to zero.
I don't have trouble taking out named mobs in EW/GD (TOV).
My big problem is when my toon goes out and pulls 3 mobs and bard can't get off mezzes fast enough to stop my BST from getting pummeled.
I'm also guessing there is some solution here to have my mage Pet and/or Necro Pet off tank larger than expected pulls (w/ x targets). Just not that advanced yet with automating. learning, slowly.. haha
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Honestly AA's are a world of difference for every class, but tanks especially so. You'll want to focus your efforts on all the defensive things for a tank and ignore everything else until you can take hits. The tanks primary purpose is to get slapped around and thus that should be the main focus area when getting AAs. That's not to say you shouldn't autogrant or anything like that, take those freebies. Speaking of freebies, the tank is the only character I make a point to sub when using. Prestige gear and augments make a significant difference.
An at level SK will generate AOE threat and use AOE threat abilities, which if provided the defensive tools needed can award the bard some additional time to get a mez in and potentially keep the beastlord from taking a premature break from combat.
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Hello Smerve,
Just want to say I am new here also. I started off similar to you. I had my mag then added an enchanter. It worked well but I thought was lacking somewhere. I wanted to get into missions and group content. Tell you what, reading everyone's post about having a driver toon ( tank class ) in your group added the fun I was missing. I thought either I go all in and do a full group of 6 or miss out on content I could never do without a full grp. So I did it. I added a SHD, SHM, CLR, ENC, MAG, ZERK. Not the best dps group but it fit me just fine. I was able to complete all missions and quest in TOV, COV, and working on TOL. I never played a SHD ever. I did go the plugin route. I watched what was happening when the SHD did his thing. IT was amazing. I made hot bars an added all his AA abilities, spells he used to them. I wrote down the when he would use, The why he would use to each ability and spell. I know how to play an SHD now, and he is my driving toon to control the rest of my group. I have my SHD main screen up at all times now. I would recommend watching some of the things that Sic post about how to do this with your grp. He goes over hotkeys, moving groups around lots of good stuff. I hope you enjoy being apart of the RG family. I love it. You will never know you like a class if you never try them out. '
Have fun making your group. I am sure you will as much fun as I did. I am even making another grp of six as an alt grp.
Just want to say I am new here also. I started off similar to you. I had my mag then added an enchanter. It worked well but I thought was lacking somewhere. I wanted to get into missions and group content. Tell you what, reading everyone's post about having a driver toon ( tank class ) in your group added the fun I was missing. I thought either I go all in and do a full group of 6 or miss out on content I could never do without a full grp. So I did it. I added a SHD, SHM, CLR, ENC, MAG, ZERK. Not the best dps group but it fit me just fine. I was able to complete all missions and quest in TOV, COV, and working on TOL. I never played a SHD ever. I did go the plugin route. I watched what was happening when the SHD did his thing. IT was amazing. I made hot bars an added all his AA abilities, spells he used to them. I wrote down the when he would use, The why he would use to each ability and spell. I know how to play an SHD now, and he is my driving toon to control the rest of my group. I have my SHD main screen up at all times now. I would recommend watching some of the things that Sic post about how to do this with your grp. He goes over hotkeys, moving groups around lots of good stuff. I hope you enjoy being apart of the RG family. I love it. You will never know you like a class if you never try them out. '
Have fun making your group. I am sure you will as much fun as I did. I am even making another grp of six as an alt grp.
You're about to reach a point where pet tanking won't be practical anyway. You are going to have to roll a tank. Let me offer an alternative to SK believe it or not there is one. Pally. It's what I use. Having 3 rezzers in a group of 3 is nothing to sneeze at. I have a 112 SK I play him sometimes with a group of toons waiting to be PLd but having that extra rez in group if things ever go bad is invaluable to me personally. It's not the popular opinion though.
Pull with the bard. You should be able to get just about anything single.
Failing that you can make a huge train on a single character then CoH the character back to group to clear agro.
Your in game map will show you where NPC's are so you can pre-target bad guys.
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1. Make tank! Your pick / preference on the big 3!
2. Gear tank as #1 priority. He ALWAYS gets first upgrades!
3. If 1 and 2 are done, gear / level your CC, they are bad pull heroes and the level for spells and gear for durability completely synergize with #1 and #2 in regards to maintaining a health group in battle!
4. Heal! I like having a cleric and shaman both because it raises survivability but it does lower dps since one takes a dps spot.
2. Gear tank as #1 priority. He ALWAYS gets first upgrades!
3. If 1 and 2 are done, gear / level your CC, they are bad pull heroes and the level for spells and gear for durability completely synergize with #1 and #2 in regards to maintaining a health group in battle!
4. Heal! I like having a cleric and shaman both because it raises survivability but it does lower dps since one takes a dps spot.
I pet tanked for a long time. Once I got a #realtank, my control over my team changed immensely.
knightdane
Member
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yeah i'm also in the situation where i'm trying to decide between tanks...
i love how easy the SK is to just grab aoe aggro on...
but i like the idea of being able to tank, and heal and cc on the tank of the paladin... but then i won't have the snap aoe aggro or the pulling abilities...
i love how easy the SK is to just grab aoe aggro on...
but i like the idea of being able to tank, and heal and cc on the tank of the paladin... but then i won't have the snap aoe aggro or the pulling abilities...
I have a pet group for giggles and shites, but there is no comparing it to having a brick wall leading the charge in the form of war/pal/sk.
Honestly any true tank is great - mileage varies depending on what you are trying to do - but pet tanking cant hold up against them IMHO.
Honestly any true tank is great - mileage varies depending on what you are trying to do - but pet tanking cant hold up against them IMHO.
Depends, are you willing to switch your way of thinking...meaning you'll need to start driving around and working everyone around your tank...
Yeah, I need a tank. I'm just not enjoying the game to the degree I know I could be.
Paladin seems like an interesting option but as others have pointed out, the AOE aggro from SK and overall synergy it would bring to my current group (another pet too haha) seems like i'd be doing a disservice to myself by not going with that option.
i recommend getting at least 70/75% of your AAs before going up a tier (110, 115, 120) - rushing to 120 and having 110 AAs is going to hold you back, for example
