Discussion - Need some advice from lvl 125s (1 Viewer)

[jh86]

Hello again my friends!

I am hoping to get some insight from those near to end-game. I have my 6 man crew levelled up to 115, my SK is my only Gold member as well as with the LS expansion. Coming back to EQ after such a long break I chose my comp without advice and did not know that RG existed. I ran with a SK, CLR, SHM, ENC, WIZ, NEC. I don't have a benchmark with other groups to compare to. It takes me roughly 35 seconds to kill a lvl 115 Great Divide Mob. I've been able to farm 3/4 ToV missions daily, (having problems controlling DPS on AoW with Wiz and Nec as my main dmg). Ultimately it feels very safe and has been very fun. That being said, my vision of the game moving forward is not to have more than a few subs. I would prefer to see where I get using the occasional monthly subs or kronos to max out AAs but which would pigeon hole me into using non-prestige gear/augs.

I have an alt group in the 90s that includes 3 mages, a beastlord, a druid and a bard. A guildmate told me that Mages perform exceptionally well as F2P granted that they have most of their AA's through sub/krono. The comp that came to my mind was to swap over to using my SK/SHM/BRD/MAG/MAG/MAG. I was warned by a different guildmate that a 3 mage group would be more on the radar for GM's and reports. I haven't seen any posts like that on the forums here so I guess I want to know if that's valid at all from your guys' experience.

TLR
Should I stick with my slower but solid comp to 125 or does it look like my alt group would be a better sub in to move up with, knowing that I would prefer not to have a Gold membership on every account.
PS I already have the CWTN/Sic plugins for each of the classes listed above (and what a joy they are)

 

[Doc James]

Mostly, I would opt to run the group that is most fun. Not what gets to the end of the race first. Enjoy the game for all it has to offer.

 

[jh86]

Thanks Doc, I wholeheartedly agree. I guess in the back of my mind I am just afraid to make an ignorant decision and choose a class that is very unfriendly as F2P going into expansions I know nothing about

 

[Doc James]

Thanks Doc, I wholeheartedly agree. I guess in the back of my mind I am just afraid to make an ignorant decision and choose a class that is very unfriendly as F2P going into expansions I know nothing about

My experiences have taught me that everything in EQ has it's disadvantages, or ultimately what makes me cringe at something I do not like. Only time I really trade out groups is if I made a completely awful, and unplayable group. Like running 6 bards or something. No good.

 

[Koko]

casters are easier to alt tab box then melee so I don’t see how having 3 mages would cause you to have anymore attention then if you had a typical melee group. If you added a mage instead of the cleric I think that’d help out a lot and you have the necro for battle rezzes.

 

[orbitz]

shd, sham, bard, mage mage necro would be a pretty versatile group...the necro will help out on namers and longer fights but won't be quite as much dps as the mages in short fights (anything under 30 seconds) and you will have a back up rezz'r. One thing to keep in mind with a pet heavy group is that giving them weapons may actually cost you dps in a group situation and will for sure cost you dps in a raid where there is any lag at all.

 

[jh86]

I researched the useful Epic 2.0s and went ahead and got them already for my SK/SHM/BRD so I suppose I am already kind of leaning that direction. I have never heard of pet weapons causing a DPS loss - is this some sort of latency thing orbitz?

 

[Kcsdman]

I'm extremely pleased with SK Shm Brd mag nec bst at 125. Absolutely shreds through every group content the game has and puts up great numbers on raids

 

[Silverback]

Bards and casters can quite effective as FTP, moreso than pure melee anyways. The Shaman too actually. You could probably just sub the SK with that group and do just fine. If you were to sub another I'd probably consider one of the Mages just for the higher EM level.

 

[orbitz]

Yep, with any lag at all the pets stop swinging...and with multiple pets it causes some degree of lag even in group stuff. Since procs from weapon are such a small part of the pets dps you are way better off having the pets swinging and not proccing.

 

[zarroth]

the pet proc thing is really only a raid issue. Group game it isn't a problem. Not like anything in the group game requires the DPS you'll be pumping out regardless these days. Hasn't in quite a number of years at this point, which is why so many are complaining about lack of content. They build DPS super groups meant to destroy content, then complain because it worked :P