Question - Rough patch on a FTP team (1 Viewer)

[jfrazi]

Quick background - team three - all FTP - tank = war , heals = solo shm, dps = bard, zerk, zerk, rogue. Currently level 76 across the board.

I cruised through these levels on my gold teams. And my FTP SK with cleric team is doing fine in this range. But this team is seriously struggling right now. I don't know if its the warrior in a lull spot where he is struggling to stay standing or if it's a bad spot where the shaman struggles solo. I know I have had some level ranges previously where the shaman did struggle on his own. Or is it a combo of the two perhaps? This is the only war I use in my groups as I prefer knights for the increased group utility, but I wanted the set of tanks across my FTPs. The gear is pretty standard for this range - mostly defiant, I did give him a blade of carnage to help with agro.

Any pointers from the war / shm pros out there?

 

[Sic]

Quick background - team three - all FTP - tank = war , heals = solo shm, dps = bard, zerk, zerk, rogue. Currently level 76 across the board.

I cruised through these levels on my gold teams. And my FTP SK with cleric team is doing fine in this range. But this team is seriously struggling right now. I don't know if its the warrior in a lull spot where he is struggling to stay standing or if it's a bad spot where the shaman struggles solo. I know I have had some level ranges previously where the shaman did struggle on his own. Or is it a combo of the two perhaps? This is the only war I use in my groups as I prefer knights for the increased group utility, but I wanted the set of tanks across my FTPs. The gear is pretty standard for this range - mostly defiant, I did give him a blade of carnage to help with agro.

Any pointers from the war / shm pros out there?

shaman are very much not designed for solo heals until they start getting their reckless line (starts at 90), it is a very tall order - this is less noticable with a shd or a pal who can self heal/suppliment heal - it is especially rough in the 70s-90s, and levels out once you get upper 90s into 100s - by 100 you have 3 reckless, squall, recourse (87), intetervention (78), and can get away from relying on mending line. also you will need/want your rez stick (think you need 85 to do the missions)

if I were in my mid 70s, I would go check if the "scaling" tbm gear is better than what you are wearing - it is very cheap (can get remnants on bazaar) like 3-15 remnants per piece of gear, no augs needed at 70 or 75 (don't recall which). don't need any progression quests done to buy the baseline either

 

[Wink-]

Exactly what Sic said. Just pop a krono on your warrior and you should be good to go. This is just a tough area unless you plan on fighting an expansion or two behind grinding low blues to light blues.

 

[jfrazi]

Thank you both for replies. I was worried that this may be the case. Now I will need to figure out if I want to PL them past this or slog it out in light blue land.

 

[an_image]

Quick background - team three - all FTP - tank = war , heals = solo shm, dps = bard, zerk, zerk, rogue. Currently level 76 across the board.

I cruised through these levels on my gold teams. And my FTP SK with cleric team is doing fine in this range. But this team is seriously struggling right now. I don't know if its the warrior in a lull spot where he is struggling to stay standing or if it's a bad spot where the shaman struggles solo. I know I have had some level ranges previously where the shaman did struggle on his own. Or is it a combo of the two perhaps? This is the only war I use in my groups as I prefer knights for the increased group utility, but I wanted the set of tanks across my FTPs. The gear is pretty standard for this range - mostly defiant, I did give him a blade of carnage to help with agro.

Any pointers from the war / shm pros out there?

Just my two cents...i'd buy via /barter, or in General some Prize: Gift of Heroic Chars if you can grab them. I also wouldn't pop a krono till you max out at 110. If you do the gift on the tank you can get a decent set of heroic gear that'll get you through 106...then you can farm some cohort in frontier mountains...and get snowbound at 110...then pop krono and max out your aa.

 

[jfrazi]

May have to check that option out - I have been moving so many teams lately I think I am down to only a couple mil plat, maybe the wife will let me spend some real money this month. She does already let me keep 6 gold accounts so I can't complain too much eventually I will need to post the sweet 6 monitor set up she got me for my winter solstice gift.

 

[an_image]

May have to check that option out - I have been moving so many teams lately I think I am down to only a couple mil plat, maybe the wife will let me spend some real money this month. She does already let me keep 6 gold accounts so I can't complain too much eventually I will need to post the sweet 6 monitor set up she got me for my winter solstice gift.

You'd be surprised, most server i've seen no one's listed them to buy in /buyer (/barter window). I always list one or two and every couple of weeks people drop them on me for 2 mil each. Little expensive but it beats climbing your way up from scratch. Once i've got 2-4 i'll pop a new team and get them grinding towards 110

 

[freeferli]

@jfrazi what server are you on, maybe someone here can help you.
Also, once you get to lvl 80, you can ask to join someone's fellowship, you need to find a lvl 110 group though, or maybe even have your tank join their group.

Also make sure you leave your guys in the guild lobby getting buffs overnight

 

[Branson24]

I feel your pain @jfrazi . to say my ftp team is struggling at 79 is an understatement. I have died more in 78-79 than I think I did getting to this point combined. It seems ok when I was poking around with The Buried Sea and Jonas Dagmires Skeletal Hand quests but when I tried anything beyond that, it’s wipe city. I’m not even close to having 2 mil plat but I like that idea of the heroic thingy. I’ll watch for them in the bazaar and see if one ever pops up cheaply. Best of luck to you and if I see anything that works for me, I’ll let you know

 

[Turaj Steelfist]

As they all said you are in that struggle zone, however, you struggle more than usual because you are used to pwning everything. Remember back when we didn't have many AAs and we had to kill stuff that was blue? Remember that killing blues or even ligh blues, although boring, can still net a nice chunk of exp if you don't have to rez and regroup. Also find a place that has quests that you can turn in as well. I can't recall where I was hunting back in that lvl range, but I do remember VoA was mighty difficult as a tank. You might need to go one expansion back from that and farm blues.

As for the advice of using a krono etc, I would not bother with that until you hit 110 or at least 105 since that is the last lvl for Free AAs. You said you have other toons so just PL thru a few lvls until your shm can heal better.

 

[an_image]

At 79 …. have you tried the farm? I vaguely recall powning that whole area around that level with my war or Mage. Massive trains and good quest hits nearby. If not house of thule comes to mind. This is why i tell people make a mage part of your grow up box routine. Mage pets are relatively inexpensive and can carry your crew if your tank is lacking aa’s gear.

 

[Szazor]

Where are you trying to level at 76?
Maybe a lower lvl area. Light blues can be a grind, but Quantity is often just as good as Quality.

Also - If this is team 3 - have you tried getting toons from Team 1 and 2 to sit outside your grp to help heal or DPS.
It can take a bit of working - but as long as TEAM 3 combined can do >50% of the damage to a mob - you will still get xp.

Example: TEAM 1 -SK (Puller tank), CLR HEAL MODE (XTARGET HEALS as well), ENC (Mez Duty), MERC CLERIC, MERC CLERIC, MERC CLERIC (DPS is gunna be pretty poor - but you can pull gazzilion trains and stay alive)

TEAM 3 WARRIOR /MAC KISSASSIST SK 100
Rest of Team 3 on DPS duty

Get your Warrior to forget about tanking and just dps. No taunting, or agro stuff.

You should be able to get them up a few lvls this way - until they can stand on their own again.

 

[jfrazi]

Been getting lots of solid feedback here - so I think I will provide more back ground just to fill in on some of the other ideas I have heard. I currently run 18 accounts. 6 Gold and 12 FTP. I started slowly a few years ago as a way to be able to play my antique toons on my main accounts again - I have several toons that are old enough to legally drink. But gradually ( and a lot of lurking here) I started building out entire teams of new toons to test everything out. I currently have four teams set up - 2 set up on the gold accounts and 2 different FTP teams on the other 12.

Mains (gold) - paladin - shm - clr - rog - bst - enc = 110 / 111 and currently farming in Kunark for cohort armor drops - this team started at lvl 1 with newtoon.mac and had rolled ever since. I did some fiddling about at one point to up the DPS - but went back to this configuration as they have been able to take content without stop due to all the cross heals and utility. But I know this team isn't for everyone.

Secondary (gold) - sk - brd - shm - zrk - zrk - druid = I had a lot of free heroic tokens from expacs and 21st and I wanted to finally try this out at its close to full power = all lvl 86 and farming for T1 HoT armor for the FTPs when I am not playing the mains. I added my own twist to the dbl zerk and went druid for utility over a bst. I like the ports / evac / group invis for a farming team - its easy to move them about. And I have a soft spot for druids. #mq2drOOd?

FTP 1 - sk - clr - enc - mage - mage - necro = Gnomercy team - all gnomes ( im a sucker for themes) - currently level 76 and farming mino's when open in dragonhills. If the cleric reliably used her pet hammer everyone would have a minion on the battle field. It amuses me to watch mobs get swarmed under by a pack of knee high gnomes and tiny pets.

FTP 2 - war - shm - brd - zrk - zrk - rog = Furry Fury - all vah shirs - currently lvl 75 - this team was made before the gnomes, but started having issues in certain levels ranges so the gnomes went right past them. I tried to follow the same path I took with the mains and it proved to be a bad idea. Even with how popular the load out is - I discovered it doesn't account for straight leveling 1-115. Keep having to back off as the shaman can't keep up or runs himself out of mana entirely and the group sits a lot.

Oddly enough, even after this many years of playing I have actually never used a big toon to seriously PL a group. I tend to craft the entire group and let them go to see how they evolve as a unit and how the team operates. I know some say this doesn't reflect how they will be at max levels, but after 22 years being max level is only part of the journey for me. I love to watch my groups go ham across the different screens and develop their own little personalities. I recently deleted about a dozen or so characters across various accounts cleaning things up. These are the 4 groups that I settled on keeping along with my collection of originals that I just can't see not having even if I am not actively leveling them.

TL; DR this is my first serious push with totally FTP squads / I have never used my big guys to PL oddly enough / I am easily amused turns out

 

[jfrazi]

FTP 2 - war - shm - brd - zrk - zrk - rog = Furry Fury - all vah shirs - currently lvl 75 - this team was made before the gnomes, but started having issues in certain levels ranges so the gnomes went right past them. I tried to follow the same path I took with the mains and it proved to be a bad idea. Even with how popular the load out is - I discovered it doesn't account for straight leveling 1-115. Keep having to back off as the shaman can't keep up or runs himself out of mana entirely and the group sits a lot.

In looking back over the thread some this morning - do you guys think that taking out the rog and replacing him with a bst would help balance the team? No the heals are not great - but they can splash to help the shaman. As well as bringing more buffs to HP and mana regen? I will miss the auto corpse pull when I do a dumb - but small price to pay overall. And I already have mq2bst from my other crew.

Might also be a chance for me to use one of my bigger guys to PL the snot out of a toon for the first time. Thoughts?

 

[BigDorf]

Oh just seeing this thread today.

When i have a group get to 75, there are two things I do ( yes, this is f2p ).


First, is look to the double quest from PoT. Its about going to Temple and and then the Seal of Approval. Non-combat, run around hails etc, for about 15-20 minutes. It nets approx 90-95% exp for 75 / 76 characters. Yes, almost a full level. There are even macros on here to run the two quests for you!



Second, i have ran HA gribble adventures, 76 - 83 or so. Main requirement for me there is, tank, cc ( bard or enchanter ), and tank +others possible buffed with Righteousness, Circle of Igneous, Voice of Sagacity, Rimespurs. This has worked on f2p, with pal, shd and war in tank role. One group i had merc healer, others have had cleric.

The runs through gribbles, will give a load of exp on completion. In some cases, netting over a level per set of runs, especially boosted if time the use of Lesson nicely.
I tended to avoid the named spawn if one arrived, as it became too much of a gamble as time progressed.

With practice, it was possible to do a set of 3 runs, camp out, and come back and do some more later ( after lockout ) on the same set of original buffs.
It did feel a bit sad, having these high level buffs as a crutch to lean on, but it was offset of being f2p, limited aa, with defiant gear etc. Keeping mind, usual fight is against blue or white con mobs.

Speaking of gear. The gribbles give tokens (mark of valor) that can buy gear to upgrade characters with and they are a nice boost beyond when defiant leave off. (hp mana ~ 500+ ) This gear is marked as for level 80. There is also evolving weapon req 80 rec 85 that can be picked up as well. Yes. f2p, yes they not prestige.

Overall the key element Ive found is crowd control. Singles are common, but then so are double pulls. There are a few cases where triples will happen, and really need those locking down as soon as possible. KA f2p Bard has done this for me. Many many wins, and only a handful of dramas.

In short - can get from mid 70s to mid 80s, in a matter of days playing, with a couple short sessions ( 3 instance runs per session).





Regards and Best Wishes

 

[jfrazi]

Okay so based on all the feedback - And thank you everyone for your input.

Here is my new plan for this team. Going to cut the rogue - and replace with a bst. More utility with buffs and heals - and now someone in the team to soak up the leather drops. This step comes with multiple action points.

Use cannonballdex amazing macro work to push a new toon through the tutorial with some items ( I started this last night and serious props for the work here) - https://www.redguides.com/community/resources/tutorial-mac-macro-longest-tutorial-macro-ive-seen.71/

use skadoosh's work and write up to power level said bst with my SK using hatchery mac - https://www.redguides.com/community/resources/hatchery-mac.62/

Once he is within range and a benefit to the team, take off with Bigdorf's mantra and hit up gribbles. I have avoided these on my main toons as I have preferred field hunting - but as I have painfully learned and has been reinforced in this thread the FTP group cannot do what my gold team can lvl range wise.

So the team gets more utility - and I get to try a bunch of new stuff I haven't used yet and support the community. And I am not spending any RL currency just yet as I just can't see going gold this early. Maybe chrono later as I can build them up and really maximize the payout without having to be on the hook for a month of seriously pushing a secondary team.

let's do this!

 

[BigDorf]

Ok, so you plan to do some ha gribble on the beast, when he catches up to the crew mid 70s.

As said before, running a f2p group for gribble is possible. Ive done it with manual drive of the tank and the rest of party managed by KA.
The exp is quick, and also earn tokens to buy gear, so there is "double" rewards in terms of exp and items for the time invested.


The question to ask yourself, are you doing it for mainly exp or for gear? The neutral answer is both.
If its more for exp, then there is timing the use of Lesson, and it will speed up progress significantly. The flip side is true, if the bias is to get gear and just so happen to get some exp, then dont use Lesson, avoid exp boosting holidays etc.

I found the instances rougher as got beyond level 83. The slower the exp (no Lesson etc), the more instances you can run and get tokens in that 75-83 range. You will therefore be able to buy more gear on that 75-83 journey.

To paint a picture, a comparison of defiant and the gear purchasable for warrior use at lvl 80.

​

​

In the broad sense, most slots are availlable to buy items for.
The shorter list I think is just not power source.


To me spending a bit more time level up, getting a bit more gear will help the group as progress further on than rushing too quick.

 

[BigDorf]

Thought it may help if I detail some more of the items involved.

A side by side grab of some of the leg pieces that could be used by the classes in your team.






The gear for level 80 have a flat price of 220 tokens, sold by Merchant Orvan found at the camp in Ethernere Tainted West Karana.

There are a couple of different routes to get to him, but the safest is to go back to PoK, Qeynos stone and then head to West Karana. On the west side of the zone there are some robed figures by a fire. That is the click point, to go from normal Karana to the tainted. From the zone in, its a very short run south to the camp with the vendors.


Lets consider examples of those harder to equip slots;

• ears: Painstud of Torrentus & Torrentus' Studded Hoop
• fingers: Bloodthirsty Granite Ring
• face: Alkaa's Visage of Combustion

Orvan has equipment for all the slots you can plan to equip for.



The exception to this strategy of equip of items in many slots for 220 tokens each, is the weapon slots.
It is available to use 80/85, and is bought for 260 tokens from Merchant Akele ( stands next to Orvan ).

The weapon evolves with being in group and killing mobs, through 5 stages.
Links to the warrior example: 1, Sword of Brell's Ire -> 5, Sword of Brell's Wrath
Links for bard and zerker at 5: Phosphorescent Rapier of Dazzling Light & Yngvar's Battleaxe of Devastation

Orvan does have a selection of weapons available for 220 tokens, but they dont evolve and lesser stats than those evolving 80-85s mentioned above.




Regards and Best Wishes