Discussion - Running Missions with team of 4 with a healer and dps merc (1 Viewer)

[cintile]

I'm trying to get a gauge on how many people are having success running 3 or 4 characters and filling in the other slots with mercs.

I know, I know. A f2p is much better then a merc, might as well run 6.

I like having 4. Its a good number that I can manage in regards to gear, spells, attention, and frankly, I just don't want to buy 2 more expansions. Additionally, I like to have a couple spots open in my group for friends ect.. I still like the social aspect of grinding exp with others.

so... if your running a group of 4 and even more specifically using a healer merc instead of a real character and running missions. I would love to know about it and how its going!

My current line up 125 BST / 122 Pal / 116 Mage / 120 Bard ( bard shares account with a 110 druid ) (Mage shares an account with a boosted 101 Cleric). If doing missions ToV, CoV, ToL, NoS and LS, is going to be nearly impossible, then I can swap a character out to get a real healer, but I would hate too. To get my druid, I would have to loose my Bard. To get cleric, I have to loose Mage.

Thoughts?

 

[Marnan]

If I'm just grinding, I'll do six to maximize my experience gain. But when I'm playing I usually box a three man team: SK, Bard, Shaman or SK, Rogue, Shaman, or SK, Rogue, Wizard ... with appropriate mercs to fill out the other three. I'll set two of my toons on auto and play one. My SK just hit 125 and now I'm in the process of getting him current type 5, etc. Big jump in DPS once he hit 125. Shaman is still 123. I can easily do Final Fugue and past missions with three. Hero's Forge still gives me problems. I usually run two healer clerics if I'm not using the shaman otherwise, I run one healer merc and two melee DPS.

Not much I can't do with a three man team as with a full six box crew. Especially as I have a pretty wide range of classes that I can drop in to mix it up.

 

[cintile]

If I'm just grinding, I'll do six to maximize my experience gain. But when I'm playing I usually box a three man team: SK, Bard, Shaman or SK, Rogue, Shaman, or SK, Rogue, Wizard ... with appropriate mercs to fill out the other three. I'll set two of my toons on auto and play one. My SK just hit 125 and now I'm in the process of getting him current type 5, etc. Big jump in DPS once he hit 125. Shaman is still 123. I can easily do Final Fugue and past missions with three. Hero's Forge still gives me problems. I usually run two healer clerics if I'm not using the shaman otherwise, I run one healer merc and two melee DPS.

Not much I can't do with a three man team as with a full six box crew. Especially as I have a pretty wide range of classes that I can drop in to mix it up.

So your able to run FF without CC even? So surely, I could do it with Pal/BST/Brd/Mag + healer merc + rogue merc. Worst case, I loose Mage which is a huge dps loss, but I could gain the cleric and use 2 rogue mercs for dps

 

[cintile]

If I'm just grinding, I'll do six to maximize my experience gain. But when I'm playing I usually box a three man team: SK, Bard, Shaman or SK, Rogue, Shaman, or SK, Rogue, Wizard ... with appropriate mercs to fill out the other three. I'll set two of my toons on auto and play one. My SK just hit 125 and now I'm in the process of getting him current type 5, etc. Big jump in DPS once he hit 125. Shaman is still 123. I can easily do Final Fugue and past missions with three. Hero's Forge still gives me problems. I usually run two healer clerics if I'm not using the shaman otherwise, I run one healer merc and two melee DPS.

Not much I can't do with a three man team as with a full six box crew. Especially as I have a pretty wide range of classes that I can drop in to mix it up.

Oh Ic, I misread. You do have your Bard as part of your big three

 

[Darkwynd3]

Oh Ic, I misread. You do have your Bard as part of your big three

For what’s it’s worth CC is useless in FF. Just have to able to tank 2 at once.

 

[cintile]

For what’s it’s worth CC is useless in FF. Just have to able to tank 2 at once.

Maybe I just need to consider situational grouping. Seem like in LS content, I'm never concerned about CC. However, if doing content inside, especially missions in ToV or ToL it appears CC is a must. Maybe I swap out Bard for druid while working through LS content?

 

[Darkwynd3]

Maybe I just need to consider situational grouping. Seem like in LS content, I'm never concerned about CC. However, if doing content inside, especially missions in ToV or ToL it appears CC is a must. Maybe I swap out Bard for druid while working through LS content?

Honestly, with the way a bard makes a group better, even in the absence of its CC ability I wouldn’t leave home without one.

 

[edsarto]

I run FF with a BRD SHM SK and two DPS mercs one healer Merc. No issues at all. This is straight box without helpers.

 

[cintile]

I run FF with a BRD SHM SK and two DPS mercs one healer Merc. No issues at all. This is straight box without helpers.

Ok, great, this is the info I'm looking for. If you don't mind me asking, are you able to do other missions with this group without issue? ToL/NoS or do you ever bother with those?

 

[Koko]

I run a sk, shm, rogue ,wiz and have done ff and Heros forge just fine though I haven’t gotten all the achievements on Heros yet .

If you can I wouldn’t use the mercs. They eat a good chunk of your exp (20 percent ?)
And at higher lvls the dps ones just aren’t worth the loss of exp imo.

 

[cintile]

I run a sk, shm, rogue ,wiz and have done ff and Heros forge just fine though I haven’t gotten all the achievements on Heros yet .

If you can I wouldn’t use the mercs. They eat a good chunk of your exp (20 percent ?)
And at higher lvls the dps ones just aren’t worth the loss of exp imo.

Is this your line up doing other missions or just FF. Do you not use a Bard?

 

[Koko]

Is this your line up doing other missions or just FF. Do you not use a Bard?

I do not run a bard.. I have a 115 bard I may buy the expansion for but it causes wife aggro when I spend money on eq !

 

[Szazor]

I run the LS Missions with a Ranger as a tank - so i dont see why you cant run with your team of 4. Get them Higher lvl and more AA and they will be fine.

 

[edsarto]

Ok, great, this is the info I'm looking for. If you don't mind me asking, are you able to do other missions with this group without issue? ToL/NoS or do you ever bother with those?

Yes can do all from previous expansions and if I ran the Lua I could probably do heroes forge too, my DPS might be low but I have tanked one mummy before with the main mob without issues.

 

[Barrvile]

If I'm just grinding, I'll do six to maximize my experience gain. But when I'm playing I usually box a three man team: SK, Bard, Shaman or SK, Rogue, Shaman, or SK, Rogue, Wizard ... with appropriate mercs to fill out the other three. I'll set two of my toons on auto and play one. My SK just hit 125 and now I'm in the process of getting him current type 5, etc. Big jump in DPS once he hit 125. Shaman is still 123. I can easily do Final Fugue and past missions with three. Hero's Forge still gives me problems. I usually run two healer clerics if I'm not using the shaman otherwise, I run one healer merc and two melee DPS.

Not much I can't do with a three man team as with a full six box crew. Especially as I have a pretty wide range of classes that I can drop in to mix it up.

Do Mercs count towards the Groupage amount for Bonus EXP? They do get the exp a group member?

 

[Marnan]

Do Mercs count towards the Groupage amount for Bonus EXP? They do get the exp a group member?

I do not believe they do. But I'm sure someone will let me know if I'm wrong.

 

[cintile]

Here is my most current team. I could boost 2 rogues and buy 2 more expansions but I'm wondering if I could get away with just 2 rogue mercs instead (gold account versions of course). **frankly i just don't want to give DB anymore of my money for expansions.**

I want to be able to run all missions or at least most ToV-LS. Thoughts??

Option 1
125 Pally
125 BST
121 Bard
110 Cleric
with 2 rogue mercs.

Option 2 ( no CC in this option)
125 Pally
125 BST
113 Druid
116 Mage
with 2 rogue mercs

Obviously, I need to get cleric up over that 120 marker.

Thoughts? or will i have to add real rogues in order to do what I want to do successfully? I'm worried my dps is just going to be too weak.

 

[RobRenfro]

I know a guy who maxed out his healer Merc doing Missions and would only use his healer Merc to Cleric on Missions plus you have a Pally and you can run a Bard with healing hammers.
You might consider a Wizard on Burn as your DPS Merc especially the higher level versions.

But we did NoS missions easy with that Merc Healer and SK and A Pally as DPS no kidding destroyed NoS missions but we were in NoS T2 gear at the time with Spectral weapons and that was the best you could get.

 

[cintile]

I know a guy who maxed out his healer Merc doing Missions and would only use his healer Merc to Cleric on Missions plus you have a Pally and you can run a Bard with healing hammers.
You might consider a Wizard on Burn as your DPS Merc especially the higher level versions.

But we did NoS missions easy with that Merc Healer and SK and A Pally as DPS no kidding destroyed NoS missions but we were in NoS T2 gear at the time with Spectral weapons and that was the best you could get.

I've been running some of the ToV missions with the following:

125 Pally
125 BST
121 Bard
116 Mage
125 Healer Merc ( almost maxed)
125 Rogue Merc

With this team i barely survived Zlandi (CoV mission) and I get spanked in Shei Vinitras (ToL) mission. Do I Just need to get Mage up over 120 or am I just in need of a real healer which would sacrifice dps of the Mage?

Ideally I would just keep this line up, not spend anymore money other than keeping my tank Gold. I really want to be able to chase the evlovling cloak, which means i need to be able to do almost everything in NoS

 

[RobRenfro]

I've been running some of the ToV missions with the following:

125 Pally
125 BST
121 Bard
116 Mage
125 Healer Merc ( almost maxed)
125 Rogue Merc

With this team i barely survived Zlandi (CoV mission) and I get spanked in Shei Vinitras (ToL) mission. Do I Just need to get Mage up over 120 or am I just in need of a real healer which would sacrifice dps of the Mage?

Get the Mage to 120 at least. And get what type of AC Does your Pally have you might need to upgrade his armor. Also the Beastlord can do healing hammers besides the Bard. So you have 4 ways of healing I'm feeling Maybe it's an armor issue with the Pally and getting the Mage to 120. I also have a 116 Mage right now among my 50ish toons and compared to 120 it's night and day.

But I suggest you try healing hammers on your Bard at least maybe on your Beastlord. You should have a good weapon running these missions. If you don't and you are on FV I can help you.

 

[cintile]

Get the Mage to 120 at least. And get what type of AC Does your Pally have you might need to upgrade his armor. Also the Beastlord can do healing hammers besides the Bard. So you have 4 ways of healing I'm feeling Maybe it's an armor issue with the Pally and getting the Mage to 120. I also have a 116 Mage right now among my 50ish toons and compared to 120 it's night and day.

But I suggest you try healing hammers on your Bard at least maybe on your Beastlord. You should have a good weapon running these missions. If you don't and you are on FV I can help you.

I don't know anything about the healing hammers? What item is this?

Pally is in LS T3 group crafted gear. All aug slots are full. Needs upgrades on non-visiable gear. Has NoS t1 raid sword and LS crafted Shield. Should be more then enough for ToV-ToL but I'm still have a few problems. Maybe if Mage was actually 120+ the dps would be high enough for it not to be a real issue anymore.

 

[RobRenfro]

Do q bazaar search for 1hb weapons 120-125 select by damage then sort them by damage
You will see things like Bug Smasher 509 damage more importantly has remote healing as a feature. So when it goes off it heals your target's target for 5200 right under that is Abide is also has remote healing heals for 4800 on FV you can buy a Bug Smasher for 800pp and an Abide for 4000pp

These are also usable by the Beastlord. So your Bard and Beastlord would constantly be healing your Pally as well as fighting. You should have them in your Bandolier on both toons.

If you are on FV I can give you weapons for everyone. I help folks on FV all the time. Kind of my thing

For DPS you might try putting the new non vis on the Merc. It's 120 the other pieces are 105. And you might try a wizard Merc in Burn instead of the melee DPS Merc see how that works.

I could help you with a few things. Not saying you need a bunch of stuff. But I have tons of 120 Merc gear several sets of healing hammers and a better Pally weapon I could give you free. Just helping a fellow MQer if you were in FV.

 

[cintile]

Do q bazaar search for 1hb weapons 120-125 select by damage then sort them by damage
You will see things like Bug Smasher 509 damage more importantly has remote healing as a feature. So when it goes off it heals your target's target for 5200 right under that is Abide is also has remote healing heals for 4800 on FV you can buy a Bug Smasher for 800pp and an Abide for 4000pp

These are also usable by the Beastlord. So your Bard and Beastlord would constantly be healing your Pally as well as fighting. You should have them in your Bandolier on both toons.

If you are on FV I can give you weapons for everyone. I help folks on FV all the time. Kind of my thing

For DPS you might try putting the new non vis on the Merc. It's 120 the other pieces are 105. And you might try a wizard Merc in Burn instead of the melee DPS Merc see how that works.

I could help you with a few things. Not saying you need a bunch of stuff. But I have tons of 120 Merc gear several sets of healing hammers and a better Pally weapon I could give you free. Just helping a fellow MQer if you were in FV.

Hey thanks! I am on FV actually! I think my BST might already be using bugsmasher. Do you know of a plugin that might show me the healing? Kind of how MQDPS window shows my groups dps. I would love to have an easy way to see how much healing is being done by what characters. I appreciate all the info. This helps relief me of the stress of thinking I have to buy 2 more expansions, subs and what not. Maybe I can get my characters in a position where they can handle the missions stuff without issue. I can do ToV reasonably. I have some trouble with the GD mission but doing it, and I haven't done the Kael one because I dont want to mess with coding up a file for Lua event manager. It's the above ToV ones that are giving me problems. And long term, I want to be able to farm the two LS ones.

 

[RobRenfro]

If you want the weapons PM me man. I run the only guild on FV made up exclusively of Folks from Red Guides. I'm legit. Just want to help. And you don't need to join the guild to get my help.

I'm not aware of anything that tracks healing but with doing the missions you should get plenty of HDex Augs. And that will keep both guys prices up and that keeps the healing up.

 

[Barrvile]

I'm trying to get a gauge on how many people are having success running 3 or 4 characters and filling in the other slots with mercs.

I know, I know. A f2p is much better then a merc, might as well run 6.

I like having 4. Its a good number that I can manage in regards to gear, spells, attention, and frankly, I just don't want to buy 2 more expansions. Additionally, I like to have a couple spots open in my group for friends ect.. I still like the social aspect of grinding exp with others.

so... if your running a group of 4 and even more specifically using a healer merc instead of a real character and running missions. I would love to know about it and how its going!

My current line up 125 BST / 122 Pal / 116 Mage / 120 Bard ( bard shares account with a 110 druid ) (Mage shares an account with a boosted 101 Cleric). If doing missions ToV, CoV, ToL, NoS and LS, is going to be nearly impossible, then I can swap a character out to get a real healer, but I would hate too. To get my druid, I would have to loose my Bard. To get cleric, I have to loose Mage.

Thoughts?

True FTP apprentice Mercs are squishier and they can freak out easier.
But I like Merc tanks they are not lazy and they are fast to respond
If I learned that you can control their behavior by having something targeted or not.
They tend to stick what you have targeted. If nothing is targeted they work the hate list.
I manage by buffing them with everything I got. Shammy Buffs really help and cracking the cleric also helps.

With excellent pulling, de-buffing!! and CC management, I manage to complete missions with 4/5 group.


Three toon, rouge, chanter and druid and two mercs tank and cleric. That is with manual Boxing with three windows open.
Slot 6 was for Shammy or Bard. Bards made the mission faster and easier and AFK invis that didn't pop.
But I needed the Shammy Buffs for the Merc to survive even with Vig equip. Merc levels also help a lot.
I Alternate them to keep up the Shammy.

Chanter would pull to split camps and Debuff (Tash/Slow/depower) in the process . EQ macro for the druid assist off the Merc tanks and DOT/snare
Park the rouge on the butt and have him poke it with AS on the BS.
When the camps were split the rouge would pull and the other would have a EQ macro assist the off the tank DeBuff and DOT ...
Didn't need to nuke. The DOTS were critical hitting and already pushing their Aggro limit
Oh ya I learned sitting on mounts don't cause aggro for casters needing to med.
Bard on mostly melody support watches and plays. Movement and group invis nothing beats a bard on this
Rinse and repeat ..

If I just doing Camps non instance / mission I will have alts campfire in. If a friend need a spot I will park/camp and open up a slot for who needs.
Keep the group at 6 for best exp bounus

I learned there are missions/ camps you need to tailor your party to. There is that end Boss/Named designed to wreak everything it can.
So you need to be able adjust groups to be flexible so alts are important.

Now I am going to try MQ2'n see what I can do.
I am learning with 4 group two chars and two mercs is what I use to doing and expand.
You can have extra accounts with out all the expansions for Buff Alts like I do and the extra bank slots where always useful.


Good Luck