Question - Which character to drop?

[soulmonger]

I currently have 7 lvl 60 characters and I was looking for advice on which one should get left out of the 6 man group. I have a 60 CLR, DRU, ENC, MAG, MNK, SHD, and SHM.

All chars are ~20AA. The mage has epic. None of the other chars do. I was thinking it would be best to drop the druid or shaman and run with the other 6, but SoL was such a long time ago I have no idea if I'm forgetting about some useful druid/shaman ability or usefulness that comes with the next expansion or two.

Thoughts?

 

[LamahHerder]

Generaly this is what everyone builds/recomends as standard powerhouse group
1 - Tank = SHD/WAR/PAL
2 - CLR
3 - CC = ENC or BRD
4 - DPS
5 - DPS
6 - DPS

Your core 3 are covered, everything else is either for DPS or utility
Most people want/need a porter and typically go for Wiz over Dru

Easiest thing for you would be

1 - SHD
2 - CLR
3 - ENC
4 - MAG
5 - MNK
6 - DRU

MNK would do all your pulling and some dps, druid would do your ports some dps and backup heals
This would cover you for all single group xp grinding and farming, you could increase your dps by swapping the dru for wiz or dru+mnk for wiz+wiz

 

[soulmonger]

Is caster DPS really the best for group situations on TLP right now? I know my mage and monk do similar DPS (with mage only casting once per mob to conserve mana) according to the DPS meter within KISS, but my mage runs out of mana and has to skip nuking from time to time... never happens to mnk.

 

[LamahHerder]

I was running on TLP bard+enc so I never ran out of mana
Mage was doing more dps than my monk fists

Melee really depends on what weapons you have, with casters their dps is not as dependant on gear/aa

If you are using kissassist on TLP with no mount your mana regen will be crappy

To make your casters med during combat put this in your mq2melee settings server_char.ini file

downshit21=1
downshit21=/if (${Me.CombatState.Equal[COMBAT]} && ${Target.Type.Equal[NPC]} && ${Me.TargetOfTarget.CleanName.Equal[${Me.CleanName}]} && ${Me.Sitting}) /multiline ; /echo Standing because I have aggro ; /stand
downflag22=1
downshit22=/if (${Me.CombatState.Equal[COMBAT]} && ${Target.Type.Equal[NPC]} && !${Me.TargetOfTarget.CleanName.Equal[${Me.CleanName}]} && ${Target.PctHPs}<95 && ${Me.PctHPs}>60 && ${Me.Standing} && ${Me.SpellInCooldown} && !${Me.Moving} ) /multiline ; /melee downflag22=off ; /timed 30 /sit ; /timed 60 /melee downflag22=on

 

[Inkie]

I would drop druid and keep shaman.

yes shaman haste / slow is a duplicate of the ench but I believe the melee buffs they offer win out. You can always log in the Dru to keep up levels with the other 6 so you maintain a functional porter.

both will work in the group and can be made to be a very functional team either way.

 

[Trish2K]

Shaman over Druid.

Shaman offers a better slow than Enchanter, and can Malo the mobs for your Chanter if using a charm pet, along with the Focus/Talisman buffs to assist your tank. Porting will become less necessary as soon as PoP unlocks for you.

 

[Skyjet2000]

Entirely depends on what you are doing with your 6.

I can't think of much that can be done with 1 group, that requires shaman malo or slow on current TLP. You already have tash/malosini. Maybe HoT it would be useful? But Ench slow will land. Guess it more depends on the mana of your cleric, and gear of your tank. I'd replace both shaman and druid, and go with a wizard. But choosing between the two, I'd take druid because ports. Or maybe go bard. I use AE bard slow for 90% of anything I do anyhow.

If you find yourself doing harder targets (Maybe older school raid targets?) Maybe the Shaman would be superior.

 

[LamahHerder]

SHM really is giving you more HP and more DPS on your melee
Malo can be done with Mage
I find brd slow usually sufficient with how fast you can kill if you are DPS heavy but if I have an enc I use the enc slow =)

I would take the DRU as you can nuke a bit and kill faster, the shm buffing shd(tank)+mnk(puller) I dont think would give you higher DPS than the druid nukes.
My expectation is you are chain pulling with the mnk (you got an enc! always chain pull!!!).

Ideally I would want a wiz in that spot but dont think it is worth the effort to level one if you already have a dru.

 

[etherealmist]

Sk, monk, enchanter, mage, cleric, druid.

Out of the classes you listed, you need a porter, especially with no bard (which I would still have a porter even if I did).

 

[Darkmax]

I'd keep the druid as it will provide your group with the option of ports. I'd also consider keeping the shaman as up to date as possible to provide you with melee buffs.

 

[LamahHerder]

I'd keep the druid as it will provide your group with the option of ports. I'd also consider keeping the shaman as up to date as possible to provide you with melee buffs.

Agreed!
People seem to forget that it is totally cool to have someone out of group tag along to hook up your group =)
Enc + Shm are amazeballs for this

Hmm
F2P(Enc, Shm, Mag, Dru, Wiz) toons that follow your 6 man groups around to powerlevel them =).... interesting interesting...
Soon we will all be like Razkle and struggling to update spreadsheets for 100 toons