What would you consider the "best" leveling group?

[Nokio]

Just out of curiosity.

What would you consider the "best" group composition for leveling?

[quellren]

Assuming you're *only* interested in getting to 50 as fast as possible....
5 mages and a druid port-bitch.

Or a druid, an enchanter for clarity and 4 mages.

[Vulmas]

I'm gonna assume you were looking for something more traditional and practical.

You're going to get a lot of opinions on this and there really isn't one right answer.

In my opinon, I think that War, Cler, Monk, Rogue, Enc, Sham is probably the most effective group from 1-60 as long as time is taken to ensure that everyone stays as well geared as possible.

That being said, serious and credible arguments can be made for switching out the rogue or monk for a mage or wiz, and the enchanter for a bard or the shaman for a druid etc etc. Like I said, there is no "right" answer to this.

[eqravenprince]

For simply leveling, this would be my choice.

Shadow Knight
Monk
Monk
Monk
Monk
Druid

[Crone]

Shadowknight (lets be honest, Warrior aggro sucks)
Rogue
Monk
Bard
Cleric
Shaman

[Dulu]

Keep the following in mind for your group.

#1 - Gear. If you dont have a rich buddy, or atleast a main to feed you and your buddies hot loot, you will need to split everything between the six of you.

Therefore, 5 clothies in a group is probably not a great idea. Try to mix it up.

#2 - Races. If you plan on playing together, make sure all 6 make something that can go into the same cities. If 5 of you roll Wood Elves, it will suck for your 6th friend who rolls a Troll and cant use Kelethin/Felwithe.


#3 - Group composition. Generally, there are four roles you will need to fill... Tank/Healer/Damage/Puller.

#4 - Travel. Having a Druid (Or Wizard, depending) in your group for portals is needed. A bard or Druid is also great to have for travel speed.



So with those four points, my perfect group would be as follows:

Shadow Knight (Tank)
Cleric (Heals)
Monk (Pulls/Damage)
Wizard (Emergency Evac/DPS)
Bard (Travel)
Shaman (Buffs/Debuffs/Heals)


[SK can switch to Warrior to make leveling easier, due to more city access, or Monk can be swapped for a Necromancer to facilitate group play.]
[Similar to Vulmas' setup.]

[DekThai]

Everything can work but this is what I preferred being the Warrior:

- War
- Rogue
- Rogue
- Shaman
- Bard
- Cleric

Shaman buffs are sexy and Cleric heals are awesome!
Bard songs and CC are sweet
Rogues? DPS without mana :)

Not dissing other classes but these are what I like.

[Zubek]

So with those four points, my perfect group would be as follows:

Shadow Knight (Tank)
Cleric (Heals)
Monk (Pulls/Damage)
Wizard (Emergency Evac/DPS)
Bard (Travel)
Shaman (Buffs/Debuffs/Heals)

[SK can switch to Warrior to make leveling easier, due to more city access, or Monk can be swapped for a Necromancer to facilitate group play.]
[Similar to Vulmas' setup.]


Or you could do pally instead of SK.

[Ishio]

Or you could do pally instead of SK.

Paly's suck.

*ducks*

[Bushwick]

Before Kunark?

bard
wizard
wizard
enchanter
mage
cleric

Bard holds AE aggro while the casters blast away.

Once Kunark is released?

monk
rogue
rogue
rogue
enchanter/bard
cleric

[Dulu]

Or you could do pally instead of SK.

Aye.

If you go that route, you can sub out the Cleric for a Druid.

[Orov]

Pre Kunark:
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger

Post Kunark
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger
Ranger/better Ranger (depending on the situation)

imo

[Prefader]

6 Rangers.

##Edit##

Oh, FFS. Gratz Orov.

[Orov]

6 Rangers.

Beat you to it.

[Prefader]

But no, seriously.

We're totally right.

[Orov]

But no, seriously.

We're totally right.

Undoubtedly.
Best Melee DPS in EQ? Ranger. Hands down.
Best Tank in EQ? Ranger. Hands down.
Best Healer in EQ? Ranger. Hands down.
Best Buffer in EQ? Ranger. Hands down.
Best Nuke DPS in EQ? Ranger. Hands down.


I mean, why even make this thread?

[Fourthmeal]

Best leveling group: 6 players who are drunk on Mountain Dew and Taco Bell

[RKromwell]

Best leveling group: 6 players who are drunk on Mountain Dew and Taco Bell


So you expect half the group to be afk for a bio break the entire time you are together...

[Mcbard]

Best leveling group: 6 players who are drunk on Mountain Dew and Taco Bell

You make me so hungry sir.

[Thac0]

Before Kunark?

bard
wizard
wizard
enchanter
mage
cleric

Bard holds AE aggro while the casters blast away.

Once Kunark is released?

monk
rogue
rogue
rogue
enchanter/bard
clericAoE groups work fine with no tank, the bard is there for mana regen honestly and you can start aoeing in seb easy enough. so even after kunark AoE groups are the way to go.

[Vulmas]

AoE groups are great exp no doubt...but really boring...

IMO anyway.

[Bushwick]

AoE groups work fine with no tank, the bard is there for mana regen honestly and you can start aoeing in seb easy enough. so even after kunark AoE groups are the way to go.

AEing won't work for a while in Kunark because there will not consistently be 20+ mobs up at a time in Sebilis on this server. The bard really helps in a classic AE group, when stuns aren't capable of so thoroughly locking mobs down.

[warrioman]

4 mages, an enchanter, and a cleric...

4 air pets

[Loke]

AEing won't work for a while in Kunark because there will not consistently be 20+ mobs up at a time in Sebilis on this server. The bard really helps in a classic AE group, when stuns aren't capable of so thoroughly locking mobs down.

Yea, but I'm willing to be you'll be able to find a few here and there in Chardok... among other places. AEing in Seb is like taking an extreme idea (AE group) and dulling it down for pansies by doing it in a zone that was clearly designed for ladies.

[Darklake]

It would be interesting to see what the minimum "best" group would be - fewer members/more XP per member versus more members/faster killing. Based on a full group would have to kill 6 mobs in the same time 1 person could solo for the same XP (ignoring hybrid penalties for the sake of simplicity) there might be a peak at which the rate of killing is at its most efficient (say 3 or 4 members) where there is diminishing returns in adding the 5th or 6th member

I'd like to try a monk/shaman/druid combo, or maybe SK/cleric/enchanter and see how the XP per hour compares with a full group.

[jmorgan08]

Shakerpage best leveling... Legit till nerf

(good thing we aren't going to PoP/AA's)

[audacity]

Chantard (Either a chanter or bard, get it?)
Shadadin (SK or Pally, get it?)
Druman (Shm or dru, get it?)
Magizard (Wizzy or Mage, get it?)
Rouger (Ranger or Rog, get it?)
Cleric (Cleric or cleric, get it?)

[Snigel]

if you have a constant stream of mobs and good gear i'd say shaman + halfling warrior + 4 halfling rogues

[Bushwick]

Yea, but I'm willing to be you'll be able to find a few here and there in Chardok... among other places. AEing in Seb is like taking an extreme idea (AE group) and dulling it down for pansies by doing it in a zone that was clearly designed for ladies.

That's true, but the AE group had better stop off in Droga for a week and max their Sarnak faction in order to grab their Chardok quest pieces first.

[Ridic]

Shadow Knight
Enchanter
Rogue
Rogue
Rogue
Cleric

Exp bonus to cancel out the SK's pent. Great dps, CC, best heals, best tank. Don't need a puller with SK FD+enc. And with 3 rogues, shit dies fast.

[Messianic]

Whatever it is, it has multiple rogues (especially Kunark and thereafter).

[guineapig]

There is no single correct answer. Depending on where you are certain combinations are "better" than others.

In the case of the OP's question "better" just means faster.


Outdoors will always be easier, especially with Kunark +50, however there is no comparison to a full group of 6 inside a dungeon with a good exp modifier. So obviously super group A might be better outdoors and super group B might be better in a dungeon crawl situation.

Also I think this question has been asked over 9000 times.

[Zereh]

I prefer five non-retards in my groups. Most days I'm happy if just two or three fit the bill.

~ Z

[azeth]

War
Monk
Rogue <- this one is me! hehe!
Rogue
Bard
Cleric

[ShivanAngel]

Post Kunark...

Chanter
Chanter
Mage/wiz
Mage/wiz
Druid/cleric
Druid/cleric

[Kassel]

Bard
Pally
Wiz
Wiz
Wiz
Druid <-- me !

[guineapig]

War
Monk
Rogue <- this one is me! hehe!
Rogue
Bard
Cleric

Granted your DPS will be awesome but a warrior having to deal with all those aggro magnets? I feel sorry for your cleric.

[Taluvill]

Mage
Mage
Mage
Mage
Mage
Monk

Monk to pull - mages to kill. different pets to CC shit if a pull goes bad. good for now or kunark.

[Davionx]

Where the necros at?

[Orov]

Where the necros at?

solo'ing

[Yinaltin]

to be true its 5 necros one mage .
necros will regen mana so fast , they can use their dds and lifetaps so much ...
6 times dmg shielded and hasted pets are the best . the necros can all handle aggro with fd and use da if it gets hard .

[Davionx]

solo'ing


rofls and truth!

Sometimes freeport guards gets lonely

[enzie]

SK/pally (pally maybe gets edge due to slightly less exp penalty, but SK has slightly higher dps)
2 monk/rogue
monk/rogue/bard
enchanter
cleric
Don't need a 2nd healer if you have a cleric. The buffs from shaman/druid don't outweigh the extra dps of a monk/rogue. Also, you kill shit so quick that you don't need to debuff anything.
There's slight variations in strategy depending on whether you have monk/monk/rogue or monk/rogue/bard or monk/rogue/rogue, but all work well. I wouldn't go double rogue without a monk or bard, though, as your puller won't be able to feign off bad pulls, so you need a backup mezzer.

The basic idea is to always have your melee attacking something. If you have 2 monks, you've got one pulling singles/doubles all day long before the mobs are even dead, so that you never stop meleeing. If you have monk/rogue/bard, you pull 3-5 mobs, as the enchanter can then mez them all up and have mana/regen songs to cut any down time. If you pull 3-5 constantly without a bard, the enchanter will have downtime at some point, as he's buffing haste on everyone while also CCing. You can do it once in awhile, or if a split is unsuccessful, but not as a rule without a bard. 20-40% haste (depending on if they have a haste item already or not) on 4 melee is like having an extra 1-2 melee dps without splitting the exp. I mean, it's almost like having an 8 person group while only splitting the exp 6 ways. Pet classes can fill the melee dps spots in a pinch, but they need to be good at throwing their pet on the right target quickly.

This strategy has worked real well for my groups (I'm the ench) since lvl 20 in guktop. We're generally covering an area that 2-3 groups would normally share, and still sometimes waiting on respawns. I got from 4/5 bubbles in 28 to 95% thru my first hell level (30) in a single night (6ish hrs).
Granted, depending on who is on, at least one of our melee is twinked relatively well, so that helps too. 2 of our regular monks have fbss at lvl 30, two of the rogues I use have had gloomwater since lvl 10, and one of our tanks got lucky in that halloween event (like 3-4 pieces). Myself and the cleric had practically nothing to start, though, but we're the least gear dependent in the group anyway.

[yaeger]

Hell, it's a freakin game.

The 'best' is what let's you have the most fun. There's no right answer to this question as we all have different definition of what would be 'best' for us.

Hell, I'd be stunned to see a group of 6 rangers level from 1 to 50. That's impressive. They'd definitely be the 'best' players I've seen.

[mimixownzall]

My perma group consisted of:

SK
Ranger (iknorite?)
Druid
Mage
Cleric
Chanter

We could do anything we wanted that didn't require a raid. We were walking through the Crypt when everyone was taking 2+ groups down there.

We had everything you need. If you sub out the ranger and put a monk or necro, we prolly would have killed faster, but oh well.

Oh, and this was when the group exp penalty was in... so with an SK (Iksar no less) and a Ranger... yeah... it sucked. Spending 10+ hours dungeon crawling through sebilis and getting like 1/4 of a yellow... /suicide

[enzie]

druid/wiz is nice if you are going deep into a dungeon that isn't heavily camped yet, like the first groups in sebilis or something, since you can evac out on a bad pull. CR that deep in some dungeons takes too long otherwise, and kills your exp. Otherwise, cleric is plenty of healing for a group, and other classes out dps wizards.

[Tork]

Classic:
Mag
Mag
Mag
Mag
Mag/Wiz
Enc

RoK:
Wiz
Wiz
Wiz
Wiz
Cle
Enc

SoV:
Rog
Rog
Rog
Rog
Enc
Shm