Experienced player duo with total newb. Enc/Clr?

[Kurtanius21]

I’ve been playing EQ for years. I’ve never made it to 60, but I have 2 50+ characters. I’ve introduced a friend of mine to EQ. We started a magician/Enchanter duo and we did miserably. Simply put, he is not a gamer. His ability to quickly assess a situation and manage Agro just isn’t there. Many times he would nuke too hard and get agro and we wiped. Other times I would try to mezz adds, only to wipe because he would attack both. We got frustrated and stopped (he stopped) playing the game temporarily.

We are going to try again, but this time I will remain playing the enchanter and he will be a cleric. A cleric is as simple as it gets right? Heal when health bars get low and buff occasionally basically. I have 57 cleric, so I have an understanding of it. I have never played an enchanter past level 14 though.

When does the enchanter/cleric duo become a viable dungeon crawling duo? Is it only useful at higher levels? We are down to group, but don’t want to sit around twiddling our thumbs because no PUGs are available. What other duo could we play that would allow him to play the most basic simplistic roles possible in EQ?

[eqravenprince]

Rogue is the simplest class to play. Get behind mob and backstab. You be a class that can keep aggro and pull mobs Paladin or Shaman perhaps.

[Treefall]

I’ve been playing EQ for years. I’ve never made it to 60, but I have 2 50+ characters. I’ve introduced a friend of mine to EQ. We started a magician/Enchanter duo and we did miserably. Simply put, he is not a gamer. His ability to quickly assess a situation and manage Agro just isn’t there. Many times he would nuke too hard and get agro and we wiped. Other times I would try to mezz adds, only to wipe because he would attack both. We got frustrated and stopped (he stopped) playing the game temporarily.

We are going to try again, but this time I will remain playing the enchanter and he will be a cleric. A cleric is as simple as it gets right? Heal when health bars get low and buff occasionally basically. I have 57 cleric, so I have an understanding of it. I have never played an enchanter past level 14 though.

When does the enchanter/cleric duo become a viable dungeon crawling duo? Is it only useful at higher levels? We are down to group, but don’t want to sit around twiddling our thumbs because no PUGs are available. What other duo could we play that would allow him to play the most basic simplistic roles possible in EQ?

Having done a good portion of healer/ench already - I can say you are not bad right out of the gate at 12 together but clr/ench definitely shines once the clr gets complete heal, up to that point as a duo my personal experience is the best xp is letting the charmed mob get low, break charm and kill both instead of wasting mana on healing it.

CLR can be very boring though if someone isn't in to it, which I am sure you are aware.

Are you sure you don't want to try mage again and just go slow and explain things to him? Don't nuke until 60%, teach him how to use /pet back and /pet attack and how they operate. I believe magician is one of the most noob friendly classes in the game while learning the basics. Heck just having his pet attack is almost enough alone.

[eqravenprince]

Having done a good portion of healer/ench already - I can say you are not bad right out of the gate at 12 together but clr/ench definitely shines once the clr gets complete heal, up to that point as a duo my personal experience is the best xp is letting the charmed mob get low, break charm and kill both instead of wasting mana on healing it.

CLR can be very boring though if someone isn't in to it, which I am sure you are aware.

Are you sure you don't want to try mage again and just go slow and explain things to him? Don't nuke until 60%, teach him how to use /pet back and /pet attack and how they operate. I believe magician is one of the most noob friendly classes in the game while learning the basics. Heck just having his pet attack is almost enough alone.

I'll add to that, 2 mages with earth pet. You could practically nuke even at 100% if you wanted cause the mob will be rooted 99% of the time.

[Toxigen]

I’ve been playing EQ for years. I’ve never made it to 60, but I have 2 50+ characters. I’ve introduced a friend of mine to EQ. We started a magician/Enchanter duo and we did miserably. Simply put, he is not a gamer. His ability to quickly assess a situation and manage Agro just isn’t there. Many times he would nuke too hard and get agro and we wiped. Other times I would try to mezz adds, only to wipe because he would attack both. We got frustrated and stopped (he stopped) playing the game temporarily.

We are going to try again, but this time I will remain playing the enchanter and he will be a cleric. A cleric is as simple as it gets right? Heal when health bars get low and buff occasionally basically. I have 57 cleric, so I have an understanding of it. I have never played an enchanter past level 14 though.

When does the enchanter/cleric duo become a viable dungeon crawling duo? Is it only useful at higher levels? We are down to group, but don’t want to sit around twiddling our thumbs because no PUGs are available. What other duo could we play that would allow him to play the most basic simplistic roles possible in EQ?

As cleric / enchanter you will never need anyone else and will be able to tackle any dungeon of your choosing. Adding anyone that isn't a total rockstar twink of a player will simply be a reduction in your XP / hour.

Its simple from the cleric's perspective, but there are some fine details of the role that separate a mediocre cleric from a great cleric. If you're a competent enchanter and you guys are playing within your limits, his mediocrity won't be noticed much. Only when you guys on the highway to the danger zone will his misplays be felt.

A couple things your friend can do to make things easy:

- Always keep your (the enc) HP topped off. Can use lower level spells to prevent overheal / overuse of mana if hes low.

- Have him always have a stun at the ready for when your charms break.

- He can help root.

- I believe the default key for targeting party members / their pets is F2, F3, etc. He should have some way of being able to target your pet quickly...this becomes more important at 39 when your strategy will shift to keeping a pet and CHing it when low. Until he hits 39 its far more efficient to break / kill pets when low and grab another (OR can also calm / break / root / blur and let a low pet self heal up to full and then re-tash / charm).

- If you guys are doing undead at lower levels, he can help by keeping his undead nuke up to finish off low pets. You break as he starts firing off the nuke, you stun the mob, it dies.

- Remember to have him keep gate and/or DAs up. If you die its just easier to double DA to zone out or gate and run back to get you rezzed up.

Basically you're going to do 90-95% of the work....but you'll have your cleric safety blanket.

[DMN]

you can pretty much pair any priest class with enchanter and it will be strong. But you are probably best off asking if he thinks he would prefer druid/shama/cleric. much more important is that he enjoys the class he plays. very few people enjoy playing clerics -- and for good reasons.

[Danth]

you can pretty much pair any priest class with enchanter and it will be strong. But you are probably best off asking if he thinks he would prefer druid/shama/cleric. much more important is that he enjoys the class he plays. very few people enjoy playing clerics -- and for good reasons.

I want to stress this: Cleric/Enchanter is a hugely effective duo, which won't do you a lick of good if the cleric quits because he hates the thing. There are folks who enjoy playing clerics as mains, but they are few and far between. One of the other priest types, in particular, could sit back and play "cleric-like" at first with more options to branch out and do more as the player becomes more experienced with EQ. It's something to consider, even if you consider it and ultimately choose cleric anyhow.

Danth

[Kurtanius21]

So what are we doing wrong with the magician? I have never played a magician before and it is an exercise in frustration. We are level 11. His pet is so weak. If we don’t start nuking blues, they wipe out his pet. Once we start nuking, the Mobs agro us and we either survive and have to wait eons for our health to regenerate or we die altogether.

Is there a way to make it so the pet does not need to be spammed /back when an ad attacks it? We hate that when I try to mezz an Ad, he has to spam /back so the pet won’t start attacking it again. Does /follow work instead?

I think he won’t mind playing a cleric. He plays mostly to socialize with the online community, but perhaps a Druid would be more fun for him than a cleric? I already have a shaman.

[Philistine]

I agree with what Danth mentioned about making sure he plays something he enjoys. I'd consider letting him pick the class that appeals most to him, buying some basic newbie gear to help ease the newbie pain, and picking a class that supports his well.

The only RL buddy I had play quit at level 5 because it was too hard. Make sure he has fun! Having am RL buddy to play with will be worth the effort!

[Garnaak]

I would let him play whatever he enjoys. If mage, let him. You may not be able to play Ench though. Necro may be better choice for you. You can snare/fear away mobs that should not be being attacked, rather than him breaking mez and you getting slammed. He and his pet basically become an additional big DoT for you fear kiting, possibly 2 or 3 mobs at once.

As far as pet goes, at 11 all pets are kinda weak. New pet spells at 12. But mage pets are the strongest of any pets besides charmed. Don't think you are doing anything wrong with mage.

[Aandolaf]

Pets can be 1 of 4 levels when you summon them, and its random as to which one you get each cast. So sometimes they can be quite weak, try using the fire pet, and keep casting new ones until you get a max level one. You can find out if its max level by how hard it hits, or how much its DS does. This can just be learned over time, or the info is available on the wiki, I would say give that a try and see how it goes!

[eqravenprince]

So what are we doing wrong with the magician? I have never played a magician before and it is an exercise in frustration. We are level 11. His pet is so weak. If we don’t start nuking blues, they wipe out his pet. Once we start nuking, the Mobs agro us and we either survive and have to wait eons for our health to regenerate or we die altogether.


What blues are you fighting at 11 that wreck you? A mage can solo any single blue at level 11 with ease, let alone a duo.

[Spithridates]

Is it your primary goal to get another character to 50+ or to have enjoyable play time with your friend? Don't let him roll cleric unless he really wants it. Letting him play something interesting and survivable will keep him most interested. Don't expect him to be cc or clutch heals or wicked dps beause you'll both get more frustrated. Let him roll monk to your priest class or chanter.

[Garnaak]

What blues are you fighting at 11 that wreck you? A mage can solo any single blue at level 11 with ease, let alone a duo.

This is the question. I don't have a high level mage. I think highest is 16. But IIRC the whole life of the mage so far has been

target mob
/pet attack
Winning!

Maybe they did not purchase new spells so still using lvl 4 or 1 pet or something? Unsure, sounds fishy.

[Kurtanius21]

We died in the qeynos aqueducts, erudin island wisps, kurn’s castle skeletons. The pet is so weak. Usually once it starts dying, we have to nuke. And once the pet loses agro, we die. It’s been awful.

[Tewaz]

I would personally recommend a monk/shaman duo with your friend being the monk.

It's very powerful and you can go all the way to 60 together.

He gets a FD button.

Also, is your friend using the level 8 pet? A level 8 pet with a rusted 2 hander hits hard.

I did a Erudite Mage to 12 in Qeynos Hills with a rusty halbred or 2h sword then switched to wisps with a summoned weapon and I tore through everything pretty easily.

[Gustoo]

You gotta keep upgrading the pet spells…

[Treefall]

We died in the qeynos aqueducts, erudin island wisps, kurn’s castle skeletons. The pet is so weak. Usually once it starts dying, we have to nuke. And once the pet loses agro, we die. It’s been awful.

Hopefully he has upgraded his pets, assuming that is done - you root and he can chain cast pets, heck he'll want to know that for some soloing so his pet doesn't steal his xp, reclaim when low to make it more efficient.

Mes adds/lull and he can debuff should only have to fight one thing at a time 99% of the time.

[Vivitron]

We died in the qeynos aqueducts, erudin island wisps, kurn’s castle skeletons. The pet is so weak. Usually once it starts dying, we have to nuke. And once the pet loses agro, we die. It’s been awful.

You keep talking about his pet, but your pet is is almost its equal; you need to use both. Enchanters get a new pet at every spell line and usually you have to buy them from High Keep. 11 sucks because you have the same pets you had at 8. When you hit 12 you will crush again like you did at level 8.

Try to avoid adds so you don't have to cc them. Outdoors try fighting by a wall or beach, indoors try watching to understand the path of the 1-2 mobs that move around the area where you fight.

[ezigrelnos]

enchanter wizard duo is extremely convenient and very simple to play; enchanter does all the work and the wizard nukes at 20%

the wizard also has roots target stun instant aggro and evac which all make life easier

the first 16 levels are boring pet animation tanking but once you get some +cha gear and mana regen its a solid duo