5 Person Party Combo?

[Broadway]

Hey guys.

I'm an old EQ player from way back. I played from Vanilla to midway through Luclin before I fell off. I'm interested in jumping back in, and some friends of mine have become interested joining up as well.

There are currently five of us, real life friends, who want to form a sustainable group together whenever we can play.

Does anyone have any thoughts on what might be a well-balanced group with five people?

I've asked the gang what they want to play, and here's the list they came up with:

Paladin (Tank)
Cleric (Heal)
Bard (Pulling)
Wizard (Damage)
Shaman (Offheal/Buffer)

We were hoping to go GOOD aligned as well, since I played Evil side way back when.

Do you guys think this combo could work well?

[Dezik]

Sure it will. Some people might tell you you maybe lack DPS (wizard is more for burst) but you will be fine doing anything with this team. If you wanted ultimate efficiency you may want to trade the wizard out for an enchanter but imo its not required.

[Broadway]

Thanks for the reply, Dezik!

The guy who wants to play Wizard is pretty hot to trot for DPS. What would you say about replacing the Bard with an Enchanter? Too much overlap with the Shaman there?

[Dezik]

Well, the Wizard DPS is very poor in groups due to the fact that they cannot sustain it for long without going OOM. The bard mana song can help that but not enough to compete with a real DPS class such as a monk or rogue. And as a matter of fact, an enchanter will bring a ton of DPS to the table with a charmed pet, much more than the wizard. Wizards can be useful for the ports, however, and are certainly nice to have for "oh shit" moments when a mob / mobs need to die NOW.

The real usefulness of the enchanter comes with the crowd control. The bard can mez, but simply is not as good at it as the enchanter. There is some overlap with buffs between enchanter / shaman, but its not bad, you just split the work up between the two.

Ultimately, your decision should be based on what everyone wants to play the most. While your current group is lacking a bit in the melee DPS department, it will be completely capable of going wherever you guys want to get exp's.

[Broadway]

Thanks again for the breakdown, Dezik! I'll show this to the gang and see what they think.

[Dezik]

No problem man. Enjoy the game and try not to worry TOO much about having the "best" group, just try to get everyone a class that they want to play and enjoy the ride!

[maskedmelon]

That group will work out alright. As Dez indicated though, it may be a bit light on DPS and if the wiz is really wanting to do DPS, he ought to roll a rogue, monk or chanter. You will not see any larger burst damage than you do from a wizard, but it cannot be sustained and over multiple fights does not amount to much. Even so though, it will still work fine as is ^^

The other challenge you may run into is mans management. Yes, bards offer great regen, but only to those around them. As your group is, the Paladin will either be pulling and tanking or the hard will be pulling. If the Paladin is pulling, s/he will run out of mana due to double duty and mana regen on only half or less the time (if s /he is away pulling, s/he cannot hear the bard song). If the bard pulls, you ruin to the issue that the rest the whole group only has mana regen for half or less the time. Not a big deal, but it will add some downtime. To alleviate, you guys could consider swapping the bard for a ranger (or monk) and the shaman for a chanter. You could also keep he bard or shaman and trade just one and the wiz for the chanter and monk/ranger.

Good luck and Happy Hunting!

[mr_jon3s]

If you want switch the bard with an enchanter, the wizard with a rogue, and the shaman with a druid.

[Broadway]

mr_jon3s, may I ask why the druid makes more sense than the shaman? I remember druids not being as effective in indoor dungeons, which is one of the things we were hoping to do a lot of.

[Raev]

Your problem is that your group has a tremendous defensive bias (3/5 healers, and the Bard is not exactly an offensive powerhouse). If you want to level faster, you should replace the Paladin with an Enchanter.