I wanted to get people's thoughts on a progression crew make up. I am going to set myself a few rules before starting this .. 1) Out of era AA not allowed. Out of era spells not allowed. Ykesha spells allowed. 2) Expansions done in sequence so Velious > Luclin > PoP. Stop at PoP. Level 60 max until PoP. Level 65 max for PoP. 3) BER and BST allowed. Thinking about a 36 toon crew which should be enough to clear everything assuming the correct amount of farming of gear. The questions I have would be around raid composition for optimum efficiency. Certain assumptions I think .. 1 bard and 1 cler per group. 6 clerics should be enough for decent heal chains no? Porter per group - 1 dru + 5 wiz (otherwise getting around in era is going to be painful) - not wedded to this but Wiz should be solid dps in era with Dragonbane/Giantbane etc This leaves 18 slots for tanks + dps + util 1 MAG 1 ENC (2 for charming maybe?) ? NEC (I remember these as pretty solid dps in era + DMF) 1 BST ? WAR (tank swaps were a thing in era but I don't know if its necessary in a bot crew) 1 SHD 1 PAL 1 ROG 2 SHM ? RNG (insane in Luclin/PoP with bow/EQ) ? MNK ? BER The ? marks are the numbers I am not sure of, I would personally tend towards (assuming tank swaps are not a thing) 1 NEC 1 WAR 3 RNG 3 MNK 2 BER However, I am willing to listen to any opinions otherwise.
I prefer to make raid groups with a purpose, example, tank1, Warrior, paladin, cleric, cleric, cleric, bard tank2, warrior, shadowknight, cleric cleric, cleric, bard melee 1 monk rogue berserker ranger shaman bard melee 2 monk rogue berserker beastlord shaman bard melee 3 monk rogue berserker monk shaman bard caster magician enchanter, wizard, wizard, druid, bard you end up needing to double up on porting, only able to move 3 groups at a time, but having a coth available is very worthwhile, as well as the enchanter. in a few ways I'd describe this as a "whatever's left" group. I ignored lack of a necro, they bring some caster dps, and dmf which is nice for the pro-poison, but not too much else. I've been thinking of doing something like this, I figure once I beat the end boss for the expansion I can move on, endboss for kunark are killing each dragon including trakanon, endboss for kunark is AoW, and vulak a'err, for luclin AHR, PoP is Quarm, at that point I'd level up to 70 for Gates. I'm kinda wondering how fast it'd be doable, allowing ornate defiant would make a lot of kunark easier, and it would give a passable armor set for non-tanks.
I'm doing this, though I'm not being quite as diligent as you; I'm working through content by difficulty/tier more than expansion pack. I'm using out of era AA/spells, because with just 24 you're not beating Avatar of War/Vulak or Emperor Ssra/AHR without them. Or maybe you could, but it'd require more faming than I'm patient enough for. 4 groups; I wanted each group to stand on it's own for 1 group trials; I wanted one of every class; I wanted each group to have a cleric and porter for /evac commands; I wanted each group to have a bard; I wanted each group to have a slower; I wanted each group to have a tank. This is the composition I got to, though eventually I'm swapping the monk to group 1 since their aura matters a lot? Warrior, Cleric, Bard, Wizard, Shaman, Rogue Pal, Cleric, Bard, Wizard, Enchanter, Ber SK, Cleric, Bard, Druid, Beastlord, Mage Ranger, Cleric, Bard, Druid, Necromancer (undead only slow), Monk I have about 20 pages of notes documenting my journey so far, eventually I'll post a journal somewhere on these forums if that's allowed/of interest. To answer a couple of your questions, since I've been doing this content: 4 clerics + 2 druids technically gets you to a 2s CH chain with all the healing AA's on the druids, but yeah, 6 clerics would probably be required if you're trying to do Avatar of War at level 60. Tank Swaps: Yeah, keeping Tanks up on Avatar of War is hard once defensive goes down, and that's with maxed combat agility/stability. Having a second warrior on hand is a decent idea if you're really trying to do this on a strict in-era guideline.
Sounds like a fun project. I hope you enjoy it. My thoughts... 6 CLR - Check 6 BRD - Check 2 WAR - if solo, no help is your measure, you'll want 2 warriors 0 SK - As a SK this pains me. SKs are super awesome fun and super awesome power..... at L70 with Dread Gaze. Your project ensures SKs are a worse Paladin for most of the journey. 1 PAL - See above. Pal stuns are valuable and effective at lower levels. The utility of peeltank aggro, heals, buffs and cures are effective at the raiding end. 1 DRU - 1 more DRU means 1 more caster of RGC. Will that make or break any Luclin raid? I'm not an expert. I dunno. 5 WIZ - 1/5 or 2/4 1 MAG 1 ENC 1 BST 1 SHM 1 NEC 1 ROG 1 MNK 1 BER 1 RNG This comes to 30 characters thus far. You need 6 more. Radom thoughts.... At max level, high AA, melee is king. OOM is more common than OOE. Mages are surprisingly good at lower levels and many raids. They do melee. They do ranged. They do AoE. As you mention, Rangers are surprisingly good when archery AAs come out. The holy trinity of BRD/SHM/ROG/MNK/BER in a melee group will not be applicable for you. This setup requires out of era group buffs/discs you won't be using. BRD epic and SHM epic clickies for melee groups ARE applicable but only after you obtain epic 1.5s. Splitting melee DPS into several classes will help weapon/item distribution but ignores "best DPS in expansion." I feel it's still worth it. Don't pick 7 rogues. At cutting edge end-boss content, enchanter mez or charm occurs often. Make that: is required often. Emp requires mezzing many snakes for a LONG fight. PoP Rathe Council is perhaps the hardest fight in the game even now (using the offtank, full burn method). Using the "mez 6 of them for half an hour" strat may be easier. Plus Dire Charm is VERY effective dps when that AA comes out. With that, I would add: 1 ENC 1 ROG 1 MNK 1 RNG 1 SHM Those picks are fairly straightforward. You'll need the extra mez/charm. I feel those 3 are the best melee dps for the majority of the content you will be doing. I'm not sold on berserkers for any expansion pre-OoW (in fact, if it were me I'd drop berserker and use any other melee instead. They are awesome at OoW raids still). The extra shaman is needed for so many melee to buff, plus avatar for all, plus another curer. The last slot? I'm tempted to pick MAG. A second necro may suit those extra long fights you'll be facing. Fights you'll wonder if 6 clerics will be enough. A third ROG is never a bad choice. A second BST is a solid choice too. Savagery/Ferocity is the Beastlords Avatar/Champion. 100ATK + 50 all res + 25 sta for all your melee at L60.... yes please. And two Paragons in Luclin+ content. I think I just talked myself into a second BST. EDIT: I just saw the "stop at PoP" limitation. Drop Berserker and replace with another melee dps. And ignore the other post-PoP comments.
