What is your ideal group? I have found a group combination where i (druid) don't feel as a major burden in my group. Thus far this is my favorite combo.

Druid
Beastlord
Cleric
Bard
age
Wizard

Finding people with proper skills so everyone can shine proves to be most difficult.

How about you guys? Ideal group. tri. duo. set up?

War/Sk/Pally
Shaman
age
Cleric
Ranger
e

Wizzy, Enchanter (bot of wizzies) and myself is normal set up (used to be my shammy friend which I can bot if need be)

Nightly group is wizzy, wizzy/pally (1 person) cleric/enchanter (his wife) and myself....used to be we dropped the 2nd wizzy for the shammy above now we don't.

I box

Warrior
Cleric
Druid
age
Wizard
Enchanter

Has just about everything: tankage, healage plus backup healage (which is something a lot of group combos are missing, i.e. if the cleric dies, who's gonna heal!), crowd control, plenty of porting+evacing, tons of dps, an auxiliary tank (mage pet) when needed and bkup "rez" (from druid, for when the cleric dies). Between the ports, the wizard's ability to punt the group to her bind and the power of the Call of the Hero spell, this group can move rapidly almost anywhere.

Pretty close to ideal. What I miss is a shaman for the HP buff and some of the useful debuffs. I miss any kind of FD class for really tough splitting, although snare+CoHero is very close to being as effective. (Still, I wouldn't trade my warrior for an SK just cuz the latter can FD. For some encounters there is NO sub for a warrior.) Sometimes I lament the lack of a rogue for really tough scouting, although an Eye of Tallon is a half-decent poor man's substitute. A necro would be useful for backup rezzing, corpse summoning and mana regen, but with OOC regen today, mind wrack just ain't what it used to be.

I really can't rationalize replacing any of the classes in my boxed set with any other class...

The necro comes the closest.... I could get my group to some real tough spots if I had a necro to invul-run to the camp spot, FD and then summon corpse/rez the mage to bring in the rest of the group...

Pally (rez)
Shaman
Druid
Bard
DPS
DPS

or

Warrior
cleric
druid
bard
beastlord
dps

Ideal group (w/o druid):

Warrior
Shaman
Cleric
Bard
dps
DPS

As far as duo/trio goes--

It very hard to decide between beastlord/druid and warrior/druid... As a full time box, I'd prolly give warrior/druid a heads up. Many people champion knight+druid, and while in many situations a knight is a easier to heal, the warrior dps usually compensates+than some, on top of being a far more boxing friendly class.

For trio, I'd prolly say dru+beast+war. Pre-push changes, I would have said you would have to be crazy to box a beast and another melee, but pet push isn't that bad now.

One with me in it.

Iv'e seen my friend box his druid and shaman and I am envious at the things he can do hehe. Thinking about starting a shaman on the box, beast seems a bit taxing; maybe it's better now with the pet push nerf but im still a skeptic.

Beast/druid works nicely....but, the suckass mitigation of BST is starting to show it's age once you get into TSS content.

Comments re the 6-groups suggested above:

It makes no sense to construct any group without a cleric. Sure, a pally can rez, as well as a necro, but there is no substitute for cleric healing power, assuming you want a group that can actually handle challenging content.

I don't see any reason to have a beastlord. Nothing against the class "personally" but they offer nothing that other classes can't match and add more.

A bard is another class I sometimes wish I had in my group although as a 6-boxer the problem is always that bards are harder to box than almost any other class...

My usual group consists of BST DRU RNG RNG (mains) with ROG SHM alts tagging along. Seems to work well within the limits of what a BST can tank ;) (West AG is about the hardest we've done and that's not so bad.. not game to go east tho :P)

Comments re the 6-groups suggested above:

It makes no sense to construct any group without a cleric. Sure, a pally can rez, as well as a necro, but there is no substitute for cleric healing power, assuming you want a group that can actually handle challenging content.

I don't see any reason to have a beastlord. Nothing against the class "personally" but they offer nothing that other classes can't match and add more.

A bard is another class I sometimes wish I had in my group although as a 6-boxer the problem is always that bards are harder to box than almost any other class...

Beasts are actually pretty solid dps.

As far as no cleric, well that's more just to fit a shaman into the group since they bring a lot to a group. Having a shaman + druid + cleric in the same group is redundant.

I'd just say avoid an enchanter at all costs, they bring very little to the group. Have someone log one in for buffs or carry around potions. There no group content where bard can't do an enchanter's job mez-wise.

best group set up all druids that are very well played and are master soloers show me 6 well played druids and ill show ya a group that can do any thing

best group set up all druids that are very well played and are master soloers show me 6 well played druids and ill show ya a group that can do any thing

I want so badly to agree with you. But, I can't.

Sooooooo here

:thumbsup:

Cleric
Druid
Shadowknight
onk
Shaman
Rogue

Or..
Cleric
Warrior
Shaman
onk
Ranger (Or wizard)
Rogue

Paladin
Paladin
Druid
Shaman
Enchanter
Ranger

At least that's my regular group, and we haven't come across anything yet that we can't get done.

None of these ideal groups include berserkers?!

Cleric
Shaman
Bard
Berserker
Rogue
Warrior

My thinking is about the same as Palaran's. An ideal group must have massive sustained DPS, and that means melee - the modern game (even including OOC regen) is just built that way. Massive tankage means either a warrior or a top-top end SK or pally. Cleric for the unbeatable heals, shammy to combine slows and melee DPS boosts, bard for unparalleled pulling, more melee DPS boosting, crowd control. So, given we're talking about an "ideal group", mine is a second vote for

Cleric
Shaman
Bard
Berserker
Rogue
Warrior

Paladin
Ranger
Druid
Rogue
monk/cleric
Chanter/shammy

This is the group I've done most of my huntings the past 4-5 years and there aren't many events we cannot do. I know only couple of fights when warrior is needed, other than that we've blown through PoP, GoD, DoN, DoD and TSS together. This has worked so well because the paladin and rest of us have very good gear (we raid but not quite the end game), also making me able to be main healer for rough fights and we have replaced cleric with DPS.

Then again, I've done stuff like TBS Thalassius missions with pure dps group: beastlord, berserker, rogue, ranger, druid and cleric. No one was tanking and no slows! Best AA exp I've ever gotten, we killed those mobs so fast they hardly had time to hit back :thumbup: Oh and I love Thalassius missions, I can use Annihilate Unnatural <3

<3 Berserkers

If I were choosing a set of classes to level up from scratch w/ a group of friends, I would choose:

*Tank: Any - most likely an SK in this case due to utility (king in groups)
*Cleric
*Druid
*BST
*Bard
*Zerker/Wiz/Rog (probably in that order of preference)


This would be without assuming that characters would be getting raid drops once appropriate levels were gained. If good raid gear was going to be available, it could be almost any combination of toons and be effective.

Cleric
Warrior/SK/Pal
Shaman
Bard
DPS
DPS

There is no substitute for a Cleric and a Plate tank in challenging content

The shaman brings nice buffs, can contribute dps via Panther and can provide back up healing.

Bard
2 x dps
IMO Druids and Enchanters are the red headed step children when it comes to forming the "ideal" group. Neither class is really needed, the only reason druid appears so often is because this is a druid forum and the majority of posters play druids duh.

IMO Druids and Enchanters are the red headed step children when it comes to forming the "ideal" group

I just cannot agree with this. So many times people have been wanting me into group rather than cleric, because I bring also ports, FoE, buffs and tiny bit dps, exodus, debuffs. I often 2-box also my chanter, so I'm main healer+main CC and slower. And I do this in places in Ashengate. Usually people cheer when they see there is a chanter in group!

Scratch my initial post i found a better group!

Shaman druidx2 3 beastlords.

Panther FTW, may drop the extra druid for another beastlord but that's a bit dicey.

Druid
Shadowknight
Shaman
Bard
Rogue
Berzerker

Reptile + Decrepit Skin = The win for tanking especially with a SK's AC.
Bard keeps mobs in camp and keeps um mezzed till meeded, SK's aoe agro builds agro on mezzed mobs until your ready for them.
With the 4 epic/auras of shammy, bard, rogue, zerker your dps will be fine. Yes there is no XP rezzer but i dont worry much about that because people dont die often and with the summon for rez people dont really mind.

I know rangers are relatively more powerful at the low end than they are at the high end, but are they really good enough to be considered for the "ideal group?"

As far as chanters, bard usually cancels out the need to have one. But the tradeoff off isn't mez vs nothing, it's mez vs shaman. Multi tanking w/ a shaman in slower spot usually works out fine. I can pull/tank every TBS mission and AG w/ my warrior alt fine w/o mez. While it may not be as mana efficient as mezzing, the extra benefits of a shaman outweight the extra med time for the cleric. Not to count that the shaman can heal singles np while the cleric OOCs anyways.

So many times people have been wanting me into group rather than cleric, because I bring also ports, FoE, buffs and tiny bit dps, exodus, debuffs.

Ironic thing is, when I main heal thalissus TBS missions, I actually do more dps playing a cleric than I do playing a druid. Vow of valor + blightflame (weapon) + reproval (nuke) make for some decent dps. Combine the low mana cost w/ efficient cleric heals its more sustainable than druid healing+dps.

Ironic thing is, when I main heal thalissus TBS missions, I actually do more dps playing a cleric than I do playing a druid. Vow of valor + blightflame (weapon) + reproval (nuke) make for some decent dps. Combine the low mana cost w/ efficient cleric heals its more sustainable than druid healing+dps.

That's depressing

That's depressing

DPSing to that extent is only situational. In any more difficult content, using VoValor is risky.

But even in more difficult, a cleric can nuke nearly as well -while main healing- as druids.

A cleric nuke is ~70% as potent as a druid nuke, but druid healing isn't 70% as potent as cleric healing. This is why they have an edge in some situations.

The factor that makes us pull ahead is dots, but dots are limited in number and not always practical in quick killing xp groups.

the group I've rolled around with pretty much since GoD and never had a problem with DPS tanking ability or anything has been:

Druid
Shaman
Paladin
Necro
Bard
onk/Ranger

I usually play the druid + shaman, or the druid + necro. The other 4 get boxed by my brother. Never had a problem doing anything with this group, more than adequate healing with a druid + shaman + paladin, it's also probably made it relatively easy since all the characters have been in some of the best raid gear since we've played them together.

Anyone that says druids can't healing challengeing content can suck it, I've main healed my way through AG factioning/xping, FC faction/xping, all TBS progression missions, old content, new content, you name it druids can heal it if you know what you're doing.

Anyone that says druids can't healing challengeing content can suck it, I've main healed my way through AG factioning/xping, FC faction/xping, all TBS progression missions, old content, new content, you name it druids can heal it if you know what you're doing.

Can druids heal well in alot of situations? Sure. But put that same druid on a cleric and he'll be able to heal expoentially better.

Can druids heal well in alot of situations? Sure. But put that same druid on a cleric and he'll be able to heal exponentially better.
ore true words are rarely spoken. Even though my druid has the mana-pool and focii to main heal pretty much any content I have tried, if I have an opportunity to box a cleric instead (for a group), I usually do so, because the difference is so drastic.

When I just 2-box tho, I like druid more than cleric!

An endgame druid is a different beast from a bazaar-gearing level 65 druid. It matters not a whit that an endgame cleric can heal better than an endgame druid - when for all essential purposes both can do a perfectly fine job regardless. People die when my druid is healing when someone messes up badly, and they die when I'm nuking and a cleric is healing...for precisely the same reason. I did see a difference at half my current mana pool and with a handful of AAs. It just goes away with 1000 AAs and decent midrange raid gear.

I have been thinking of returning to my casual play again, I have access to 6 accounts and putting aside the foolishesness of spending that kind of money on a game like EQ, I've got a hard time understanding some of these posts.

If you look at it from lvl 1 up through lvl 75 or 80 now I guess, what would the ideal group be throughout these levels, if you had no option to change anything after character creation?

Up through level 45 or something (forget when druids got "good heals"), but isn't a cleric nearly required?

About 2 1/2 years ago, lower level heals were given a significant boost. Chloroblast, for example, used to heal 428 for 175 mana. Now it heals 1044 for 331 mana. Minor Healing used to heal 10 for 10 mana; now it heals 12 (L1) to 20 (L5) for 10 mana.

clakar the group I'd use if I rerolled all my chars would be:

paladin/SK (I prefer paladin but SKs are damn good too)
shaman
cleric
berserker
wizard
necromancer

this group could plow pretty much anything with high DPS, healing, and debuffing.

oh and kamion yes if I play a cleric I could heal a lot better than I can on my druid, but I rolled a druid, and druids can heal pretty much anything if they are well played/geared. I suppose with the group that i play with we have the added bonus of my brother's shaman and a paladin to help heal. I mean sure... we could use a bunch of tweaks to fix us and bring our dps/healing more inline with where it should be, but we're by no means bad healers, now our dps on the other hand makes me want to cry.

I used to group nightly with the same people every night. I loved that group and I still consider it one of the most versatile group make ups.

Paladin
Druid
Beastlord
Bard
Necro
(any high dps class would go here)

Sometimes it was the Necro's boyfriend (a mage), other times it was someone from the guild we were in... Occasionally on really really touch content we'd sub in a shaman for back-up heals.

We could tear through most anything even with it being an unconventional group set up. Plus check it with all the mana regen, lol.~

-Nae