EZ Server

I'm going back and through now and finishing out my 12man group. I currently run with 9 and I'm going up to 12 and if I'm going to put a lot of effort into more characters, I want to make sure I've got a good setup going. I also need some advice/healing help.

Current setup:

Warrior
Monk
Zerker
Bard
Paladin
Cleric
Shaman
Necro
Mage



I've found DPS was lacking a lot when moving into T6 content so I've been maxing out Charms to get my DPS to at least Sorc 41 and my strike augs up.

For my last three spots, I was thinking Enchanter, Druid, and a second Zerker for the AoE dmg. Then I could mix and match the above 12 in various single groups or run them as two.

Anything appear to be grossly misaligned or missing here? I find that when running two groups and I have to separate my cleric and paladin, it leaves my tank a lot more vulnerable and he dies more.  I was thinking of having a second Paladin instead but I didn't want to lose another spot to a healer and I'd rather it be a stronger DPS than pally or a buff class.

Also trying to figure out who goes where for the two group setup. Which classes compliment the others better. Should I split the pet classes up? Is it better for the bard to be with pet classes or DPS if I group them together?

I would not go with another Zerker.  You're almost done with places where you can do AE damage effectively for progression.  A lot of people get by ok without a second warrior, but I would suggest an off tank, or secondary tank.

So, in your situation, I would probably go with a War, Druid, Ench as the next 3.

The MAJOR thing that stands out for me is you saying you are in T6 with toons that don't have lvl 41 charms...  By now, you should be thinking about UC and UC2 on every single toon.  Then max out strike augs to increase DPS.

2 cents, for free

Warrior
Monk
Zerker
Bard
Paladin
Cleric
Shaman
Necro
Mage

if you are looking to increase the DPS and be solid for T7/T8 you may want to consider switching out the necro for a rogue and the mage for another Paladin. Then, you can add a druid, ench and bard so that you would end up looking like:

Warrior
Paladin
Shaman
Bard
Cleric
Monk

and

Zerker
Rogue
Druid
Bard
Enchanter
Paladin

this would maximize your healing in Tank group, give you 2 healers in 2nd group, with a bard in both groups for both added dps and song support. It would also allow you the ability to single target coth around the zones.

I am not a huge fan of pet classes as positioning becomes a huge factor, which leads to a lot of recasting pets if you kill them on rage, etc.

The more toons with NS the better

this is my favorite topic...what is the best group for XXX tier!?!

I run a 12 man that looks like this;

Warrior (of course)(UW2)(UC1)
Cleric (of course)(UC1)
Druid(yea Skin3 is well..awesome for pulling 20+ mobs in t6)(UC1)
Paladin(love them spot heals)(2hander)(UC1)
Ranger(NS dps FTW)(magnetic dirk)
Wizzy(make this go boom)(Mana Neck V)
 
second group is
Zerk (AOE)
Zerk (even more AOE)
Monk (NS goodness)
Rogue (more NS goodness)(Magnetic Dirk)
Cleric (OK..not thrilled....not sure i need a cleric to heal..)(UC1)
Bard (makes everything better)(Magnetic Dirk)

ALL healers and warrior are UC1 ...the rest are getting close...warrior is almost done with UC2...
I need to backfill some of the ICE augs and FIRE augs I am missing but all NInja's are VIII....

takes me about 4-5 hours per run in t6

I may drop the second zerk for a enchanter since I understand they are awesome...not 100%...and maybe second cleric for another healer that can do more that just heal...

Interesting thing is when my main tank goes down..its my monk that tends to be the offtank that keeps me from getting totally wasted... the paladin just cant seem to stay up.. I guess not getting hit is better than healing yourself....

I am mainly working on T6 for UC2 for warrior then my plan is to gear up the rest of the group and flag them for t7 with 6.0s all the way around...then head back into TOFS floor5 and farm up the remainder of the UC's I need and get resists up to 1600 on the rest of my toons (main tank is 2300+)... and then farm essence to fill in all the aug holes I have....before heading into T7....

I have not done SOA at all and don't really feel I need one yet (Main tank almost never dies and when he manages to die its normally due to LAG or a mistake I have made) this may all change once I enter Tier7 but for now...

Am I smoking crack?

I just have my enchanter follow out of group. As long as you have resists up to par he should be okay.

This idea of a second warrior for offtank is interesting. Without UW, doesn't that make a second tank hard to contribute as much as another class would?

Or does he take off enough damage from rampage or whatever from the main tank that it makes up for it?

Dump the necro, keep the mage. Make sure you get the best mana neck you can for the mage (or dont bother with the mage). Make sure you set up a key to keep IA3 on warrior. Add a chanter and a druid for sure.....druid is arguably the best healer around, and enchanter is the best (by FAR) force multiplier in the game after MQ2. I'd take a ranger over a rogue all day long. DPS on a ranger now is at least as good as a rogues, and once bow click is working right I think ranger will be best melee dps.

So that'd make the groups:

Warrior
Monk
Zerker
Bard
Paladin
Cleric
Shaman
Mage
Druid
Ench
Ranger

For the last spot.....I like wizard. Damned good dps, and relatively cheap....and AE dps is second only to zerk. But again, get mana neck for wiz.

I'd arrange em this way:

Warrior
Paladin
Bard
Mage
Sham
Ench

Monk
Zerker
Cleric
Druid
Ranger
Wiz

Can set up pally as emergency offtank if needed...and a UC2 pally with even just a UC1 sham is plenty to keep a warrior standing....especially with druid in G2 set to keep regen and Drake on warrior. I put shammy in G1 with the warrior assuming War is UW, because grudge rocks with a UW! Though grudge is also quite nice on mage/sham/ench pets. Bard is in G1 to keep stampede on the tank, and to keep TB3 on pets (where its most effective). Cleric and druid in G2 is plenty to keep G2 from dying to AE or random shift damage.

At least thats how I'd do it.

What do you favor about a mage pet class over the necro?

Mage gets DS which is noticable DPS increase, and nukes are more effective then dots the way the game is currently balanced.

Re: Bailet we run almost the same group, my warrior has higher UW and I have an enchanter and mage where you have some melee.

My t6 clears were about 2.5 hours before I UC2'd my zerker.  That can be the impact of the enchanter,  Now down to ~80minutes with 4 UC2's(only 1 on zerker)

And I don't even have as many NS 8's as you.  Enchanter makes that much of a difference.

Do you find automation on a caster hard?

For example, on the mage would you Twist their neck clickie and then DD? or some iteration in between? DD, DD, DD, neck clickie, etc...?

Right now I have all major forms of DPS on keypress 1 for all my toons

Zerker Epic, Ranger Bow, Caster Nukes, monk PS, yaulp for pallies.

I would probably make a 2nd hotkey for keypress 2, no mana necks yet for me.

Put mana neck on their for casters, maybe zerker PS, non mana neck folks the CG Canni item.

So not terribly difficult.

What spells / tactics are you using with the Enchanter that makes up that much time in a clear?

In General,
Skin of Drake 3 on warrior

Pull first pull is about halfway past first boss, if i go to edge of pit i need to use EZ reward heal clicky on the way back.

I do have the run speed clicky.

Drake upon return, target first boss, GoA zerker mow down mobs. 

In General, GoA every other pull, enchanter in group so i can see when it goes off and click it until it does.

Specific pulling stops. Always target boss and let zerkers widdle down adds, spam warrior aggro clicky.

Cerebus and his pit, non GoA typically down.

Everything but 2 bosses in next room, GoA.

Both bosses same time, non GoA.  Entire hallway up to grenlok, GoA.

Grenlok, no GoA.

Grenlok room + bottom of stairs, GoA

stairs plus top of arena, and lefthand hallway, no GoA

first Tan boss plus about 10 mobs, GoA

2nd Tan boss and remaining mobs on top of ring at same time

3rd tan boss, drop down run out other door grab anything remaining, GoA

From there, steps to first upstairs pull, GoA(usually up due to having to get keepsake)  Right about here first Defense buffs fading so bout half hour mark.

Move up to top of steps, pull up to Bozak

Rest of hallway after bozak to next steps

Ture, hallway in about 3 pulls, then his room after in 1 pull.

Windy Steps in one pull.

Both straight hallways before next 2 bosses, GoA

Left side, Right side GoA when up.  Steps, all mobs outside the semicircular + Warden

Warden's area, then steps + Arch Magus, then OMM room, OMM done

TLDR
I think I saved a lot of time by adding mobs to Tan pulls.
Use GoA on zerker every time available, skin of drake for heals
Use Grudge on every boss pull with UW.
Keep IA3 up and from enchanter spell quickness + VT

I have also dabbled in T7 a bit so warrior on my last run had about 1.3mil hp with UW6 and half t7 gear, and I bought a 7. 0 for the extra defense and have SoA35

GoA + zerker is quite a powerful combo.

The cutdown from 150minutes to 80, came with UC2 on zerker, essentially full time GoA + more burst when GoA is running.

Think I will plateau there or shave minimal time off a run with 2nd UC2'd zerker, due to not being able to pull more at a time.(7 runs til that reality and then  I can offer more feedback)

Yea I will revisit this post once I finish up some more UC's...I really just got here and have reformed my group so many times I am lacking some key strike augs...I am one decent day of farming v2s in tofs from having 3 more UC's at least....

on my attack hotkey I have both Skin3 and tower from cleric with command to target maintank then cast..I also have wizzy AE spell tied to it...on my heal key I have wizzy epic click...and wizzy Single target nuke...so whatever is not on refresh....also mana neck...so i just spam heal and the wizzy will do whatever is not on cooldown...

I am adding some keypress as well for the rest of the toons ...I tell you playing 2 groups is reminds me of a bard oldschool.... 1 1 1 2 2 2 1 1 1 2 2 2 lol....seems to be working...

playing around with multiline and keypress to additonal command keys so i can get more bang from each keypress...

Honestly you almost dont need to click mana neck. With ench mana regen, bard song and innate mana abilities my wizzie chain casting heaviest nukes doesnt run out all that quickly. The click is still on the wiz's main hotkey, but even if he doesnt have the neck on the mana flows steadily (bard song and epic click are area, not group only). The pet proc from the neck doesnt require that you click the neck....unless thats changed since my vacation from EZ.

As for chanter.....no class does more for a group's DPS than an enchanter. None. Not shaman, not bard, no one. In fact if you look at the damage added to the group with a chanter along I get more from a chanter using VT, haste (pets and spell haste for players), nukes, dots, pet attacks and dropping GoA every time it refreshes than I do from a fully buffed 7.0 monk with NS9's (based on chanter with a 12 man group similar to the lineup I listed above). They add that much damage to the mix!

well ...when you put it like that....

Sorry for asking, I am still learning how to use my chanter.

VT?   

Do you GOA your zerker or your MT with UW or a ranger with 3x NS augs on his bow?  I am pretty sure you are gonna say Zerker, I just want to check.

Vampire Thunder it's the spell damage buff.

Group version lasts an hour.

GoA complements spell damage so on farming zones I use zerker, I also have a hotkey that GoA's my UC2 monk for any bosses that I need more dps on.

GoA does not currently meld well with UW users.  (It might when new aug system is implemented)The synergy for UW users is The shaman spell Ancestral Grudge.

Grudge causes flurry which complements white damage, which higher UW have in spades.

Yea, I always have that one up.  It's 150% spell damage that stacks with everything else right?

What does IA3 stand for?  Illusionary Arm 3?  Who has that spell? 

mage incinerating aura 3(t6)

For dps I prefer strikes, and since each NS9 requires 3 NS8's, I think you'd be better off putting more eggs into less baskets. If I keep my strikes up to date, I generally am content with my dps with just 2 melee dps class in a 6 man.

All 9s require THREE 8s?

What torturous sadist of a person thought that one up?   Bloody hell.....

Well it triples in functionality and only 1 slot available on most weapons for it.

Main goal was decrease in server lag from many small procs to one big one.

NS9 proc with UC2 for over 1.3 mil before crits.

yea and with a bard/ranger/rogue/monk I am going to need umm...9 NS9s? maybe 10...so that is 30 ns8s....I cant even math how many SlS that is...or PP

My monk with chanter buffs and whatnot is getting 4.6 mil crits from NS9's. VERY MUCH worth the 3 8's. But.....even with a monk running 9's a chanter will add more to group DPS than that single monk.

Getting my Enchanter and Druid built up now. T5 is going to suck to go through again lol.

Can't wait to see what they bring to the group when they're in T6 with me.

I would finish UC2 on the warrior and/or an AE dps before farming up t5 again.

Just my 2 cents.