Mage+Ranger?

[Arkendar]

Considering a return to EQ. Keep doing it, but always get tired of trying to play catchup.
My old box setup was a monk / shaman (though the monk was much better than shaman). Was 80 + ~600-700 AAs, iirc on monk, ~75 and ~100 AAs on shaman (been like 6 months since I played, unsure). Both were in Gnollish Leather/Chain for the most part, monk having a few pieces of gear from SoD.

As I said before, I got tired of trying to play catchup. Even on test server, I could only solo so fast, and that was rather slow, so I kind of burned myself off the idea of the monk/shaman duo. Figure if I go back, I'll set them to the side, perhaps hop on now and then to do something, but make them "alts".

Going through the list of classes I like is rather short. Mage / Ranger come out on top. Has the benefit (as far as I can tell) of being able to quickly grind out levels/AAs, and perhaps get gear.

However, don't have cash atm to do it, so I'd like to get some info before I start. I play on test server, so exp is even faster, but no reason to waste my time and money if it won't work, yes?

Questions:
1) I know monk/shaman is a decent duo because monk combines a nice DPS/tanking setup while shamans can heal/slow. I never liked shamans, so I usually just let my merc heal and used the shaman for buffs/slow. Will a ranger set up to tank be able to do it quite as well? Assuming yes, due to higher AC/ better aggro tools. But I haven't played a ranger in years.

2) Mercs. If I do this. Should I dual cleric merc, or just tank/cleric for extra tanking ability?

3) Gear? I had issues on monk/shaman as they both were rather far behind in gear, couldn't take on anything that would give an upgrade. Will it be easier with mage in group? Again, memory is foggy, but I seem to recall mages being very good at soloing/moloing gear.

Other than this, any other general pros/cons anyone can think of? Really interested in getting back into EQ (bouncing between WoW and EQ2 has gotten boring. Neither have got the feel of EQ), but I don't want to waste my time and money if I'm going to find out "It isn't going to work"

Thanks.

[Ughbash]

Ranger will tank signifigantly better than Monk but will not pull as well as a good monk. Now there are some pulls that a ranger can do better, at 85 with Harmonious Arrow, but for the most part a good monk will easily outpull a ranger.

Now as to the merc.

If you are starting over with the ranger at level 1, get a tank merc (journeyman rank 1). Tank will pretty much obliterate anything up to level 60 to 65. After that you may want to keep it until your ranger is geared up and AA''d up. Eventually especially if you wind up getting into underfoot you will want 2 cleric mercs but the tank merc will serve you for quite a while.

[Kruzar]

I definetly agree with getting a Tank merc to start out with. Be sure to get Temp or the next highest Cleric HP buff on your whole crew, and just go to town in older zones. For quick xp... stick primarily to hot zones, and just let the tank merc do the work. For leveling up my mage, I was able to basically go the hot zone path all the way up into the 60s without really ever needing a healer in group. Once I got to Crypt of Decay, a tank merc and healer merc combo just made killing much faster... i.e. instead of pulling 1 or 2 for the tank to handle.. it was more like 4 to 6.

There are a couple of pretty good Newbie type guides out there...but really just stick to the hotzones. One other thing, always be sure to get the hotzone quest from the guy in POK. Free gear each day, and he offers 3 different slots (Back, Shoulders, and Belt)... plus also try to keep all the defiant that drops out there...

Good Luck..

[Mukshaak]

Regarding the pulling, the above posters are obviously correct that a dedicated puller will be much better at its job than a ranja with trick arrow up its sleeve. But don't forget that this is a Boxed team, and Ranger Snare + Mage CotH is a powerful pulling technique. Whether Coth still works in higher SoD and UF zones I don't know.

And agree about the tank merk till level 65. He is a dps machine until that level. I would even go with 2 tanks, and let the Ranja do the healing. He will be more than capable of that till level 65. And don't forget you need Journeyman mercs, not the lower ones, which are not even speed bumps.

As you will be boxing from the start, I would recommend something like this...

Tank, Tank. till 65
Tank Healer till 80
Gear up and farm aa's
From level 81, Pet tank gives you another option. If Ranger not up to scratch gear wise, and you want to farm tougher mobs. You could try Pet, Healer, Healer, with Mage and Ranja firing shots from the distance.
Eventually you will have a very strong pet, great dps, and a AA farm machine with the Headshoting ranja, enjoy...



One thing to remember though. Although UF was made really tough to encourage more old style group play (strong trinity group, with full debuffs etc), they have also done the "mistake" (in my eyes), of the gear giveaway at lvl 80. I don't mind the easy to get gear, I just don't see why we have to throw a silly boomerang for it Would it be that hard to make a few newbie quests in the starting zone?? Anyway, all this to say, to farm very good group gear from lvl 80, all you really need to do is farm the cash, go into bazaar, and buy the silver tokens. Whether anyone sells them in test server I don't know. And don't forget that Old Man McKenzie monster missions in POK are fantastic xp (normal xp that is, not aa xp), give good gear too, you get a brew to spend later, AND cash. Ofc Boomerangs and MMs are not very old skool... But they are what the devs have pushed on us for "catching up".

Muk

[Kruzar]

Just to add a comment on the Boomerang thing... getting into these missions are super easy, and you can get into them at lower levels. They do not give experience, but they do give these coins. With my 3 box team, I do a couple of these missions a night and then just have 1 toon hold all of the silver coins. So far I have been able to buy 5 pieces of silver gear for my lower geared boxes this way and I am about 1 or 2 missions away from being able to get my first gold weapon. (Would have had it already, but I swap every now and again who I let get first in the missions).

The way I am currently working these in... is I will get a camp somewhere and drop my fellowship fire. Then I gate using my Brell's gate clicky back to Brells... do a quick arena mission.. then go back to my fire... and then rinse and repeat... also works really well when you have timer cool downs for missions or expeditions... which I normally have.

Once you hit 80.. you should have plenty of silver coins for your crew by getting into these early... and you should have enough gold to buy each of them their evolving weapon. Again.. basically super free gear at level 80.

[Arkendar]

Thanks for replies.
Talking to others, was pointed in direction of a bard. Planning to give both a ranger and a bard a shot, see which one I like more. Always been addicted to runspeed, so could be fun.
As far as starting fresh, I'd be starting from a Mayong copy. Far too lazy to bother with having to PL them to 51.

Only other question I have isn't really related, but I'll throw it in.
I heard that EQ has achievements now. Noticed on EQ2, but..What are they like for EQ?
I assume there is a "kill ___" in every dungeon, and ones for maxing tradeskills / killing raidmobs / leveling etc.
This correct? And are there any ..odd.. ones? One of reasons I play WoW from time to time is the achievements give me something to do when I'm bored.

[kargren]

Ranger/mage could work ok basicly have the ranger pulling trains of non summoning mobs and rooting them just like headshotting and have mage use beam spells. With headshot nerf and root breaking not really that great but doable.

Mage/bard is a great combo and with all of the mages def pet aa's and 2 healer mercs you stand a chance of surviving UF named. The downside being the bard could not melee if you want the pet to tank.

[Ughbash]