What are you guys that box a Necro main really accomplishing?

[Maglubiyet]

I have been on the fence about boxing my Necro main since I made the switch from my old SK. I have the usual assortment of low lvl alts (shammy 32,rogue 45,and a sk 69 well geared for 05', beastlord 19 I got caught up in the hype!!) I have the PC to crank out boxing now but the nagging question of what would I really accomplish boxing that I couldnt do solo, geared out the ass if I didnt spend time in some backwoods zone PL'ing my alt splitting xp between the two?

This isnt a hit on the boxers, just wondering what you guys are doing during a normal play session that would warrent spending the time Pl'ing a toon up to 60ish that would be able to box well with a 70ish necro or is it just the added dps? old world content? because I dont see any healer type keeping the pet up in anything that isnt pre-dod.

[flubuk]

personally with a geared/aa'd shammy (level 71 atm) and myself (80 raid geared necro) i can solo nameds I can't/struggle with atm.

Slow and HoT 4tw when combined with lifetaps, or if its a 2.5k+ hitter pet tank with the new AA's/runes is surprisingly effetive.

But basically , with 2.5kAA on my necro, its "something to do" because i have little or nothing worthwhile to achive at a group level with my nec.

plus panther etc on pet is a nice boost when soloing

[Cereborn]

Well, this probably won't exactly be what you are looking for...

I am usually boxing a full group of 80s - clearly is an advantage!

That being said, if I am bringing a single alt around or three boxing (rogue, cleric) then its a lot easier to farm certain things for tribute, etc etc than doing it alone with my necro. Tap tanking really gets mana busy, so the cleric helps out there, and the rogue is extra DPS to get the crap dead. Could I do it myself usually? Sure. But this is easier.

[Arkayn]

Ive boxed a cleric for awhile, no real use except the occasional named I cant quite tap tank, or just to make life easier, plus saves EE heh.. Recently added a chanter box too, again, no real use other than I always wondered why chanters whine so much, so thought Id level one up. Plus the slow might come in handy on the occasional named I cant tank with the cleric healing. Wizard buddy of mine boxes bard/mage too, so we have fun killing shit or rezzing up.
Im also sitting at about 2.6k AA, and nothing really groupable that I havent done/have no interest in doing, and I love being a necro too much to not play him, so I added on a few toons for something new to do, not so much to accomplish things I couldnt do solo

[Khyandys]

Apologies for the slight dereail, but I wanted to respond to this.

Recently added a chanter box too, again, no real use other than I always wondered why chanters whine so much, so thought Id level one up.

Leveling an enchanter to be boxed support for your other character is not likely to give you much insight into the frustrations that the class. As far as I'm concerned, bots have been a problem for the enchanters for a long time. And that statement makes you sound like you're going that way, too.

An enchanter's job should require nearly constant, focused attention. For the most part, it seems to be the botted enchanter alts who want to move the class from an active to a passive role. To me, it seems like they play a totally different game - afterall, why would they care if there's no crowd control to perform, since that just means they can focus more on the other characters they are running.

[Arkayn]

Leveling an enchanter to be boxed support for your other character is not likely to give you much insight into the frustrations that the class.

Youre right, the way I described it makes it sound like chanter sits there for 45 minutes, then - oh! I need a slow, go chanter, go! Guess I didnt really feel like typing a lot, still dont, but thats not my intent. I realize chanters probably have legitimate concerns with their class, as do most classes. I guess I just want to check it out myself instead of assuming because a few people say it, it must be true (not saying it isnt true). Its what generally makes me choose an alt/bot etc. I "properly" play all my toons in groups (not just box them) and solo to learn and get a feel for what theyre capable of, and when and where certain things work / dont work..... not to the extent a "main" would usually, but I do try. I think a lot of people have a misconception about people who box, or maybe a lot of them dont give a shit about all the toons they run /shrug

[Ottawagoa]

I box A Necro (72, 140aa's, not all spells) with a bard (just hit 60, only use auto run and mana/hp regen).

Doing katta greenhouse, I have bard on autofollow with macro's for its 3 songs.

Before bard - 2 Pulls with 1-2 minutes of OOC regen required.
After bard - 5 Pulls with 30 seconds of OOc regen required after 5th.

Do I see a direct advantage to 2 boxing - Yes.

Mathematically for XP Either they are both on par (loss of xp gets made up by more mobs) with the duo box getting an xtra 1-2% every 2nd cycle of mobs.

Will 2 boxing accomplish something ? YES - Once bard hits to par I will be able to add a 30% Dot enhancer that stacks with my current foci.

My duo works phenomenally well for kiting and when I go tribute farming or Named farming I bust out my 65 beastlord for slows and xtra Meat incase of adds.

I have found many many new things to do duoboxing then I did before.

BUT i am not uber, I do not know a lot of tricks and I dont have a lot of clickies and barely ever use potions.

Consider me a pre LdoN Player.

(I also 2 box on 2 computers. 2 boxing a bard necro on 1 comp might be a bitch, alt tabbing ever 5 seconds would annoy the crap out of me.)

[jarlax]

If i tried to box Jarlax my brain would explode.

[Ecol]

If I tried to box anything my pc would explode.

[Filter]

I had my necro as my main but I wanted to get into the mix of things long ago and now my main is a war. I box war/shammy/cleric or necro (cleric and necro on same account). The dps I get from the necro and the pulling capabilites are fantastic.

So the answer to your question what do I get out of it? I get great sustained dps, pulling, mana regen and the utility of rezing. War/shammy/necro has got to be one of the best options available in game imho.

[jarlax]

I actually tried playing with a friends cleric + me. I cant your either gonna get healed or get good dps. Jarlax's dots= all 2 second cast time. Trying to Stack 8 of them + nuke with SoBII and FD after each cast to not get aggro while spells are down AND click heals and watch peoples health ....yea right. Necro is like a caster bard with no auto play Carpell tunnel is immenent.

[Cathan]

I mostly box warr cleric chanter bard and my necro main. I have a monk I can throw in there if I want but sometimes it's not worth the effort to balance 3 melee and get the 6th toon loaded and moved.

As for what the necro brings... I macro 3 dots on 3 hotkeys and bring the dmg. Warrior and bard combined don't hold a candle to a necro's dps with just hotkeyed dps... If I add in the monk I can see the benefit but when just the bard and warrior are beating on the mob it takes forever to kill it compared to 3 or 6 dots and pet.

[Maglubiyet]

after fooling around boxing a buddies shammy I box'd my 69 sk on a couple summoning mobs , I attempt to corner the sk and then hotbutton the taps,snap aggro and it allows me to stack 6-7 dots per mob and with the fd/invis/self heal ability of both its really been a blast

[Viko]

Aren't all main necros max in useful aa pretty quick anyway? I would think adding a box is for after youve maxed what you can do on your own.

[Maeryn]

i box with my druid, who is lvl 80 w/ ~500AAs, quite a bit. besides skin & foe, she actually does a good job keeping my pet & me alive on nameds i can't tap tank, between reptile & her quick heals. i've also used exodus as a cheap way to coth pull. when she's not doing that, a quick macro or two gives you at least a tiny bit more dps. plus, she's pretty hot.

[Hohlraum]

i hear ya brother. good lord playing a necro is killing my wrists :( i still like it though and for non-end game raiding its nice being the only one left alive after a wipe :)

i box a pally with my necro, not optimal but we kicks us some undead ass.

[ravanta suffer]

A guildmate of mine has a shaman and shadowknight twink. While they are geared very well thanks to our guilds friendly policy towards twinks looting rotting stuff on raids, his class of characters always makes me smile.

All 3 of his characters can FD. (shaman have a quest item that has 3 charges of it)

He's got a decent tank, a healer/slower, and himself for DPS. Who needs a group!

I'm horrible at boxing though, so I've never done it except to borrow a guildmate every once in a while.

[Jebasiz]

I've done nec/sk/clr/bst from time to time and it's good for what isn't kitable or tap tankable..which honestly isn't much that's boxable by anything but extremely well geared boxed toons(which mine aren't). After maxing AA it just gives me something to do..but i wouldn't do it if there were things on jeb I wanted.

Boxes are fun toys, but they should sit if you want to actually kill anything of note imo.

[Brahman]

playing cleric to acceptability (for grouping...) is not difficult on 2 separate computers with 2 keyboards if you setup your hotkeys right.

Its just a matter of watching only the necro's screen and getting used to watching players health. Not hard at all really.

an effective group cleric can be reduced to 4 - 6 hotkeys TBH.

[AbyssalMage]

Well from the prospective of someone who has been boxing now for almost 2 years, this is my experience. Also note im a casual player in the sense I can't dedicate myself to Raids due to real life.

I main Box is BST/Cleric and my alternate box is Nec/Druid. In both cases I use them to compliment the other. Thats the true power of boxing. Is using one to make up for the weakness of the other. Granted my Necro/Druid box isn't the most optimal (DPS speaking) and thinking Mage or Wizzy would be a better replacement but the druid's ability to heal, buff, snare, root, debuff, DoT, port, nuke, rez, and evac can't all be done by the other 2 classes and the closest I would come to all those abilities is Shammy. I lose DPS but I gain so much utility with a Druid. And thats why I box the Druid with my Necro, I gain all the utility that the Necro doesn't have and compliment the abilities the necro already has with almost no overlap. Darkness wont land, I have a hotkey for snare. Went around the corner too tight and got knocked around, heal incoming and I don't have to break step to cast a "tap". Group wants a DPS class and I'm miles away, I have ports to almost anywhere where groups set up, no stopping in PoK/GL to run to GH to buy stone to get a litlle closer. Have a DeBuff to make the mob use his lower hit value's on his DI range (overall avg.) and make him more succeptable to Fire and can do the same with his AC for my pet(s). And if I do have an "Oh crap" moment I have evac and "rez" available on either toon. Thats why I box, I use it to compliment my other toon and enhance my play experience.

[Lashden]

an effective group cleric can be reduced to 4 - 6 hotkeys TBH.

Pretty much...

one of these things (http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProductPage.process?Product_Id=164714) is really nice if you are using two separate computers too.

[Ultulus]

honestly with a g15 keyboard you can set up a hotkey while boxing even to switch to your other character, cast spell x, then switch back.

[Lashden]

I have one (g-15) for my main computer, complete with an LCD app to display who's talking, etc in my teamspeak server. It's nice, but I found EQ's response time between switching instances to be fairly unreliable; at times it wouldn't even detect the pressed key that was sent even with a 500ms pause. It's more reliable to have a key that switches to another instance and then use a key to cast, etc. WinEQ2 was great for that, you can hotkey your eq instances with it. I'm sure there's other programs that can do the same.