Full Party Composition Suggestions? - Fresh Characters, No Past Lives

[ostill82]

I played and planned my past lives out awhile back, but life made me take a break. I'm still not an expert at the game by any means and have only just scratched the surface in my opinion. I was about to play FFXI again, but then heard about the new server and am going to try and get my buddy, wife, and kids to play this time. I know my kids will quit at some point, but I'll take their accounts and multibox if I have to, lol. I know I want to play Bard, but I have no idea what to advise them to play. We are going to want to stay at cap and do as many quests as possible just to experience everything, I doubt they'll want to do past lives. Should it be a standard mmo party, Tank, Healer, CC, DPS, DPS, DPS or does it even matter and we will just end up zerging everything anyway? I'm hoping the classic party comp would be best. We will all be getting VIP I think.

tldr - Any suggestions on which class/race we should play to start a fresh/no past lives 6 player party? I'd like Hardcore and Normal suggestions if at all possible.
Thank you!

 

[WielderofGigantus]

Unless you're doing legendary raids, you don't really need a tank. Most heroic raids can be done fairly easily without a dedicated tank.

You'll definitely want a trapper, I personally recommend a Dark Hunter or Artificer instead of a rogue, just because those two classes feel like they have more versatility, plus having a wolf or iron doggy running around can be fun for kids. Plus Dark Hunters and Artificers get some healing in the form of Admixtures and it's nice to have a backup healer. (Dark Hunter might be better for spotting traps, because they get the Wild Instincts spell to help with Spot, but Artificers can be better for finding traps because they tend to be higher in Intelligence)

That said, you don't have to have a pure healer, like a Radiant Servant Cleric or a Beacon of Hope Favoured Soul. Just as long as they have Devotion and Positive Lore gear, they should be fine going Divine Disciple or Avatar of Vengeance. Bards and Druids can be party healers as well, although it helps if the Bard picks up the mana restoration song and if the Druid isn't going Bear/Wolf because that will increase the cooldowns on healing spells.

As for the rest of the party, since there's already a bard, I would recommend a Paladin to give more party buffs with their auras. An Enlightened Spirit Warlock can also help there with their auras. I recommend at least one divine caster and one arcane caster so you have access to most of the spell buffs.

 

[rabidfox]

Since you'll cover bard buffs/heals/CC on the bard, it covers a lot. A debuffer/DPS to help boost everyone else's damage can be nice (here's a solid 1st lifer debuffer warlock build of mine: https://forums.ddo.com/index.php?th...t-for-fire-fiend-aots-builds-as-of-u67.10851/ ). A nuker/healer FvS or Cleric will allow some nice AoE damage + more heals for the group. Then fill in the other 3 slots with melee/ranged DPS (whichever playstyles they prefer being on). edit: or caster DPS for those slots; and one of the DPS bringing trapping.

 

[Bitss]

[] I know I want to play Bard, but I have no idea what to advise them to play. We are going to want to stay at cap and do as many quests as possible just to experience everything,[]

Bards sing and usually range, so you'll need tank, rogue, heal-ish, etc.. check the build forums; or, if you really want to have fun, what do the other 5 people want to play?

IMO, Part of the fun of this game is supposed to be figuring it out based on DnD and forum builds

 

[Bjond]

Best way to ensure you have fun is make fun choices:

• Pick a great name that works for any race/class
• Pick a cool style, not a class (ie. ranged melee caster)
• Lean toward all-DPS for questing
• CC, traps, buffs, & heals are nice secondary features
• Tanks are pointless outside raids and very boring to play non-raid

 

[Bitss]

(still wishing for that vomit emoji)