Returning - use to play ToS, but ...

[Malleable]

I guess they got a sever nerf around the time I quit.

As a player:
I don't PvP
I'll play in a group of four.
I love AoE damage.
I think I need some kind of healing.
I usually play ranged DPS. Maybe with a pet.
Almost always prefer magic oriented classes.

I was playing the Tempest of Set and very happy with it. I loved the high damage AoE. And the healing.
But I am open to trying other classes. Does the Demonologist AoE DPS beat the Tempest of Set currently? What about the Necromancer?

And does anyone know of an ability database? I tend to want to read all the classes abilities.

Mal

[Mellaus]

ToS, just like other healers, has been buffed in terms of damage output. So ToS is stronger than ever (not counting the oneshot area).

About the casters who can deal more dps than a tos, well, it's all situational, but i would say the tos has the upper hand when fighting a bunch of 3-6 mobs.
On single target situation or when you have like 10 mobs around, demo and necro go higher.

Although it also depends of the tos, because some tos'es, for some reason, play as healbot. But i don't take them into account, i just talk about real tos'es who go for full dps.

All in all, tos, demo, necro, they're all nukers, they all have huge potential in terms of dps.

[cins]

The main problem I see here is that you don't want to melee, whereas melee is awesome.

Other than that yes, tos damage is on par with demo/necro when there aren't too many targets around (2-5) but mages get the upper hand if there's a lot of guys around. Also tos is made of tinfoil and will crumple in a stiff wind.

If you install testlive, you can get any class to whatever level you want to try out their stuff on a strawman. It'll be like installing a second copy of the game tho.

Lastly, you should just play hox and call it a day.

[Malleable60]

Thanks guys.
But Mellaus says ToS is better with multiples. Cins says Mage is better?
I would imagine Mage should be better in either single or AE (or both), given that we have heals. But kinda hoping we are still close in the AE department.
I might be grouping with three Havoc Demos. Or maybe it will be four ToS.

If it ends up with four ToS, I notice Thunder has a lot of group buffs, but are these proccing and something that might stack, or buffs that don't stack - and we should go Lightning.

Mal

[Mellaus]

Actually we both said the same thing.

ToS is at its best against middle sized groups, which is around 5 mobs. Against single target or large groups (8+), demo and necro got the upper hand

Still, tos is a nuker, just like demo and necro, and will deal large amount of damages no matter what.

About the specc, hybrid is the way to go, just don't waste any point in general. Check also the other threads in the tos section and read veteran ToS discussions.

[cins]

There's four of you and you're *all* are making casters?

Make a proper group with tank, heal and damage. Don't be a barbershop quartet.

[Mellaus]

Good point, if you want to play the 4 of you together, when you'll have the level to go in instances, since those group instances are for 6 players, you'll have a hard time forming the group, because you'll all be dps pretty much, and class stacking in AoC is much less efficient than diversity.

So you would have to form the groups yourself, and each time look for 2 tanks, or 1 tank and 1 bs/pom, but you'll discover that tanks are a rare breed, not that there are few of them, but often they're not so fancy joining groups.

If just one of you would make for instance a DT (to get max benefit from the tos/necro combo), then you could basically do every single group instance in the game by yourselves, getting eventually 1 or 2 extras, but without having to wait forever for that tank you can't do the instance without.