The Spirit Realm

Hello Wise Shaman! I know this question has probably been asked a million times before, but I've got a slightly different (I hope) spin on it.

I tend to duo with my sister (a 70 shaman currently) about 90% of the time I'm on and doing anything worth while. The other 10% I either trio with our SK friend and her or run around in circles (not that I consider this worth while) with a /melody up.

As you can probably guess, I am a bard currently. However, as time goes on I'm begining to realize just how absolutely useless the bard is without the SK around in conjunction with the Shaman...We do enjoy doing absolutely suicidal things just to see if we can pull them off. This is possible with any class combo, though I would like to prove a partner that more enables those things than hinders them. The ability to get exp would be helpful as well, however. Atleast efficently enough as a duo. Solo is optional, though nice (as I can bot her whenever she isn't on, if i need to)..I PREFER melee/hybrid classes, though I suppose a caster wouldn't be bad if I don't have to run around in circles all day long.

So, what I ask of you is; What class, given this information, would you suggest I role to be as condusive to the above preferred terms of gameplay to compliment the shaman well?

Mage would be a good option for you. Good soloer... pairs nicely with Shaman, i.e. very nice dps, pet toys for shaman, another panther/puma target for the shaman, mage pet can tank. Add in your SK friend and the trio is even better. Only thing your missing is crowd-control (other than root parking by shaman), cleric-type buffs (easy enough from GL), rezz (GL again) and ports (more of convenience than a neccessity).

Berserker or Warrior, for me. Warrior lets you absorb other folks into your duo to form a group more easily, berserker's better if it stays just you two.

Either a necro or a wizard would be a viable choice as well. Both solo well, so you can do stuff when it's just you; both have excellent dps and utility to offer as third party member to the shaman and SK. When it is just you and the shaman, the necro is a better duo partner, whether kiting, rooting, or pet tanking.

It really depends on what you want to do. I duo my mage and shm (the War is just sitting in group right now soaking xp because my mage pet can tank more than she can). If you often group with your SK friend, then maybe extra dps in a Mage, monk or zerker would be good. If you find yourself without a tank frequently, then maybe a SK/Pally would be helfpul. Both have the healing capabilities, but with the SK you get FD and another pet.

Thanks for the answers guys. narrowed it down to Paladin and Necro.

I know the necro is going to be better exp partner, and the Paladin is probably going to lend to being more capable of trophy kills.

So I ask you this; Which do you think would be the better of the two, if we were to wish to focus more on a duo, with the SK as just an added bonus? (he is playing less and less).

Edit: I've also given serious thought to Ranger--since they can tank most things easily as well as a monk can, as well as having good utility, very strong dps from melee and ranged, and, in all honesty, have pretty damn sick trophy solo ability too, which lends well to trophy kills duo'd.

Is there a reason nobody likes Ranger with Shaman?

I'm not sure if a group/duo-geared Ranger is going to be able to tank anything you will want loot from once you get into your 70s.

If you want to kill nameds, you need a tank.

Tanks are totally gear dependent, the gear on priests and casters is irrelevant compared to tank gear. DPS need good weapons, the rest of their gear is irrelevant.

The only time you need good gear on clerics is if you are hitting top end content when they need every % point of healing. Otherwise just get whatever you can to make sure all locations have something in it. For druids and shaman, it doesn't matter what gear you give them, they can't cope because the base spells simply aren't good enough.

Mage Partner is fun, so far I've just pl'd my mage /sigh
Rangers well-equipped for tanking are fun w/shammy too (was speaking of a raid-geared ranjah main)
Obviously, not gonna duo Crystallos


PS really posted to see the cool shammy-art under my name