Greetings!

[Stickybuds]

When this thread was 1st posted I was ready to link Takin's magelo and try to explain you just need time and friends, not donor equipment. But the more I read I understand what Banai is talking about. When you get to T8 and beyond there is a real roadblock in terms of dps in order to progress. Most of the guys that play solo have gotten around this by putting key donor items on a mage/necro/rogue in order to skyrocket the dps of a single class to that of a whole group.

It can be done without, but you will either need lots of extra characters. My entire grp's worth of dps even with all buffs and auras is about equal to 1 donor pet of dps. If I use my discs, epic buffs, and debuffs, I can get up to 2 donor pets worth of dps for a short time.

I am not a dps heavy group by any means, I am all support. Bard, Sk, druid, shm, enc, wiz. I have very little donor gear, none on my tank, only legs on my wizard, and 3 items on my bard.

Most of the content can be done with 12-18 toons. Can it be done with 12-18 totally non-donor toons? I do believe so, but every fight is going to be an epic battle and a long battle. It takes me an entire hour to solo the chaos fight with my single group. One of my guildies has a group with non-donor dps, 3 rogues. When we duo encounters like Valik it takes us time, multiple def discs. When we do Valik when the whole guild is online and we have donor pets and other donor stuff he is at 50% before the 1st emote.

Banai the only way you are gonna get around this is either make and bring those stacks mages, donate to boost your current dps classes, or find others to guild with that play during your play time. I have always looked on forums and in game for others to guild and raid with in order to progress my group. EQ is a social game and you need others to progress is always how I felt about endgame EQ

[Banai]

I am the kind of person who really enjoys a challenge (and also probably a masochist), so if someone says it can be done, then I damn well am going to do it. Im fully aware that content is not designed for 1 player only, which I suppose only makes it more of a challenge - its really rewarding beating fights like Redfang on your own. But I guess I will fiddle more with my setup and optimize gear/groups more thanks for all the replies guys, and glad to see I am not the only one who has come to the same conclusion about the DPS.