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Coming back to EQ
I left EQ back when the max level was 65. While I am waiting for this to download I was hoping some folks could clue me in on some of the changes since PoP. From what I have read there was changes to the exp loss in death. Has there been any changes to facilitate soloing? I want to go solo for a bit to get the hang of things.
Comments
Honestly, you will dislike the game. I promise. Keep me posted on this thread, I'd like to know what you think of it.
I too have ordered the new expansion recently. Getting a bit of nostalgia feeling again. Last time I played was like in 2005 I think. Not even sure my lvl 70 beastlord still exist or not (hoping... crosses fingers). I think I'll start one of the new dragon / human toons as either a necro or a magician. Necros are just one of the coolest classes to play solo in almost every game I've played so far or at least they were. I remember making a judgement call whether or not the mob was safe to pull then casting snare on the mob and walking him back to my safe spot. Fearing the mob, sicking the pet and loading up dot after dot. Was always fun juggling your health with mana and watching to see if fear or snare were going to break early. I loved giving my pet weapons; especially ones with a stun proc and watching him tear mobs up!!!
Anyhow, I'm hoping to rekindle that bit of nostalgia
!
did someone call my name?
I'll also be watching this thread with some interest. I have been considering a return but I daresay my level 65 pally would be a difficult class to play solo :P
I recently purchased the latest box and rolled a brand new toon on Bristlebane. Tons of people in PoK.
I currently play EvE and EQ, EQ is a nice change, gives me a chance to scratch that fantasy itch while I wait for the new stuff that's coming. Not to mention 15 day skill training sessions in EvE.
I kinda missed the boat with EQ, my first MMO being EQOA. Once I got a decent computer, my first MMO ended up being SWG pre-NGE. I have played everything else since. So i figured, I might as well try EQ.
I just finished Gloomdeep today, and am currently in PoK. I am having a blast and am looking forward to doing more in the game. Once I got out of the mines, I felt like I was back in love. Sure the graphics are simplistic, but with 14 expansions, insanely huge gameworld, the scope of the game is astounding, and it's tried and tested. I am happy to be an EQ Noob.
Now only if they can add some Logitech G15 Support!!!! 8^)
PS - i need a guild
Current Games:
Same with myself, EQOA first then went straight to SWG...and from there everything else except EQ, which I dloaded last night - doesn't support widescreen and I had resolution issues so took it off my drive. TBH it does look terribly dated and the only thing that really drew me in was the theme song.. I love that song.
I have to say i'll be watching this thread also. I miss runing around with my 60 WE/druid. Casting AOE wolf form on everyone. that was good times. but alas, i no longer play Pay 2 Play games. just too much money over time, and take too much time away from me and my g/f and her kid.
It has taken almost 2 full days to get this downloaded. Now that it is, it wont launch, I get no PLAY button. I followed the KB instructions and it didnt help. Perhaps something somewhere is trying to tell me something.
I just ran the patcher again a few times usually, or just deleted random files people told me to delete and ran it again the next day, and the button highlighted.
It's not your fault, it's a common bug, welcome to EQ, it's 'working as intended' ~.
I created an account on this website because I felt a civic duty to save you time, money, and frustration. Simply put the bottom has fallen out on the game population. Thats fine, I dont mind having a small population in games. The problem is that the people leaving the game were all "groupers". People just dont group anymore, its all raiding all the time. I mean, theres some groups out there but people are mainly grouping to get AAs on their newer characters so they can go raiding again. Remember when people used to raid just so they could show off in groups? Anyhow, the groups that do exist tend to be people 3 boxing with their buddy who is 2 boxing and sure, theyll invite you, but they are too busy playing all their different accounts to ever speak a word to you. Thats assuming theyll even group with you, theres largely an attitude these days of "I dont care if we would get more xp with more people, I just dont want to deal with idiots (read: newbies).
To further complicate things, theres just just such a difference between the strong and the weak players. Items completely dominate the game now(even more than before). People with 25k hp but only 2.5k without their items. AAs have the same effect (people are up to 2500ish if i recall correctly). The difference between a fresh face max level tank and an old vet has always been rather large but now its extreme. I grouped with a buddy of mine who has all the AA and good gear at level 75 and he literally didnt even need heals tanking, we killed nonstop. Tried doing the same with another tank later that day, same level tank just lesser AA and gear. He would die before the complete heal would even land. What other games have people the same level and class, 1 being able to fight a monster without losing any hitpoints while the other guy cant survive 10 seconds.
Simply put the game is not designed with any regards to old players returning or new players trying the game out. If you arent playing now, this moment (and for the last 9 years), you arent real EQ material and your trip will be a painful one. Expect to play for a full 12 months putting in 5 hours a day or more before you will even be close enough to consider being max level and considering raiding. Also, if you play as a tank class, youll need to get about 300 AAs before passing level 70 or you will be ground into dust by any average monster that a well geared shaman could tank better than you (this is a very serious and real statement). Other people realize this of course, and as a result, if you dont have those 300+ AA, they WILL just have the shaman/beastlord/monk/bard/cleric tank.
All that said, I still play the game, and I enjoy it. But I would not recommend it to anyone and (as evidenced) I would work very hard to discourage anyone playing it. I see real newbies in the game asking for help and part of me wants to help them out (which is what ive always done). But these days I am seriously considering just being the biggest A-hole in the world to them in order to spare them from the horrible trip they are considering embarking on. Ive seen new people do it, claw their way from level 1 to max level and half decent gear over the course of 1.5 years. But once this happens they quit because they realized that max level isnt the land of milk and honey it was promised to be. Sure, theres groups at max level, but its still the same game and its still a mudflation treadmill for equipment even for the highest equipped, oldest players. These hard working newbies then look at their lives and see their wife left them, their social life has evaporated and they lost 5 hours a day for the last 18 months all to find groups a little easier.
Hah, I felt really sorry for them most of the time, I used to give them loot or go to FoB to help them out and showed them the AA tab and how many months they would have to play to 'have fun', which just means raiding.
I hated how raiders always told them there were tons of people, they were just not making the groups right. It's true that you need to make the group yourself usually, but now it's not their fault, it's noone's faultt when they can't make a group, it's EQ's population's fault.
Before I quit, it came to the point where only 10 clerics where on the whole server on during peak hours....I mean the whole server had 10 healer classes...and 9/10 of those were AFK lol. That's how bad it is.
Also, there's very little young people left in EQ, most are like 30-40 and have kids, ok I don't care about that usually, but everyone is so anti-social before I quit. I mean everyone is just playing their little bot army and they pretend to be nice, but most really don't care about anyone else lol.
There's some nice people left, very little, but they're leaving as we speak. It's a hardcore raiding game now, guilds fight for the good players because there's so little left.
Great post Shmashed, thanks. I have been on and it is certainly a ghost town. As you have mentioned, the grouping seems very tough. I use to love groups where we laughed all the time. Now its almost like a job. I think it would be fun to play from low level with a few friends who just want to play for fun and ignore what everyone else is doing. Unfortunally, its hard to find a small group of friends with the same goals. Many really get into their characters, then have more time off than the others and before you know it they are too far ahead to group. I certainly cant see the adiction being as strong as it was before.
curious.........
Isnt it odd how everyone seems to feel the same way about what has become of this once great game? It seems to me that most folks lament the loss of the original sense of community that surrounded the game before there was a bazaar or instant travel. A time when grouping was an everyday occurrence and considered the rule as opposed to the exception.
If this doesnt scream out to the developers the need for an actual "classic" server if the game is to have any future or hope of a decent player base then I dont know what would. Its quite obvious to me that players miss the EQ that was and will never be satisfied with what it has turned into I dont care how many expansions they release. They are merely stretching out the inevitable demise of EQ like someone haphazardly slapping bad patches onto a rapidly sinking ship.
This will not do.....
Critical thinking is a desire to seek, patience to doubt, fondness to meditate, slowness to assert, readiness to consider, carefulness to dispose and set in order; and hatred for every kind of imposture.
I've recently quit this game (around november) everyone is towards the new expansion as always. All the new content, BASE jewelry, armor, and weapons are 300-400 hp/mana/endurance whereas the raid gear is towards 800+, and to top that crafted gear with all the mods and enhancements brings you to 1k+.
Max level 80 (took me 1 week with double exp potions I was doing hardcore grinding) but some even more hardcore grinders got it done in 2 days. So with that said, once you get in the game you'll feel like you're all alone and damn straight you are because the only way to get back in this game is to grind max level then hope you'll be able to find a raid guild to gear you up. I got to the point where I can solo OoW bosses (ranger here). Theres not a lot of people that play this game anymore, so you'll be soloing most of the time. If you're really still interested, just be sure you're good at doing things solo.
But I can give you some tips...
levels
10-20 go to paludal caverns (ask an alchemist for damage shield and heal potions, get the right buffs) you can get 2 levels per hour
20-35 blightfire moors do the armor quests and you can get 1 level per hour
35-45 goru kar mesa same do armor quest 1 level per 1 hour and half
45-55 chardok can get 1 level per 2 hours
55-60 nobles causeway (if you can solo well should get 1 level per 6 hour and half) grouping here if you're lucky can get 1 level per 4-5 hours
60-70 wall of slaughter at this point it just takes forever
70-75 The Buried Sea expansion do their missions, you should be focusing more on AA's at this point can get about 5 aa's every mission, if you have double exp potions get get as much as 15 aa's per mission
75-80 go to the new expansion zones and farm named bosses to pick up GREAT JUNK (equivalent to Omens of War raid equipment) items to equip yourself with.
This is a strategy I used for ALL classes except for warriors and rogues and has worked for me very well. But just dont get upset when you see a group of high end raid guilders pull the entire zone and kill em all. I was killing in a certain area and the top guild on my server was power leveling their alts and they literally pulled the enitre zone and killed all the mobs with one group that was levels 75-80.
Thanks CSTHAO!
I'm hoping I can encourage you to put together all these good tidbits and if possible get it stickied for those of us looking to return and play the game. Myself, I'm just a casual gamer, but I have not found a game yet that mimics the fun I had solo playing a necro. I never got a necro to high lvls (my main was a 70 beastlord), but the necro was the most fun to play solo. Juggling mana, health, pet health, aggro, and snares was just so enjoyable!
I loved playing my necro in blightfire moors, summon your pet turn off taunt. snare, dot dot dot and run around repeat until they die. I was killing 3 mobs at a time just equipped with the armor quests given in the city. Super fast exp with the necro in that area.
Nah, peoples lament about the time where the game was filled with groupers.
Groupers are nice peoples, and they honestly give the benefit of the doubts when they don't understand something. Raiders are partly groupers, but this part lessen the more the game evolves and time pass. And "pure" groupers, eventually will quit a game which relinquish them to not excel in grouping.
Raiding kills grouping. Doubt it? Look at EQ! :P
Sorry, I will go back to grouping in my favorite MMO!
- "If I understand you well, you are telling me until next time. " - Ren
Been on a few days and been in 2 groups. I feel like such a noob, I dont know the new acronyms and zones. I dont know where the guild lobby is, I dont know anything past PoP and Im not flagged for a good portion of that. I dont know what the cards are about and everything seems so foriegn. I am seeing a great deal of fun to be had exploring, its like a new game to me except I dont have any friends to make the exploration safer. I think it would be cool if they made really nice gear avaliable to more casual players who will never make it into raid guilds, perhaps items that are several expansions old so that Raiders would still have their edge, yet non raiders could be tough enough to handle hard LDoNs or low level PoP mobs. What I have seen in the bazaar has been either junk or priced higher than I will ever be able to afford. When mobs drop 3 plat and take several minutes to kill and one out of a thousand of them drop something decent, I dont see how people have a million plat.
Hah, I can explain some things if you care.
Guild Lobby is just next to PoK, it's the same type of door you take to go to the bazaar. Just click the big 2 doors in pok.
Forget flagging for PoP or GoD, if you wanna flag for something, flag yourself for CoA and up.
Go to TSS if you're solo'ing and need gear, do the quests there for lvl 45 gear and lvl 20 gear etc.
The casual gear will always be behind raid gear by miles, it's something they choose to do, it really blows. Either you join a family guild and stop thinking about getting uber and have fun, or join a raid guild and spend hours raiding every day. I really can't recommend the later lol. The family guilds don't care about the raid guilds at all, they just do their thing and don't buy any expansions past TSS really. Up to TSS is the only one that matters if you're just lvl'ing up. Try not to care about anyone else or how uber they are or you'll get too much into it and you'll want to start raiding lol.
Most is priced so high because people buy plat, noone gets caugth doing that, and it's not such a big deal, it's cheap to buy, I say w/e..if you need it, go buy it, just don't buy anything more.
The card game was introduced just before the SoF expansion iirc, it's basically EQ's item shop. People don't really play the card game, they just buy mounts etc..don't start buying that though, it's so lame =/.
[edit: Must have been tired when I wrote this. It does take between 30mins to an hour to make a group, and yes, that's a long time when you think about it. But there aren't many things you can organise quickly with 6 people involved. I know this from running weekly football matches.
There are still people LFG. You have to be pro-active to make groups today. If you aren't sending people tells and building a good rep for solid groups, it will be hard. But it's doable.]
You bring up a good point there. I was grouped with a very obnoxious, bossy bragger of a monk who absolutly paniced when things got a little dicey, she (most likely he) was calling the rest of the group retards and such. I think I will just three box a chanter, war/SK/Zerk, cleric and forget the grouping thing. People like her reminded me of why I left in the first place. The good news is they have made big experience bonuses in some of the zones so it wont take long to get my cleric up to speed.
The bard nerfs are nasty. I wont be playing my bard again.
if enough people want to go back for some mucking aroudn they could create their own critical mass.
There is no hope for what we once loved. It died a long time ago. I too wish this was not true but sadly, it is. Between card games and card drops off mobs that are just marketeering for more money and bad design choices like battery powered armor with needlessly complex stats and now so-called epic stats, etc. they are really at the end of the botched design road. I don't know how they could undo and recover from that anymore.
Server merges incoming... again.
EverQuest is slowly bleeding to death and it is a sad thing to see for those of us who loved it and in some ways still do.
One could liken the current expansion to the orchestra playing on the deck of the sinking Titanic, there to lend the impression that all is well when in fact doom is impending.
He who hesitates is lost.