The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent
vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums
here.
We now return to our regularly scheduled PA Forums. Please let me (Hahnsoo1) know if something isn't working. The Holiday Forum will remain up until January 10, 2025.
[EverQuest] 19 years of misery and memories.
Posts
The main difference is player knowledge is just far beyond what it was in 1999/2000. There are things you just know now, even if you're just coming back but stopped playing in PoP or whatever, that people just didn't generally know then. You're probably better geared, even with in-era gear, than you would have been then. A lot of people's first magic weapon in 1999 was Torklar's Battle Hammer out of Unrest. Today you're probably going to Unrest with a magic weapon already equipped.
I think I maybe had one character at level 30 by the time Kunark dropped originally, and I started playing, not right at the original launch, but only a few months after. I had played good six or seven months before Kunark launched.
So, yeah, likely your classic groups you remember had a far harder time killing reds (assuming they were only like five or six levels above your group level), but the potential was mostly there at the time.
(Also, Torklar's is my first non-summoned magical weapon!)
You're definitely right about player knowledge being better than ever, but I think that only goes so far when you're comfortably solo tank'n'spanking something yellow (and not undead) as a pally.
I logged in last night and there was a 29 pally sitting at the goblins where I had camped out, fighting one as a I loaded in. Threw them some heals, joined in when the goblin was low on health and it dropped the ghoulbane item. They then just hung around and helped me keep clearing them for about an hour while we talked shit and got one to drop for me as well. It felt more like 'Old EQ' than I think it did even before I quit the first time.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
and even then really only clerics need to worry about having as much mana as possible
dot lines got consolidated for everyone but necros over the last few years so my druid on hate and fear raids really can’t do anything other than drop drones of doom and then spot heal the tanks and enchanters. your nukes nearly always get resisted and if there’s an SK tanking you don’t want to snare because it will overwrite their darkness dot which they use to generate aggro
it’s exciting stuff hehe
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
Woo! Now to go find some more undead to smack about.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
i only know the druid lines for sure but now instead of having all your dots stack with each other, they just get increasingly powerful but you only have two you can apply at the same time
so the damage done is roughly the same but you don’t need to keep all five of the insect swarm line memmed anymore. just use the highest level one and then the highest level fire one
frees up a lot of spell slots
How're you doing since Kunark came out? Hit 60 yet?
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
i got a bit bored of the classic experience and some dumb drama nonsense saw the guild i was in basically disintegrate over the course of like two weeks and i was just like
eh
so i've been playing a 3-box on Xegony in the current game for the last few weeks heh
Man if there was ever a great example of a classic experience.
pleasepaypreacher.net
The economy on progressions servers is weird. I think with the multiple instances of grouping zones, some loot is just waaaay more common than it ever was in classic.
Trying to talk myself out of blowing all my plat on a Sarnak Battle Shield since I really would only use it when I'm fighting undead with my ghoulbane...but it is one of the best shields I can get and has been selling for as little as 300plat.
(Meanwhile, my banded mail tunic mocks me)
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
do it!
Hoping to get some play time tomorrow so will see what I can do. Might even drag a friend to Frontier Mountains and see if we can get me a Dusty Breastplate.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
yeah there's a big jump once you hit 30 or so where you start making a lot more plat just in normal groups from the split and vendor trash drops
300 plat is something you could do easily in a couple hours in a group
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
also increased rare spawn chance and the wording makes it sound like increased rare loot chance as well
Also I am really enjoying being a tank! It makes soloing super boring (not that it's too exciting for many classes) but in a group I'm having a ball.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
yeah tanking is one of the few roles that actually feels active all of the time. it’s a lot of fun!
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
i find 25-35 and 42-46 or so were definitely the toughest because you're too high for the areas you had been hanging out in and too low for the new areas without a full group
I can solo a few frogs just inside LGuk while I LFG but there's not a lot else to do in that part of the world.
Hrm, wonder how I'd go against the spectres in what used to be Oasis? I can't remember which Ro they are in now haha.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
the specters are probably easier in the high 30s but they’d be doable i think. you can easily fight one at a time
they’re in the middle of south ro now hehe
Spectres hit hard for their level so they may be rough as a melee. There should be a lone one standing by a tree in the corner of the Feerrott, if you zone in from Lake Rathetear and take a right you will find it. Will be a zone line nearby if it turns out to be a bit to handle.
Yeah, might think about specs duoing when my friend is on his druid, maybe even try fear kiting
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
Is it still basically impossible to solo? Is it best to find a guild and try and learn the ancient proto-MMORPG mechanics?
And are the Iskar still the best race?
You have options where to start up again depending what you’re looking for. Mangler is in Kunark currently with Velious unlocking next month.
Selo is a fast unlock progression server in Gates of Discord now I think.
Agnarr is locked in Planes of Power for good.
I don’t recall where the other progression servers are. I think Ragefire is the one about to unlock The Serpent’s Spine which is a good starting expansion.
Or you can go Live and go wherever you want. Live is free to play and there aren’t major benefits to subscribing until you get up around the 70s or so. You can solo easier on Live with access to mercenaries.
Mangler is probably the only server you’re likely to find low level groups.
Any server will have a guild that’s welcoming to new and returning players though on most it will still mostly be for socializing than for finding people to level with.
Races don’t matter too much anymore, the xp bonuses and penalties are gone, but Iksar still have their health regen and Ogres and Trolls still have frontal stun immunity.
I last played... around LDON. I think.
Did they ever add any new classes or races past LDON? And if so, what?
pleasepaypreacher.net
If you're looking to solo mostly then live servers with a merc will make your life easy and are free, but I hear below level 70 is a wasteland.
PSN / Xbox / NNID: Fodder185
gates of discord added the berserker class, which is a straight melee DPS class (lol sry rogues) and the serpents spine added the drakkin, which are a super emo human/dragon hybrid race with hipster tats and mustaches. they have a starting city crescent reach that any race can start from and there’s a whole level path from 1-75 in serpents spine zones
also i should note agnarr is locked at PoP but they have decided to consider legacy of ykesha and LDoN PoP-era expansions so those two are also unlocked
Roger that, my timeline must be messed up then, as my main back when I was actively playing was a Dwarf Berserker.
So they added a new race, emo dragonkin, and made frogs playable (I vaguely remember that happening, prob around EQ2's launch).
I'm not sure about doing any of the progression servers, but it sounds like the main servers are pretty much ghost towns?
So any class can solo with this mercenary system? Interesting.
Edit: Oh, wow, the trick is to take a tank Merc instead of a healing Merc, since the tank merc can solo reds. Did not know that.
I can has cheezburger, yes?
Kinda surprised they haven't kept merging servers until they aren't empty...
... or did they?
the last round of server merges they did apparently did not go well and some stuff got really screwed up so they recognize they could benefit from doing more but they have to fix the problems first
Went through all the Free To Play Servers to see what characters I have.
My highest is Kromdor, a L75 Dwarf Berserker on Povar. Second highest is Dagedan, a L56 High Elf Bard on Xegony.
Have... 3 different Necromancers from 11 to 23, each of a different race on a different server. Three beastlords, too, again on 3 different servers. Man, I was obsessed with soloing.
Since Povar used to be... Moren Rasp and Quellious, which I used to have characters and alts on, I have 9 characters that have ended up on Povar, need to clean those up since I can't really login with them. I don't know if there are any veteran character rewards I should get from old characters before clearing them out or what. Any thoughts? I guess if nothing else I should mule all their gear.
Looking at the server list, one stood out -- Trakanon. Apparently they created it back in 2010 as a "new" server, non progression. I was trying to figure out why it was the only server that never got merged. You can apparently transfer off for free but no one's allowed to transfer to it. (And a quick search suggests that the server's effectively dead, even for F2P servers.)
Edit: Oh, F Vie never got merged either. Apparently it's... a RP server (but no one cares), but has double XP and there's no such thing as an item you can't trade?
Edit2: LOL, the game forces you to start in Crescent Reach now. No more Iksar newbie experience.
Firiona Vie is one of the more populated servers, presumably because of the special ruleset. There is also Brekt, which is basically the same but doesn't have as long a history, so the economy isn't so screwed up. If you want a higher population Live server, Xegony and Luclin seem to have the most players. None have many people playing below level 100 though.
You can't transfer Vet Rewards (or get them back if you delete a character), but if you check your entitled time using /played, you get one to use for every year you played. I have 17 years entitled time even though I created my account in 1999 but also didn't play for 10 years, so I have no idea how they're calculated.
I think they only added vet rewards for up to so many years, and after that you don't get anything else. I could be wrong though, I haven't looked into it