I played EQ from early Ruins of Kunark till late Planes of Power. Assuming I can recover the old main toon he was a 85 Ranger with a fair bit of AA points with Earthcaller/Swiftwind and most if not all of the armor set from the Temple of Veeshan. Unfortunately the server I believe he was on is now listed as low pop. Would it be worth it to pay to transfer to a high pop server to find guilds to raid with? And on returning, any tips on how best to start out upon return? Should I go back and clear old raids I never go to? Including all the PoP progression flags? Or is it better to start from scratch? For all I know Rangers are mediocre now to group/raids as they were back in the day. Finding a group back then was brutal and soloing... well.. if you weren't a bard or a necro, good luck with that. With like 15 years since I last played, it's a bit daunting to return and I'd appreciate any info or tips on how to proceed getting back in.
I would make a toon on a few servers. Get them into casual guilds and ask advice in there as well as check out potential guilds on other servers. I think Xegony is a good server but I am prejudiced . You should get comments from others soon suggesting what they think is a good server.
If your willing to pay the money to server transfer then your better off just picking a server you want and buying a heroic toon. The heroic toon will get you to 85 with better gear then what you had. you can pick any class you want to play rather then being stuck with the ranger if you didn't like the ranger. You get all needed flags and spells. Also with auto grant aa you can get 8K -15K aa granted to you based on Class and level so it sets you up to start playing. with out a lot of need catch up. Rangers Head-shot solo a lot so if you want to solo then it is an option. If you want a class that gets group then go with a tank / healer. There is always DPS you can find to fill a group. There are Merc now that are ok at best but can help fill a role for most stuff. If you goal is to raid then I would look into what type of raiding you want to do. High end raid guild can be very demanding on skill level / time but if your up to pushing your self can offer you the most content to see. Next would be your mid level raid guilds. These tend to be more laid back on Attendance requirements as well as other requirements like AA count / skill level. The down side to these guilds is they often only able to down some of the events each exp. The upside is they do tend to do past content more then the high end guilds. So as a returning player you will get to see some of the past raids. The next guild is the "family" guild these guild are great for returning players as then tend to focus more on grouping and some times a raid here and there. They have no requirements to join and is a great way to meet ppl and get stuff done. If you want to find a group then you will want to look for a large family style guild. This is also a good place to level as you learn all the changes to the game. If End game is not your current goal but more so want to see and live the stuff you missed then the New TLP servers offer you to jump in where you left off. Here you would be starting a new toon the same as many others. You would level up and every 3ish months the next exp is unlocked. So you would be able to find a guild and raid the old stuff as it open. The down side to is you are locked into that server and have to wait for things to unlock.
Some good points, Mazame. I would hate to abandon my old toon, mostly due to the staggering time I invested into him back in the day. Old school EQ was a serious time commitment. Just getting the Epic 1.0 was a down-right brawl with other Rangers for the pieces, lol. I liked the ranger, I just hated that no one needed them back then. Maybe raiding guilds have slots for them now? I would LIKE to high end raid, but understand that may be a while before I'm at a gear/knowledge point where I can take part. I suppose I'm in the camp of I want to SEE everything and at least say I've done it and less about being 'first' to do it. As long as there's potentinal to at least do the content at some point, I'm alright with that. There are raid fights in RoK, SoV, SoL and PoP that I never got a chance to try that still gnaw at me today. Nostalgia memories I guess. I want to say my old server got put into The Rathe? It seems to be a low-mid pop, so I'm not sure what that means for finding groups for a good helpful guild. To start I just need direction on where to proceed in-game.
Fair advice. I'm not set on any particular server. I just dont want a ghost town. The whole point of EQ was the community. I used to sell stuff in the EC tunnel with the best of them. Good ol' FBSS grinding for coin. I just dont know if it's worth salvaging my old Ranger or starting fresh with a more wanted class. Maybe something that can more easily solo older raid content? I dunno. I'm an explorer player at heart. I want to see everything. I never did get into Sleeper's Tomb in time or finish PoP flag unlocks.
Sleeper Tomb will always be ruff to see. even on the TLP it a race to get to the right level to attempt it and it a one shot deal. Everything else is able to go back and see for the most part. Starting at Underfoot some of the Raids will take 1-2 groups just because of the scripts. Example Fippy raid you have to loot bane items and then use the bane items to kill him for 1 phase. We tried it with 6 and failed due to not getting him dead before the DT. we got a few more and tried with 12 again failed. we then brought in all our alts and we had 21 toons and was able to kill him. It not that he could hurt us at 110 but more so the script that caused us to need X number of toons. HoT I did many of the raid with me playing a cleric / bst and a friend playing an SK. When you hit CoTF you need 2-3 group but they are do able. For the TDS, EoK, RoS and TBL you need a raid force but like I said many middle teir guild are still running them and some Server like Povar and Xegony have open raid that go back and do event all the way to CotF for some of the chase item that can be bought with coin. Grinding is not like it was back in the old days. I know people that can do 85-110 in a week or less. I know some people that avg 300+ aa a day. so if your willing to just power threw it you could be raid ready in 2 weeks. I would not recommend this as I find more enjoyment in the journey but it is possible. Having taken 3 year off then returning my self I joined a guild on Povar and spent 3 months getting back into the swing. I then switch server to Xegony and spent 1 month gearing up and another 4 months working on my skill level until felt like I was back to the point I was when I left. I will say the right guild makes a big difference. If you find people that are willing to help you to improve it go a long ways. Mostly enjoy the game. a new thing in the game to point you in the right direction is the /Ach. The achievements are listed by exp and will help you to know where to find quest. some of the rewards are clickies / aug / aa and special rewards that you will want like EoTD / Hero AA. working on /ach will help you to experience each of the exp. as well as give you guidance on what to do.
Haha, the two people to reply are both Xegony, interesting. Maybe Ill check that server first. I might take this opportunity to start fresh with new class and leave my Ranger as a nostalgic time-capsule. I have many, many memories from those days, but no reason I can't have more with a differant one. Perhaps a Beastlord this time. I never did get a chance to do more than mess around with an alt back when they were new. There just wasn't time back then to do more than focus on finding groups to grind out AA or get that next flag unlock. If I start from scratch for now, I assume I'll have to go out and flag everything solo? I think only paid heroics can skip? Though I'm guessing I have Vet rewards too, though I have to verify that.
Luclin is a nice medium population server supporting several end-game raiding guilds. In my guild, Inverse Logic, I think we currently have 5 raiding rangers and they provide a great deal of DPS and utility.
Check out the progression servers if you want to start fresh. If not start on your old server see if you still have friends /know people. Play around for a bit. Reading your post about soloing. I would suggest you rerolling a necro. Totally fun to play. It sounds like you didn't like the ranger as much as you would like a necro. The thing is no one is going to be around your level to group/level up. If you want the communities while leveling up, then the progression server is the best way to go. If you just want to rush to 110 and raid. Then just log in your old account and get in a friendly guild. Tell them your plans. You'll probably get task adds and power leveled for free. Good luck to you. It's easy to come back and easy to get caught up. Pop flagging is required for the artisan prize. Just saying since you asked. Pop hunter is needed for the best gloves in the game to have the best stats.
Almost all of the keyed/flagged zones are unlocked now once you hit a certain level, no need to redo the flags. Only the newest expansions have zones that still require you to do a key/flag quest.
Welcome back! My thoughts: Keep your original toon. If you are like me, the attachnent to the toon, and the continuity, is a great deal of the charm. Move him to a high population server, and get into a large family style guild. Group with them. Spend a long stretch there, max out your AA, and become an expert on your toon again. Do group progression in as many recent expansions as you can, time and grouping-wise. At that point in time, you can decide if you want to go to a raiding guild. Best wishes
Depends a lot on how much you want to play. If you are looking to raid I would look at where you want to end up and design a to do list around that guild. Contact the people in the guild let them know that you want to be there. Most serious raiding guilds have a Landry list of things you will need to have done before you can apply to them for full membership. If you talk to them in advance and are willing to put the work in they may just help you get to where you want to be. There will also most likely be a few players that know their way around your class pretty well. Things like: their weekly raiding times, are they a progression guild, how do they loot gear, do you like the peopleand your ability to commit are all factors you should consider. If your looking for a more casual raiding environment I would say take your time relearning the class and simply play as you want to. It’s pretty easy to get into a casual style guild.
Thanks all for the tips and information. I finally got in last night despite a local 3hr power outage So my old Ranger is still there, horray! Though surprisingly he's only 65 and not 85 like I thought. I guess I switched to AA grinding to get Endless Quiver before attempting to level anymore. It's shocking to think of how much time I invested back then and how far he still has to go. Granted leveling was WAY slower in the past. Right now I'm considering starting a new toon to get back into the groove. Debating between Iskar Beastlord and maybe Drakkin Magician. Both seem like good solo classes with group utility.
