The goal of this guide is to get people from 1 - 105 as quickly as humanly possible. Bags are easy enough to acquire that I don't think they'd need to detour for that, the tutorial is wishy washy. It doesn't really teach you anything playing can't and it is extremely time consuming. (most) new players I know would stop playing if they accidentally picked the tutorial - granted that's because most new ghamers have that go go go go go go go go mentality and the tutorial is much to slow paced for them. Its something worth considering though. Also /barter is definitely something I may add in the near future. Its been awhile since I've used that!
I agree. Most people would rather jump right into the game and your guide is very helpful in leading people step by step. I wish I had something like that when I started. Yes the tutorial is slow. It's been so long since I first went through it that I had forgotten. It really isn't all that useful after you've gone through the initial dialogs in the starting area, but it might be useful for someone new to MMO's to at least spend a few minutes doing that before heading to Crescent Reach. If they've played MMO's before and know the basics, then I'd say skip it altogether. Doing all of Secalna Galnor's tasks does take some time, over an hour I would say, but the zone guide tutorial is very helpful. The bag task, by the way, takes about 5 minutes.
It's a bad idea to give advice like this because some people will get discouraged if they're a class incapable of doing it and end up quitting. I have to try and balance an accurate, well rounded guide with information that everyone can use. It has always been a struggle which is why I never did high end guides and always did guides that petered out before max. As others said not many classes can kill that fast and even that not many classes can even solo throughout that level range. Fort mech is pretty easy but you have to take into consideration some people won't gear, will refuse to krono and assume their enchanter can faceroll mobs as good as your monk. It's easiest to just direct them to Gribbles and have them try to group up instead of sending them to dozens of different zones to see if they can solo before eventually quitting out of frustration.
For true newbies, Borek's guides are quite good and list all of these quests. The weight reducing bag from Smithy Bronson is also good to have at low levels. I find the current tutorial to be very useful, almost indispensable, for new players and returnees. Not only does it explain the basics and relatively new concepts like mercenaries, but its quests also give you a full set of Defiant quality gear.
Just pointing something out about your guide - You're pointing people towards using . is, under no circumstance, an acceptable software. [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] I have no issues with, and so should noone else, because what it does is let you send ONE keypress to several instances of EverQuest simultaneously. It does NOT, however, let you automate gameplay. and KISSassist that you recommend in your guide does just that - it automates the gameplay, known as botting. Botting is, and always has been, a no-no in EverQuest.
I have contacted the devs to ask if that is ok actually and am waiting to hear an answer back. I haven't added the guide to my website (via the drop down yet) as I wait for their reply about that. Also botting has been allowed recently, Holly said bots were allowed in a livestream (because for some reason they call boxing - bots no matter what) Holly also said in a livestream that the person who created works for them. Upon pinigels release they said NO BOT/BOX server - Also where I mention that in the guide I noticed "3rd party software" is ambiguously left out of the second category. Both the one program you said you think is ok and the other not ok program are censored on the forums and the creators of the secondary program you're not ok with have assisted Devs in making sure it doesn't work on Phinigel (which would mean they know the players who use it on live servers). - Also on the TLPs specifically a lot of people use it, rather openly too (IE people saying I would like to buy this item for my bot) and the rule of thumb is if you're not AFK while using it you don't get banned. Another interesting thought point is - Do you remember the CT they popped on Ragefire that got a ton of people banned? - Everyone was unbanned from that despite if they did or didn't use the program after just a single petition. You're linking to a 3 year old post, but the Phinigel FAQ is completely up to date (2015s release). Right now, according to what it says in the Phinigel FAQ, and what I have seen Holly say in livestreams, with the announcement of the Phinigel server and the fact that it is left out of the FAQ (that I link to) I really don't know what conclusion to draw. Is it acceptable or is it not? I would like to know and I am more than willing to remove that part of my guide if I am told no immediately. I want a better answer than the answer they have ambiguously provided, I want to know if it's ok if I link to it like I have because my job is to provide all the information possible about a subject. If it's appropriate to link to Is boxer and tell people to use that then why not the other? According to the most recent FAQ they have published: https://www.everquest.com/news/true-box-progression-server-faq-phinigel It only says "no third party software" for Phinigel. I've used is boxer for years and have always pondered about the other one but have always been to scared to use it for risk of being suspended and losing all this hard work across dozen accounts. I spent a couple of days wondering if adding it in would be acceptable just because of how they left it out of the Phinigel FAQ like that. That's a very huge thing to leave out because they are literally saying it's acceptable on live servers as long as it isn't unattended. Regardless though I feel like I did the right thing contacting the devs about it and asking if it is appropriate before proceeding with a more publicized release of the guide. I am surprised you are the first person who noticed it in the guide, or were just the first person to point it out. At least someone else finally caught this (possible) oversight too. Edit: There's a chance that it is acceptable but linking to it and publicizing the fact that it is could also be frowned upon. I have taken that into consideration as well, but at the same time they also don't want people talking about is boxer hence why they have removed the word from being used on the forums. We're in uncharted territory pretty much.
My curiosity about it lies in the amount of questions I get about it as a boxer. When most people see a player who boxes 12 or more characters they almost automatically assume it. Regardless of anything, there's a lot of it on the TLPs. People use it and enjoy the game that way. If Daybreak's stance is "F it - we want the money where we can get it, if they use Program Y or Z that's fine as long as they're buying X-pacs and paying us" then maybe this is something I can write guides for. (I can't tell you how many questions I get about setting up Is boxer and how I do my keybinds, how to make new keybinds, how to get it from one monitor to the other - what my interface looks like, what my key binds are) etc etc If Daybreaks stance is "We don't really care but don't publicize it" - They'll notify me and I will remove it. If Daybreaks stance is "Rawr we hate you, now die" - Then they'll ban me and now we'll know.
I've put links to some side-by-side images of TDS vs TBM gear, where the TDS is better (forum couldn't handle pics). Please note that I am definitely not saying that TDS gear is better in general, but that each item needs to be compared on a class-by-class, slot-by-slot basis. The SK TDS T3 breastplate is superior to the TBM breastplate: SK Chest Although not by a lot, the TDS T3 group and even the group Cultural breastplate would be my preference for Druid as well. I'd trade more damage for mana/hp any day. Note that the extra point in Mana regen is the equivalent of 25 Heroic wisdom: Druid Chest Wizzy chest: again, TDS has more Spell Dmg and more mana regen. I think those are about the only stats that really count for a wizzy (especially a boxed wizzy). I suspect I may get an earful from a wizzy: Wizard Chest Same thing for wizzy pants: Wizard Pants
For the SK chest I think the biggest thing would be if it moves you up a HDex/Agi tier with the slot 5 or if you're still under for either one/over with the TDS gear. I don't know much about mana regen and how it calculates into heroic wis so I can't say anything about that one. Wizzy gear I would take the TBM gear over the TDS gear for all slots (the one class I am comfortable discussing the gear differences with!) With the 105 spells mana becomes an issue for a lot of wizzies (esp without the shoulder raid focus) with the slot 5 Scholar you get a very nice boost in mana. I have a wizzy that was in full TDS cultural and he did always parse slightly higher than my others, about 10k I think it was on burns? Its been awhile since I used the older TDS gear I would have to dig through old parses. He had about a 7-8k less mana pool over all though. It depends on what you do with the class though, if you never plan to raid and depending on which program you use to box determines greatly on how much mana you consume. (From what I have seen Is boxer players are usually much more fast paced, IE I zone in and pop burns and clear a whole HA before I run out of frenzied devastation charges) whereas I know other people are much more leisure like and maybe want more Boom boom but less fast paced therefore maybe spell damage could be more useful for them. Though if you're going to raid or join a raid guild - you'll definitely want the higher mana or you'll OOM on every burn. As you can see though it's a long discussion on what the person may or may not want to do with the characters when they're done. A lot of recommendations (like the Gyrospire route) would be more detrimental than helpful to add because you're flooding the poor chap with information all at one time, overwhelming him and making the guide unnecessarily long. Same with the 50% weight reduction bag.
I'm glad I posted the wizzy stuff I think wizzies may be unique with their mana requirements, due to mana burn. But I also think wizzies benefit more from spell damage than any other classes. So it comes down to doing a little more damage on almost every cast, or being able to cast another spell or two when you go OOM.
Mages actually benefit the most when they cast rains, otherwise I 'think' everyone benefits exactly the same: http://everquest.wikia.com/wiki/Spell_Damage_(Equipment_Stat)
My goal is to streamline people 1 - 105 (which was the goal of Daybreak I think with TBM). There are some players who would love to doddle around and spend time doing silly bag quests that will be replaced in 10 levels and the tutorial (which you could out level and replace all the defiant in less than 24 hours of starting) and I will let Borek handle that/them. He is already hawking over my guides enough and liking posts that point out possible flaws in my guide, I'm not going to go encroaching on his territory! There's two different types of players, some want what he offers and some would like what I have to offer, - it's good that he offers an all immersive experience, it appeals to a whole different type of player and a whole different community of players I could write guides for (but he has done a very good job covering). Much like how on my website you'll never see guides that cover information EQ resource has covered/is covering. - there would just be no reason to duplicate already perfect information!
My wizzy and druid rain spells are bread&butter in my box lineup, unless I can't use AEs for the encounter. Rain spells are very mana efficient DPS. Burns are awesome, but if you have sit and med afterwards you are losing DPS.
I think DB added those stupid-high heroics for the wow factor, but I think the trade-offs in the secondary stats make the gear not nearly as much of an upgrade as it seems in a lot of cases. I really like this post about Heroic stats and the order he prioritizes them for each class: How important are Heroic stats? Also wanted to mention clicky effects. TBM clicky drops seem (subjectively?) a lot more rare than non-clicky drops, so you might miss out on a lot of buffs if you go all TBM.
Yea, we totally play differently. On my wizzies I do the most possible to maximize their DPS, focusing entirely on burns and post burns (IE a raiding situation) using Ethereal skyblaze, fuse and rimeblast during burns and alternating out to claw, skyblaze and rimeblast post burns
I'm not an expert wizzy, for sure I use a mutlibind (T key) with: 1) instant cast, 2) Fuse, 3) ethereal, 4) ethereal, 5)ethereal and a second (R key) with the Force spells (on global cooldown) and a third multibind (Shift-T key) with: 1) Rain, 2) Beam, 3) Pillar Currently, I have Claw by itself, and I'm certain that this (and Gambit) are areas that I need to work on, as well as managing burn cool downs more effectively. But I do cast the Rain any time it is up and its safe to cast an AE, whether I've got a single target or multiple. It just seems to be more DPS and far more mana efficient than anything else. I got the idea from other wizzy posts here (and from my druid, where I'd been using it for a long time). When I'm doing more sustained fighting and mana becomes an issue, I remove the Fuse spell from the spell bar and just cast the Ethereals (like you do). This is especially helpful if I'm fighting easier mobs or more of them (where mana efficiency seems more important to me than burst DPS).
@ almar I dont think you will ever get a straight answer out of the dev's regarding said 3rd party program .. from what ive read .. its a grey area that as long as your not afk while using it its tolerated, but if they catch you using it while afk you will be banned.. for example : there is a post about some groups in TDS (brother island) who basically camp a spot and are afk killing all the time .. now i dont know what ever happened to those groups but im guessing that is something that would get you banned.. but we all know how vague and misleading dev's can be .. so getting a "yes it is ok to use said 3rd party software" will likely not happen .. i could be wrong ..
I'm positive It won't happen because of what the said programs are capable of doing (as I said in the guide). Ultimately yes the program can be used for basic good reasons but it can also do things you should never be capable of doing (warps/hacks) so "allowing it" would mainstream it which would create more work for them(bans and surveillance) and we all know how people feel about more work! yuck! The people who use those programs are a whole other community of gamers who have been asking me to write guides for them for about a year. I'm poking around in the dark clueless on what I can and can't do here. I've ultimately asked if Daybreak wants more money for semi publicized usage of the program or if Daybreak wants the lid kept on it and everyone to keep their mouth shut. The next decision is theirs and I'll wait patiently for whatever it is.
Rains lost all their effectiveness after they had a 40% crit cap added. Mages/druids already had an innate crit rate higher than that, and that crit caps means that rains function worse as you burn more. For druids, the burn weave with a rain was slightly ahead of the one without before that nerf. Afterwards, the one without a rain is always better, even with the rain getting its 4th hit. It was a brutal nerf to mages that they still haven't recovered from, and dru/shm got caught up in the splash damage. Thanks to OOC, downtime is limited to 3:30 to get to full mana. It's important to compare a full 30-60 minutes of exp dpsing with various weaves. In most situations, you can sneak in ooc medding while moving between task steps or grabbing a new instance. Or the high dps weave that requires an ooc break in the middle of a lesson is still more dps than the one that requires a break after 25 minutes, over the full 30-35 minutes of the lesson burn.
I've found the rains on the magician side to still be very well worth casting when burns aren't active. It was certainly the intention, at the time of the nerf, to make their new state equivalent to their old in passive conditions. A notable difference from the druid situation is that good druids always have Black Wolf on, which is an additional alternating +10% (for the shared) or incredible +16% (for the personal) constant crit chance boost that druid rains miss out on compared to druid nukes. The magician First Spire boost, while very good (a touch better than the mirroring druid First Spire), is only active 20% of the time.
