Been away a LONG time , is it too late to ever catch up on phinny? Will the low xp rate keep me down?
There are plenty of low level groups just from folks alts. You may need to be a bit more proactive in forming a group, rather than just sitting in /LFG and waiting to be contacted, but shouldn't be a problem.
I know quite a few people that plan on coming back just before PoP is released, which means the lowbie zones will see a boost in population through December leading up to PoP release in January. Would be a good time to start.
Everybody knows that 2 hours turns into 4 hours which turns into "oh my god where have the last few years of my life gone?"
Good luck catching up. People already have several hundred AAs. With such fast unlocks, you'll be an expansion behind by the time you hit 60 and then you'll be 5 levels and 400+AA behind. Phinny is also going to be the first TLP to smash into the expansions that kill servers. No one will be able to keep up and the server will crash and burn. You're better off playing on Ragefire or Lockjaw where you actually have a chance to catch up.
This comes close to the most shortsighted and incorrect advice I have ever heard in my life. Phinigel is low-stress Candyland for me and I have never had anywhere near as much fun on EQ as I do on Phinigel. And I did play on LJ before Phinny opened. To each his own and all that, I know there are people who prefer playing on LJ and RF, but to me, trying to decide between Phinigel and RF/LJ is like trying to decide whether I want to spend the day at Disneyland, or punching myself in the testicles until I vomit and pass out. There's really no comparison.
It's not too late. I played somewhere between hard core and casual ( 2-3 hours a night, on average. Some nights more, some nights I didn't even log on.) and I have gotten a bst to 60, with 50 AA and my epic since Luclin went live. There are still 2 1/2 months till PoP. Tons of groups out there, though I have noticed level 60 grouping slow down some as some people have earned all the AA they want and step away from the exp game. I am not, personally, all that worried about getting more AA. I have the core, the rest is fun, but not game changing. You don't really need 300 AA to be a productive member of the game.
Honestly, I would say it isn't too late at all. Due to the nature of more zones and better exp zones the exp rate on Phinny has increase somewhat (though its still too slow imo) and AA rate is actually spot on pretty dang good imo (Most people I know and in my guild seem to agree that they got the AA exp right). This is a great time to get in cause Luclin still has 2.5 months left. Plenty of time to level a character and get your AA's done. With the inevitable double exp for Christmas time, you could EASILY get max level and full AA/Bank and be ready for PoP in February (Which is when the game really starts to get good imo).
Which is an excellent point. There are still 2-3 major holidays coming up that will likely offer bonus exp time periods. You have the American Thanksgiving and Christmas through New Year's periods that are most likely going to get some sort of holiday +EXP boosts. Plenty of time to get up to 60 as a new player and get some AA's. I mean, many of the people who're rushing through their AA's right now are also re-rolling alts during this +EXP week and getting them up to 60 as well so they have some more to do. There will be plenty of other folks to join up with while levelling.
Never too late. With Luclin, you have newly released beastlords so you should find some people to play with.
Good luck leveling. With all the high level druids and their alts + twinks low level zones. You will be lucky to get a look in.
Phinny is in Luclin. EQ exp #3. There are 23 total exp for the game. LOTS of time to catch up, several times over!
