TLP server recommendation for a new player

I’m trying to decide between Agnar and Corinov. I only briefly tried Everquest in 1999 before moving over to Asheron’s Call with friends. I’ve been getting the itch to play another MMO and I would like to give EQ a shot, just trying to find a good server fit. I’ll be rolling as a Barbarian shaman (I don’t want to deal with being an evil race) and I plan on taking my time leveling, grouping when I can and soloing the rest of the time. I have no real interest in rushing to endgame as I find he leveling experience and developing my character as I move from zone to zone around the world the most enjoyable part.

Any suggestions would be really appreciated.

Honestly, you are not going to find many folks levelling new toons and pugging group content much on any of the TLP servers. If you have friends that play, I suggest you get on the server they are on. If you want TLP with live experience rates, Agnar or Phinny are the only choices, Phinny is top heavy, very robust raiding scene, not a ton of folks LFG outside of your own guild beyond last xpacs chase loot though. I doubt there are very many low levels that LFG (because you can be PLed to 51+ in a few hours or less, which is not what you want).

Agnar is POP locked and will never get any more content that it currently has, so that is a consideration (can be a pro or a con depending really on you and what you want). Folks say there is more of a spread of folks LFG here but I do not know myself, when I logged in to look there were less than a dozen folks in pok that were not max level.... maybe it was a bad time.. /shrug.

Cornaiv.... painfully slow XP is all I can say, if folks dont take to PLing like guuilds do on phinny then in about a year when TSS hits cornaiv you may see a few more starting fresh with Drakken toons.... (might even see a little of that with LoY for froglocks).

Coirnav is the newest and will generally be the busiest for low level playing, and should get a decent bump in population from Luclin launching on the 21st of this month.The xp is slow but doable if you have a few solid blocks of playtime a week (long enough to find a group which speeds up the xp tremendously compared to solo).

Agnarr should be active still and has faster xp and fast travel available. Good choice if your play time is pretty limited and you want PoP era features in right away.

If you choose Coirnav and would like a few shaman starter items, PM me or post your character name.

Some random thoughts:

1) There was no significant TSS bump on Phinny. I waited and hoped for it. It didn't happen. It won't happen on Coirnav either.

2) There does not appear to be an LDoN bump on Agnarr either. I never got to do a single dungeon in the first 3 days. I am level 58 and the only real LDoN activity is level 65s. I'm sure it would have been better if I was in a guild, but...

3) The turnover on Agnaar is huge. I had quit for a couple of months before the LDoN release. Came back and both of the large, active guilds I was in were gone and none of my friends list logged on any more.

4) I am so bored on Agnarr that I have done nothing since the LDoN release but run around and buff/PL newbs. It's getting hard to even find newbs to buff that aren't AFK in PoK or the Bazaar. Even PC and Unrest are empty during the day. PC usually has 2-5 people in it at night.

5) I often put people I PL in my friends list temporarily. They usually quit logging in after a few days. or when they get in to the 20s.

6) I have nothing to say about Coirnav. The xp is so slow I quit my only toon there at 18, right after it opened.

Agnarr is a good choice if you are more casual, don't mind the PoP lock, don't mind soloing and are OK with an ever-churning friends list.

I recently made a character on Coirnav and it seems completely dead at low levels. I checked each level up through 20 and each one only had one or two players at that level; with several levels not having any players. I didn't see a single group anywhere and no one was LFG. This was at midnight or 1am PST which is the normal time I play so I don't know if that had anything to do with it. Its pretty discouraging because I wanted to play on the newest TLP but not if its impossible to find a group considering the massive penalty for soloing.

Wiff came out with a lot of good points.

I Do think a lot of these points made here are for a person more experienced with EverQuest.

I'd actually recommend you starting on a live server. It gives you more tools and help for solo'ing all over the massive world that is EverQuest. (Grouping while levelling up, as many says here, is basically a chance of luck nowadays no matter what server you pick). On live servers, you get the assistance of a mercenary AI that either can Tank, Heal or DPS for you while Solo'ing.

If you find the gameplay appealing, and want to experience the group and raid content in a more progression based way for more depth in each era, then you can follow all the suggestions mentioned here after your liking.

You don't know if playing after midnight PST had anything to do with the low population? Really? You really don't know if that had any effect? Seriously?

TLP servers are only fun for nostalgic reasons. I am having a lot of fun on Coirnav as a returning player, but I can't imagine a brand new player would enjoy the slow XP and relative emptiness of the low-mid level zones.

I would suggest a Live server for a truly new player. If someone is dead set on a TLP server, I would suggest Agnarr for new players due to faster XP. The server may be PoP locked, but I'm going to make a wild guess and predict Agnarr is merged with Coirnav when Coirnav gets past PoP.

Honestly I’m not really interested in simply breezing through content. I like figuring out the world and working through it. I don’t really care about necessarily getting to endgame or not. I enjoy leveling, making my own goals, and moving from one spot to the other grinding out mobs and making some coin.

I tried out agnar, but it seems a bit too far along for me. I’ll try corinav, but I’m thinking I might have to wait until the next TLP launches or try p99 to get what I’m looking for.

Thank you all for the replies. It’s much appreciated

I doubt merged... maybe they will allow transfers.... but only choices (due to like rulesets other than being pop locked) would be phinny and cornaiv and they could now to phinny so I doubt that will even be an option. In fact since the XP on Agnar matches Live it would have to be post TSS on Cornaiv maybe (or maybe it is ok to get less XP)

There was a bump up to live level exp when TSS launched on Phinny. Not sure why you don't think so, but it did happen.

The AA experience rate didn't change at all, but the level experience rate did. They also introduced hotzones up to level 65 with TSS, which tremendously increased exp for level 1-70.

Considering PST is not the only time zone on the planet and people play games from around the world...no I didn't know if the server was dead because of when I was playing or not. I think I will just wait to try the next TLP server if one comes out.

Pick whichever isn’t crashed and down

I said that in response to this:

>and should get a decent bump in population from Luclin
>then in about a year when TSS hits cornaiv you may see a few more starting fresh

It was not about xp.

Nonsense. There is a great deal of fun to be had in the expansions past where most players quit. If you only play through the expansions that are nostalgic for you, you are missing out on a lot of enjoyable content.

In your opinion.

Personally I find the scripted raid encounters to be unpleasant, and I dislike the visuals and thematics of the later expansions. I don't find their content enjoyable. Also a valid opinion.

I think a lot of it is your playtime. Remember that 1am PST is 4am EST. At that time most all you see are Asian/Euro players or someone who normally works graveyard and is off. Also, a LOT of a players are either /role or /anon and won't be seen on a /who. If you are looking for a lower level group, get some newbie levels and then head to unrest. There seems to always be people there. Once Luclin drops, I expect Unrest will die down and Paludal will pick up.

You may be under the impression you can solo your way through EQ. You can't. Shaman are a second-tier solo class so, while they can solo, they can't as well as a necro or druid could.

In terms of how fast they can kill mobs for xp, this may be the case. In terms of what they can kill solo, it absolutely isn't. Shaman are among the very best classes at soloing hard to solo mobs, and in some cases can easily handle content no other class can (think summoning mobs where the necro or druid can't keep himself alive but shm can handle with slow, cripple and self heals.)

Ishmael,

If you want to start on Coirnav. Hit me up in game and I'll see about getting you a few starter items to help out. Should you want to join a guild, Nostalgic Path accepts all levels and has a pretty healthy group of players throughout most level ranges. We don't require you to raid and your welcome to just hang out and level with others in the guild at your own pace.

We do have strict recruitment requirements though.
1. You must have a pulse IRL.
2. You must be good people.

If you meet those stringent requirements we'll gladly send you an invite.

Elocar - 60 Cleric - Senior Officer - Nostalgic Path

Wait for the next one. Should be any time now.