Question About "Catching Up" on Live...

So, I've been gone from EQ for years. Not sure which expansion, but the level cap was 70 when I left.

I came back in June of last year and I've been playing on Mangler. But, PoP just released and it's only a matter of time until a new progression server comes along to eat the corpse of Mangler. I was considering at that time, going back to Live. (Not sure I want to do the progression cycle again on the next go-round.)

Now I look at the current expansion, Torment of Velious, and it looks cool. I just played through O.G. Velious again just months ago. I'd be interested to go back and see the new stuff. Problem is, my highest Live character is currently 70 and my Progression toons can only get to 65 right now. (Provided I moved them off of Mangler.) I know there's the Heroic boost, but that only puts your character to 85, and then 115 is the new cap...

Is there a realistically reasonable way to get to the new level cap without having to grind for years, if you don't know anyone anymore? Is gear super difficult to obtain?

I'm genuinely curious. Live almost feels like a mountain that would be impossible to climb these days, from the outside looking in. Beyond level 70 content I'd be clueless... So much has changed. Thanks for any insight.

Depending on your class, it may not be too difficult even to solo your way to reasonably close to the top from an 85. Nec/mage would probably make it a fun experience. May be more difficult with a healer type class, it all depends on what your goals are/ what you want to do or play. Some raid guilds have casual memberships, if that would be your ultimate goal, once you hit max level you could app. I messed around in a few casual guilds, but it just was not my cup of tea.

You could always consider moving to Phinny once Mangler is abandoned. Heroic characters are unlocked, and the level cap is only 100 just now, so you can jump on and join right in straight away.

Pick up groups are a thing of the past, but if you pick one of the established guilds, then there's plenty of guild groups going on.

It's also not such a steep level curve as live, and you will still be able to experience TLP progress for the last 5 or so expansions.

Live is super easy compared to TLP. If your going to pay for a transfer I feel your money would be better spent just paying for a heroic.....but

***SPOILER ALERT*** rumor has it all paying account might get a free heroic character for this years anniversary. And you already have the paid account since your playing on a TLP

If that is true, just wait till around March 16 and you can go that route and since you already have the paid account you can make it on a different server.

Here is what I would do:

Right now make a level 1 character of your choice on a live server. If you don't like what you made or the server then just remake it.

Go thru the tutorial and get the goodies and do the quests about maps, mercs, etc that are in the middle. Since you already know how to fight then the quests that take you further in the mines don't really do much. So just kinda tink around for a week or so. Continue the tutorial with Secalna Galnor in POK who will give you a series of fast quest to get more free goodies.

If the bonus heroic character comes thru then you can upgrade that guy or make a new one and go heroic free.

So now your at level 85. Go get your J5 merc (only available to paid accounts) - the quest will be in your quest window already. Most of the mobs in that zone outside of that quest are pretty powerful for your level so after you get the merc then go back a little to some lower zones.

Next up is to go get this: Drunkard's Stein - this is a free port to POK quest that is only given during anniversary. There is a short cut so read the write up - you can work on alcohol until it comes up https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=123362

Now to level up a bit. Hopefully there will be some bonus exp going on during this time also so go to Franklin Teek in POK and get the "daily hot zone" these are kill 5 of some mob in a zone based on your level. You will want to get a bunch at one time. So you would get the ones for level 85, 80, 75 and maybe 90. You get all them at once so you don't get locked out. You get extra experience in these zones even if you don't have the "kill 5" quest so keep that in mind - you can stay in a zone if you like it and still earn exp. They are "hot zones"

At any time you can ask in chat if anyone wants to group with "level 85 whatever looking for daily or group or whatever" I think if they come thru with the free heroic there are going to be a ton of that level folks looking to level up just like you.

If you’re on CazicThule, hit me up on Thulox or Gonafee

This doesn't answer your question about catching up to live, apologies, but I wanted to help alleviate your fear of Mangler instantly dying with a new TLP release.

You have the good option simply to continue having fun on Mangler for as long as you want and then swap out sometime later. If you are vested in the character and setting already, it might actually be a year or two or five prior to you moving due to a lack of warm bodies on Mangler.

There are other reasons to move which might be driving your decision. Just don't let the fear of Mangler dying be the main one.

Its not hard. How time consuming it is and how hard it is depends on what class you choose and how sociable you are.

Make friends with people willing to help you out a bit. 85 is high enough to group with a 115. A 115 could take you to an older zone and level you up to 95 in like an hour or two, for example.

There are several people I helped (one even restarted at level 1 on my server and I helped them all the way to the end). All of them stopped playing though (but that's true of everyone eventually).

The ones that pretty much took the help and did nothing on their own really soured me on it though. I like to help those willing to help themselves.

I kind of hate that getting a bunch of free AA's seems mandatory to compete in modern EverQuest. Even though I've been gone for years, I still like the idea of having worked for everything I have. But I know if I ever wanted to catch up to Live and be relevant again, that's probably a pipe dream.

I like that your walkthrough was to do all the tutorial stuff and then immediately jump to 85. lol... The mid levels aren't worth playing anymore? (And what's the point of doing the tutorial stuff if you get gear and stuff at 85?)

If I was going to wait for the level 85 Heroic boost, would there be much of a difference between doing that and just starting a character on Miragul?

Take the free AA, you will be busy doing plenty of other stuff in Live server to catch up. As for the not heroic approach, it is pretty easy to get to around level 55 solo with a wiz merc set to burn AE. I like to go to classic and kunark zones which has mobs that have lower hp, hence die faster and more exp. These days 60-85 is the hard part as you can't group with a 115, solo is harder, and there are few people in your level range to group with. You will need help getting to 85. Just about everyone that you meet that is 115 got major help along the way. Best you can do is look for zones higher than yours, but not more than 30 and see if you can join some other player that is there. For example at 60, maybe check out House of Thule courtyard to see if any 80-90 is there killing and politely ask to join.

To be honest, I think DB needs to improve the exp gain for 90-105 on live servers, as it takes too long to level, even in a 115 zone. The goal should be to speed people to max level so that they can group with and contribute with the rest of the playerbase. 60-85 should also be improved too, maybe improve the power of the mercs for those levels.

What server you planning on moving too and what are you playtimes?

I'm sure there are plenty on here willing to help you out. Leveling isn't that hard these days.

TLPs don't tend to keep players much more than a year once the next TLP server comes out, if you want to get to the end you are far better off on a live server.

I'm not overly committed to one server, but if I were to just jump back in on my own, I'd go back to The Rathe... That's where all of my old level 70's are. Of course, I don't have a guild or friends that still play there anymore. I guess I'd only be going back there to unite my old and new characters. lol

Some of the more recent expansions revisited Kunark I guess, and this most recent expansion goes back to Velious... And since I just replayed the original Scars of Velious, I'm curious to see the zones revamped in Torment of Velious, to compare and contrast, you know? But that requires me to have a toon on Live. And it would give me a reason to actually buy the expansion. There haven't exactly been many incentives to buy the newest expansion as a TLP player, especially if you're just going to migrate to the next TLP and never see that content.

You are welcome to create a toon on Xegony and test things out. You can join us in Lions of the Heart and see if the guild environment is to your liking.

well in firiona vie you can level 50 % faster than any other servers.

again in FV there are many players there who give away free stuffs, armors who in other servers are no trade { and can be traded in FV }

If you are friendly and enthusiastic and play well (within the limits of the toon - obviously an 85 is not going to be tanking for a 115, but getting to quest givers quickly and competently and such) I'm sure there are plenty of people on live who would take you under their wing and get you sorta caught up relatively quickly.

You will have to build a bit of a social net. But if you're working at what you can, and not begging while sitting in the guild lobby doing nothing you will likely find some players willing to help someone willing to try to help themselves.

What I think is funny, people keeps asking for help and advice, some give it while other, it's not hard type thing. If it so easy for them, wouldn't be asking for help.

ToV is a relatively easy expansion, so catching up to current content and defeating it won't be too hard.

It'll be a lot easier if you have a social structure to group with (either as power leveling or leveling together). Making friends that you can schedule playtimes with is the way to go with this, don't expect to log on and be able to find a group.

Otherwise, boxing will allow you to level independently, and make it easier to do random camps for gear/augs/achievements once you hit max level. We can help you pick which 2 or 3 classes you'd want to box with based on which classes you'd want to play.

If you got a decent 2-3box together and played with the intent on leveling up efficiently (we can help you) and playing a few hours a night (or like, ~15 hours a week) there's no reason you couldn't hit the level cap, get geared and be raid ready / ready for the next expansion by the end of the summer.

Boxing works, but it counts as throwing money at the problem. You will be paying for those additional accounts and adding expacs to each account. You will have to do more gearing. Also, its EQ as a single player game. Granted it does allow you to learn about other aspects of the game, but true mastery requires singular focus.

If you want to interact with others more, you will have to seek out a casual guild. There are plenty of them but others are more well known than others.

Coming back to Live means you need to decide what it is you want to do with the game and what your ultimate goal is. If you want to raid "competitively" than you will need to level, AA to near entirety (you won't need the fluff ones), acquire some of the items that show you give a crap about your character and of course, show a deep level of understanding of your class. Levels and such can come fast but you have to know what the skills you pick up actually do. Competitive raiding guilds will not assist you in any of that. They expect you for the most part to be past the apprentice stage and more or less an accomplished journeyman. Being in a casual guild will definitely help with that and perhaps if raiding is not so important, the same guild that helped in the task of developing your character can become a permanent home.

Good luck with your journey!

Buying a new expansion auto grants AA up to 5 expansions back (I think it's 5). I would have zero issues with new expansions auto granting progression (and the rewards) up to 5 expansions back. Heck, I'd even be OK with granting it up to 3 expansions back. As someone who has done a lot (not all) of that old stuff, it wouldn't bother me one smidgeon for people to be autogranted stuff I had to box my way through. Just because I had to travel uphill, both ways, in the snow, barefoot doesn't mean that people who come after me have to do it as well.

That way, new/returning players wouldn't feel just absolutely overwhelmed with the amount of stuff they feel (or are told) they "need" to do.