Newbie leveling with new expansion?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by aindriuc, May 12, 2020.

  1. aindriuc Elder

    Hi guys,

    I've dabbled with EQ every once and a while to see if things have changed yet. What I'd really like to know is, if the new expansion has addressed the old issues I had with leveling new characters.

    The leveling was *extremely* grindy and slow and playing solo was impossible without a powerlevel.

    Just wondering if there has been any love shown in the new expansion with newbies trying to rejoin the game, and level up characters in live?

    Thanks
  2. Heajol Augur

    Unfortunately, no. The only thing that they did for new players this expansion was make it easier to catch up once you reach 110. The Tier 1 group gear is all attunable, and seems to drop fairly frequently, so it can be purchased in the bazaar on most Live servers fairly cheaply. It's called Snowbound armor. They have also added the Overseer content making it easier to get collection items, tradeskill items and/or mercenary experience. Overseer also lets you get a tiny bit of experience upon quest completion if you don't select any of the above options and instead opt for direct character exp.

    So they have done something for newer players, but it really isn't relevant until you hit 110. Nothing for lower level players that I am aware of.

    EQ is meant to be a "grindy" game and that hasn't changed. Things are much faster now though than they were way back in the day.
  3. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    If you are starting at level 1 then yes it is hugely easier. With a merc you can make level 15 in a few hours, then level 60 in a few days and level 70 to 90 might take a week or so. After that it does slow down. Many players are able to get to level 100 within a month.

    Depends on what you do to help your leveling, ie: collection quests grant exp, bonus hot zones for faster leveling starting at level 20, HA for levels 75- 95 those have really good bonus exp at the end, running Overseer for Free while your logged off - grouping, join a guild etc.
  4. aindriuc Elder

    Thanks for the update!

    I made a necromancer on Bristlebane and plan on trying to level with it as far as possible until the new servers release. I found Almar's guides and he has a solo guide.

    Not sure how far I'll get. I'm level 8 at the moment.
  5. Tucoh Augur

    Leveling in EQ on live is probably harder than it's ever been, overall. It's trivial to get to 60 now, thanks to mercenaries that will carry you on their backs, but after that you've got a lot of levels to get to before you're high enough to play with the majority of the playerbase.

    My recommendation would be to consider:
    1. Boxing
    2. find some buddies that are leveling that you can schedule playtimes around and coordinate with
    3. buy heroic characters
    4. Play on a TLP server (some are launching in a couple weeks) and transfer to live when you want to.

    I don't recommend solo leveling from 1 to high levels unless you really enjoy solo leveling.
  6. aindriuc Elder

    Thanks Tucoh for the advice.

    I might consider boxing on three accounts. That means I can have 3 characters and 3 mercs right?

    I was reading Almar's guide on boxing and he strongly recommends a tool to use but I am not sure if discussing that tool or even using it will get me banned.

    Do you have any pro tips on boxing?

    I remember trying it before, and I found the Shadowknight tank to be good at holding agro, but pulling was a bit of a nightmare with feign death. I am thinking Paladin might be a newb friendly tank, since they can lull mobs before they pull. So, I might go with a Paladin just for the ease of using one computer to pull and tank and maintain agro. One of the mercs can be a cleric, and the other two like caster nukers right?

    So, that leaves two other classes I want leveled with my Paladin, if I go with Paladin. I'm thinking a shaman or cleric for buffs and maybe a mage class so I can use the pet.

    Or should I just stick with my necro and level up?

    Thanks again for all the help and tips.
  7. Heajol Augur

    If you just want to learn the game then the Hero's Journey from level 10 (after the Tutorial) is a good way to learn. If you're playing on Bristlebane, I'd recommend joining The Dark Reign. I have a level 11 paladin on Bristlebane in that guild, but I rarely log her on anymore. Jumping into a Heroic character right away is a big jump and IMHO harder to learn the game, if that is your goal. If you're interested in TLPs (no mercs and slower levelling), then Mangler is at a good spot right now, there were a lot of groups a few weeks ago, but I don't know if that's slowed down now that you have to pay to play on those servers. You don't really need to pay for your account until you get to 60/70/80 +. Once you do, turn on auto grant and you can level to 105 before you need to start thinking about AAs.

    Also on May 27th there will be two new TLP servers launching with lots of grouping going on at the start of those servers for low levels. It will be a slower way to learn the game, and you'll have to pay for your account(s) to play. Aradune is Truebox, so no boxing unless you have more than one computer, and boxing two max characters will be legal. Rizlona has boxing enabled from one computer.

    It just depends on your goals. You can always play on more than one server and try them out.
  8. Cydonia Elder


    You might want to consider boxing. 3 boxes with mercs make a full group of six, and it makes everything much easier. Or even 2 boxes with 2 mercs is a damn site easier than soloing.

    Though once the new servers drop. Boxing won’t be nearly as much of a priority because there will be plenty of groups available.
  9. Cydonia Elder

    My recommendation for a three box set up, is sk, shaman, bard.

    It’s a very versatile setup. You can pull and CC with the bard, or just let him play the good stuff on auto play. You’ve got the best slows, strong heals, good buffs, and good potential dps with the shaman, and a strong versatile tank in the sk. Made all the more potent with a couple of melee dps mercs. The bard and shaman synergy make for a very strong melee orientated setup.

    At low levels up until around level 50-60 use three caster mercs with aoe burn, and grab packs of mobs. They melt faces, and tank like champions. Though at higher levels you’ll want to swap to 2 melee mercs and a healer, which will better suit the class setup.

    Things start to get a bit more difficult around level 65-70. You can hit up the daily teek quests for some easy exp around these levels. Remember to pick up 3 at a time when you hail him, or you’ll be locked out when you complete one.And at some point around here you’ll need to catch up on gear. You’ll probably be able to survive on defiant gear till around level 80, but at this point you’ll come up against a brick wall unless you work on gear progression.

    What I did at level 80 on phini was hit OMM missions. They give exp, plat and gear tokens which you can hand in for significantly better gear than defiant. But the Beauty of them is, you don’t need gear to do them, and they are easily 3 boxable (once you figure them out anyway. There is a learning curve involved) see the links below for more info on OMMs

    https://pakcafaneq.wordpress.com/old-man-mckenzie-missions/
    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tips-and-tricks-for-3-boxing-omms.256869/

    Once you’re done with OMMs and have a better level of gear, you might be able to do gribbles HAs in dead hills which can take you all the way to 105, and gear you up in the process. If gribbles are too tough you might need to do some SoD or HoT progression to bridge the gap.

    Failing all that, 3 boosted level 85 toons can jump straight into gribbles HAs straight out of the box.

    Good luck
  10. Tucoh Augur

    Almar's guides are very good. I use inner space boxer. Macro quest 2 is very common. Both are fine if you're not using them to play EQ while AFK (aka botting). You can read more about what I do here:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tucos-setup-critique-welcome.240258

    protips: a plate tank + bard are very strong and can combine with a variety of other DPS based on what you want, with shamans, mages and berserkers being great options.
  11. Vumad Cape Wearer

    Stuff like SK SHM BRD are good advice if you want to play them. I am ENC through and through. I box ENC MAG CLR (might recommend druid over cleric though) because it's the best setup for me to support my ENC.

    Be sure that you pick what you will enjoy. Think about which character could be your main and the one you would raid with if you choose to do so at the end of the game. It might make a less optimal group overall, but its a game, so do what is fun. If you want to pick a main, pick the main and build the group around that character.

    If you are not sure, play to level 20-30 and then try another mixture of classes. Once you decide what you want to be for a main, then stick with that setup.

    Tucoh has great advice if you want to play in that way. But say you really want to be, say a necro or BST, then be sure to incorporate them into your setup.
    Tucoh likes this.
  12. aindriuc Elder

    Thanks. I started boxing 3 characters and 3 mercs. Got my characters to level 40. Basically did all of it in Blightfire Moors.

    However, not sure if I can go further in that zone. Anyone got any good path to level up after 40?

    Thanks in advance! :)
  13. Fredescu Augur

    My favourite is City of Mist, and then you can go over to Sebilis at 46+. The most efficient though is probably just to zone over to G' Mesa next door from Blightfire Moors.
  14. Tuco Augur

    https://www.almarsguides.com/eq/leveling/RoS/ (which you're familiar with) is the best guide on leveling spots out there, but don't feel like you have to follow it. Like Fredescu says, GoruKar Mesa is a good progression for you, but CoM/Seb are good options too.

    Since you're rolling with a strong group you can probably clear any level appropriate zone, my favorite way to level is to go to a new zone, kill everything in it and only clear respawns if it's in a fun area and move onto a different zone. The leveling speed is so fast that you'll have to skip a lot of zones until you get quite high by doing this.
    Evast likes this.
  15. Evast Lorekeeper

    City of Mist is one of my favorite places for that level range as well.
    About 45-50 I like to work my way over to The Hole or the Ruins is Paineel.

    Another fun path to follow that rewards gear along the way is Hero’s Journey. /Ach—> hero journey tab —> progression tab.
  16. Fluid Augur

    The developers have a problem on their hands getting new people into the game. They've tied a knot with people pulling on both ends of the rope, only making it harder to untangle.

    I appreciate their efforts with things like shrouds, it is just that it takes things the wrong way. Higher level players don't want to shroud down to play with lower level players, lower level players want to get up to high level, more content, more grouping.

    Maybe if there was a reverse of the shrouding feature available. Something like you could take your level 10 Warrior on a raid and function equivalent to a level 115 player, but when you finished you couldn't get any loot and your effort would result in your character making it to level 11.

    I'd guess the high level people in general would be mostly against it. The old I paid my dues, they should too mentality." If it wasn't done right, it could lead to abuse where people would just create alternate accounts and characters so they still wouldn't use new players. It's just a thought, not completely filled out.

    As it is, nothing but pain for an advanced character or guild to take in an untested newbie. There has to be some payoff for them too. You spend a couple of months grinding them and setting them up with equipment only to have them drop the game leaving you empty.

    Maybe give out AAs for every new $15/month player you take on a raid or something. There should be a mechanism for why you would want to spend the time and effort on a losing proposition.
  17. Tuco Augur

    Been asking for something like this for a while. It doesn't even have to be that strong to make a huge impact on the ability for players to catch up, and I think most high level people would be all for it as long as shrouded people weren't over powered.
  18. Vumad Cape Wearer


    I enjoy Gulf of Gunthak and Dulak's harbor. In gunthak you'd do the right end of the beach, then the first fort, then the city area.

    In dulak you'd do the zone in, then the boats get harder as you work your way counter clockwise. The hardest area is the Luggald tunnels.

    I really like Plane of Innovation and plane of nightmare for their themes.
  19. Gana Augur

    I think the new servers will both be packed to start. On Rizlona, you will find most people playing there playing their own group. They will have their own picks, or near enough, with many playing full groups. Aradune will have many playing 2 characters. You will not need to play 2 to get a group, but it will help round groups out if you do (as many others will be). Whatever the case, always try to find a group...the leveling will be faster. Almars does have a guide for TLP leveling, if I recall...or at least where to go in each expansion. Most stick to their newbie zone until about 10 and head to Unrest, Crushbone or Upper Guk. After that, Lower Guk, Sol B, the Hole. The planes for the bold and well equipped. Some group(s) will be at Hill Giants about level 22-25...because they can. Before the 3 months is up, most people will be in LGuk or the Hole, complaining it is too crowded and they need to shorten the unlocks. =) Good luck! And for best results, stay near the front of the pack. Lagging leads to falling behind in a "never catch up" kind of race.