Back After So long. My Adventure!

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by LadyKagan, Feb 13, 2022.

  1. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    So, every story has an Introduction, so here is mine.

    Started EQ in 2001 with Kunark. My then fiance raved about how awesome it looked, but of course I was skeptical. AoL dialtones and some time later, I found myself as an Iksar in the world of EQ.

    I stopped really playing when Planes of Power came out. Since then, I've looked occasionally at these Forums, and read about the TLP servers, but never had the urge to come back.

    But here I am. Near 20 years later and feeling that itch to play again! A free account to see if I like the changes ...

    I make myself an Erudite Necro. Good INT and I've never played in Toxx Forest much. But ... what is Crescent Reach? Can't change that starting area, so I'm assuming a new Necro town? Load into the game ...

    And I'm in some mines with a tutorial. Hm. Well I can get behind that. After so long, I'm sure stuff has changed. So I learn some basic parts of the ... holy cow the UI is strange and very busy. Ugh. I stab a kobold and trade a key to escape.

    I heard some other players talk in chat about a tutorial in the Plane of Knowledge. I asked a few questions, got lost a crap ton as I found myself inunknown territory of Crescent Reach, and with some guiding help, made it to PoK and Secalna Galnor. I'm actually glad I started with these Tutorials first as I most certainly would have missed them!

    So I'm in some basic guild the NPC let me into. I got a bag and a house I'm not sure what to do with. Next time I play, I'm going to head back into the Tutorial area called Gloomingdeep.
  2. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    So here I am, back in the Tutorial. I appreciated the brushup on things, and got myself a few items.

    But combat I am very bad at. Goodness. I like that I have a way to get me some armor by handing in silk things I find. And having a bank in the Tutorial is good as well. Doing the quests in the Revolt of Gloomingdeep slowly right now as well.

    No one seems to be talking much, but that's okay. Right now I'm focusing on learning what is new, and finding the right way to make my UI look. I hope how busy it is doesn't deter me from playing.

    I don't remember if there was containers when I played before, but I enjoy finding and opening each one up. I like that interactivity in games.

    I got myself a tank mercenary. From what I read there are many levels of them, but being free, I know mine isn't exactly the cream of the crop. But hopefully he will be able to take some punches to the face while I stay back.

    Let's see. I learned to not kill spiders near the Spider Tamer as he just heals them. That is pretty cool. Wonder of any other mobs do this. Would make it pretty hard to kill a mob if they get healed or buffed.
    Hobitses and Treage_Imminent like this.
  3. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    Just finished the fighting part of the Tutorial today. Goodness that was fun!

    I'm not sure if I'm doing my necro right, but have been working on leveling my melee as well as defense and offense. I almost forgot to summon my skeleton pet since I had my mercenary! I see I can control my pet, but looks like I can't do that for my mercenary, so will need to read up more on that.

    There was a quest I was too high a level to do, for Flutterwing. I'm not used to that as games like EQ2 and FF14 allow you to do quests even if you are higher than it. So I'll have to keep that in mind.

    I do have some decent gear from there, so I'm off to figuring out Crescent Reach!
    Treage_Imminent and Rondor like this.
  4. Junck Journeyman

    Glad you are having fun! The learning curve is steep, so it's good you are taking it slow and doing the tutorial and then PoK tutorial quests. I thought I would mention that is possible to affect how your tank merc behaves, not completely like a pet though. On the merc tab, set your tank merc to aggressive I think it is. Next right click on your character name and you should see the ability to assign roles. Assign your tank merc as "main tank" and yourself as "main assist". This way your merc knows to tank and it will generally attack whatever it is you have targeted, but your target must be fighting. You can probably accomplish this by telling your pet to attack the mob and your tank should then follow and try to get agro. I hope this helps.
    LadyKagan likes this.
  5. Sotu Sotu Journeyman

    By the time you are finished in Gloomingdeep, you should have at least 100 plat. More if you stay longer, but there's no much point getting more as you level faster outside and earn more anyway, and the tutorial zone is good only until Level 15.
  6. Old&Slow Journeyman

    Welcome back to EQ. After the tutorials, I would suggest working on Hero's Journey. It is an easy to follow guide to get you doing quests that progress with you. You can open your Inventory > Achievements (button) > Hero's Journey tab. It will help you get basic "Defiant" gear that you will probably continue to use and upgrade to around level 50 or so. For a free-to-play account you will not have access to general/world chat but if you ask in some channels you can access, you can get help with questions. I would suggest joining a casual guild also. Your guildmates can also help with questions. Best of luck to you and happy journey's.
  7. LadyKagan Lorekeeper


    Yes, once I got done the quests there, it didn't look like you could do much else. I have a set of armor and 65 plat. Also got all the spells my class could get while there too.
  8. Osteo.Bonegirl Journeyman

    I'm so glad you are enjoying the tutorials! My husband had so much fun doing those, he started making lots of baby toons on scattered servers, just to repeat tasks and learn subtle distinctions for class or race. So much has changed since you left the game and it's a steep learning curve.

    I'm writing because you didn't mention the server you chose for your return. Hopefully someone from that server can engage with you to get you into a friendly, casual guild, with people who will enjoy showing you around, in ways the tutorials might not.

    Guild halls are an amazing new feature, with a multi-zone selection portal to help you to get around, a guild bank for you to access leftover items put in there for you to draw out, including food and drink that will give you higher intelligence and expand your mana pool. The house you have, depending on the kind of house on the property, can hold tradeskill items for you to use later, as well as decorations and some other useful things.
  9. Osteo.Bonegirl Journeyman

    Almost all of the spells you will need for some time can be found in the library in Plane of Knowledge. If you don't already have it, you might purchase Bind Affinity, since you are caster class. This will enable you to bind yourself in Erudin, instead of the origin city, Crescent Reach (which you'll still be able to return to, using "Return Home" from the character selection screen or using the Alternate Achievement Origin).

    FYI Crescent Reach has some very helpful tradeskill tutorials that will help to level up your skills and provide some experience, as well. Take advantage of those early on, so you don't have to do them later, should you choose to pursue some interesting tradeskilling activities for impressive rewards! I mean, Artisan's Prize if you are a goal-oriented person. Sure, it's a lot of work, but it's for a really big pay-off.
    LadyKagan likes this.
  10. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Just some other points - no one is talking much because you cannot see General Chat. Your account is a F2P (or free) which is fine. But you only have access to one game chat - called newplayerchat. The paying accounts are in "General Chat' - usually about 300-400 players.

    Glad to hear you did those other tutorial quests from Secalna Galnor.

    The house is kinda useless because that is one of the houses that you will have to pay rent on if you place it and its very small. There are other houses you can obtain that do not charge rent.

    Second thing is that someone mentioned the Guild Hall. Secalna Galnor also gives a quest that at the end you can join a guild called "Novices of (insert server name). You have to be in a guild to use the guild hall so this is an easy way until you find the guild you want. This quest will show you how to enter that guild hall in the lobby.

    Glad to hear your having fun!

    Have you downloaded maps yet? Most of us use both of these and switch between them as needed
    GoodsMaps.com
    and
    Brewells
    http://www.eqmaps.info/
  11. Treage_Imminent Elder

    Welcome back!

    I understand what you mean about the UI. There is good news though, an updated UI is part of the roadmap for this year. Hopefully they make improvements that everyone can enjoy. The default layout isn't friendly to new or returning players right now.

    I hope you have a great time in Norrath. :)
    LadyKagan likes this.
  12. LadyKagan Lorekeeper


    I chose Firiona Vie server, as I read it is welcoming to new players. I like it so far!
  13. LadyKagan Lorekeeper


    Yes! I had a bit of issue getting them to work, but I think I got them in the right spot. I noticed maps were blank outside the tutorial.
  14. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    So I took today to do a bit more reading about things I have missed.

    First was about Necromancers and what skills and spells they have. One thing that stood out to me was Iksar and their innate regen ability when it comes to the lich line of spells. Is that something that I should switch to race wise? I will probabaly be soloing or using my mercenary for most of the time.

    But then I saw the Drakkin race! They look really cool, and they get a breath attack AND can talk to a patron dragon! The necromancer ones are black color or red color ... and the black dragon blood gives me a breath attack that lowers disease resistance. That could be neat for a Necromancer as well (around 40 of their spells are Disease based while about 44 or so are Poison .. but I don't get the green dragon as my patron)

    I also read the Defiant(?) armor makes worrying about stats not so important now as it did way back in the day. Is this true? Would that make picking a race less important now?
  15. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    I made a Drakkin to see if I like them, and am going through the PoK tutorial again. Reason is, I do have some questions I forgot to ask!

    1. Parcel merchants. Are these important? Says I need to be a Silver member to use them. How do I do that? Can I play the game w/o the use of parcel merchants?
    2. Tribute masters. I don't recall these NPCs. Is this something I should look into? I get you donate items for favor, but is there more to it than that? I saw a tribute NPC in the guild hall for the Novices guild one can default join, but no idea how turning on the tribute stuff would work.
    3. Fellowships. I really like this idea. Does anyone know how this would work or if people still use them? Having the ability to get friends together quickly and with possible buffs seems neat. Sadly I can't see much more as I'm the only one in the Fellowship!
    4. Power sources and Auras. With how the game explains these things int he tutorial, I'm assuming I won't be coming across such items into late game?
    5. Loyalty. Is this something that only All Access players get with a subscription? If so, is it worth it from the items on the vendor?


    I'm really liking the Zone Guide. There are places I've never heard of or never visited, so I definately will need to explore!
    Also I find it funnt that the NPC that teaches about alternate advancement is a female troll, but the quest says it is a 'him'. Heh
  16. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Sometimes stuff is out of date so its always a good idea to ask or check further.

    Everyone can now use parcel merchants. Not just Silver accounts. Parcel merchants are handy to send stuff to someone else, or your self, an alt or a friend. Kinda like sending packages. And is you are in a zone far away and type /baz in your chat window that will bring up the bazaar window. If you find something you want to buy but don't want to go all the way to the bazaar then you can buy it and have it sent to your parcels. Parcel merchants are by most banks and always on the find key. Remember Secalna Galnor [Tutorials] you mentioned earlier? In POK? She also has a short quest to teach you about using parcels.

    Tribute is handy and many players use it a lot. I have donated tons of stuff to tribute but usually forget to turn it on or off. You basically "rent" some slight improvements to some stats. This is a good page about it - http://www.bonzz.com/tribute.htm

    Felllowships still work and most players use them to move the group around. You do need 3 people to make one.

    Power sources and auras will be more in the higher levels but higher as in above level 50 or so.

    Everyone get Loyalty Points. Used to be only subscription players but it changed like the parcel thing did. So as a new account you start with a fraction of points awarded each week, usually on Sundays, and it builds over the first year to the max amount awarded. Those max are: All Access get 120 a week, Silver usually the same, F2P get 30 a week. Then you have the overall total or cap of 5760 for All Access & Silver and 1440 for F2P. If you hit your max amount of 5760 or 1440 then you will not earn more until you spend down.

    We had mentioned houses earlier and this is one of the places you can buy houses that do not charge rent and hold a lot. The "anchor" packages are handy if you have a house plot as you can put one on it. And this provides another place to gate to. If your All access or Silver you can place the other one in a guild hall or plot. But not the Novice guild hall, just the player made guild halls. There are tokens of resurrection which are very handy as they allow you to rez anyone, your self included even while in battle. Cleric mercs will not rez you while in battle. Then there are the bags of money. You cannot see those as they are only available to subscription accounts, there are bags of plat you can buy and each one hold a random amount between 13,000 and 15,000 plat
    LadyKagan likes this.
  17. Sotu Sotu Journeyman


    When I tried to send parcels, it won't work? I'm F2P too. But we can receive stuff, no problems there. It's the sending that might not work for Free players.

    What houses do not charge rent? I haven't gotten around to housing since it's the rent/upkeep I'm worried about.

    I do use tribute and will be farming stuff to tribute, or stuff that you don't use anymore, you can just tribute instead of destroying them if they are NO DROP/ NO TRADE.
  18. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    I logged on to double check on parcels and my F2P can send them.

    So what happens when you try?

    Right Click on NPC, left click tab that says "parcel"

    Then in your inventory, select the item you want to send by left clicking it. You do not need to move it out of your inventory

    It will then show up in the bottom of the parcel screen with a box to type in the players name

    Type in name, double check then click send.
  19. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Houses.

    First you have to have a plot to put it on. All plots will charge you rent. You can buy any open plot. It does not have to be in your guild neighborhood.

    I choose my first one by just wandering around and clicking on the stones at the edge of the low stone fences till I found one I could buy and liked.

    To buy it you Stand inside its bounds and click the stone wall that marks its edge, Click [Buy] then Click [Manage] and add enough coins to keep it paid up for a while. You can get to these screens thru the eq button and at the bottom is real estate.

    Plots are cheap from 21 plat to 160 ish. Upkeep for plot depends on the size of the plot. 2 plat to 16 plat a day. ***** see notes at bottom.

    Any house you buy from the loyalty merchant will not charge rent. Any account can buy the houses there. ***** The ones you buy from marketplace also say they have no upkeep. If you have any special house under /claim from an old expansion freebie then those also are rent free. Once you buy the house you go to your plot and hold it on your cursor until it turns green then drop it. Items will turn green when they are able to be placed in a house or plot.

    ******what this is about. You have to be All Access and if you go to the loyalty merchant you will see bags of plat, doubloons, and other currency for sale. You can purchase a bag of 100 doubloons for 11 loyalty tokens. It takes about 7 doubloons to pay for a week. So you can see it can be real cheap to pay for your housing that way.

    If you have a special house from old claims then those will take away plot rent too. So no charges at all on those.

    However all is not lost if you are not All Access because plat drops much better than it used to and it really does not take much to upkeep your plot/house.
  20. LadyKagan Lorekeeper

    Wow so much information! Thank you all for the info and links to check out.

    Feel free to ask quests here as well, if any other new players come by. I don't mind at all!