Hey everyone, last time I seriously played EQ was back when the max level was 70 so I assume a lot has changed since then. I've played wow during all of its days and was just wondering how the day to day stuff in eq has changed since the time I played. How do you level up in the higher levels like 70+, is it still group based where you find an exp group and set up camp, is it more solo quest oriented, or is it like wow where you have a bunch of instanced dungeons? Thanks a bunch
It's mostly instances at the high end these days, though people still do camps, especially if they're after a specific drop.
At 70 get hotzone quests from Franklin Teeks in PoK and try to find groups doing those. You'll advance nicely doing that
As above... You can pick up three daily quests from Franklin Teek in PoK - at 70, that would be 60, 65 and 70; at 71 you can get the 65, 70 and 75. On that: the 65 quest is 5 kills in Plane of Air (the PoP elemental zone), and that can be hard to do. Some of the 75 quests are trivial, even at 71 (the earliest you can pick them up) if you have an insta-invis AA. they go up in 5 level increments, and reward a minor item of Defiant gear. From 75 you can get HAs (Heroic Adventures) in Dead Hills, in the CotF expansion (which is available for everyone now). These auto adjust to the level of the highest in your group, although the fine tuning can (still) be a little suspect. These officially need a group, but you may be able to solo or box them, depending on class. You get special currency from these, with which you can buy some very good gear. You can also do progression quests from the appropriate expansions as you level, although it is only really worthwhile doing the current expansion quests. And, finally, it is worth doing the Hero's Journey achievements - see the Tome that you should have auto rewarded, or the /ach page. Mostly for gear as you level, rather than exp.
Well, depending on your class, hiring a merc to assist you, (merc is not a pet), they auto gear up and skill up with levels- so you can have some help. Generally, about the Teek tasks, best advice is to ignore the level 65 Plane of Air task. Of course, you can Download and play for free as a silver, until you decide, if you want to go All Access.
Unfortunately you are going to be mostly solo through the high 80's and depending on guild/server possibly into the mid 90's. Just very few toons out there below the 85 heroic level. Once you do start grouping again I think you will be doing a lot of Heroic Adventures, probably starting in DH and moving through the CoTF expansion. These adventures are all instanced, and provide very good xp. Personally I found friends that play similar and have mostly just worked through various progression quests. (The Partisan and Mercenary in your achievement listing). Even many of the "solo" quests now have been adjusted to work well in groups. For instance if you are killing Reef Crawlers in Tempest Temple for "A Rising Storm" quest and you are the only one doing the quest - each Crawler will drop 1 or fewer pieces of meet. But if you are doing it with five other people each Crawler will drop 5 or fewer pieces of meet. I think you are much more likely to find groups working through various quests than the old school grind groups that used to be out there.
What server are you on? Usually there is at least one guild on each server that embraces returning players and are "family style" where they are more about helping each other and grouping over hardcore raiding. Most xp 70-85ish is likely going to be solo unless you get into one of those guilds. Where you solo can somewhat depend on class but it's doable with mercs for every class. As has been said, starting at 75 you can get into Heroic Adventurs from the CoTF expac, finding a guild will help this as well. Often old world zones grinding light blues is the best solo xp/hour you can get. The Hole in the back at th temple is quite good up until you hit 72 when a lot of the mobs turn green. Plane of Fire is also very good xp for awhile. Solo probably til 82 or so. Don't bother with the 65 hotzone Plane of Air. It's probably the worst hotzone of all of them. 70 is Walls of Slaughter and 75 is Oceangreen Hills which are good. Doing those progression achievements from the Hero's journey can be great. Oceangreen Hills has a few tasks as well that can help with xp and if you do the Hero's Journey achievements for Oceangreen Hills and Oceangreen Village, you start getting Paragon armor which is usable at 75 and almost as good as the abstruse armor that starts at lvl 80 with the House of Thule expac. If you are a gold member, turn on auto grant AA from the AA window unless you want to old school grind them out.
For what it's worth, as a ranger, I had no issues in plane of air. I even tested the xp per kill task and poair did well since you have to kill to get in. The only hard fight was named chamberlain and queen silandria.
also....At Level 70 (depending on AA's) you can level lock and grind AA's in Dragonscale Hills at the Farm--there is a quest camp right over the banking and you can do unlimited questing on Scarecrows, Beetles and Crows. There are other quests at that camp also. I've been grinding AA's on my BST and she now has 350. That is an awsome place to grind AA's.
As others have said most leveling until the mid 80's will be solo. If you can find a large casual/family guild you will get some grouping in the 70's but not a lot. And even in the 85+ game grouping within even a large guild is not guaranteed but it is much easier then not being in a large guild.
