Old 2002 player returning... what to do?!?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Illuzion, Dec 20, 2016.

  1. Illuzion New Member

    Hi all,

    Need your advice.

    I want to know what server I should go to. Yes, I've read a lot of previous posts on this subject and they've helped some. Yes, I've checked server population and have a decent idea of what's an absolute 'no go,' and what's generally going on. But I'm still looking for customized advice based on ME. A few things:

    1.) I quit after PoP expac, I found my old 65 epic wielding Enchanter in existence on Xegony (used to be Druzzil Ro). Apparently combined since. This server looks pretty active and still sounds pretty good? And obviously I could probably help a new character once I re-learn game.
    2.) I think I have a 50 necro somewhere on pvp (zen?)
    3.) MORE THAN ANYTHING THOUGH... I'm looking for casual play, slow, non rushed, maybe even a little RP , grouping etc. I used to raid and maybe one day again, but initially I want to relive my pre-career , college times in EQ. NOSTALGIA
    NOSTALGIA!!!

    ***So ideally I wish they had a TLP server stuck in pre kunark with 50 max or 60 and original zones, storylines, artwork. Best I can one searching is maybe Phinny, but it'll be going to PoP in feb, right? So it's even further than I'd want. But maybe the best I can find?

    4.). Then there's the XP bonus on FV... so maybe that's the way to go for a guy looking to start from scratch and go through all content again?!
    5.) I don't want to multi box! One character. So it's a class than can solo OR GROUP (means there has to be people active and willing)

    Side note ...necro still good?l for that? That was my first class char...SPEAKING OF NOSTALGIA!!!

    Thanks for all help in advance!!
  2. moogs Augur

    Welcome back.

    There's Project 1999, which has made a deal with DBG to gain some legitimacy (and oh, by the way, not get their pants sued off). Lots of people playing on there instead of on the official servers. Pretty sure they won't be going past Kunark/Velious or wherever for a long time, if ever.
  3. Illuzion New Member

    Thanks moogs!
    I'm glad to see EQ1 still going strong, doesn't appear to be the case for Eq2. Too bad they cancelled Next.

    Anyway...
    Very Interesting. I saw something about project 1999 in my research, but didn't catch that was a non DB/SOE thing.

    How did they even get the source code or servers to run an off site install like that?

    I would assume if it's truly "1999," then it's back to, slow going, hell levels and camping and such? I want my cake and I want to eat it too. Experience the old game as I remember, but don't want to spend hours grinding xp either... lol

    And eventually once I've had my nostalgia and re-learned how to play, I will likely jump on my 65 enchanter on Xegony and attempt to go through as much content that I misssed, understanding there's likely no raid content being actively explored between PoP and level 100+ stuf that now exists.
  4. Enigma Maitreya Augur


    As Moogs has said, there is Project 1999. I have an account set up there and play it when EQ is down and I have time. HA HA it is a grind :)

    Short of that, Necro is still the premier Solo Class.

    In addition we now get all spells in the PoK, Mercinaries and defiant gear.

    Bazaar can be purchased from anywhere, remote purchases are sent to a new NPC type/function (Parcel Delivery Agent/Parcel Delivery). This new NPC/Type function can also be used to transfer items from one character to another on the same server.

    Origin is now available for all characters and being set to CR (Crescent Reach) is a fairly straight forward run to PoK.

    We can have Houses for extremely low cost.

    Merc's and Defiant gear are probably the two most game changing things I have encountered.

    Merc types are Tank, Rogue (Backstab and poison attack included), Healer and Wizard (no ports).

    Defiant gear is going to be better than anything you have now by a lot. Defiant gear can easily get you to level 70 ... 80 or higher. It is a drop on mobs and can be purchased at the two guys near the loyalty vendor near the CR stone in PoK.

    The single most game changing thing though is Heroic Character Counts. This can upgrade OR create a new character that becomes level 85 with all spells (almost as a few new ones are not included, so one wants to go the appropriate spell vendor in PoK, and see what if any spells are missing), all AA's, a Mount, 2 Bags (24 slot each Giant 100% weight reduction) upgraded level 85 Gear as in spec'd higher than its base gear. There are more things that I will list later that are one time only.

    A Heroic Counter is at the account level and can be used on any server. If you delete the character the Count is returned to the account for reuse. Example, you buy a count, you will se the HC at 1, you use it, you will see the HC at 0, you delete the character you see the HC at 1.

    The first use of a Heroic Count will give the character 15K Plat, some bayle coins, food, drink and a few other things, that in my opinion just don't make that big a difference.

    The Full cost of a HC Count is about the same cost as a Character Transfer .... just saying. I kind of think there will be a time where that cost will be discounted 40% over the coming Holidays, but then again I thought that about Thanksgiving as well. :(

    If you are all access, then on the AA screen, there is a Grant All (or something like that in the top right), you want this checked as it grants you all AA appropriate for the level you are / gained.

    Mercs, Free 2 Play as only Apprentice level Mercs, All Access has Apprentice and Journeymen Tier 1 (2 through 5 can be unlocked with a simple quest for 85+ characters). IN MY OPINION, the main difference between then is COST, and Stats. For all but the Healer, I do not think anyone would disagree that Journeymen is the better merc. IF the healer is going to just cast Cleric Buffs OR light healing (not in spells rather think of mana), the it is your choice which to use. Starting around level 40 the merc will begin to gain AA's, I have always assigned the AA's to the one that improves Melee mitigation to keep them alive. For a Necro, all Mercs work very well :). All Access can buy Merc slots, this allows you to have multiple mercs to call on but only one at a time. This is best seen in having a Healer Merc on call for Rez's and Buffs OR your in a situation were Heals are more important than DPS, for example.

    ALL Class's have been revised to be a LOT MORE FUN to play. The 3 that stick out the most are Ranger, Chanter and Cleric, with Rogue probably in there as well as I never played a Rogue in the past. Rangers are seriously not the Rangers from the bad old days.
  5. Tinytinker Augur

    Project 1999 has hell levels, corpse runs, no buff timers, and all the other fun things that come with classic game play. They do not allow boxing and won't ever move beyond Velious.

    Phinny will be going into POP soon, but you may be able to fight people that like to progress at a slower pace and do older content on the server. There is a good amount of grouping going on.

    Necros make good raiders and soloers, but can have trouble getting into fast paced xp groups. You may find yourself passed over for classes that can blow up mobs.

    You might consider playing a shaman? They can solo and groups love them.
  6. Enigma Maitreya Augur


    Several times over EQ's life I have suggested that they isolate servers to release levels and augment popular release levels with the same instancing concept they have in place for popular zones.

    One can move up from release levels (if they are entitled to be there) by using a similar concept as the PoK stones. One can only move up, never ever move down. That way people that want to stay on a certain level can do so, those that want to run the gauntlet from start to end can do so.

    Given the Progression Code I am not sure I see any reasons they could not do this and I think it would add to EQ not subtract from it.
  7. Illuzion New Member

    I completely agree with last comment about isolated servers... with transfer ability being easy to do and allowed when I'm ready to move on..., what would it hurt them? It would only gain people like me back to the game that quit over a decade ago. ;)

    Thanks for all the advice so far all!

    Still not sure what I want to do. It sounds like I just need to roll a new character on Phinny and learn what's changed, and then once I've checked it all out again upgrade to all access and pop my enchanter up to 85 with accept all enabled for AA, and start checking new content on Xegony. Or go all the way from the beginning with a Shaman.

    Maybe just check out project 99 as a side project with a necro since he is what I originally was and can solo good back in the good old days prior to mercs , etc.
    moogs likes this.
  8. demoria7 Elder

    I have been playing since 2000, best thing these days is to go to Bertox server or another with a medium or better population, make a new toon, go to tutorial ( game is totally changed) Do every quest there to relearn the game , then if you have the funds, make a heroic toon and xp/ quest up to 105 , join a guild asap.... have fun :) BTW, You can group with high levels once you hit 85, so upgrading to heroic helps you to find folks to group much easier.
    moogs likes this.
  9. Tinytinker Augur

    You might want to check out test server to get a feel for how the game has changed. In the past there have been guilds on test that did progression content, moving at their own pace. I don't know if there are any now doing that or if they all moved to Phinny.

    Necros can be a fun class. But one thing to bear in mind is when you get up in the higher levels, you have to do a lot of button mashing and figuring out how to stack dots. It can get very tedious but some people like it.

    A good resource to check out is Almar's EQ guides: http://www.almarsguides.com/
  10. Yi Min New Member

    Best live server with most people and raiding guild in Bristlebane , 5 raid guilds to pick from ..

    Yi Min
  11. Zendarin New Member

    Recently returned myself - left just after PoP released. FIrst, you can't play on Phinny or any other progression server unless you are all access.

    I started on Firiona (due to good exp gain and able to trade no drop armor) and am glad I did. Went all access shortly after that. I now have a couple of characters in the mid 40's on Firiona - do the tutorial and follow the hero's guide (book you get automatically). I also started a couple of tunes on Phinny. I go back and forth between live and tlp - enjoy the live servers a lot more but needed the Phinny toons to satisfy the nostalgia thing.

    You won't find many low level groups on the live servers as you can get up to al least 70 insanely fast with a tank merc no matter what your class is. Bards totally rock now, always welcome in groups and with the /melody command twisting songs is simple. Once you reach higher levels grouping becomes much easier. On the other hand, lots of groups going on in Phinny.

    Suggest starting on live servers, do the tutorial all the way through but at some point go to Arias (NPC in tutorial) and say "ready to leave" which will port you to PoK - once there talk to Secalna and do all of her tutorial quests. This will teach you about all the new stuff and reward you with a 10 slot weight reduction bag. When ready to return to the Gloomingdeep just talke to Secalna again and she can send you back in to the tutorial - or you can log out and there is an option to go back to the tutorial on the character login screen.

    Couple more tips for the live servers: Use the excellent guides at www.paullynch.org/eqguide and make sure you get decent maps - eqatlas is gone but get all the maps from www.eqmaps.info (brewall maps). You will find this to be a life saver as even some of the old world zones have no maps (butcherblock mountains for example).
  12. Maxball25 New Member

    I used to play back in the day on talon zekand have just been getting back into the game this past year. Favorite part of the game was pvp in FoB and crushbone cave. When there was more then just me in the zone. Idk if you would be interested but I have been tryin to get people rounded up that wanna roll some characters on zek and might even stream some while playin. Have a couple so far just tyrin to get more people. Happy holidays everyone
  13. Illuzion New Member

    Thanks again all!

    I may just look into the Zek idea, but I gotta decide if I'm
    In and like it, and have the time again.

    I've heard a few different options for this class is awesome! Etc etc
    But I gotta play something I like too..
    Thinking I might putz around with enchanter since that's what I used to be and in case I want to end up going back to my old character and making heroic once I get gameplay again.

    I'm assuming stats from various races make negligible difference anymore with all the armor, buffs, AA's, mercs... so if for instance I enjoy dark elfs... just go with dark elf and not worry about this race makes the best this theory anymore?

    Another question. Since I quit right when PoP came out, my 65 enchanter is sitting with only 54 AA's... if and when I go all access and upgrade him to heroic, is that going to catch me up in AA. What's the alternative for catching up AA's if I want to play him from 65? Am I just screwed? I've read a little about auto grant ... would that by chance catch my char up now if I clicked it on old char? Or do they upgrade me /catch me up if I go all access? He's currently tagged as silver, so I guess he caps at 1000aa's, which sounds like nothing these days...
  14. Enigma Maitreya Augur


    From what I have experience there is only 1 class that I would recommend a specific race for and that is Rogue as a Halfling, because of the Hide and Sneak Racial Bonus. Well and Halflings get a 10% XP Bonus.

    For all Access, if you do not check the auto grant box then nothing happens. If you do check the auto grant box and zone, log out, quit the game it will give you all the AA's your entitled to.

    IF you upgrade an existing character that has AA's to Heroic Character then as far as I can tell the AA's you have, that are not trade skill related (Forgot to mention that Auto Grant does not fill in Trade Skill AA's), will be increased if they can be to the max for the level, all AA's your are entitled to that you do not have will be set to max for the level.

    A note on Merc's I failed to mention, if you right click on the Merc's name in the group list, you will get a menu. At the bottom of the menu is Role, select this to see a list of Role's the merc an play. For my warrior I always set it to Main Tank as that will enable an AoE taunt to be used.

    I use the Con system to determine what Merc I use, Healer/Warrior for Red Con's, Yellow to Red and I am not concerned with aggro, then the Tank / Melee DPS (Rogue) Merc, White to Yellow Melee DPS Merc, white and below the Caster DPS Merc. The Caster Merc probably can deliver the most DPS of all the Mercs, but it is dependent, obviously on being able to land the Spells.

    Merc Stances, Balanced is not particularly out to gain Aggro, Concerned about Mana etc., Aggressive(Tank) out to gain Aggro. Burn, Maximize DPS and damn the aggro and mana.

    Passive, if the entire Billing Cycle (15 minutes) is set at passive then the merc will waive the fee.
  15. moogs Augur

    Halfling racial xp bonus is 5%
    Enigma Maitreya likes this.
  16. Illuzion New Member

    I ordered Titanium on eBay, going to cover the nostalgia thing with a dark elf-necromancer on project 1999.

    Will recreate my high elf or dark elf -enchanter on Xegony to relearn game and I'm still hearing good things about enchanters being fun and useful up higher?... I'll either play him to a certain point and go heroic, or jump over to my original character and play from 65 up or go heroic.

    On a different note are wizards or mages or something else more wanted at higher levels for xp groups? Or raiding even?
  17. Illuzion New Member

    One more thing...I can't recall. Can my 65 be used to PL /buff my new char? Or not?

    Just use mercs? At what point in the game as I level am I at a disadvantage, and it makes sense to go all access?
  18. Enigma Maitreya Augur


    Well, Wizards are DPS but they are also some what redundant as a Cleric, Tank and Rogue are. I expect people to reply well played are not and I wont dispute them. Fact remains the core value of the 4 Merc Types are well played. They are not going to be creative and they are not going to adapt well to the unusual or unexpected.

    I use my 85 Druid and Mage (for pet toys etc) to PL my characters but NOT as perhaps as people would expect. In short, my druid can cast level appropriate spells on my characters that give them a huge advantage initially and tends to equalize out around 44 but but by then I can shift up to I think around level 60 Buffs etc. A Necro? Hum, not sure what they can bring in a passive way, but once your what around 50(?) then yeah you can PL them very fast in Black Feather Roost on the Harpies 2nd Tier (3rd nest) the XP there is great and things go very fast.