Is this game made for boxing?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Turmion Kätilöt, Feb 22, 2017.

  1. Turmion Kätilöt New Member

    What happens if you just want to have 1 account.

    Will you be in absolute disvantage? I play in european server, does this matter?

    How is the end game? is people only boxing, playing only with themselves? Will you feel alone?

    Thank you and sorry for english grammatical mistakes.
  2. Dabrixmgp Augur

    Accounts are free so why stop at just 1?
  3. Turmion Kätilöt New Member

    but you must pay for end content. right?
  4. Jumbur Improved Familiar

    The game is designed for non-boxing.
    Im level 105 and I have never boxed, The trick is to get a circle of friends to play with, I recommend joining an active guild and get to know your guild-members :)

    That said, not boxing means that if you can't get a group, then you will have to limit yourself to content that you can handle yourself(with a merc). some classes are better then others in that area.

    You might not be able to handle named mobs that drop upgrades, there will be progression missions/quests tuned for groups that you can't do.
    It can be tricky to find friends that will help you with old content, that is not currently relevant, but still hard to molo(solo with a merc).

    Be aware, that some quests/missions are tuned for real groups, and may be very difficult to box, challenger achievements is an example of content, that may require a real group. Each expansion has a few missions that may be too hard to complete with just boxing.

    That depends on how social you are, and what kind of guild you join. There are active guilds even on the european server, look around.:D
  5. Dabrixmgp Augur

    In a way, yes. The good gear and Augs are tagged Presteige which means you need to pay. However if you just want to drag around another classs you can get away with a free account. Also the passive benefit of a second account is another Merc. If you only wanna play one account then try Phinney. Its the TLP server and supposedly everyone is only allowed to have one account. Also has a good population and currently they are in PoP.
    Turmion Kätilöt likes this.
  6. kthehammy Elder

    The biggest part of being successful and enjoyable 1 box EQ experience is getting into a active guild that fits your timezone/play schedule and getting to know the members and make friends. After that you will find you always have stuff to do and people to group with.
  7. Reht The Dude abides...

    While the game wasn't made for boxing, it certainly accommodates it well. EQ is an old game and most of its players are max level (or close to it) and doing current content . You can certainly play this game without boxing but you are going to need to find a good guild, already have a circle of friends who play, or be willing to be very patient as you level since it's not going to be incredibly easy to meet people or find groups until you get to current content. If you are willing to pay, you might want to consider one of the newer TLP servers since the level gap isn't as high.
  8. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    EQ is a giant sandbox designed to make $ for DBG/Columbus Nova. There are lots of ways to play (free, paid, one account, many accounts, "live" servers, TLP servers, raiding, casual, etc.) and to each their own.

    But if you are trying to play for free, you don't need to worry about end-game content. Frankly, you won't need to worry about anything in the game that was released in the last 10 years. If you are trying to do anything more recent on a free account, you will likely be alone because your gear and AAs will be so limited that you will be a drag on any group you join.

    In some ways, boxing is a natural progression for EQ players: most people who enjoy the game will get bored with one toon and start boxing so they can continue to grow and expand their EQ experience. And they box because they want to do something besides look for a group.

    I have found there are too few people playing to find consistent groups doing what I want to do. Almost everybody in my "casual raiding guild" boxes at least one other account. I logged on the other day and saw 61 toons online in my guild roster but only 1 player answered in guild chat when I asked, "Is anybody online only playing one account?" But I was still chatting with lots of other boxers: boxing doesn't mean loneliness.

    That is not to say that there aren't lots of players who still only play one account. But they are all running around looking for a group at different level ranges and in different zones. Some of them only log on during raid times. Immediately after the release of a new expansion is the best time to find groups of other players doing current content (after a few months, most have finished and it becomes harder to find a group again).

    The game's "current" content (and most content that is "level appropriate") is designed and implemented in a way that makes it far too difficult for one player to complete solo (or "molo"; with a merc). There is still a lot of "end game" content that encourages real players to group up, like missions that are very difficult to box. And the raid scene is quite active (but boxes even show up on raids).

    Most boxers I've met are better at getting quests done and are more knowledgeable about the game. Players who only have one account are often less skilled or less familiar with the game, but certainly not always. But keep in mind that a guy with one ball might learn to dribble, but a guy with three balls will learn to juggle.
  9. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    I don't agree. On the most popular (and newest) TLP server, the level range is 1-60, and you level up at the "old school" slow rates. On live servers, "if you are willing to pay", you can get a Heroic character that starts you at level 85 with full gear and lots of other headstarts, which is only 20 levels away from max level.

    TLP servers are fine for those that want to play EQ more like was 10 years ago (and don't want to play for free). But if you want to see current content and see what EQ has become in the 10 years since, then play on a live server.
    Turmion Kätilöt likes this.
  10. Tereil Elder

    Test may be a good option. Or a live server then /testcopy over. It has a very healthy player base and great activity. Free accounts have all the benefits of a paid account there. XP bonus all the time. Gearing is somewhat easy. All expansions available but latest for free. Can buy the latest if you want.

    Some downsides: hasn't happened in a long time, but wipes; no real economy, due to /testcopy of items.

    I three box there sometimes, but haven't necessarily had to since it is quite active.
  11. Reht The Dude abides...

    If he is brand new, exp rates probably will mean little to him but he will have a better chance of finding to people to level with on a TLP server (particulary phinny as you have stated) than he will a live server. Heroic characters are great if you are returning or want an alt, but i think it's a bad idea for a new player starting out because EQ actually has such a big learning curve and many of the class specific sites are now defunct.
  12. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    You might be right about finding people to group with at lower level on a TLP server. But I absolutely think Heroic toons are a great way to learn EQ. A lot of the abilities that make a toon fun don't even become available until later levels, and I think a lot newer players burn out and quit because of the tediously slow grind before ever getting a character to the "fun" levels.
  13. Gundolin Augur

    I only have a single account. Making friends and groups was slow at first, but now I have a full group of six about 4 or 5 nights a week and have to turn away people. I am not a great player or great gear, (pretty good gear but not great). However I almost always play with my wife so we have to active accounts starting then adding in more as we go is not a problem. Plus people know we like to get in, run through a progression mission or two and get out. They know we are logging in around 9:15 Pacific and will go 1 - 3 hours max. So consistency, and friendliness go a long way.

    An advantage of running two or three accounts and boxing is you can start quests and missions by yourself and then just pop in people as they arrive, dropping mercs and boxed accounts, as you progress. But I would not consider it necessary.
    moogs likes this.
  14. Reht The Dude abides...

    Possibly so, but i have seen just as many people start out by getting a heroic character and are totally overwhelmed, and that's with some guidance from higher level characters. How is a brand new player with their instant level 85 with its 100's of spells and 1,000's of AAs going to know what the "fun" abilities and spells are on top of learning the game systems themselves? If they get into groups, will they luck out and find an understanding group or luck out and get one that considers incompetent/bad and have a bad experience that could make them quit? Will they quit If they can't figure out how to use all those "fun" abilities to effectively solo? Starting from scratch gives you the time to acclimate yourself to game, learn its systems, understand the combat system, etc. Furthermore, it's cheaper for the OP to try the game at low level to decide if he/she wants to play before throwing $35(?) away on a HC if they don't like it.
  15. Peechka Journeyman

    If you want to play with one character, go play on Phinny, one of the progression servers. They have the most population and its widely spread out through most of the levels, although I can imagine even that server getting top heavy now too.

    See, back when this game released it was definitely made for one character. most of us were on expensive dial up at the time, and sporting computers that had a hard time playing one instance of EQ, let alone 2 or 3 lol. I dont even think you could play windowed mode until after velious expansion.

    Now most of the regular servers are pretty much everyone either soloing or playing current lv105 content grouped up. Lv1-100 is probably deads-ville if you want to find a group.

    I think the boxing stuff became more popular as time went on, computers were getting better, EQ client was becoming better, and less and less people to find to form a group for all levels, especially afer the great 2004-2005 migration over to WoW. And since this games content is pretty much all made to be done with a group, well you can see why people went the way of boxing over the years. This is why, after all, they introduced mercs to the game, basically hired NPC boxes to play along side of you if you still wanted to solo. The problem with mercs, they are not viable for all the levels of the game. For instance the tank merc is a beast lv 10-50, but then his power slowly diminishes and he gets his kicked by the time hes 65 or so.
    Turmion Kätilöt likes this.
  16. Peechka Journeyman

    I definitely agree. To an EQ veteran this makes sense, like a dude that played EQ from 2000-2005 and then quit, now he wants to come back, yeah the lv 85 herioc character makes sense, hes got the EQ foundation. But to a pure EQ noob? All I can see is fail. Im sure some people could pick it up, I mean this game is not rocket science, but there is a lot of nuance to this game that cannot be easily explained and just has to be experienced.
  17. NameAlreadyInUse #CactusGate

    I'm not sure the OP is a total noob, but even so, I definitely don't agree that the TLP servers are the best place to start EQ. And merc tanks are perfectly viable even in the latest expansion since the last patch.

    My "noob to eq" guide would look something like this:
    1. Star with Free-to-play and do the Tutorial.
    2. Continue on with Hero's Journey achievement tasks.
    3. If you haven't found friends, go All Access, so you can do step 4.
    4. Say hello in /general chat and tell people you are new, ask to join a guild, maybe even ask for somebody to show you around.
    5. Settle in for a long ride, because EQ is about time spent in EQ and on the internet trying to learn about EQ.
    Turmion Kätilöt likes this.
  18. Turmion Kätilöt New Member

    thanks for all your answers
  19. Anhari Augur

    You do have to be subscribed in order to access the TLP's like Phinney or Ragefire. You can have more than one account on Phinney but It is a TRUE BOX server, which means that you must have more than one account AND more than one computer. The software detects if you are running multiple instances on one computer and limits that.
  20. skattabrainz Augur

    On Phinny you WILL get groups at all levels with a little effort.

    I see people starting Paludal caverns groups all the time in pok chat. I'm at an odd level (51 half way to 52) and even for me I've yet to log on and not get a group eventually ever since returning.

    The same (u will get a group) applies on the larger population live servers but you might have to get into a guild; guaranteed there is an unofficial casual/leveling guild on your server where SOMEONE will have an alt at or near your level.. maybe they've been waiting for an excuse to level it,and you're that excuse! (Might get some gear and advice outta the deal)
    moogs likes this.