Hello all, I am going to return to EQ after many many years away. Last time I played was with some friends between 1999-2004. I know that the game has changed a lot since the last time I played. I was wondering what the best class would be to solo? I really enjoyed the playing the Paladin, Ranger or Wiz back in the day. I have 2 pc's and was going to try to run 2 characters from level 1 up. Also I see a new term of "Boxing" could someone explain this to me please. Just one more question as well what server would be good for a newb to return to. Thank you all in advance Kaylis
Make sure you have something more recent than Windows XP/Vista. Those are no longer supported. Boxing is playing more than one account at a time. The screens are like boxes hence the word boxing. Some people box on one computer others use 2 computers - what ever is easier for you. I usually box 4 accounts on one computer and one monitor. You can only play one character per account at one time anyway so you may want to make 2 free accounts and your choice of classes. Try to get your old account back. There are directions on the main site under help. You have lots of loyalty points and veterans rewards on it that will be useful. You can play it free also. Play around with making which ever character you want to play, they are all good nowadays since you can use a mercenary and "molo" = solo with merc = molo. So much has changed so make sure you do the tutorial all the way to get the haste stick, charm and other goodies. There is so much to go over that using search in the upper right in these forums might help and there are tons of guides on the internet to help you too.
Where to start. This is a long post. As CatsPaws says get your old account back, it really helps. Also no matter what server you decide on, make sure to run through the tutorial on any of the live servers, it will help explain some of the changes that have happened since you've left. Server types Live - Live servers are old, so all the population on these servers is at the top end. You will do levels 1-100 on your own / limited help / grouping - unless you bring friends / find a guild to help. TLP - Time Locked Progression - either by the population voting or by a set amount of time expansions are released in order from Classic to current expansion. Firiona Vie - Roleplay preferred server - Little to no roleplay goes on, on this server. This server has special item rules. Almost anything can be traded to anyone, there is very little no drop. So the big raid items that bosses drop can be bought by someone who doesn't actually raid. Also there is no "common" language everyone uses elvish i think. This is one of the more popular live servers due to the ability to trade items. Brekt - Like Firiona Vie server only dead. EU server - Same rule set as live just hardware is located in Europe and currently has issues that are being worked on PVP server - Only 1 and its dead. Agnarr - TLP True Box Progression - Currently on Velious and will only got to LDoN expansion Fippy Darkpaw - TLP Vote Progression - The Darkened Sea Lockjaw- TLP Vote Progression - Gates of Discord Phinigel - TLP True Box Progression - Currently on Dragons of Norrath Ragefire - TLP Vote Progression - Gates of Discord Antonius Bayle - EU Firiona Vie- (RP) Brekt- Free trade server Bertoxxulous- Live Bristlebane- Live Cazic Thule- Live Drinal- Live Erollisi Marr- Live Luclin- Live Povar- Live The Rathe- Live Trakanon - Live Tunare- Live Vox - Live Xegony- Live Zek - PVP Boxing - There are 2 sides to this. Boxing saved eq and boxing destoryed eq. Basically what boxing is, one person is playing more than 1 character at a time. On all live servers and on some TLP servers you can box. (Start eq on the computer, login a character, then start eq again and login another character and can alt tab between the windows and play both characters, or 3, or 4 etc) On Phinigle / Agnarr servers they are "True box" servers meaning the game will only allow 1 instance of Eq to run on the same computer. So if you Box on those servers it has to be with a 2nd / 3rd computer. Solo classes - with mercs every class can solo (it's called molo when using mercs) to 60 no problem. Just use the tank merc and it will get you to 60 no problem. The problem comes in after 60 where the mercs aren't as good as they need to be, which usually leads people to box so they can have additional mercs to help out. If you are going to play on a live server - play what you want and box another character to help out with soloing. If you are going to play on a TLP server - Druids / Wiz / Necro / Mages solo well, but the point to play on a TLP server is to play with people so generally easy to get a group. Server recommendations - Depends on account type and what you are looking for. If you are Paid account or free to play / silver account then I would recommend - FV / Xegony - both servers have decent populations - both have guilds that help new and returning players. If you are a paid account I would also recommend either Agnarr (limited shelf life) or Phinigel. Agnarr will only go through expansions until Lost Dungeons of Norrath and no more expansions - it currently has the highest low level population - easy to group with people from 1-60 and on Wed the next expansion releases and will have a bunch of new characters starting at level 1 (Cat peeps from Luclin, this is also the server I am currently playing on). Once the server reaches the last expansion, you are allowed to transfer off, or move the next TLP or jump to a live sever with friends you make here. Phinigel - this server will go through all the expansions eventually so it will become a live server at some point. Though currently the lower levels it is harder to find group but you can if you try hard / find a guild. Anyway have fun and let us know where you land.
There is no solo anymore because of mercs. So in the past it sucked to solo with most melees, you can now just have a healer merc and solo happily while the merc heals you. A lot of people go with the tank merc because it does really well for many levels and you just need to help it however you can. Boxing probably isn't worth the hassle because it will just confuse you and make getting back in to the game harder than it already will be. It would be better to just pick a class you want to play, and get a merc that compliments it. You can go through the levels like that. Then once you get familiar with the game again, if you want a bit more challenge, depth, and faster kills, you could level up a second character to multibox with. The benefit of this is not just that you have the second character, but a second merc too, so now you have a group of 4 and things are so much easier like that. Also you can even start the second character with the Heroic boost, not cheap, but it lets the character start at level 85 with decent gear so you could use it to help your first character level up faster, and then when you are both about the same level, group them together. p.s. you can get free money and over powered gear now to make levelling up easier and buying spells etc. At least until the 50s and 60s and then it slows down.
Thank you all for the input that explains a lot I will not box but run 2 accounts with 2pc's and have the mercs as needed. I am really looking forward to coming back to this game now.
