Hey guys i'm downloading EQ now and will be playing for the first time once this surprisingly large 10gb download is complete. I played Ultima Online for years though back in the day. How is the community on EQ, lots of peeps playing? And are there any guilds to join as a newb (for PVE)? I just started playing UO again on a free shard and there are zero newbie guilds there but it's still a great game. One other thing.. I have a Win 8 laptop, 4gb ram, with intel 3000hd graphics. Not great, I know, but do you think it's good enough to play EQ at a reasonable quality seeing as it's an old game?
My old laptop (which i still occasionally use for eq) was a Sony VivoBook S200E. This laptop has a i3-3217U, 4Gb memory with 4000HD graphics. Turning off shadows and reducing spell effects I could run EQ at a reasonable speed even in raids. The main problem was an 11" screen and the 4Gb really limited how many instances of EQ I could run. I normally play on a HP Pavilion with a 5157u processor, 8Gb memory with Intel Iris 6100 graphics. Not the most powerful laptop but the extra memory and a 15" screen means its a lot nicer playing EQ on this than my old laptop.
Ah great that's good to know, thx for the info. I think mine should be able to run it if i turn off the shadows and sfx then. My laptop screen is 15 inches but, half the time, I plug it into a large 40 inch widescreen tv so I have a massive screen to play on Well it's only 50% downloaded so far so I have to wait a while yet before I even get to try it, it's been downloading already for 2 hours lol
1. Default EQ UI is horrid. Visit EQinterface and look up some popular UIs there. 2. Google up "Good's Everquest Maps" and download the latest batch. 3. Game is almost 20 years old and VERY top heavy. Most lower level folks you will see around are twinked alts of high level folks. Genuine groups are quite hard to come by. If you run on 40" at 1080p you should be fine. Progression servers might have slightly better grouping options but they got very few help features like mercs. I would go for live.
Thanks for the info, UI is very important in a game so I'll check out that website asap. A clunky UI can literally make or break a game. Will also dl the Maps... You say it's very top heavy but I'd assume there's tons of pve quests for a newb to do and gradually build. Whats the average time to get to a high level in the game? Well what do you know, the game has just finished downloading! I'm about to close down UO and check it out soon... Would you recommend any specific server for someone playing for the very first time and do you think I should modify the UI immediately or is it ok to have a sneak peek at the game first?
Gorg, start a character on Bristlebane and /t Niloiv. I'll give ya the run down - that is unless you plan to play on a TLP (progression server). Live communities tend to have very seasoned players in the latest expansion. Scorrpio had some good advice (although i use the default UI) TLP (depending on which server) could have a few more people in the starting areas for you to group. If you make a live-server character here is my suggestion for you: go through the tutorial with a few classes and get a feel for how each of them play. Most classes need about 10 lvls, are so, to get a sense of what they will be like later in level. Once you have a class that you think you may want to play, I strongly suggest paying for a heroic upgrade. This will put the character to lvl 85 and give you gear to play at that level plus a few other basic needs (plat and bags). It is well, worth the investment. This will allow you to find some family-style guilds or alt guilds that have people who are working on getting heroic characters up to current content. Im not sure your gaming expertise level, but here are some class breakdowns to think about CLASS_____Class TYPE_____GROUP needs_____RAID needs Rogue - pure dps melee - Medium -Medium Berserker - pure dps melee - Medium -Medium Cleric - pure healing -HIGH -HIGH Warrior - Pure Tank - HIGH -Low (but always need a few) Wizard -Pure dps caster -Medium -Medium (depends on the guild) Necro -Pure dps caster -Low -Medium (depends on the guild) Mage -Pure dps caster -Low -Low (depends on the guild) Druid -Buffs, heals, dots -High if you heal -Medium to High Shaman -Buffs, heals, slows -high -Medium to High Monks -Pulling, dps -Medium -LOW! Enchater -Buffs, CC, adps -HIGH -HIGH Hybrids Ranger -dps + buffs -Medium - usually low Paladin -tank + heals -High - usually low (but need a few) Shadow Kn -tank+dps -High - usually low (but need a few) Bst Lord -dps + buffs -Medium - Medium Bard -pulling,Adps, CC -High - High This is an obvious over simplification, but i hope it helps as you start your EQ carrier! dots = damage of time pulling = tools to break NPC camps up to get few enemies to fight Buffs = beneficial spells on allies slows = detrimental spells on enemies to make them weaker CC = crowd control adps = assisted dps, your actions dont help you but those around you And any guild will take you, but if you want to eventually raid, the the far left column is a ROUGH idea of what raiding guilds are looking for, but of course you will want a few of every class.
And here is Solo Play____Mercenary Play Rogue - doable-doable Berserker - doable-doable Cleric - Hard-easy Warrior -Hard-easy Wizard -doable-doable Necro -easy-easy Mage -easy-easy Druid --easy-easy Shaman --doable-easy Monks -low-doable Enchater --doable-easy Hybrids Ranger --Hard (unless you can headshot)- doable Paladin -doable- Easy Shadow Kn -doable- Easy Bst Lord -doable- Easy Bard -hard- hard
I can and do run it on my work laptop which just has Intel HD Graphics 4600 card and it runs fine on the default settings without changing anything at all.. Some options you can do are, you can get rid of NPC / PC names above their heads, you can hide all afk players. Turn off / down spell effects and even turn characters into stick figures if it running slow. For the stick figures you have to edit your eqclient.ini file inside your main Everquest directory and add StickFigures=1.
The specs are not amazing but if you spend some time in the options and minimize background processes, you'll be okay. Welcome.
Welcome to EQ. the Intel HD 3000 (IMO) can play EQ, but is the minimum playable graphics. I did on a HP ProBook with, at the time the latest driver 15.xxx from Intel and i7 quad core (w/HT 8 threads). i had to adjust many settings for clip plane, and detail etc. there is a significant difference between HD3000 and later Intel GPU's (4600/Iris) on chip, with the later(s) being much more capable of 3D rendering and gaming. you may want to look to specific driver revision to get the most out of your graphics. note-Windows 7 drivers will work on win 8/10 also tweaking Intel HD graphics for gaming: https://www.howtogeek.com/245592/how-to-improve-gaming-performance-with-intel-hd-graphics-chips/ “PO-TAY-TOES! Boil 'em, mash 'em, stick 'em in a stew…” lol...yeah
Monks are doable at all levels, you just have to be group geared within a few expansions of whatever content you are playing. About the only exceptions to that would be EoK and RoS, which you'll need to be mostly the previous or current expansion gear to solo well. Moloing lets your gear be a couple more expansions back, again with the exceptions of EoK and RoS which expect you to have a bit better gear and somewhat expect you to be Moloing rather than soloing.
From test patch notes (the patch live should get Wed 2/21/18) So it will be interesting to see if everyone's older machines still work.
I venture to say given the right circumstance and player, anyone can solo/molo with any class. I was intending to give the new comer a QUICK overview to help him process nearly 20yrs of info
