(hope this is the appropriate place for this) You should sell damage shield potions on the NPC merchants for low level players so they can level a little faster and have fun doing it instead of relying on players selling them in the bazaar all the time. There has been monay times I wanted to get some potions for low level alts and littterally no one was selling any. Just make the NPC merchant ones do like 2 or 3 dmg less than the player ones that way the player made ones will still sell when they are on the bazaar.
I actually think characters should just start at level 85 for anyone who owns the latest expansion and has all access. level 1-84... I have done that too many times. I don't want to go back. Please don't kill me for this clearly not-well-thought-out idea.
Low level players can already buy DS potions in the bazaar, so long as their server has an active economy. As far as starting at level 85, I say no. I played several characters to level 75, took a break, and came back when the heroic characters first came around. Cashed in my free heroic on a new server, and promptly got my butt handed to me. Not because the mobs were too hard. But because I didn't know how to play the class at level 85. This holds true in other games that allow you to start at higher levels, so you can catch up to your friends faster, they tell you. Learning how to play your class from the beginning, is still better in the long run, than jumping in dozens of levels down the path. It's one reason I don't care for power leveling. You level so fast, you don't develop critical skills so your character can actually function at the desired end level. Casting spells so low all you do is fizzle and waste mana. Defensive and weapon skills so low you are only a fraction as effective as a character at the same class/level/gear that came up the hard way. It's one reason, even if a robed caster, I try to tank through my early levels any time I play a new character, so I can build Defense and Dodge, in order to take a hit and survive when stuff starts to hit really hard.
In my experience, the bazaar prices for anything useful for lowlevels, are made with the assumption that the lowlevel players are fed plat from a high level char. Fair prices for leveling up "yet another twinked alt", but outrageously expensive for a first-timer, who also needs to save up for spells.
Don't be afraid to ask other players to help you. Ask in General/New Players/OOC in PoK or Bazaar if anyone would make a run of skinspikes potions for you (up to VI, all ingredients are store bought). Have the stuff to make the skinspikes you want on you already (and tell the person) and I'm sure you can find someone. At least I would always do it for lowbies on Xegony if I'm not otherwise busy. But I almost never see anyone ask...(truth be said, someone sells potions pretty constantly on Xegony) In modern EQ, it's sometime easy to forget that we are playing a MMORPG as we have learned to be self-sufficient due to dwindling numbers/less free time to play/etc. But personally I love to spend time in the game helping others and I know that there are many others who play that feel the same way.
