At some point in the next couple of months I’ll be returning to Norrath. Played from Velious launch to TDS I’ll be boxing on AB server - no hate please, need to AFK at fairly short notice for family. My group will start off with Box 1: COTF raid geared 100SK Box 2: COTF group geared bard, enc, shaman (all 100) Box 3: COTF group geared wiz, mage, zerker, necro, rogue, monk (all 100) Question: where should I go? - start at TDS and work through in chronological order? - skip to a specific expansion/ zone / HA to level and gear up? Question: Are there any “must do” things that wil make life easier for me? All helpful insights appreciated
A while back AB was really messed up, at least according to all posts here, not sure if that is still the case. You could /testcopy to Test server and play there if it still is. I'm sure you could find a test guild that would be most helpful. I recommend Primal Brood but there are others. Test has a lot of benefits (free all access, fast xp, all but most current x-pac) and one downfall as you cannot move from test. If you don't like it you can always log back into AB and and play as the copy process doesn't alter your toons on the live side.
To give you information that's actually useful, Since you ask about doing TDS and chronological order, first I'd check to see if you finished all the COTF group progression. After that I'd hit TDS and just quest everything if questing is your thing. Once you're 106 upgrade to ROS tradeskill armor. Even though you're a 3 box with 3 mercs probably I'd leave up lfg so that you can meet people, the community is the cornerstone of the Everquest experience and making friends can make your journey much more enjoyable.
Thanks - that really helps Finished all of COTF progression on my main toons. I'll definitely be grouping whenever possible, hopefully joining a casual guild and eventually getting back into raiding (once I've caught up, and have the time available). I'll probably be staying on AB for now, as I'm UK-based - although I appreciate the suggestion re: Test server. Cheers Ash
I would focus on Augs for the SK - for AC your find some new trad-able player made even in the baz . gear starting TBM and up starts having the bonus Slot 5's augs. TDS - brother island is open its T2 but has an Aug https://items.eqresource.com/items.php?id=140597 read the Class section on SK's COFT like many npcs - has some AC augs like https://cotf.eqresource.com/groupgearlvl95.php?class=shd&type=augmentation&stat=ac&Submit=Submit Look into housing to put in your Trophies Do you have your SK Trophies found a old post https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/tribute-and-trophy-suggestions-for-sk.224729/ make sure to due the two daily missions (free port to the NPCs from Pok) usally a fast port to COTH zones if if you don't want to do the mission- lol http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=7988 I would Due some TDS Progression its good EXP at 100 still. some TBM progression for the clikcy so you can go to all the zones in TBM and get coin for the SLOT 5 AUGS for when you can get some slot 5 gear. The Coin is tradable but the faction to see the items is not.
Ash, Gear took a MAJOR stepfunction increase in TBM. The reason is because TBM introduced Type 5 augments in every inventory slot. The type 5 augments from TBM essentially give a huge boost to heroic stats, making even TBM group armor a massive improvement over CoTF raid armor. Until you swap out your gear and load up on Type 5 augments, expect to be run over by any content from TBM forward. The solution is what Laronk suggested above. At level 106, you can buy Conflagrant armor for every slot. This will at least give you solid base armor, and then it will be up to you to fill in the type 5s. So do as follows: 1) Level up in TDS until you hit level 106. 2) Buy a full set of Conflagrant armor for all three characters. 3) Buy as many augments as you can afford, including type 5 conflagrant augmetns and type 5 sebilisian augments (from EoK expansion). 4) Start in on TBM progression. As you go through it, you’ll accumulate TBM currency that you can use to quickly fill in any open Type 5 augment slots. Once you’ve done steps 1-4 above, you can proceed however you’d like. That said, you’re still going to get smashed to pieces in Conflagrant gear until you hit level 110 and get your relevant AA. I suggest you do all of EOK progression as you level up from 106 - 110 and get your relevant AA. EOK progression is also required to complete some of the missions in ROS and kill some of the named mobs.
I think you can go to Frontier Mountain if you are carefull, XP is much better. That way you skip previous expacs, and get ready for new expac asap. Your goal should be 25k AA, so make sure you have Autogrant activated.
Realized I didn’t clarify in my above post. You’re going to get smashed to pieces in conflagrant gear IN ROS until you have the proper levels / AA. As someone who restarted during ROS as a Shadow Knight in raid gear / AA from Rain of Fear, I have very recent and relevant experience in this!
Having returned and starting with the same gear I skip to EoK. Eok progressions is need to do ROS. with EOK you skip TBM who gear was a nightmare to deal with and not worth the effort. once you complete EOK you should be 105+ and can get Conflagrant gear. at this point you can start RoS progression / Group with anyone ( because you will have EotD done ) or go back and complete the expiation you skipped / Farm Aug, collectables, achievements. in other words Eotd is the bottle next that blocks a lot of content. once that done you will be back in the swing of things and can do as you please.
EoTD from EoK only hinders a select few zones/missions. Overall, I wouldn't prioritize that atm with the new expansion right around the corner. TBM also introduced the Dicho spells, each class gets a unique dicho spell that is pretty powerful compared to other spells. The only way to get higher ranks of this spell is to do progression from TBM. I can't speak for all classes, but I know Shamans still use theirs constantly. I would mainly focus on getting XP. Maybe find some augs you could use and camp them, you'll knock out 2 things at once (Augs and XP). As others have said the RoS Tradeskill armor at 106 will probably be the easiest/best gear upgrades for you.
At level 102, i was killing in Lcea with a berserker, bard, shaman, cleric merc, tank merc, and caster dps merc. By 104 i could kill a few named. I would personally get to max level asap. You have a real tank, so at 108 to 110 with conflagrant, you should be able to go exp OT once you get used to the mechanics.
