What "IS" the best server to come back to the game after a LONG absence?

I played EQ extensively from 1999-2004 and have played on or off for months since then. Now I'm back and really want to get into it again. I've looked at the forums and done some research an it seems Phinegal may be the best server for me to "come home" to but I'd like to ask everyone's opinion.

I played a necro back in the day on EMarr and have never played another class. I think I'd like to come back to a necro but I remember necros being nothing but mana pumps in high level raids so it got kinda boring.

Is Phinegal really the best place for me to "relearn" the game and mechanics?

Phinny might be a good idea. It's slowly progressing through the expansions until it hits live servers. If you came back a few times over the years then you know a little bit about a few changes over the years. I think their level cap is currently 80 or 85 and has a decent population of players.

I'd say FV as getting geared is going to be a lot simpler there

I'd suggest Phinny. Mercs just got unlocked, and the cap is at 85 now. Exp rate is also the same as live servers at this point, so it's very fast to catch up. There is also a really healthy population there, and you stand a much better chance of grouping with people between 50-85 than you do on a live server, which is where you are going to run into problems with exp rate and merc viability. The server seems generally friendly, and has a lot of positive attributes to it.

I guess the question is whether you want to do live, or progress through older content.

If you want to do live, then just do live. Sure you have more catching up to do, but you'll still get caught up to live faster by playing live then you will the 3 years it's going to take phinny to unlock up to live. I'd recommend Bristlebane as a populated server with plenty of guild options.

If you want to do a progression server, then Phinny is definitely a good option. It's fairly populated, much more so than most progression servers have been at this point in their lifespan, and seems on track to stay plenty active all the way until it catches up to live (but of course, nothing is guaranteed). Mercenaries just unlocked and Phinny is at live exp rates, so catching up isn't too terrible. The point at which exp starts to slog is right around the point you can start grouping with max level people, so join a guild, make some friends and it shouldn't be too bad.

Might want to confirm first but one option if you wanted to group through the earlier levels is to play on Phinny but once you reach current end game there do a server transfer off onto a live server and try to catch up with current live end game. I am not sure if you can transfer from a TLP to live but this seems like a possible alternative if you don't want to be stuck waiting for several years to catch live.

Bristabane is a good server. Very friendly people

Test is best. The benefits of test server are many and outweigh the fact you cannot transfer off.

firiona vie , more players play there , yesterday there was :
newplayers chat { 235 }
general chat { max at 400 }
general chat 2 ( because gen chat was at max } another 325 or so , and many not joining these channel as well .
I see everyday { even low levels } LFG players , several guilds recruiting any levels as well.

the ONLY downside I can see in FV, is when you play there you will never be able to server transfer to other servers .

you get a permanent 50% xp going .

for those saying the items are way pricy ( yes it can be ) , many giving away free items all the time as well , even a krono here and there , I know some did and I did as well .

we get are bad peoples as well like any other server { /ignore @ ftw }.

and when at higher level you can even sell some items or tradeskill items and could buy your own kronos there too .

That depends on whether he has money for kronos doesnt it? He certainly isnt going to be swimming in plat after 8 years gone.

Personnally I'd check out a few before really settling for 1. Log in join general chat, see how the server is at your playtime. No good joining a server if there is no one around when you play or you don't fit, see for yourself how friendly people are in general chat, plane of Knowledge etc.

Consider looking at your old server, there may still be friends around who still play and may help you. Take a look at Phinny for yourself, some progression servers are toxic, Phinny from what I have heard is one of the better ones.

You have a few other server suggestions for you, it wouldn't hurt to log in and chat to people and see which you feels more home to you.

Hope you find a server you are happy to call home.

in any server with a merc , they are so overpowered , so the armors will come as you level anyway, no need to pay high prices to get armors, and there are so many nice players in FV , if he really need plats or armors I am sure he could find any * cheap or free * starting with me. 100k ? is nothing there , for many

and all armors you are getting you can sell them back when you upgrade them .

Honstely I have zero idea how people level up past 75 or so. Defiant w /autogrant AA is brutal. Even con mobs in SoD zones rip me up in elaborate Defiant w a couple of 300 hp/mana/end pieces thrown in. Moloing w healer merc J1 is laughable. Tanking anything in SoD is tough, I feel as squishy as a mage in a newbie robe. FV gear runs in the millions. Tried tanking 2 even con 75 mobs and got chewed up even w merc on reactive and ended up dying. Now I"m just taking stock on how to get to level 80.

FV is your best bet , it has the most people for live servers , can buy and sell almost anything ,and has exp bonus !

YiMin

are you playing in FV if so what is your toon name ( or send me a tell here ) , I could get you all TBM armors and augments for free . I have seen some players after getting the tbm armors @ lv 75 doing not too bad after. it seem that lv 75 area is a road blocker for many.

I hate to see new players or returning players getting stuck at these levels, that is not good for the game.
DB should do something about that, merc at lv 75 + are pretty weak, and armors are much harder to upgrade for them.

with max levels being at 110 , it should be easier and faster to level up to level 100 at least imo.
specially for the * all access *.

**** BTW I can help there fast and easy because 1) I play in FV , no way I could do that in other servers because most of the items are no trade .and plats is much harder to get .( I got my raiding shm in rathe btw ) .
specially with the tbm armors , into the temple B got like 1237 currencies and I can get 5 ( or 6 ), toon in task, { 1237x 6 ) and the armors at lv 75 is like 5 currencies each plus some more for the augments. and that task take about 10 to 15min to do at high level * with a full group *.

Plat off the loyalty vendor via Bags of Platinum helps greatly. Not sure if you keep velocity or whatever these days if not subbed, but there is a good chance he may already have made, but not used, the loyalty tokens. But the same problems of the early game needing some plat are the same on FV as they are on Live. FV Gear only comes into play later, and if you shop around it shouldn't cost much.

Pretty much at this point from 20 to 70-ish is the only real place FV gear is a real advantage levelling up, and even then.. those levels aren't hard to get through, so its more a luxury. After that, TBM or CoTF gear is largely the same on both servers. You can also buy the Remnant of Tranquility currency if going TBM on either. This is the only point you'd even consider buying a Krono imo, as simply suiting up has its advantages over gearing through it.. but either works.

And you really only need a little plat at the start(i'd say 50K on aggregate would do it), not a lot. You just need enough to get going, and then you'll make it as you go. So far I've had no trouble going deep(currently at 82 on the war and 81 on the shm, respectively) playing around on FV without using Krono, and pretty much at this point making what I spend while being entirely self-sufficient.

With a box setup, getting a ton of vendor junk to stay above water is easy. And I would highly suggest not playing the game without a box setup. On Phinny that requires multiple computers, on Live it does not. It can be as few as a two box or as many as you want, but soloing this game will require you to make friends and get groups, and those are few and far between at the lower levels.

If plat or gear is a problem or you want to try out EQ again copy to test. People freely give plat and gear away and your account will be all access. Test server currently grants ex-pacs 23 of 25. No word on if RoS is going to open for free or not, yet. There is no economy on test and everyone has pp so there is no need to hoard items.

AoCs are also available if you are into the older type raids. All you have to do is /testcopy your character and switch to test to try EQ again with all access. You can also start a new character and play the tutorial. I would play through the tutorial and then /testbuff to level 25 for spells, gear and skills.

You have a couple options

1: Test server, if you want to access everything in the game for free
2: FV, this server along with bristlebane are the most populated live servers but be warned that FV has its own ruleset were everything is tradeable, it is also a roleplaying server.
3: Bristlebane, this server along with FV are the most populated live servers but unlike FV this server is a standard ruleset server.
4: TLP Servers: Depends on the era you want to experience and also the exp rate.

Hope that helps.

Hey bigpappa, sorry I came across as bitter/frustrated. My in game name is Mordenrasp. Would be neat if you could help me out w/ some TBM gear to help me on up the leveling ladder. I have like 70,000 plat to my name which is peanuts on FV. I'm a level 75 Warrior.

sure will , will parcel you some armors, can you zone to TBM ? and if you can but can't see the augments from the npc in plane of health I could run that task with you ( into the temple B ) , so you could see the augm's from the vendor. and all free.

if I don't see you I will send you a game mail.