Thanks for reading this, to those of you who do. I started playing Everquest when Velious was the newest expansion, and I've been playing ever since. A few months on, then a couple of years off, then a few months on, etc. I've seldom grouped, and never raided. (….but I would like to!) The cycle generally looks something like this: I start playing and I notice that the vast bulk of the other players are at the top levels. So I solo, and molo, up to low/intermediate levels. It's a grind, but I realize that the carrot at the end of the stick is at the top levels, so I keep grinding for a few months, an hour or two at a time, probably about ten hours per week. (Only ten hours per week because I have a job and a life, including a wife who does not play Everquest. My time has to be budgeted a bit.) While I'm doing this, I read posts on the forum here. This is what they look like to me [not an actual post]: “Hey everybody, just wondering.. When I was 13-boxing the other night in the Crypt of Fermented Ambitions trying to get my Postage Stamp for a quest in Plane of Nausea, I noticed that one of my Rogues was only doing 97% of his usual damage. I tried overclocking my processor but it didn't help. Was my Zealous Dagger of Felonious Intent nerfed again? Or does this have something to do with an incompatibility with my Druid's Bogus Earthen Conundrum spell? Any help would be appreciated.” And usually the responses are even more convincing that this is something I'm just not going to be good at, this Everquest thing: “I had the same problem last night, I was finishing up soloing my Epic 9.5, and it turned out that when Bastion of Impermeability is up, and you upscale your Doom of Final Biorhythm AA with your Druid and your Gargling Force AA with your Bard, there's a software glitch that causes Rogues' DPS to slightly dip. You can get around this by disabling and re-enabling your Macroscopic Particles Discipline if you're up for learning a lot of SQL and resoldering your motherboard, or you can spend some plat at the Bazaar on a DPS Crowbar, but those are pretty rare. The developers say they're working on this but I wouldn't hold my breath.” I read a lot of posts that sound like this, and I think, “OMG, what am I doing? I suck. And I always will.” I can't imagine being like one of you people. OMG. I would need some sort of Everquest Masters Degree. How do I get one of those? I'll never get there. Looks like it would be easier for me to learn to fly a commercial airliner blindfolded. So I burn out. I convince myself that if all I do in Everquest is solo (or molo), maybe it's the wrong game. It's not really meant for that. Maybe I should be playing Skyrim. So I quit. But after a couple of years or so, I get a hankering to go back to Everquest. It's like a kind of homesickness, I suppose. Every once in a great while, I'll even have a dream in which I'm running through the Karanas, or the Overthere, or something, and then within the next few days I'll find myself going to the website to see what's up with the game these days. And then I go back, and the cycle repeats. This time when the cycle repeats, I'd like to raid. I'd like to see what endgame content looks like, even if it's in classic content. (….Oh, who am I kidding? I'd like to see every zone ever, in every expansion. Of course I would.) And I need some help to do it. As usual, I have maybe about ten hours per week in which to play. Anywhere from 3 to 5 hours per session, 2 or three nights a week, something like that. I'm in the Pacific Time Zone but I don't think that matters, as I could play either in evenings or mid-to-late afternoons (which would be evenings EST). Those ten hours would be pretty flexible. I just don't want to completely lose my life to EQ and grow a neckbeard. Are there any other players out there who have never held an epic? Are there any like-minded players out there in situations similar to mine who would like to form some sort of dedicated group? Two or three meetings a week? As in “Great session, see you all next Monday at 7:00, maybe we'll do City of Mist next time, unless somebody wants to work on an epic piece?” Although a TLP server seems ideal, I would agree to do this on any server. If a few of you are game, this sounds like a great idea. The only problem I foresee is when, a couple of months down the road, one of the members starts flaking out and we're stuck trying to find a replacement. Has anybody else had luck with this sort of thing? Do people end up flaking out? Are there any guilds on any TLP servers (including tentative ones on Mangler and Selos) that have a high population of low-level toons? Any that have more than a few part-time players? It would be disheartening to log on with my character on Mangler down the road and Ding 22 when every other toon in the guild is Dinging 50. If there is any guild out there that does have a high population of lowbies and part-timers, and you'd have me as a member, I would be thrilled to join you. Is there such a thing as this? I wouldn't care what server you're on. And although my first choice of class right now would be Bard (mostly because of what they bring to a group, and what they don't bring to a solo/molo experience) (…..no thanks, don't want to solo a Bard through 30 levels of Charm Kiting, yikes!), other classes that look like they'd be fun for me would be Enchanter (tough learning curve and sounds like it's totally worth it), Beastlord, Shaman, or Druid. Any guilds out there that sound like I'd fit them? Either way, I greatly look forward to any advice, or simply any random thoughts you have. Thanks for reading!
I'd suggest starting fresh on one of the new TLP servers next month and looking for a large, active guild to join. Can check here on the Guild Recruitment forum or just ask around in-game once you get started. There is no better place anywhere in EQ to find an active low-mid level crowd than on a fresh TLP server. The Mangler server is probably more your speed since it starts in classic and has longer era unlock times. Starting in classic gives you a chance to start from the bottom up and learn all those fancy class specific terms and such yourself, one thing at a time. There will also be plenty of guilds on both servers that will cater nicely to a 2-3 days per week raiding schedule.
I think a lot of the MMO's out there have the potential to turn into research projects. I loved your 'sample' forum posts I know how you feel. I've looked at various Youtube tutorials for some games, and its amazing the research and testing some people do. Many are of the "you must use this loadout if you want to be the best" type. But, if that's the level people want to go to, more power to them. It's what you like. Me, I play for fun and to pass the time. If I can get the great gear, the progression flags, the epics, etc, great. If I don't, great. Long as I'm having fun. An active guild is a big plus. Your chances of finding someone to help you with the things you can't solo / molo greatly increase. But that's just me. Good luck!
An alternative if you don't want to wait a decade to actually see current end game content is to do some research. For example have you checked out the class section of the forums? If so have you actually utilized it to ask some of the class masters advise? Are you mouse clicking or do you have things setup on hotbars with keybinds and macros? You are at a crossroads of sorts with the amount of playing time you have and your desire to see current end game. I wont lie it will be a challenge given the amount of time you have to dedicate to the game. You will probably have to utilize some down time doing a little research before you actually play so you know what's needed for your quests or missions before you log on and play. Getting into a guild with others who are doing the same era of content and have the same playing time will be essential. Realistically it will be years before you are ready to raid at end game unless you find someone to PL you to 110 and then you can go back and knock out some older progression and farm important augs and such that a raid guild will require. I think the question is do you want to just roll on a fresh TLP and probably never see end game but still have the chance to raid or do you want to take a chance and see if you can actually make it to end game in a reasonable amount of time which is not likely given the amount of playing time you described but not impossible. I personally have about the same amount of playing time as you described but I already have a small army to help me get through the content and I have already surrendered to the idea of being in a current expansion. If I can manage to keep up 3-4 expansions behind I consider this a win as I slowly just knock off one quest, one mission, one achievement, one zone and one expansion at a time.
Haha I know the feeling...I'm coming back after being gone for 15 years. I mainly soloed back in those days, so I didn't have much group exposure and zero raid exposure. I feel so far behind the curve it's not even funny. Add to that I have social anxiety and it's sort of a recipe for disaster hah That being said I do want to get the group and raid experience because it is a blast (I was in a raiding guild in another game). Like a lot of us, I'm also married now, work full time, etc etc, and my husband doesn't play so I've got to balance that aspect. Oh another dimension, I'm in the EU so I'm not even on the play times of the vast majority, but I'm thinking I'll play on the Mangler server and see how it goes, and try and fight my soloing nature
Too many times to count. You end up progressing past them and if they show up a month later you need to make the decision do all of us use use our precious time to backtrack to catch this person up or do we continue and they will feel left out and probably vanish for good. I really wish I don't have to say this: Realistically you stand no chance with 10 hours in getting it done this year. I despair when I see new players starting out. Most of us try to help out when we can task adds in general/helping with quests/bottlenecks. Lets say you focus on getting to 110, you grind and slave away and finally reach the top of that hill. You will then look ahead and see a mountain. Just on the AA count auto grant should give you about 12k AA. Now you need to up that count by a LOT. Best scenario you have lessons of devoted (100% exp gain for half hour/usable once a day). Amount of AA I can reliably get in that half hour 240ish. Many of the AA is bogus but you will still need to have around 20k to be effective. 8k / 240 gives you 33 days of 1/2 hour grind sessions. Now lets begin adding progression quests, (estimates based on RoS gearing) EoK I can do in 30hours, RoS probably about 40ish.TBL 60ish. That is with me not looking for groups or waiting around, just logging in boxes and going as hard as I can for the playtime. Having maxed or near maxed character to help the new one ! First time though the content well multiply that time by 4-10. So to put it into your playtime frame if you manage to find help. 3 weeks for EoK progression,4 for RoS,6 for TBL, some AA xp lets round it up to 6 months just to do progression/some AA. Now granted EoK doesn't add anything, RoS you just need to do the missions for the familiar, TBL you need for the mount/illusion (janns veil) After all that now you want to start raiding and see endgame. Hope you chose a server that has raiding guilds with a slot for the class you are playing /despair /gnashing of teeth The good news. Once you reach that endgame it is easier to maintain and your 10hours a week would probably keep you within the range of just acceptable. All of the above to get to live end game raiding there is no smelling the roses along the way it is trample stomp hack and slash anything and everyone that is in front of you. The really bad news. If there is a huge amount of AA added (as with RoS) or level increase (as with TBL) you will probably be dropped from the raid/guild.
OP I am in the same boat. I played before AAs became a thing. I love the game but everytime I come back on live, there is simply too much information to handle - it overload. I know I can process it but from the outside its just too much. This is why the TLPs are so important to me, especially the ones starting in classic and having at least a 3 month unlock. I can learn and try to catch up...
Hi Chug, don't despair, EQ has plenty of people with low playtime. I would strongly recommend starting on Manglar at the start of march and get yourself attached to one of the new guilds from the get go. For a list see: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq/index.php?threads/mangler-all-known-guilds-so-far.255064/ Obviously avoid any 12 day a week raid guilds with 99% mandatory raid attendance You've 12 weeks to make it to lvl 50 before kunark hits, so even at 10 hours a week it's very doable. Most guilds I know are more than happy to have social members too, that don't raid so don't stress about min/maxing, if you've got guildies from the start, then you'll been included in groups. Even with AA's, just do these at your own speed. Later on AA's become autogranted so you'll be kept relevant just by the sheer action of logging on. The other suggestion I have is pick a class and stick to it. There's nothing like focusing on a class and thinking about what skills/spells you get each level and how they benefit your gameplay. If you box it kind of dilutes that focus. to be honest there shouldn't really be any need to box when the servers open, as there should be plenty of people to group with until at least past pop. There are always min/max players that do EQ for a living and know the nuances of every class, but they're not the norm. Most people log in to have fun like yourself . I know I do
Chug - your analogies are spot on and thank you for the laugh in that dose of reality. I also see this when reading the forums along with "just got my slot 50 aug with the 5000 hp and 8000 mana with super pet focus and furious flying dinosaur egg that is the only one in the game by walking thru that new zone that doesn't even show up in game. Must have been a rare drop I stumbled over laying on the ground or yeah ok someone in the know let it slip it was behind that rock and if I stood there and cast my level 150 spell called "I am the greatest" twenty times then it would appear on my cursor and it did!." Meanwhile I am trying to hunt down a nice neck item for my under 100 character and can't find one in the baz or to hunt solo. So I play at my own speed. I no longer worry about being AT the top in the game or about raid drops or raiding at all because yeah its the only way to get into those new zones but I won't be there for a long long time and I do not need to be the #1 player - there are others who need that more than I. Am happy just moving along, singin a song and playing how I enjoy.
If you don't mind my asking... WTH!?!?!? Now, I have mediocre gear, and not the greatest skills, and granted not the best class for soloing... but seriously, 240 AA in a Lesson? Nearest I can get is just over 10% of that. Do you mind sharing some tips on how that can be done? Or, at least, improving the process a bit?
Play on FV (xp bonus) No real secret, ranger and headshot with some raid geared slots, arms/legs/bow. 2 max in group: ranger + character you need AA on. Go to frontier mountain/chardok/droga and make them regret ever laying eyes on your gnomish friends If you want to further optimize it have alt/friends in a fellowship and the ranger shares xp. Make ranger the fellowship lead so you can manage fellowship xp sharing as people forget to turn it on/off.
that's what I was going to say . ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------- in FV you are leveling 50% faster than other servers , with all the other benefits. much more play there , we can see everyday ,some players from any levels * looking for group *. many helpful players there too. and many guilds , several looking for any level of players to join them, several can raid as well. @ chugwater , what server are you playing at atm ? if you decide to try firiona vie , let us kwow your toon name, and we can help you some there , either plats, items, advices, ect.
- Play on FV - Play a ranger - AA total is across multiple chars Got it, thanks Fortunately for me, I'm at the point that I don't even use Lesson in pursuit of max AA every day. I have enough now (~23,000) that the ones I'm still pursuing, while useful, don't make me want to go get them all ASAP.
If it makes you feel better, I only play about ten hours a week. Over time and with focus you go from seeing the gameplay posts as gibberish to understanding them! When I was learning I would find a thread / guide that I thought was great, save it, and go re-read it every couple weeks. Everytime I re-read it, I understood more of it. It kind of feels like this:
Thanks for the laugh with your made up forum posts. Brilliant. Do you write for a living? You should write for a living.
Chugwater, You just explained me these days. I used to raid 12 years ago but now I only get 10 hours a week to play if I want to sacrifice my sleep. There are many of us out there so don't give up hope. Personally I wouldn't go to the new servers because those are major time sinks to rush to end game content and you're going to fall behind quickly with your time schedule. Do some research on the boards and find a server that has a lot of folks in the Pacific Time Zone. I'm on Rathe and there are quite a few there but not the majority that I have seen. Finding groups is not easy on any server and I've been on 3. You have to be vocal in general chat to look for groups. You almost assuredly will need to have second account but it can be free to help you gear up your main character. This will allow you to have 2 mercs and 2 characters so things become much easier even if you suck at boxing. Someone stated that you should get someone to help power level you so you have one max level character. This is a good idea. Then you can go back and do progression. I did this and it's fun. Pick the character you want to play and build from there! Find the experience you want to have with that character and go for it... This game is so damn fun that you can get lost in it for hours but it has to be fun and not a chore. Guilds... These are hard to come by for players like you and I but they're out there so ask on the boards on the criteria you want to have and we will help point you in the right direction. One thing many of the players in EQ will do is dedicate some time here and there to help a new player achieve something. Don't over ask for that help and look for ways to reciprocate and your experience will be fuller because of it. There are some amazing people that play this game of ours. Raiding.... Don't expect to get much raid gear with 10 hours of play time dedicated solely to raiding. Thats not going to happen unfortunately. You can be a guest here and there and try to make 25% raid attendance in a guild but you wont reach end game with that attendance, sorry.
Gonna have to respectfully disagree with, well, basically everything you said here. 1) The new servers are major time sinks where you'll fall behind playing 10 hours a week? 10 hours a week on a 3 month unlock server like Mangler equates to 120 hours of playtime in classic, 120 hours in Kunark, 120 hours in Velious, 120 in Luclin... that's 480 hours of playtime before the level cap is raised above 60. And this is on a server with a faster xp rate than Phinny or Coirnav. Just how much play time do you think it takes to stay caught up? Even if you just meander around randomly doing quests and make very little effort to grind, it's hard to imagine not being max level after 480 hours. 2) Finding groups is hard? Not if you play on a new TLP! Finding groups is absurdly easy on fresh TLP servers. Show up in a level appropriate zone, turn /lfg on, and announce yourself in /ooc, and you'll find something in no time. If you're actually willing to be proactive and pick a camp and pull people out of /lfg yourself it's even easier and you will literally never be groupless unless you want to be. 3) Getting powerleveled to max level is a good idea? This guy clearly stated he is overwhelmed with all the in-game terminology and abilities. Literally the worst possible plan is to just PL him to max level and throw him to the wolves with hundreds of hotkeys he's never used before. This game is about progressing your characters and progressing your own abilities to control them well. Leveling at a steady rate and learning new abilities as you go is much more palatable for most people. 4) Guilds are hard to come by? There's dozens of guilds recruiting for the new TLP servers, and dozens more for older TLP's and standard servers posted in the guild recruitment forum. It's just a matter of doing a few minutes worth of research once you choose a server. 5) Getting raid gear is impossible on 10 hours a week? 25% attendance at best? Tell that to literally all of the top raiding guilds in the game. With the exception of batphone open world raids on TLP servers, no top guilds are raiding over 10 hours a week once the content is on farm status. There are hundreds of players out there just logging in for raids and clocking 10 hours a week or less. They need to throw in some group content/grinding when new expansions launch, but then it's very easy to settle back into a minimal raid-only play schedule.
Ok if you say so but I live it and obviously you must sit in my chair while playing for me. I realize everyone has a different experience so we’ll just leave it at that. There is one thing for sure though. Raiders don’t play 10 hours a week if they are this far behind. There are months of exping and questing ahead of him.
So you've actually experienced playing ~480 pre-PoP hours on a fresh 3 month unlock TLP server without reaching max level? What were you doing that whole time?
@Chuggwater - I feel ya. I've had a hankering to come back to EQ since about a week ago, as I kept thinking about it. I also don't have a ton of time to focus on playing, being 40 now instead of in my 20s or so back then. Might I suggest if you start on Mangler, to check out this guild https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...ary-korps-new-casual-guild-on-mangler.255251/ I joined it as it seems a nice casual one where I can hopefully spend time spoloing when I can't group, and group when I can. And yes, I've never held an epic weapon in EQ, nor have I raided or hit max level.
