Raid Requirements

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by KQuest, Apr 26, 2019.

  1. KQuest New Member

    Hello All,

    Been playing a few months now on Bristlebane, leveling and trying to wrap myself around the game mechanics, spells, AA's, etc. I'm not a returning player to EQ - this is my first ever attempt here, but have played other MMORPGs. I have been getting the itch to start raiding again, especially since I'm ~40% xp away from 110.

    I have been googling for information, but I can't seem to find what I'm looking for. I'm not a big fan of Allakhazam, especially since I do not pay to use the site and the ads really kill my browing. Basically:
    1) Gear progression:
    - Is Conflagrant the "entry" point to raiding?
    - What are the tiers and names of gear from that point up?

    2) Prereqs/flags:
    I guess other games call this attuning. Is there somewhere comprehensive (other than ZAM) that shows me the available raids and what is required to to do ahead of time in order to be part of a raid for them?

    3) Since there aren't any server specific forums, is there any easier way to learn what raiding guilds are on the server? I see the guild recruitment channel is full of threads for the TLP's.

    Thanks!
    IblisTheMage likes this.
  2. Telkiney Elder

    At the moment, I'd advise to aim for GMM group gear or TBL Group Crafted Gear (Tier3, anything that says Secret Dawn) to get the HP needed to raid current content. GMM group gear is extremely easy to farm with a 3ish hour mission that can be ran solo or duo depending on the class ( http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=9581) and awards 3 pieces of the GMM group gear.
  3. Moldar Augur

    First off, congrats on reaching almost max level!

    Raiding requirements are going to variey from guild to guild and possibly depending on your class; however, some general recommendations I would suggest working towards starting to raid are the following:

    -- Make sure your Mata Muram Trials are done (all can be completed in 1 evening)

    -- Make sure your Dragon of Norrath Progression is done (mainly looking for rank 4/5, but kuddos for 5/5). Depending on your class this might be 1-3 evenings of grinding out the faction and then an additional evening of doing the quests/missions/raids required. A simple google search of Dragons of Norrath Progression should find you a list of task you can do to either A.) raise faction or B.) complete the progression.

    -- Make sure any activated "burn" type AA are maxed out on DPS classes, these will variey from class to class so feel free to ask any raiding member of your class what the important ones are. Additionally if you're a priest then your looking to max out your activated emergency heal type AA or spell boosting AA which will help you overcome difficult sections of raid events and keep the tank(s) alive. If you're a support class you need to make sure any ADPS type activated AA are maxed out before applying, again ask a senior member of the class what any of those type of abilities are if you're not sure

    -- Make sure the main "passive" AA are finished entirely, for a DPS this is going to be Burst of Power, Veteran's Wrath, etc. Check with members of your class for specifics. Healers are going to want Healing Adept, Healing Gift, Healing Boon Etc. Support type characters are going to be a mix of variety of things. Additionally some classes (e.g. Healers, support DPS) have synergy effect AA that require roughly 1200 AA to be completely done, and some classes are heavily dependant on that AA line being done (depending on the class). Generally having all of your AA maxed out like this to a reasonable degree to going to be roughly 19,000 - 25,000 or so AA, it simply depends on your class.

    -- Playstyle --
    -- The biggest hurdle I see from having somebody in the group game to the raid game is that folks from the group game are concerned with sustainability, that is to say EXP grind sessions last for about 30-60 mins and therefore you try to keep going for as long as possible before you need to rest up. Raiding is the opposite, depending on the event, some have a 20 minute timer built into them meaning the developers want the raiders to be this event in less than 20 minutes otherwise bad things start happening.
    Knowing how to synergize with your group (i.e., knowing how to burn on a DPS class is important) (i.e., knowing how/when it is best to use your healing cooldowns) (i.e., making sure you use your ADPS support spells/AA when the leader calls for them, etc) is an important skill regardless of the class.
    If you're clueless a good place to start to get your feet wet, so to say, is to visit: http://forums.eqfreelance.net/index.php?PHPSESSID=8adb6a6031389ee94f39c8185f80a3f3&board=11.0 and find your specific class. That is not to say that the guild you apply to may have different expectations of what your class should do, but it better than knowing nothing at all.

    Now to specifically answer your questions:

    1) -- Gear --
    -- Conflagrat gear is okay; however, there is better gear available via the "uninhabited muhbis" from TBL missions or the armor pieces that also have "muhbis" in the name, I am unfamiliar with what the tiers of gear is called, but there is 2 tiers I know. The uninhabited muhbis is used for TBL's tradeskill gear and that tradeskill gear is best in slot until you acquire either raid tradeskill or regular raid gear.

    -- Having a semi-full set of class specific augments while maybe not a direct requirement does go towards showing you're invested in your character so showing you have appropriate augments for your class in your gear slots shows your willing to consistently improve your character.

    2) -- Prereqs/Flags --
    -- Depending on the guild you join make sure that you're flagged to enter that zone from at least the base group game. Having maps and knowing where to meet the raid NPC is always a plus and always be willing to run to the next spot, do not wait for a banner to be dropped. If a raid mob is in the final zone and it requires you to have completed the progression of the group game that is a priority so that you can be with the raid force before they enter the zone.

    -- Raids (at least on live, typically) are built in tiers, that is to say there are tier 1, tier 2, and tier 3 raids and you need to have a certain number of Tier 1 raids under your belt before your character can enter the next tier of raiding; however, there is a system of backflaging where you can still participate, BUT depending on your class you may be asked to sit for either more needed classes, or your raid doesn't have enough total flagged characters to let you participate, do not be discouraged, your flags will come in time.

    3.) -- Finding a Guild --
    -- Go to the guild lobby and in either of the following rooms (NW, SW, NE, or SE are small rooms with notice boards there, some raid guilds will post on these boards and you may find a raiding guild via that route.

    -- Always ask around on your several in the general chat (it can be toxic depending on the server), but generally it is a good way to get an idea of the top raiding guilds on your server and see if they have an opening for your class, if they do not you can ask them about any other smaller raiding guilds (i.e., guilds not farming TBL raids, but maybe Ring of Scale raids) which will let you get some raiding experience under your belt and possibly some better gear while waiting for a spot to open in the bigger guilds

    -- You can also look at the following link which is a project that links all of the top competing guilds per server; however, just be aware that some guilds may not be on this site as it requires a member of the guild to actively keep posting their win dates/times on the website. http://www.elitegamerslounge.com/home/progress/

    To finish up: make sure you have plenty of AA to make sure your AA abilties / spells are being cast at what a raid guild expects them to be (generally around 19,000 - 25,000 AA depending on the class). Make sure your wearing most of the best group gear, not so much as a time waster, but rather the AoE effects of TBL are rather quite large and an applicant that dies to every AoE / DoT is not fun for anybody. And finally ask around on the server or check out that link for an idea of the raiding guilds. Best of luck!
    Gana and IblisTheMage like this.
  4. KQuest New Member

    Wow, thank you both.

    @Telkiney: have seen a lot of GMM "looking for group" requests in general, and I can definitely understand why it is worth it.
    @Moldar, that's excellent stuff. I can see I have a lot of work yet to do.

    A followup question:
    My mains are all 109: Shadow knight, Ranger, Shaman. I have no problem doing the three Gribbles missions with those characters and no mercs. I tried that crew on Skulk the Madaxe's first mission, and my Shadow knight gets pummeled hard if I mess up and end up tanking more than one mob, even with mercs and popping disciplines. He has ~166k HP / 4200+ AC buffed (all Conflagrant armor, including earrings and rings, that a good friend provided). I'm light on augments, no doubt. Have a couple basic conflagrant augs, but not really the money to get more.

    How would you rate the Darkness Howls mission based on that? Will hitting 110 make that big of a difference on either of those missions?
  5. Buri Augur

    Keep working on it, 166K is kinda low by raid standards.. you could certainly attend some, but being a contributing factor as a raid tank requires a lot more. You need about 100K more and 1000AC to get close. Farm those augs, there's a lot of them in the Broken Mirror expansion that are easy to get, and the smoke trials/TBL progression provide a lot too.

    Darkness Howls is a gimme... it's by far the easiest mission that's been introduced in a long time. It also has excellent exp, at 35K AA's I'm getting an AA per kill without lessons.
    Tip: save your lessons for the end of the mission, we usually pop it when we start on the Howlers, and make sure it's still active when you open the chest.
    Another tip: after the first phase, tag and kill a couple of the climber orcs that are moving up the mountain paths. That will make it easier in the 2nd phase, less mobs all at once.