Hello, forum readers. I hope somebody has some advice for me. Among players who have played (off and on) for eighteen years, I might possibly be the world’s worst. Until recently, I hadn’t grouped, never raided, never been in a guild, never held an epic. I would create a character, hire a mercenary, and usually level myself into the 50’s or 60’s and then burn out and quit playing, and then a year or two later the cycle would repeat. When Mangler was about to start, I got the idea that this was great for me. This time, I’d join a guild, level up with people, and learn the game one expansion at a time. This turned out to be a horrible idea. Among my worst ever. Even though the guild looked sizable enough, I didn’t realize that everybody but me would be playing around the clock, guzzling experience potions, and using boxes – as well as friends they had in real life – to get to the endgame as fast as they could. It was discouraging to see that when I typed ‘/who all guild,’ I’d see a list of people fifteen long who were all in their 30’s and me at 10, and later, all in their 40’s and me at 20. I continued to be supportive of the guild. It was the only one I’d ever been in. I’d congratulate everybody on their achievements. Anytime there was a guild event, such as the swimming contests and PvP tournaments our guild leaders organized from time to time, I was always there, knowing I would lose but glad to hang out with everybody just the same, and when they were ready to raid I’d run by the raid meeting place and wave. “Woo-HOO, way to go, guild!,” I’d say. Although I didn’t mind being a cheerleader for the guild, I’d really been hoping for more. This was sad for me. If I could ever scratch and claw my way up to 46, somehow – and I hate looking for pickup groups, I hate it, and I thought that was why people got into guilds, silly me – they would all be 60 and in raid gear, or, worse yet, 60 in raid gear with a few thousand AA’s. By the time I got to 60 with some AA’s, they would all be …..what…. 85?.... and with so many AA’s my calculator couldn’t even keep track of the number, in raid gear they’d gotten in zones I’d never even heard of, zones that have names with no vowels. I think I must’ve created some drama when I decided to delete my character and leave. It seemed like the only thing I could do. And it was a mistake, I admit. After I deleted my character, I missed seeing those familiar names in the guild list (Some of whom would even say something from time to time, lol), and so I made a new character, and I was warmly welcomed back to the guild. But I still couldn’t level with them. In response to my problem, the guild leaders helpfully told me that I should make a Cleric, Enchanter, or Warrior, because finding pickup groups is easier for those classes, and thought I should look over Almar’s Guides in order to choose where to go to find those groups. (-----but I thought…. well…. I thought that was why people got into guilds. Isn’t it? Why would people get into guilds if they know they can never group with anybody? If I’d known this from the start, I never would’ve joined.) The Guild Leader started his pet project, a static PvP team that would level together from the ground up. I eagerly joined, hoping this would be my ticket to the endgame. Maybe I could even join a raid, even if none of the other people at the raid could buff or heal me (The cost of being a red-tagged PvP player). Also, *I* was organizing a semi-static group event I called The Kunark Project that would launch at the same time as Kunark. People would only do this once or twice per week for two hours, but I thought maybe, if this went on for years, this might be a ticket for me to see some endgame content. If only I were patient. But no. After a few sessions of PvP Night….. I think we got up to about Level 7…. The guild leaders, both of the top two, independently announced that they’d burned out and had had enough. The PvP team never assembled again after that (leaving me high and dry with a Shared Experience II Potion that I can’t use and can’t give away). Almost everybody in the guild either drifted to another guild or quit the game because of burnout. The Kunark Project lost all of its traction with two of its most enthusiastic supporters out of the game. I’m still doing it anyway. We usually had two people, sometimes three, once four, but for the last couple of weeks its been one. Me. I sit in East Cabilis just in case any guildies want to join (or, rather, either guildie, lol), every Monday and Thursday at 7:30 Eastern, but I just sit there for an hour and read the General Chat chatter and then give up. I guess I could solo for awhile, but I’m pretty disheartened and usually just don’t feel like it. Next time, for company I’ll bring a volleyball named Wilson. Some people, including the former guild leader, and my wife who has never played EQ but can see the toll this whole experience has brought me, think I should join another guild. Ditch this one. De-guild it. (I’m now the guild manager by default.) I’m the captain of the Kobayashi Maru. But I’m still so attached to the idea of joining a guild on Day 1 and riding it until Mangler goes live that I can’t quite bring myself to enter the nuclear codes. Doesn’t that seem like a good thing: To join a guild at the very beginning and be in it until the end? I’m baffled that not ONE SINGLE person who joined the guild on Day One shares that mindset, not even the guild leaders, nobody. Seems I really had the wrong idea about this “guild” thing. I’d gladly join another guild, except that I’d feel like a total fraud. I have no value. My characters on Mangler are Woolworth, a Level 15 Bard, and Aanvorn, the Kunark Project character, a 17 ShadowKnight. My knowledge is almost completely limited to moloing on Live servers – a Completely Different Game! – I’ve never raided and only grouped a few times. I think of pickup groups as a form of hitchhiking, and if I ever thought I’d have to hitchhike across the country from Level 1 to 60, I’d be likely to call off the whole trip. When I molo a character, it’s almost always in Kunark, or in Franklin Teek hotzones, and I’d never even been in The Hole until a week ago. (I was a bit bitter about the fact the whole rest of the guild seemed to be there all the time when I was soloing in the Karanas and I decided to make a Beastlord on a Live server for the sole purpose of checking the place out.) What would I need to do in order to be a viable member of another guild? Hitchhike from 1 to 60 somehow? As my old (err… current, I mean) guild would tell me? “Here’s Almar’s Guide to leveling, go for it.”? Is there another way? When I make a character, I usually read all the guides I can get my hands on. I read most forum posts. If there were classes in Everquest 101, I would be enrolled right now. I’d enroll in the whole curriculum for that matter, I’d take notes, I’d study hard, and I’d get A’s, so that someday I could be the PhD that most of you geniuses are. I wish there were classes with blackboards and professors. But there are no classes. (Slight caveat, lol: I did an Internet search for Everquest Classes and it, predictably, tells me that the classes are Ranger, Druid, Necromancer, Wizard, etc…. So yeah, okay, there are classes.) The amount of stuff that I know about playing Classic Everquest pales in comparison to what almost all of YOU knew after one week of playing back in 1999. There’s NO chance any guild is going to look at me and say, “Let’s get this guy up to 60 so we can use him in raids.” If anybody IS saying that, then, of course, I’m all yours. I don’t even need DKP! I’d do it for free! I might even PAY YOU! HOW MUCH DO YOU NEED? I’LL PLAY ANY CLASS YOU WANT! ANY TIME ZONE! Anything I should know? Anything I should read? Anything I can do? Because I want to be somebody that a guild would want, and I don’t want to spend my life on Everquest just being a cheerleader on the sidelines, and I don’t know how to get there from here. I don’t even know if it’s POSSIBLE to get there from here. Maybe I should just give up and admit that moloing on a Live server is the only thing I can do in this game. But before I make that decision, I had to at least ask. Thanks for reading!
There's a couple of problems that you are facing as I see it; 1; If you are on Live, then most content is soloed till at least level 85... If you are looking for the classic experience, I would recommend Mangler still. We're about a month away from Velious, so there is plenty of people across the level ranges. 2; If you end up on Mangler, also please understand that the server by large is mostly level 60 as you noticed, where focus shifts to epics, raids and general farming, so most lower level groups is filled with twinks. Mangler is still the highest activity server currently available - so there's stuff going on at most hours. 3; You really should be playing something YOU enjoy, not what a guild might enjoy. EverQuest is about the long burn, not the short burst, and since most of us are only human beings, we have to keep playing something we enjoy to "justify" the time spent to ourselves. The guild I am a part off on Mangler; Knightmare Guild (european timezone mostly, but we do have a few from the other side of the pond) recently had a few people that joined basically from level 1, and are now in their mid-20's. Playtime is different for everyone, we have some we'll likely never see on a raid since they are on every now and then as the kids, the family, the job etc. allows, and we have some that are as close to no-life'ing as it is possible. What matters to all of them though (and to us as the leadership), is that they play something they enjoy. The new level 1's that joined we sent banked crap to that was fairly worthless to us at 60, but huge twink boosts for the level 1. (sarnak skull splitter, lammy's, sarnak shields, seb scale armour etc. for a new warrior does loads as an example.) and a few of the more friendly boxers spent a little time doing some buffing to get the guys off the ground while raiding on the main. You ARE going to have to be a cheerleader at least till level 46 on a server that is top heavy, and getting there takes time. There's no real way around it unless you are paying for power leveling services The good news is, that at 40, you can group with a 60 and still get XP - which can help getting past that magical level 46 barrier for the classic planar raids. While not something you can expect generally since it's basically power leveling, I do think guildies in general are good at getting each other in groups. So as with all things; 1; Play something YOU enjoy. It's a long burn, not a short burst. 1-60 as a solo guy that is just starting out is about 100 hours worth of XP time. 50-60 is about 30 hours with XP pots burning and a solid group that knows what it is doing. So while I agree that from a guild standpoint, you're likely always going to want; Clerics, Bards and Warriors as mains - it's not the same as saying you should be playing something which you don't enjoy, because lack of enjoyment causes burnout, and as noted about - Guilds generally want that long burn, not the short glorious burst. Gearing here can help with the lower levels (I find 1-20 so boring and annoying personally), and I would encourage you to use a krono to pick up a fungi tunic (you'd still have 6-8k pp left over from that one krono, that you could use on other items) if you are melee as the regen power is useful well into your 40's, and just makes life so much easier from 1-25. If you don't have a krono currently, buy one for 18$ - it's peanuts compared with the enjoyment you can get out of the gear that you can get for yourself. 2; Find a guild that suits YOUR playtime. If that playtime happens to be 18:00-23:00 CEST (European summertime) on weekdays, and whenever on weekends you are welcome to apply to us here; https://knightmare-eu.enjin.com/forum 3; Be realistic with yourself about what you can do, and how fast you can do it. If you can get 10 hours of XP per week due to availability, then that's still going to take you 8-10 weeks to get to 60 on Mangler, IF you spend 0 hours on being LFG. Does that fit with your desires to see the games various encounters? Most guilds currently raid three days a week, for a total of 10-15 hours per week JUST ON RAIDING. Is this possible for you? (Most guilds also don't worry too much about more than 30% raid attendence, so don't freet if you can't make that bar, but do be realistic with yourself on what that bar is then.)
I seldom suggest this but you need to buy a heroic on live servers. This will grant you level 85 immediately. It seems you get stuck around level 60 which is when the going gets rough on ease of leveling. Of course it gets rough again around 85 for a bit. Keep in mind that Heroic Characters started in HOT so that is where most people expect to start fighting. But HOT can be overpowered to level 85 so just get your J5 merc (quest will be in your quest list already - called no heroism without fear) and drop back a few zones. Go to teek in pok and get the daily for level 75 and 80 to earn more exp. Another suggestion, since its not always about your level, is if you wanted to start at the beginning again you can do so on any server, doesn't have to be TLP. Look in the guild recruitment forums here and see what guilds look good. That one on Xegony - Lions of the heart looks well structured and if you read his last post it appears they are very friendly and supportive.
I have no affiliation with Modus Gelidus, but this seems like something you'd be interested in. You'd also be able to start fresh on a new server. https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq...ressive-guild-recruiting.255786/#post-3789931
You might want to have long term goals of "becoming viable" or "reaching max level and parity with my fellow guildmates." But having short term goals that are specific, realistic, measurable, time-bound, and achievable is a great way to see progress towards reaching those goals. I made a live magician, level 3, with the goal of getting level 4. Ez pz.
their are many guilds on any servers you need to experience your 1st one before looking for that one which is right for you. GL
