Pay-to-win?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by gambitak, Sep 12, 2019.

  1. gambitak New Member

    I tried to return to EQ after a 10-year break only to find out that my main account had been deleted due to a supposed charge back - it was when I had a brain aneurysm rupture and don't recall anything, at all. It had been active since April 2000 until 2010/2011. I was able to get a secondary account back which was started in 2001, with a 58 warrior on it only to find that he was ridiculously undergeared; I hadn't seriously played him since 2005/6-ish.

    After 16 AAs and making so little PP that it hurt (any good gear in the bazaar is waaaaaaay overpriced), I decided to purchase a level 85 character to try and camp a few weapons for a new character to begin over again. I didn't really plan on playing the 85 character because I wouldn't know how to do it, with so many new spells, AAs and abilities.

    I just found out tonight, after wasting 2 weeks of my life trying to camp the Avatar of War for a BoC or a Swiftblade that 110's "most likely" have the exact spawn time down and kill it before I can log in.

    I can't afford the outrageous prices in the bazaar (inflation anyone?) and the so-called common to rare drops don't EVER drop, such as Master's Wu's Trance Stick.

    At first, I thought this would be fun, but it's dead quiet on the server, nobody ever groups at 85 and below, I would have to farm for MONTHS to be able to afford gear for lower level characters (haste and good weapons, for example) or, I would have to spend a considerable amount of money IRL, more than I already have, to get decent gear.

    Is this what EQ has become: over-priced, hyperinflation, Pay-to-Win, overcamped by max level characters to be viable?
  2. Moege Augur

    You did not mention which server ?

    The problem you are facing is that people had 19 years to collect platinum. Most of us has quite a stash of it as there is not really anything we spend it on. What most returning players do is join a guild that is willing to help.
  3. KermittheFroglok Augur

    Ditto Moege's feedback, but to add some context:

    Server population: the higher pop. your server the more competitive you'll find old content to be since it's generally not instanced (unless you're on a TLP with instances, doesn't sound like it though). Sounds like you're already on a low pop but I'd recommend finding a a guild that does old content lower pop. Live server. It's possible that type of guild is why you're not having luck.

    Timers: I think a lot of the timers still have a +/- 12 hour factor so I doubt they have the exact timer on the Avatar of War, they're just on more than you and possibly getting it first.

    This link should help, not sure if Zam has updated for some of the tweaks that occurred sometime over the past year or so.

    http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/EQ:Respawn_Timers

    I have found Master Wu's stick not even looking, so I also have to ask where are you trying to get it from?
  4. Dythan Ban Lev in Plane of Fire guy

    Sounds like you'd be happier with the TLP experience, I'd recommend either Agnarr or Mangler.
  5. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    nm I see you posted elsewhere with same info
  6. gambitak New Member

    Thank you for the answers and responses.

    I've killed pretty much the entire CoM zone looking for Master Wu's Trance Stick and other monk weapons and I've had one 2hb drop. I spent about a week straight for 2-4 hours at a time killing the entire zone looking for one. I haven't seen one for sale in the bazaar since I've returned.

    That's what lead me to going to Kael; I figured if I couldn't get good weapons to start a monk, I might at least get a couple good weapons for a ranger/bard or whatever. I would spend my entire playing day just waiting for the AoW series to pop, only to see a level 110 either login or zone in and take the mob without asking me what I was camping; or, I would be the only one in there for days just endlessly killing mobs waiting for it to pop.

    I just figured out what TLP means - Time-locked Progression server, right? Doesn't that mean I would start from scratch with nothing, not even the benefit(?) of defiant armor?

    I joined a guild, but they really don't have anybody lower than like 100 playing. It's definitely not a big guild, but they all seemed like pleasant people.

    Can you find the Trance Stick in other zones?
  7. Grove Augur

    Magelo seems to be supporting your experience re Master Wu's Trance Stick
    https://eq.magelo.com/item/6619
    Four mobs only in City of Mist all with a chance to drop it at less than one percent..

    Considering that, I did this search on Allakhazam for a Monk, one hand blunt, level 35
    I found a crafted weapon that should be available: Ornate Sap
  8. gambitak New Member

  9. Dythan Ban Lev in Plane of Fire guy

    If you switch to test server, just /testcopy on your toon, you will have AoC's available. These allow you to spin up your own instances of old raid mobs. At lv 85, these are trivial to farm.
  10. Metapsyche Augur

    Come play on FV, we’re rich and there’s not that stupid no-trade flag.

    Also... go to AA and select auto grant. Don’t bother farming AA as they’re free until level 105 or so.
  11. Eggolas Augur

    OK, I am moderately confused, a fairly normal state. You made a monk and are seeking weapons for it. You made an heroic character. No idea which one.

    Wu's trance stick is nice, but there are plenty of weapons available until your 50s. I made a monk on another server and started out at the tutorial (all the way to the end). Then it was on to CR where he killed Gnolls to about 17. The nice part is that the gnolls drop steel ingots and tacky silk, which can be sold via /barter for nice platinum. I must have had a few hundred pp after buying a few skinspikes.

    In Blightfire Moors, the Roanoak three quest produced the Treant Staff, a nice 1H blunt that my monk still uses at 57. There are quite a few quests in BM that produce weapons, armor, etc. http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=497


    I guess what I'm suggesting is that camping Wu's was a non-starter for me. Monk with H2H and a weapon progresses nicely with a merc for quite some time in the game. The plat came mostly from dropped stuff in Grieg's End and the always there /barter. He now has several thousand plat and can purchase stuff if need be.
  12. Zanarnar Augur

    One note for some easy cash. If your subscribed, save up those loyalty points and you have some options for easy plat. First there is a bag of plat you can buy that has 16K in it. (IIRC its around 600 loyalty/each?) You can also buy a gold ticket or the luck thing and sell those on the bazaar for cash. (likely a better return on your loyalty points the latter way, but takes more work.)

    I wouldn't stress too much about the weapons too. (again if your subscribed) you can use a J1 mercenary tank to basically power level you to 50 (as they're near invincible until then due to their crazy hp regen); and really, your going to level up so fast that you'll out-grow your gear before you know it. Spending a ton of time farming up the ideal set of toys for a new alt isn't really worth it anymore.

    Now, 65+ things slow down, and you'll need better gear and likely have switched to a healer merc w/ you tanking and doing all the DPS. Thankfully there are LOTS of options for weapons by then :)

    Good luck!
    gambitak and Eggolas like this.
  13. gambitak New Member

    I just logged into TV and noticed that I had a monk there I created way back in 2006. He's still in the starting area with the old, crappy armor and no equipment, whatsoever. Took him from level 6 to 10 this morning.

    I had a ton of gear on the account I lost and almost nothing on this one. I do have a Cowl of Mortality on my main server, at least. I had 3 main toons on my deleted account: Bard, Beastlord & Monk. For the time, they had awesome gear and decent AAs. I REALLY miss my bard as his birth place was Sullon Zek. I got to 50 on that server, which was an accomplishment back then.

    Anyways, on my main server, at least, it seems as if the bigger guilds and the higher levels have the timers down fairly well and a person can't get a fight in edgewise, even if they were there first. I've noticed people log/zone in, kill the raid mobs, and then log out. Back in the day this was called "camp stealing" and was dealt with by the GMs.

    @Eggolas - I looked up that weapon and I can't believe you'd use that until your 50's, the damage/delay is really rather horrible. That's why I was trying to get some decent 1hb weapons, as the quest items suck for level 1 to 85, it seems.
  14. Fluid Augur

  15. GNOME_POWER Augur

    I got a "Master Wu's Trance Stick" by chance when I went shm-epic-camping in June 2019.

    Server:Cazic Thule - Fennin Ro
  16. Scorrpio Augur

    Whatever you might have had pre-level 70 is junk. Roughly around 70 is when in-era gear starts to match and outpace defiant. I.e. OoW raid drops are about par with Elegant Defiant.
    Now this is somewhat different at lowest levels because a lot of gearing up to Velious had no level restriction, allowing for some extreme twinking. This holds till around lvl 26. Once you can use ornate defiant, even Velious raid gear is not that big. Example: Wu Trance stick (a mid-40s drop) is 7/18. Ornate defiant orb is 7/19 equipped by a lvl 26, going to 11/19 by lvl 40.
    Indeed, twinking a low level alt is a favorite pastime, so old raid content will be contested. And it has nothing to do with Pay2Win.

    If all you want is a 'decent' weapon, you really should not be complaining you can't get the absolute top-shelf twink stuff.
    For example, if you go to Dragon Necropolis Chetari area, you should be able to slaughter them easily, and they rarely drop fairly high ratio weapons. I.e 10/18 crafted velium warsword. How rarely? Well I spent 2 evenings there slaughtering rats nonstop and got a full set for a PAL twink (1HS, 2HS, 1HB, 2HB, 2HP) so he could keep up all his skills. I would say 4-5 hours ought to be enough to produce at least one high ratio monk weapon.
    But really, if you spent those 2 weeks just leveling the monk using defiant weapons, you would be over 40 and not needing old wirld drops anymore.
  17. Dahaman Augur


    Don't fight the current, flow with it.

    The inflation in the bazaar will have inflated the prices that you will have to pay for things, but it has also inflated what people are willing to pay you for things. Look up what people are actively buying. The targets you are looking for will be trade skill materials (silks, skins, ores, etc.)

    Now, pick out some quests for your level that will give you decent gear and XP. Some targets are the Hero's Journey quest line, Flanklin Teek quests, and a list of AC augments from old and new hotzones.

    While you are pursuing your quested armor, compare those trade skill material items you will run across to the list of what people are buying. If you happen to run across a 100pp per drop area, you may consider spending a bit more time there. Try to get at least two things (XP, equipment, quest drops, loot to sell, trade skill mats, etc.) wherever you adventure.

    And finally, ignore completely going back to farm best-in-slot items for your old character. You will out level ALL that equipment in short order as you will quickly gain levels. Instead, quest for gear. Shop the bazaar for upgrades as you go. Look for decent pricing. And above all, play the character you are actually equipping. The XP earned is far more valuable than equipment at level 58.
    code-zero likes this.
  18. Moege Augur

    Things are not what they were, go read the t&c again and you will find that dps racing is now the winner. Someone has something engaged and you can do more than 50% damage and you do it then you did not kill steal.

    Doubt that there was an official policy on camps it was a player enforced idea. Some GM's did enforce a rule of first in force on open world raids. As to high level just logging in no doubt they do not even check who is in zone, log in / track what is up / kill it / sell loot in bazaar for twink gear.

    I still abide by the old play nice policy even when it bites me. At least it allows me to feel morally superior than the dregs that just dps race.
  19. gambitak New Member


    I don't know that I would describe either a Cowl of Mortality or Custom Cowl of Mortality as junk...

    My thought was: "If I can buy or get a Wu's Trance Stick, I won't need to upgrade for a long, long time; IF an ornate defiant orb (or other 1hb) drops for me, I'd be lucky." I've bought a few defiant pieces in the bazaar and that will get you broke in a hurry. Hoping RNG will fill all your slots with appropriate level gear is betting on some long odds.

    I'm not complaining about getting the top-shelf twink stuff, I'm complaining about people coming in and killing the mobs I've been camping for weeks, trying to find out the rotation; sure, it's for the gear, but I was perfectly content to do that until one dropped and then I would be on my way. I don't have a million or 10 platinum to spend on items in the bazaar, so I find what I am able.

    I would have played the 85 character I upgraded, but I found that I didn't know the class at all and what role it would play in groups or raids. So, I figured I would use it to get some decent gear for either a monk or a bard or ranger. My mistake is in thinking that I had a chance to get some good gear that I cannot afford.

    And, the old world weapons are still good for quite some time: Blade of Carnage; Tranquil Staff; Silver Swiftblade; Swiftblade of Zek; Sceptre of Destruction et al.

    Then, you throw in the haste items that give 30%+ haste, which doesn't seem to get equaled in defiant armor until Elaborate or better. That stuff still is useful for quite some time.

    @Dahaman - I thought about that, too. It doesn't help in the interim, while I'm dying trying to get a stack of whatever I happen to run into for sale. Is there a way to tell what is selling and what is not selling without watching the bazaar for hours?

    I had leveled a berserker to 55 and found that I really didn't like the class; he JUST earned enough PP to replace the Crude Defiant stuff he had on from the Tutorial. Level appropriate drops were well behind what he should be to keep up with the mobs.
  20. SteelToe Elder

    Did you /claim your pretty package of goodies on the server? One per account per server. If you don't click open the boxes until level 55 (maybe 54), you will receive intricate defiant items and a weapon if memory isn't failing me (along with 10 exp potions and 10 speed potions). The Intricate Defiant Combatant's Belt for the Teek Level 60 simple task has 30% haste. The flawed version (simple task level 50) has 26% haste. You are unlikely to notice the 4% difference. The Ornate version has 22% haste.

    For fun, I went with a monk/shaman/warrior box and geared them up with Teek tasks and drops, and related quests. They are around 58-59 now on CT server but are mostly in ornate to intricate gear with maybe a few simple and original tutorial items. Elaborate and better items are not difficult to find. I only buy in the bazaar if something really cheap is available. And . . . if you want . . . spend some daybreak cash for intricate defiant equivalent items (consigned I believe). I wouldn't, but YMMV.

    Good luck and drop an update.