Should i still use alakazam.com for playing TLP Aradune?

Hey all, I am wondering what websites you guys use for accurate information i.e quests, spells, etc. for these TLP servers, in particular Aradune. I played EQ live 19 years ago and played P99 here and there in the last 10 years but this is my first time playing with daybreak. Where do we go for accurate information, for epic quest guides and stuff like that? I have found Aradune Auctions which has been helpful but i am just continuing to go to Alakazam.com for spells.. but this server is much different than the "classic" EQ I know well and don't want to waste time on unnecessary steps on my epic for example. Thanks guys!

Allakhazam is still a reliable resource. In addition, I use EQTraders.com, araduneauctions.net, and wiki.project1999.com. A lot of the p99 content remains relevant on TLP servers.

Use eqprogression.com

Its basically made for tlps. Has all epic walkthroughs

Zam and eqprogression for quest guides - caveat that zam may have comments/info from eras later than you are currently playing

Zam for spell database filtered by expansion, but not for actual spell data

Magelo for item drop rates and referencing where on the map mobs have previously been killed

EQtraders for tradeskill reference

EQresource or raidloot for spell data (do not use zam/lucy for spell data, often inaccurate)

P99 wiki is occasionally useful for finding gear sets and quest ideas to do and stuff like that, but often has inconsistencies with quest data or mob spawning mechanics compared to TLP.

Zam is good for the older expansion content. It gets a little sparse and sometimes unreliable as you get to the last few expansions. EQ Resource is a great site for that.

Raidloot is also a fantastic site for lots of things. Researching AAs, they have an updater where you can update your character gear and see it in a spreadsheet like format so you can search and see where you are and what would be upgrades. All around great site that does lots of things.

Use a variety of resources. P99 wiki for the first few expansions is hard to beat. Allakhazam for greater detail. EQtraders for tradeskills. Raid loot and EQitems for gear research. EQ progression for epics and popular quests. Almar's Guide and EQ progression for tradeskilling.

Not sure what Aradune is up to. Velious? Raspersrealm starts in PoP. He has plans to eventually go back and do missing expansions. http://raspersrealm.com/

zam is the best spot to go, has writeups for everything and has all the classic info you could need. raidloot.com is another good resource. almar's guides are great. eqtraders is a great resource and has vendor listing that you have to pay for on zam.

P99 wiki can be useful but there are a lot of differences between p99 and live so some items could have completely different stats and some quest lines could be changed. For velious armor info, jewelcrafting recipes etc it's great.

Buy a zam membership and don't look back. Makes life easy.

zam is the best

eqresource is the worst

use zam and avoid eqresource

oh and almars is equally as bad as eqresource...they are fan made and were made by players that were really bad unskilled non top 25 serverwide guilded (probably worse than that) before tlps started so their methods only appeal to slow paths of help or guides or bad advice on things and attract clueless bad players

just being blunt and honest

people who use it will be mad but those players are either bad and/or friends of those sites creators

Almars tskill guide is very useful

What info do you find on eqresource that's incorrect?

As opposed to what? Made by a Professional Everquest player like you?

Totally disagree about eqresource. I use both but for info on named mobs I find eqresource to have everything I need (mob info, drops, spawn locations) in one location.

It is better then nothing. It focuses heavily on trade skill items that are expensive and is not optimal. With something like Jewel Crafting, I wouldn't be surprised if it is 5-10 times more expensive to use those recommendations then using less aggressive combines.

I'm not sure about other guides, but spell research requires you to farm Saltpeter. It is an infrequent drop in Lavastorm and takes quite a while.

Really trade skills in EQ are a major PIA. I used to always run up a Fletcher to cash in selling Trueshot Longbows. Now I can't be bothered as it is cheaper to use dropped bows that are just as good.

This, and it's not like an optimal Jewelcraft guide is hard to get right.

If you don't farm saltpeter in Lavastorm it's not financially viable to do research to a high skill on a tlp. His guides are great.

Specifically what do you find problematic with EQ Resource?

Well no if finances are a consideration. I think it was Kimchiprincess<?> and one other user whose name I can't recall went through this in the New Player forum. You use something like 8,000 pp just to get to ~100 skill level if you follow the Almar guide. It gets worse from there, I would estimate close to 40k-50k to get to ~200 skill level. Understand that is a lot of pp when I'd guess 8k should take you to 200 if you do it right. At the time when this was done, I think pp was still selling for ~12k pp/Krono so you are talking about ~$50 worth of pp vs using a better strategy.

This is not to say I have ever participated in the Krono market or endorse any form of RMT. Just making the point doing it right has a relative value. I'm not really much of a trade skill dude, Kimchi was just getting started in it, and I don't think the other contributor had a wealth of experience either, so it took three players w/o an extensive knowledge of trade skills maybe 6 posts and two days to come up with a better method saving 10s of thousands of pp.

Here's a few general tips things you might not know for returning players. Some you might know already.

1) At level 5 ever player gets an AA ability called "origin" which gates you back to your original city. Open your "general AA tab"
2) TLP have reworked potions that are really useful.
3) Zones have a feature to prevent overcrowding. You can type /pick and go to a different "instance" of the zone your in. There wont always be /picks in ever zone.
4) /LFG is very useful and it will allow you to see where everyone your level is group and help you find groups.
5) Full groups in TLPs are normally much better then solo/duo in terms of XP when compared to p99
6) Taxi is a good channel for finding ports. Type /join taxi when you need one and ask in that chat.
7) Use your Class chat channel for questions. /general is filled with trolls
8) Download this and put it in your maps folder for EQ. Then in game game when you open your map at the top left select Goods maps in the scroll bar.

Allah is the best source for general EQ stuff.

EQtraders is the best source for tradeskill stuff.

Magelo is the best source for drop rates and spawn locations.