Extremely Casual comeback - Thoughts?

Discussion in 'The Newbie Zone' started by Falconz, Dec 5, 2022.

  1. Falconz New Member

    I found a 90 day time card and I have an itch to come back and play casually. I have about 2 hours within a day to play (at night) maybe a few days a week. I have not really played in 8 years since they raised cap to 105.

    I'm at the point where I don't know where I stand with my Main (Level 103 Mage) / wouldn't even know where to start if I came back. Is it possible to find a group at this level? Do people still even group to get experience? I'm not really good at multi-boxing unless I was just power leveling an alt on another account. Am I setting myself up for a letdown to level him up and get some gear? If so, how much of a letdown?

    I have some alts. I always wanted to level up another Mage to 50, get Epic pet and farm Naggy/Vox. I know It would only be for nostalgic sakes as nothing that drops would be worth anything.

    My hope as a casual (couple hours a day, few days a week) with a bit of Main character and a little bit of playing an alt I can have some enjoyment.

    Any guidance would be appreciated. Thanks!

    Edit: I should say, I am on a live server
  2. Astefin Journeyman

    1) Yes, it is still possible to group and grind experience at 103. The progression mind numbing grind starts at 111.
    - it is much easier to find a group if you get a decent guild, but you will be solo a good portion of the time. What server are you on?

    2) Getting leveled and geared without boxing is much more difficult. Not impossible, especially if you are able to latch onto with a few people.

    3) Starting at 111+ you will have a let down if you don't box. You will be relegated to leveling with overseer (which is not bad mind you) and waiting/hoping for groups to do progression.

    4) As a mage, I know you said you are not a good boxer, but even a melody bot bard would greatly improve your experience coming back. 2bd mercenary + bard adps.

    5) A couple hours a day a few times a week is enough time on live. You just will not have time for raiding or TLP servers.

    6) At least mage is a solo able class. Other classes are not so lucky. With determination and networking with a guild you can hit 120 by a mix of solo grind for AAs after 111, steady diet of overseer (catch up/experience mechanic added in with ToV because they screwed the pooch and continue to screw the pooch with progression mandates), and latching onto groups/a decent casual guild.

    7) Do not think that you have to race to 120 to have fun in game. Alts are always fun and there is a lot of content/zones you haven't experienced since EoK. Games like EQ will always move the goal post farther ahead because they have to. Otherwise it would stagnate the player base. It doesn't mean you have to constantly push at break neck speed to those goal posts.
    Wayylon and Falconz like this.
  3. Falconz New Member

    I am on Cazic Thule server.

    111+ will be interesting I guess. I wonder if new expansion will change any of that. I also have to look into what Overseer is.

    I can look into botting with a bard. Never played that class but im sure can get the basics going.

    Yup, no raiding for me.

    Appreciate the response . Thank you!
  4. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    First thing I would do is log in and play free.

    Your old accounts are still there and you do not need to pay until you have your "game legs" back under you and see what the differences are in today's game between paid and free.

    Get your character all arranged/set up and then when the next bonus exp starts go paid and do auto grant so they get most of all AA to what ever level they are, soak up the bonus exp during then and really run Overseer for the 12 and 24 hour quests that give good exp. Some of my characters were getting 8% each quest on the recent bonus exp. But normally they only get 2%. Still good for just logging in and clicking a few buttons and then logging out.
  5. Astefin Journeyman

    I cannot help you on that server. Catpaws is correct. Make an alt, do tutorial and get your game legs back.

    Also, that gives you a chance to find any casual guilds on that server and see it they meet your likes/desires/expectations.

    And not botting a bard, boxing. I said melody bot and I should not have. I mentioned that due to people using the bard on a 2nd account to have an adps melody going while not doing anything else with the account. You will only get maybe 30% of a bard's ability doing that, but 30% of a bard is still a big boost to your mage and gives 2nd mercenary.
    Falconz likes this.
  6. Gialana Augur

    If you want to have a max level 50 mage for killing Vox and Naggy, that's certainly your choice. However, you should know that higher level characters are now allowed to kill those 2. There are also npcs called Agents of Change that will allow you to spawn your personal raid zone for each of those once a week.
  7. Falconz New Member

    Well, that's news. Guess it's been a while lol.
  8. Annastasya Augur

    If the social aspect of the game is not the most important part to you, i recommend starting a new alt, go through the tutorial, do everything you can there, then start in crescent reach and do the Hero's Journey (in the achievement tab). This will start you off going thru all the quests of Crescent Reach, Blightfire Moors and beyond.

    i have a great time making this run with different characters, and their mercenary allies. By the time you are through Goru`Kar Mesa or Blackfeather roost, you've got a very good handle on what that class is about and how much you will like running them to the higher levels. Also, you should have assembled plenty of starting gear, and on the live servers, these levels still have people in them sometimes unlike 99% of other lower level zones, so perhaps a few opportunities to group and make friends.
    code-zero likes this.
  9. Treiln Augur

    So this is my play style. I started a Paladin and a Beastlord from scratch. Paladin is 101, and Beastlord is 115, almost 116 now.

    Few hours here, few hours there. Just gotta know what it is you want to do. On my Paladin I took a path very rarely traveled by my in previous play times and went the undead centric route. Saw a lot of new places and ripped through a lot of content thanks to Slay Undead. Was wicked and fun.

    Beastlord I took a fast route to about 90, then from 90-100 I did some HAs, Hot Zones, and RoF progression. 100-110 I went back and did some previous expansions progressions and got some AAs and what not along the way.

    Now at 115 I'm going to start in with ToV progression (mercenary / partisans / hero).

    I get about a Lessons burn in on days I work (like today, I won't even get logged in), and then put in about 2-3 hours on days off when the wife doesn't have a honey-do-list a mile long ;)

    Still having fun though :)
  10. Iven Antonius Bayle

    That restriction got removed in one of the last updates because of the Agents of Chance. They can be killed with a lvl 120 PC now in the standard zones.
  11. Iven Antonius Bayle

    CT is a well populated server so you might find groups but generally open mixed player groups strongly tend to be a relic of the past and even with friends and guild mates it can be problematic because players today are more focused on their own goals and interests than in the past and about everyone is lacking time to play. Boxing is basically a necessity today and it is not difficult if you minimize it to two boxes. Of course you have to get some practice to get used to it and it does require to learn more than one class. Custom hotbuttons and audio triggers will make it much easier.
  12. Falconz New Member

    Thanks all.

    I actually have an Alt account with a level 90 shaman. Might be lacking in expansions though, I would have to double check. Edit: Says that alt account owns 26 of 28 expansions. I don't recall buying extra expansions. Just saw they added all the way up to ToV for free

    Ideally I would like to keep my Mage as the main, but I'm not tied to the Shaman if it won't be beneficial to me. Maybe I'll make a Bard alt and level him up.

    Could actually be fun because I've never played a Bard before!
  13. CatsPaws No response to your post cause your on ignore

    Yes, all accounts get 26 expansions free. Also if you do buy the newest expansion then that will fill in the last 2 (now 3).

    But unless your level 120 and well geared you may just want to wait on those last 3 expansions :)
  14. winspearean New Member

    With this new expansion, level 120 mages get a new cauldron spell that can summon a new pet focus for level 106 pet classes that will allow you to summon basically a raid-level pet for level 106-111. That should get you through those levels quite nicely.

    My husband and I both returned to the game at the start of the pandemic after many years away and we have radically different play styles. I main a mage, levelled her to max as quickly as I could and have been raiding for about 18 months now. My husband has 10 characters on 2 accounts, most in their 80s/90s (started in their 70s) and he basically does a lesson burn on each one every day (he calls it his rotation). He has yet to subscribe either. Its kind of like Candy Crush for him, a way to zone out and decompress between meetings or after work, while he watches TV etc. We both relearned how to play back then by doing the tutorial. It really is a good tool.
  15. Treiln Augur

    So a Shaman + Mage combo isn’t bad (although many will say go Bard for many reasons + ease of boxing)

    Mages:
    1) Pets are your bread and butter. And best pets in game. Given that: did your style of play, your pet will be able to rank anything you need
    2) Mages strengths increases (so to speak) for each additional pet around. And you can have 2-3 swarm pets + permanent pet + Host pets going (and shaman pet and shaman swarm pets)
    3) Great DPS as of now. Solid spot.
    4) Pet gear

    Shaman:
    1) Slow - self explanatory. Even if it’s not required it makes everyone’s life easier.
    2) Heals - lets you be the main healer and back up DPS or run a healer merc and focus on DPS while being a back up healer.
    3) melee ADPS / aura - affects all the pets. And with mages there’ll be a lot of them. Amazing benefits here
    4) Pet - while not as strong as mages, it’s like a free permanent DoT (and a hefty one when shaman buffed and mage geared). Not to mention the spell proc pets (which also benefit the mage). And all these pets benefit and proc from the kitty line from shamans
    5) DoTs - decent DPS

    So while not the standard/typical coupling, it’s definitely got its strengths