So I came back after more than a decade away from EQ and after spending some time just wondering around the world and getting familiar with things again I am wondering what to spend my time on other than killing in hot zones. Right now it looks like progressing through DoN will unlock some AAs for me but I don't know if that is really worth it. I guess I want to know if running through older content like that is worth it or if I should focus in levelling as fast as possible for whatever the latest is. I am using a F2P account, but it is silver since it was created that long ago.
Anniversary time is coming up in little over a week. You could google all those events and make plans on which you want to do. Or the fabled are going to be out also. These links might help if your interested in that https://www.bonzz.com/anniversary.htm https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Anniversary I would suggest doing the drunkard's stein short cut version cause everyone can use an extra port to POK and there is a brick that will port you too. And yes, all those AA from DON and MPG trials and other expansions will help you tremendously. But being Silver you will be limited on AA.
Yep +1 on the anniversary stuff. A lot of it can be done at lower level but will yield stuff that you'll use forever. Other than that, I'd say it depends on your goals. If you want to level up quickly, consider hot zones and/or getting a heroic boost. If you want to see the stuff you missed, look at the tabs in your /ach window for various expansions. That will give you an idea of what progression stuff is available for each. (Later expansions tend to hold your hand a bit more with more progression pathways laid out.) If you're still at a relatively low level, you have the option of hiring a tank merc and having it help plow through content/take you on a grand tour even if your gear isn't the greatest. You hire those in Plane of Knowledge, and the vendors are on the find menu.
Fabled mobs won't be until the AV Legacy events on April 12th. AT midnight the script should kick in unless someone messes things up again. A lot of higher level bosses will get the script run on them and if people don't get touchy before midnight they will respawn as fabled versions. I generally see this with PoP fabled and not with the previous expansions. Since the Korascian Warlord is not a boss and doesn't take a longer spawn period you may still get his normal froggy self. Regrua Overlord is the same way.
You may wish to do the tutorial quests in Plane of Knowledge from Selcalna Galnor she is near the loyalty vendor. She can teach you about the new things which have been added to the game over the past few years that you may have missed. https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/npc.html?id=40149 If your not sure where to start for your level, you can always take a look at heros journey type /ach in game to see it. It has some good suggestions on where to go and what to do at your level.
It looks like the MPG trials are for groups or raids, what level should I start doing them if I am going to have to solo them?
Find a larger guild on your server that is welcoming new and returning players. They will help answer your questions as you go and may have recommendations or offer assistance.
I am level 65 now and for the past few days have been focusing on getting AAs so I can try and keep up with what will be best for my class. I'm curious about doing some things from the Scars of Velious expansion because I wasn't at a high enough level to do it when I was playing all those years ago. Is any of that stuff, like getting skyshrine or thurgadin armor, still useful in anyway or should I just stick with defiant gear I can pick up?
Stick with defiant until about level 70 ish. After that there are tons of zones where you can go quest armor or it drops
Stick with the defiant gear. Maybe you can get a high level to drag you through PoTime/Tacvi for some weapon/weak slot upgrades. I'd level up to 80 and fully re-gear before trying to go back and solo level 70 content. Maybe 85+ depending on your class.
What gear should I be looking for at level 80. I haven't grouped much since I haven't really seen other players in the zones I am in at my level so I will probably be Moloing as much as possible for all of this.
No one mentioned yet but. Pretty sooner or later someone is going to say "you do AAs at 65? Whats wrong with you" Just fyi, pretty much everyone uses autogrant AA. Which means you gotta pay eventually or get a krono in game. Sad that 50-120 is everyone expecting you to autogrant and looks at you sideways if you go for AAs and its not for like tradeskills, at 65. Moloing is gonna be for a very long time, pretty sure everyone is saying join a guild. I understand I see this common theme with these threads someone is back and going through the game. No guild. Hello dev's, real scenarios. Back at the game, 65ish, 80ish. No guild. No one LFG. Empty zones. Where too what now. No guild, no guild no guild. Some people just dont want to join a guild and this game expects you to be in one at later levels, expects you to have friends at later levels, expects you to be playing with others regularly at later levels. Wrong wrong wrong. Hello devs. Hello devs. Anyways back to your question. What to look for at 80? Just keep leveling thats it. LevelQuest. Always Leveling, never just playing for fun, done with leveling, now its fun time. never that in EQ Those DoN AAs sure good. Those heroic AAs start at like 95 or so. You not quite there yet. Expect to keep moloing. Expect zones 80-115 to be empty. Or a box crew a PL crew is there. Gear wise, defiant is still best. 85 thats when you should be looking at TBM. TBM you gotta do a mission, it involves other players, so you outta luck unless you made friends in a guild and so on. Hello devs, issue here. Common pattern common questions. They think you in guilds by now They think you have friends by now Wrong. Its not just you, I'm trying I been trying to get these people to listen for years. Sad to see same thing again and again and again. Nothing happening. I'm pretty sure they was thinking AP = people playing with returners. Wrong, see wrong. It's like they band aid these things rather than tackle the main issue. The band aids fall off quickly, terrible band aids. LFG system, no one uses it. Means its bad. Could be everything works, but no one uses it. Thats bad thats an issue. LFG is a nostalgia and it being empty is not nostalgia thats indicator game is dried up and life support. btw if you silver and at 80. The mercs are gonna drop in power quickly, and lack of AAs gonna pile up. And unfortunate you might not be here 2 months later or sooner because you'll that ceiling and its not even midgame yet either. Like maybe you get to early 90s. Thats kinda in midgame, well early 90s is 2011 so 13 years ago so outdated, its considered early game todays time. Silver at 90s, mercs are nothing. blue cons will eat your mercs. within seconds. And you still in game getting destoryed now, its kinda sad thinking about it. Theres really no one grouping. I got LS expecting people to LFG up, no one LFG'd on launch day of LS. It was disappointing. So end game, no LFG. The #1 developer focus, should not be raids, new zones. It should be, how to get LFG system to work. As in people are going LFG, like the old days, the good days. #1 issue should be, get that LFG system working.
Abstruse and Terror Infused. The T1 House of Thule (Level 80 req) stuff is usually cheap. You can also look for Dream Motes for the Fearful Reverie stuff. Buy it in Baz or mooch from a group in Dream Feerrott/House Lower. Pickup the Remnants if you do but GL finding the patterns. Don't try to do it yourself because the mobs hit for like 8k+ its sketchy at 90 even with good gear.
I feel like a lot of the returning or new player issues could be alleviated by just making mercs viable for longer. As for AAs, if I could buy a cap increase or a cap unlock all together for a reasonable price I would be down for it. As it is I will just spend the points I have as best I can.
I've been saying the last part there in particular for a long, long time. And some players call me crazy for it. AAs are too vital after a certain level to enjoy the game. Players can support the game without subbing through other means like buying potions and stuff off the market. It's one of the few "old model" F2P barriers left, outside of the Mercenary one (Journeyman mercs > Apprentice and do last a pretty good while). The real problem though is that new players are missing a lot of stuff (Quest/Mission prog, old clickie items, augs, etc) that are extremely beneficial to the leveling experience and outright required by the time you do catch up if you have any interest in group/raid play. But the pre-80 issues could all be resolved by alleviating the last real major barriers of entry, yes. Mercs and AA limits.
If you mean "so much more powerful than players that they are able to carry the player through group content" then I don't agree. I would love to see the gap between Journeyman and Apprentice mercs narrowed, but that's probably unlikely. High level buffs can trivialize content to some degree, but the most difficult catch up task for solo players is to earn level appropriate gear by themselves. The simplest fix to truly enable a player to catch up would be to remove required level on gear.
F2P you should look into boxing. I don't think you mentioned what type character you are using. It doesn't matter because the power increase of mixed teams is exponential. Classic example would be a Monk-Cleric where neither can advance solo but together they are very strong. It's not the Loyalty vendor, name escapes me right now. I think you can buy summoning focus items from a PoK vendor in the same area as the Soul Binder. I think there are restriction like level and account status, but I would have a Pet Class of proper level available if you ever think of doing a month of paid to get several thousand auto grant AAs. Focused pets are a substitute for Mercs above 80ish of a F2P account, but they get you closer to functional for a little while, at least 5 more levels IMO. There's a lot of combinations that work, particularly if the other class you use is a buffer or healer type. Something like a Pet class with Ranger, Cleric, Paladin, Shaman, Druid, ... works well enough.
