Concerns about returning to EQ

I havent played EQ since about 2007. I dusted off my live account and logged in to an empty guild/friend list, 25 levels behind everyone, and just from what I've seen, there is no more grouping or any sense of community. Mercs and soloing. Not for me thanks.
But, I had/have high hopes for the Agnarr server especially considering PoP/LDoN Was without question the best era for EQ.

I have a few concerns about returning though....I dont want to waste my time and money on something that's going to be, potentially, unplayable.

1.) I'd like to come back but I dont think I want the cost and hassle of buying a second PC/Laptop just to be on an even playing field with 75% of the population. Does True boxing cut down on this enough that there is grouping and maybe even a sense of community? Or is it just everyone running 2-3 accounts at a time and ruining the experience for everyone else?

2.) Id like to play a shaman, but because of my concerns in "1.)" im worried that every group will basically already have a boxed shaman/ench/cleric and it will be impossible for anyone playing one of those classes (solo) as a main to get into groups or even level up past 25.

3.) Ive also recently read that shaman DoTs are borked under level 75 (1-65 on agnarr), reducing soloablity (or even group/raid contribution) on a server that will probably not have room for non-boxed shaman.

How much of a problem will all this be on agnarr? Should I just stay away from EQ entirely and wait for Pantheon to come out?

1) I don't plan to box. My understanding is that Phinny has a very healthy (most successful TLP to date?) population with plenty of grouping.

2) See above.

3) Shaman dots got "adjusted" recently, which apparently helped out a little but sham dots appear to still on the underpowered side of things. That said there will be plenty of people on agnarr to group and play with, regardless of class.

From what I've read of the activities on Phinigel which has a similar (but not the same) structure you should be fine, yes there will be boxed shaman but not as many as there are on other servers.

If you haven't played at all, spending $15 and creating a shaman on Phinny now might be a good way to knock the dust off before Agnarr opens in about 3 weeks and get re-familiarized with the game.

I'll be single-boxing a bard and interested in grouping. I'm sure there will be people two boxxing out there, but I really don't think you should have a hard time finding a group if you're playing there from launch (e.g. when there's lots of players in similar level ranges as you).

you will see the small box crews, maybe two or three with a rare full group crew. Finding a group as a non boxed shaman should be very easy for the first 6 months on the server. Phinigel had tons of pugs running constantly and with the zone balancing it wasn't hard to find a place to exp. You will run into the loot farmers but that will happen on any successful TLP Server or MMORPG. I would say that Agnarr will be very successful for at least 2 years.

I have never boxed in my life and plan to join Agnarr after years of EQ interruption too .
I would say that a good 2/3 of the players will not box - because of the true box rule on Agnarr who would bother with 2 or 3 computers just for playing an old game ?

So it is a safe bet that you'll find easily groups especially during Classic&Kunark .

A shocking number of people, I mean, who doesn''t have an extra old computer laying around to box with. Not to mention once you get used to it trueboxing is easier than alt tabbing. If we are pulling numbers out of thin air I would say 2/3s of the folks will have a box, that seems to be about the breakout on phinny. There will still be plenty of groups around though, 2 boxing hardly ruins the game.

There is NO WAY 2/3 of phinny or agnarr do/will box multiple accounts. From my experience playing on the server from day 1. I can confidently say it's well 20% and my best guess would be 5%-10% of the population max on Phinny boxes. And i did PUG's, groups with friends and raids. It will be similar on Agnarr. Boxes will exist but mostly for the stupid camps (GEBS, BAM, etc) and then just randomly.

Phinny is loaded with boxers. How do you think split raids work? Just because they don't park them in nexus or Pok doesn't mean peeps aint 6 and 12 boxing.

You'll be fine bro. I've never met a boxer who wouldn't let a live player into a group to replace a boxed player. Also if you plan on Shaman, you'll get groups instantly.

As the server ages, you'll see more people with their pocket shaman/bard etc(hence your experience on Live) but you should be well into endgame within a few weeks.

I don't know a single person on Phinny who doesn't have at least one box. They may not pull them out all the time but they keep them around for various farming or duoing. Now, I'm sure there are plenty of folks who don't box on Phinny, but to say it's 80% of the population? LoL! That's funny.

There's plenty of people who don't box on phinigel, but id say its probably closer to 50%. I started a box during velious on phinny after just rolling with one account the first couple of xpacs. If you start near the beginning of the servers launch its going to be flooded with groups in every good exp zone available. Pick zones make it so you can still get a good camp too and places aren't jam packed with people. A lot of the people who box (like me) don't even really want to but its just to nice to have a second account when it allows you to get so much more done, especially during non peak hours. Examples of what I use my box for is ports, out of group dps, out of group buffs, as a trader while I'm playing my other account, pick up a item in a different zone without having to drop what im doing on my main plus many more. For Agnarr I will be boxing at launch but with my 2 toons I will already have enough to do most all group content so I will be grabbing the first 4 lfgs I see, even if its like 4 bards or clerics I wont care. Once I get close to level cap I will drop my box any and every time I'm in a full group, I just need to keep my box high enough to be able to get exp with my main.

On the TLP shaman...that's what I mained on phinny, the only class that would of allowed me to do more solo would have been an enchanter. Some classes might be faster at killing blues solo but as far as taking out a group tuned mob even a necro cant take down some of the mobs a shaman can. Before the DoTs were touched they seemed about right but you had to have your entire spell bar full of DoTs to do maximum damage. I was all for the change so we would only have to have 2 dots loaded for max dmg and after the first change they made our DoTs insanely overpowered, if they stayed the same shamans would be considered a dps class. The nerf did hit way to hard but it hasn't took away the ability to solo anything I was able to before, just a little slower than before. malo slow disease dot posion dot pet attacking mob from the back with you tanking spearing him down, it will all die with little to no downtime for the shaman and get easier and easier with gear.

Oh and outside of cleric/enchanter/tank maybe monk/bard the desire for the rest of the classes in eq for groups is about the same imo. You will always get a group pretty quick if u go to the zone you want to hunt in and look/ask around for a group, or start one yourself (start soloing on the shammy and invite the first tank you see, go from there =)).

Boxing was very rare on Phinny when I played at launch for general groups. The people that want to box are really soloers that just want to make the solo journey a bit more palatable.

I would think there will be even fewer boxes on Agnarr given the faster leveling due to the xp rate.

Also a played Shaman would always be sought after in a group over a boxed Shaman.

You should spend 15 dollars and come back to play. If you dont like it, you are only out of 1 trip to Taco Bell with the family. When Agnarr launches there are going to be a lot of people grouping, soloing, boxing, and even group boxing.
Currently even on Phinny you can find groups at all levels fairly easy, as long as you are in a popular area to group. I wouldn't worry about the boxers, we are in the minority....the boxers i mean. You will not have a problem finding a group or even a guild.

Not all boxers btw are anti social...Im a good 2 box who groups most of the time, who can play the hell out of both toons. There are some boxers though that cant play very well with one toon let a lone 2 or even 3 toons.

boxing is only a issue on servers where new players stop coming in, like phinnegal. People start boxing more because its impossible to find groups at level 1-50, Agnarr will not have that issue for a long time because thanks to the faster xp rate people will be more interested in starting new characters there and leveling

People are going to want played characters 100% over boxed anything at the beginning of agnarr

1. Most people will not be boxing, seeing it as a pita and dull not to mention costs money.
2. See above. You should not have a terrible time at all getting groups allowing for the quality of your play.
3. Meh EQ always has some class being nerfed, just the way they always ran the game. Seems you are going in circles though.
4. Play something else, either another class or another game if this is a huge worry for you. Not exactly signing a 30 year mortgage here, try it out.

There are a lot of Dru/Clr oog boxes on Phinny because most people have access to an old computer or laptop and honestly, it doesn't suck at all. They are mainly there for buffs/rez, they aren't taking up a group spot and almost no one on the server boxes more than one toon in an experience group. That just isn't happening, as far as I can tell. Those who do tend to stick to PLing and camping one of the few krono spots. It's actually pretty great.

Same here. Feels like EQ gets a small but steady flow of returning players, it's nice

Single-boxing sounds cooler though. Yeah, I single-box, hear me roar.