Recently, I have been working on making a streamlined 1 - 105 guide for EQ. This is the first new guide I have written in about two years! With the release of TBM I feel that their intention with the X-pac was to make the "wall" you normally hit at 75/80 passable. For new players finding information can be challenging so to help out with that search and to hopefully make it much easier for new/returning players I decided to start writing some guides again. http://almarsguides.com/eq/gettingstarted/guide/ The TBM section is still in the works but the guide is done enough to where I feel comfortable making this post. I will tweak it over time but the intention of this guide is to guide people from 1 - 105 as quickly as possible. To many people give up before reaching end game primarily because of two reasons. 1. You reach a point where you need to box or need to group (and since there usually aren't many 75-95 people looking to group Boxing is really your only option) 2. The higher level you get the less gear you find for sale in the /baz There is still a ton of detail I plan to add to this guide, including basic class help for people as well as more info for 100 - 105. It will probably be done completely by the end of this month at which time I will add it to the drop down section on my website. Until then this is a limited release =D
As a new player since Phinny, thanks for all the guides! I visited your site alot I am about to do a character on the live server so the timing couldnt be more perfect! THANKS
That is actually kind of what inspired me to do the guide! With the popularity of the TLPs and the fact that TBM is an X-pac (imo) designed to make 75 - 105 easier it just felt right! If this is your first time in EQ welcome aboard and hope you enjoy the game as the rest of us here! If you have any questions feel free to shoot me a PM I will do my best to answer!
Almar, I returned to EQ 3 years ago. I played from game launch till about 6 months in luclin, then played eq2 for a couple of years, moving with guild friends. When I returned obviously allot had changed. I found your guides and emersed myself in them. I can't thank you enough for the time you have put into creating them, you helped me immensely in making my progression thru the game. Your guides allowed my to make practical decisions on paths, without loosing my sanity and immense amounts of time. Thank you whole heartily.
Currently have the following crew: 105 Mage - Pet Tank - Healer Merc 105 Wiz - Caster Merc 105 Enchanter - Caster Merc All have Xpacs through TDS Have lived in CoTF Gribbles mostly...ready for some newness... Have mostly the Latent level armor with a few Manifested pieces mixed in. Worth it to explore TDS at all for upgrades or just suck it up and dive into TBM? IF I am reading it correctly, sounds like TBM will offer roughly 500-700 Hp/Mana more per piece than the Latent stuff?
Indeed, about 5-700HP per piece and not double but TRIPLE the heroics. The upgrade is huge. Like huge huge. Like if you were to go to Wendies and order a triple double type huge. When I bought TBM I was in latent on a lot of my characters and I was totally shocked at the heroics each piece of TBM gear gave. Unless you're after powersources and stuff of the like, I would recommend skipping TDS altogether. Maybe go back there after you're fully geared to "see what was up" with that X-pac but in the mean time jump right into TBM is what I would recommend and gear everyone out.
Interesting thought on skipping TDS and going straight to TBM. If the goal is to level and gear up the fastest, that might be good advice. I just want to add that the TDS group gear (especially visible armor) is sometimes better than the TBM equivalent and those Power Sources you mentioned are very compelling. But the TDS gear might take you longer to get (more required progression quests). The benefit of some of those stupid-high stats on the TBM gear is debated (class-dependent), considering the trade-offs you have to make in other stats. Another thing to consider, maybe, is that TDS will presumably be free when the next expansion comes out (I don't know if that affects your guide).
It wouldn't affect my guide, I will always recommend skipping over TDS as time vs reward is well under what it is with TBM. While it could be a mediocre alternative route I would like to try and streamline as many players I can along the same paths to try and promote grouping with each other. If everyone knows to hit up gribbles 75+ I can double the grouping opportunities with it, same goes for TBM heroics/HAs. As far as the heroic differences, even if you were to gobble up heroic stam on an alt you'll notice a giant difference (about 1k more health per piece of gear). Of course for a tank, heroic Dex/AGI you're going to notice a night and day difference one, the casters/melee whichever heroic stat you choose, much less of a difference. Depending on what slot 9s you buy there isn't any spell damage + healing trade off (just don't go with the insanely high MP ones, Benefict for healers, Vengeful for caster dps) if that is what you meant for the trade offs.
If your goal is to level and gear up efficiently, you're on the right track. If your goal is to maximize your group geared characters, then several classes need a mix of TBM and TDS gear. Aside from AC, HME and heroics, almost every other stat suffers in TBM compared to TDS t3. Some slots are significant downgrades in AC and HME regardless of which type 9 you choose for some classes. TBM gear has the advantage of dropping really fast. Now that they added currency to the Spirit Armor HAs, you can easily get a fully augged set in a week with reasonable hours played. It's crazy easy and a great path for those just leveling up.
I'm really glad you are putting these guides together for new players, btw - I hope my comments are constructive I notice you don't mention/advocate the use of Teek's dailies. I found those to be great exp for the effort right up to around lvl 100, especially if you had a wiz or druid bound in Valley. Even at 105, I think I still get 3 AA for the 90 & alt dailies, but they only take about 3 minutes to complete (1 AA/minute). From 86-100, I suspect they are still on par with DH HAs (exp/minute).
The hotzone daily guy? It's something I could add for solo players that hadn't crossed my mind before. Thanks =)
Gate to Sarith, evac to Valley zone line, zone in. If farmers, evac to north end of zone. No need to bind and teleport bind just for the Valley daily. As stated, as soon as you can do all three of the 85, 90, alt dailies, the exp is really good for the limited effort. Especially at 86-95. If you're not able to complete Gribbles in 30 minutes to double up your lesson of the day, it looks like the change they made to let lesson work with HAs also works with the dailies as well. Run an HA, med up, hit lesson, hail, do your dailies with lesson still running. Depending on your abilities, hit either Grounds or Valley last to finish off what's left on the lesson.
Hot zones are pretty good even after 95 since you can kill faster. Checking my logs, I see that my level 96 character gained 9% in 96 by doing the level 85 daily and running Lesson for 30 minutes. It was a DPS character, who killed 110 mobs while the Lesson was running, so YMMV.
I mentioned the wizzy/druid bind because it saves two zone load times (30+ seconds each). Besides having a (relatively) large negative impact on exp per minute, zoning is tedious and very often causes crashes. And they rarely only take me 30 seconds, because I always get distracted by something else during those 30 seconds of frozen screen I think my personal recommendation for fastest route from 75-105, without the assistance of higher level players or Heroic toons, would have been: Each day: Do the the level appropriate Teek dailies (for everybody, not just solo players). Pick up Guard Harman's Daily HA tasks for bonus exp (always before doing Gribble's, in case he offers a Gribble). Do Gribble's DH HA tasks (all three). Repeat Gribbles when lockout timers are up.
Almar, you've really got me thinking Since I have only done the TBM content with my lvl 105 box toons, I am really looking forward to seeing your recommendations for TBM HAs for leveling. While mob killing (at lvl 105) in TBM definitely nets more exp than mob killing in other expansions, quest exp doesn't seem better and I'm not (yet) convinced that the overall exp/minute is better than just repeating Gribbles/Teeks. I haven't seen a comparison like "Into The Hills gives a level 85 toon ##% of exp and takes ## minutes to complete, while Lxavnom Labors gives ##% exp and takes ## minutes to complete." Since Remnants of Tranquility are tradeable, there doesn't seem to be any advantage to building them up at early levels (like there was for CotF Marks of Valor). As you recommend in your guide, you can just buy them in the bazaar with pp. I think the upper bound of what any toon could use is about 55k Remnants (to buy all the lvl 100 vendor augs they could fit), and 55k Remnants costs less than 1 krono's worth of pp on Bristlebane right now (and falling). And I think there are posts here that indicate the TBM gear is not better than gear from other level-appropriate expansions for levels under 100 (such as Abstruse, Fear Touched, etc.), which may be far cheaper and more accessible in the bazaar. I suspect that the popularity of the Gribble tasks lies in their simplicity and ease of access, both of which help give high exp/minute rewards. It would seem that TBM HAs require more zoning and multiple quest givers. I agree with your general assessment of the gear being very accessible (compared to TDS) and that skipping TDS while leveling is a fine suggestion. I'm curious to see if TBM is now the best suggestion for characters under level 100, and I'm curious to see if grinding HAs in TBM is any better for lvl 100+ than just doing the TBM progression.
I really have to disagree about the doing Gribble HAs. Three boxing and using mercs the missions will take 40+ minutes. The xp is only 10%. If you're soloing them... yea that's not going to happen. Total waste of time and effort. Soloing in Fort Mech will net you 2.5% xp per 5 minutes for a level 91 solo toon(tested on 91 monk). So in 40 minutes that gets you 20% XP and good vendor trash. If you're using Lesson you're going to get close to double that. Almost 40% XP. HAs are not a good leveling tool due to how the mobs scale. You're much better mowing through light blues. Fort Mech > Gyrospire B > Gyospire Z > Kaesora Library > Grounds > Valley Way more XP than Gribble's.
My experience with TBM is the HAs do not give good exp. If you're completing the first time and getting the achievement, then they're decent. The per kill exp is also good. But if you're doing the tasks, you're not constantly killing and the completion bonus is really small. Grinding in static TBM zones (you'll want to be 105ish) can be really good exp depending on where you go. I leveled an alt from 102 - 105 in one night camping an aug with my main (I did use lesson, but no potions). One advantage to going with the TBM gear is you can trade in the augs for nearly what you paid for them. Gives an option to upgrade as you go along. You can skip upgrading the type 5s. The problem is the gear stats are based on the expansion that the required levels were based on. To max out, you can get the following expansion's gear that is an upgrade at an earlier level. However, since you're likely going to outlevel any gear you acquire, you're wasting plat on pretty much anything. Get the minimum your given class can get by with. Tanks are the most dependent on upgrades. The final run from 100-105 is likely where you want to start gearing up more if you want to do current content rather than older exp bonanzas like Gribble or forbid actually group with people and be useful.
@Lizzarn, I think you're getting a little more class-specific (and maybe even level-specific) than Almar's guide is aiming to be. Very few classes are going to solo light-blue mobs as fast as a monk (or SK or ranger). Also, your exp reward is not consistent: you may get 2.5% per 5 minutes at lvl 91, but at lvl 92 you will get a lot less. Perhaps at some levels, your technique may be faster for some classes. But in general, I think the dailies/HAs are going to be faster. But I may do some experimenting EDIT: A couple of other considerations: your 5-minute technique sounds like one pull. How long do you have to wait between pulls for respawns or merc mana? And finally, how is that exp if you have a group of 3 or more? Split three ways (or more if you have mercs), it's not going to compare with DH HAs, where I don't think the reward changes with the number of players/mercs in the group?
For straight leveling I have recommended gribbles as it's most likely faster. For leveling + gearing I have recommended TBM zones. I still have to get my guide finished, the past few days I have been running the heroics from Tarl in plane of health and I hate them. They're tedious and I really hate when they take you into the "under ground" area of life/decay. As for people saying some gear is better I am going to need to see side by side comparisons. I checked 105 gear with other 105 gear on wizards and chanters and I checked 100 gear side by side with 100 gear on enchanters and clerics and I would always choose TBM gear for the extra heroics. At 100 it's still almost 1k hp/mana if you use a full stam or full mana slot 5 (and lets face it throwing in a stam/hp one is already the bottom of the barrel). The only differences I do notice are with Spell Damage, Clairvoyance and Heal Amount and the people I have asked about it and what people tell me is that the amount of spell damage and clairvoyance are added ontop of each cast. So if you have 200 spell damage, hit for 20,000k with a cast you'll do 20,200 now. If it is just added ontop of the cast I am not all that impressed. If it's added into the casts mathematical calculation colour me impressed. Until I find the formula and I am positive it's right I am not supporting or denying gear being better or worse throughout those levels because I really can't tell without the formula others are using to judge whether it's better or not. I found the formula in one google search. Sometimes... Sometimes I wonder why I even bother asking people =P http://everquest.wikia.com/wiki/Spell_Damage_(Equipment_Stat) Today is now math day.
Hi Almar. I just looked through some of your guide. It looks to be very helpful. I just have a few more suggestions for new/returning players starting at level 1. Secalna Galnor in the Plane of Knowledge offers tutorial tasks that are very helpful and her bazaar task gets you a 10 slot, 50% weight reduction bag. For those who have never played, or have been away for years, it might be best to do the Mines of Gloomingdeep tutorial from 1 to 10. Before selling stuff to NPC vendors, check the bazaar for buyers (/barter). Sometimes you'll find buyers who will pay more than an NPC.
