Sounds like a good combo. Please note that any software that does "things without me having to hit a button" is not allowed on the official servers. You can automate the process of sending commands to other characters, though. [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software] seems to be the most popular program.
If you are trying to read Quest text on FV typing in /leaveall will turn off all the sales spam in the chat channels off so you can read the quest. I don't know how to turn all the channels back on but if I log out and back in it usually returns all the chat channels for me. I saw someone spam selling a common drop from The Grounds for 800K once. They will be happy to sell it to you and if you are happy to pay that then fine. Otherwise do your homework about items before you buy.
Just filter it to another window. If you are getting someone spamming, just /ignore spammer and poof. Otherwise the Newplayers channel is good General is good (if paid player) Class channel is good Current geographical area channel is also good (it antonica / velious / kunark)
So far I've just been alt tabbing and its been fine. Thanks for the info on the chat channels. I completely forgot about those.
I just started back in Jan myself. I did end up getting a one month for two accounts just for the AAXP. I hit 65 a while ago but have been doing the SoD quest in oceanhill. I do the whole quest line. When veil of Alaris they added paragon armor and it is granted if you finished SoD quest lines. Not sure what others thing about that but it seemed a good way to level up and then at level 75 or 80 I will have 900hp items. I had never really been in Grieg's end but this time when I was leveling up I went there and it is a very fun zone. So you might check that out also. If your using FTP mercs I found I could go with 2 healers and turn one on passive and use the other. Then alternate each pull and was able to pull non stop. One other thing if you look at your leader of your group you can click on your puller and designatehim as a puller. This will keep all the mercs in the camp instead of running out to the mob.
I don't think the server choice matters at all if you are always going to be Free to Play. Your game will grind to a halt around level 60 no matter what server you are on, and you will be a detriment to any group (of paying customers). F2P is great for trying the game out, pre-level 60. But unless I'm missing something obvious, the real question isn't which server as much as it is, "Is there a guild of all-F2P players, on any server?". Nobody will stop you from playing F2P, but any advice that people give you on these forums will always assume that you are a paying customer and geared as such (F2P generally can't wear the good gear) and using paid mercs, etc. ^^I think this deserves an A for effort and good use of strategy. But, that is only after pointing out that the first fail was playing F2P It's like going back and playing Mario Bros but choosing not to use the Jump button because you can't afford to fix your broken controller. It might still be fun, but you're not really on the same page as everybody else
True, he will start lagging behind All Access players after level 60, so he'll pretty much have to solo if he doesn't want to be a burden to his group later on. However, a boxing crew consisting of 1 silver character and 2 F2P characters can do quite a bit of content. You just have to pick less gear- and AA-dependent classes. Tank classes are out, but pet classes and casters can do OK for many levels by using pet tanking, kiting, charming and/or root-dotting.
Given your requirements I would 100% go Test. The reasons are: 1. You don't seem committed to the game, but are looking for a quick trip down memory road. This is the perfect attitude for Test, where character advancement is fast and commitment is low. The down side - no raid guilds, no economy, bugs, no community competition, etc. - don't matter when you only want to experience the old content. 2. You intend to box, rather than group. Again, perfect attitude for Test where 99% of the community box and lower level zones are all empty. This would also argue against the time lock servers, where most people go to play the game as though it's 1999. 3. Your main worry is about free to play mercenaries. Well, Test doesn't have that problem, since every account has access to paid mercenaries. The only major issue for you is that Test has time lock server balance active for its lower level content. That is, raids on Test have those special balance effects they put on the time lock servers to make them more difficult. So you won't be able to do old raids as easily on Test, as you would on Live. But then again, on Live old raid targets are almost always dead due to money farm, while on Test you could request a raid instance for your group, so there's still a benefit.
Silver accounts have access to better mercs than free accounts. Your merc will have some quality to it most here aren't taking into account. The biggest problem with silver/free is that you can't wear anything with the "Prestige" flag. Typically this is virtually every aug that is not part of a hotzone/holiday event. Very few of these free augs are useful late game so you become next to useless with late game content. Furthermore Prestige flags extend to higher tiers of gear as you progress past PoP as well. For instance, the first two tiers of House of Thule and the zonewide loot are all easily worn by anyone, but if you want gear from any of the tasks later on in the expansion or any raid gear, it is all flagged as Prestige. This gets worse and worse as the expansions went on further. Now the problem with the 105-110 game, and the past like 2 years, basically since Forsaken, is that the expansions are VERY small and easily beaten and cost exactly the same amount as expansions the likes of House of Thule, Scars of Velious, and Kunark. Lets double down on this point. Empires of Kunark and Ring of Scale are essentially reskinned revamped versions of about 1/2 the kunark zones. Ruins of Kunark costed the same amount of money as EoK, and RoS seperately. So we are paying for 1/4 the content at the same price. Combined with the all access requirement it becomes an even worse model. Keep in mind that before someone comes here to argue inflation, the sub is still the same price so....why didn't inflation apply to the subs? There will also be people claiming that RoS and EoK have more complex quests/content. They also are wrong. The epic quests, and the iksar quests alone were far more complex than the repetitive partisan tasks of the new content. The only thing the new expansions have going for them is the social blackmail guilds hold over themselves to progress. Example: When RoS came out, if you didn't buy it you wouldn't get to play on raid nights with your friends. Its the same exact model that pushes Call of Duty clones on players on steam. If you don't buy the newest CoD your friends will play without you. TLP servers on paper sound perfect for a returning player till you realize just how badly they are monetized. Atleast with EA you are paying EA for the content. TLP servers have a monetized system that is only vaguely grounded by Daybreak. Sure you have to buy krono's from Daybreak, but theres an entire market uncontrolled by Daybreak that inflates by toxic boxing/RMT behavior. Example: Gebs/FBSS being farmed and controlled by 12 boxers on the TLP servers during classic. Loot rights for sale in PoP. For Phinny and Agnarr, the instancing reduces this issue somewhat and they instead drop the exp rates and speed up the unlocks so you are constantly dumping money on exp potions just to keep caught up. Unless you are hardcore you will be unable to be up to date exp/aa wise with the unlocks of Phinny and Agnarr is just a weird animal, in my book a giant waste of time since it locks with so few expansions to play in and no reason to continue playing once you finish PoP.
there are so many helpful players in FV , right , bazaar price can be very expensive , but there are many helpful players who give free stuff or plats , to help new or returning players and some more , or advices. @ knowing your in game toon name would help tho, , in FV we can help a ton , no way we could do this that easy in another live server for plats or items . * if you don't have a very fast mount , it is easy to have one and I can give you one free. once again it is easy in FV , I will let you click the glowing black drum mount ( no trade in other servers ) and will give you a free horse who will be as fast as the drum.
