I want to come back...

But after reading the forums and unaware of how many people actually play on Phinigel, I'm having a lot of internal conflict.
I'd like to come back as a (from greatest desire to least) Cleric, Shadow Knight, Shaman, or Enchanter but it seems at this point in time there aren't many low level groups, and I've also come to learn that solo'ing isn't the way to go since xp earned that way is abysmal.
Reasons I want to come back:
-To experience EQ starting from an expansion that was before my time
-I love the social aspect I experienced when I played, i.e. grouping
-I never got to raid in EQ, I'd like to experience that.
-My favorite zones are actually going to be current content and new experience

Concerns:
-Are there really any groups for new/returning players?
-Are the classes I'd like to play viable and wanted?
-Alt friendly possibly?
-How active is the server? I'd hate to come back and see a lot of afk people and very little server talk or seeing anyone out in the world (popular zones)
-How long until people move on to a new server?
So if anyone could give me some help deciding that'd be great. Thanks in advance!

There are groups still for lower level players, and Clerics are pretty much always in demand. Stick to the popular starting areas to find them though, like GFay/Crushbone/Unrest/Paludal Caverns/etc. with Plane of Knowledge, getting around is a bit easier now. Plus, you can stick through the tutorial now till at least level 10 or so, getting the Defiant armor that drops there to give you a decent head start to catch up on gear.

Server is fairly active, 20ish raiding guilds right now working through Planes of Power.
As for your other class requests, Shadowknights and Enchanters are a bit over played at the moment I think. Shaman are out there, but not as many.

Alt friendliness is a bit subjective... many people have alts/boxes that they bring with, but if you're talking about constantly grouping and changing around between a few different characters, you will take awhile to get up to max level to do the raiding.


There will be another server opening sometime later this year, I suspect late summer, and if you don't get what you want now on Phinigel, the new server may work better for you then, but no reason why you can't catch up now and start re-learning.

I'd be curious what it would take for you to call it very active, heh.

To the OP: It's the most active server in EQ history. 23 guilds raiding that I know of, and probably a few more that I don't. Most of those are fielding either full 72 man raids, or close, and many are split raiding because they have more than 72 showing up each night. There are people grouping at most of the camps in POP, most of the time.

Check out www.phinnykills.com for a glimpse at the raiding scene.

I'd echo what Astley said on classes--can't go wrong with any healer, ench are a bit overpopulated as it's been the most powerful class up to this point with charms.

Well, I'm not sure that it's the most populated in history, but definitely the largest in years.

Id argue that Phinigel is the largest in all of EQ history. Most servers capped around 2k back in the golden days and from methods you can get a round about figure for Phinigel which a wild guess from personal searches puts it at 3k+ people. In fact Phinigel is siphoning players from p1999.

Max level density means nothing for a new/returning player in the short term.

I will say, with the changes to shaman dots they now burn really hard. It's a good time to be a shaman.

You heard right, for a new player phinegal is a zombie server, can only expect to get a group during prime time and weekends, and even then its a 50/50

When you hear that phinegal has a large pop they mean strictly raiding, everything before that is near extinction now, if you go anywhere but high ZEM zones you will find zero players, and in high ZEM zones you will find 3 anonymous people

Its possible to find groups in primetime, but most of your nights will be saying LFG whill nothing happens, phinegal is anything but classic at this moment

This may be true right now, but give it a week or two and things will change. Less hardcore people only just hitting 65 and capping their aaxp. There will be alts to level with again soon.

Hey!

- Am brand new to EQ and I just signed up to the server a week or two ago, I have never found problems getting a group.

- People are happy to work with PUGs of all kinds of class setups, no issue there.

- I would say it is pretty active, there are people in the high ZEM zones throughout the server - and honestly, why wouldn't you be in a high ZEM zone unless you were farming for tradeskills or chasing down a particular item.

- I plan to stay throughout the entire release schedule and beyond. Am having a blast, come join us and feel free to look me up in-game too. You can find me as: Gorgol

- Gorgol

My best advice would be to ignore these forums and just give it a go. See how it feels in game for you. I'd try to join a guild too, see if anyone you level with is guilded and if they're accepting new low levels.

These forums do tend to have a disproportionate number of people who're complaining about things. Which is understandable - if you're just playing the game and enjoying it, you probably wouldn't bother coming here.

There are plenty of groups, however there will not be too many until about level 10. You might get a group for a kill in the tutorial.

All of those classes are needed. Healers are hard to come by. Tanks seem even more rare. I personally like having an enchanter at the very least to breeze/clarity and haste...

Solo xp is actually decent, but as the group fills up (not full) xp seems to get worse. I feel like it needs to be 1 to 3 people or 6.

You will like struggle soloing as a cleric, but could likely make the other 3 work...

Most groups will be in specific zones with higher xp rates, so the negative side is there may be limited number of mobs, so you do need to try to balance solo play and group play based on how populated the zone is.

No idea on longevity of the server, the new progression server may have an impact depending on the ruleset.

There are so many groups going all the time for lower levels, dont listen to the exaggerations from people saying high ZEM zones just have a couple people in them its never been my experience since coming back at the start of PoP and im on every day.. ive been catching up with multiple characters and the leveling experience has been fine, zones arent packed but there are always people leveling and the LFG system with PoK makes it easy to get to wherever the exp groups are. not all zones are going to be filled but you can always make groups.

catching up for me has been a fun experience - at server launch there was too much competition for me. i prefer it being more limited, cause you can throw a group together and get as many mobs as you can handle in some places.

the server is very active. there are alot of poeple afk in pok but thats just how it goes. chat is active and its not a boxing ghost town. best atmosphere in EQ Live since the early 2000's

If you're really concerned about the availability of groups on Phinny then maybe wait till another exp weekend rolls around.

Prime leveling zones are still highly active at all levels but as soon as an exp bonus drops their populations will sky rocket to 2 or 3 picks and spread to less ideal zones just for the availability of pulls.

The Anniversary events are coming up in March. There will be bonus EXP very soon, and many people will be leveling alts again.

Now is a good time to get started so you'll be ready when that bonus hits to be able to catch up faster.

I'm going to agree with the above as most player concerns such as XP per hour and population are subjective. Just give it a try and see if you like it? If not you can always cancel your subscription.

P.S. - If it at all matters to you, Tanks > Healers > CC > Damage, in terms of group desirability.

Phinigel is a special place. We have a large population of all levels and an amazing community of like minded individuals.

Give it a shot.

Awesome! Thank you guys so much for the much needed convincing to come back and give it a go again! Much appreciated to all of you!!

That's great news! And, have you decided on a class?

You owe it to yourself to ignore the negative stuff here and come play around on Phinny! Like Astley said, Anniversary stuff will be in soon and you'll get a chance to get some bonus xp and do some lower level grouping!

Shadowknight