Saw an earlier post today that said an experienced player can get to level 80 in 24 hours. Since I am not experienced it is taking me much longer ! I am learning though, but thought of something that would help us newcomers. Leveling milestones. For instance, what are the armor cutoff levels ...when you start AAs. Basically things that open up when you get a specific level or things you should be doing when you get a certain level like quests or progressions or whatever else is out there that we don't know about.
That would be with help, basically power-levelling. Boring, and your skills get left behind. Armor: Defiant to 70+, more like 80. Expansion progression bottom tier Bazaar gear after that. Also, see my sig. AAs: start at 51, but the useful ones start at 55 and 59. If you have a sub, just use auto-grant. Other things: see my sig .
Slow hand, just wondering what server your on/are you willing to switch? Pm me it so. Borek got it right there really is no huge rush to the top because the basis of playing abilities come to most classes in that 75-90 range. It is SUPER important to group with others around this level because you want to be someone people can rely on to do your role in a group or raid, and it's often not just having the aas but knowing when/ what order to do them. Some classes like the necromancer I know you've been working on can/will become a powerhouse but it takes a lot more experimentation/ play time experience to really learn.. Don't shy away, it's a rewarding experience any way you slice it.
If you are not into power leveling and enjoy questing, then forget everything you heard about what level you should be by amount of time played. I recall that Paul Lynch (check out his EQ page) was level 43 after about 27 hours and that was accomplished when TSS zones were designated "hot." I have about seven characters at 51-52 and they all have roughly 36-42 hours played. Some grouping, some soloing, some moloing . . . all enjoyable. On the armor side, Borek has it right about Defiant. I would only add that for the most part, don't buy defiant in the Bazaar. The early stuff is expensive and you will be maxing out your stats just from drops fairly early and by doing Teek's daily hot one quests. One area of purchase in PoK that might help your character would be the 1-49 merchant by the Moors stone. He sells earrings, bands, face masks, and necklace pieces in assorted defiant.
Just to clarify, an experienced player *can* get to 80+ in 24 hours, but that's usually not going to be playing alone or without starter gear. It helps to have a leveling path planned out and it certainly helps to have someone power level you, but it's not any kind of realistic measuring stick. My characters tend to go a little bit faster because I'll usually have buffing characters waiting in PoK, a set of twink gear, a gold account with a Journeyman mercenary, and I know some pretty nice places to get levels in the old content where mob HP is lower. Also, before /advloot I never stopped to loot anything because it slowed me down. I pretty much don't do any low level quests. Not dying very often helps a bit too. For a brand new player, or someone who is just returning on a FTP account and has a minimal support network, I would expect it to take something more in the range of 120-150 hours to reach level 80. That's if you stop to loot, research zones you've never been to, do some quests along the way, and in other words stop to smell the roses. That's definitely encouraged; you will get much, much more enjoyment out of the game.
Adding to this; ignore those folks who say '80+ in 24 hours. I've heard 105 with 1000 AA in 8 hours before. Those folks are not just experienced but specifically experienced in power leveling. They know the exact spots to go, have the exact right supporting/PL classes to use, etc. I'd call myself experienced in EQ; but my 2nd toon I ever made, which is my 2nd highest non heoric character, just ding'd low 50's last week (the highest is mid 50's currently via the Hero's Journey path). (Granted I rarely play them) But it's because I don't know or care where the fastest place is go to; I wnt to go where I'm going to have fun.
While your point is correct that it takes a certain compliment of support and alt characters to achieve 85+ that quickly, I believe that poster who mentioned this was trying to make a different point. That poster may have been making the point that leveling in eq nowadays is much less risky/a grind in general. Not that every body will be able to shoot up to 85 in one day.
Just out of curiosity, is raiding so hot right now that there is a dire need to rush max level and max out your aa's instead of just enjoying the journey? I know some people rush levels because that's their style, and that's fine, I'm only asking from an outsider's position now. I've come back from a decade-long break and am playing mostly on Ragefire at the moment, but I've been going back and forth from TLP to Live servers to see what I'd rather do more. I've also been checking progression charts, and it seems most servers only have 1-3 active raiding guilds (if the charts are somewhat accurate.) Before I quit, we raided every day of the week (no way in hell I could do that now haha) and there was intense pressure from multiple guilds trying to be #1. I don't get the feeling that the urgency or pressure is there anymore with the game being 16 years old.
Dilf- I don't think there is a huge surge to hit the end game specifically for raiding, and you are right in saying that raiding is much more relaxed now than it probably was years ago. Your piece of evidence is what makes me say that; whereas guilds use to raid every night, most top end raid guilds I think will do 3-4 nights of 2-4 hours of raiding the newer events. Some guilds are still catching up on beating TDS raids, as mine is, so the challenge is definitely there (though people have stated that COTF was a much easier expac in general). I think that whatever someone wants to get out of this game they will be able to get out of it whether that's high end raid content, or journeying to the top as you mentioned.
I sure hope so, because i am not joining that grind again. I am not really in a hurry to level, especially since I am an altaholic. My post was more about knowing when or not do things. For instance I just bought some armor with the little cash I had. Then I discovered if I had waited a level I could have purchased better armor and weird enough less cash.
For checking you should look at this (TDS) and last (COF) expansions. Each server has, on average about 4 guilds in one of those 2. And then most guilds also have 1 guild that is further back in content.
As one altaholic to another, I'll offer some advice, likely as not you probably already know. As to armor, if you have a J1 tank, your armor choices will mostly be irrelevant to about level 50-58. You hit a mob and the J1 takes it over immediately, even if he has three on him/her. Just fill in the pieces as they drop, do the Teek dailies for shoulder/belt (increasing haste)/back and if the mood strikes, fill in the armor pieces from the Mesa quests for 45+. If you start with the tutorial, you will get pieces that are equivalent to crude defiant except for focus and bard effects. Several of my 50+ alts still wear their tutorial pieces in Grieg's End with a J1 tank and have no problems. Life is easier with modest skinspikes potions (level VI and under), alacrity, celestial healing and clarity potions, the last three can be purchased in PoK from the potions vendors. At level 60, I just leave my main in the lobby, get the great buffs and then head out and have fun. When intricate defiant begins to drop, that's when you'll probably begin to need it and should try to acquire it. I tend to stay with whatever works until elaborate and then make a long series of AA/plat runs (before auto-grant was introduced) in The Hole to make money for Othni at level 71. You could stay with defiant to level 85, but after that the armor will likely need upgrading. I don't have characters at that level, so I'll be learning some time in the future. Oh, I did notice at one point that if you really want the cleric buffing, just disband the tank, buy a cleric, get the buffs, disband the cleric and acquire a tank. It took me a month before I figured that one out. As for having a little cash, did you notice that the Gnolls in Crescent Reach sometimes drop a steel ingot that sells to a vendor for 1 copper? Save them. Barter on Rathe shows buyers will pay between 200p and 425p per ingot. Also, if you are a returning player and have some loyalty points, you could always exchange some for a bag of platinum if you really feel the need to have some pocket change.
It should be pointed out that at higher levels (60-75+) you're going to be able to receive high level buffs. It could be the difference between your character having 10k HP and 25k HP. There's a massive leap which allows you to power through content in a certain range.
Additionally, you acquire the best -self- mana regen buff in game on your necro starting at 49 and upgrading often..
