Hey all. About a year back I was playing EQ again for the first time in years. I rolled a mage and loved playing the game, until I hit the late 70's and 80's. The exp rates were unbearable, and soloing options became very limited in that level content (at least for a non-kiter). What I'm wondering, is if this has been changed at all with the addition of a higher level cap and additional content in the past 1-1.5 years? Or am I doomed now that HoT is probably emptier than it ever was before? I have to say that the added ability to "molo" through most of the game since SoD was the closest thing I ever found to reliving my love for EverQuest. Unfortunately that came to a screeching halt at the higher levels. Of course the population is so limited now that it's really impossible to do anything close to the level cap unless you bring your own group. Hoping maybe that has changed. Thanks!
I have had a similar experience with EQ that you describe. Started back in 2001 and quit for several long stretches when I became frustrated at the lack of groups and inability to do anything worthwhile without a group. When I came back this time, I tried out 3 boxing. With 3 mercs, you now have a full group. I must say it has really allowed me to actually feel like I can access all the group content whenever I want it. I am now playing through the HoT group content just fine with my box team, now all level 83. Instead of tinkering around the margins, I feel like I can actually play the content. When I eventually catch up with the max level crowd, I hope to do more real grouping with my three characters individually, but at least I do not need to wait around for groups any more.
Are you using a cleric or tank merc? Mages are one of the better solo classes, I'd think you'd be doing ok comparably.
I've been using a cleric merc. I've found that tank mercs can't really hold up to dark blues without healing in the later levels, unlike when they can solo reds in early levels. Unfortunately, even with a cleric merc, mobs close to my level chew through my pet pretty quickly. But it doesn't really matter because unless I'm blowing through mobs as fast as a group, 0.2% exp per kill isn't going get me very far. I tried the whole 3 boxing thing but found it detracted from my ability to appreciate the game content for it to be worth it. Anyway, it sounds like nothing much has changed since I last played. I guess the amount of commitment it takes to reach end-game content is what makes EverQuest so unique. But it's just unfortunate that they cant find a way to re-energize pre-level content for the old EQ diehards that want to get back into the game despite the lack of population.
Well, they gave you mercs, defiant gear and super fast aa rates. There has to be a point when content starts getting non-trivial. You say you've tried 3 boxing and didn't like it, have you tried 2 boxing? The power difference between one and two chars is big, classes complement each other etc. It will also enable you to get group instances.
There is no quick route to the end if you want to molo, but there is some good content out there to level up in. I've leveled my mage up to 85 recently but you need to make sure you purchase the pet AA's as you level up. I've just soloed my epic 1.5 and I'm working on my 2. There are lots of quests around to get gear and toys. If you want a quick route check out which are hot zones, warrens is my fav at the moment, just be careful with the pulls, but the golem area is doable. Racing to the end you miss so much good content, HoT has some great zones, I'm looking forward to the library and grounds, Ferrott is also a hot zone, so pick up the quests there the solo quests still gives a good amount of exp for completing.
One good help for soloing... /con all the targets, look for the ones that say "looks rather weak"... those have been weakened so that they're easier to meelee down... they started this back in the Buried sea expansion, to help people who were not grouping as much get some experience easier... these days Animals tend to be the ones to get the weakened flag. but they are easier to take down than the ones without the weakened flag...
for pets, make sure you have a GOOD pet focus item... Spire Servant or better... and there's a good reason for that... there's a hidden boost to that and better... (it was on the old forums), but, there's a Cloak of the Spire added to mage/beastlord/necro pets on that... of "Shielding: +10% Spell Shield: +10% Avoidance: +40 Stun Resist: +10% Strikethrough: +10% DoT Shielding: +4% HP Regen +48 Damage Shield: +16"... It's something that someone found once when a mage pet went rogue on a raid and was taken down... but with pets, the more AA's and better focus on them, the better... Hopefully there's a stronger one for higher levels of pet focus, but, that there shows one reason to get as strong of a pet focus as one can get... besides the stats (more than 2k HP with the 91 magician manaforged bundles) that the newest pet gear give on the plate armor and the procs from the high end pet weapons (weapons have minimum requirements for the procs, but still)... Tanks, unless you're free to play, it's worth getting the flagging for Journeyman mercenaries... I myself 3 box, but I can just sit there and let the J5 tank do a lot of fun while having one or two healer mercs sustain the heals and I can concentrate on other things, (Crowd control, DPS, exploring around between fights)... and the levels will do an improvement once you hit the 1st level of each expansion... the 81 merc tank is better than the 80, the 86 is better than the 85... There was a post that said that they added via one of those cloak type of buffs the pets get, to the mercs so that they do better against the NPC's as the content was strenghtened each expansion.
Thanks for the advice all. I think I might have to give 2 or 3 boxing a shot again, this time with two monitors. (I'm convinced that the alt-tabbing between windows is likely what detracted the most from the experience). It sounds like I've been doing everything in my power to level at a decent rate, but I've probably been jaded by the quick-solo style of the more modern MMOs such as EQ2, WoW, and GW2. Time to go back to smell the roses in good ol' EQ1 I guess.
If you still intend on playing the mage check this out http://www.eqmagetower.com/forums/viewforum.php?f=47
