Any recommendations on which one would be a better pick to start playing on? I just came back to try playing on Corinav but it's seeming pretty lackluster so far, kind of looking at other options, want to see past PoP so that rules out Agnarr. Any classes that people would recommend to main based on what guilds generally need and any classes to stay away from based on what guilds generally have too much of already?
Lockjaw is a pretty good server. There are multiple raid guilds to choose from. All the relevant content is instanced and we are about to enter the second golden age of EQ (post GoD). LJ has all the perks of the other servers, but none of the downsides. All the things that people complain about (krono farmers, box armies, RMTers, etc.) doesn't exist on LJ any more. Guilds always need healers. From what I have seen there is a lack of good druids and shamans and in this era druids can heal pretty good and also capable of soloing (I have seen a druid solo heal KT group and do it better than cleric). The other good thing about LJ/RF is its a lot easier to box on one PC so if you do want to box its quite easy. I don't see too many people boxing like when the server first opened. I group with real people all the time but you may have to solo/duo until level 43 when you can get carried by 65s and a lot of people are willing to carry low levels. First thing I would do is join an active guild and ask the guild leader if they know of anyone playing alts. Once you hit 43 ask around to see if you can get carried. I see a lot of people PL new people in places like Grieg's End. As far as classes to avoid, the consensus seems to be guilds are looking for active people first and foremost class considerations are secondary.
If you are looking to raid, LJ currently has 4 raiding guilds: Faceless Insanity, Dead Halfling Society, MIdnight Phyre and Damage. The first two are farming Tacvi and the other two are progressing through GoD content atm. The server is a lighter population than Ragefire but that also means camps are generally open for whatever you wish to be hunting that night. I would say joining a guild is your best bet to have groupage and such, I know DHS is currently looking for a shaman, beastlord, druid and wizard for raids but would gladly take anyone looking to raid consistently.
I'm confused why you'd consider RF and LJ but not Phinny. i'm obviously biased, but you haven't indicated any reason you wouldn't like it. It is going to have the highest population for grouping and raiding as well as a partially instanced PoR, which is probably better than a completely uninstanced PoR you'd get on the other servers.
Because Phinny is true box(which makes it one of the worst servers ever) and has slower exp, I would imagine.
I tried Coirnav for a few hours, but with the combination of true box and the reduced exp rates I decided it just wasn't worth the effort. I went back to Lockjaw (because that's where I already have characters). Also to address the "Why not Phinny?" question: In addition to Lockjaw/Ragefire not being true box, they are also voting time locked. I don't have to worry so much about not being able to keep up with the expansions. It might be nice if they ever decided to combine them at some point though.
Why not Phinny? I'm starting out at level one on an established server with no gear and I'd imagine that groups lower levels are going to be consistently non-existent. In order to be able to efficiently and effectively level up in a short amount of time and taking advantage of this exp bonus, I want to be able to box without having to run two desktops and tie up the laptop (pissing my wife off in the process). I like the raid times of Dead Halfling Society, I'll have to check out Lockjaw. To me, it seems kinda high risk to play a class on either Ragefire or Lockjaw that guilds don't really have a need for just because it feels like you kind of need to have a plan/destination in mind at the character select screen because there isn't dozens of guilds to choose from like there is on a fresh TLP server.
1 Krono would go along way on Phinny for starting gear. 1Krono = 65k, if you level a class that can wear a fungi tunic, they are 5-8k usually. Depending on your class, most classes can do fairly well to level solo or duo (in some fashion), and if you know how to be social (it is a mmo) there is always someone else who would be willing to join you. You won't have the full group, you won't have the pleasure of doing odd zones like on Conairv... but You should level super quick with a small set of gear. You may even luck out and meet someone power leveling one of their toons, and be able to join them for a quicker catchup Additionally: All of the Attunable gear is super cheap now, so there is going to be alot of solid options to buy cheap. There is also a raiding guild for pretty much any raiding schedule.
@Phased If you have questions about DHS on Lockjaw feel free to hit me (Boffin) up anytime. I am generally on most evenings from 6pst to 11pst.
Ragefire and Lockjaw are already on GoD, so no instances doesn't matter because pretty much everything is already instanced going forward. And the no true box makes it better, not worse.
There is no one size fits all server. Not everyone wants the same type of experience from EQ, but I can point out some major advantages that both Ragefire and Lockjaw have to offer. 1) Better experience. This is huge for more casual players and basically anyone who doesn't want their gaming experience to revolve around unnecessary amounts of time farming mobs over and over to stay relevant in era. The experience difference between Ragefire/Lockjaw and the other servers is just massive. It's not nearly as much of a grind to level and this is a huge perk. 2) Slower unlocks. I can't tell you how many people have joined my guild after rerolling from Phinny claiming they can't keep up with the fast pace, or they took a short break due to real life, only to come back and be left hopelessly behind. For expansions past PoP, Coirnav and Phinny had 2 month unlock timers. Ragefire has 3.5 month unlock timers (with the 2 week vote period and time to beat the expansion it's 3.5 rather than 3). For some people who play a ton, the 2 months can't get there quick enough. For others, 2 months is just too fast. That's where Ragefire and Lockjaw come into play. 3) No true box code. You don't need a 2nd computer to play a 2nd computer. For some people who strongly prefer playing 1 character at a time, people see this as a disadvantage. But the reality is many guilds on Ragefire (and I assume Lockjaw) focus on individual play over boxing. A vast majority of people in my guild box at most 1-2 characters. 4) Imo, Ragefire and Lockjaw are in the sweet spot content wise at the moment. Coirnav is stuck in Classic, and as great as it was, for many returning TLP players it will quickly become monotonous. On the other hand, Phinny is well beyond it's glory days. Phinny is going to see a ton of guilds fall over the next 6-12 months, and with 2 months per expansion, it's a lightning fast pace that makes it not a great server to start on. Ragefire and Lockjaw are a little over 1 month from Omens of War. There is some great content there where people can enjoy the progression at a more leisurely pace. 5) Everything past GoD is naturally instanced, so the need for Agents of Change basically completely vanishes. One thing that's unique about Ragefire is that the lack of instances brought all guilds closer together. 6) The group scene is far less competitive. Every single person Iv'e spoken to about the group scene on Phinny and Coirnav has said that on those servers, DPS rules. People on Ragefire actually respect camps. As for choosing whether to play on Ragefire or Lockjaw, honestly there's not a huge difference. Ragefire probably has a 40-50% stronger player base and many more end game guilds. Ultimately your gaming experience will be almost entirely dependent on how much you like the guild you're in. I can say that just about every guild on both Lockjaw and Ragefire has stood the test of time since Phinny was originally launched, and a few cases new ones have sprouted up since the server has steadily grown over time. Personally, I play in Cor Tempus. We're one of the largest guilds among any TLP server and focus on individual play during raids, as well as teamwork. We are split raiding everything in GoD with using minimal boxes. We've had around ~130-140 actual people attend a raid in the past 21 days and because of this, we rarely require boxes to participate during raids beyond the occasional cleric. There are huge advantages to being in such a large guild, and the biggest one is there are more people to group with. The vast majority of people in our guild have 1-3 accounts, which means there are constantly people looking for groups and groups looking for players. Regardless of where you come though, the Ragefire population has most definitely continued to grow throughout PoP and GoD. I suspect that trend will continue in OoW. With bonus experience currently going on, it's a great time to pick a server, level up, find a guild and see what you're missing out on.
I only really know your typical 6 man grouping Classic/Kunark type leveling paths (Unrest, Guk, Seb, etc). Could anyone possibly share some alternate leveling paths to take for trying to catch up if I were to try to make box 3 characters or so initially to get my Main leveled up and AA'd out a bit? Feels like to go to most any of the classical type dungeon zones I would need to have a cleric + enchanter as two of my 3 characters in order to pull it off, would really like to have other options of group compositing for a 3 man team if it's possible to find other options that you don't need a charm pet + CC so badly to pull it off.
I would say that question requires more information on what toon you are desiring your 'main' to be. Non-traditional threesomes can work really well with leveling. Tank/chanter do not have to be the basis for all leveling.
Paludal caverns from level 3 to level 20. Different areas of the zone are for different levels and the zem is stupid high. After that, mostly you will get the best results from your known leveling path, unless you are purposely looking for alternatives to experience more of the world at a slower rate. Classic/kunark still have the lowest HP mobs that do the lowest damage, and knowing the zones and mobs helps speed the process.
Also get to Grieg's End at 40something, whenever you can handle zone-in mobs. That place is your fast track to 60.
Places where you can get decent exp and pull singles without FD pulling or having a bard/enchanter in the group for CC. I don't know if GoD for instance added new lvling zones or if it's all lvl 65 zones.
You can pretty much make any 3-box of 3 different toons work in the traditional levelling zones or otherwise. It just comes down to how fast at killing you want to be, or if you want to tackle the really tough camps for your level with just your box, or if there is a specific class or two you want to work into the box. SK-shaman is the other go to core duo (other than cleric chanter) for tough content but you can pull it off with any melee really - pally, warrior, ranger, monk, zerk, etc. With SK-shaman you can add what ever you want to get the most out of your box be it a wizard for ports and dps, a mage for pure dps, a bard for a little extra utility and hands off management, etc. I will say one of the sickest non-traditional 3 boxes ive seen is Pally-shaman-necro. Good range of utility and dps. Chanter-druid-mage also does really good. And then theres the one you mentioned Chanter-cleric-tank. Beastlord-druid-melee would do pretty good also. To be real with you tho, a semi twinked melee could level solo through the typical lower level zones so any 3 you want to play will do fine with some camp awareness.
