I played EQ from 2000-2004, and I have an itch to get back into it. I played a lot of other MMOs over the past 9 years, and none of them really inspired the memories I got from EQ. Originally I played a Mage, and then a Cleric, on Vallon Zek, but I'm not interested in doing the pvp thing again. I've sent a ticket to support to make an attempt at getting my old account back, but it may be difficult due to the sheer length of time, and the fact that the email address I registered the account under doesn't exist anymore. Some advice requests: Which server? I live in Moscow, Russia now, so a server with a strong Euro presence would be best. Starting from scratch- I'm thinking of doing an enchanter or a necromancer. I could do a cleric again but not too sure about their ability to level with any kind of speed and I might solo a lot.
Antonius Bayle IS the Euro server so that's going to be your strongest bet here. Any class can get to ~level 60 or so fairly quickly because of the invention of mercenary (use a tank one regardless of your class). After that is where things will slow down a bit. Most classes can still "molo" (that's solo with a mercenary out) but will have differing speeds at doing it. Will let others talk about soloability.
First of all, follow the link below in my signature file BEFORE you log in. There is a euro server called Antonious Bayle that's for Europeans. I suggest logging in there and trying /lfguild there first, but it would be a good idea to try as many other servers as you have patience for and make a character on them and do /lfguild and find a guild that will be right for you at the right time doing what you think you'll want to be doing as a server transfer is a small price to pay for the right guild. Enchanter, Necromancer, and Cleric are all good choices. The Cleric and Enchanter may have difficulty getting groups unless you're outgoing. I'm told Cleric is a rather easy class to play these days, while you pretty much get more out of an Enchanter the more you put into it. The Enchanter probably gets the fastest XP to level up by swarm kiting which is not an easy tactic. The cleric would be slowest to molo up, but it's not that bad if you pay for gold and use a caster merc to tank for you instead of a tank. Make sure to get help at level 75 with J5 mercs. If you end up on Bertoxxulous, I'll help you if I'm on at your time. Bertoxxulous has a decent population of Euro and Australian time zone people compared to other servers so check it out 2nd. Also, make a new character and go through the tutorial slowly and completely even if you don't need the rewards as it'll help bring you up to speed on how the game has changed. Be sure to ask lots of questions and keep a thick skin against the children and others who think asking questions in a game with no instruction book is dumb. Plenty of mature, reasonable people will answer you.
All the classes you mentioned play very different styles so it really depends on what you do ... and remember, there is no requirement to only have 1 character so you can make multiple and play whichever one you're in the mood for. That said - soloing will go hands down to the necro and enchanter. Necro be prepared to do a lot of kiting (running around with snared mobs chasing you as your dots kill them slowly). Or use a tank merc and dot them down as well. Pulling is a characteristic that necros can do (although they are not one of the traditional pulling classes). Necro's primary role is DPS. This play style is pretty static from low level to high level. Well geared necros can "tap tank" mobs during a certain level of game play but then mobs typically become a bit too strong for that. Enchanter has options. As Qest mentioned, swarming (which until this moment I didn't realize was a low level option for enchanters), charming, and tank merc while you nuke/dot also. Again, although not the traditional pulling class, pulling is a strong option which gets expanded upon greatly in higher levels. Enchanter's primary role is support. Enchanter's options for game play increase dramatically in the higher levels. Many more tools, but are also one of the most content dependent dependent. There are multiple play styles that use various levels of the chanter's Cleric at mid levels (level 50+) can tank mobs directly with some spells we obtain, but otherwise, we can kill undead (root and dotting), tank merc killing while we nuke (and if undead dot), etc. There are clerics who enjoy the 'battle cleric' persona, while others love pulling (again we're not a key pulling class but have a few tools to help in this area), others prefer the cleric's primary goal which is healing. Cleric's game play does also broaden tremendously at higher levels. We get abilities which strengthen all areas (not so much that they begin to threaten classes who have those roles, but boosts nonetheless).
I was in the same boat. I played from release to 2004 and came back to a fresh start around 3 weeks ago. I'm 6 boxing and in just over 3 days played I've gotten all 6 characters to level 68 with around 200aa each. My best advice to give is to go through the recruit process. Even if you already started. You'll be better off starting another account(s) just for the free defiant armor sets. Every 10 levels you can get a new set with very good stats for the level. The free mount and other stuff is nice too of course but one of my characters is a bard so I haven't been using mounts. The hot zone quests are also good for xp and items. For example the level 60 belt reward gives a melee or caster version. The melee belt gives 30% haste along with good stats. The level 70 gives 33% with even better stats etc. I've only done the level 70 quest once but if I remember correctly my one character that didn't have banked aa points maxed got 12 points when I completed the quest. Obviously I may have it easier boxing since I can just go or do whatever without trying tovget a group together or rely on merc ai... But the truth of it is I got 6 characters in around 3 days past my monk in level and aa and I had 250+ days of played time on him. It's much easier to xp. Good armor with bonus stats and effects is free. Really all you have to do is save for spells and weapons. Spells are all available up to level 90 I think on pok vendors. Defiant weapons are cheap in bazaar. You should have no problem getting back into the rythm of things
That's pretty helpful. When you talk of boxing, are you actually using six different computers with six screens, or are you splitting your screens, alt+tabbing between them, etc? I have a gaming laptop that's only a year old, but I'm pretty sure 12gb of RAM and a GTX 670m with 3gb of VRAM can handle at least two accounts running at once. I've got an external monitor I use as well, so maybe it would make it easier. Maybe I could level two characters at once? Once again, thanks for all of the helpful advice so far.
Really hoping my old account can be restored, because my cleric was max level for GoD, when I quit, and had some pretty sweet gear. I know that the gear will be quickly replaced, but it still would be nice to have the account, as there's a warrior and mage on it as well.
Some use different computers to box, but most split screens/alt+tab to box. As for recovering your account, I can almost guarantee you can start a neNew one and surpass your old accounts characters in level and gear before you can get your old account recovered. And if they can recover it, then you have your boxing account
The old account will have veteran rewards, Silver status, and a bunch of claims. You can get the promo rewards on it as well if you follow the link in my signature below BEFORE you log in.
I run all 6 on one pc when I box. It's an older pc I built. Everything except the gpu is over 4 years old. Amd phenom 2 quad 3.0 processor. 8 gb ram - can't remember which kind 'cause I'm on my phone at work and can't look. Think the gpu is nvidea 560 cyclone. I have no problems except rarely on auto follow in pok or guild lobby around a lot of players. I also use a program called [Unmentioned 3rd Party Software]. It's not much. It does a layout of all screens with one being much larger. Just have to click on one of mini screens to make that your main screen. It's also got features like #key duplication. So when I hit 7 on my main screen on my warrior it's just a blank social. But it also activates 7 on my wiz and 2 mages which is a macro to assist my warrior, pause, cast 1 (single target dd). As far as I know it's not against the eula as it doesn't modify or automate anything with your direct interaction. Of course you could do it with just alt tab especially if you just two box plus mercs and I'm sure that's easy enough.
google around for a good returning players guide, this is a recent one and pretty good: http://www.redguides.com/forums/sho...mp-Returning-Player-s-Guide-to-EverQuest-Live
Crystilla: That Swarm Pulling Guide in your sig offers advice to all classes...as long as they are Clerics.
Oh cool, I could definitely six box then. Okay, on the assumption that I get my cleric back, what do you think of the following box group: warrior (maybe SK is a better choice?), monk, shaman (would an enchanter be better?), mage, wizard. Or would you recommend just picking two or three characters and having mercs fill in blanks? I have a gaming keyboard that has additional special keys for macros, so maybe I could set it up so that those keys would do stuff like cast a big nuke with the mage/wizard and another key would do monk special attacks? I really appreciate all the help. Those links to guides are great reading, and really helping to get me back up to speed on what I need to do.
To start I would suggest 3 chars, 3 mercs to see how you handle it and like it. And assuming you get your cleric back I would go SK/Shaman/Cleric. Then 3 wiz mercs. Use your SK to pull and grab aggro, swap to Shaman and throw out a slow and a DoT or two, then swap between your SK to keep aggro and your cleric to heal as need be. Your wiz mercs will be your dps Your 6 box I coulf see the SK/Monk (pulling)/Enchanter (slow/cc)/mage (send pet in to attack)/wiz/bard (auto attack + /melody ftw). And for macros I would look into what Bryan said so onr macro can cause 2-3 other characters to do something
