Returning player pretty lost

So, I played a war on live til ldon, though i never got past 51 so no endgame content. I played on the pop-locked mac server, alkabor, maining a 65 beastlord up to Elle planes before soe shut down the server. I now main a beastlord on its reincarnation, TAKP. I decided to give live a go, getting a heroic beastlord. As you know, EQ is now a completely different game. Any advice on what to do? I know I need to upgrade my gear and level up, but I have no idea how or where to do this. I'm moloing with a healer merc, but don't have any idea where to level, how to quests to do, theres just so much STUFF from achievements, quests, events, progression, tasks, so many different and new windows and abilities and stats and acronyms, i'm just completely lost.

Can anyone give me an idiot's guide on what to do to level and gear up etc from a new heroic? Everything I found uses acronyms and mechanics i don't follow, and i could really use some guidance. I'm familiar with mechanics and zones up to pop-- beyond that, it's all greek.

Fyi I play on druzzil ro, a 85 beast named Kraakesolv

You gotta work out what you want from the game. If you just want to goof around and play a bit, then head to The Dream which is a new version of Feerroot set up for Heroic characters. You can get quests there. You will struggle to make any progress by yourself though, you really need a strong mercenary which you only get from subscribing. Or if you can multibox you can play for free until higher levels.

It you want to group with other people or do raids, then you need to get to the high levels, and most people just rush there as fast as possible. There are guides online like Almars and some others, you can google fastest route in EQ and get various tips. If you want to enjoy EQ though it is better to start from scratch, make a team of 3 characters and each has a merc, or box a whole group if you can. Take a group from level 1 through all your favorite places. It is a lot easier now than it ever used to be, phat loots drop all over the place and you can buy some from PoK too near the tribute guy. And soon you will reach content that is all new to you.

If you want to speed it up, use the level 85 on a 7th account to power level your main group. Pretty soon you will have a whole group of characters in the 70+ game that will all be new to you, and you can take them all the way to 110 if you want.

One main difference now is questing is usually better than grinding now, so get great gear and lots of XP. And at 75+ (or 85, I forget) you can do Heroic Adventures which are repetitive instances but some of the fastest exp you can get. You need a strong full group for that though. Or you can just grind mobs as always.

Also each expansion has a progression and achievements now which is a big part of the game. Find it in your UI and then you can start getting the achievements to get big rewards. There are two of the older progressions / quest lines that everyone should do for permanent stat buffs. A heroic character comes with about 90% of it done, but if you start a new group like I suggest, you will have to do those quests which are a lot of work but give the permanent boost.

Druzzil Ro? That would be Xegony.

Before anniversary events are out in 3 days (May 10) you gotta do a quick quest that starts with Brasse in Plane of Knowledge. (Just search for Brasse on Allalhazam and read everything about the quest). No need to do the whole thing just buy some ogre swill and brasse's bitter brew, get the task, and head straight to Abyssal for the Stein part. For a non-gater, a clicky port to PoK on 30min cooldown is a life-changer. Note: 'zam is real heavy on ads. I strongly recommend a premium sub.

Get a set of good maps (Look for Good's maps for Everquest)

Most servers have guilds dedicated to helping out returnees. On Xegony, I would say it is Lions of the Heart.

Getting groups is an iffy thing below cap. It is heavily recommended to run an extra account. Two characters + two mercs can do stuff. I would say you want some form of crowd control. A chanter, a bard or an FD split puller. Druid or ranger can do outdoors via harmony.

Do merc upgrade quest in Feerrott. Pick up all quests there are (NPCs on map marked with (Q)), those yield a decent set of starter augments.

Best source of xp at 85+ is various heroic adventures (HAs). Clayton Teek in PoK daily offers an extra bonus for two random HAs plus added convenience of porting you to the needed place.

Abilities/spells/disciplines
For spells, best to go to 'zam, and just see spells database for your class. Go thoroughly through spell list, identifying particular spell lines. Past certain level, most spells get a new version every 5 levels. Sometimes these versions gain new effects. Sometimes there is a new line. Sometimes a line ends. Sometime a disappeared line gets an upgrade many levels later. Make a spreadsheet by spell type. It can take a while but it is time well spent.

Same: go through your disciplines, read descriptions. Sort by timer/level. Generally, you only use highest level disc on a given timer. But sometimes certain mutually exclusive lines share a timer.

Alt. Abilities. Go through all of them including passives. Read what they do. Then filter by 'can activate'. Again read thoroughly. Set up hotkeys. Oh, if this is old account, type /veteran to claim your veteran benefits. Those are available on 'special' AA tab. Some rather useful perks there.

Go through your heroic gear and examine all effects. Try activating each piece by right-clicking. Many of these unlock AA bonuses that stay with you even in you no longer wear the piece. It is generally good idea to right-click each piece of gear you equip. Example: your heroic ring might have 'form of defense IV' effect. You right click it and it unlocks form of defense AA to tier 4. You later find a ring with 'form of defense VII'. Right clicking that gives you 3 more tiers of that AA.

Pay attention to aug slots. About every piece will have a type 7. Most weapons have a type 4 which is extra damage or procs. Some gear has type 3 which are focus effects. Type 13 are extra purity for power source use (just google for everquest infusible).

At some point there are also type 5 slots primarily for heroic stats(google those)

The Broken Mirror (TBM) gear has special type 9 and/or type 6 slots. Some crafted gear has slots for crafted type 11 or 16 augs.
This can make things confusing as base gear might appear rather weak compared to regular dropped stuff - but that us because a large chunk of its power comes from adding a special type aug.

It is a lot to digest, but it comes quick. Good luck!

Looks like some good advice up there for you and regarding your past servers... you'll find some of us from the AK mac server playing on Bristlebane.

Dark Conquest is running there with Karpan, Kaany, Aderon, Leneni, Esroy and me (Raden)!

Thanks for your responses, everyone-- it seems I have a lot of reading ahead of me. Yeah, I guess it's xegony, but back in the kunark days I played on dro so I like to keep the name

The beastlord is a paid acct, so i've got the j5 merc, though I *hate* the idea of boxing. On al'kabor it was almost required due to low population, and even more so now on TAKP. With all the new features in EQ, I'd've thought there'd be matchmaking, but I suppose not.

May have to just roll a level 1 and grind out to learn all the bells and whistles.

Oh and Raden - we still have some AK guilds running on TAKP! I'm in Destiny (as I was on AK, though our leader, Pouky, recently passed ) and Temerity is of course still clearing VT on the regular.

If you have fairly consistent schedule that supports uninterrupted gameplay, you should be able to find more or less constant grouping. Guilds like LotH I mentioned should have a fair number of consistently played characters in this level range. I got a trio of lvl 92s which I play occasionally, but I would not willingly inflict my play schedule on anyone.

Be sure to get your Drunkard's Stein before May 10.

Making a lvl 1 and going through tutorial might give you some extra info, but really just grinding on is not likely to make you learn bells and whistles of the 85+ game.
I would set up an extra free account at least and my suggestion would be a heroic druid (ports, track, dps, buffs, extra heals etc). You will be amazed at the freedom this affords you.