Hello Everquest players. Although i have played many mmo's down the years i never got round to trying EQ1 but i have become more intrigued as to how such an old game has kept such a large playerbase. So as from this evening i will be giving the game a shot and would therefore like to ask 1) Choice of server that has a good mix of Vets and Newer players. 2) Best class to start with for ease of use (just to feel my way into the game) 3) Any starting tips welcome
Welcome to EQ As far as I'm aware, the majority of servers are pretty much top-heavy these days, so I wouldn't expect to find many groups at the lower levels. The plus side is that the early levels go past pretty quickly, and with a mercenary, pretty much every class can solo these days. Would strongly recommend running through the tutorial (I've been playing for over a decade, and I still run new toons through the tutorial to level up) Once you leave the tutorial, keep an eye out on the bazaar for "defiant" gear - it'll almost certainly be the best gear available, and (depending on server economy) is usually reasonably-priced. Class recommendations, other than the old "try 'em all and see what you like" suggestion, the Magician is very newbie-friendly, particularly with a healer mercenary in tow
Thanks for the reply. One last thing, i am totally F2P as it stands will i still get a decent experience this way for a bit? I'm still subbed to another mmo atm but if it all goes well i will sort out some sort of premium account here, but in the meantime i hope that the F2P option doesn't strangle me too much so that i don't enjoy it.
Experience is XP, you and your merc tank will be fine (mercs auto gear and skill) if you can get a Temperance buff on you both, the merc will carry you as lower level mobs tend to be set for undergeared weak buffed players. The only XP style limit on F2P is the 250 AA limit and you can't get any until 51, other then the free Origin at level 5. One thing to do early is visit the robot behind the main floor banker in Crescent reach, and acquire some Deluxe toolboxes 1pp ish each, more room to loot means better income to pay the merc. Regarding the merc, make hotkeys for aggressive and passive, as on passive it will stop charging you after one more 15 min, in case you sit some where and don't want to come back broke. Don't worry about gear unless you loot it or receive as a reward as leveling in the early game is normally quite quick and gear becomes dated.
Take a look at some of the guides (links in my sig). Server doesn't matter much: from the normal servers, that is. You can find bigs for free in the tutorial by opening barrels. Other advice: as above!
Even if you go with a magician, consider a tank merc, rather than healer. You will have to stop for 3-minutes to med on occasion, but they own just about anything that cons yellow and below with ease. Your pet won't be able to match that for quite a while. One thing to keep in mind - EQ is not like contemporary MMORPG's (which is a wonderful thing, IMO). It does not spoon feed you nearly as much (though they have leaned a little in that direction of the past several years). There is an absolute ton of stuff to do, but sometimes you just have to go looking for it. Online resources such as eq.allakhazam.com will help a lot. EDIT: Also, I'm told Vox has about the largest lower level population.
Cheers Quasimojo for the heads up on the server status, i will make my character there. On the spoon feeding side of things, it's one of the reason why i wanted to try the game as quite frankly i am sick of the current direction of mmo's. Not that games shouldn't evolve, but i like to have to think when i'm playing.
I'm relatively new myself and have noticed that VOX server newb zones all the way up to 50 (that's where I am) are littered with players - so much as a matter of fact, some times you have to wait for mobs. Lot's of levelers and new player friendly guilds.
No one mentioned it. Make sure every 5 levels or so you suspend your mrrc and repop it because unless they changed it they do not level as you do theyhave to be dropped and repopped to level
for servers many are great . i konw my server has tons of all levels and play experience. for population i just did an assessment last night in my guild (over 700 on in 2013 no level requirements and not marketted as a newbie or vet guild jsut family) and in the last 4 days there were 157 mains (not bots boxes or mules) logged in. of those only i think 4 were under 50 but from 50-69 there were 22, 70-79 27, 80-89 43, 90-100 61. while there are more the closer you get to the "finish line" there is definitely a good population to play with from 50 on, as long as you look at family guilds not just raid guilds. a raid guild is going to be exclusively 90+ or 95+ even only 100, but thats bc of their focus. its all about how you look around many will tell you theres no game til 85 some til 100, but i know that isn't true and hte numbers prove it. the journey from 1-50 isnt bad, its the time to learn the basics onf the game the ui, your class, etc and only lasts a few hours, maybe 5-6 if you take it slower. as far as classes go youll have plenty of time to learn the class in your journey as they get more intricate later in teh game not right away, however picking a pure melee class will be easier and cheaper to start as you wont have to deal with spells, or pets, and disciplines come much fewer and farther between tahn those spells do so less to learn initially and less to buy. melees are however a more handson type, you ahve to be on top of mobs to hit them and may get hit back depending if you're alone or not etc. a caster can kill stuff from a distance, pet classes are melee (hybrid..melee and spells both) or casters taht also have a pet that will go melee a mob and in some cases tank it and take the damage for you while you cast on it etc. tanks take the most work but in the end are very rewarding if you like getting deep into the search for cool stuff. healers and other "utility" classes are very handy and in demand in various aspects of the game, healers mainly for raiding, utilities are often necessary to certain tasks later on. hybrids are crossbreeds of various melees tanks healers and casters, and they have a much more flexible array of abilities but arent ever the very best at any one thing though they may come close. hybrids take a bit more effort in learning and acquiring stuff due to needing teh caster side and the melee side, and some also have pets and/or are tanks (shadowknights are tanks, have pets, cast spells, AND melee, so they take a lot of stuff. rangers are part-tank(lighttank), no pets but are the ultimate trackers and bow-users, cast spells/buffs, and melee, those 2 are the most "xp-intensive" classes in that they require the most aas in teh end, they are also extremely capable of doing thigns, but take a lot more areas of expertise to combine. ) none of these classes are "better" than the others overall, theyre all jsut different, some better at some things than others but it all evens out in the end. play what you think you'll be itnerested in, youll have plenty of time to learn as you go. can give some starting tips but if you look around there are some i posted yesterday in antoehr thread in this forum that will help. theres also a page somewehre thats been created to help with the journey im sure someone will or has linked. if you happen to make a toon on Bertox send me a /tell and ill answer any questions you might have, help yo uget started (i ahve several low level toons im working on right now and maybe some gear for you) and maybe even a guild invite if you like as far as being f2p you can very well enjoy the game to the 70s on bronze, 90ish on silver without havign to go gold. to the person taht said suspend yoru mercs every 5 levels: they level with you they jsut wont "con" the same until you zone or suspend, tehy still levelled though don't worry
Not true. The mercs don't appear to you to level, as their con colour changes to dark blue, but they do increase in power as you level. So say the devs, anyway.
I don't think he (like real clerics) get new spells every level, though I could be wrong here. To the OP. Shoot the (1 time) $5 fee and at least get a Silver account. And don't be afraid to spend a little bit of "Station Cash" to get an extra Merc slot or 2. Another good Station Cash deal, is the $5 complete armor sets, good for 10 levels. I'd get one at 25 at least. This frees up your time and Platinum to get weapons and the jewelry etc... I picked a Ranger and never looked back. At later levels they are a class that really can "do it all" with a slight bias toward outdoor zones. ( One thing a Ranger lacks (that the Mercs can't make up for) is a way to SLOW the MoB's attack rate, though a Healer Merc can at least make up for the "extra" damage. -Rat
Sorry guys i gave the game an evening but despite tweaking loads of settings it just didnt run well. It felt awful compared to some modern mmo's that i can play on high/ultra despite it's really old graphical style. Also i saw players rubber banding/lagging like mad around me which was a real put of. Yes there was an element of the game that intrigued me (enjoyed the interaction) but the way it ran and looked really put me off. I can see why people enjoy it, but the performance was really poor considering it's age.
If you see bad lag, it sounds like one of the multi-core bugs. See the Support section for details of how to fix.
