So, after trying Miragul and seeing how fun necromancers are late game with swift dots and lots of AA, I'm interested in getting serious about the live version of EQ (would stick to miragul, but . . . . well, i'm sure you guys have heard how well it's going). My single issue is on boxing. I have been reading a few guides on how to get started and they all claim that going from 85 to 110 and getting raid ready is near impossible without boxing. Is this true? I have done quite a bit of boxing on Lockjaw, but do not see boxing with the amount of abilities in the later game as something I would personally enjoy. Frankly, I do not enjoy the gameplay of boxing in general. I guess my question for all of you would be the following: What sort of time commitment am I looking at getting a necro from 85 to 110 solo/molo/grouping? Is it feasible to expect to get raid ready/aaed without boxing? I am currently considering Bristlebane or FV for my adventure, but initial probing on FV felt like it was . . . I don't want to say dead, but not really what I'm looking for. Bristlebane seemed a lot more lively, am I correct in this assessment ? Finally, do you have any suggestions for servers/guilds that may be appropriate to someone in my situation? Thank you so much for reading and your time!
No, you don't have to box your way through, IF you get in with a good bunch of fellows (as Bad Company once said). Finding a good guild that will let you leech exp in groups is the best way to go.
After Level 85 the game shifts direction to make Questing through group progression (Mercenary & Partisan tasks) the most rewarding path for fast character development, Killing mobs for level XP is really slow compared to earlier eras, that said having much higher level characters drag you through content several levels above you is viable to an extent so long as you can find players who don't mind carrying you. A large portion of the player base does 2/3 box after 85 just so they have the option of not being forced to rely on others, boxing a Necro is not easy though as it is the most complex caster there is so you would want a couple of easier to use box classes to partner with a Necro main, Mage is popular with Necro due to the strong pet & easier to macro dps a Mage can bring as a box. Plus CoTH & pet weapons on hand are great for your 2 box bag of tricks as a Necro.
Have you considered Phinny as an option instead of Miragul? Phinny is only 2 expacs ahead of Miragul, and there're still guilds here clearing content in era who are very welcoming of new players. We're seeing a steady trickle of people coming back to Phinny from other TLP's, and they're pretty much caught up in levels within a couple of weeks. People that are serious about starting from scratch and staying will generally get alot of help to get caught up, and xp is very fast in the early levels. Remember you only need to be level 68 to get into groups and mooch some xp, so come join the party.
Bristlebane is a good choice, your best bet is to log in and see how busy the server is. You also might like to check out Xegony they have the biggest social guild in EQ and I'm sure will be able to help you out with any advice you may need. I'm surprised Corwyhn hasn't posted already. Sorry things didn't work out for you on Miragul, personally I'm sticking it out a bit longer but if that doesn't work out I'll be returning to live.
While I did not try Xegony, I can confirm that every server that I TRIED a heroic character on was filled almost entirely with raid loggers, self sufficient box groups, and bots. I was ready to call it quits and go to Mangler to do all that content . . . again . . . until I gave Phinny a shot. This guy isn't kidding, It's a small server, but most everyone is chatty and welcoming. Upon joining the server and putting a message out in general, I was inundated with tells offering to help and what I needed to do to get raid ready. Phinny is close enough to live that if you are wishing to get up to speed with a group of players who want to play with other players, this is the server for you. Seriously, this is what you are looking for. I have a feeling once heroic characters drop there (in a couple months) it will be one of the more popular further progressed TLPs.
Glad to hear that you tried Phinigel & had a positive experience, it really does have a great community albeit small & I like that there is sill a US & EU presence here.
Keep posting about your experience on phini Rotlust ..I may join phini in a few weeks. Also, anyone knows how well EQ runs with amd's chips that have integrated GPUs?? Want to down size my pc but I don't know if I will later use a GPU . Want to build a mini ITX just for EQ and possible diablo 3 at 1080p. Any suggestions? (BTW I single box lol)
AMD chips with integrated graphics work great with EQ. My HP 14-dk0018na laptop has a Ryzen 7 3700u processer with Vega 10 graphics and it runs EQ really really smoothly at 1920 x 1080. not really tried it at higher resolutions though, but i suspect it wouldn't struggle too much as EQ doesn't have overly complex graphics. Additionally i find the laptop really really quiet withouth the usual wind tunnel you get with laptops with additional gpu's. Sounds like it would be ideal for your mini itx.
Best way to solo-level to cap is to build a social network of like-minded people and schedule regular times to play. You won't be successful trying to find a group because there will be very few random people at sub 105 levels who aren't getting powerleveled in some form.
It's hard for me to have a schedule to play anything at this point in time lol. I know once I retire I'll have more time ..hope EQ live or myself still exist 16 years from now LoL ... but seriously ...not being a serious power leveler, nor committing to a time or place and a play schedule makes EQ fun for me. And for the small amount of time I been here and there both live and TLP servers I seen nice helpful community players.
