Tried out the live server ... so lost ..

So i did the tutorial to get basic armor, left after killing the demon, and i m not in my city ...

I m in a place called shadow rest, a large tree in center host several dragon lair, and there is a human city too. But no bazar, i wanted to reach PoK , found a book in the near by zone but plant like beasties caught me (lvl 4) on the way.

I wonder how to go to cabilis or halas, do the newbie zones like field of bones still exist ?
Where to people level from 1 to 20? and 20-50? and so on?

Also i seems that i cannot talk to people, at least to non iksar, they speak a language i don't understand.

Server is Fironae Vie.

Did you actually do the tutorial stuff or just level in the tutorial zone? I am pretty sure the in game map feature is covered in the tutorial but could be wrong. Either way if you open your map there is a zone guide button. Select this and you find a zone you want to travel to. This will show you the zoning path so you can find your destination. I would honestly suggest going back into the tutorial and doing all of the quests. They are not just for xp but also to show you how some of the features work. It will make life significantly easier and your experience better imo.

I did all the quest and the find path feature of the zone guide tell me that a "mysterious force" prevent me from finding a path to Plane of Knowledge.

BTW the zone i m in is Crescent Reach, not shadow rest ...

when you get this all it means usually is that you are to far away from the next zone or it happens when the zone destination is entered via an NPC or clicking things. If you open your map there usually will still be a red x on the map marking your destination. When you leave crescent reach keep to the right and follow along the hillside. The POK book is just around the corner. If you run into gnolls you have gone to far. Just stay up on the hillside to avoid bog rats and look down. Hope this helps.

First thing, languages. I hear on FV, you need to learn them to communicate with most NPCs. On other live servers, almoat everyone speaks Common, so not an issue. What got you to play on FV anyway? For all its 'RP' tag, there is not much RP there, just somewhat different rules. I would try elsewhere.

Also, in Gloomingdeep, if you do all quests, you should easily hit lvl 10. And what demon did you kill? If Krenshin, that thing is lvl 12. Only way a lvl 4 can do him is with higher level buffs.

I think first toon you make in an account, you start in Gloomingdeep and emerge in Crescent. But next time you create one, you can choose your traditional starting area. They are all still there, but questing/activity support is nowhere close to Crescent.

I was 10 when i killed the Krenshin, but 4 when i tried to reach PoK, i just left the tutorial and came back ..

I picked FV since i was told that it is more active and "new" player friendly.

If you have all access you could try the a progression server like Agnarr or Phinny. This way maybe you could learn the game as it progresses.

Considering agnarr won't progress very far I would avoid this server unless you like the idea of being stuck in that content forever. If you want to play current EQ FV has the largest population and the largest selection of gear so it's a good fit. I do agree phinny is a good choice if you want groups at early levels and want to progress through the game.

Frankly any live server would have a lot of gear to choose from. And most of that gear can be quested/camped without running into bot teams farming same gear for sale. Heck, one can follow a higher level tradeskiller hunting for materials and end up with a full set of defiant gear for your level. I highly doubt FV will offer more grouping opportunities.

About that original question: what to do 1-20, 20-50, you should have a Hero's Journey book. Following guidelines in that book can take you through a nice set of tasks and quests that should net you both the levels and the gear.

Oh and you can access bazaar from anywhere by typing /baz. One thing though to buy from anywhere, you pay 10% extra for delivery to nearest parcel handler NPC.

A couple points: get a goid integrated interface. Check EQinterface for good layouts. Download and install a map set. Look for 'Good's Maps'. Default maps dont include most zones/dungeons.

Almost sounds like you're a silver account or a free to play account. Those by default will start you off in Crescent Reach without the option of picking your races starting city.

To find PoK from Crescent Reach: follow the path into the city proper, and hang along to the left wall down into the newbie area. Upon entering this newbie area, you'll see a bridge off to your right(ish). This will lead out into Blightfire Moors. Once you zone into BM, hug the right wall/hillside. This will bring you right to the PoK book. As someone mentioned, if you're running into gnolls, you passed it.

Map packs: definitely needed. I recommend Goods map packs or Brewall. Google them, their sites have directions on how to go about it all Extremely helpful.

Leveling: Crescent Reach was the main/starting city for the expansion "The Serpents Spine". This expansion was tailored to allow you to level 1-70(75?) Without leaving that expansion.

Given that, 1-10 in the tutorial is a good idea (which you got down). 10-35 can be easily done in Blightfire Moors. 10-15 rats and snakes right by the PoK book. 15-20 gnolls just past PoK book in the southeast corner of the zone. 20-25 on the trees kind of west central part of the zone. 25-30 on the moonrats in the north central/east part of the zone. Then 30-35 on the bees on the East central part of the zone by Stone Hive. 1-35 in 1 zone. Can be done in one day, easily two, due to an exp bonus in the zone. Most of the mobs/areas I mentioned also have quests which result in decent exp/armor/weapons.

And from there it's all personal preference. I like:

35-45 City of Mist
45-50 Hatching a Plan mission in PoK
50-55 Greigs End
55-60 The Hole
60-65 (farming crap for epic 1.5 )
65-70 Dragonscale Hills (farm camp/repeatable quests)
70+ everyone likes different places.

Almar's Guide is a good site for newbie or returning players looking for level paths. I used his site when I came back and it helped a ton. As mentioned above TSS expansion was designed to move new and returning players into the same content basically so you can level from 1-75 range and maybe find a group. Having limited players at that level spread all over the world does not make finding already difficult to find groups easy at all. If anything CR and the moors are good zones to try and find groups /ooc level xx lfg. If you find a group you can work out visiting older content if you want some nostalgia. If you go to achievements there is a tab called The Hero's Journey. The quests there are designed to provide you with gear and experience as you level up making it much more user friendly. I would highly suggest doing this pathway at least until around level 60ish and then some of the events require groups or even a raid force (or a high level toon willing to help). Doing this you can just focus on questing and xp up and not even worry about gear until later saving you some plat for spells and future gear upgrades.

On Firiona Vie, the default language is Elvish. Being Iksar, you'll need someone to talk to you in Elvish in order to learn it. You can level it by talking to others or by talking into group chat when grouped with your Merc. Be sure all windows are set to that language. I've just returned and haven't learned it myself. Just tell people that you don't understand, and often they'll figure out what you are saying (or not saying) and switch their language to talk to you.

I read on some site that you can get to PoK from CR if you talk to the Priest of Discord there. They will port you to another zone. Talk to the Priest of Discord who is standing there when you zone in, and they will port you to PoK. I tried it and it worked for me.

I haven't played since 2002 or 2003, and I'm lost too. Don't feel bad. I figure that soon enough it will start to make sense.

Go back into the tutorial from character select. Target Arias and say 'Ready to leave' and you will zone to PoK.

Some really great info in this thread. Just started playing after a loooooong break and this has helped a bunch, thanks for all the insight. Now to figure out all the other stuff.

Just how in the hell did you go from level 10 to level 4! Something suspicious here, Even if you de-leveled from level 10, the lowest that you would go is level 5 since you don't loose exp under level 6.

thanks all i will meditate on all that.

No i left at 4 i wanted to sell very nice gear that was not from my class that dropped in the mines (not the crappy common item some really nice stuff). Died on the way to POK book, some red plant got me despite my mini sow ...

Then i went to character select and entered again the tutorial.

This last quote makes much more sense than your first one. One big suggestion, if you want the community to help/believe you please be more careful on what you say. When you post conflicting, erroneous information, then we cannot give you concrete advice if we don't know what you actually need.

Sorry if it was confusing, it seems that many people do that since i saw toons with nice buffs in the tutorial.