I've been gone since Luclin launch and have been getting the itch to come back and check the game out and this time my wife is possibly wanting to come along. Should we look at Mangler or play in FV (or one of the other Live servers)? Some solid duo class choices for us? She'll be interested in a melee DPS C class knowing her. I've always been partial to the Ranger but also interested in Beastlord. Thanks for any feedback or suggestions ahead of time.
Now is a great time to check things out. You can always play free on live servers which should keep a character good till level 70/80 and above. But right now you can even play for Free on a TLP until May 8, and see if you like those servers. If you and the wife do decide to stay then if you subscribe before May 10th you will be awarded a Heroic Character (instant level 85) on each account that can be used any time, even after May 10th! Experiment around with the classes. I thought I wanted a Paladin but he got boring so I made an SK. Then one day I made a Shaman and he is my preferred guy right now. It might change lol but as you can see a Shaman is not the same style play as an SK or Pally but I like it better.
I'm on FV if that means anything to you. There is no reason not to at least "try" the game. You are under no obligation to subscribe and it asks for nothing up front, no billing address or anything like that, just an email for registration. You just play and enjoy yourselves. Just be aware this is not the Classic EQ from back in the day.
TLPs are good if you want the possibility of pick up groups and to start simple. Live servers are good if you'd like to fill out your duo with two mercs and probably do most things and to appreciate all the amazing endearing cruft in a 21 year old game. If you go live with mercs I'd recommend one of your duo be able to tank somehow, which includes mage and (eventually) BST pets. That probably won't matter for a while though, so you should play what you like the sound of and just experiment. Of the live servers, FV bypasses a lot of the earning your loot part of the game. You pretty much just buy a full set of gear from baz at 5-10 level increments. Up to you if that sounds interesting or not.
Explain more please. It just said it was a role playing server, not that it was giving you anything extra. Firiona Vie that is.
Almost all gear on FV is droppable. There is still a handful of things that aren't, but most is. This means you can buy a full set of gear for your level range, and sell off all your old gear without having to unattune it. On normal servers you would have to earn most of this gear through various in game means, and then not sell on even the tradable stuff because unattuning is very expensive. FV is kind of like playing EQ on easy difficulty because of this (and the xp bonus).
. .. ... .... ..... ...... Why wasn't this said at the beginning of choosing the server? It literally only said role playing preferred or recommended at least that I could tell. Had it said everything you are describing, I never would of bothered choosing it. Is this why I meditate five levels in one sitting? Why my Sense Heading is maxed out from the start? Why I have a map and compass that helps too much, literally hand walking you where you need to go? Why as a Troll I gain levels pretty quickly, when my old Kunark guide says Trolls learn slowly? I knew the game became easier when it modernized, but not that much. It sounds like the exact opposite of what I want, which is the Classic experience and that server was part of the Classic era. I am not familiar with attuning or unattuning. Was that in Classic? I mostly only wore what was found for beginner quests and or on the hunt, but I was hardly ever past level 20, once a level 55 I think necro tops. I rarely buy anything from a vendor besides back packs and that is how I still play it.
I don't think so. Skill increases in general have been accelerated a lot since the early days. No, that's normal. FV does have an XP bonus, but your old Kunark guide would be referring to racial experience penalties that don't exist anywhere anymore. Most leveling is fast on any live server. Attunable items are like WoW's "bind on equip". The item because no drop once you equip it. You can get items to reverse this process, but not easily. It wasn't in classic. I think it's been around since Luclin.
This is what made the world of Everquest so unique, imaginative and fun to play! You really had to play those races and classes you chose to... So you equip something and are stuck with it for all intensive purposes? I understood no drops and maybe destroying an item to make room for other stuff, but why get stuck with wearing it unless you go out of your way to do so?
It's just a middle ground between tradeable and no drop. It means if you loot the item and can't use it, at least you can sell it, but it will likely only change hands once after that.
---SERVERS--- Whether you want to TLP or not is up to you. TLP servers are going to attempt to push people down into the lower levels, at least for a period of time. If you play only a little, or if you join an older progression server, then the population is still going to gravitate to the right. TLP is an experience you have to choose. Just research TLP and see if it's something that interests you over live. TLP is free for a period of time, so now is a very good time to give it a test run. Eventually it will require a subscription. FV is a live server where everything is tradeable. Again, something you have to decide. On FV you could buy raid armor given the coin to do so, where on other servers that is not an option. I haven't played on FV, but I imagine raid armor isn't going to be terribly cheap. You'll have to do your research. I'm on Luclin. Live servers are nice for a trial run because you can play for free. You are not missing anything by not having a sub until about 65-85 range. There is a solid amount of content between luclin and when you need a sub. Eventually you will want a sub, but this gives you an option to experience the game before you spend money. Even once you do sub, you don't need to buy the expansions until you get there. All of the expansions except the last 2 are unlocked. It would be in your best interest to play, sub as desired, but wait until you get to L110 to buy the expansions. If you and your wife take your time and enjoy the game, it will be very reasonable to say you wont need to buy the expansions until the next expansion launches. THat saves you a little bit of money. ---CLASSES--- I think a good combination for you guys would be SK for your wife and BST for you. SK is not a melee DPS class, and you'll have to see if your wife wants to tank, but SK is a very powerful and versatile class with good DPS and tanking ability. She wont put down the numbers a rogue or zerker would, but having a strong tank is the one thing you can't fake in EQ. Merc tanks can't hold a lick to a decently geared/AA SK. Now, if you are going to slack on AA/Gear/Augs then it might be best to have your wife play a MNK, ZER, BRD, ROG, RNG, etc and use a merc tank. Warriors are not a DPS class but maybe a compromise on melee DPS and having a tank. You'll have to discuss. I say BST for you because you said RNG or BST and I believe having a slower, buffer and DPS class is important. BST are not the best at buffing and debuffing, but they vastly out perform rangers in that regard. And most importantly Of course, remember if you pick live you can FTP a 3rd toon. One of you can box. So say neither of you pick a slower, then you can box a SHM, ENC or BST. Even if you don't play the box, you can still tab over for a slow, and buff your group, plus you get a 3rd merc. You can still sub just 2 accounts, and keep the 3rd FTP. A FTP slower can slow just as well as a paid slower, but a FTP tank wont compare to a subbed (prestige) tank. I have been using a FTP druid and the QOL of having a druid is awesome. Personally based on what you have said, my recommendation is... Wife = SK/WAR/PAL, You = BST, FTP box = druid (ports, track, root, snare, forage, patch heals), on a live server. Good luck. Maybe you should choose a different forums.
Hmm, I didn't know that FV was all dropable loot either. As to your other questions: - Sense heading maxed has been that way for quite a long time. I well remember working hard to lvl it up back in Kunark, and when I ran into people who hadn't, and who couldn't navigate, I was like "what the heck were you thinking not to lvl Find Heading???" - you get some maps, but not all maps. But you can download maps from the Internet. I like having maps. After all, in 2000 when I was playing I'd print out maps and put them in a binder, so having them in game is similar. - I think most/all racial XP penalties were done away with years ago, on all servers? But there are still racial advantages. Trolls for example get regen. - Attuning was something EQ stole from WoW after it came out. Particularly in expansions beyond PoP, there are items which are NOT No Drop (now called No Trade)....until someone wears them for the first time, at which point they are "attuned" to that person and can no longer be traded. I play on Agnarr however so such things are mostly/completely limited to a few decorative items you can use to change your appearance, like hats. - 1-2 years ago the way we levl up skills was changed so that if you don't use a skill for several character levels, and the skill level falls behind other skills, when you DO start to use it again, it will 'catch up' with similar skills faster. Example: if you never swim much then level up to your 30's then you go for a swim, you will get swim increases very fast. Similarly, if you're using a 1hs weapon for many levels then you get a good 1hb weapon you can use, when you start using 1hb you will get skill increases very rapidly. I tend to like this feature a lot,and it doesn't seem to hurt the game experience for me.
No you don't have to KEEP wearing it. You can put it in the bank or destroy it. But once it's attuned you can't sell it. Also, the phrase is "for all intents and purposes"
Where you play is heavily dependent on what kind of content you want to experience; ie. some servers start or stop at different game eras. If you're content to play game content up to and including LDoN but not beyond, I'd suggest you look at Agnarr. - We've been getting a lot of people coming back recently as well as new players, and more than once I've heard people comment in /General chat say "this is such a friendly server." And it is. For two reasons: 1. a lot of the power gamers went to Mangler when it opened. 2. we who stayed on Agnarr mostly have anything we could want, so the concept of KS'ing people or griefing them to get spawns mostly no longer exists. - Buffs are usually free at the PoK soulbinder. - People help out newbies to a reasonable degree. Finding groups at lower lvls can be a problem, but with free dmg shield buffs from players in PoK you can get to lvl 10 in a couple hours in Field of Bone, 20 in Kurns in a couple more hours, then to Paludal for up through about 23 or 26 where kills may be a bit slower as you get up in lvls. And there are both the new people and the server-vets who are lvl'ing alts.
Is there a post or a bulletin board that describes in detail (or at least with in reason) what each server currently offers? I mean I had no idea FV did what it did. It only said role playing. I am not here to derail the thread by the way, but I might as well keep it here then make a whole new post and this could quite possibly help the OP as well.
There isn't roleplaying in this game at all outside of maybe 10 people across all servers that dabble. Sense heading was set to 200 max on all characters probably 18 years ago. Its a useless artifact with the compass feature that came out in LoY expansion in like 2002 or whatever. (alt D). Attuneable means tradeable until you equip it. You can buy unattuners on the loyalty merchant or I think the marketplace. Not worth it except for some rare/useful/expensive things. FV is the free-trade server (brekt is as well), and almost EVERYTHING is tradeable except epics and a few other quest items. That server also gets bonus exp on at all times. Its just a different rule set. The exp curve was changed a long time ago, so lower levels are just faster. Also, some other things were changed making things easier (dmg caps on lower levels lowered or eliminated, spell dmg increased for most lines, class core abilities that came later, they made some lower level versions, they spread spells out so you get some every level, etc). Skills were recently (like last year) changes so that if you're further than like 5 player levels worth of skill points behind, the gains are accelerated.
Oh I did not know EQ added a new race/class of grammar Gestapos. Which expansion did that come out on? I am kidding of course. Thank you for that. I shall try to remember that for future posts. ^^!
I forget which expat the Grammar G e s t a p o class became available But you'll notice I DID add a smiley face.
