Stormhold for a new player?

Discussion in 'Tips, Tricks, FAQs, and New Player Discussion' started by bebebear, Feb 15, 2017.

  1. bebebear New Member

    My roommate recommended EQ2 as a goo MMO to try out; and Ive had so fun for sure on my baby character. Thing is when I watch general chart with things selling for 25k+ and stats people posting for groups and such; I realize just how far behind I would be. Probably never able to catch-up.

    If I sub and start on Stormhold, would I be in same boat or is it possible to catch-up?

    Also.. which expansion is it on?
  2. Arandar Well-Known Member

    We're currently in the The Shadow Odyssey era (level 80, 200 AA). If you're new to EverQuest 2 or have been gone for a very long time (pre-2010) then I suspect you'll find some benefits playing on Stormhold. That said, I would caution you that Stormhold is geared more towards grouping, where those players who are in active, supportive guilds will have a much better experience. In that case, you'd have no problem catching up reasonably quickly.

    The standard servers are much more supportive of solo play, with every bell, whistle and perk available to you (not to mention that if you get the current expansion, you can immediately level yourself up to 100). So, if soloing is really your thing, then you'll probably find Stormhold to be frustrating if you also want to "catch up" with the bulk of the server's population; that's not to say that you can't solo on Stormhold, but to enjoy it here you'd really have to be the stop-and-smell-the-roses type and not really be concerned with progress per se.

    Edit: One other point. Before you make a decision, you should really settle on what your goals are in the game. Is it just to slowly experience the content? Is it to reach "end-game" reasonably quickly so you can play that content where most of the server population is? Is it to "pick up where you left off" if you've played before? What is your preferred playstyle: soloing, grouping, raiding? Answers to those will inform your best choice.
    Tharrakor likes this.
  3. bebebear New Member

    Well at first I would of said primarily soloing, but in 20 levels Ive net met a single person and am lonely. So I guess its moving from soloing to wanting to group with others.

    As to going straight to level 100... my roomie advised against that as she said I wont know how to play my character if don't "grow up" with it.
  4. Raff Well-Known Member

    I recommend you play the Live servers first to get your feet wet, so to speak. Then play Stormhold with an alt if you want.
  5. Finora Well-Known Member

    I think it'd take longer to catch up on Stormhold (on The Shadow Odyssey expansion, level 80) than on the regular servers.

    XP is slow on Stormhold & money harder to earn. Not saying you can't earn plat, but I honestly have more trouble affording things playing casually on Stormhold than playing casually on Antonia Bayle (I cite that server because it's another server I only have one character on that hasn't been around for 12+ years like my crew on Halls of Fate).

    On the standard servers xp can be very fast if you choose (or slow, which is how I have often played) and plat comes pretty easily as you play, especially if you are a subscriber and sell stuff on the broker

    All the stats and gear and money comes as you level up. No one expects a low level to be rolling in plat and parsing in the millions/billions.
  6. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    Im sorry but i disagree with just about everything you said here. My experience is very different.

    First of all it would take far far longer to catch up on live servers. We aren't just talking about lvling to 100 we are talking Tithe, Ascension , ethereals and we are talking 600 if not more quests to start progressing on the epic.

    Ive never had an easier time to earn plat then i do now on stormhold. Cuz of how slow the exp is shinys sell like soda on a hot summer day.

    IMO come to Stormhold, dont waste ur money on KA use it to subscribe instead. You will be much less lonely there. Also, not sure why someone said that Stormhold is not fitting for solo players? Soloing on stormhold is rewarding and fun, as each tier isnt outlvled in a matter of minutes u feel like upgrades you recieve actually matter. Quests are fun here because you get something out of it, AA xp for example and good gear upgrades along the way. On live you'll outlvl the quests while getting the killupdates for that quest lol.

    Stormhold is, hands down, the best experience for a new player. Its not hard to solo. Im currently lvl 66 bruiser, soloed 95% of those lvls and i can solo tripple up green-yellow nameds in instances without sweating.

    Come try out stormhold friend, youll like it!
  7. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    Why? Theres a ton more stuff to learn and grasp on live then it is on Stormhold. On Stormhold people grp also when lvling up rather then just /LFG "KA heroics LF high dps PST"
  8. Raff Well-Known Member

    OP says they are soloing. Live is a better solo experience. Especially for someone new.
    Snikkety likes this.
  9. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    While your post is informative and helpful Ill just want to say that i find the solo gameplay on stormhold much for fun then i did on live. On live soloing is so unrewarding and boring. You run around in god mode where u one shot everything and u lvl faster then ur skills do. On stormhold the soloing feels perfect in the difficulty aspect and yeah, Im just loving it there. Soloing, grouping, questing or dungeon crawling. I just love Stormhold and i feel a little sad i didnt come here earlier :p
  10. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    Live is just easier solo experience, that dont mean its better. IMO its on the contrary, to each their own tho.
  11. Dude Well-Known Member

    Solo leveling on Stormhold is as fun as watching paint dry.

    Sure you will have a LOT to do in order to "catch up" on a live server, but catching up is very possible. You won't need any of that stuff being sold for crazy prices. That's mainly rich players who want to get their alts geared up more quickly. Everything you need, in terms of gear, you can get from doing quests, including the KA signature line, or buying very reasonably priced Twark gear from the broker. The challenge you will have with catching up is all of the questing you'll have to do, but that's the point of the game right?
  12. Finora Well-Known Member


    Honestly all the 'catch up' questing stuff people complain about is stuff that can easily be done as you level up.
    Snikkety likes this.
  13. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    Lets not smoothen the massive time gate inplemented in KA. Its not just quests. Its several faction grinds. Its 100 crafting. Its Tithe. Its Ascension etc etc etc.

    Twark gear only gets you started on the overland. Thats when the timesinks begin
  14. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    Before you decide between live server or TLE let me just adress you to this thread:

    https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq2/index.php?threads/thank-you-daybreak.576489/
  15. Raff Well-Known Member

    It could be safely argued that the amount of time needed to "catch up" on Live is the equivalent of the solo grind on Stormhold from lvl 1-Max level...except its more fun.
  16. Zozzo New Member


    Unless you don't like to faceroll or completely skip the best early years of the game content. 'More fun' is subjective. Live is for easily skipping everything to get to end game content asap.

    I just started a toon on Stormhold, way more fun imo. I'd say if OP wants an actual journey and some challenge on his way to level cap, prog servers are the best. If he's dead set on skipping everything to do end game stuff with his friend, then the choice should be fairly obvious to him.
  17. Meaghan Stormfire Well-Known Member

    For a brand new player Stormhold is the better option. Xp is slower, but the sheer amount of crap you get hit with trying to figure out as a first time player in a 13 year old game is greatly reduced. And the soloing route to cap on SH is perfectly doable since EoF opened. There's none of the Golden Path nonsense and you'll have to ping pong back and forth between multiple zones per tier, but the solo content is definitely there and it will take you from 1-80.

    I have no idea what ultimate game experience that the OP is looking for, but I'll say this- The world of EverQuest is one of the richest fantasy worlds imagined. If you start on a live server, personally I feel you'd be doing yourself a great disservice by ultimately skipping by or barreling through a lot of what made this game, this franchise, so amazing to begin with. Ideally you would have started on SH when it launched, but the server isn't so far along that it's going to inhibit your ability to enjoy the game world and still have a reasonable expectation of catching up while you do it.
    Tharrakor likes this.
  18. Finora Well-Known Member



    You make the assumption that one can't simply turn off xp or move the AA slider over so they don't level up so fast.

    No one forces anyone to barrel through content on the standard ruleset servers. That's a choice certain players make for themselves.
    Raff likes this.
  19. Meneltel Well-Known Member


    Especially when they do agnostic runs. Why not just hand them their exp, spells and gear? They aren't really gonna learn how to play their class or how to properly group in agnostic runs anyways. You are just wasting their time when they can be 100 soon anyways and still have no idea how to play, or how to group if they are really new to MMOs.
  20. Meaghan Stormfire Well-Known Member


    Yes, because that's a great way to introduce the game to a new player.

    "Here's this huge game. If you want to play all of it though, you need to turn your xp off."

    This doesn't come across as broken in the slightest.


    What it comes down to is user experience. Stormhold has a better user experience for a brand new player than live because of the fact that you don't have to artificially gate yourself and aren't hit with a hodge podge of 13 expansions worth of additional systems and gimmicks one piled upon another. For most of us everything thing was fed to us a year at a time and it built upon itself. For a new person it can be just a huge wall of WTF. I know because that's what I get whenever I've tried to bring someone new into the game. The only time I've ever been able to get anyone to stick around was after Stormhold opened.

    It's all well and good to say, "Well a new person could just do x or not mess with y." On Stormhold they don't have to.
    Kurzan likes this.