Are the live servers still...

Discussion in 'General Gameplay Discussion' started by Tharrakor, Jun 1, 2019.

  1. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

  2. Dude Well-Known Member

    Only if you want to group or raid. :rolleyes:
  3. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    What a shame, truly! I miss this game a lot sometimes. Well i miss what it used to be
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  4. Obano Well-Known Member

    Live servers are not really Pay to win... more accurately it can be called very expensive pay to play. The premium collector's edition of Chaos Descending is pretty a much mandatory purchase though and you will definitely need the all access subscription. If you cheap out and only buy the $35 version you won't get very far. However buying the premium collector's edition does let you win anything. It just brings you up to the very minimum standard to start grouping and raiding.
  5. Melkior Well-Known Member


    I buy the cheap or middle tier every year, and I group and raid just fine. Some in my guild opt for the Premium, but not the majority by far. I also don't pay real money to upgrade my spells, I research them or buy them from the broker. In the spirit of full disclosure, we certainly aren't the fastest progression guild on the server, but we have a great time playing. We've been around a long time and this still works for us. These things are possible if you find a group of like minded individuals. Not everyone is satisfied progressing at a slower pace, or not completing the previous years content before the next expansion is released. I completely get that. But it's incorrect to say it can't be played without paying extra.
  6. Obano Well-Known Member

    In the spirit of full disclosure there was bug early in the expansion that made experimental infused Mastercrafted gear way better than it was supposed to be. This allowed people who started early to break into CD content without the premium upgrade. At this point the bug has been fixed and that mastercrafted gear in no longer available to new and returning players. Mastercrafted is junk now. This makes the premium CD upgrade absolutely necessary to make the potency requirements to run even the easiest heroic zone in CD.

    I tried for a solid month to break into the content but failed miserably after banging my head against that impenetrable wall. So I threw in the towel and bought the upgrade. Only then did I start to make actual progress. If you don't believe me, try it yourself on another character that doesn't have access to 5000+ potency mastercrafted.
  7. Melkior Well-Known Member



    For what it is worth, I and many in my guild did it without that. I'm not going to say the heroics weren't painful, they were. But we worked through it together. Coming in later, and by yourself, I can see where that would have been way tougher. You certainly would be more reliant on kindness of friends/guildies to help gear you up.
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  8. Naramee Active Member

    when you Play the game f2p, then you are actually playing it as it used to be in old times, the harder way. We have a few f2p Gamers in raid and they are doing just fine. None of us had 5000+ potency at the beginning and we still made our way. So all I can say it is up to each one him or her self how to see the game and how to Play it. The expensive Version does not give you better gear weapons or such, it just gives you a house a pet a merc, Things like that. It does not help you win at all
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  9. Obano Well-Known Member

    I brought along a friend when we came back to the game two months ago. After about a month we both had to upgrade our accounts because we were not getting anywhere or making any progress. If you used mastercrafted gear at the start of the expansion it was much higher quality than what is available to players currently. There is a reason people are struggling right now. The gear gap between solo and heroic is enormous. With the nerfed mastercrafted gear it is generally not possible to make progress without buying the Premium Collector's edition of CD.
  10. Obano Well-Known Member

    You are talking about players who have been around since the start of the expansion. Not the same thing as people just starting or returning now halfway through. The main reason to buy the premium collector's edition is for the 6500 potency mount and 440 potency familiar. These items make a huge difference in being able to progress through CD content.

    Second point: this isn't about winning anything. This is about meeting the bare minimum requirements to successfully group and raid. If you don't buy then you don't get to play through that content.
  11. Beee Well-Known Member

    If you want to be within the top 5% of a server .. YES (premium infuser, premium edition familar, extra barding slots) but who cares as long as class balancing does not work ;)
  12. Dude Well-Known Member

    Top 5%? No, it's more than that, especially for a person returning from a break or starting new. This guide is great for explaining what you need to do to get up to speed: https://forums.daybreakgames.com/eq2/index.php?threads/a-guide-to-chaos-descending.588164/

    Just to meet the bare minimum potency and resolve requirements for getting in groups, you will need:
    • Fully experimented MC gear that was made using refined rares. Unless you have the plat or a ton of time to do it all yourself, you're going to have to buy a krono and sell it for plat.
    • Fully infused gear. Unless you have the plat, you're going to have to buy a krono and sell it for plat. As you improve your gear through Heroics you'll have to repeat this step for the new gear.
    Once you're in groups, you're going to want to be effective or else you'll slowly not find groups that want you. To be effective you'll need:
    • All useful class spells at the expert level, but with a goal of getting most of those to the Ancient level. You can buy player made spells for some of that, which will require plat. After that level you will have to research to get them up. At more than a month per level of spell, you're either going to use DBC to speed it up or accept the fact that your spells won't be leveled in time to be useful.
    • All useful ascension spells at the expert level, but with a goal of getting most of those to the Ancient level. There are very rare drops for leveling these, but the primary method of leveling these spells is research. That means using DBC to speed up the process or accepting that you won't be competitive for groups.
    • Fully leveled weapons, which is going to require plat. Unless you have the plat, you're going to have to buy a krono and sell it for plat.
    Is that pay to win or pay to play? I guess the semantics are debatable. The bottom line is if a new or returning player wants to get up to speed, they will need some cash to do it. Of course, all of this is achievable spending no cash, but it means spending months of dedicated game play to harvest rares, level up the necessary crafters, and wait for the research to get you up to speed.
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  13. Breanna Well-Known Member

    I am so glad I don't group or raid :D That is exactly why I'm casual, if I can't get it in game then I don't. I will not spend money like that to upgrade everything. But I still have fun playing the way I play so I keep on keeping on. I did have a ton of extra dbc once so I upgraded one of my ascension spells, and I do gotta say it is pretty nice. But I'm not willing to spend real money to upgrade them. I always make the adept spells for everyone that levels so I start there and research the rest.
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  14. Obano Well-Known Member

    That guide is no longer accurate due to MC gear getting nerfed / bug fixed so it no longer has the potency it used to. Even if you do sell a krono it is not going to help much. To progress into heroics and especially raids will require buying the premium collector's edition of Chaos Descending for the potency mount and familiar.
  15. Tharrakor Well-Known Member

    I already have the premium of the newest expansion as I used the claim rewards from it on Fallen Gate, so my warlock transfering from FG would have the slug familiar on lvl 9 and the new mount. I dont know how far that would get me on live tho. Its the ascensions that worry me the most tbh. Paying for research is not something that i want to do.
    I wanted to get back into the game before the summers ethereal event started so i could grind that but i also really dislike playing a dps class and get carried. I also heard something about some raid achievements from previous expansion that granted high amounts of stats? I would also have 2 pre order buff shrines btw for whatever that is worth

    Edit: Id also have the Djinn illusion.
  16. Sigrdrifa EQ2 Wiki Author

    That's not true. If you review Obano's posts, he's not happy with anything anywhere. You can easily get enough Resolve t raid just from Mastercrafted armor. Ideally, you get your MC and boost it as much as you can, do Heroics, get better armor, boost that, etc.

    CD Starter Gear
    Adornments
    Head to Sundered Frontier. Near the Wizard's Spire is a panda, Yun'Zi, and he has some very simple exploration quests for you. Do them all! His sidekick, Pas'Yu, will sell you (for zero copper) some very nice adorns. You want the white "Greater Rune" sets, and the "Power of the Planes" cyan adorns.

    In Chaos Descending, folks go first to Tishan's Lockbox in Myrist. What's not immediately obvious is that you can get several of one piece of armor out of that box and take the adornments off it to use elsewhere. Fill all your adorn slots. Pick up a weapon and nab the blue rune!

    There are a lot of specific orange, green, and blue adorns you will want.

    Resolve
    • Solo encounters have no resolve requirements
    • Heroic Tier 1: 1050
    • Heroic Tier 2: 1260
    • Raid Tier 1: 1310
    If you don't meet the Resolve requirements for the type of zone you are in, your effectiveness doing anything drops like a rock. Chaos Descending Signature Quest Line (which opens the Solos), Solo instances, and questing in the overland zones don't need Resolve.

    To start Heroics, you need a Resolve of at least 1050, and a potency of at least 65K.

    Upgrading to Mastercrafted Gear
    When you're ready for heroics, the way to start is to load up on Mastercrafted gear, which will get you the Resolve you need. What it won't get you is enough Potency.

    Harvesting and Refining Rares
    I highly recommend harvesting to get the rares you need.Check the prices CD rares are selling for. KEEP harvesting and sell extra rares and you can get all the plat you need to do other things.

    You want to make the gear (or have it crafted for you) from refined rares. Get your Tradeskill Prestige AA set up for Refining, and max out Mass Refining because you are going to want a bunch of refined rares. Making the gear from refined rares adds to its base stats.

    You'll need two refined rares per mastercrafted item. Golden Fleck (plate/chain armor, primary, secondary), Arborian Wedge (maces, bows), Needlescale Hide (leather armor), Casiun Root (cloth armor), Azure Sapphire (jewelry). You can probably buy a lot of this, from rares and refined rares, to the MC gear itself. But why waste a ton of plat when the rares are literally laying on the ground in the overland zones to pick up for free?

    Experimenting
    Once you have the MC gear, you'll want to Experiment on every piece (or hire a crafter to do it for you). I recommend three experimentations for added Potency and two for added Stamina per piece of gear, YMMV. Elsewhere you may see stuff about reforging your MC into insane amounts of Potency: that was a bug and they've fixed it now. But increasing the stats is still worth doing.

    Gear Infusing
    Equipment Infusing is necessary. The wiki page I linked has everything you need to know about it. Infuse every piece of gear as much as you can. You can get some big increases in potency this way, for example, an extra 400 Potency per piece for plat infusing. Adding the crafted infusers gives you another 50-60 Potency per item.

    Spell/Combat Arts/Ascension Upgrades
    Spells/Combat Arts
    Some people feel compelled to buy instant upgrades at ruinous cost for every spell through the Knowledge window, which is ridiculous. But hey, their money, I guess.

    For your spells and combat arts, get a scholar to craft Experts for you. You don't need higher level spells until you are raiding, and if you look, a LOT of raiders are still rocking quite a few Experts.

    Ascension Spells
    Upgrades of Ascension spells can be crafted or researched by scholars. You can't skip spell levels, you have to scribe them in order:
    • Sage can craft Elementalist and Etherealist spells
    • Jeweler can craft Geomancer spells
    • Alchemist can craft Thaumaturgist spells
    • Journeyman: 1 Planar Energy (these are uncommon harvests, the icon looks like a blue tornado).
    • Adept: Illegible Scroll Page: spellname (Adept) and a Planar Energy.
    • Expert: 2 rares (Sage uses Casiun Root) and a Planar Energy.
    • Master: Illegible Scroll Page: spellname (Master) and a Planar Energy.
    • Grandmaster: either a Celestial Foundation or Celestial Spellshard (these are rare harvests) and a Planar Energy.
    Illegible Scroll Pages can sometimes be purchased on the broker. Ancient and Celestial scroll pages also exist and can be crafted.

    IMHO, I'd work on getting the easily-crafted ones, then use the Research tab in your Knowledge Book and wait out the time for the research to upgrade the higher levels.
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  17. Dude Well-Known Member

    You want him to review his own post? :p
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  18. Geroblue Well-Known Member

    I'm mostly f2p. I don't raid. Maybe someday I'll group. I play this game to relax... When I buy an expac, its the cheap version.

    I did print this page to pdf, but I may never use the info.
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  19. Dude Well-Known Member

    You have posted this several times. It's very helpful, but I've never seen anyone say, "Oh! That's not bad." In fact, I'd say your post validates what I wrote earlier about the need to spend cash on the game. All of your helpful suggestions about MC gear, refined rares, experimentation, infusing gear, expert level spells, and upgrading ascensions requires either a ton of time and effort or cash.
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  20. Tharrakor Well-Known Member


    Its a bit overwhelming yeah
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