I appreciate that the Devs provided a small guide, but...

There will be a TLDR, since I ended up kind of ranting during my question. Sorry about that...

There used to be a player made guide that was so much better than what the Devs have provided. It outlined the changes through each expansion, allowing people who used to play the opportunity to skip to the xpac that they last played. Or, they could refresh their memory with the various previous xpacs, and proceed with the new changes. However, I can't find it anymore. It was stickied, the last time I checked. It's really frustrating to go into the game, and have absolutely no clue as to what major changes happened.

Now, mind you, I'm trying to not complain. That player was dedicated, and those that helped were also dedicated. And we still have plenty of hard-working people that continue to help everyone else enjoy the game. I'm talking about the eq2map team, the UI creators, and those of us that answer questions on here. This doesn't even cover places like the wiki and other player made sites out there. Of coarse, we know that many have died, but not all.

For myself, I have problems with understanding changes within the game. I've asked for an explanation of things, but I understand that not everyone is going to be able to go through and outline what changes occurred within what xpac. Like, do you get ANY xp toward regular or AA level when killing a mob now? Or is it ONLY through missions and quests (can't remember if I was told of another way)? I mean, I can't go around to a green zone, and gather up all the mobs and farm them anymore? Even if it's just a bit of xp, that might help put me over the edge for an AA or something.

TDLR: Well, the whole point of what I just typed was, does anyone have a nice, thorough listing of all the major changes for each expansion and update? I'm not talking about the minor tweaks and stuff, I'm talking about the literal game changes to the mechanics of the game. Like, did they take away ALL xp that we used to gain from mob kills? AA and regular? Is it limited to higher levels, or all levels? When did we get mercs? And what changes are going on with them? And, this may sound silly, but I'm a silver ftp account. I know silvers gain five (I think) character slots, but I can't remember what else we get compared to regular ftp accounts. Is there information about that as well out there that I can review? And, well, sorry that my TLDR is getting big enough to need it's own TLDR...

Game Update Summaries: Yes, you'll find this on the wiki (DO bookmark the wiki!) Or, y'know, you could just read through the posts on the Game Updates forum here.

Experience: You will see less XP from mob kills in end-game, say, anything from Kunark Ascending onwards. That's because the XP curve is very, very steep, and the amount you get per mob is tiny. The way to level is to run instances and quests. Instead of finding a random zone and mass-slaughtering, find a solo or heroic instance that still cons to you, round up the mobs, slaughter them, and finish the instance to get your XP.

If you want faster XP, check your /claim and see if you have any XP bonus potions there. If not, you can buy them on the Marketplace to speed up XP gain. You still have to do instances and quests.

Also, check you AA slider (press L, upper left corner). Make sure it isn't stuck at 100% AA or something.

Stats and Mechanics: Mechanics have changed a lotta times. It would be helpful to know in which expansion you last played in order to give you some meaningful summary.

F2P, Silver, Etc.: They quit selling silver memberships in 2014. For a summary of current membership levels and what features each has, see the wiki.

Why are we going to a third (or second) hand site when all of that information should be available here? It says volumes of many things about the state of the game, and none good that I can think of. Certainly not very welcoming to new players interested in trying out the game. Not much of a "Welcome" mat is it? More like "Get off my lawn and doorstep, you noisy kids!"

I had to laugh when I read this, because I immediately thought of the old parable about the mice and the cats and the final question: "Who's going to bell the cat?"

The devs or someone who keeps track of game mechanics and lore and how to play and all of that. They must have sort of documentation about their game in a folder somewhere. Scan that into a file, proofread and delete in any proprietary information and put to a forum thread that is stickied. You know, like the instruction manual that used to come with games that most guys never read but used it as a coaster for their sodas?

Well, last I remember was that my husband and I were just getting a few toons to level 90, to take advantage of the bonus for having max level characters. THEN they decided to throw the level 92 at us, and I got one toon to lvl 92. I couldn't tell you whether he did or not, because I haven't gone into his account since well before he died. I don't know what xpac that was, but we didn't get very far into it.

As for my xp slider, free accounts have no options for that. It's equally set between AA and regular xp. I have a silver account, because I was one of the original players. And both of us purchased enough slots to have 12 toons originally (while paying the monthly all access fee). We had to quit after the lvl 92 xpac, and never came back for an length of time, due to various reasons. But, since my new computer is actually able to handle the game, unlike my old one, I thought I'd dust off my account and try to play again. I did have to remove two toons, because my favorite was behind a paywall that I can't afford to bypass for now, if ever.

And although reading the wiki and other third party sites can work, it's not the same as the breakdown that someone used to go through with each xpac. I wish I could remember the user name, or even the title of that stickied post. It was really useful, because it assumed that you wanted to know what each major update/xpac brought to the game, or took away, in some cases. Yeah, I could try going through all of the update posts that the game devs post. However, part of the problem is related to my vision problems. Being blind in one eye, and rapidly losing sight in the other, makes reading with the site coloration difficult. At least, if it's in one massive post, I can highlight all of the text, and read it much easier. I just figured that perhaps someone had a fairly recent summary of the game updates up to a certain point, still available to read.

Sorry if this post was just a nuisance, it wasn't meant to be.

Pretty sure you could have gotten your favorite character out of "the wall" fairly easily by logging in a character that was still available and then issue the command "/camp MyFavoriteToon". The characters that are available are the ones most recently used, so after you use this command to get to the character, it should no longer be locked (but another one will be). At least, that used to work...

Years and years ago, you used to be able to make new toons whenever the character creation came up and said that it couldn't find your character list. It was a bug, and some people used to take full advantage of it. One person had a huge number of toons, 31, which was very rare at that time. And, as long as you knew the names, you could log into any of them. Of coarse, if you didn't, then the only way was by removing one of your currently visible toons. Then they removed the ability to log into any toon OTHER than the visible ones. The outcry and uproar was extreme! So they gave everyone a free weekend to bring on their choice of (I think it was 5 or so?) characters, with the last ones logged into THE ones you were then stuck with.

Of coarse, I don't know if your suggestion would have worked. I know it was supposed to be the last four, plus however many paid slots (in my case, six additional) once my account went back to silver. Honestly, the two toons that I got rid of weren't a huge deal. I didn't enjoy playing bard that much, but that was the first toon that my husband and I created for my use. She wasn't as much fun as my eq1 bard. Now, I felt proud of that toon, because I was able to twist songs with the best of them, without using macros or anything. Which, apparently, was rare to find in those days.

If the /camp option doesn't work, you can send in a /petition and ask to have one your toons switched out, so you get your favorite one back and they take away another one. Let them know that you're returning to the game after x number of years. It may work, it may not, but it doesn't hurt to try.

You can get the membership info from the Knowledgebase, it's just not very user friendly. The wiki cites the DBG page.

That is the problem. "Not very user friendly" Why play a game that doesn't encourage you to learn about the game from the people RUNNING the game? "Okay, you bought a car. Here is the operator's manual... all four pages of it. If you want to learn more, good luck! Im sure someone can help you" Would YOU buy a car like that? I wouldn't...

So why play a game that treats you like you are a mushroom?

I have yet to receive any information on how to drive a car from an automotive dealer.

I'll tell you why there's not better documentation from DBG. Software companies in a money crunch always ditch the tech trainers first, then the tech writers, then they cut as much tech support as they can. You don't get documentation without tech writers, and I guarantee you you do not want most devs writing documentation in the first place, never mind the time it takes away from coding.

Years ago Sony partnered with the wiki, naming it the official game wiki. In effect, they blessed the wiki's mission of documenting the game. I get aggravated when I can't find the info I need, and if I have to research it or problem-solve to figure something out, then I do document it on the wiki so I won't be aggravated when I run the next alt through. But then, I worked as first a developer then as a technical writer for years until I retired. Writing this stuff down is kinda baked into my brain by now.

Well, trying to change the list of characters to allow me access to characters that were behind a paywall is a moot point by now. I've removed two characters, ones that I honestly didn't really have much heartbreak over losing, so that I could have access to the two that I wanted to keep. So now, I'm relearning things about the game. Found out that I have to level my crafting up from the beginning on two toons, because I lost two lvl 90 or 92 crafters. Not a biggie though, because I enjoyed that aspect of the game. The challenge of harvesting for that one questline was a lot of fun, especially since many of my toons are low lvl adventurers.

As for relearning the game, I apparently am on a fairly friendly and newbie friendly server. This is good, because although I get scolded sometimes regarding my questions, in general I get help. And I have been poking around in the wiki a bit. Just, I really still wish that there was still that one sticky that used to be here, in the forums, to help returning players learn about new changes on a xpack and update timeline. But oh well, I'll figure it out. Just, oh my poor aching eyes, trying to read with the background this site uses...

Good luck and come here for questions also. Many here will help you if they can!

We try to help. Sometimes we bumble about but in the end, help will arrive, even if it comes in the form of a Snarky Wood Elf that wants nothing more than a BROOM MOUNT and to help others have fun in the game.

You know, those with those handy broom mounts, versus the pretty horsie mounts and stuff, must really want to ride the brooms. I have yet to see those in game, but I figure those will be available to view sometime, if enough requests come through. We all know the devs give in, if it means money their way.

Two years and counting, I have been running my BROOM MOUNT campaign on Ttobey, he is relenting, I can sense it. I even made a concession myself and agreed to a Vroom Broom of Doom if that would be easier for Ttobey to design and animate, that was Meneltel's idea. Sigrdrifa provided some fabulous images that Ttobey could use for references. Pijoter (sp?) provided icons he found in the game files that Ttobey could use. We have had campaign fliers, parades, which are still continuing (*giggles snarkily*), we took Ttobey on the Homeshow Winter Road Trip with us, we have met him in the Great Library on Antonia Bayle. And I have assured him that there will be much rejoicing and the multitude will praise him, he does not believe me, he said one is not a multitude.

I have told him, when he builds it, we will buy it and/or earn it on multiple characters!!! I told him I would send him his favorite Ttobey treats by the truckload and armed Ttobey Treat Guards so that nobody may steal them from him. He turns his little ratonga nose up at me, but he is caving, I can sense it in the forest winds.

Anyway, welcome back to Norrath, enjoy your journey, if you are on AB, give me a shout if you need help, have questions, or just need a friend.

*runs off to make sure the newest Ttobey effigies are inflated fully and properly and ready to go for the third parade of the year entitled Ttobey in Erollisiland*

I keep forgetting to ask if you have searched in that archived forums subforum on here or has that been removed? Its at the very bottom of the sub-forum page. Called something like Archived Old Forums.

*cough* I do believe I was the originator of the designation "Vroom Broom of Doom"....

Cyrrena, ill get the Ttobey effigies ready for the bonfires... and ill lay out some cheese also so we might even get the real thing there... as well as some of its relatives! A little blackmail might be fun for us, after all!