Hello folks, Nostalgia helping, im returning to EQ, still a bit undecided between 1 and 2. Used to main druid and SK on EQ1 Bristlebane in 2000/2003, both at HL. Then i also played EQ2 as fury until lev47 (i know, by reading the forum it means nothing now, but at the time of launch it was mid-high level ) , also played a dark elf monk til 20+ she was fun too ! I couldnt recover my EQ1 charas, already dealt with support, nothing more to be done...and no gandfather/silver account...so if i go EQ1 again, its from scratch. For EQ2 i had more luck, my charas are still there on Thurgadin (the EU server), although with their name borked at the end by "w" , "sw" and such (server merges i guess)...not liking that lol... I've read the forum a bit, but i'd still like a few personal opinions before i eventually suscribe again: I loathe these cash shop / item shop systems plaguing nowadays games, unfortunately they added them to both EQ. I'm not gonna debate about em...but with these in the way anyway, how badly do they affect servers? I've read contradictory infos about TLP vs classic servers, im a bit lost there... And i've read grouping is also mostly dead. While i played solo-able classes, i prefer by far playing with a group, thats a lot more fun ! Should i avoid classic servers completely then? Thurgadin is the only EU server, if i go TLP then its on US servers, are there EU/UK guilds there? If possible, i'd like to find like-minded people and/or guild who enjoy playing their classes and the game without absolutely rushing to HL as fast as possible. Don't get me wrong, i'll want to do some HL too at some point, but the game has so much content, i find it a waste to skip 95% of game. Do people still do tradeskill? I had top-notch crafted gear on my fury, and in 1h of play i've seen some drop/quest rewards with stats totally surpassing my once "elite" stuff Lastly, how well do fury and monk now? I know fury had several up and down in the past, i don't see much about monk though.
Okay, whatever you do, both games are decent F2P so you can do that and you decide which game you like more (or play both of the f2p). The special server (Fallen Gate) requires a subscription to make sure you want to pay to try it and know you will have to keep playing if you decide to stay there.
welcome back I can't comment about current effects of cash shop on TLP servers (specific point i heard game-breaking rumors about is familiar stats are out of whack, whether past or present not sure, and there familiars are shop-only mostly). On live it won't matter to you for a long time. As you start doing current content, and particularly if decide to want to be competitive in a raid environment, cash shop becomes a conversation subject. How much it'll annoy you, will depend on how much stock you place in competitive disadvantages - it won't effect your ability to do heroic content - just how efficiently. Primarily the ability to instantly upgrade your spells / ascension abilities with cashshop. The upgrades drop in game, but unlike on TLP, are on the very-rare side and as a result are missing/expensive on broker. If you get good at making in-game platinum, you can mitigate this to a large degree, but we're talking really good as you'll need a lot. on live (classic as you say) grouping is dead before max level, as it's simply very not efficient and there aren't that many people leveling. gear mudflation + mercs makes all at-level heroic content easily soloable by anyone with a little bit of buttons skill. leveling is super fast, so making long-term bonds with people you run across "at your level" is difficult if you're playing even at slightly different paces since you quickly diverge in level. you might find grouping enthusiasts out there that want to do it despite its inefficiency for comradery or RP reasons, but it'll probably be rare. on TLP mobs are tuned slightly tougher for available gear, so grouping is more necessary for a larger sub-group of people. xp is also slower, so there is more opportunity for stickiness within a grouping level-band. you most certainly should enjoy the game at your pace. as you said, it has a whole lot of amazing old content that is a shame more people dont spend their time exploring on way to HL. frankly, it just might be EQ2's strongest suit vs the MMO competition. your chances of grouping thru your leveling, if you place a lot of value into that, will go up significantly if you join some mom-n-pop guild right away. they're usually all too excited to dust off their alt #20 of the level that happens to fall into your level range today and alt #21 in your range 2 days from now. tradeskills are still a thing and are briefly important for a short time after each new expansion, as it's almost always better than last xpac's gear. heroic gear quickly replaces it tho usually. after that other toon-maintainance crafting professions stay relevant; like provisioner or sage, etc. there have been many stat mudflation passes since you last played tho, so it's no surprise your once elite gear is trash. play what you enjoy for now, it won't matter in the least for your leveling. dps classes will level faster, but that's about the only notable difference. by time answer to your question really matters, the answer has a very high chance of changing. monks are very overpowered currently at max level, but very well might not be he case a month from now. it's a russian roulette of rotating class flavor at the top.
Wow, thanks Twisty, very nice insights there I think im gonna suscribe and play on TLE then. The most recent is Fallen Gates, right ? Good to know some crafts are still usefull too, i like that part of the game too. Though ill skip tailoring this time and focus on Provi/Sage, these were my 3 mains jobs back in the days anyway. Time to seek a guild now ! And btw, "xpac", that stands for expansion pack, right ?
If you want to play your character to its maximum potential either don't come back or be prepared to spend about $300 on ascension, a premium xpac, and sathirian coins/server xfer.
Go to EQ1. They made tradeskills important. Here, they shoved them to the side, then insulted TS'ers.
Well, going to Fallen Gate was definatly the right move ^^ Found a farly well sized and active guild with like-minded people i was looking for, and chat windows isnt short of low to mid levels grouping !
