Using Level 100 Upgrade Token

I was thinking about using this to get a second character into PoP but then I realized they would be lacking:

Epic 1.0
Epic 2.0
KA Signature Line
Tradeskilling
A bunch of AA
No Ascending Stuff

And I quickly realized how much work was involved to make the character viable, not even to mention all the backtracking necessary for prereqs on many of these items. Am I misunderstanding or is using a level 100 token on a low level character not super helpful? I'm not trying to hate on anything, it just hit me like a ton of bricks how much that token DOESN'T include that is really necessary in the current expansion (or at least helpful). The actual leveling to 100 may be the least time-intensive part of creating a level 100 character!

I think they get 320 AA for hitting 100. The rest, yeah. With NO PRE-REQUISITES DONE.

If you've completed the KA line on one toon, then you can get the book that gives your alt access to the accension trainers and the guise of pursuit which helps with a lot of the faction grinding needed for the Epic 2.0..

Yeah, both the 320 AA and the book will certainly help! I'm just remembering all the Heritage quest chains I had to go back and do on my main just to finish the various timelines and Epic 1.0. EQ2 feels very anti-alt. I just wanted to take a break from my main for a while, but it doesn't look remotely worthwhile. I'm better off playing a different MMO for a break rather than a different toon, no matter how much I like EQ2.

They need to make it so you get the Epic 1.0 and the city quest (if you have done it on a toon already), the rest is somewhat, kinda bearable.

Don't forget the proving grounds grind for no-trade adornments

And dont forget the Orange Class rune......wait you can NEVER get it on another toon......not ALT or returning player friendly atm.
PLEASE Devs, help us out a bit here. We love the game after 13years, we all have alts or want even more. And some of us want to switch main. Now its impossible to switch main and raid at same time.
New character:
Epic 2.0 4-6weeks if you do a few hours a day on it (Depending on patience, class and skill/setup (Windowed fullscreen mod recomended for quest help) I know it would take even longer for some.
Proving grounds you need 3500-4000 marks, you average 13 per round including the weekly so roughly 300 and it takes 10min if your fast and 15-20 if you struggle with last named with mana in solo. So roughly 50hours here.
Orange class rune that is a huge DPS or utility boost for some classes (Cant be bought even like some suggested here of the Elitist order on P2W server)
Ascension grinding...... endless. No, jokes aside it can be done but time again and its hard to estimate since the slow refill compared to the required amount of EXP after lvl10
Then the runes, you need either a few Kronos of money or insane luck to get them in boxes. Myself have done now roughly 300 solo/duo on multiple accounts/characters and not seen one drop, not even one fabled or master chest even. (Much lower drop rate than previous expacs it feels like or I am bad in rng.

Ask yourself is that really a good idea for the longevity of the game when its losing people every year.
The returning and alt hungry people are the ones that spend fresh cash on the game, that is what helps ALL players to keep the game running.

I returned to this game in early November after a break of 8 years. I play with 2 Accounts per switching and makros with round about 15 characters. After reading some stuff (in-game, ...) there is a huge question for me for whom this game now is. I like the massive content. But when iam reading that groups in PoP instances reject players who not have 25mio hp then the state is clear. Grinded highest tier raid mains, with full time all day long players, i guess. With 2 current main chars i can get 10-13mio hp, 400-500resolve, 40-43mio potency with mixed fabled, mythic, prestige stuff and KA T4 raid gear and PoP stuff. I did the whole PoP quest timelines solo/duo and stuck now and thinking about to skip heroic PoP instances and PQs for some time to get more fun for questing Alts to lvl 110. Raiding is also nothing iam thinking about at that moment. Iam bored hanging around in instances to farm and grind. Not me style of playing at that moment. I want adventure, discovery and fun. While i can get a coffee and beeing AFK as i like.

My question also is, what prerequisites have i done to be a part of current heroic and raid instances. The tips from the mates above? Epic 2.0 main hand weapon seems to be very good. The only older weapon that got an orange adornment slot. I thrashed/salvaged tons of KA raid gear while comparing this to PoP gear.

I feel you. My guild needs another healer and I was thinking, "I have a boosted 100 Fury". But it would take forever and then some to get him anywhere near ready to be a guild healer. So, I'm stuck grinding on my main. That's not horrible, but I started playing a different MMO yesterday just to give me a break from the grind on the same toon, every, every day. At this point, it is pretty much IMPOSSIBLE for a new player/boosted player/returning player to catch up to their guildies for current content. Guilds may let those players tag along, but they aren't on the same level which sucks. Think about a new player joining a guild for the first time.

"Hey, new guy. Nice to meet ya. Have your 2.0 yet?"
"Um, I haven't even started faction grinding and Heritage quests for my 1.0."
New players realizes the mountain is more work than fun to catch up...

I agree though - the game is awesome! I just wish it was more accessible. I can't invite old friends or family to play EQ2 because there is no way for them to play in the current expansion without turning the game into a full-time job. So the only players are the ones who have been here for years....

I also boosted an old main raid char dirge (2006-2009 era) from 91 to lvl 100. It was a good decision. Yeah i could get a class that i not already have. But iam very familiar with playing a dirge. The equip set that you got is highly better than the entry gear in Tishan PoP gear crate. You got 2 crates, the crate with 15 resolve on each piece is for PoP. It gives more than 1mio hp on top compared to Tishan gear. The premium/collector lvl 100 boost makes it a great step easier to start in PoP with the signature or faction timelines. Damn that we can get only one boost. The buyable lvl 95 is not as good as the lvl 100 bost. Although my dirge has only Epic 1.0. The new EQ2 expansion has just started so i decided to bring up 2 char with all tradeskill and epic timelines from the past. As i said i skip heroic PoP content. There is a whole year where maybe some friendly groups take me with them in PoP heroic instances in a few weeks or months.

And yes, the game is not good for rejoining/new players who want to compete or be a part of the PoP world. I can only hope there a guilds and mates that take care of weaker chars and players because end content and best rewards can only rewarded when players group and play together. It's just a MMO. There wasa time a raided 4 to 6 times a week (before 2010) for almost 3 years. Having mates and funny interesting individuals around me is what makes the game. Not the gear and prerequisites alone and not the prestige, discoveries and first kills. I helped many players and took care of them, maybe they now can me help out a bit.

I am guessing they just want new people to go to time lock servers

Maybe. I started a Berserker a few weeks ago there for on day. The fighting balance and hardness is easier than it was when the game launched. It is not the 1:1 hardness level back to the old days. It's far easier now. At that time simple Open World mobs could kill you easiliy. When you pulled 2 or 3 you sometimes where in trouble. Now I can nealy pull half of the zone and AE them to death . Why should i start there? It's not a competition. May it is not meant be to be a competition. Maybe as you said to get new player to discover the EQ2 world from beginning. But to be honest. Spending years to craft and gear Chars up on one server is hard enough.

2nd:
This TLE servers are in the US. On the EU Thurgadin (Netherlands) we have horrible lags sometimes. I don't want 1sec ping like in the old days. Most of the time Thurgadin server has a good playing vs latency experience for EU citizens.

Yeah. I skipped a few expansions so I went through ToT and KA on my main over the last two months. I went through the entire KA Timeline and didn't die a single time (SK with merc). So - it isn't that the game is hard. It is just a huge time sink to get that old content done which is really frustrating.

If you're only going to solo or Molo I don't see whay you'd need the Epic. I've been here since 2004 and never bothered with it - never did my epic in EQ either for that matter. Oh, wait, I did the BL one because it was quick and easy...

Getting off the point, which is that EQ2 these days has solo/molo versions of all the main storylines etc that are designed to be done comfortably with the gear you get from doing them. There are a milion other things you could do as well, including tradeskills and the storylines from previous expansions, but, unlike with KA, you don't need any of them to do Planes of Prophecy. You don't even need the Ascension Class stuff to do the solo line in PoP although those big number sdo speed things up a bit.

I would say this is the first XPack for a long while that genuinely does let you start from scratch immediately in current content. Of course, if you want to go on playing after you've done all the solo stuff in PoP, then you'll need to think about leveling another character or doing older content, but by then you'll either want to or you'll be finished til the next expansion.

I agree with all of the above. The problem is if you want to play with other people, like in an MMO, you're kind of screwed. I feel bad that I can't really help my guild with anything since I missed so much past content.

And that's the point this thread is all about. Iam hanging around solo because i do not meet the expectation that groups seemingly have to go in PoP heroic instances. Or like dj000 wrote he can not support guild mates because of missing requirements with a new char. I don't want to hang around solo, it's lonesome. But as I read i have to farm stuff which i don't really want to. It takes weeks til months. For only one character!
In my case i claimed the lvl 100 boost for an old dirge with epic 1.0. I did Day of Summer to get tithe potency +50 bauble and adornments. Took the PoP Heroic gear, which is better than Tishans gear. Did all quests in PoP. Rocked some Solo/Duo PoP instances for some days. And now? Iam hanging around with 12-13mio hp.

We do not play a MMORPG to solo... I can play a Diablo clone or Sacred for that, after all.

Why do people have to play the same way as you?

Real life commitments often mean periods of solo play for a lot of us.

TLDR of whole thread: It takes way too much time/work to play group content currently if you are a returning or new player.

It's possible to catch up, but really, I personally don't find it worth the effort anymore.