Why make it so hard on returning players?

There has already been real-world scientific study of gold farming using EQ2 data (B. Keegan, M. Ahmad, J. Srivastava, D. Williams, N. Contractor (2010). Dark Gold: Statistical Properties of Clandestine Networks in Massively Multiplayer Online Games. Proceedings of IEEE, SocialComm-10.)

I don't know why the EQ2 team doesn't just hire this group of scientists and have them use their already-developed techniques to identify and punish the exploiters.

I would tell you why but FNORD says that you are not cleared for that. Oh, and I worked hard to get tinfoil for my hat... aluminum foil doesn't work near as well as the tin foil. Gold foil would work even better but im not a duper so I need what gold I do have.

In UO sale of anything in game on eBay was encouraged. We did not have dupes because you could freely buy anything you wanted if it was on eBay. There were even people that had sites where other players could earn gold by completing "contracts" for various in-game items. You farmed whatever and turned it in to the owner of the site, they paid you the contract value in gold, then they had a stockpile of whatever so they could run eBay auctions.

I did quite a few years of the contracts for someone else who would contact me if they needed something quickly. I did not sell resources on eBay, I sold houses. I tracked every house on every server I played and knew what status it was at, ie, refreshed, decaying, etc so I knew down to the minute when a house would fall and I was setup to drop a new house and loot the fall and dump it into chests that I could quickly put in the new house and sort the loot later. It was all endorsed and encouraged by everybody from Lord British forward. I made more than $50,000.00 US by placing and selling houses over 2 years, and more than $100,000.00 US over the course of 9 years, all extra income, and tax free. And I had a job at the time where I could have the game logged in to watch my falls from work. A castle on average would sell for more than $4000.00 US, a keep $2500.00 US, a tower $1000 US and this was in the late 1990's and the very early 2000's.

But this was in a different game and was encouraged and endorsed from day 1. It has never to my knowledge been endorsed in EQ2 and 14 years into the game, I do not think they are going to change that now.

I was in your Dad's position returning from having last played TOV regularly, with a brief incursion when the first TLE server went live. Of course, I had to do some of the intervening content just to get from 95 to 110.

That was fun, not a problem.

However, upon entering CD, with max level Apprentice spells/CA's that were worse than my level 95 Experts/Masters/Grandmasters, and no Ascension abilities to speak of, it was hard to kill a regular mob in Doomfire, and the first miniboss in the solo zone took me 20 minutes.

But the gear that I got from completing the first solo zone made the next one easier.

However, the Ascension abilities make it so much easier, but easy to miss. I hit level 100 without doing any content from Phantom Seas, so could skip Kunark Ascended entirely.

Not a problem if you know that there's an Ascension trainer in Valor, no faction needed - but how's a newb supposed to know that in game? I did extensive out of game research to help me prepare for CD, and if it was mentioned, I missed it.

I can see why that information should be given in game to make it easier for returning players to catch up, but it is not.

Hi there, I'm not sure what has been answered already because to be honest I didn't read through it all. What I do know is that as a returning player myself I was able to catch up to other dps without the benefits of people who played last xpac. As far as the power raider goes, sure it would be great but it is far from essential. For your 2.0 spell upgrades you can run KA PQs and they drop fairly often. I myself have gotten my spells to ancient within a week. As far as the panda goes, that can be finished fairly quickly if you make good use of the resources on the internet. Adorns can be found in the gear box in the entrance of Myrist, this is an easy way to at least have the basic necessities. EQ2's player base may be a little rough but many people will gladly help with questions on this. For AAs I would suggest looking on eq2 progression/ eq2 wire and finding out what top end players of your class use for AAs (Which can be easily copied.....I won't tell on you for stealing ). Ascensions are much easier to upgrade and situate now than they ever have been. Most levels can be crafted in some way for a reasonable price. May I ask what server you are on? If you happen to be on Skyfire I would be more than happy to help you out in any way. If you are on Halls of Fate, I very much recommend the guild Outlaws. They will help answer any and every question you have. I hope you happily transition into the new expansion

A question for you, Popinanoak: how did you get your potency up to the point where you were able to run T1s?

The gear you get from solo questing doesn't do it.

I've bought mastercrafted gear (made from purified rares), have experimented on them till they're 'visionary', reforged them with emphasis on potency, infused them as much as I can bear to without the plat numbers getting really silly -- and I can't break 52k potency, which as I understand it isn't enough to run 'heroics'.

PS Merry Xmas!

lol, "they drop fairly often" - yea right.

Don't rely only on cash infusing. Cash infusing goes to the Deity Layer. The infusers that drop in instances (20% infusion chance) or that you can craft go to the Physical Layer.

You can start with the handcrafted versions from Twark, which use no rares to craft... just get a provisioner to mass produce a few hundred of each of the four types for you (POT, STA, ABMod, CB). Infuse everything with those until they won't infuse anymore.

Next,you want to make 3000 pieces or so handcrafted attunable PoP gear, which you will salvage. From the salvaged pieces, you craft Planar Infusers in the three types they come in (POT, STA, ABMod). Infuse everything with those until they won't infuse anymore -- and these infusers are 100% chance to infuse.

You can, of course, cut the cost simply by worrying only about the POT infusers at first.

Also, use POT white adorns in every slot that will take them.

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my post, Sigrdrifa.

That's very interesting. I didn't know that. On topic for the post, I very much doubt that the returning player -- unless they're prepared to read up at length on the subject -- will be aware of these facts either, since I don't believe that they're ever actually taught within the game milieu.

More interesting stuff. I need to find a provisioner! ... and also need to know what to ask for (because although I do know a provisioner, I have no idea whether he knows what you're talking about). Exactly what do I ask for/ search the broker for to acquire this arcane widgetry?

... ! Three... thousand?... pieces? I can't make these, I'm a woodworker! (Although maybe bows count?) Yes, I'm unusual in that I -- along with most returning players, even though I'm not one of those -- don't have a narmy of alts to cater to my every need and whim. Right from the very beginning I've always played the game as (I believe) it was intended: different skills for different characters, to encourage co-operation between players (otherwise, why not simply allow all characters to skill up in all crafts?).

I'm also unusual in that I can't salvage. Yes, I think I know that 'all' it takes is a 'simple' readjustment of my AA skills to change my character so that I can -- even temporarily -- salvage. But again (just call me weird) adjusting my AAs is a part of the game that I've never really got into. Really early on, I decided, as much as possible, never to 're-roll'. I accept that this presents me with challenges that other players will choose not to face But we're all different (and isn't that a good thing?).

POTency is what I'm most interested in at the moment (since that's the -- latest, after resolve -- number that I've been told I lack). I've already got the white adorns base covered

Ah... I pine for the days when none of these numbers mattered so much, and we could just play right off the bat.

52k Pot is enough to start T1, is only the new attitude and ignorance of some raid Players where do you say you Need 60k Pot and more.
Some peeps will run in 10-15mins zones thats why, but many have forgotten we all start new and work for stuff, and stuff Comes with zones.

Many peeps dont Understand what a MMO is or means,and that is why there are also fewer and fewer groups watching or players who use illegal programs, such run on madjul around and then make in chat on thick pants unfortunately.


With 50-55k pot all is fine to start T1 look at Resolve and fine is, all other stuff Comes with the Progress in Zones.

Infusion was introduced with Terrors of Thalumbra. Errrorr has a good overview, which I am going to quote:

The infusion system focuses on four stats: Stamina, Crit Bonus, Potency, and Ability Modifier. Each of these stats can only be increased through infusion if it originally existed on the item. Any item without these stats, will not be able to have extra infusion.

How to Infuse
You can access this window in several ways:

• /toggleinfusion
• Right-click an unequipped infusable item, and select Infuse
• Under the EQ2 menu, click Equipment Infusion

This brings up the Infusion window, which contains 3 aspects;

• Left side/Slot – The item you are infusing.
• Right Side/Slot – The Infuser you are using.
• Middle Circle – If you have placed an infuser in the right hand slot, you will see the Circle having a % Chance in the middle (As per the infuser) and will glow. If you click this, it will apply the Infuser. If you dont have an infuser, you will be infusing with Plat on a different Layer (Layers explained later).

Layers
There are currently 3 'Layers' to infusion;

• Deity (Base/Loyalty) Layer – This is the layer that you can boost with Platinum infusion, or Loyalty Token infusers.
• Physical Layer – This is the layer which any crafted/dropped/mission infusers will apply to.
• Bonus Layer – A special layer for bonus infusers, such as the one at end of Sig line.

Limitations of Infusers
Each Infuser has a limitation on the boosts it can apply. If you inspect an infuser you will see different values stated;

• % Chance – This is the chance for the Infuser to apply successfully. If it does not apply successfully, it adds a small chance for your next successful infuser to receive bonus stats.
• Modifier Increase – Increases Stat by X value to Y value. This is purely a random roll of the dice when applied.
• Infuser Limit - “The physical modifier may only be increased with this infuser up to Z value”. This means you can only apply certain amounts of each infuser before it caps. Higher tiered infusers have higher limitations.

Types of Infusers
There are several types of Infusers available, and each work differently.

• Dropped/Mission Infusers – These are the rewards from missions, and some boss loots. These apply to the Physical Layer.
• Provisioner Crafted Infusers - These are crafted with common materials, but have a very low % chance of working, and a low Limit on the maximum you can apply.
• Salvage Crafted Infusers - These are crafted by anybody who has bought recipe book. These are made from Salvaged infusion parts, and have a 100% success rate.
• Bonus Infusers - These are special infusers from completing Signature lines or specific events/achievements. They are 100% chance.
• Loyalty Infusers - Bought from Loyalty Merchant, these are 100% chance, and apply to the same layer as Platinum Infusing.

Tiers of Infusers
Dropped/Salvage Crafted infusers all have a tier depending on the difficulty they come from:

• Standard - From Adv Solos or crafted using Standard Infusion fragments.
• Advanced - Rare from Adv Solos + Common Heroics
• Heroic - Rare from Heroics or crafted using Heroic Infusion fragments.
• Epic - Rare from Weeklies/Dailies or crafted using Epic Infusion fragments

Each tier will have a higher Limit on infusion applied, but will all add to the same total. So for example if you have an item with 0 Infusion bonuses, you don't want to apply an Epic infuser straight to it, as it will only top up the stats which you could use a standard infuser.

Tips for Infusion
Don't sit around with Infusers in your bags for months, stats are always a bonus and should be applied.
Apply to items you are most likely to keep longest as priority.
Try to avoid applying higher tier infusers until you can't apply any more of a lesser tier.

If you have sufficient faction with the Malduran crafters and/or the Bloody Tooth goblins in Twark (Obulus Frontier), you can purchase recipe books for making infusers:

• Deepforge Provisioner Essentials
• Deepforge Advanced Provisioner
• Infuser Reconstruction of the Deepforge Founders
• Bloody Tooth Provisioning Essentials
• Clan Bloody Tooth Scribblings on Reconstructing Infusers
• Bloody Tooth Advanced Provisioning
• Reconstructed Planar Infusers

Pretty sure handcrafted bows and shields from PoP and CD can be salvaged for infuser fragments. It takes several fragments to make one infuser. When I'm restocking my stack of infusers, I do a bunch.

Oh, people will be glad to sell you infuser fragments at outrageous prices on the broker. Maybe you have a friend who wouldn't mind the tedium of salvaging so many objects? Or perhaps you can just create an alternate AA spec for this special case. It's easy to switch back and forth.

Returning Player here. I've been away from the game since Terror of Thalumbra.

Came back after some friends that still play said this was the best time to come back as DBG made some things a bit more accessible.

Sadly, even after purchasing the Premium Edition and gearing myself out with 1500 resolve and 72k potency. I'm doing less dps than healers and tanks due to my measly 99.6% fervor. There is hardly anything I can do at this point other than get carried.

I haven't been able to get any planar fragments to upgrade my Awakened Ability Fervor Buff. Don't have any ethereal coins. Don't have any of the Flawless Victories from past expansions that give Fervor buffs and can't get any groups that would be interested in going back there as they all want to do new content.

Where else can a returning player go to to upgrade their Fervor and actually be a t1 DPS? Any suggestions would be appreciated as I feel i've paid a lot of money to come back to this game and I feel completely stuck.

Sigh
Remember when you only had to know how to play your character well to get a group

Which zone would you recommend for a casual group that has less than 60k potency as the easiest t1?

for example..Tried the event heroic fire zone, and with such slow dps that the curse comes occasionally up more often than every 1 minute so the healer cant cure and so group wipes on first named..
im sure higher dps bypasses this whole mechanic since they dont have to worry about curse coming back up so often..

By the way, is there no wiki or website that gives strats this expansion for heroic zones?

I would say personally that the whole KA>PoP>CD infuser thing is a little excessive. Personally I just plat infuse and leave it at that. (I do use the CD infusers I naturally get) At the start of the xpac I had very little advantages from previous xpacs. I just took it one step at a time. At 50k+ potency you are ok to run zones. Advertise your resolve and do the best you can, I would recommend either Enkindled Towers or Veiled Precipice for starter groups. Its quite possible you already know this. but 2 healers, a tank, and a powerfeed should be in the group before anything else (specifically in a beginner group). It gets better as time goes on, I think it was 2.5 weeks into the xpac before I ran a t2. Also make sure to grab what you can from the solo coins and PQs. Once you get your mythical offhand try upgrading it a few levels with weapon essences. A merry Christmas to you aswell and please feel free to ask for anything else or if you need anything explained in more depth

As soon as someone who has run some of these zones provides the information, there will be wiki pages.

The deepforge and bloody tooth recipe books can be bought from the Crafting Trainer in Myrist (and no faction requirements as far as I can tell). However, the only source for the Planar Infusers recipe book I can find is as a very rare random drop in PoP heroic zones. Do you happen to know another, less random way to get this book?

Which server Seefar? I have at least one maybe 2 that can make infusers up to PoP.

Since there wasn't a wiki page for Equipment Infusing, I started with the info here, dug out the DBG info from the ToT release articles, and so forth, then put together a wiki page. It includes a (collapsed) table showing the infusers for each infusion layer, in roughly their order of efficacy, low to high.