EverQuest in detail.

[fuzz]

https://wiki.project1999.com/Per-Level_Hunting_Guide

See that's why modern Everquest sucks. There's no quick leveling in classic, especially solo. Roll a group-friendly class and enjoy the game.
Exploring, getting lost and trying to pave your way to progress (despite of punishing death) is what makes EQ fun.

Seconding Qeynos for the starting area, it has better quantity and mob level progression, compared to zones you get as a Dark Elf or Troll. Also the quest for Bandit sashes is ridiculously profitable, it feels like cheating compared to stuff you get in evil starting zones. Barbarians also have a smooth start with the fetch quest in the first dungeon.

 

[anvi]

IS hard to find stuff like necro guild in Qeynos? I think that I will start again there. I'm suffering a lot at moment... I don't wanan to kill an rat and get 35%xp like in live, I just wanna have something to do in the game other than an endless running and killing greens...

EDIT : Before I will try the sewers of freeport.

The game is probably not worth playing alone. Back in the day there were people everywhere you went, so you could just ask where something is. And you learn way more when players are all together talking about things. And again most of the slowness is because of being solo, if you get a group of 6 real people who are all good at the game, then you clear whole dungeons. It's a lot faster progress, better gear, much more fun too.

Now the game's kinda dead, and the small number that do play are all bunched together at the high levels. So if you play Live you need to do 110 levels before you even start seeing other players in your zones. And doing that alone is not fun. They made it so you can just buy a Heroic character which starts at 85 or something, but that skips all the fun classic game. And then you still play alone, and it's hard to get from 85-110+ where the players are. In p99 you should be able to find groups if you make an effort in the chat. Or you can get it on Live if you pay a sub and find a fresh progression server. Or you play EQ Emu like me which is kind of make your own game.

Great game but how it has always been run has been terrible.

 

[anvi]

I love the gameplay and still play it after 23 years, but I never liked the way it is run. I quit EQ out of protest just a year into it, late 2000. Nobody noticed of course, but I was bothered by a lot of things. People spent months doing brutal raids for their gear, then they released an expansion which made all that stuff instantly obsolete. There was better stuff dropping from trash mobs. To me that felt stupid and made everything seem like a waste of time. I also don't like that it's not a solid world with facts you can know that are worthwhile... It used to be, but if there's a whole new expansion full of shit every 6 months that makes everything before it obsolete, then it ruins the whole thing to me. It makes it a treadmill for aspies and I got off that train right away. They took something truly amazing, and said wow people are really addicted to this! Lets milk the shit out of them! So all the gear people worked hard for with 50hp, now you make a new zone full of gear with 100hp! That'll be $45 thx. Hey now there's another one, with 150hp gear! Derp. The quality went down the costs went up.

They even took things that were a pain in the ass about the game, like limited number of spell slots and limited inventory and bank slots, and started selling upgrades... Originally they were patching the game to find the right balance of fun, but soon they changed and started withholding shit unless you bought something or a new expansion. Damn Californians, took something so great it's basically sacred, and they fucked it into the ground like the corporate whore wannabes that they are. That's how I felt as a teenager and I still feel the same decades later.

Not only that but I hated how they started focusing on raiding. Each expansion had less stuff for soloers and groupers, which was how I liked playing. And my little guild of some real life friends and some fun online peeps, was no longer worthwhile anymore. They wanted us to join big raider guilds that do the Kael/Dragon raids over and over. I always thought raiding was retarded, and slow, and zergish, and skill-less, and like herding cats, and just super shit. I hated it, but they were making the game all about that. So I quit again, missed an entire expansion of Luclin, cats on the moon, sounded like jumping the shark anyway. Then I came back for Planes of Power to see it one last time. But that was more raid focused than anything. This was the first time I noticed a lot of other people had quit too. I never went back to Live. I keep track of it but I don't like anything about it.

I spent about 10 years playing Shards of Dalaya which was a player modified version of EQ. That was really fun for a long time. It lost its way in the end but it had a good run. But I spent most of my time playing different versions of EQ, trying to work out what I liked and what I didn't. By now I know how to play it my way and enjoy it, but tl-dr- the game has always been a mixture of incredible and facepalm to me.

 

[Cryomancer]

Found the guild and almost everything that I need in Qeynos. Seems like a way better location. More desert too. Way less players and high level players nuking mobs and not allowing me to farm.

. People spent months doing brutal raids for their gear, then they released an expansion which made all that stuff instantly obsolete.

Except by Ultima Online, there is ANY mmo where the same thing din't happened? This is one of the many problems of stat stickie itemization + powe creep.

But you have power creep outside of gear. For eg, Innoruuk is lv 63. I saw random wolves at higher level. IF you established that deities are in 60s, players should't be above lv 50. And most honestly could have introduced without power creep. In D&D, most content launched is mid level and people do roll different characters after new supplements are launched. After MoTB launched in NWN2, Obsidian launched low/mid level campaigns.

IMO EQ would be much better if had SIDEGRADES in expansions instead of upgrades leading to power creep and if attributes where raised like skills are, instead of stat stickie itemization. Magical items could do more interesting stuff. Like allowing caster casting a bit faster, having chance of insta destroying some type of mobs and so on. And most important. Be very rare.

 

[anvi]

Exactly, they could have done a much better job with the expansions, preserved the game's integrity and stuff. Instead they just mass produced expansions for the $$$. It's crazy that we never got a real sequel, one that keeps the good bits but tweaks the bad bits. There have been a lot of people waiting for it for decades but it never arrives (and EQ2 certainly wasn't it). Some new indie games look promising (Pantheon and Monsters & Memories) but even they are a while off.

 

[GhostCow]

M&M might be closer than we think. Private or possibly public test this year. I may or may not have spent the last two weeks in their discord grooming the devs for access.

 

[Cryomancer]

Many people are chilling from Pantheon to be the big next EQ clone but honestly, think that monsters & memories seems better. BTW, Only "scouted" some areas and seems like a exponentially easier area to find mobs and stuff to do. Thanks a lot for those who recommended this starting city. Extremely better. As for my pet, I"m using my pet to attack stuff while I"m meditating He can easily kill stuff one or two levels bellow me. As for the life, I will use the xp boost AA, farm, farm a bit and leave while it is in CD. A extremely casual way of playing. Only because I wanna see some AAs like multiple summon AAs and an curious about end game in live.

 

[GhostCow]

Monsters and Memories has a way better chance of releasing because the devs are using shitty low poly models that allow them to crank out content quickly. I've begged them to at least give the models fingers but no luck there.

Pantheon will probably never come out unless they somehow get gifted millions and soon. I have no hopes for it even though I badly want to play a Dark Myr.

 

[Cryomancer]

In p99 only I have to cast the same spell multiple times cuz it is being "interrupted" despite I not moving?

 

[GhostCow]

In p99 only I have to cast the same spell multiple times cuz it is being "interrupted" despite I not moving?

Are you trying to cast spells on a boat? That can cause that. Also you need to wait a second after you stop moving before you cast or it can interrupt. Or maybe you are getting hit in melee? That also interrupts.

 

[Cryomancer]

In p99 only I have to cast the same spell multiple times cuz it is being "interrupted" despite I not moving?

Are you trying to cast spells on a boat? That can cause that. Also you need to wait a second after you stop moving before you cast or it can interrupt. Or maybe you are getting hit in melee? That also interrupts.

Yes, is latency, I need to stop moving for a few moments before casting.

---------

A question. IS this city tier right?

https://www.reddit.com/r/project1999/comments/m50h5x/definitive_p99_everquest_cities_tier_list/

 

[GhostCow]

^ Very subjective list with a bunch of dumb criteria

 

[Ninjerk]

^ Very subjective list with a bunch of dumb criteria

bbut it says definitive!

 

[ERYFKRAD]

^ Very subjective list with a bunch of dumb criteria

bbut it says definitive!

Well obviously the list is definitive. It's just that the criteria suck.

 

[Cryomancer]

Anyway gave up in p99 at around lv 13. Too frustrating due lag. My ping is avout 240 ms in live eq, in p99, I literally got teleported into the previous map after traveling to another area and died to a mob which i was 100m away... Maybe if I had lower latency, the experience would be different.

I also really miss maps and be able to use my pet without losing 50% of the little xp that I gain.

That said, started again in Vaniki. In Vaniki the content is gated by level, I believe that they did this server to see if the population prefers sub 60 lv content.

Or if tlp servers are more popilar dur other things. My guess is that they lose a huge portion of their newer players at this level range.

About what mortisal said about classic wow, everquest2 is extremely like wow and is far less popular than eq1.

Ps : thanks to plane of knowledge I can farm field of bones as an necro.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

In p99 only I have to cast the same spell multiple times cuz it is being "interrupted" despite I not moving?

Are you trying to cast spells on a boat? That can cause that. Also you need to wait a second after you stop moving before you cast or it can interrupt. Or maybe you are getting hit in melee? That also interrupts.

Yes, is latency, I need to stop moving for a few moments before casting.

---------

A question. IS this city tier right?

https://www.reddit.com/r/project1999/comments/m50h5x/definitive_p99_everquest_cities_tier_list/

imagine hating halas

 

[rusty_shackleford]

EQ Kelethin theme captured using an AWE32(the hardware EQ midis were designed for)

West Freeport

 

[Ninjerk]

Anyway gave up in p99 at around lv 13. Too frustrating due lag. My ping is avout 240 ms in live eq, in p99, I literally got teleported into the previous map after traveling to another area and died to a mob which i was 100m away... Maybe if I had lower latency, the experience would be different.

Sounds like a classic EQ experience

 

[anvi]

EQ Kelethin theme captured using an AWE32(the hardware EQ midis were designed for)

West Freeport

Damn I knew it sounded better when I first played I wasn't sure if it was nostalgia on that... But I did have an AWE 32 and this game sounded incredible. Even today it doesn't sound like that.

 

[Cryomancer]

Any way to reach Kunark without Plane of Knowledge? I'm playing in the level locked server but wonder if is possible to play as a human necromancer and level up in this area. I mean, that continent is amazing, wiht lots of places to farm. My first 1 to 60 experience was in the serpent spine, I found the high elf, and the two human starting areas relative hard. And was in doubt between level locked or the regular progression server but decided level locked only cuz PoK.

 

[Kalarion]

I disagree since in 2001-2003 I was in a really good guild on Lanys T'val. That was an awesome server as well. You could ask for help and get it within minutes.

Damn, you were on Lanys '01 - '03? So was I ('00 - '05, just before WoW came out)! What guild were you in?

Monsters too hard to kill 60+!

anvi touched on it already, but you need perspective.

61-65 was Velious. When it was released, Kunark had been out for a year. So the high-end playerbase (I don't mean the top 1% guilds, I just mean the players who had a level 60 char and grouped/raided regularly) was thoroughly saturated with Epic weapons, class-specific armor (Cobalt etc), and so forth. Meanwhile the top 5% were decked out in VP gear. Mobs had to be tuned differently to account for groups being able to put out 10-20x the dps that you, Mr. Solo Necro/Mage, are capable of. That's why they seem like sponges to you. Believe me, when that same snake is getting anally raped by a Monk, a Rogue and Wizard, with a War/Pal/SK tank, a Cleric healer and a Bard/Enchanter chilling in the wings for pulling/CC/mana, it doesn't feel at all the same. What took you 10 minutes would take a group about 15 seconds.

People keep saying it and you keep refusing to understand the implications: EQ was built as a group game. The devs were actively hostile to soloing as a lifestyle choice until far into Luclin, when it made a comeback with solo classes' AA perks (Dire Charm came out in SoL or PoP, for instance). But from launch through Velious, the devs:
- nerfed solo DoT damage into the ground (half damage if the mob is chasing)
- nerfed solo pet xp into the ground (half xp if the pet did most of the damage)
- nerfed solo CC into the ground... (increased chance for root/snare break when mob is chasing)
You get the idea. The message was clear: find a group, or be willing to suffer immense pain.

This carried into the early game as well as you're discovering: past about level 5 or so soloing is extraordinarily painful. You think you're in a bad way now? Try doing it as a Warrior

EQ was a fantastic game. But it had a very well-defined identity up through about the PoP/LDoN/OoW era: grouping and (post-Classic) raiding. And no matter what Live did to early levels, some of that identity is still there.

Also, can anyone give me some advice on how exactly to go about getting gear for my level 11 iksar monk? Currently using a greatstaff, 9 dmg, 38 dly. Also have a couple of staffs(staves?) for 1hb training, 5/28. My fists are currently 6/36 at level 11 so worse than my weapons.

I have about 25 plat, and a veritable shitload of spider silks, also 7 stacks of bone chips. But not much trading around lizardtown, sadly. And east commons is a hell of a trip just to do some shopping with very little money.

I have no idea how much they cost on P99 (and this advice might already be coming too late), but you can't go wrong with a pair of Jade Maces. I'm not aware of any other weapon pre-Velious that hit the golden 1:2 dmg:delay ratio.

Edit: Kunark's top raid was VP, not ToV. Fixed.

 

[anvi]

Any way to reach Kunark without Plane of Knowledge? I'm playing in the level locked server but wonder if is possible to play as a human necromancer and level up in this area. I mean, that continent is amazing, wiht lots of places to farm. My first 1 to 60 experience was in the serpent spine, I found the high elf, and the two human starting areas relative hard. And was in doubt between level locked or the regular progression server but decided level locked only cuz PoK.

You get on a boat from Oasis. Or someone can teleport you. But both locations are dangerous, one depending on your race and one because there's a dragon and nasty stuff wandering.

 

[Cryomancer]

Any way to reach Kunark without Plane of Knowledge? I'm playing in the level locked server but wonder if is possible to play as a human necromancer and level up in this area. I mean, that continent is amazing, wiht lots of places to farm. My first 1 to 60 experience was in the serpent spine, I found the high elf, and the two human starting areas relative hard. And was in doubt between level locked or the regular progression server but decided level locked only cuz PoK.

You get on a boat from Oasis. Or someone can teleport you. But both locations are dangerous, one depending on your race and one because there's a dragon and nasty stuff wandering.

Affff, so I will not re try p99. Honestly I spended a huge time traveling in the "classic" areas and every single place seems awful to level up. Honestly, every single region seems to have huge problems of "level spikes", where you can only fight too low level mobs or too high. Mainly at 20s. I tried ocean of tears but is impossible to not pull an army of goblins, so I'm back to Kunark(Lake of Ill Omen).

So far Kunark area is way better than in Antonica. I even considered playing p99 as an Iksar necromancer, but reptiles + be HATED even in dark elf cities + low INT + low CHA to charm undead + XP penalty...

Leveling in Serpent's Spine is so easy.

1. Do the tutorial and get lots of money and magical gear + a merc and farm there till about lv 10~13
2. Farm mobs in crescent reach till about lv 16 killing alligators, gnolls and then the skeletons
3. Go to PoK and then buy broken OP gear and then to Blightfire moors, kills the Treants in the center till about lv 28, then move east, kill the corrupted stuff which I don't remember the name and in 30s, go to the northeast and farm the peaceful rats.
4. Around lv 37+ go to Goru`kar Mesa and start to kill stuff there and do the repetitive quests for the Satyrs.
5. At about lv 45, farm the cave near Satyr camp and later, farm the giants and centaurs.
6. Farm PUMA/BEARS in the area west which I don't remember the name and then, go north into "The Steppes" and end the farm till lv 60~65

And that is it. You can using P2W potions probably get into 60s in a single day playing as an nonlifer.

 

[JamesDixon]

What guild were you in?

I was in Mischief 'n Mayhem. My two toons were FenrilLikesDaDead (DE Necro) and RapstaSupastar (Wood Elf Bard).

 

[Kalarion]

What guild were you in?

I was in Mischief 'n Mayhem. My two toons were FenrilLikesDaDead (DE Necro) and RapstaSupastar (Wood Elf Bard).

Good stuff. I was in The Shadow Order and (for a couple months) Aphelion. I only ever had the one char, Tamorfin (Barb Warrior)