Old player, thinking of coming back

[lezaky]

Hello I used to read these boards a long time ago, and recently I have been back looking at different things. Because of the free time given to my account by SOE, I have been playing around and checking it out. I started a Necro on Antonious Bale, spent over 5 hours last nite, mostly in the tutorial. I am loving the task system, but I can see issues with it, for example I inadvertently started tasks for things I couldn't possibly achieve at level 11, like "geode" task. I also got assigned a task for cultural armor, something about getting a book for recipees.

The char is an Erudite, and I am currently in Paineel, just wanted some general guidance so I am not pursuing things that are way beyond my level. I decided to play the game untwinked, but first thing I noticed is that money is way too plentiful, and items are very pricey, compared to what it was back in mid 2004. Should I even bother with Paineel "abattoir" armor, or just do the POK tasks (evil or good, or both)? Of course the newb areas are devoid of players, for obvious reasons. One of the reasons for choosing a Necro as they are so adaptive to solo play, which will be plentiful from now on.

Another question, I have all but last 3 expansions, should I just buy TSS and forget about those 3, or go ahead and buy the three and TSS? Should I just forget playing my char at all and just wait for Tuesday to start a new one with TSS?

Thanks for the great board, a lot of useful information.

[Rijak]

To level untwinked these days, as in not using the bazaar, would take some personal dedication. There's so much gear around that it's very easy to twink, even if you are starting at L1 with no plat, it doesn't take that much to be able to afford stuff that is better than anything you can quest or get via a mob 'till you are in the 50s. Or, you can join a decent guild and probably get a whole bunch of twink equipment just given to you.

That said, necros don't need gear to level. I'm at L45 on the Combine and my gear is half cloth, or just an empty slot, and I can hunt and xp just fine. Just xp and save what plat you can to buy spells.

As far as expansions go, the newest one supposedly adds a lot of L1+ stuff, so it might be worth it for that and for playing with other people. But, until you are in you 60s, PoR, DoDH, DoN are next to useless, so I'd wait until you find you need them. The only exception might be the guildhall, which I believe is tied to DoDH, though I don't remember.

[Todwelt]

Originally posted by Rijak@Sep 18 2006, 03:35 PM
The only exception might be the guildhall, which I believe is tied to DoDH, though I don't remember.
If I remember correectly, when the progression servers opened, the guild hall was opened to everyone regardless of expansion owned. Or was it just the guild lobby for CR reasons?

To the OP though, it would take a level of dedication to go untwinked. When I created my necro, I thought I would do the same but the availability of pp and gear via bazaar made it too appealing not to do.

A couple of options though, you may want to check out the progression servers to limit or avoid the temptation of twinking via bazaar. Or, wait till Tuesday and roll out a Drakkin necro but that is up to you.

[Felicite]

Pretty sure the Guild Halls were Dragons of Norrath.

And I seem to recall the Lobby being open to all, now.. but not at first.

We used to stage just about everything in the Guild Hall.. so I would rank that as important. I actually bought DoN for someone.. just so I didn't have to go out of the Guild Hall to buff, plan, etc.

[lezaky]

So your recommendation is: do not bother with the last three expansions, unless you have character that would be able to take advantage of them; play on progression server if you want to play untwinked; or do not bother with lower level tasks, as necros tend to do ok without gear; get the expansion to get a good lower level gaming experience.

Thank you, I think I will get the expansion and see where it goes, it seems that the game mechanics are changing drastically with the resting change, though I can see where CLASS spells that were created for the purpose of reducing downtime are basically worthless out of combat.
It was great getting back as I have fond memories of my time in EQ, never leveled anyone past 52. Was running through Nro and was like woah that's purdy. Any other places that got graphically enhanced?

[Todwelt]

Any other places that got graphically enhanced?

Nektulos Forest was enhanced as well. Not sure how far you got in the Ro's but South Ro was combined with Oasis to make one zone and received the same revamp as North Ro.

East and West Freeport also were enhanced. Although now getting around and finding anything in those two zones is now a real pain in the arse.

Main thing in coming back, have fun and enjoy yourself. It is a game and don't get bogged down by the level and AA race.

[lezaky]

Well that is exatly how I like to play, that is why I am not really looking into fast xp zones or stuff like that. I know where those are and it has been the same since Luclin came out, up to 40 maybe 50 in any case. The reason I was asking about tasks, is because well, besides leveling, which I'd like to be a side effect of playing, I would like to have goals to achieve to a certain degree. When leveling becomes a goal then I usually stop playing, I do however, level up to be able to succeed in an a situation if there is no other alternative. I usually will try to figure out a way to complete a goal at the minimum possible experience level.

That is why I was looking for things to do and have as goals, but I have mine for today, which are the tasks from POK...so off I go, and besides, tomorrow is expansion day. What time do you think the servers will be up?

[Rijak]

The tasks/quests, or even just hunting for loot can be fun in and of itself, especially if you abstain from the bazaar. I was hunting shardwurms the other night on the Combine and got a White Scaled Tunic (http://lucy.allakhazam.com/item.html?id=30231). Yeah, it's pretty lame at L45, but it was cool 'cause it was an upgrade I had to work for, and it got me out of my newbie robe at L45.

To each his own, but I got more of a sense of accomplishment out of it than doing some 30-minute group task on my old server to get some 150/150 piece of gear.

Either way, there's nothing like getting it yourself whenever you can.

[lezaky]

Wow, I don't think I have ever looted that, though I have hunted shardwurms in the past. The game has really become different since 1999, that is when I started, I actually leveled a ranger to 10 on Rallon Zek, my first character, but as I found out in a few months, PvP was not for me, so there he still is, the poor chap. I kind of laugh at looking at the played times on some of my character.

[Aryse Andenter]

Originally posted by lezaky@Sep 18 2006, 01:09 PM
Should I even bother with Paineel "abattoir" armor, or just do the POK tasks (evil or good, or both)? Of course the newb areas are devoid of players, for obvious reasons.
I would do the armor - personally I do the PoK tasks, because they are new, they send you to a lot more zones (and I like the variation), and because you do actually sometimes run into other low level toons doing them since they are popular and you are funneled into them after the tutorial. That gear can take a necro a good long ways.

[lezaky]

I am trying to do them, haha, wow, never thought blue cons were this hard. Doing the Cabilisian Trade Route task, and those bandits are testing my patience. Pet pathing blows, I do not remember having issues with it before, but tonight it has been the bane of my existance. Anyway, back to killing the last two bandits. Thanks for all the replies by the way!

[lezaky]

Alright finished the first task from evil side, and the reward is basically the same newb Armor that is available from Paineel to begin with. Only difference of course is the task system and lack of crazy lootless fights to get that one silly item to complete the quest.

[lezaky]

So I been playing a Drakkin since expansion came out. Pretty interesting, but a few annoying things here and there as I am sure you guys have experienced. Started a necro on Sleeper, that was great!

Kinda bummed out on the lack of newb armor, but it is very old school which is cool too. I created the Necro in Paineel (thought the Erudites have better starting stats) and am a bit dissappointed that the Noclin pet quest got nerfed as in you cannot do it until level 15. Other than that, it's good ol' EQ.

I have a question though since I can't really tell on a level 5 character, is the OOC regen impemented on the Progression servers? Does anyone have some fun places to explore/hunt in at level 5 (Erudite no tasks on Progression servers yet)? Maybe quests that are nice to do at my level?

Thanks again for replying it very much appreciated.