The Hidden Forest

Ok, first a brief background..

I played everquest for a few years back in 2000 on live servers, and then picked EQ up again a few years ago on PEQ. So I know the basics of the game up until level 60 or so, and I've done a few raids on stuff like SSRA, and minor "bosses". I've only worked with AA's a tiny bit, and that's about it.

So here's the situation. My girlfriend of 0 EQ experience and I play on here now, and absolutely -LOVE- the server. It's seriously amazing and so much fun. We typically play the two of us, plus a bot. I've read through all the FAQ's on here, searched and googled on as much as I can, and looked through every page of this forum. That doesn't mean I didn't miss some things, but I still have some basic EQ questions and need some advice on what we are doing.

First off, we did fine through the 1-30 zones of Crushbone, etc. We picked up our first set of purchased armor, then upgraded it to the quest armor from Crushbone. We also picked up our first epic weapons. We get our buffs from Sune, and make sure our bot gets the buff and all that good stuff. We have all our spells, all our training, etc. We went through the complete newbie tutorial in other words.

Here's the problem.. We've reached level ~50 ish, and since I'm quite familiar with City of Mist, we headed there to level. Since my girlfriend isn't as EQ saavy and not familiar with how experienced players pull and fight and move, etc.... I decided to go ahead and scout out CoM to make sure it wasn't substantially different before we went ourselves. Needless to say with my level 30ish Cleric I got my butt handed to me. So I fell back on my old PEQ stomping grounds for that level in Dawnshroud Peaks. We both head there, and we rack up some nice experience and have a pretty gentle time of it. About level 40 or so we head back to CoM and get flattened hardcore. No big deal, so we move over to Karnor Castle... and get completely annhilated. I feel like we are definitely doing something wrong, so I came back in here and read through the FAQ's again, and now I see that the tier system is setup for -groups- of balanced players.

That being said, we are now around level 50 and still struggling to break into CoM or Karnor Castle and collect our next armor upgrade. I play as an SK, and use a Paladin bot. She plays as a Wiz... Should we be sticking to the regular EQ zones to level unless we can join a group to enter the tier levels? It feels like we are seriously underpowered.

On to the technical questions:
First off, I never used augmentation at all in Live or on PEQ. I read through the internet on it, but it mentions visiting this table at the LDoN campsite or something, which was all greek to me. What are LDoN's and how do they work on THF? I know this is a basic question, but I never played EQ when LDoN's were implemented so I have no idea what they are or how they work. Or how augmentation works for that matter. I understand them to be like socketed gems in Diablo, but that's about the extent of my knowledge.

Second, on Live high level spells require research and questing for them. Are there still spells of this nature on THF?

I've also noticed that the items that drop in the custom zones are .... extremely high powered in comparison to the original EQ zones. It makes me wonder if loot drops in the regular non-custom zones are even worth looking at in comparison. Example, compare a wolf fang's earring in Dawnshroud to the jewelry that drops in Crushbone. That wolf earring was the first piece of magic jewelry most new players got around level 30 or so! So the question is are the loot tables only adjusted in the custom zones, or are some of the original zones still worth visiting? (I'm thinking like Akheva for the SS stuff? Velk's for the Chitin?)

Also, if there's a link or decent website somebody can link me to for information on the Bazaar, Planes of Knowledge, Planes of Power, etc, that would really really help out. None of those things existed when I originally played, and I only played Luclin just long enough to go, "Oh, those new cat people are pretty cool looking and man the trolls look awesome now..." and I stopped.

Last, if there's a guide out there somewhere for leveling and what zones to visit that is "applicable" on THF, can I get a link to that? I used to just use EQAtlas, but on THF it seems like with the changes those zone maps just aren't holding up. We are getting stomped in the tiers, and the regular zones I normally hit at our levels are weaksauce.

I know this is long, but I really appreciate the help. We are looking forward to playing with folks on the server and getting into groups again and maybe even guilds one day. Thanks in advance, and huge thanks to the admin and people who work to put all this new content in and make everything look so awesome and work so well, it is truly astonishing what you have accomplished here with THF!

After you done with Crushbone/Paludal/Unrest, your next stop should be Lower Guk - its the lowest/easiest Tier 2 zone. There are few quests/items you should pick from there before heading to CoM/Karnors at about 50+
Difficulty wise, you should be able to go SOLO (1 char+bot) all way to 70, including CoM/Karnor, Old Sebilis and some PoValor. With 2 chars+bot you should definitely be able to do it, unless you getting some really bad pulls in Karnor (the arc just pass the bridge can pull up to 8 mobs on you at once, and generally you should not pull more than 2-3 even cons at ones)

The loot in non custom zones is from original game- so with RARE exceptions, you won't find anything worthwhile there at your level.

Here is the link to THf Allakhazam-like site which holds lots of info, specifically on customized zones:
webtools/zones.php

the main problem i seen while reading that is you dont have a healer. Your an SK with a pally bot, and she is a wizard. You need to drop your pally bot and use a cleric bot. The best bots for tank type classes is the rogue for awesome dmg since you can hold agro over it, or a cleric bot to keep you healed. Since you dont have a played healer in your setup, you will need to go with the cleric bot for heals.

that or you might consider changing out the wizard for a player controlled healer like a cleric or shm. And use a rogue bot to makeup for the dps loss of the wizard.

but mainly, your gonna needs heals, either player heals or at leats bots heals. Just cant make it in EQ without heals.

sticky speaks the truth, if you are going with a tank I would suggest you a shm

Thanks for the replies...

Since I posted this, we have made a switch to a Cleric bot instead of the Pally, and it is working better for us.

We actually had much better luck going to Natimbi and finishing the quests there and upgrading our armor with the drops there. IMO, much better armor than the chaotic pieces unless there is something I'm missing.

We re-visited CoM and Karnor at ~54-55 and had no problems wiping the zone. We were starting to feel big and awesome again all the way up until we stepped into Seb and got creamed because the cleric bot wasn't following us and neither of us noticed.. =P

But yes, so far everything is progressing nicely, the only issue we have left is I'm having a spot of trouble pulling mobs off the Wiz after a nuke, but from what I remember of playing Live that is normal. Now we are just trying to slog through the 55-70 levels and get ready for grouping/raids. Once we hit 65-70 or so I was thinking of taking us over to Emerald and picking on a certain overgrown lizard there. Might be fun!

I still need some info/training on augmentation and LDoN... can anybody give me the breakdown on that or direct me to a FAQ or website that explains it and how it works on THF? I have never used augs or LDoN at all.

Look for us in game btw, I play as the SK Llanowar or the CL Adon.

I think the only two pieces of chaotic gear you would want to have over the defiant armor is the legs for the "spirit of the fail" clicky buff, and the chest.

As for agro on the wizard...well you'll have that =) But at 70 it will get better once you get the spell casting subtlety AAs. Also make sure your auging your tank's weapon with "anger" proc augs.

Bots can bug out when zoneing in a group of people. You can do a quick check to make sure its not bugged out to keep ya from dieing and finding out the hard way. When you zone in, do a #bot group summon, if he pops at your feet, your good, he if stands there and ignores you, you need to disband the gruop, and re-invite everyone. Make sure you disband the group. If you try to kick the bot and re-invite it you may get the msg there is already a bot in the group, and now you will have to camp the bot and wait the 3-5mins to re-summon it.

You can start doing the LDON adventures at lvl 61. I'm not sure what kind of questions you have about it or augments but feel free to hit me up in game, look for Mary, Stickybuds, and/or Dvsx.

Regards,
Sticky

I'd be careful of the lizard in EJ He is no pushover..

Also, keep in mind that the 50's seem and are much slower than the 60's.

/fitzor