New player with Questions

[cleolynn]

Hey Forest Dwellers,


Old time EQ player here, Tallon Zek/Firiona Vie back in the day. Life has suddenly granted me a bit of free time and a nostalgia for all things EQ, so Ive been hunting for a place to play and this server looks really nice. That being said, I have some questions regarding my play style/free time.

1. Basically, Im much older now with a family so I will not be a consistent player. I might play 4 or 5 hours one day, they not play for the next two, etc.

2. It looks like a lot of people multi box here. I find that too busy for my enjoyment, so I probably will play just a single character (Necromancer). I live in India now so I need a good pet class to protect me during big lag spikes. Does much grouping happen? And would single played characters be welcome in multi-box raids etc, or do people mostly tend to play alone and socialize during down time?

3. I dont mind donating, particularly to skip very grindy stuff. Time is much more of a premium for me than money. If I got the Necro Breastplate with its pet, would that be enough (with a bot or two) to advance me to places where the populations gather?

4. I typically solo when I have small bits of time, but love to group and socialize when I get the occasional 4 hour time slot. Therefore I don't want to be blocked from places where the grouping happens. Would donor Necro Pet+bots be enough to get to the busier places, or will I have to box?

Bascially if Im forced to box to interact with a lot of the server, I may reconsider joining up and find a more single box friendly place. Otherwise this looks like a great place to play, with a lot of professionalism put into it. Loved the world map.

5. Oops, forgot a question. Is overland travel ever needed for anything? Or is it all "port here" "port there" from the hub?

Cheers,

Cleo

[Safiya]

Necro with donor gear will take you into the raiding tiers, no question. You'll be able to do just fine.

There is some travel required but not much. You can port most anywhere from the hubs (Vale and Forest) and the guild hall.

Multi boxing is not required but it will make your life easier. Some guilds limit the number of boxes one can raid with and others don't. It's likely you'll be able to find a guild that suits your chosen playstyle. Not everyone boxes and only a handful of people box an army.

As far as socialization....ooc chat is rarely very busy. Though even if people are not chatting like old women...they are listening. Questions are answered, help is given, advice is offered.

[cleolynn]

Thank you for the help Safiya.

Im glad to hear not everyone boxes and only a few box an army. It sounds like there is enough variety in playstyle to suit me.

I am not much of a global ooc chat type, more of in character one with whomever my toon is visually present to. I somehow don't find these games interesting unless I can imagine I am in the world. Probably the main reason I want to come back to EQ. I do not know why, but I never found another online world where I really felt "there" compared to EQ, despite its old graphics.

Downloading the client now. See you in game in the next few days.

Cheers,

Cleo

[cleolynn]

Tried a few different classes the past few days. Quite different than I remember EQ, but really enjoying it. Now trying to settle on a main character.

I never cared for the pure tanks, so if I tried a melee/healer duo, is monk, berserker, ranger, bard or rogue best at tanking?

Im guessing it is monk or berserker, and which healer would be strongest in that setup? Cleric, shaman or druid?

I can buy some donor gear if that would really enhance the duo, but not too much or progression loses interest.

Thanks for the advice,

Cleo

[Ydiss]

If you go with a DPS and healer (I'd suggest cleric for pure healing, but a shaman is good for buffs and slow, on mobs that are not immune; a donator shaman is quite powerful if you get the Spiritstaff of the Alchemist, which has Word of the Alchemist, a very powerful buff), you can use a paladin bot to tank for you. The paladin bot is useful right up until raid content (at which point all bots are generally useless) and will help you level up much faster. Tanking with any DPS on the boss mobs from level 45+ will slow you up considerably, as the difficulty curve is challenging; if you opt for no tank, you'll need to out-level the boss content considerably before being able to defeat it, or get help.

If you need any advice on how to set up and use a paladin bot, send me a tell in game (usually main Ykari). Or check out the bot thread on the Help forums, here.

In terms of which DPS to use, pick whichever you want to play. They all have their uses. Highest DPS (particularly with moderate donations) is Rogue, in most cases. The Rogue is also extremely useful if you donate and get the Call of the Hero click item (saved me more hours than I can count, that). But the monk and berserker more than hold their own and come with their own benefits. Bard is useful later on if you want to group but wouldn't help you much in a duo. A dark horse is the Beastlord, although they only really become powerful at level 70 once you buy Wild Companion from another T8 player. They do come with the added benefit of being able to heal decently, particularly with the right focus effects.

PS your intent to donate but not too much is, in my opinion, the best way to really enjoy this server to the fullest. We only have some weapons, a handful of augs for key classes, and it really does help but keeps things challenging and fun.

PPS you said you aren't interested in a pure tank class, but if you ever do decide to trio, you can't go wrong with a tank on this server. All three tanks are excellently balanced here and much more fun than playing their equivalent on live. The paladin and SKs are particularly fun, particularly if you donate for their best weapons.

[cleolynn]

Thanks for the reply.

Actually my current solo character is a lv50 rogue with a paladin bot, so I have learned the ins and out of that. I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue that, adding a healer box, or perhaps change to monk or zerker. I like the *idea* of tanking with a monk, and I thought it might be possible from this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=10197

Where it is said a well geared monk could tank up to T7. I don't think a paladin bot could get near that could they?

I thought that might be a good way to enjoy the server, being able to 2box T6 and lower and team up for T7+

Cheers

[Safiya]

Going to agree with the above. Be careful with donator items, they can quickly make content trivial which imo...defeats the purpose of playing. I've donated myself but try hard not to go 'overboard'...even though I want to. Really....really...want to.

I would strongly suggest you add a cleric box to your team. Not a bot, a box. Even if your rig is an old one, it should be able to handle running 2-6 clients...maybe with some ini tweaks. I think you'll find the experience both educational and productive. You do not necessarily need to run macros or anything but eqbc will help a LOT.

When you are confident in your abilities. look for a guild that suits your playstyle and go kick some major league ass.

EDIT: box a real tank too. They are all good here so if you like pally....run with it. bots are only a shadow of what a box can do for you.

[Ydiss]

Thanks for the reply.

Actually my current solo character is a lv50 rogue with a paladin bot, so I have learned the ins and out of that. I was trying to decide if I wanted to continue that, adding a healer box, or perhaps change to monk or zerker. I like the *idea* of tanking with a monk, and I thought it might be possible from this thread:

viewtopic.php?f=35&t=10197

Where it is said a well geared monk could tank up to T7. I don't think a paladin bot could get near that could they?

I thought that might be a good way to enjoy the server, being able to 2box T6 and lower and team up for T7+

Cheers

I don't wish to deter you from your ambition but that post mentions "really well geared". A monk in the best gear for its current tier won't get you to T7 in a duo unless you do one of the following:

Donate heavily (thus forcing the monk to T9+ strength)
Skipping tiers via back-flagging and gearing up in T7 gear with the help of your chosen guild
Playing exclusively in ldons to get a full array of gear (ldons gear is T6 quality and higher, particularly when you upgrade to Sol Ro gear)

The last option is an excessively time-consuming route (ldons is still a fun and viable way to progress, but a full suit would take a ridiculously long time)

Content on THF is not trivial; you will need the help of others (in a guild) to progress to T7, unless you heavily donate. I'd say that's still true even if you did play a tank, dps and healer. It's a social server and content does allow for you to duo enormously well, but core progression is meant to be social.

There are lots of guilds who would be happy to take on a healer and dps package. Plus, new guilds form frequently, so you may be able to join forces and progress naturally through the content.

You can have a lot of fun playing a monk and healer duo. I only didn't want you to feel let down with the hope that it could get you go T7. Practically speaking, it's not possible. But this what groups and guilds are for.

As a duo with moderate donations, you'll be looking to get to 70, do some ldons, get all your aa, complete your kael armour and get your 1.5 epic. That's all loads of fun and possible in a duo (but the latter parts will be very challenging without help). Then you will need to form or join a guild to start the raid content. By the time you're here, you'll know more players.

You can, as an alternative, do ldons instead of raiding, thus gearing up enough to progress through some raid content in a duo. I do wonder how tough the emporer, sleeper, fennin ro, avatars, xegony, phara Dar and Cazic would be as a monk cleric duo, though. Even fully ldon geared. Some of those would be tough for a fully donator monk, I imagine (though I don't know, I've never played one!) Even in a decent amount of T7 gear, my monk would die in seconds trying to tank an avatar in poa.

[cleolynn]

Kudos for such a thoroughly informative reply. You pretty much answered all my questions. Only remaining one: monk, rogue or zerk. The other thread opined monk was best tanking but worst dps of the three. Since i don't want to 3box, and don't want to main a tank, monk cleric seems a good combo, played as you advised with a mix of donor and other items. Of course I hope to group and raid as much as possible, but I often have short play sessions with no time for proper grouping.

So does anyone know if monk is indeed the best tanking dpser? If they are all roughly the same, maybe ill stick with the rogue.

[Ydiss]

Interestingly enough, on our Rallos Zek parse, my monk regularly tops melee dps. Due to the nature of the Zek weapons (no huge backstab damage mod) it shows that, blow for blow, the monk is easily the best dps. It's the donator weapon and Aug that puts rogues at the top of the list. My main rogue, Yvez, can take a serious pounding as well, but he is much better geared than my monk.

Berserker tanking is also quite good.

I wouldn't use a rogue to tank unless you don't mind constantly using eqemu's slow mob facing to repeatedly move behind the mob for backstabs.

I think a.really well geared monk or Berserker, with enough donator items with defensive focus effects, would do you well. The Berserker with donator and Aug is also great dps. But the monk also gives you feign death and chaotic purification (ToV legs) for split pulling.

I'd go monk, get one donator weapon, get the weapon Aug, get him maybe donator items for dodge and block 12 (coh click donator has dodge) and then you're set.