The Spirit Realm

I'm getting more depressed every day I log on to play since I came back a few weeks ago. When I started in 2000 EQ was such a lively world and even back 3 years ago, EQ was still going strong. I guess I was spoiled then because when I went LFG I had to beat back the multiple tells for invites. Every zone had something going whether it was velks, seb, BoT, HoH, CoD(my favorite), PoI Factory. I was in a good sized guild on Karana back then that fit my casual style really well. The guild always had something going on if I couldn't find a group. They helped each other get flagged, keyed, etc. I was so excited when I got keyed for Tactics. Geeze I walk in there now and I'm the only one in the zone, in fact all PoP zones are dead. Nowadays everybody just seems to be hanging out in WoS and they don't seem interested in shaman below 70 especially non ubers like me.

Well now that my guild is long gone I'm just so frustrated. I thought transferring to Bertox where I have a few lower level alts would help. Can anyone recommend a guild on Bertox that is a good size and is actively raiding for my level? I sorely miss the days when I logged on and did a /who all guild and there was a good 20-30 people online. Back when I quit I had visited ToV several times and had 7 of 10 VT keys and was halfway to my BoT tower key. I really don't to hang in WoS hoping for 70 and not see the world. I want to get involved, do some raiding and be in an active guild that is always doing something. I've never been more lonely in this game than now.

Thanks for listening to my sob story

I would recommend getting a set group that you play with every day (or 5 days a week or 3 days a week or whatever).

With POR Sony has finally filled in all the gaps so that groupers, strictly from 1 groupable equipment and bazaar equipment, can get all the way to RSS. One progression would be NC (levels 65 -> 70, plus 66-68 spells and some OOW tier 1 armor), RCOD and WOS cubbies, then POR quests especially including the spirit armor quest, then DoD missions, then finally MPG and RSS. MPG can probably be started earlier somewhere but there is no reason to fight there unless there are camps for 69 and 70 spells (I have yet to see any 69 or 70 runes drop in MPG, though I have seen 69s drop from the cubbies in WOS). [Note - there are also some nice equipment drops like Soul Imbued Rings to get from MPG as well, but mostly I have been disappointed in the reward part of MPG] [Since I can get my runes from RSS and my equipment upgrades from other areas I could care less about MPG - it's just a transit zone for me now].

But you pretty much need to find a steady group. 1 tank, 1 cleric (for rezzes if nothing else), 1 shaman, and 3 others. A chanter bot for c3 and a druid bot for 9/10 and you are good to go. Actually no need for the chanter bot anymore - just get alchemy up to around 180, get the alchemy trophy item for the increased alchemy skill mod, and for each nodding blue lily you can get your hands on from Old Sebilis you'll be able to make 2.5 (approximately) c3 potions. Or for a group of 6 that would be a bit more than 2 lilies per half hour of c. So over time thats a fair amount of farming in Sebilis ... on the other hand Sebilis is a pretty fun zone to kill in even for a high level group and the drops can get you some good pp to boot so maybe your full group can spend some farming time there to get the nodding blue lilies for c potions.

With a steady group, starting from level 65 and getting to 70 with a bunch of AAs would provide maybe a year or so of good solid fun and enjoyment as you progress from NC to RSS. This is exactly what Everquest is when Everquest is at its best. It is doable and fun and the friendship part of it completely rocks And if you are level 60-65 now this progression would require not even 1 purchase of any future expansion to accomplish all of this if that were desired.

Without getting such a group I am not sure what to advise. I am sure there are people that get to high levels via soloing and pickup groups. But that sure seems like a hard road to hoe to me. Its hard enough with a solid group to depend on! Everquest is also loads more fun when it is shared with friends. For groupers Everquest is now in its Golden Age. However it seems to pretty much require having a set of 6-8 people (or 3-5 if there is a lot of 2 boxing going on) that you can group with on a very regular basis.

Having a set group is also good for the pocketbook. I will be spending on the order of 150k pp on alts over the next week. I could never have made that kind of dough soloing/pickup groups. Our MT recently spent 380k pp on his GM cultural armor chest and legging items, including augments. WOS Cubbies is one of many nice places to farm for pp for us. With a set group farming for pp is fun and actually pretty easy.

Thanks, all. I think I finally found a guild I've been looking for and am going to apply on their website. It reminds me very much of the old guild I was in on Karana.

Last night as I logged in to tactics to solo some diaku(omg boring) I saw some people gather for a Zek raid. I'm not usually an assertive person but I figured it's now or never so I went LFG and asked if I could join the raid. Lo and behold I got invited and had a great time, ending with witnessing the death of RZ and a new key.

If this works out I think I'll be on the right path again.

I love randomly joining tactics raids, that was always fun. Have you tried soloing piggy down there? used to have fun doing that too and get a little cash from the drops. Of course back when I did it the drops were actually worth like 10k a piece, I'm not sure what they are worth now but I'm sure it's less.

I did a pickup Time raid on Friday and got a TA of all things out of it. Tribunal used to have a pretty large pu raid force, but it died off somewhat (as far as I know, I've been guilded for quite awhile now). Hell, that pu raid channel is what got me into loving to raid now (been really active in raiding for about 2.5 years now). Fun can be had at all levels, sometimes you just have to work to find that fun .

Very good replies.

Unfortunately you do not see a couple of problems. The first is that there is only one place to group and that is WoS noone goes anywhere else, regardless if there would be better/easier anywhere else it has truly become the new dreadlands. Trying to level up to 70 on pickupgroups in WoS is awful. Secondly you can not get any spots in NC as those are permacamped 24/7 by level 70s that tries to get their runes or are platfarming so the idea of leveling up and getting runes is obsolete ( and in pickup groups everyone rolls on everything as everyone needs lots of plat to buy stuff that you can not get by grouping).

Getting a regular group together is of course a nice idea except that clerics gets groups in high xp zones quick so its almost impossible to find healers and the "mid 60s stress" makes most mid 60s groups to falla part very fast as someone always gets an invite to WoS or think the xp is too bad or zone is too tough and leaves.

Nest is good XP too. I solo there sometimes, but it's much faster with a group.

You can probably main heal Creator missions as well. I did it with Q and yoppas mending (i think) But the key was keeping the HoT running the whole time. I barely casted direct heals. and the best part is that it was a ranger tank, porbably around 10-11k hp. My mana wasnt to bad i was able to throw a dot in here and there. I had KEi and p9 and even caved and used a mount which i hate. I probably could have ditched the mount if i didnt wanna stick a dot or a leopard in there.