I forget how to play~

[Jaruden]

Yay for free to play, now I can scratch that occasional EQ itch that pops up every now and again =)

I quit playing way back just before Omens of War came out (2004'ish I think?), so I've got some seriously "classic" gear on right now that I'm sure is probably upgraded by vendor equipment at this point. Sad to see all those hours so easily replaced.

Any good "catch up" resources that anyone knows of? Any quests / encounters / zones that are "must see"? AA abilities seem to have lept out of control, there's so many I don't even know where to start. Any new "must have" AA's? (I've got 229 at the moment).

If I can talk a few friends back into it, we may try to play through some of the expansions historically.

[sunderlan]

What level are you?

I just started back up, about a month ago, at 65 in ancient PoP raid gear. Upgraded everything day one with defiant equipment out of the bazaar. Incidentally, there are a pair of vendors in PoK who sell equipment on a scaling basis, but usually better can be found in the bazaar for much less with some digging.

I still have no clue how the new jewelry works.

The crescent reach series of zones are the current hotzones, and spectacular experience, but generally hard hitting. A caster alt did 40-65 in a day huddling behind a warrior merc. My paladin main has had a harder time of it as my initial choice of healer merc makes me invulnerable but doesn't help with making things dead.

Generally, information for the last few years of the game seems a bit hard to come by. Alla's would be my first thought, but their wiki component looks like it was DOA. Must have AA's? All of them. Sounds like you need a couple thousand to manage much of anything, later.

[Brohg]

It's all about the Hero's Journey quests. They reward full sets of armor with weapons & shields & jewelry & the whole deal. hit /ach for Achievements, you can look at which Hero things reward the different bits.

[Jaruden]

I'm 65 in ancient non-raid PoP gear. I'd skimmed the bazaar and saw the defiant, but all seemed to require level 70. I hear that most of my gear is yellow because of these piddly LDoN augs I've got in them (the always overpowered +6 poison resist...), but it may just be easier to replace the gear than go buying up stuff to remove them.

Unfortunately I think when we retired our group stashed all our cash on one account, which we now can't get into (well, it's been 8 years...), so I'm starting anew with the ~3k in my bank.


I'll check out the achievements, I had no idea those were in there. Looks like a good way to get acquainted with the new zones and content too.


Are horses still useful / necessary? I always refused to use the "new" (ala 2001-2002) Iksar models, so I'm still on classic, and back in the day you couldn't use a horse on classic models. I think you used to get the meditation benefit even when standing on one and could use it in combat?

What about mercenaries? Any hints where I start looking at them and are they useful when soloing (mostly root rotting still... is that still the favored combat method... especially when I'm way undergeared to slow/tank with pet?)


Thanks for the ideas.

[Lenil]

Use the tank merc in the lower levels - even if you are not a healer. The lower level tank mercs require very little healing up to even the low 60's depending on where you fight. Mobs in earlier expansions hit for less. Not sure if they give less exp. Use the tank merc like a pet. Make buttons out of the aggressive and passive stances so you can pull mobs to where you want to fight without the merc jumping in. For higher levels(85+ maybe,) consider doing void progression to upgrade your merc. Progression starts in oceangreen. You will need help to complete the progression but some tasks can be solo'ed. The journeyman mercs are better than the ones you can buy without progression. Don't use a merc if you are root rotting - it will only steal your exp. I recently leveled up an alt in blightfire til mid 40's then to dulak and then the upper entrance of crypt of nadox. There's a room close to that entrance with higher level mobs that I still used at 66 to bang out some AA's. The exp was less than steppes but the mobs died a lot faster. I used the tank merc there and sometimes I'd have to wait a few tics to let it regen. The extra DPS was worth it it seemed.

With the anniversary tasks active, consider doing the scavenger hunt that gives the 10 shot exp potion reward if it's still active. Check allah's for the task. I think it was the 9th anniversary task but can't remember. If you can use augs, there is a nice aug as a reward for the scavenger hunt in the housing zone. Run around for a couple of hours picking up groundspawns and get the aug. 30ac, 120 HME I think.

Edit: Allah's has a link on the main page that has a list of all the anniversary tasks - solo, group and raid.

[Brohg]

Augments can be destroyed on the cheap instead of removed. 11pp Augmentation Solvent works on all types rather than 100s & 1000s of plat for Augmentation Distillers depending on type.

The Defiant that requires 70 is Elegant. at 65 you'll be able to wear Elaborate Defiant armors.

[Jaruden]

Just in case anyone else was confused, the augmentation thing is still not entirely clear -- I had a hard time finding the right vendors / tools to do this. What you need to do is this...

- Find a vendor selling "Augmentation Solvent". Your best bet is probably in your guild hall -- Yenny. Buy 1 for 10.4p for each you need to remove (if your equipment has 3 augs you'll need 3 solvents)
- If you're in the guild hall, the next room over has a little stand with water in the middle for augmentations.
- Put the item and 1 solvent in, choose the aug to remove and hit delete.

If you do want to keep some of the augs, you'll have to use the Class <whatever> solvent to save it.

Voila! Now you've got your item back, sans augmentation, but now usable. All my old equip is now usable again.

[Lenil]

There's an aug pool and vendor in the baz. Take your first right when you enter. There is also an aug pool and I think vendor at each of the ldon camps. I think I saw an aug pool in PoK near the crescent stone.

[Grizlor]

I'm in the same boat. Wish my gear didn't suck or I'd get right on camping that fabled sharkspine club!

[Brohg]

Three weeks left before those Fabled poof, to do Hero's Journey achieves for gear, or buy defiant, and then get into the planes

[Grizlor]

You still play Brohg?

I joined the crucible channel but it's only got like 8 people in it who are all afk

[Brohg]

I'm real spotty this season. May improve after the 17th, time will tell. The channel pop thing is just poor proselytizing. Get to work, only you can prevent forest fires (er, raise crucible.samanna.net & #serverwide.crucible:crucible awareness, that is) !