Wish i hadn't read about XP Penalties :(

[Rhayne05]

This is killing my wanting to play this game. I know, it really shouldn't bother me, but the penalties are hefty, not just 2% there, 5% here... So i've limited myself to non penalized or +% only and i just can't decide :(

Ugh, guess I'll have to wait for Velious and check to see if they've been removed.

I really want to play on this server, but i just can't decide what to commit my time to.

[hablabba]

This is killing my wanting to play this game. I know, it really shouldn't bother me, but the penalties are hefty, not just 2% there, 5% here... So i've limited myself to non penalized or +% only and i just can't decide :(

Ugh, guess I'll have to wait for Velious and check to see if they've been removed.

I really want to play on this server, but i just can't decide what to commit my time to.

There's a lot of options and I'm sure the community here can help you sort it all out.
To start though:

What are you currently interested in playing?
What type of character would you like to play?
Do you like to solo or group more?

[chayes]

The penalties don't affect it much if you are having fun.
Te iksar penalty isn't noticeable due to the HP regen speed. Less downtime yields more kills, nets equal xp.
The only thing I can't wrap my head around is the handling boost to xp... Can't see a downside to playing them that would require a boost in xp.

[lecompte]

Forgive me for being a little harsh but this is EQ. Journey is greater than the destination that is why rangers = best. Journey is long and sweet. Not playing a class with an exp penalty because of the exp penalty is a modern mmo mentality and doesn't have a place in Everquest.

[Estu]

The only thing I can't wrap my head around is the handling boost to xp... Can't see a downside to playing them that would require a boost in xp.

Assuming you mean halfling. Fun fact, that's actually a bug in classic EQ that's reproduced here. Humans were meant to have the EXP bonus, not halflings. I think it's a nod to D&D, where humans have a similar bonus.

[Bboboo]

You got the right idea. Wait for Velious. For now play a druid and make some money to twink um out!

[Potus]

This is killing my wanting to play this game. I know, it really shouldn't bother me, but the penalties are hefty, not just 2% there, 5% here... So i've limited myself to non penalized or +% only and i just can't decide :(

Ugh, guess I'll have to wait for Velious and check to see if they've been removed.

I really want to play on this server, but i just can't decide what to commit my time to.

There's no exp penalty on red and hybrids destroy people so if you are deadset on playing one just roll a char there. Stay out of Unrest.

[Rhayne05]

There's no exp penalty on red and hybrids destroy people so if you are deadset on playing one just roll a char there. Stay out of Unrest.

I heard there was a penalty, people just don't care as much over there about it.

I dunno, I'm a bluebie through and through, I don't think red server would be for me.

I appreciate the information guys, and yes, i know this is EQ, i enjoy the challenge.

I started in Luclin, well after these penalties had been removed. You can see how this was a bit unexpected. Making myself spend 30%+ more time leveling in a game than everyone else, just because i wanna play a shadowknight(just an example), doesn't spell fun :(

I dunno, think I'll continue my Nostalgia trip on Live with my buddy. Maybe i just don't have the time to commit to this server :(

[Ele]

If you only have a couple hours to invest each week, then not even the exp penalty being removed will help you.

If you wait until Velious is out to roll what ever class with a penalty is, then you will be that much further behind. Waiting 3-7 months for Velious to be released and the xp penalty patch to go into effect is essentially lost time that you could have already put into what ever character you were wanting to play. Depending on your time availability 3 months is enough to get high enough for Velious stuff and get some decent planes gear.

Just get started and play the class you want. If you enjoy the class, play it well, and make friends that want to group with you, then you won't notice the penalty.

[Wiery]

Life in the forums and life in-game are two different things. Don't fret over the negative stuff you read here. People tend to complain a lot, period. If the class/race you really want to play has a penalty, don't worry too much about it. It takes a long time to level in this game regardless of the penalties. It will feel longer leveling a class that you don't really want to play vs playing the class you do, including the penalty. And while I'm sure the penalty shunning is true for pugs, it generally doesn't exist amongst friends.

[eqgmrdbz]

As a 49 Ranger, just grind and grind and grind, I have been doing it solo, and its taking forever, but hey i get to play a game i enjoy, and you can always try another class that's not so hard...you sissy girl :D

[Psykes]

XP penalty is not all that noticable unless you are solo'ing which you will not be normally as an SK. Furthermore, the reason why the xp penalty exists in the first place for hybrids/races etc is because they are more of a utility class and can do things other classes cannot.

[NZV]

The penalty is spread among party members so it's really not bad at all if you stay grouped. And if you play an SK or Paladin, you should have a relatively easy time finding them. They're so much better at tanking while leveling than warriors that it is absolutely worth taking one over a warrior every time, even with the troll/iksar SK penalty.

I've gotten the urge to get back into EQ twice, and both times I started with the live test server. But over there you just hit relatively high levels in a few hours after only seeing a very small handful of areas and without interacting with anyone. I don't have any interest in post-luclin content so what do you do at that point? Hang around deserted old zones full of green mobs that offer no challenge? That's not really fun in the way that actually getting groups and partaking in those dungeons on p1999 is.

As for red, I dunno. I've recently been trying it out, and I adore the group exp bonus. It makes things less of a slog, but it's not too fast, and it really encourages everyone to group in pretty much any circumstances. You're not gonna get turned away just because you aren't an ideal class, and if there is a group around they usually have room. But that's the big "if". There aren't many people on red so you aren't gonna find anyone to group with a lot of the time. I was the only one in crushbone earlier this afternoon, and when I checked unrest I think there was one other dude. These are by far the most populated low level areas - everywhere else is a 24/7 ghost town. The community also has some real issues. Global /ooc on red is far worse than WoW barrens chat ever was. It's a nonstop barrage of garbage that you have to keep enabled if you want to see LFG/LFM calls and auctions. And the only pvp I've found so far is twinks slaughtering people who don't stand even the tiniest chance. EQ1's classes and mechanics weren't really built for pvp at all either.

One other thing that's kind of interesting about red is that you often have to improvise in weird ways due to poor group composition. Since you're just grabbing whoever shows up regardless of class, you run into a lot of situations where you don't have a tank, healer, real dps, CC, or any combination thereof. That's both a good and a bad thing since it can change things up a bit, but some class setups can be a nightmare to deal with.

I think my ideal server would be blue with a somewhat lessened version of red's group exp bonus. Too many people soloing on blue, and too many people are picky about class selection. That aint classic. Back in the day we invited wizards all the time because we didn't know how useless they were.

[Psykes]

Back in the day we invited wizards all the time because we didn't know how useless they were.

Before mana bar was implemented into groups, wizards would just say they were OOM,and AFK for like 30min before anyone noticed....my buddy had a monk and FD'd all the time into walls to leach xp for hours as bard normally pulled

[Swish]

Playing a dark elf SK on blue, and its really not noticeable versus my rogue (or maybe I don't look hard enough).

I'd almost say play something with an XP penalty first, because once you adjust to ez mode halfling warrior rate, you'll never roll a troll SK.

[Estu]

Playing a dark elf SK on blue, and its really not noticeable versus my rogue (or maybe I don't look hard enough).

I'd almost say play something with an XP penalty first, because once you adjust to ez mode halfling warrior rate, you'll never roll a troll SK.

Well the thing is it's a lot less noticeable as a person who's grouping than as a soloer since the penalty gets spread around. You can say halfling warriors/rogues are EZ mode but if you're spending all your time grouping as them, that EXP bonus is truly negligible. Whereas if you decide to solo a halfling druid versus a troll shaman, you might actually notice a difference in how much EXP mobs are giving you relative to how much you need to level (although of course the bigger issue would be that druids EXP faster than shamans, period).

[Rhayne05]

After a long decision making process, i landed on Half Elf Bard, starting in Qeynos. Screw the penalty, I always wanted to play a bard but never got one very high. Got him to level 3.25ish in about 2 hours, maybe more. Some of that time was spent trying to navigate the maze that is Qeynos :) So used to playing a Dark Elf on live i got used to Neriak!

The name is Airren, I'll be hanging around the zone line of Qeynos Hills from Qeynos for a while :) Hope to see you guys around!

[Clark]

This is killing my wanting to play this game. I know, it really shouldn't bother me, but the penalties are hefty, not just 2% there, 5% here... So i've limited myself to non penalized or +% only and i just can't decide :(

Ugh, guess I'll have to wait for Velious and check to see if they've been removed.

I really want to play on this server, but i just can't decide what to commit my time to.

It's just a hybrid. It'll be okay.

[Tewaz]

All the hybrids are fantastic on the PVP server. I highly recommend it if you want to play an SK, Pal, or Ranger, and noone cares about the penalty for exp.

[Trelaboon]

Your exp penalty is shared with any group you have. If you're grouped with an Iksar Monk (which is very common) you'll have more penalty added to your exp grind than if you were a Shadowknight alone.

The penalty in my mind makes such little difference, because you're often suffering from it with other group members anyway.