I want to solo as a melee character, is it possible?

[Azelle]

Returning mom and son here but we cannot play together as we are waiting for our IP exemption (the old one seems to not be viable anymore).

So I am looking for a solo melee character to level as a personal challenge, old school, think when EQ launch and there was no twink gear/stuff to sell for pp yet because everyone was still leveling. I would prefer melee because I always played casters (necro/cleric) on live.

Is there such a melee class? Is it possible to level with gear I craft and loot as I level up?

[Fingurs]

Monk comes to mind immediately.

For Combo: Monk and Shammy = lol awesome.

[Ravager]

They can all be solo'd if you know what to do, though most are very slow going. Monk can be solo'd to 50 with minimal gear and has a pretty shallow learning curve. Even easier if you choose Iksar.

[jolanar]

It's possible to solo to 60 on any class. It gets much much harder if you really only want to use items that you loot yourself. And by harder I really just mean more time consuming.

[Samoht]

Untwinked melee characters won't be able to solo very well. Maybe an Iksar Monk, but it would still be important to stack some HP and get haste and magic gloves/weapons (http://wiki.project1999.com/Magic_item#Gear) as soon as possible so that you can hit enemies that have magic skin. You'll eventually need a Fungi Tunic (http://wiki.project1999.com/Fungus_Covered_Scale_Tunic) on your Monk, but if you roll a Warrior, Paladin, SK, Rogue, or Ranger, you could use a Rubicite BP (http://wiki.project1999.com/Rubicite_Breastplate) or Ceremonial Iksar Chestplate (http://wiki.project1999.com/Ceremonial_Iksar_Chestplate) as a cheaper alternative.

In reality, there are much better classes for soloing that are not melee oriented like Necromancer, Shaman, Enchanter, Magician, Wizard, and Druid, depending on what you want to do or what your goal is for the end-game.

I would highly recommend picking one of them over a melee.

[Jimjam]

It's pretty easy, if slow. You have to find the right spots. It also helps to learn how to mix melee and bandaging together.

Monk will probably be the most effective choice for this.

[Spyder73]

Leveling an untwinked monk solo could be an event at the Pain Olympics. The down time would be unreasonable. Even twinked I feel you would do better in a small group or duo.

[Darkatar]

Leveling an untwinked monk solo could be an event at the Pain Olympics.

So much this. Every time I see a monk who's "New to the server, first character" my first thought it "Ow, gonna be a long hard grind with lightweight gear prices and the fact they get squishier the more loot they pickup"

Definitely would recommend a caster, any caster, over a monk as a first character.

Monk can and has certainly been done solo as a first toon, but people have also successfully eaten uncooked cactus. Doesn't make it a fun experience!

[onics187666]

Just hang out in FoB eventually someone nice will come along and gift you a wu's 2hander

[Tenet]

Just hang out in FoB eventually someone nice will come along and gift you a wu's 2hander

...or embrace your original plan and find like minded players with similar playstyle. It is easier to go old-school no-twink if you do not sail alone in that boat.

-> https://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=255352

Scaleway - Auld Lang Syne

[eqravenprince]

Leveling an untwinked monk solo could be an event at the Pain Olympics. The down time would be unreasonable. Even twinked I feel you would do better in a small group or duo.

I did just this. I had more downtime with all of my casters. I don't consider binding wound after a fight as downtime, it's doing something. And was constantly skilling up feign death. I would bind wound while fighting, so I didn't have that much time binding wound after fights. I had more issues with finding enough mobs to kill. By my teens I had 2 Wu's Trance Sticks, Wu's Quivering Staff and full set of Wu's armor that I made myself. By level 30, I had a haste item, by level 35 I had 2 SoS, by level 49 where I am now I have 3 100% WR bags.

Leveling up, I just had a magician or shaman summon me 7 100% WR bags and every night I would just dual someone and start my next day looting the bags from my corpse. Every now and then, I would log out without dualing, and I would just go get some bags again from a Magician or Shaman.

I will say I leveled faster with my Magician and Necro, however I always felt like I was busier with less downtime on my Monk, I just couldn't take as high of cons on my Monk as I could with my Magician or Necro.

[Kytross]

I'm leveling up a rogue right now. It's not that hard to make gear or buy it along the way.

Bone chips sell in East Commons for 10pp a stack. Snake eggs sell for 10-20pp. HQ bear pelts are a quick 30pp.

You can level up blacksmithing and make your own set of banded armor for about 150p. More or less depending on charisma and intelligence. Banded is decent leveling gear, even for plate classes. It gets more expensive from there, but you can eventually make your own plate if you go warrior, pally or SK.

Make something​ you think you'll enjoy. If you don't like it, start over. It's that simple.

[Azelle]

Thanks for the advice all! I was thinking maybe a sk. I am not against grouping at all, just a bit afraid no one will want me with untwink gear.

[utenan]

Thanks for the advice all! I was thinking maybe a sk. I am not against grouping at all, just a bit afraid no one will want me with untwink gear.

I leveled a ranger untwinked. Infact I only used gear I looted or quested, and while I didn't do a ton of grouping ( I spent most of the time duoing with my brother who played a non twink SK) when we did group we never had any complaints about our gear or lack there of. People are much more interested in how you play rather than what gear you have - utilize all your tools and help your group as much as possible and I don't think you'll have any problems. We had vendor weapons and armor into our late teens / early 20's : D

That said I think Sk is a nice choice, you'll have snare, fear, lifetaps, a pet - these are helpful things when your trying to solo : )

[Azelle]

@utenan Thanks! It's good to know people are open minded and that vendor or crafted is possible even if it will be a lot slower.

@elf My challenge consist of doing it the old way without taking advantage of selling bone chips and silks and pelts in EC for plats, as back then no one was rich yet but still leveling.

Also I cannot play with my son yet (still no IP exemption for us) hence why I level up on the side. He went back to guild wars 2 while we wait for someone to look at our petition.

I rolled with a dark elf sk (she is just level 5), almost with a full set of patchwork (black wolves know me by name now), have my tarnished halberd and other tarnished weapons to cap almost all weapon skills. Can't wait for my spells and pet and selling everything to vendor to save plats to start blacksmithing for banded and afford spells. Having a blast so far.

I'm also researching a bit on what magical weapons would be available eventually to farm for wisps. If I remember the greater ones were worth good coins.

[loramin]

@elf My challenge consist of doing it the old way without taking advantage of selling bone chips and silks and pelts in EC for plats, as back then no one was rich yet but still leveling.

For what it's worth you might want to save that approach for later. In an unknown amount of time (which could months or years) the P99 team will release their original goal, a server that starts 100% fresh and proceeds on the classic timeline. If you start on that server you'll be able to do things "the old way" far more easily.

That being said, if you do want to do things the "old way" on Blue, might I recommend the guild Auld Lang Syne:

Who We Are:

<Auld Lang Syne> is a hardcore levelling/progression guild seeking to recapture the experience of classic. Project1999 offers a great base for a player to experience all the content they knew from childhood, or fell in love with here. However, as the server has been up for seven years, there is a gulf between what the average p99 player expects to have for equipment and what they would have available to them at that level. Through mutual observance of a restrictive guild charter, the adventurers of <Auld Lang Syne> experience great content, quests, and gear that has long been thought to be obsolete!

http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=266771

[Azelle]

Thanks for the guild recommendation, I'll look them up!
I prefer to try my challenge now since you guys don't know when the fresh start might happen.

Just realized that Befallen might be a good place to get a magic weapon (Bone bladed claymore). Worth a try anyway!

[Subidoo]

Kittens who say meow are also a wonderful guild that helps out, they have some low characters as well and usually pull in guild chars first :)

[loramin]

Kittens who say meow are also a wonderful guild

Oh totally. I wasn't trying to push any particular guild (it's not like I'm in Aud Lang Syne or anything), I was just pointing out that Auld Lang Syne and the OP share that particular goal of wanting to limit themselves artificially to better simulate the old school experience.

[Subidoo]

Oh totally. I wasn't trying to push any particular guild (it's not like I'm in Aud Lang Syne or anything), I was just pointing out that Auld Lang Syne and the OP share that particular goal of wanting to limit themselves artificially to better simulate the old school experience.

I never knew that,good info. Thanks :)

[Amyas]

Shadowknights can fear kite to 60 EASY

[Azelle]

I'm already starting to struggle with the lack of str and carrying loot :( since I just reached level 6 with only full small leather armor there is still time to reroll my race. I have no idea how it would be possible to carry a set of banded on those frail shoulders.

Besides the looks, did I made a little mistake doing dark elf for a truly classic challenge?

[Aandolaf]

Humans aren't that much stronger, did you put all of your points into strength? Think thats what most DEs do (what I did anyways). If you go troll/ogre you might regret not having more mana

[Azelle]

Wiki said to put points in stam! darn...
I was eyeing maybe troll for the hp regen but their int is so low!

[RDawg816]

Wiki said to put points in stam! darn...
I was eyeing maybe troll for the hp regen but their int is so low!
On my erudite sk, I spent a lot of time/mana lifetapping greens for health. On a troll you wouldn't need to do that as much... :)

[Azelle]

It will be between a troll and an iksar then, since I will be soloing a bit more then grouping that will mean less downtime and more leveling.

[Amyas]

Azelle what did you make?

[Azelle]

I'm stuck on my character creation screen at the moment switching back and forth between female troll sk and female iksar sk lol. the troll low int seems detrimental but then the iksar doesn'T have that sweet str and stam...

[Amyas]

Oh did you roll darkelf at first?

[Azelle]

Yes but there is no way I'll be able to wear a full set of banded! Hence why I'm looking at other races.

[radda]

I first char'ed an iksar warrior here . Took one year and some change to hit 60. (I had a 45 bard before kunark but had no money cause bard. ) so relied on solo farming shit and groups to buy and level. It can be done and I loved it

[Amyas]

If you want to stay DE I can help you out

[Azelle]

If you want to stay DE I can help you out

Very kind of you Amyas, but I'm on a classic challenge where untwink, zero coins at start and no use of the wealthy population of high level players is allowed (like selling HQ bear pelts for 30pp a piece, no one had that money at release). It may be a bit harsh but that's what I want to live once more. I'll be making my food, my banded armor and my backpacks. I don't allow myself buying stuff players sold to merchants either, I'll have to camp my mobs and get my sweet loot myself or in a group, grouping is fine of course and buffs related to the era I am leveling in also allowed.

I finally went for a female troll because of the hp regen (less downtime, less lifetaps) and slam the big races get (I really like 2 hander weapons). Plus trolls are scary and ugly, perfect for a sk in terms of looks. I went with 2 points in str to bring it to 120, kept stam at 114 and spent the rest of the points in int to bring it up to 80. I should be ok on mana and my main stats are still very good compared to others races besides ogre. Good middle ground I think!

[Amyas]

cool good luck and safe travels

[RDawg816]

I went with 2 points in str to bring it to 120, kept stam at 114 and spent the rest of the points in int to bring it up to 80. I should be ok on mana and my main stats are still very good compared to others races besides ogre. Good middle ground I think!
I agree. Slam is very nice. SK spells aren't much mana either.

[Darkatar]

I finally went for a female troll because of the hp regen

Pretty sure iksar can't use the clickable kunark gear either, may have saved yourself some headache there too.

[Azelle]

hehe good to know! Just tell me the choice of diety doesn't matter? I went for Cazic.

[Darkatar]

hehe good to know! Just tell me the choice of diety doesn't matter? I went for Cazic.

Inny gets a 6tic 30%max snare necklace clicky at a very low level (l15+) Regent Sybol of Innoruuk (https://wiki.project1999.com/Regent_Symbol_of_Innoruuk)

Edit : Looks like cazic bonus is for priests only! https://wiki.project1999.com/Initiate_Symbol_of_Cazic_Thule

Edit Edit: You're right, they're both priests! Good eye

[Azelle]

Cleric and shammy only for the regent symbol!

[Gustoo]

Shadow knight or monk for sure. SK being able to fear kite and other stuff and also feign death later on makes them a bit more versatile for solo.

[Azelle]

Oh well, troll didn't last long...killing quickly was fun but I hated Innothule Swamp after a few levels only! Made my way to East Commonlands only dying once, got a bind at Freeport. Got a feeling of my future in dungeons as a big race in the tunnels/doorways and also having a hard time not clicking myself instead of mobs.

After getting killed a couple of times trying to do orc pawn picks (faction was not good enough yet) I switched to my dark elf sk and her low str and encumbrance problems to relax from the deaths and kill a few bears and shadow wolves. Then realized I could live with low str more then my big race problems lol. Also realized how much I love beautiful Neriak and the teir'dal lore. Since I am not a min/maxer my old love from live of dark elves won over feeling powerful.

So back to my blueberry butt!

[Jimjam]

You did the right thing! Blueberry butts are where the heart is.

[Vonblund]

You did the right thing! Blueberry butts are where the heart is.

;)

And this quote will now be passed down from generation to generation...

[Barrier]

I soloed a warrior to 48 with twinked items. You will need a lot of bandages and you have to pick very low blues eventually. I have Jboots and I have dps weapons. I also have a lot of clickies that increase attack, hps, AC, etc.

In classic, it wasn't really considered soloing if you were twinked, I don't think, but attitudes have changed a lot.

[Azelle]

In classic, it wasn't really considered soloing if you were twinked, I don't think, but attitudes have changed a lot.

You are talking about twinkage but I'm not. I'm reconsidering going full like release though because everyone around me is selling bone chips and HQ bear skins to get pp to buy gear. My challenge ight be possible in a dedicated group of friends that I don't have lol. Or like others said with a less gear dependent class like necro (my class in Live).

That said someone gave me a 2h piercer last night and some pp, it's non magical but might serve me well. Was no able to bring myself to refuse the offer to help. oh well, lets play like everyone else, I might make friends to group with since I have more time on my hands nowadays.

[Aandolaf]

I know this isn't directly related since we were duoing + grouping with people, but me and my brother essentially played like this, only using gear we looted/quested/made ourselves. He took a lot of screenshots and made a thread of his/our progress http://www.project1999.com/forums/showthread.php?t=254758

Thought it might serve a some inspiration. Its definitely viable. He kinda summed up in that post what makes it so much more rewarding to play like this

[Kytross]

The economy has always been a part of the game. Would you feel the same if bone chips sold for 1pp a stack?

The economy on p99 will let you gear out to where you should be at 20 by the time you're ten or twelve. But it levels off as well. Once you're in that banded or bronze you're going to have a choice: stop levelling to farm bone chips, etc to get more gear, or keep levelling with the gear you have.

It's viable to get enough bone chips while levelling to trade for low level armor and gear. 300pp for one earring or 2k for an offhand is not something you can get by farming bone chips and HQ bear pelts, and still level.

I hunted in heavy bone chips and bear areas; Qeynos, Freeport and Halas. I made about 200-250 selling lowbie stuff. I am on the verge of 14 now, it is time to move on.

[Samoht]

Move on to Unrest. Get more bone chips and zombie skins, too.

[Azelle]

Since I'm only level 9 I still hang out in Nektulos at the ultricle/monolith with the zombies near EC. Between clearing the camp I kill the bears and wolves for the skins for leather padding (dunno yet if there is a market for them though) and the elusive HQ bear skin. Guard N'Lan is a jerk that kills half the bears though...The meat makes nice steaks too. I will move to the orc camps at level 10 or just kill scarabs in North Ro.

So far got 2 skins and was able to buy a Nathsar Greatsword (https://wiki.project1999.com/Nathsar_Greatsword)

My next move are hp rings but need to save for those!

[Jimjam]

Najena is pretty good for bone chips from around 10ish if I remember correctly. Practically on the doorstep of Neriak really. You can level there till your thirties if you were so inclined.

[gkmarino]

I took my dark elf SK to level 40 easily.. don't worry strength gear will come in abundance later on.

[gkmarino]

Since I'm only level 9 I still hang out in Nektulos at the ultricle/monolith with the zombies near EC. Between clearing the camp I kill the bears and wolves for the skins for leather padding (dunno yet if there is a market for them though) and the elusive HQ bear skin. Guard N'Lan is a jerk that kills half the bears though...The meat makes nice steaks too. I will move to the orc camps at level 10 or just kill scarabs in North Ro.

So far got 2 skins and was able to buy a Nathsar Greatsword (https://wiki.project1999.com/Nathsar_Greatsword)

My next move are hp rings but need to save for those!
What happened to the no twink idea?! If you want to rid yourself of that weapon you will be able to achieve the BABS (https://wiki.project1999.com/Blackened_Alloy_Bastard_Sword) in your early 20s if you get a group together to hunt in Runny Eye 2.0 it really is a remarkable ratio weapon for the level it is attainable. But if you want to use Kunark Old Sebilis loot that you purchased.. you do you :)

[Azelle]

What happened to the no twink idea?!

I decided to keep that challenge for when my son will get his exemption. Made this sk to pass the time until he can play too but I'm having a blast and getting attached to her already hehe.
Back on live when I started playing sk was the first class I made but I never got pass the crocs in Oasis I thought it was so hard (plus encumbrance nightmare). Made a necro and never looked back I had found my true love. I was playing with my fiance back then who also rolled a necro and our 2 best friends were... necro... yeah we were calling our group dance of death, playing ping pong aggro with the mobs indoors/outdoors, fond memories. but I always was a bit jealous of the sk, melee is more exciting.

I'm hoping to make other good memories in P99

[JurisDictum]

It's not at all feasible to solo as a warrior. Even a troll. You can get to level 30 maybe. But eventually you will barely be able to kill anything and the downtime will be huge.

As far as starting out with nothing as a melee -- I find that Rogues are underrated. As soon as you find a way to get PP -- you'll find that a lot of really good weapons that few had back on live are affordable here (like Rapier of Orrin). Because you are just a dps -- people tend to not notice when you aren't geared at all.

[Baa]

My first char on the server (in 2010) was a DE SK - lots of fun and made to the mid 30's before I rolled my enc.

Was pretty easily levelling mostly in my mix of bronze, darkforge and a mith 2h'er!

[Samoht]

It's not at all feasible to solo as a warrior. Even a troll. You can get to level 30 maybe. But eventually you will barely be able to kill anything and the downtime will be huge.

You can solo at the ledge in FV until 42ish and then yeti caves in DL until 48ish.

[Caiu]

It's not at all feasible to solo as a warrior. Even a troll. You can get to level 30 maybe. But eventually you will barely be able to kill anything and the downtime will be huge.

As far as starting out with nothing as a melee -- I find that Rogues are underrated. As soon as you find a way to get PP -- you'll find that a lot of really good weapons that few had back on live are affordable here (like Rapier of Orrin). Because you are just a dps -- people tend to not notice when you aren't geared at all.

Buddy did a gnome warrior and rogue untwinked, solo to 60. Sqid was the name of the rogue and warrior's name escapes me. It's doable but not for the sane!