Hi! Brand new player!

[Nobleshield]

Hello all, like the title says I recently found this and decided to give it a whirl. I have never played EQ before. I remember buying it when it came out but at the time my parents refused to pay a subscription so I had to return it; now 20 years later I'm finally giving it a shot (also excited for the Green server for the same reason). I have played WoW for about 9 years now so I'm familiar with MMOs, just not the way Everquest does things.

I like melee classes so after a bit of experimenting with a Druid and Shaman which I didn't care for I fell back to my old standby of a Human Paladin. Rough going, from what I read but I really didn't care for how caster classes felt (there's a reason I never play them in any RPG; I'm always the Fighter type). I'm currently about 30% into level 4 and lurking in Qeynos Hills hunting animals and the occasional Gnoll (incidentally for some reason Qeynos feels like a "real" starting zone compared to the others I've seen; I had previously tried a little bit in Felwithe, Kelthin, Freeport, Neriak and uhh.. the Barbarian area, and they felt very barren so I deleted and rerolled. Qeynos feels more alive).

Just figured I'd say hi to everyone:). I'm trying to avoid twinking or begging for buffs or whatnot as I'd like to experience the game as close to authentic as I can, as hard as it may end up because I never got to do it before so this is an entirely new experience for me.

Did I make a terrible mistake :P

[kjs86z]

You'll have a great time. Just remember this is one of the most brutal grinds out there....so just be patient.

Always keep the wiki open. Tons of good information there. There are class guides, tips on making money, navigation help, etc. I've been here for years (also a first time EQ player) and I pretty much always have a wiki page or two open when I play.

I suggest sticking to the "xp superhighway" and try to find the places where people are always grouping. The paladin is a fantastic group tank and you can do well with limited gear.

You don't have to buy all of your spells. Get the ones that have immediate combat use. You can always go back and get the others if you're into that sort of thing later.

People are super nice to first time players (and in general). You can try hanging out in the EC tunnel and when you see people selling gear for less than 100p, hit them up and explain your situation. Sure, this is essentially a form of begging...but if you can get some banded armor and a 100p weapon you're going to see a huge increase in leveling speed at this point.

Also, search the heck out of the Tank sub-forum here. Lots of "budget paladin advice" type threads so you can get an idea of what gear to look out for.

If you're having trouble and want to quit, PM me. I have a 50-something druid I could speed you along through the crap levels and get you into your teens so you can start cruising in the zones that have the most amount of /LFG

[Nobleshield]

I'll keep that in mind, thanks for the tips! Also kinda funny the first reply is someone in roughly the same physical location as me (I'm in Tampa) :)

[bigjeff100]

I feel like half of p99's population lives in Florida for some reason....

[btravis1990]

AYYY EQ is alive in the Tampa bay Area I see!! :D - Bradenton here

[fare67t]

lol, i'm new to the game as well.
knowing how brutal / long the grind is, would really help to have some people to chill with and play together~ (even though my main char atm is a Dwarf, so we start farther apart i think x3)

[Nobleshield]

That reminds me that I did want to try making a dwarf. I'm sort of experimenting to see what area appeals to me I know I did not like the wood elf area at least the area you start in. Same for the high elf area but I know the dwarf area is around that place so I may give that a try when I am home today. especially with green coming I don't want to get too invested in anything, so I am using this time to get a feel for the game

[Bazia]

wait till green bro TRUST me, the mudflated ez mode current server is really nothing like the actual live experience

you'll just be killing ur own hype

[Nobleshield]

wait till green bro TRUST me, the mudflated ez mode current server is really nothing like the actual live experience

you'll just be killing ur own hype
it's because of green that I'm just kind of trying various classes and the starting area maybe the next area over to get a feel for what I might like to play

[Bazia]

paladins kind of suck, you can solo which is nice compared to most melees but you just have really low damage compared to everyone else and since everyone on p99 is good at the game for the most part you really feel useless in comparison in end game content

for your first toon always go necro/druid/shaman/mage/enchanter something that makes lots of money that costs next to nothing

at least that way when you do make your real "main" you can get some items to make the absolute SLOG that is paladin leveling more palatable

[Nobleshield]

Sadly I tried Druid and Shaman and neither really appealed to me. I haven't tried Necro, Mage or Enchanter yet though. I just naturally gravitate towards plate melee since that's what I always play in RPGs (Warrior and Paladin in WoW, Warrior in RIFT, GLD in FFXIV before I stopped, Fighter in tabletop D&D, etc.). It seems like a big problem with melee will go away in Green (at least until everyone twinks out again) since it'll be a level playing field.

[fare67t]

What even IS this green everyones talkin about? some wierd mixture of the blue and red?

[Nobleshield]

What even IS this green everyones talkin about? some wierd mixture of the blue and red?

From what people are saying it's a recycling server that starts over fresh at some point. So like, when it comes out its like the server is reset completely, everyone starts from scratch again. No twinking or anything.

[fare67t]

From what people are saying it's a recycling server that starts over fresh at some point. So like, when it comes out its like the server is reset completely, everyone starts from scratch again. No twinking or anything.

eh, as long as my progress on blue isnt really erased or such~

[Nobleshield]

eh, as long as my progress on blue isnt really erased or such~

From what I've read (remember am as new as you :) ) no, it's a totally different server.