Advice: How hard is it to be evil?

[Hexicdesolis]

Hey all,

Weird question... I played Eq back on live for years but always stuck with elves and other neutral races. With Green coming up I kinda want to try an evil race, but I am worried about the "everyone wants you dead" factor.

For experienced evil people how big of a challenge is it?

[Vidar]

What class are you thinking about playing?

[Nexii]

Not much of one to be honest. You might eat a few deaths learning where the scary KOS NPCs are. But there's advantages too especially at higher levels
- Grobb is closest to LGuk
- Neriak is closest to SolB (once released?)
- Most choice of good-aligned cities to exp in (as lets face it, dungeons will be overcrowded)

[Danth]

Here's what the game said:

As a member of the Dismal Rage and a loyal shadowknight of Innoruuk, the Prince of Hate and father of the Teir'Dal, you will be branded as a traitor to your own race. The Temple of Marr and Hall of Truth will actively seek your destruction. When they all fall before the might of Innoruuk you shall be vindicated. Through arcane means you are able to summon forth extra-planar beings to do your bidding.@> This Race / Class / Deity combination is of HIGH DIFFICULTY

The Shadowknights of Nightkeep are perhaps the most organized of the Trollish guilds. They are organized and methodical in their viciousness. They fight an unending war against the Greenblood Knights of Oggok who they view as simpletons that are delicious when served with a side order of Froglok legs. Trolls are brutal and unpredictable and tend to eat whatever or whoever they feel like at the moment including each other. This being the case, most other humanoids will tend to attack you first and ask questions never.@> This Race / Class / Deity combination is of HIGH DIFFICULTY

...And so on and so forth. Out here in the real world being evil isn't too big a deal in-game and offers some advantages.

Danth

[sciception]

Ugh, I was just researching DE SK. The stats are scarier than the actual alignment for me.

[Baler]

Carry 8 stacks of food and 8 stacks of water. Delete copper and silver.
Use invis to get to a bank. Use the camera trick (f9) to bank almost anywhere.
Be sure to con the usual suspects.
You're ready to be evil.

It's really not that hard with modern day knowledge of the game. Far easier than it was back in 1999.

[Hexicdesolis]

Thanks all. I was debating Troll Shaman and may give it a shot... I mean worst case I die to a guard too many times and then just roll a Barb.

I appreciate the imput.

[Baler]

Race wont matter for shaman come kunark and that's me saying this, someone who has argued over shm race for years. I've seen excellent people play shaman with all 4 races. The first solo artist shm was a barb as further proof.

[Deathrydar]

Being evil is the most fun I had in this game. And I am doing it again when Green launches. I think you should try it. You just need to tread carefully. Not many people can handle it. Seriously! Come join the dark side. We have cookies!

[Baler]

One massive perk to being evil is you can kill more npcs than a good.
Example: Felwithe and kaladim guards are okay plat

[BlackBellamy]

Being Evil is great! Like for example, Neriak is super-cool, all blue and purple and shit, with neon even! It's like a club, you feel nice and exclusive, and they don't let in smelly gnomes and other riff raff. The Cristal flows all night, Dark Dogg is on the turntable, it's nice. Then you go outside, you got the Newbie Log where you form life-long friendships over cracked staff looting rights. You go by the pyramid, meet your first mummy, check out the cool fish in the river, see that path, where does it go? Oh it's getting brighter out here, looks like a nice place, I see bears and pumas and beetles, some kind of merchant hut, and then you hear:

That's it, swine! You're outta here!

https://imgur.com/FQc44jZ.jpg

POW!!!

Look, you're back at the Newbie Log, how did you get here?

[sacman08]

If you have a group of friends that all of you can play together, no issues. If you are counting on pickup groups, you will have to do faction unless you pick a soloing class like necro, then you can be all screw faction.

[dekova]

One massive perk to being evil is you can kill more npcs than a good.
Example: Felwithe and kaladim guards are okay plat

What this guy said. I found being an enchanter who wants to keep good faction more restricting then being an ogre shaman.

[Bazia]

being evil you can start farming halfling deputy spears at like level 21->36ish and be filthy rich (by fresh standard servers)

[Tecmos Deception]

Race wont matter for shaman come kunark and that's me saying this, someone who has argued over shm race for years. I've seen excellent people play shaman with all 4 races. The first solo artist shm was a barb as further proof.

Yeah, they all have great perks. Barbs get that nice hammer (though I guess it'll be really rare on green). Ogres get FSI. Trolls get regen. Iksars get regen and AC bonus and stuff (though it's a shame no JBB).

I've always been partial to ogre shamans (more for how hideous the females are than the FSI though) and troll shamans (again, because I love how hideous they are, but regen is nice too). Slaughter those goodie-goodie townsfolk and guards!

[Sillyturtle]

My first serious character on P99 was an Iksar monk. I had never played Everquest before and I used the video series called Everquest Classic Adventures by Reptox the Iksar monk as my way of learning things. I had an absolute blast and Iksar monk is probably my favourite class hands down. I vividly remember farming up 1000 spiderling silk at like level 8 and then making the journey from fabulous to EC tunnel by myself without anyone helping me or telling me what to do and it was an absolutely amazing experience

[Vizax_Xaziv]

Not much of one to be honest. You might eat a few deaths learning where the scary KOS NPCs are. But there's advantages too especially at higher levels
- Grobb is closest to LGuk
- Neriak is closest to SolB (once released?)
- Most choice of good-aligned cities to exp in (as lets face it, dungeons will be overcrowded)

Yea let's not implement SolB so EVERYONE 35+ has to pile into LGuk.

Some changes will HAVE to occur. Having 4000+ players per server ain't classic either

[Jimjam]

You get more 'dungeons' in which to xp.

[Graventhel]

Yea let's not implement SolB so EVERYONE 35+ has to pile into LGuk.

Some changes will HAVE to occur. Having 4000+ players per server ain't classic either

Sol B will be released when the appropriate amount of time has elapsed. The way you complain, are you even deserving of Green?

[Gustoo]

4k players is fully classic.

[Nagoya]

All the info in this thread is nice but...

Nagoya's been killing good NPCs all her life.
Was I playing a druid wrong?
I mean, you can literally TP back to Rivervale anytime you want and need,
absolutely no need to "keep your faction good" while being a goodie.
you can turn evil and benefit all the sweet camps people are saying is a perk of being evil.
fake news, all the goodies can kill them too ;)

honestly my second highest character is troll warrior and i love him too.
evil is fine. go adventure.

[cd288]

Yea let's not implement SolB so EVERYONE 35+ has to pile into LGuk.

Some changes will HAVE to occur. Having 4000+ players per server ain't classic either

I doubt we hit 4k. Maybe the first couple days, MAYBE. But I doubt that continues past like the first week. At least a third of the current regular player base are planning to stick primarily with Blue as well.

[cd288]

Here's what the game said:





...And so on and so forth. Out here in the real world being evil isn't too big a deal in-game and offers some advantages.

Danth

Are those from the character select screen?

[Vizax_Xaziv]

I doubt we hit 4k. Maybe the first couple days, MAYBE. But I doubt that continues past like the first week. At least a third of the current regular player base are planning to stick primarily with Blue as well.

I've seen a bunch of outside interest in the server in the past week or so. Just Sunday night there was a group of people talking about G99 in the LFG Chat on my WOW Classic server (Kromkrush).

I've also heard of several large-ish (2000ish concurrent viewers avg) streamers express interest in checking it out. If THAT happens, then all bets are off!

But yes I see the server settling around a daily 2k pop with upwards of 3k on weekends.

[Waldo73]

Don't sell gems when in certain zones for long periods of time (SK). Buy additional gems to convert silver and copper to lightweight, stackable, valuable loot with good vendor buy/sell ratio.

[Kanuvan]

i mean come on dont let the forums troll you, being evil is just plain harder, the main bank in FP which is where you gonna go to bank for WC tunnel is guarded by righteous paladins who are going to smoke your ass if you even step on a fly, yea make friends or spend loads on invis pots or just be a good guy and dont deal with that shi* lol

[Bardp1999]

If you use the actual bank you have no idea how to P99....

[Sinistria]

Being Evil is great! Like for example, Neriak is super-cool, all blue and purple and shit, with neon even! It's like a club, you feel nice and exclusive, and they don't let in smelly gnomes and other riff raff. The Cristal flows all night, Dark Dogg is on the turntable, it's nice. Then you go outside, you got the Newbie Log where you form life-long friendships over cracked staff looting rights. You go by the pyramid, meet your first mummy, check out the cool fish in the river, see that path, where does it go? Oh it's getting brighter out here, looks like a nice place, I see bears and pumas and beetles, some kind of merchant hut, and then you hear:

That's it, swine! You're outta here!

https://imgur.com/FQc44jZ.jpg

POW!!!

Look, you're back at the Newbie Log, how did you get here?

I (almost) always played DE, THAT is exactly how it works out :D

But being evil is not that hard, just be always aware of dangers, like you should be in EQ anyway.

1. rule: Handle EVERYTHING like it wants to kill you

[Gustoo]

Evil is mainly sucky because you get to enjoy a lot less cities without fractioning and even after fractioning there is some weirdo on the wrong faction that aggros you and sends you packing. Most people weren't rolling uglies back in the day. Most people chose their race based on looks and their class based on the verbal description out of the available classes for that race.

Goooood times

Evil guys were always making special trips to their evil homes. You were pretty much stuck with east antonica. If you saw an ogre in faydwer under level 50 on pvp server he was almost always a PK because normal dudes usually stuck closer to Banks and vendors that they could buy from. I was often buying food and drink for my evil buddies who did make it to faydwer.

On non pvp it's a lot harder to choose to be evil when the individual strengths matter so much less.

On pvp an iksar monk unless he sucks is going to beat a human but on non pvp... Who cares.

[Chortles Snort|eS]

Being evil is the most fun I had in this game.

[Hoppkins_Wytchfinder]

You get used to it super quick. Soon as you get to Velious its irrelevant as the factions dont care who you worship.

Not walking into other capital cities as a dark elf seemed normal to me.

[Deathrydar]

One of the reasons this game is so awesome is because there are different "levels" of evil you can be.

For instance, I am making a Necromancer at launch. I could be a Dark Elf Necromancer, as they are pretty much the evilest of the evilest until Iksar are implemented, but I am going to choose Human.

Dark Elf is its own version of difficulty. But, Dark Elves are allowed in West and East Freeport, Grobb and Ogguk. They are also allowed in the zone that mostly no one can enter, and that is Neriak- 3rd Gate.

And that is where I find the difficulty a tad more difficult as a Human. I cannot buy some of my spells as a Human Necromancer because some of the spells like Gate, Bind Affinity and Lesser Shielding to name a few, are only sold in Freeport at the casters guild and they will not sell to a Human Necromancer. So I need to get someone else to buy those spells for me, or I can try to find out what faction those casters are on and try to raise my faction, although I cannot find any information on the caster's faction.

As a Dark Elf, I would be able to get nearly all of my spells from the Necromancer Guild in Neriak- 3rd Gate or the casters guild in Neriak- Commons. But I cannot enter either location as a Human, so it is a tad more difficult.

But there are also pros and cons such as, as a Human Necromancer, I can bank at the North Freeport bank, but as a Dark Elf, I cannot. But, like I said, as a Dark Elf, I could bank in Ogguk and Grobb.

Not even sure what I am talking about now...

Its fun being evil.

[kgarry]

Being evil is hard. How hard? Depends on your knowledge of the game. If you're completely fresh it's going to be either amazing or extremely frustrating for you. It depends on what mood you're in and what style of gameplay you're looking for. In many cases, NPCs are on patrol and will one shot you. They aren't mentioned in the wiki sometimes, either. You must always be aware of your surroundings like a crack head until you learn the zone 100%. It's a bit more forgiving in thew newbie yards, but then the gloves come off when you step out. Finding merchants to sell to is another problem. No one likes you, but there are "evil vendors" that you can find. For example there is one that only spawns at night in west karana behind a house. I find this stuff very cool, it's one of my favorite features of the game. But do I always play an evil character? Hell no. Only when I'm in the mood. It's tough but rewarding. Especially when you're pure evil walking around a town and most guards are now your ally (factioning).

Being evil has provided some of my favorite memories of EQ. I love running around Qeynos. The guards may love my troll, but it's a big city and there are many factions. Most of the factions want me dead. So I mapped out the areas I could run around. Watched for pathing NPCs. It's really incredible what you can do when pay attention. It felt like playing Metal Gear Solid.

[cd288]

Dark Elf is its own version of difficulty. But, Dark Elves are allowed in West and East Freeport, Grobb and Ogguk. They are also allowed in the zone that mostly no one can enter, and that is Neriak- 3rd Gate.

True, you can get into East and West FP, but you still need to be careful there. The guards will leave you alone, but there are plenty of high level NPCs that will still pop you if they see you. The caster's guild in West FP (which you mentioned in the context of Humans), the Monk guild, the Warrior guild. In East FP, it's a bit less dangerous in my experience, but you still have to be careful around certain buildings...I've had an NPC charge out of a building and kill me despite me not being in their line of sight.

[Deathrydar]

True, you can get into East and West FP, but you still need to be careful there. The guards will leave you alone, but there are plenty of high level NPCs that will still pop you if they see you. The caster's guild in West FP (which you mentioned in the context of Humans), the Monk guild, the Warrior guild. In East FP, it's a bit less dangerous in my experience, but you still have to be careful around certain buildings...I've had an NPC charge out of a building and kill me despite me not being in their line of sight.

True! And speaking of the caster's guild, you won't even know the ones standing at the gate of the building are attacking you. You will just see "<NPC> begins to cast a spell" and you're dead.

[Gustoo]

Best advice is to choose the race you can get into the most. Whether it is for style, for home city enjoyment, or for min / max vibes. Choose your persona. All of the variables are important and most important is you having a good time.

The only exception is being an enchanter and not being agnostic. You will have profound regrets if you are a non agnostic enchanter. Don't do it.

[magusfire24]

Best advice is to choose the race you can get into the most. Whether it is for style, for home city enjoyment, or for min / max vibes. Choose your persona. All of the variables are important and most important is you having a good time.

The only exception is being an enchanter and not being agnostic. You will have profound regrets if you are a non agnostic enchanter. Don't do it.

Yup illusions wont work , npcs will still hate you due to religion

[AgentEpilot]

You can kill NPCs as good if youre willing to hide the body and blame the nearest ogre/take a faction hit. Who needs high elf faction anyways!?

[magusfire24]

One of the reasons this game is so awesome is because there are different "levels" of evil you can be.

For instance, I am making a Necromancer at launch. I could be a Dark Elf Necromancer, as they are pretty much the evilest of the evilest until Iksar are implemented, but I am going to choose Human.

Dark Elf is its own version of difficulty. But, Dark Elves are allowed in West and East Freeport, Grobb and Ogguk. They are also allowed in the zone that mostly no one can enter, and that is Neriak- 3rd Gate.

And that is where I find the difficulty a tad more difficult as a Human. I cannot buy some of my spells as a Human Necromancer because some of the spells like Gate, Bind Affinity and Lesser Shielding to name a few, are only sold in Freeport at the casters guild and they will not sell to a Human Necromancer. So I need to get someone else to buy those spells for me, or I can try to find out what faction those casters are on and try to raise my faction, although I cannot find any information on the caster's faction.

As a Dark Elf, I would be able to get nearly all of my spells from the Necromancer Guild in Neriak- 3rd Gate or the casters guild in Neriak- Commons. But I cannot enter either location as a Human, so it is a tad more difficult.

But there are also pros and cons such as, as a Human Necromancer, I can bank at the North Freeport bank, but as a Dark Elf, I cannot. But, like I said, as a Dark Elf, I could bank in Ogguk and Grobb.

Not even sure what I am talking about now...

Its fun being evil.

I know I am starting evil. Either gonna be a DE Necro or a Troll Shaman. Both are pretty appealing. I know I love the look of Neriak! Always have since first time I started there years ago.

[Skinned]

Not terrible. A human shadowknight of Bertox is a hard start, but Qeynos Aquaducts is pretty amazing once you learn the zone. Early on as a human without infravision it was very difficult.

I've played several Iksar characters all the way up and you will learn tricks like Gypsies will sell to everyone and you can kind of bank change into plat by buying gems and selling them back. You do have to go home for spells and training.

[Cen]

Sometimes being evil is the easy path ;)