Best cash farming class with limited play time?

[Entee]

Hello everyone!

I've recently heard about the Teal server and am excited to hop in and start a character up. For the next 6-8 months however, I will have very limited play time; maybe 2 hours per day? Considering that, I've decided it would be best for me to first start with a character that I can solo easily with, as well as make the most money I can within my limited play window. Then sometime next year when I have much more free time, I can choose to a more group oriented class and deck it out with items bought from the first characters money farming.

I figure since I can only play a couple hours a day max, then it's probably best to avoid farming named mobs or rare items. Rather, I think I should focus more on farming coin itself, or items I can vendor, like FS weapons or gems etc.

So my question for all you veterans are, which class would be best for someone in my situation? I figure it has to be either Druid, Mage, Necro, or Shaman... but not sure which overall would be the better choice.

I was hoping to hear some opinions and suggestions from you guys to help me decide which class would suit what I want to do the most.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to reading your replies!

[Kron]

I play Necro because I got AFK at random and FD is such a life saver.

I have been solo from 1 to about 34 and no issues with money. The fastest way to make money honestly is just to lvl since you will make plat so much faster at higher lvls.

Guards drop FS weps that sell anything from 5-10p and are in simple spots to farm.

[Frug]

I play Necro because I got AFK at random and FD is such a life saver.

I have been solo from 1 to about 34 and no issues with money. The fastest way to make money honestly is just to lvl since you will make plat so much faster at higher lvls.

Guards drop FS weps that sell anything from 5-10p and are in simple spots to farm.

If you're adept at this you should make a "guard killing" guide like the "6 minute bard diet" page =D

[flacidpenguin]

Necro.

[M.J.]

If you want to maximize your time I'd say enchanter.

Reliable single pulls and CC indoors and outdoors, faction adjusting spells and illusions to make repairing factions you've wrecked repairable, in demand as both DPS and CC for most high level groups that aren't limited on mobs, best charisma for maximizing vendoring items for plat, access to undercon mobs in many zones that make duoing with a priest very easy or that can be memblurred and allowed to heal up before a recharm.

If you don't like the risk of charm, necro is your best bet, but they're weak at root rotting at present so they don't fair so well in tight spaces or in areas with pathing issues - which is pretty much every dungeon and any zone that isn't as flat as the Karanas.

[Evets]

Probably necro at the moment .. though those spells can cost you a fortune!

[Grimstrike]

Necro
http://wiki.project1999.com/Ultimate_Leveling_While_Making_Money_Guide

[Ivory]

Early on.... rogue.

Later on.... also rogue probably.

Also gnome.

[derpcake2]

Hello everyone!

I've recently heard about the Teal server and am excited to hop in and start a character up. For the next 6-8 months however, I will have very limited play time; maybe 2 hours per day? Considering that, I've decided it would be best for me to first start with a character that I can solo easily with, as well as make the most money I can within my limited play window. Then sometime next year when I have much more free time, I can choose to a more group oriented class and deck it out with items bought from the first characters money farming.

I figure since I can only play a couple hours a day max, then it's probably best to avoid farming named mobs or rare items. Rather, I think I should focus more on farming coin itself, or items I can vendor, like FS weapons or gems etc.

So my question for all you veterans are, which class would be best for someone in my situation? I figure it has to be either Druid, Mage, Necro, or Shaman... but not sure which overall would be the better choice.

I was hoping to hear some opinions and suggestions from you guys to help me decide which class would suit what I want to do the most.

Thanks for reading, looking forward to reading your replies!

Stick to FQ and FQ only.

[Swish]

Druid for ports, better to do that than rely on guard camps being open.

[Entee]

Druid for ports, better to do that than rely on guard camps being open.

Yeah I was originally thinking that Druid would be best for being able to port people for $$ semi-afk. However, I live in Asia and during the few hours that I'll be playing, the population is only around 300. So I imagine there will be less people paying for ports, as well as more camps open to grind coin at.

I thought maybe something like a Necro would overall make more money farming something like treants compared to Druid ports. But then again, I'm not so sure which is why I wanted some other opinions on it.

So far it seems like most people think Necro would be best.

One thing I am wondering though, since they can't root rot very well yet. How well would a Shaman work in my situation? They are apparently the kings of root rotting, right? Dont they have like the fastest TTK on single mobs? Or no?

Thanks!

[ajdes]

One thing I am wondering though, since they can't root rot very well yet. How well would a Shaman work in my situation? They are apparently the kings of root rotting, right? Dont they have like the fastest TTK on single mobs? Or no?

Thanks!

Shaman are ok soloers in classic but they dont really come into their own until Kunark. They become root rotting machines once they get their epic and then gods once they get Torpor. Id rather play a necro, druid, on enchanter for soloing in classic though.

[ajdes]

also necros are excellent root rotters if thats how you want to play, they just take a while to get regular root

[Siege]

Forget Mage or Necro. Research is a serious time and money sink.

Go Bard. You have multiple ways to solo, and you can buy all of your spells from vendors. You also won't be a liability when you join a group like Druid.

[Secrets]

Reverse Engineers are pretty good for solo farming.

Makes slightly more $/hr than a software engineer, problem is they have one of the hardest learning curves. Really easy to solo on, though, as people literally will give you currency for playing the class well.

Downside is you might get banned early on if you're not careful about which NPCs you destroy. They're really good at breaking the play nice policy if you're not careful. Also, again, the learning curve really sucks, but again, high rewards.

I would try and farm IDA Pro from Hexrays first, you'll have an easier time getting more cash if you do that early on. Has clicky pseudocode which makes farming easy, too, which is also nice.

If you need any help, there's plenty of guides online and tons of resources about the class available, mostly self-serve though.

Hopefully they give them some much-needed buffs early game, its kind of intimidating playing the class as a newbie, lots of self-doubt and such.

[vossiewulf]

1. Get necro
2. Solo anything up to yellow, lots of profit and not hard at all
3. Get necro to Rathe Mountains giant-hunting level
4. Profit massively with little effort. Them being giants just makes it easier to keep track of them when you're fear kiting three at a time. One at a time can be done so drunk you that have to close one eye to see a single screen.
5. Go to EC and buy whatever strikes your fancy
6. Twink the ever-loving crap out of whatever characters follow

I played necros to 50s on live in 2000 and on blue, and past level 15 or so money stopped being a meaningful factor, with just a little work I always had plenty to get anything useful for my level. I haven't played bard or druid so maybe they can make lots of money too, particularly druids with porting, but I can say that necros make plenty of money and at least in outdoor zones, anything they see that's not red is only alive with the necro's permission. And it's really not hard to be converting two or three at a time to a more dead state. Add SOW and Clarity/KEI and it's not even vaguely fair anymore.

And I still think a necro with SOW is one of the best outdoor pullers. I was always able to supply to a group (as long as there were enough mobs) a completely continuous flow of half-dead mobs. Hit them with darkness and at least one more dot, run to group, pet and group wait for mob to arrive and attack, I FD. In 10-15 seconds pet or group has agro, run out, immediately repeat process with another mob, it will arrive at group just as first one dies, already half dead. Group taking little damage, chain pull until someone asks for mercy. Do that in OT and watch your levels go ding ding ding.

Another option is just using a group as an uber-pet and fear kite mobs, very useful if you're low on healing. Goes a tad slower as you'll have to occasionally med, but unless you're no good or the group is stupid, you can still kill things quickly with no one taking any damage.

[Fammaden]

Forget Mage or Necro. Research is a serious time and money sink.

Unlike mage the necro can actually get its pets right now. There's many more players with high level research now and the spells are available. You will be able to earn the money to buy them or tip someone to combine words that you buy/farm.

[Purplefluffy]

Early on.... rogue.

Later on.... also rogue probably.

Also gnome.

You need the in game knowledge to make the Rogue really shine here and to be willing to rub players up the wrong way. That said, I agree, a rogue can be a very profitable class to play and what is more, you don't even need to kill anything.

[Tecmos Deception]

Necro.

They're a powerful solo exp class that also works well with a lot of different duo, trio, and group options.

You generally don't need to care about faction so you can go ahead and slaughter good NPCs (bards, guards, random townsfolk) for exp (or sometimes loot, like with guards); these camps are often quieter than other places so you can log on and immediately go to town without trying to find a camp.

Invis, invis vs undead, feign death, harmshield, pet allow you to travel around easily (just get some jboots or sow pots eventually, or tip druids/wizards for ports) both outdoors and in dungeons.

You have a lot of options: Fear kite with pet? Root rot? Lifetap tanking? Charming undead? Nuking undead? Some work better than others overall, but there are situations where a necro can deal with something that another class wouldn't be able to because of the different options they have.

FD is the ultimate "I randomly need to AFK while playing" tool.


Your other options aren't bad choices, but the necro stands out for what you're talking about imo.

Druid ports are convenient for self and for making cash, and druids are pretty versatile too: root rotting, charming animals, nuking stuff, quadding, lots of great buffs, snares and roots, acceptable healing. But they come up short overall compared to a necro imo, mostly because necros work as well indoors as out and have a strong pet without needing to charm and have amazing mana regen that druids never get.

Shaman is nice too. They're more straightforward than a necro or druid since they don't have any charm or pulling tricks to rely on to break up multiple spawns, but their mix of strong dots, great buffs, a pet, canni, slow, and resist debuffs carries them through. Most of the reason people think shamans are godly are because they're picturing a level 60 shaman with torpor. Shamans are a lot different before torpor than after because torpor gives the sham the staying power/brute force to win a fight even though they don't have the control or "oh shit" buttons a chanter (aoe stun, aoe mez, aoe blur) or necro (harmshield, feign death) have to use when they get in trouble; before torpor if they get behind the 8-ball, they don't really have a tool to right the ship except for perfect play and good luck on resists/root breaks.

Magician is too much of a one-trick pony to be a great all around solo character. They have no real way to pull or CC. They can farm solo pulls, or groups of lower-level mobs, well with strong pets and nukes but fall behind the others options above because of they lack the utility, mana regen, CC, etc., needed to handle themselves in most dungeon settings or against many stronger foes.

[Entee]

Necro.

They're a powerful solo exp class that also works well with a lot of different duo, trio, and group options.

You generally don't need to care about faction so you can go ahead and slaughter good NPCs (bards, guards, random townsfolk) for exp (or sometimes loot, like with guards); these camps are often quieter than other places so you can log on and immediately go to town without trying to find a camp.

Invis, invis vs undead, feign death, harmshield, pet allow you to travel around easily (just get some jboots or sow pots eventually, or tip druids/wizards for ports) both outdoors and in dungeons.

You have a lot of options: Fear kite with pet? Root rot? Lifetap tanking? Charming undead? Nuking undead? Some work better than others overall, but there are situations where a necro can deal with something that another class wouldn't be able to because of the different options they have.

FD is the ultimate "I randomly need to AFK while playing" tool.



Alright well you, along with everyone else speaking so highly of Necros, have pretty much convinced me that Necro is the class for me. The multiple ways to kill things and the many different tools in the Necro kit sounds like a lot of fun to play with. The ability to FD + AFK is also a pretty big deal for me. So, Necro it is!

Alright so, what race would you guys suggest? I'm leaning towards Erudite or Gnome because apparently they're the least KOS? I'm not too worried about faction considering I'll be killing guards, NPCs, Treants etc. for money. But, it would be nice to be able to buy/sell/bank/not be KOS in every city.

[Tecmos Deception]

Don't worry about banking. You can bank even with a kos banker, either while FD next to him or while around a corner so he doesn't have line of sight to aggro you (you can still click on him to use as long as you're close, even if you don't have line of sight). Selling isn't a big deal usually; there are a lot of neutral/evil merchants tucked away in most zones.

I like gnomes personally. Their small size makes it easy to maneuver in tight spaces most dungeons have, and they can see through walls to assist with pulling and stuff. They get tinkering if you're interested in that, and have infravision and acceptable int. Erudites have the highest int but no night vision. Either works fine, really. Iksar is the best race for necros but any race makes a potent necro.

[azeth]

Gnome wall vision's value cant be understated. I'd roll an iksar over a gnome for a necro, but gnome over any other race.

[Kron]

[QUOTE=Alright so, what race would you guys suggest? I'm leaning towards Erudite or Gnome because apparently they're the least KOS? I'm not too worried about faction considering I'll be killing guards, NPCs, Treants etc. for money. But, it would be nice to be able to buy/sell/bank/not be KOS in every city.[/QUOTE]

Human's/Erudite are blind as a bat at night so skip.

People will tell you to go Gnome because they have the least hated faction, but I killed everything and everyone so it seemed pointless to not go full evil.

So I went with Darkelf because I could kill 80% of the guards/bards and not care because I always had a home base to get my spells at. Also I don't touch Trolls or Ogers because I can use their cities and it's great for when you start to farm in Guk.

Just a little side not I have two characters a lvl 34 Necro and lvl 36 Ench.

Ench never purchased armor/research spells has 930p in the bank.

Necro purchased all lvl 29 & 34 research spells + multiple armor pieces ranging from 40p-300p and he has 2,320p in the bank from farming Highkeep and Halfling guards.

All pets after lvl 20 are research only but never had issues finding a fair price for them in EC. Also get a higher lvl Necro to combine the spells for you because Research is always behind and not worth grinding.

I bank in North FP where I'm maxed hated faction by running to bank using invs then just FD in front of bank teller and bam not you can use the bank.

Look up the 6 min bard diet for Necros. The 1st real sit at grind one is Misty in Karanas and the great thing is at night the vendor behind her become evil and you sell all the loot right there. Made a few hundred plat going from 12 to 16 with little risk. Also when you sit at Misty and you start to get a ton of Copper/silver just buy the instrument you been selling to the vendor for 4.5p and sell it back to her for 4p and it will convert all your copper/silver into to plat so weight wont be an issue and no need to bank.

[Fammaden]

The bard NPC's for the "bard diet" aren't currently in green/teal, BTW.

[Tecmos Deception]

The bard NPC's for the "bard diet" aren't currently in green/teal, BTW.

Some of them aren't maybe. Misty, at the very least, definitely is.

Oh, I also saw the one in the bar in east freeport (https://wiki.project1999.com/Fabian). I suspect most or all of them are in and am curious why you thought none of them were.

[Kron]

The bard NPC's for the "bard diet" aren't currently in green/teal, BTW.

Misty Storyswapper for 12-16 & Trissa Whistlesong 16-20 & Cordelia Minster for 22-26 are since I used them on Green.


Starr Dreamspinner and Storm Dragonchaser are for a fact in Highkeep because they make my life harder when people are farming nobles.

[Fammaden]

I was thinking of bard mail quests I guess.

[Siege]

Unlike mage the necro can actually get its pets right now. There's many more players with high level research now and the spells are available. You will be able to earn the money to buy them or tip someone to combine words that you buy/farm.

It's not too bad until you need to buy your level 34 pet, which is selling for 500+ plat at the moment. God only knows what your level 49 pet is going to sell for when it hits the market.

I'd actually recommend doing the Research grind if you roll Necro because you're going to pay through the nose for those two pets if you don't. You might as well sink that money into Research.

[Kron]

It's not too bad until you need to buy your level 34 pet, which is selling for 500+ plat at the moment. God only knows what your level 49 pet is going to sell for when it hits the market.

I'd actually recommend doing the Research grind if you roll Necro because you're going to pay through the nose for those two pets if you don't. You might as well sink that money into Research.


Purchased my lvl 34 pet in EC for 250p the spell not pages. Saw two more sell for 300p so if anyone is paying 500p+ for the lvl 34 pet then they got bamboozled.

The lvl 39 pet is going for about 500p but lets be honest you can make that in 1hr as a Necro so not 100% sure why that's not a fair price.

These are based on Green market so Teal may be whole other beast.

[Tecmos Deception]

I'd actually recommend doing the Research grind if you roll Necro because you're going to pay through the nose for those two pets if you don't. You might as well sink that money into Research.

That's probably not great advice. There are folks on the forums and in the discord doing research combines for free. Also a necro with an outdated pet is still a stronger soloer than most everyone else. I clearly remember missing some pets on blue and classic and it not being too big of a deal.

I mean, I seem to recall from my necro on blue that I couldn't send in a current-tier pet for a whole fight and/or buffed or else he'd steal exp anyway.

[akagami]

Complaining about pet prices is infuriating.

For the people selling these higher level pets, most of us could not even purchase them despite being willing to throw platinum at them.

500 may seem pricey for a 34 pet, but the rare words (suffering) is used in the 39 pet as well, and actually I think there are more copies of the 39 pet flying around thanks to spectres being perma camped. So there is a logic to the price, and anyway by 34 a necro should have plenty of platinum. If you don't, then maybe you should plan out your leveling path better. Because there will be other necros with plenty of platinum to buy a spell which is a huge upgrade.

44 and 49 pet are pretty freaking difficult to get at the moment and most of the people who hit 50 first didn't even have them on their way to 50 because no one did. Note, that also does not mean the current 50 necros are drowning in extra scrolls and just charging an arm and leg cause they are greedy.

Also the advice to train research because scrolls are expensive is dumb and bad logic. Materials are expensive, so train research?? Material cost has nothing to do with research. I am sure there are 50 necros happy to do the combines. Yes, you may have to run to them and you may have to be proactive in sending tells to people.

[Nirgon]

Strip a rich account

You will get banned after but it's the fastest way to acquire a large amount

[Secrets]

Strip a rich account

You will get banned after but it's the fastest way to acquire a large amount

Account sharing isn't supported by the staff, and your account is your responsibility. Technically, you would get away with this. So long as you didn't RMT it.

[Siege]

It's not too bad until you need to buy your level 34 pet, which is selling for 500+ plat at the moment. God only knows what your level 49 pet is going to sell for when it hits the market.

I'd actually recommend doing the Research grind if you roll Necro because you're going to pay through the nose for those two pets if you don't. You might as well sink that money into Research.

I completely forgot that the rank 39 and 44 pets are Research-only until Kunark. That's yet another reason to grind out Research if you roll Necro right now, which I wouldn't recommend if you want an easy ride to 50. Like I said in my original post, Bard is the class to play if you want to cruise to max level without any major impediments.

[vossiewulf]

Alright so, what race would you guys suggest? I'm leaning towards Erudite or Gnome because apparently they're the least KOS?

All of mine have been DE. Second only to Erudite in int, and you can go 1-20s (Nektulos>Lavastorm>Najena) without ever going more than one zone away from your home city, and anything you want/need to buy is also just a single zone away from home in EC.

In DE necro form I've spent far less time running somewhere and much more time killing things than with any other race. I mean, even if you do need to go someplace far away, EC with pretty much continual porting support is a 5 minute run down the road as long as you're bound at Neriak gate, and like I said there is no reason (other than change of pace) to be bound anywhere else until mid-20s.

Also DEs get the racial Hide trait. If you hide then FD, it will entirely clear your hate list and no other type of necro can do that. Hide is also a good way to break charm if you're charming undead.

And I never once really needed to go anywhere that I couldn't go. That said, I tend to have fun and make money and buy what I want rather than questing for the better items myself. If you like that part of the game a lot, then gnome may be better choice.

And DEs just look cool.

My second favorite necros though are gnomes, just because it's always amusing to see these little tiny guys stomping giant mobs so badly that you feel sorry for the mobs.

[jackd104]

limited play time and everquest dont go well together

Exactly. If your plan is to deck out another toon like next year, you won’t get far enough to do that by next year on a couple hours a day. Why have this complex two toon plan? If you have limited time, just focus on developing one character and take your time. You will actually enjoy the game more this way than most people playing on the server. We are rather like those ever present drunks at the bar - sure, we are always there sipping a beer, but we’re not really having a good time.

[Entee]

Exactly. If your plan is to deck out another toon like next year, you won’t get far enough to do that by next year on a couple hours a day. Why have this complex two toon plan? If you have limited time, just focus on developing one character and take your time. You will actually enjoy the game more this way than most people playing on the server. We are rather like those ever present drunks at the bar - sure, we are always there sipping a beer, but we’re not really having a good time.

Mostly because I'd like to have 2 characters, 1 solo focused and 1 group focused. Considering my current IRL situation with limited play time, it just makes sense to play the solo focused one first. With the solo one I can play and level at my own speed when I have time, I can farm myself some money to use on the character itself as well as the future group centered character I make. Next year I'll probably make either a Tank, Cleric, or Rogue to level mostly in groups with. With my limited play time right now, grouping isn't really an option. I don't imagine I'd have more fun trying to solo level on one of those right now, at least not any more than I would with something like a Necro, Druid, Shaman etc.

Necro actually sounds really fun and I'm looking forward to leveling / playing one. I wouldn't bother playing the game if I didn't enjoy it, simply to give money to another character down the road haha, that's just a nice bonus; and even after I make my second character, I'll still be playing my first character often. I plan to play on this Teal server all the way through to the end of it's life, in 3-4 years. So I think it's a good idea to use the limited time I have now to try and establish myself on the server first with a character I will not only enjoy playing, but can also farm a bunch of $$$ with.