What to do starting out?

[ohatcheejack]

Hi there, I just rolled a Wizzy & have started Qeynos. Having fun blasting mobs at the front gates, but wondering if there are some other things I should be doing instead of just mob grinding?

Cheers!

[A Knight]

I'm still noob, so I don't know all the noob quests. But I would just save bone chips, and kill any willow wisps you run into, for greater lightstones.

Then when you go to Blackburrow, save gnoll fangs.

There's some 5 hp earrings in the Qeynos sewers, but they aren't that big of a deal if the sewers are too hard to learn.

[spoil]

There are also the putrid skeletons, rabid grizzlies and rabid wolves that drop stuff you can turn in for experience.

[Lurgort/Sseri]

Hi there, I just rolled a Wizzy & have started Qeynos. Having fun blasting mobs at the front gates, but wondering if there are some other things I should be doing instead of just mob grinding?

Cheers!

One thing I will say is that Wizard is a bold choice for a new player. Finding groups will be difficult since Wizards have slow mana regen. Great Semi-AFK solo class if you're busy.

I started a Wizard on Green and I had to form my own groups all the time.

[Thrombosis]

EQ is a very grindy game so as long as you're getting something from grinding (coin/loot/xp) then you're playing it right. Qeynos is a great starting area, make sure you hit the aqueducts for some rings and earrings, then hit Blackburrow for fangs and West Karana for bandit sashes, you'll have hundreds of plat in no time.

I would echo what Lurgot said; Wizard is a very tough class that you may find isn't that much fun for a first character. Don't be afraid to try out other classes - I recommend necro or druid for new players.

[Toxigen]

log off, create iksar necro or tunare-worshiping druid

return to wiz (or a different class) when you have a better understanding of the game

[spoil]

Yeah, unless you have your heart set on rolling a particular class then I would try one of the 'easier' options. Because nothing is that easy starting out fresh on p99.

[Loadsamoney]

Why are people saying Wizard is a difficult starting class? The concept is simple; if something is moving, nuke it. You might have downtime but it's a pretty safe class considering how strong the damage spells are, and people love the ports so it's good at money making.

[loramin]

See: https://wiki.project1999.com/Qeynos_Starting_Guide

[Topgunben]

Why are people saying Wizard is a difficult starting class? The concept is simple; if something is moving, nuke it. You might have downtime but it's a pretty safe class considering how strong the damage spells are, and people love the ports so it's good at money making.

The main problem is the down time though. The down time will basically kill someones interest in playing the game. That’s why necros are so great, because they have very limited downtime.

In fact I’m about to create another necro and play him to 60. It’s just that much fun haha.

[Loadsamoney]

The main problem is the down time though. The down time will basically kill someones interest in playing the game. That’s why necros are so great, because they have very limited downtime.

In fact I’m about to create another necro and play him to 60. It’s just that much fun haha.

I guess we judge difficulty differently then. For me, difficulty is how much trouble a class is going to have killing something on their own, regardless of downtime. If they can kill something with little danger, or the class is a one-trick pony like Wizard (nukes, nukes and more nukes) it's an easy class.

A difficult class, to me, is one that has a complicated rotation or is mechanically complex, like Bard. AoE the wrong thing unintentionally, you die. Get stunned in the middle of swarm kiting, you die. Draw the aggro in a group because of a charm/mez breaking, you probably die. There's a lot that can go wrong for Bards, a lot is expected of them in groups (constantly twisting and rotating songs to adapt to group needs), and they are blamed easily when things turn to shit.

I'd say Shaman is relatively difficult too because a lot is expected of you in groups, from heals, buffs, slows and even damage. You don't just get to do one thing, you are multitasking and need a lot of situational awareness as a result. Wizards have one job in a group, blow things up. As long as they are aware of aggro, it's easy to play.

[Lurgort/Sseri]

The issue with a Wizard is you need a bard or enchanter in a group to contribute. You need to spend more time sitting than doing damage otherwise, whereas a Monk, Rogue, Ranger, or hell, even a Warrior will do more damage than you.

Wizard isn't difficult to play, but difficult to fit into a group because you need mana regen or you're a third wheel.

I guess we judge difficulty differently then. For me, difficulty is how much trouble a class is going to have killing something on their own, regardless of downtime. If they can kill something with little danger, or the class is a one-trick pony like Wizard (nukes, nukes and more nukes) it's an easy class.

A difficult class, to me, is one that has a complicated rotation or is mechanically complex, like Bard. AoE the wrong thing unintentionally, you die. Get stunned in the middle of swarm kiting, you die. Draw the aggro in a group because of a charm/mez breaking, you probably die. There's a lot that can go wrong for Bards, a lot is expected of them in groups (constantly twisting and rotating songs to adapt to group needs), and they are blamed easily when things turn to shit.

I'd say Shaman is relatively difficult too because a lot is expected of you in groups, from heals, buffs, slows and even damage. You don't just get to do one thing, you are multitasking and need a lot of situational awareness as a result. Wizards have one job in a group, blow things up. As long as they are aware of aggro, it's easy to play.

[Loadsamoney]

The issue with a Wizard is you need a bard or enchanter in a group to contribute. You need to spend more time sitting than doing damage otherwise, whereas a Monk, Rogue, Ranger, or hell, even a Warrior will do more damage than you.

Wizard isn't difficult to play, but difficult to fit into a group because you need mana regen or you're a third wheel.

Unless the group needs an evac, then you're a lifesaver and the difference between a profitable night and a corpse run.

[Lurgort/Sseri]

Unless the group needs an evac, then you're a lifesaver and the difference between a profitable night and a corpse run.

Agreed, it feels gratifying to evac a group if shit hits the fan. I've done it on my Wizard several times, but the Druid exists and can heal...to prevent such things, but in the event of an imminent wipe, Druid can also evac. Wizard needed the Clarity line, not Enchanter.

[Loadsamoney]

Agreed, it feels gratifying to evac a group if shit hits the fan. I've done it on my Wizard several times, but the Druid exists and can heal...to prevent such things, but in the event of an imminent wipe, Druid can also evac. Wizard needed the Clarity line, not Enchanter.

At least their epic comes with a Clarity-esque spell in Barrier of Force. Whether it's a realistic goal for most Wizards is another matter, though I doubt it's as bottlenecked as the Mage epic.

[Videri]

OP! Some thoughts.
• Wizard takes patience and caution. You'll probably die plenty of times.
• Grouping - some players don't usually invite wizards to groups as they are less efficient than some others, but again, have patience and take initiative and you can make groups.
• Once you can kill gnolls in Qeynos Hills and Blackburrow (level 6 or 8 and up?) it's good exp to solo or group in Blackburrow, collect gnoll fangs (stackable), and turn them in in Qeynos. You could bind someplace clever to turn in.
• Level maybe 10 or 12+: https://wiki.project1999.com/Bandit_Sashes
• Quadding. Once you get to higher levels, you can quad, which is great exp and fun. You need some +int/mana gear to have enough of a mana pool. You might need the level 29 spell Bonds of Force (area snare), but it can be done at lower levels than that if you have SOW on and the proper spells. There are guides on the wiki. Some players do a quad, sit in a safe spot to med, do a chore, return, quad again, go lift a few weights, come back and do another quad, etc. That's the best way to get to 60 on a wizard.
• Wizards are great on certain raid mobs due to their Lures (low-resist nuke).
• I recommend making friends. EQ is a social game. I would never stay interested if I didn't have people I like to play with.

[Toxigen]

the fact is wizard isnt a great class until you've got a couple of years into p99

once you have the resources to plvl and acquire epic ASAP, you can then have a pretty fun character for the raid scene

a wizard in rags is going to take literally for-fucking-ever to level

make a necro - you'll learn all the games mechanics (fears / snares / roots / charm and summoned pets / lulls / FD) and be able to make money to at least start a wiz with some decent mana pool, flux staff click, etc

[Lampolo]

You wouldn't want to hurt your self with a wizard. Play a safer class like necro or druid. It only takes 1000 hours or so to get to 60 so might awell learn on something easy right. It's not like your going to put much time or effort into a char. You might aswell make 100's of plat porting people on your druid for a few years. Then you can power lvl to 60 and buy all the best in slot gear for any char you want.

[Jimjam]

If you do get in to a group on a wizard you are likely to find you spend most of your mana on roots and interrupts (which many classes can do just as well or better). You'll do very few nukes, and the ones you do do will do a fraction of the group's damage and aren't usually an efficient use of mana.

If you have ambitions of doing consistent dps and dropping big nukes for groups wizard is not the class for you. Magician does this much better with it's pet.

If you want to burn down a single mob (or later, up to 4 mobs) in a few seconds, then go back to afk for a large number of minutes, then maybe you'll enjoy wizard.

[Topgunben]

Sadly Wizards are just lame and not that good. They are by far the worst pure caster. And ports really aren’t that good considering there are a million druids that can port you nearly to every wizard location and can give SOW at the same time.

The devs should have balanced the 3 worst classes out by doing to following

Rangers are the only class that can track and get a wolf pet as good as necros (Basically becomes chain wearing beast lord)

Warriors get an added 10 hp regen per tick. 50% more HPs and bonuses to bind wound.

Wizard have innate mana regen equal to clarity and stacks with other mana regen spells and songs. Wizards also get a percent of mana steal back from all damage given.

I know some of you will shit over this post, but truly those 3 classes need nerfed in a good way. Also before you say warriors don’t need any improvements, they are seriously only good at level 60, with near BIS gear and disciplines active. Up to that point, you are better off playing a paladin, SK, or monk.

[Videri]

All these wizards that can't find groups should rope themselves a bard and tip for a Protection of the Glades from a 60 druid, and go do something really nuts. Like a rotating quad shenanigan, or everyone just quad in the same zone and let the bard AFK mana on a rock in the middle of the zone like a mana-fountain.

[Mystero]

Might want to check out Cuburt https://wiki.project1999.com/Cuburt probly when like lvl 6. Mobs spawn a lot in aquaduct and the quest for 3int earing is great.

[Snaggles]

…but wondering if there are some other things I should be doing instead of just mob grinding?

Cheers!

Ah the question I’ve been trying to figure out for over two decades :(

Really though, it’s a slow drip game and 99% your xp will be from grinding. Likely solo as a wizard whether single-nuking stuff down and medding while watching TV or killing four things with snare and the targeted-AOE spells and also medding while watching TV.

Quadding gives you a longer window of time you can do something else so most choose that path. Single target stuff isn’t horrible though; you have more possible places to hunt but it’s slower xp and more attention demanding.

If you aren’t married to the idea of a wizard a Druid would give ports and some of the same functionality. A magician too (minus the ports). You could save up some plat and get a Soloist Wand which makes the lvl 12-29’ish grind way better with free click damage.

[ohatcheejack]

Down time is great for me actually!

Thanks everyone for the advice! If you see a wizzy named Majisto in game, gimme a Hail!

[Loadsamoney]

Down time is great for me actually!

Thanks everyone for the advice! If you see a wizzy named Majisto in game, gimme a Hail!

Are you on green or blue?

[ohatcheejack]

Are you on green or blue?

Green

[Loadsamoney]

Green

Darn, was gonna see if I had any newbie stuff for you. I play on Blue though.

[dragolyche]

Wizzy is not easy as a noob, but it could be fun. In i suggest to you: use rain's spells. There are really mana efficient and you will do good dmg.

I still use rains in raid, but you have to watch if add were mezzing, and they are not really often resist. Especialy if yu ll do Staff of temperate flux quest.

Enjoy nuke, port and quad.

[Loadsamoney]

Here's a path you can follow to earn money while you level and set yourself up well for the high 30s and beyond.

1-5: Decaying Skeletons. Hold on to the bone chips, assemble a suit of Cloth Armor, sell the excess crap. By the time you hit level 5 you should have at least 100pp worth of Bone Chips, easily enough to afford you a starter weapon like Sacrificial Dagger, or Dagger of Frost.

5-9 Orc Pawns and Centurions in Crushbone. Vendor the trash, save the belts. They can be turned in for exp later, or sold to players for 2pp each.

9-12: More Centurions and Slavers in Crushbone, or dread corpse camp in Misty Thicket for more Bone Chip selling. The money raised up to this point should allow you to afford some Gold Fire Wedding Rings or better, the most critical upgrade after your weapon for the raw HP. Leave some for spells though.

12-18: Bandits in Lesser Faydark. Ideally these would be the Nybright Sisters near Mistmoore zoneline, but they are camped fairly often so you may have to play the waiting game for them. They almost always drop bronze weapons which vendor for 2-3pp each, and an inn is not too far from them, a bit northeast. Alternatively, if the camp is taken there's another bandit camp to the north, close to the zone wall. These are 3 instead of 4 and are close enough to social, but offer similar monetary prospects. Watch out for the shadowed man that wanders nearby the bandits and the named unicorn that patrols the zone. For both camps, pull to the wall.

There is also the bandits in Western Karana. They occasionally drop bandit sashes which can be turned in at Qeynos for exp, coin, and a bronze weapon each. Beware the Brigands, they will be too much for you at this point.

18+ The grind for Paineel:

This is where it gets time consuming, but it's a chance to raise a bit of extra plat as well, to get some cheap armor or better HP rings. Go into the Warrens and slaughter the kobolds en masse. The various feudal weapons and armor they drop vendors somewhat well, but more importantly, each one killed is 1 faction gained with the Heretics. Odds are unless you started as an evil race/religion you will be KoS to the Heretics to start. It will take you some time, many hours, maybe even a few days, but just keep slaughtering the kobolds in the first half of the area until you get to Amiable with the Heretics, which you can check by conning the skeleton guards in the newbie area of Paineel.

Once you are amiable, hail Guard Heridion and say 'keyz', and you will get a key that lets you activate the elevator into Paineel. Bind here and start slaughtering the lower level guards, starting with the four at the back wall of the palace. They are easily to kill, each on a 6m30s timer, can be pulled one at a time or otherwise rooted, and each one drops a bronze bastard sword and a kite shield, a minimum of 8pp per kill. You can get to level 24 this way easily and raise several thousand plat doing so, enough for a full suit of lowbie armor and a decent mage shield.

At 24 move to the pond in front of the SK guild, just before the first gate. These ones are a little higher and can get you to 27-28 with patience, again raising several grand in the process. At 28 or so, with enough gear upgrades, you should easily be able to take Pendleir just inside the SK guild. His level range is 24-27, also on a 6m30s timer and can get you to 36-37 easily, and there's no other aggro to worry about since he doesn't flee.

By then you'll have made easily 10k or more and very few deaths along the way, and all kinds of options open up to you at that point. The only downside as a Wizard is that you'll probably be behind on research spells, but that can be worked on later.

If you still want Paineel guards, the four around the moat of the palace are 33-37 and can take you to 49 or so, but they're on 27 minute timers and they social aggro with their buddy beside them, so be warned.

[ohatcheejack]

Here's a path you can follow to earn money while you level and set yourself up well for the high 30s and beyond.

1-5: Decaying Skeletons. Hold on to the bone chips, assemble a suit of Cloth Armor, sell the excess crap. By the time you hit level 5 you should have at least 100pp worth of Bone Chips, easily enough to afford you a starter weapon like Sacrificial Dagger, or Dagger of Frost.



Thanks for all the info, this is great.

Am I selling bone chips to other players? Is there somewhere where players gather for trading?

[Loadsamoney]

Thanks for all the info, this is great.

Am I selling bone chips to other players? Is there somewhere where players gather for trading?

Yes, to other players.

East Commonlands, specifically the tunnel on the desert side. Use the /auc function to peddle your wares in Auction chat. You can get 10pp per stack of bone chips with some patience.

[Jimjam]

Lost Staff of the Scorned is a great starter weapon for a wizard. Quick, decent ratio and high damage for low levels where you will still want to participate in melee. Keep hold of it as at higher level it is a mana-free group port to nek forest (neriak is a great hub for wizards and you can easily raise guard/vendor faction by handing in Red Wine to the librarian in 3rd gate zone).

Loadsamoney you could post an edit of that guide for making pp while you cp to the wiki.

[ohatcheejack]

Lost Staff of the Scorned just drops randomly from mobs?

[Jimjam]

I was making a supplement to Loadsamoney’s suggested wizardly weapons to buy from players for under 100pp.

[Loadsamoney]

I was making a supplement to Loadsamoney’s suggested wizardly weapons to buy from players for under 100pp.

People may or may not agree with me on this one, but once he can afford it I recommend Solist's Icy Wand for the mana free clicky. It allows a Wizard to contribute damage in a group without being forced to constantly meditate during engagements.

https://wiki.project1999.com/Solist%27s_Icy_Wand

[ohatcheejack]

I attempted to do the Cuburt quest, talked to the guard about his daughter, finally found Cuburt but he's not dropping the dress. Is it just luck or did I do something wrong? Level 5

- nevermind, took a few tries but it finally dropped