Grouping is dead? Question Mark?

[zelld52]

Sat LFG on my cleric level 35 for 7 straight hours today. Saturday. Prime time. Maybe stuff was in window?


Last weekend sat LFG on my 55 enc for 2 days straight. Only a few groups in Karnors Velks and every other zone ghost town.

Weekend before that, had to struggle for hours to drag a few people in the level 30-40 range on cleric to a zone for group. (that wasnt mistmoore or highkeep, ffs the only two zones people like to group at in this range)

Been trying to get people to the Hole on enchnater for weeks as well. Not too many LFG, and not even many in levle range not on raid.


Are people finally stopping logging in? Or is it BG3?

[Lune]

Even when the server was young, fresh, and high pop, if your methodology for LFG was putting your tag up and sitting there, you'd run into frequent log periods of sitting lfg through sheer chance. Gotta be proactive, physically walk up to groups and ask, send tells, build your own groups, etc.

That being said, pops are low outside primetime on green and low across the board on blue. Look into duos and trios; ench is an extremely strong duo class with many other classes, and cleric duos okay with enchanters and twinked melees. Gonna be better xp than a full group anyway.

[Jimjam]

I’ve always struggled finding groups 35-40.

[magnetaress]

@ OP yes everyone is twinked now in velious gear so if u didnt' grind 1 million plat to twink urself on a naked caster vendoring garbage because nothing that drops from the orld world matters good luck leveling lawl

it's time for red 2.0 which would immediately solve this problem

[PatChapp]

Yeah yesterday was poopsock day for 7 day spawns, would be hard to get groups for sure
Noone wants to xp in the hole anymore,I don't know why, probably just the no loot. Best xp zone by far

[zelld52]

Yeah yesterday was poopsock day for 7 day spawns, would be hard to get groups for sure
Noone wants to xp in the hole anymore,I don't know why, probably just the no loot. Best xp zone by far

I also don't understand why everyone goes to Karnors. It's 10 minute run from the osest port. The exp is bad, the loot is decent if you can get the kunark armor to drop for vendor trash... And people wind up planted there sitting LFG and refusing to leave for places like the Hole or Sol B which are right next to ports.

But the 20 or so players actually exping in groups from 50-60 are in Karnors. Everyone else solos / small op trio etc.

I only included the story about a cleric sitting LFG for 7 hours because I think it goes to show how little people are actively grouping. Someone had to have had a group and a cleric was leaving, so they searched for replacement heals in that time. Nope. Or apparently not, anyway.

Most people are on alt number 7 (like me) and can solo to 50-55. But I also like to group, and have been having increasingly hard time putting together groups for a few months. Some of my most fun groups are with filthy casuals and new to EQ players, but unfortunately they live up to their name and only log in once every 2 weeks. Or they quit after level 30

Because most people have an opinion on "the best spot park for 10 levels to grind," except for filthy casuals and new to EQ players who are usually more down to explore the game, try something new, etc.

[sajbert]

What are the spots you have a high chance of finding groups these days?

I'm thinking Crushbone, Karnors and Unrest, HHK Goblins, CoM and KC.

MM is often dead when I check and so is Sol A. So I guess there's a gap between 35 and 40?

[zelld52]

What are the spots you have a high chance of finding groups these days?

I'm thinking Crushbone, Karnors and Unrest, HHK Goblins, CoM and KC.

MM is often dead when I check and so is Sol A. So I guess there's a gap between 35 and 40?


Yeah, people used to flock to Splitpaw and Cazic Thule 35-45ish. Those zones are both dead now.

[silo32]

Grouping is not dead. Lean to /who all lfg in your level range and check the hot zones.

/Bad thread

[unsunghero]

When I’m playing people just message me asking. Sometimes they offer a group that is the entire world away. And I never put up LFG tag

I turn them all down politely because I’m an antisocial cunt in game, but I think the best way to find groups is just to use /who to find the class and level you want and send them a /tell whether they have LFG up or not, whether they are in your zone or not

Worst case scenario they do what I do and make up a RL excuse like “sorry can’t group my cat is acting anxious” or “sorry I can’t gotta drive later need to stay sharp” or something else ridiculous

[zelld52]

Grouping is not dead. Lean to /who all lfg in your level range and check the hot zones.

/Bad thread

Strong reading skills. I used the cleric as an example. I also stated I've been trying to put together groups by sending tells.

[PatChapp]

I've been leveling my warrior lately and it's definitely been hit or miss.
Had the most luck with guild groups,or going to poopy velks
I don't do kc it's the worst zone in the game, I don't know why anyone would bother

[loramin]

Solo your cleric: it's the P99 way ;)

[greatdane]

I also don't understand why everyone goes to Karnors. It's 10 minute run from the osest port. The exp is bad, the loot is decent if you can get the kunark armor to drop for vendor trash... And people wind up planted there sitting LFG and refusing to leave for places like the Hole or Sol B which are right next to ports.

Mobs in Karnor's are easy, the main camps can train to zone if things go wrong, and it's outdoors so you can use SoW, Jboots, Selo's, Harmony, etc. Camps are close enough to grab buffs from other groups. It's also easy for a rezzer to get in and sort out any deaths that might occur. It's just the path of least resistance. In fact, these things hold true for all the leveling zones that are still populated:

Oasis/Crushbone
Unrest
Highkeep
Mistmoore
City of Mist
Karnor's

That's the exact leveling route everyone takes, and finding groups elsewhere is essentially impossible at this point. There aren't enough players in the leveling pool to fill more zones than that, so they pick the ones that are most convenient: outdoor zones with mostly generic melee mobs, and usually with the possibility of training out and/or getting someone's main or guildie to drop by for a rez.

Even if a dungeon gives slightly more exp per kill, it usually won't add up to more exp/hour when you factor in the higher difficulty, the fact that the puller can't have a speed buff, and the near-guarantee of a full wipe if anything goes wrong, with little hope of any help recovering.

[wuanahto]

ff14 has a free month going on
armored 6
ff pixel remaster
two servers
wow hardcore

and as long as there are two servers splitting the population and competition.. get used to it.

[sajbert]

I tried FF14. Just seems like a bad series of fetch quests. Might as well grind mobs on p99. Oh and for whatever reason the public spaces are filled with furries, pedos and other perverts parading their characters. It's literally as bad as Second Life.

[Trelaboon]

I also don't understand why everyone goes to Karnors. It's 10 minute run from the osest port. The exp is bad, the loot is decent if you can get the kunark armor to drop for vendor trash... And people wind up planted there sitting LFG and refusing to leave for places like the Hole or Sol B which are right next to ports.

But the 20 or so players actually exping in groups from 50-60 are in Karnors. Everyone else solos / small op trio etc.

I only included the story about a cleric sitting LFG for 7 hours because I think it goes to show how little people are actively grouping. Someone had to have had a group and a cleric was leaving, so they searched for replacement heals in that time. Nope. Or apparently not, anyway.

Most people are on alt number 7 (like me) and can solo to 50-55. But I also like to group, and have been having increasingly hard time putting together groups for a few months. Some of my most fun groups are with filthy casuals and new to EQ players, but unfortunately they live up to their name and only log in once every 2 weeks. Or they quit after level 30

Because most people have an opinion on "the best spot park for 10 levels to grind," except for filthy casuals and new to EQ players who are usually more down to explore the game, try something new, etc.

I think it’s just because entrance is so easy to solo for almost any class, with a zone line ten seconds away if stuff goes south. While people solo, they’re able to LFG there in the process if that’s what they want.

I absolutely hate KC, but it makes sense why people choose to go there.

[Videri]

SEND
PEOPLE
TELLS

[Troxx]

SEND
PEOPLE
TELLS

Yep. Be proactive. If the zone you are in is literally empty go to a different zone. If it’s not a dead zone there is usually someone/anyone to pair up with.

On most all of my characters, most all of the time I just find someone else hanging around the zone line waiting on a group and just as them:

“Hey, want to team up and kill some stuff while we have our lfg tags up?”

It’s rare that people will say no. If more lfgs wander in scoop them up and go take your own camp with your new group.

[long.liam]

Grouping has always been dead. Only the worst players go to KC to get a group. The best players spend all the time soloing/duoing tough stuff in other zones. Pickup group are always the slowest, least reliable method of getting xp. Especially for Adults who have a job and don't have time to wait for a group.

[Jimjam]

Nah, its a mmorpg. You’re pretty bad at the game if you aren’t RPing with a bunch of other elves.

[ashentco]

Hello dear maiden.

Fare thee well? By happenstance I noticed you do not have any companions.

Might ye want to come destroy kobolds in Solusek with me? Please respond

[PatChapp]

Hello dear maiden.

Fare thee well? By happenstance I noticed you do not have any companions.

Might ye want to come destroy kobolds in Solusek with me? Please respond

This is amazing

[zelld52]

SEND
PEOPLE
TELLS

you adorable, stupid potato. I said in my OP that I try to form groups by sending tells, and nobody seems down these days. or at least not many

[Lifebar]

I can not recommend strongly enough putting together your own groups. It's a little easier because you don't need to find a healer. I would always just /w all LFG and start a conversation. They don't like sitting LFG either. Sometimes there is a full group semi-afk and LFG at the zone line waiting for someone to get it organized and running.

[Deathrydar]

I don't know, I am always asked to join groups and I am a magician. Never have my LFG flag up either. Join a guild maybe?? Sometimes that makes it easier to find groups.

[Infectious]

ff14 has a free month going on
armored 6
ff pixel remaster
two servers
wow hardcore

and as long as there are two servers splitting the population and competition.. get used to it.

Or merge the servers and people complain no camps are ever open.

[zelld52]

Or merge the servers and people complain no camps are ever open.

Solo players will. But have you forgotten that once this game held thousands of concurrent players at the same time per server?

[Troxx]

Or merge the servers and people complain no camps are ever open.

Derp.

On blue the entirety of seb is usually open any given day of the week. The last dozen times I went in there it was either fully empty or there was a trio down at King +/- someone soloing NG.

Most of Norrath is underutilized these days.

[Gloomlord]

People should at least do the Hole, for Pete's sake.

You can bind everyone outside in case of a screw up, then get a rogue to drag. ZEM is extremely good, so it's worthwhile.

But no! Everyone and their dog has to go to KC. Getting so fed up of it.

[long.liam]

People should at least do the Hole, for Pete's sake.

You can bind everyone outside in case of a screw up, then get a rogue to drag. ZEM is extremely good, so it's worthwhile.

But no! Everyone and their dog has to go to KC. Getting so fed up of it.

The Hole, Seb, Velks, and Pretty every zone except is KC is BYOG. Better make some friends or just go the KC.

[Toxigen]

KC is the armpit of p99. Filled with shitters.

Make your own group. Duos / Trios are the best.

[Videri]

you adorable, stupid potato. I said in my OP that I try to form groups by sending tells, and nobody seems down these days. or at least not many

The OP:

Sat LFG on my cleric level 35 for 7 straight hours today. Saturday. Prime time. Maybe stuff was in window?


Last weekend sat LFG on my 55 enc for 2 days straight. Only a few groups in Karnors Velks and every other zone ghost town.

Weekend before that, had to struggle for hours to drag a few people in the level 30-40 range on cleric to a zone for group. (that wasnt mistmoore or highkeep, ffs the only two zones people like to group at in this range)

Been trying to get people to the Hole on enchnater for weeks as well. Not too many LFG, and not even many in levle range not on raid.


Are people finally stopping logging in? Or is it BG3?

Didn’t sound like proactivity to me. But if you are sending tells to many people and not getting anywhere, that’s disheartening. But all you need is a few good duo/group sessions to get out of the current level range.

Maybe people mostly group with guildmates.

[unsunghero]

People should at least do the Hole, for Pete's sake.



I have been wanting to check the place out. I heard as an enchanter I can charm some skelly guard in paineel and have them give me the key by using /say quest prompts?

[Toxigen]

I have been wanting to check the place out. I heard as an enchanter I can charm some skelly guard in paineel and have them give me the key by using /say quest prompts?

You can just gnome illusion and swiggle (yes, a combo of swim and wiggle) through the rock.

[Troxx]

People should at least do the Hole, for Pete's sake.

You can bind everyone outside in case of a screw up, then get a rogue to drag. ZEM is extremely good, so it's worthwhile.

But no! Everyone and their dog has to go to KC. Getting so fed up of it.

In my case, these days I currently have maybe 30-60 minutes most days (that I log in) to do a thing. I imagine a lot of players may be in the same boat.

The nice thing about KC is you can almost always manage to get at least something productive done. If you don’t get a quick group pretty much everyone can solo trash around the zone in. Other than a low level or poorly geared rogue and low level cleric … every other class should be able to handle zone line shit there to some degree.

So yeah - my goons are currently camped out in KC.

KC is like Waffle House. The food is shit but the kitchen is at least always open.

[Toxigen]

KC is like Waffle House. The food is shit but the kitchen is at least always open.

lmao 10/10

[Trexller]

I have been wanting to check the place out. I heard as an enchanter I can charm some skelly guard in paineel and have them give me the key by using /say quest prompts?

can also try illusion: erudite and collaboration if you're an agnostic ench

https://wiki.project1999.com/Hole_Key

[long.liam]

KC is the armpit of p99. Filled with shitters.

Make your own group. Duos / Trios are the best.

Oh yeah I definitely agree with you on that. KC is the shit hole of P99. All the shit players end up there. Making your own group though requires you to be an actual likeable person, which OP may or may not be. The best scenario would be to have a real life friend or relative, Not a fake "wink, wink" "wife or brother, sister or whatever", but an actual real life person that you play with and can duo/trio somewhere. Either that or solo on a class that can do it. Unfortunately most P99ers don't have many or any real life friends/relatives/girlfriends.

[zelld52]

now the exp bonus is active, and there will be a bunch of guild groups all over. for 2 more days, before everyone crawls back into KC

[Bukowski]

I haven't played P99 in maybe 10 years, but find it satisfying to know that people are still sitting around in KC at their wits end. Maybe I should return.

[arc]

@ OP yes everyone is twinked now in velious gear so if u didnt' grind 1 million plat to twink urself on a naked caster vendoring garbage because nothing that drops from the orld world matters good luck leveling lawl

it's time for red 2.0 which would immediately solve this problem

[bclements87]

greens pop is getting really high, lfg is kind of pointless need to think outside the box and put together4 your own into they release a new server will likely stay that way

[Castle2.0]

I still group.

Cleric (fungus tunic)
Enchanter (CoF)
rog/wiz/monk (my 50k weapons)

Heal, haste, DPS, what other group member do I need to buy in EC?

[unsunghero]

Enchanter (CoF)


Cloak of flames?

[greatdane]

Cloak of flames?

Ivory will find some way to argue that melee enchanter is actually great, and then insult everyone who disagrees.

[Swish]

I haven't played P99 in maybe 10 years, but find it satisfying to know that people are still sitting around in KC at their wits end. Maybe I should return.

I love the L59 crew in KC, literally "I enjoy 59 so much I never want to hit 60" :D

[coffin_aoe]

You can just gnome illusion and swiggle (yes, a combo of swim and wiggle) through the rock.

The other day I prepared with fishscales and what not for the zone in and the extensive swiggeling... but you swim just through, really... probably been lucky, don't know.

[Jimjam]

In pop era I remember being able to swim thru as a barbarian spamming duck/stand and wriggling around with mouselook. Was good times!

[zelld52]

In pop era I remember being able to swim thru as a barbarian spamming duck/stand and wriggling around with mouselook. Was good times!

I also remember getting in as a druid in wolf form

[rabarbar000]

Grouping is dead because we have two ghost town server, dunno why they refuse to mergee them together so we can have less dead server...

[Castle2.0]

Cloak of flames?

Yes, it's close to perma Alacrity.

[unsunghero]

Yes, it's close to perma Alacrity.

On an enchanter tho?

[Castle2.0]

On an enchanter tho?

Nah, I was listing what class I was replacing with each item on a warrior.

healing, haste, and DPS, what more do ya need?

I was simply highlighting the current state of grouping on Green while also semi-subtly flaunting a small portion of my wealth ;)

[Lambparade]

Everquest is a social game. Just reach out to people around your level and start a group.

Sitting with a lfg tag only works if your like a cleric. I have a huge friends list with people I've grouped with through out the levels and I check it often and form groups all the time.

[Lambparade]

Grouping is dead because we have two ghost town server, dunno why they refuse to merge them together so we can have less dead server...

Grouping is not dead at all. I literally got a group in the warrens the other day. The warrens.....

[Coriander]

Can they combine Blue/Green?

[Worry]

I enjoyed packed Crushbone, Mistmoore, Upper Guk, Splitpaw, Highkeep, etc, for many years. I wouldn't mind a server merge and for the zones to be lively again but.... it has honestly been kind of nice having quiet and open low level zones lately.

[fortior]

Even when the server was young, fresh, and high pop, if your methodology for LFG was putting your tag up and sitting there, you'd run into frequent log periods of sitting lfg through sheer chance.

It's this OP, try being active

[zelld52]

Weekend before that, had to struggle for hours to drag a few people in the level 30-40 range on cleric to a zone for group. (that wasnt mistmoore or highkeep, ffs the only two zones people like to group at in this range)

Been trying to get people to the Hole on enchnater for weeks as well. Not too many LFG, and not even many in levle range not on raid.


strong reading comprehension, fortior

[ragontx]

LOL yeah, as if Project Quarm has nothing to do with cutting the pop. here by less than half. Seen the famous EQ streamers lately?? most if not all are on Quarm. Just look for it on YouTube and Twitch.

[Trude]

Grouping is not dead. Lean to /who all lfg in your level range and check the hot zones.

/Bad thread

Dude you are hitting that copium hard...Grouping is and has been dead for a long time. Having to stick to the main route just for a chance of finding a group is a glaring sign of a top heavy server in desperate need of a reset. Blue and Green are virtually indistinguishable now with nothing but max levels and a scattering of gigatwinks throughout the main routes......or maybe my standards have simply been recalibrated by quarm which has multiple groups fighting over camps with 80+ in legacy zones, 50+ people in every single ZEM zone and 20 in the non ZEM zones.

[cd288]

Kind of depends on how you approach things. On both Blue and Green if you're just sitting LFG and typing that in OOC, grouping can definitely feel dead (outside of certain select times like prime time on weekends). If you join a guild and/or send tells to random people within your level range I find you can get PUGs going fairly often. Just the other day me and a guildy got 4 random people to come do a crawl through the Hole to the docks with us...and once we were posted up there with a COTH mage we were able to replace departures with other random players easily. Just gotta be a little proactive sometimes.

Also, sticking to the main route has always been a thing on both green and blue. Outside of the early launch days of green when population was insane and you had lower level groups spilling into random camps/zones, the usual highway has always been the route (I can count on one hand the amount of times I had a full pug in the 40s that wasn't in City of Mist on Green for example).

[Ciderpress]

This is everquest grouping is never dead. It might not be as great as you remember though.

[fortior]

strong reading comprehension, fortior

I haven't had this issue, I even had people group with me in kaesora of all places. Maybe you need to be nicer, more social, a more attractive person

[fortior]

One thing that's definitely true though is that we're all old so you need to schedule things with people, or @ them on discord (the p99 main one or guild ones) to make them log in

It's not quarm but overcrowding sucks ass too, I spent enough time fighting over single goblin spawns at green launch

[cd288]

LOL yeah, as if Project Quarm has nothing to do with cutting the pop. here by less than half. Seen the famous EQ streamers lately?? most if not all are on Quarm. Just look for it on YouTube and Twitch.

Where do you see this backed up in data? The emulated server population tracker shows the population of both Blue and Green holding pretty steady. I think Blue maybe lost 100-200 people out of like a 1,150 avg population.

[Fammaden]

Oh no not the famous streamers!

[enjchanter]

Is there even 1 famous eq streamer

[karekiz]

LOL yeah, as if Project Quarm has nothing to do with cutting the pop. here by less than half. Seen the famous EQ streamers lately?? most if not all are on Quarm. Just look for it on YouTube and Twitch.

Project Quarm added instance raiding. Its basically just a TLP now. People will flock back to P99 once they realize the endgame instance content sucks without the difficulty and competition.

[wittles]

LOL yeah, as if Project Quarm has nothing to do with cutting the pop. here by less than half. Seen the famous EQ streamers lately?? most if not all are on Quarm. Just look for it on YouTube and Twitch.

Population on green is bigger now than it was before Quarm.

Blue on the other hand is lucky to see 500 people any given day.

[Sonolin]

Yea all the hot camps are usually taken on green. I'm enjoying the current pop.

[cd288]

Project Quarm added instance raiding. Its basically just a TLP now. People will flock back to P99 once they realize the endgame instance content sucks without the difficulty and competition.

Idk I think the PoP raids are fun enough to be instanced and still be great. Classic era raids are so boring that competition is part of what makes it interesting.

[fortior]

twitch streamers being on quarm instead of p99 sounds like a win to me

[Infectious]

Quarm

[ragontx]

Project Quarm added instance raiding. Its basically just a TLP now. People will flock back to P99 once they realize the endgame instance content sucks without the difficulty and competition.

I think it will make for a better server. Still too early to tell. Maybe casual guilds could get a chance to do upper content/epics. The servers are two different views on what "EQ fun" is LOL

[Sonolin]

Lol quarm is instanced now?

So glad I didn't invest much time there they keep changing their mind every week.

[Infectious]

Lol quarm is instanced now?

So glad I didn't invest much time there they keep changing their mind every week.

Who would've thought?

[cd288]

Lol quarm is instanced now?

So glad I didn't invest much time there they keep changing their mind every week.

If I had to guess it's probably due to a combo of not having enough CSR and also the fact that the CSR are allowed to play on the server and join the raiding guilds. Instancing the raids gives less opportunity for CSR favoritism

[Toxigen]

lol instances raids

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

[Jimjam]

lol instances raids

hahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Can still break the rules by logging into an opposing guild’s character to train their instance though (presumably only during difficult times of year).

[bhughes]

Crushbone, Unrest, Mistmoore all have been unreliable weekdays for pickup groups since the XP bonus over thx giving. There are times when you can get a group now and then but not consistently at all.

Green has turned into blue. If you want to level up an alt have to get a guildly to PL you now.

Today on a whim I logged into Quarm and 1st thing I see is an /auction in G Fay for gatorscale leggings 2000 plat!! Their economy sure is different. I messed around for 10 minutes in kelethin fighting the dumb mouselook thing and /exit.

When quarm 1st dropped I could still find a group on green at these levels but the last few weeks it's been pretty bleak. My main is 60 but I'm new to the server and all my alts are all under 30.

[Nostalgiabait]

I just started playing after like 20 years (bailed original era with PoP). I made a HIE CLR on Green and have been leveling him, currently at 42. This is my experience.

Level 1-8: Mostly just learning how to play the game again. Both Felwithe and Kelethin seem to see enough high levels to drop buffs on low level toons that grouping isn't necessary. I tooled around in GF and a little bit in BB.

Levels 9-20: Ran into a ranger in BB who gifted me a Wraithbone Warhammer, and later that same day a leveling guild recruited me and gifted me with a full set of (medium) banded. It was the wrong size but still wearable. Also gifted were some modest +3str earrings and a decent set of +45hp rings. (At level 42 I'm just about to hand it all back for getting the next player started, but am still wearing banded boots/belt and the rings and earrings.) I spent a bunch of time in Crushbone, and was able to find some duos and small groups to play non-solo with most (not all) of the time. I was also able to find some grouping in NRo.

Level 20-30: Mistmoore, lots of it. I was consistently able to find at least a duo partner and organically form groups by the pond and GY as new players arrived. Also there was quite a bit of action in Unrest as well.

Level 30-35: Mostly High Hold basement, occasionally popping back into Mistmoore. My arrival at HHK was marked by an offer by a monk killing guards to pay me to heal him between kills. I took the money until I realized I could mooch XP off it while still avoiding faction hits, and then did that instead. Basement groups were fairly easy to form organically as well with whoever showed up.

Level 36-40: Mistmoore, mostly CE. Had enough players wanting in groups to have waiting lists.

Level 40-?: City of Mist. I'm now dependent on ports to get in and out of the area and back to civilization, but thanks to <Dial a Port> and the gem drops to finance travel without stiffing the guy taking the time to get me from A somewhat dangerous zone ->B this is a reasonable thing to manage. Barely having played this zone in original I don't really know it. End up in groups on ramparts and stable and arena. XP is flying though.

Some general observations: sitting there LFG didn't work often for me, but if I was aggressive about it there were more opportunities. Groups were started most often by me joining a player who was soloing when I got there - easiest way to find a group has been to start one. Class balance seems pretty good overall, maybe a bit light on wizards and tanks, but we've been able to put together some fairly optimal groups just with whoever shows up. A lot of people seem to have druid/enc/clr alts that they like to bring around and buff their groups with, which doesn't hurt at all.

I was surprised to see very few people in Lower Guk. I remember back in the day it was the place to be, but I guess XP modifiers won the day for the player base.

In a few levels I'll be eligible for planar raids so I look forward to see what might be available in that part of the game. I ended up skipping gear camping altogether electing instead to just buy whatever I could afford off the market; the toon is way under-geared - it's just levelling too fast to stay up to par - but that doesn't matter much with a primary caster in groups where mana regeneration, not capacity, controls output, and I'm still able to pick up something cheap here and there to improve the character so I'm not stuck at all. Hopefully I'll be able to hop on some raids soon and skip a lot of the preplanar gearing time.

The above all happened in about five weeks. I found EQ again looking for something to do during the downtime for my industry (Nov-Jan) and have been grinding out advancement on this toon since.

[Toxigen]

I just started playing after like 20 years (bailed original era with PoP). I made a HIE CLR on Green and have been leveling him, currently at 42. This is my experience.

Level 1-8: Mostly just learning how to play the game again. Both Felwithe and Kelethin seem to see enough high levels to drop buffs on low level toons that grouping isn't necessary. I tooled around in GF and a little bit in BB.

Levels 9-20: Ran into a ranger in BB who gifted me a Wraithbone Warhammer, and later that same day a leveling guild recruited me and gifted me with a full set of (medium) banded. It was the wrong size but still wearable. Also gifted were some modest +3str earrings and a decent set of +45hp rings. (At level 42 I'm just about to hand it all back for getting the next player started, but am still wearing banded boots/belt and the rings and earrings.) I spent a bunch of time in Crushbone, and was able to find some duos and small groups to play non-solo with most (not all) of the time. I was also able to find some grouping in NRo.

Level 20-30: Mistmoore, lots of it. I was consistently able to find at least a duo partner and organically form groups by the pond and GY as new players arrived. Also there was quite a bit of action in Unrest as well.

Level 30-35: Mostly High Hold basement, occasionally popping back into Mistmoore. My arrival at HHK was marked by an offer by a monk killing guards to pay me to heal him between kills. I took the money until I realized I could mooch XP off it while still avoiding faction hits, and then did that instead. Basement groups were fairly easy to form organically as well with whoever showed up.

Level 36-40: Mistmoore, mostly CE. Had enough players wanting in groups to have waiting lists.

Level 40-?: City of Mist. I'm now dependent on ports to get in and out of the area and back to civilization, but thanks to <Dial a Port> and the gem drops to finance travel without stiffing the guy taking the time to get me from A somewhat dangerous zone ->B this is a reasonable thing to manage. Barely having played this zone in original I don't really know it. End up in groups on ramparts and stable and arena. XP is flying though.

Some general observations: sitting there LFG didn't work often for me, but if I was aggressive about it there were more opportunities. Groups were started most often by me joining a player who was soloing when I got there - easiest way to find a group has been to start one. Class balance seems pretty good overall, maybe a bit light on wizards and tanks, but we've been able to put together some fairly optimal groups just with whoever shows up. A lot of people seem to have druid/enc/clr alts that they like to bring around and buff their groups with, which doesn't hurt at all.

I was surprised to see very few people in Lower Guk. I remember back in the day it was the place to be, but I guess XP modifiers won the day for the player base.

In a few levels I'll be eligible for planar raids so I look forward to see what might be available in that part of the game. I ended up skipping gear camping altogether electing instead to just buy whatever I could afford off the market; the toon is way under-geared - it's just levelling too fast to stay up to par - but that doesn't matter much with a primary caster in groups where mana regeneration, not capacity, controls output, and I'm still able to pick up something cheap here and there to improve the character so I'm not stuck at all. Hopefully I'll be able to hop on some raids soon and skip a lot of the preplanar gearing time.

The above all happened in about five weeks. I found EQ again looking for something to do during the downtime for my industry (Nov-Jan) and have been grinding out advancement on this toon since.

Well done.

Now all ya gotta do is join a raid guild, acquire dkp, and get gear.

Oh, and make friends with enchanters. That'll be your best path to 60.

[Ciderpress]

When I played in highschool I was lucky in that I knew a few other nerdy kids who played EQ, so we'd all group. I probably 50\50 split my time pickup grouping with randos and playing with rl friends.

Get some RL buddies into this awesomely addictive game and have a static group to level up with would be my suggestion

[Scarfaceoff]

Come play on red, people are way more friendly thank you think and there are groups to be had if you /ooc

[Centurionx]

Project Quarm added instance raiding. Its basically just a TLP now. People will flock back to P99 once they realize the endgame instance content sucks without the difficulty and competition.

Eww, yucky..

Thought of checking out Quarm but along with having to compete with 20 other noobs for a decaying skeleton, and now what you just said I think I'll pass :D

[Infectious]

Eww, yucky..

Thought of checking out Quarm but along with having to compete with 20 other noobs for a decaying skeleton, and now what you just said I think I'll pass :D

Secrets is soft as hell. Throw lead skin Rogean on that staff and people would be donating their wives to play.

[Seducio]

people would be donating their wives to play.

I like both devs. Good to have variety and options.

That last part of the line is hilarious.

This image is relevant. I won't embed out of respect for Green. Follow the link if you want a chuckle. Rare EQ humor.
https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_a7jkcMVp5Vg/SXvwuSkMIUI/AAAAAAAAH7k/T1kP_WAXNd0/s1600-h/everquest.jpg