Advice for a new duo

[Salathor]

I'm new to P99 (and EQ in general). I've got a level 10 enchanter human in Qeynos doing Blackburrow and am going to start a new guy with my brother as an introduction to the game. I'd like to show him as much of it as I can early on.

I'm thinking we're going to play as a Shaman/SK troll duo and do some stuff in the swamps and hopefully some low-level stuff in Upper Guk, but I've never been to any of those places.

Does this sound like a reasonable plan for getting a taste of open-world exploring and dungeon crawling for new players? What level would we need to be to at least start the first few rooms of Guk?

[Bobjenson]

Make something more fun for exploring. Iskar Sham + nIskar necro could be fun if you don't mind sneaking around.

A druid and enchanter combo would be awesome and my vote.

[Salathor]

What about our duo would be less fun for exploring? I haven't gone far so I don't know. I figured we'd be in good shape with the shaman for SoW so we could move quickly. What else should I be looking for?

I saw a lot of enchanter combo recommendations but I want to avoid that class in particular since it's the only one I've already got.

[Keebz]

That is a pretty reasonable plan, yes. Around 8? you should be able to do entrance mobs. Upper guk is a great dungeon.

[Salathor]

Okay thanks! We'll give it a shot. I'm trying out the warrens now with my enchanter and that seems interesting, but I don't think we want to do the erudite classes. Human night-blindness might turn him away before he gets started.

[Toxigen]

enc + shaman is better than SK + shaman

[Bobjenson]

Shaman necro very fun too with regen to compensate the health loss.

[Toxigen]

Shaman necro very fun too with regen to compensate the health loss.

even druid / necro is a solid duo...certainly not A-tier but if hes brand new to the game and wants to conveniently see the world and XP in lots of different places it can certainly get the job done

then you guys will always have a druid for a port bot and a CR bot in the necro...just make sure you make 1 account for every char!

[Rager and Quitter]

Druid is the ultimate mobility for ports. I personally preferred Druid/Necro. Druid/Enchanter was also good, but I don't care for the Enchanter class, it annoys me.

[Toxigen]

Plus you can basically keep the druid / necro / etc in rags and farm to gear the SK at level 1 which would make for a much more enjoyable experience.

They'll have some zone / mechanical knowledge at that point too. SK + Shaman in rags with no game knowledge could prove to be a little tricky.

Even if they don't take the first duo of caster alts too far, having the funds for basic haste / HP gear / weapon and enough leftover plat to pre-purchase canni II would help tremendously.

And they'll have a port bot ready to go.

[WarpathEQ]

Shaman/SK could be a fun duo but starting as a Troll in Grobb to me isn't a very ideal early game experience, especially for someone brand new to the game.

For me, if you're just starting out you have to experience the glory and nastalgia that only crushbone can bring to your life! Dwarves, Wood Elves, Half Elves, High Elves, and Gnomes all can start on the Faydwer continent which leaves you with a ton of different race/class options to choose from.

[boromn]

I am going to maybe have a slightly hot take on this which is to say play what you WANT to play and don't worry about the best duo. If you are anything like me, you are drawn to the same type of characters in every game you play. For me, it's a knight every single time. People crapped on Paladins back in the day, but I enjoyed it more than any other class I played.

Trying to min/max is the single easiest way to ruin a gaming experience imo.

[Salathor]

I am going to maybe have a slightly hot take on this which is to say play what you WANT to play and don't worry about the best duo. If you are anything like me, you are drawn to the same type of characters in every game you play. For me, it's a knight every single time. People crapped on Paladins back in the day, but I enjoyed it more than any other class I played.

Trying to min/max is the single easiest way to ruin a gaming experience imo.

Thanks, yes, I was really looking for advice on starting zones for a fun experience (what would allow us to see as much of the game as possible as quickly as possible) rather than what was particularly a strong duo. Obviously I don't want to start as two rogues if that's just impossible, but getting the "EQ experience" is what I hope to learn.

[Salathor]

Shaman/SK could be a fun duo but starting as a Troll in Grobb to me isn't a very ideal early game experience, especially for someone brand new to the game.

For me, if you're just starting out you have to experience the glory and nastalgia that only crushbone can bring to your life! Dwarves, Wood Elves, Half Elves, High Elves, and Gnomes all can start on the Faydwer continent which leaves you with a ton of different race/class options to choose from.

Thanks, I'll look up crushbone and Faydwer as a starting sequence.

[WarpathEQ]

Thanks, I'll look up crushbone and Faydwer as a starting sequence.

For clarity Faydwer is an entire continent so you won't see much reference to that. Kelethin is the city, inside Greater Faydark (the zone) that is closest to Crushbone. This is a place you can start in as a wood elf or a half-elf.

Kaladim in the Dwarf starting city
Felwithe is the High Elf starting city
Ak'anon is the Gnome starting city

The nice thing about EQ is you don't have to stick to your starting area, you could start as a troll and still go to crushbone. It just makes it easier to choose a starting location near where you want to hunt if you're new to P99 and don't have easy means of transportation (the boats are the worst).

The main thing to be aware of is your starting race comes with faction to all the other races so for example Troll is an evil faction race which means you won't be able to interact with most of the merchants, bankers, ect. on the entire Faydwer contininent.

[boromn]

The Everquest experience is entirely unique to the user. Some people started in different areas and therefor have a love for that area. Crushbone is a great example. People who started there love it, but is it really so much better than say, Blackburrow? So much so that you would choose a different race just to be there?

One of my fondest, yet stupidest memories, is when I made my paladin on live and I ran...naked, from Qeynos all the way to GFAY because of the Crushbone hype. That run was WAY more memorable than the actual fighting in Crushbone. It included getting chased down by werewolves in NK. Some druid at least helping me out with SoW to somehow get past the HH gnols. The long ass boat ride and run across BB. My point is, the best part about this game is literally just starting and going. Don't research too much other than to know what class appeals to you most. After that, just go! That's the fun. The game will be ruined when you know too much.

[Danth]

Does this sound like a reasonable plan for getting a taste of open-world exploring and dungeon crawling for new players? What level would we need to be to at least start the first few rooms of Guk?

Shadowknight/Shaman is one of the strongest duos on P1999 in terms of capability. It's tied with Monk/Shaman as having the strongest capability of a melee-based duo (the two duos can do the same content) of people in ordinary type equipment. The ceiling is very high. Only enchanter-based duos have higher capability due to how overpowered enchanters are on P99, so if you don't want charm-based gameplay (it can be annoying and isn't for everyone), SK/Shm will do well. It'll pick up from levell 30 onward since that's when both the shaman and shadowknight will have invisibility and the SK will have feign death. From there the duo will keep getting stronger all the way to 60 and beyond.

[Salathor]

The Everquest experience is entirely unique to the user. Some people started in different areas and therefor have a love for that area. Crushbone is a great example. People who started there love it, but is it really so much better than say, Blackburrow? So much so that you would choose a different race just to be there?

One of my fondest, yet stupidest memories, is when I made my paladin on live and I ran...naked, from Qeynos all the way to GFAY because of the Crushbone hype. That run was WAY more memorable than the actual fighting in Crushbone. It included getting chased down by werewolves in NK. Some druid at least helping me out with SoW to somehow get past the HH gnols. The long ass boat ride and run across BB. My point is, the best part about this game is literally just starting and going. Don't research too much other than to know what class appeals to you most. After that, just go! That's the fun. The game will be ruined when you know too much.

Thanks for the advice. I'm trying not to look up too much. I feel comfortable asking for advice (which feels old school) but I'm trying to avoid too much wiki use. I have my own HH gnoll story already lol. Came through the zone and got blinded and killed immediately. Came back invisible, didn't realize that looting my corpse would end invisibility. Died again. Finally used /corpse and get my stuff. All to get a few animation spells! Didn't get much but it was worth the story. Lot of long runs from Qeynos though.

[boromn]

I have my own HH gnoll story already lol. Came through the zone and got blinded and killed immediately. Came back invisible, didn't realize that looting my corpse would end invisibility. Died again. Finally used /corpse and get my stuff. All to get a few animation spells! Didn't get much but it was worth the story. Lot of long runs from Qeynos though.

This is the way.

[Toxigen]

I recommend going double iksar sham / monk.

Can just hit the ground running level 1 together. Lizard bros 4 lyfe.

Monk is far superior to SK, especially w/o mega twink gear.

[Keebz]

I actually really like the Grobb/Oggok start. You can do Feerrot lizard quests for solid plat, moonlight in Sro and Oasis, slip into Upper Guk, and even hit up Lake Rathe and the Karanas. As you get higher you have Lower Guk and CT right there. All without changing your bind.

The Fay/Crushbone route is fine and all, but as a melee healer duo, you have no great options and elves and dwarves are the two ugliest races in the game. So there's that.

The Iksar suggestion is a great alternative, however. Personally, I'd still do SK over Monk as I like a more varied play style, but Monk is solid. If you do monk, just realize you will be pretty mid until you get a Wu's Quivering staff and you don't get a lot of abilities. In time you will come into your own though.