New to Everquest and P99!
 

Going in blind and don't know what I'll be doing, this is always an exciting thing for me!

There's a recent article from Feb 2023 from mmorpg.gg talking about Everquest and it really pulled me in and I really do think I can get past the cluster of the UIs, I mean, I am an older player who's played classic games before! Not Everquest though! And now, I'm going to get into this!
I've always only been interested in games with an active community and it seems like P99 is active!

Any general advice/tips you'd like to share to a newbie would be awesome!

If there are different servers, which one should I join? I'm more into PvE more than anything, making new friends, exploring and adventuring together, that kind of stuff!

For server choice between blue and green, green has more people, but blue has an older economy and items are much less expensive. There's also a lot of people who just straight up buff you or give you stuff because they're maxed out and there's not a lot else to do!

So, I would say go blue if you will solo or will have friends to group with, or green if you want to find pick-up groups and a guild.

Some say green will merge into blue this year. Who knows though. There's no announcement AFAIK. If the merge does happen you'll still have your character, so I'm not sure how much this should really influence your decision.

I would recommend picking a relatively easy to solo class that doesn't require much equipment to start, such as a necromancer, druid, or mage. Monk if you want to melee. This will help you get over the early hump of "oh my god, killing this guy takes forever and then I have to rest for 10 minutes."

And I would recommend starting with a Halfing, Human, Gnome, Dwarf, or High Elf / Wood Elf for easy starting zones...or Iksar if you don't mind being evil and like Kunark (and Kunark is pretty sweet imo).

I’d just enjoy the scenery and set up for a slow grind. It’s relaxing but not the fast paced experience of modern games. These classes are a slow burn but get exponentially better as you level up (have hope!). Join up with a nice casual guild for tips and be open with people if you are new to EQ. You likely will be showered with starter gear or at least beneficial buffs/spells.

There are classes that struggle more than others soloing. Rogues, wizards, or clerics (varying degrees for each). Rangers are a bit better now since last level 22 you get panic animal and can snare/fear and melee beasties down.

If you are looking for a very odd experience that hasn’t really been done since EQ, check out the bard; basically a caster in plate. Each song aka spell lasts 12-18 seconds so you are constantly clicking them. You don’t need much gear to level up and in outdoor zones you will run faster than almost anything. It’s not for everyone but is arguably the strangest class EQ put into practice. Other classes like the Druid and necro tend to fly through the levels as well. If you prefer a melee class that’s great too; just expect a slower leveling experience.

Have fun and reach out for any tips or help! I’m on blue but others here are very helpful.

For learning the game from scratch, I would strongly recommend you start on Blue with either a Dark Elf Necromancer or a Halfling Druid. Both of these will have you starting in close proximity to East Commonlands (EC), which is the main trading hub and congregation point for the server. As a new player this will benefit you tremendously in terms of receiving buffs, free gear handouts and for generally being in a position to meet more experienced players who can offer you help and advice.

Both of these classes can also provide benefits if you decide you'd prefer to play something else down the line, as the Necro is a very capable and simple plat farming class that you could use to help you outfit another character, and the Druid is always valuable for the ability to port, either porting yourself around to quest/gather items or porting other players for plat.

You will find the wiki extremely useful, particularly this newbie guide: https://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Newbie

The maps will be very helpful, especially for helping you to navigate your starting city and find vendors and guild trainers. Also read up on whichever class you decide to play on the wiki.

Beyond that, just keep in mind that EQ is a game that is very much about the journey, not the destination. The slow grind is the game. There is no main quest or storyline to guide you. Some players like to team up in guilds and kill the most powerful monsters (raiding). Some like to challenge themselves to kill the most powerful monsters they can by themselves (solo challenge). Some just like to run around and do a bunch of different quests. Some like to level up as many different characters (alts) as possible. Some like to trade items in the EC tunnel and amass a large fortune. There is no wrong way to play the game, as long as you are enjoying yourself.

p99 runs the velious ui by default and you're allowed to skin it. you can get the ui looking a lot more modern if you wish to. there's a few good skins you can find searching (i think they're in the tech subforum?) that save screen real estate. :cool:

I’d go with green personally. It’s a server that will offer the most authentic classic EverQuest experience. Most players there aren’t twinked, so there’s way more grouping to be had, which is, if we’re honest, the best part of EverQuest. I play mostly on blue, but I’ve been on that server since 2009. I just started on green and it’s a thriving community for people without a decade of time spent acquiring gear for alts and neglecting the social side of the grind. I can’t personally imagine starting fresh with no gear on blue. I’m wearing full banded on green and find groups every day.

I'd start on the Green server for the reasons listed above. I'd also recommend against starting as any of the "human" races (human, erudite, barbarian) due to poor eyesight at night. It really is crippling if you haven't ever experienced it.

As for classes, druid and necromancer are both fine choices, since they will give you access to solo strategies for almost every level/zone of the game. But, and this was mentioned above, if you want an experience you can only have in Everquest you want to pick Bard.

Bards are able to solo extremely well, but really shine in groups. You're basically the grease that makes all the gears run smoothly. You increase healing rates, mana recovery, buff during combat, you can do some crowd control, you can pull mobs to the group, and you help everyone travel faster. The only requirement is that you don't suffer from carpal tunnel, as you will be clicking/hitting keys constantly. If you want to be a good bard, you pretty much always have to be doing something.

Agree with those who say green. Don't take handout gear from others. Try tradeskilling. Level slowly and explore the zones, do quests. Enjoy the game.

Best advice you'll get is to play a different game. The raiding community on p99 is FUCKING ABYSMAL. By far the most childish, whiny, entitled, dim-witted group of people pretending to be adults I've ever seen in a game. Fortnite lobbies are more cordial and cooperative than this group of idiots.

If there's a major issue, you'll get virtually no response from anyone who can help until days after you've even unable to play and have lost the sparkle for it. The Manson Family had better 'customer' service than p99.

maybe because p99 doesn't have any customers...