[Toxigen]

Originally Posted by Nostalgiabait [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

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.