[shovelquest]

I just played EQ for the first time and I'm not really sure what I'm doing.

Classic first day indeed, Spoil! Sounds like you're doing it right! [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I give him the note and talk to him about what I thought would be a follow up quest, and he's just like 'nvm'.

haha glad this game is still delivering!

(Pain and suffering hits YOU for 32000)

I went round hailing random NPCs, looking for quest or something, with no luck.

Like the Tennessee Oilers playing where there is no oil, or the LA lakers playing where there are no lakes, EverQuest is not a quest heavy game [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.] (there are a lot, but they are.. well, you'll need a walk through for 99% of them so they're easier to find outside of game on the wiki)

Should I just be killing mobs, exploring, and do quests when I happen to find them?

This is a huge depend on you and you can try this:

1. you can kill newbie mobs outside the starting city, follow the path to Kelethin, and kill newbie mobs there. You'll want to try to shout /ooc help! LFG! or /shout Anyone LFG? Newbie looking for groups! and see if you can find anyone to group with.

2. Head to freeport when you get to level 3 or 5, by way of the boat (youll have to run through butcher block, get to the docks, and then wait for the boat). Once you are in freeport you can ask someone for a bind, get a bind as soon as you can, or youll die and respawn all the way back in kelethin! After you get a bind, you can go to East Commons, and ask for buffs and help, and you can EXP on newbie mobs, and East Common mobs.

3. Ask players in EC for help, ask them random questions, spam everyone, we all love talking about EQ, get buffs from people in the EC tunnel (east commons tunnel) thats where all the people hang out and sell goods, so there are people there that can help.

4. if ytou want to go on a big adventure, when you get to level 9 or 12 head to Qeynos - as a high elf you can do this quest, do this quest A LOT, level off this quest as much as you can, and when you are done, you will have enough starting plat to get going!! It's an incredibly long run, and wroth it for the adventure, but someone will probubly be able to port you to North Karana.... but youll have to run through the karanas at least, so thats an adventure too.

I strongly recommend any good race player does the bandit sash quests from 10-12 all the way up to 18... if you do that, youll get decent EXP the whole time, it's a good challenge, and youll be able to gear up so much for a new player. (Turn in the sashes, sell the weapons, repeat as much as you can!)

There is great leveling all the way to 20+ in your starting area, heading to crushbone (a fantastic place to level!) But.. youll get more help in EC.

once you are level 20, you will feel this game really open up, and you can do a lot more! But until then, you are a mortal man, a peasant. You do chores for a living, and have no home. You're like a little street rat homeless guy basically starting out in this game.