Carebears, PvP, and You - The basics

[Cfullard]

Disclaimer - I never, ever said I was a master at PvP. I never said I was perfect at it nor do I claim to be the end of all for advice on PvP. PvP is a learning experience for everybody who does it and there will never be a time when someone can be a bottomless knowledge base for it. Take what you want from here, leave the rest.

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So you've been a carebear in Everquest ever since the game started and you've defeated every single monster in the game. Now you simply want to get into a red server and see what all they hype is about. Well, let me point out some things you as a carebear can do to make your stay here enjoyable.

First things first, there are some classes that work in a PvP enviroment and some classes that are very gear dependent and therefore will not work with out support or a character to gear you. Pick a class that offers you mobility, firepower and utility. If you are new to PvP as a whole, I recommend a class such as any pure caster or some hybrid classes such as Shadowknight, Shaman, Druid or maybe even go so far as a Paladin. A mage is a very good class for a PvP newbie to get into, so is a necromancer.

Second : Remap those hotkeys. It is very important you remap your keyboard so your buttons are much more easily accessed. You want the primary buttons you use easily reachable by your left hand while your right hand is specifically used for mouse movement.

Third : If you are a keyboard turner, mouse clicker, get that habit out of your system right now. Get in the habit of using your left hand to steer your character (this includes strafing) and casting spells while you use your mouse to turn your character in the direction you want them to face. I use my W-A-S-D for my movement : Q-E for left / right strafe and my mouse for turning left and right. I use Shift+Q for auto attack, X for sit.. you get the picture.

Fourth : Memorize where your spells are, keep putting them back in the same spell slots, get in the habit of doing this because if you get hit by a blind you need to know where your OMFG spells are and you can cast them blind. ESPECIALLY if you're a necromancer, get hit with a blind and need to Shadow Step. My Primary spells are all set along 1-5 and my defensive, support spells are 6-8 on the spell bar. Buttons 1-5 are my combat spells on my hotbar, everything else is secondary items. Ctrl 1-5 are hotbar 3 item slots so I can access those when I need them. (Egg shaped pumice being Ctrl slot 1)

Fifth : Do NOT carry large sums of money around on you if you can help it. Get in the habit of buying gems if you're not close to a bank to take up space in your inventory so you can sell them later if this sits well with you. Or if you absolutely have to have every copper you pick up, learn to bank often.

Sixth : Being a lonewolf on a blue server is fine because you can solo through the game, get groups, what have you and work your way along. On a Red server, a guild is a lifeline and also allows you the player to have back-up in the worst situations. Consider finding a guild quickly so you can have that support and group with your guild often. (You watch my back, I watch yours)

Seven : Get in the habit of panning your camera around to look behind you and around you while you are resting. This can be the difference between life and dirtnap. If you see them before they see you, you have a chance of either A: Hiding or B: Killing them.

Eight : Choose your mobs better. On a blue server it wasn't a problem to fight mobs and get low and say "Oh man that was close, well time to rest and do it again.". On a red server, this is stupid because now you have a long downtime AND you're very vulnerable to PK's. Get in the habit of taking on blues and such as a solo character and also, find a good place to rest so you can heal.

Nine : Trust is something that can be good, or bad. Be careful who you trust, you know the saying some people give when they say "It feels like everyone is out to get me!" Well on a red server, they really are.

Ten : Have safe spots for AFKing. AFK either offline, or do so in an out of the way place. Never AFK where you can be easily seen or in common places people travel. You will be doing a corpse run as soon as you get back.

Eleven: DO NOT GET FRUSTRATED. YOU WILL DIE ON THIS SERVER, IT IS PART OF THE GAME. Don't whine when you die, don't talk smack, don't complain. It's a red server, you dieing or them dieing is part of the game and that's just how it is. If you are one of those people who gets angry every time something seems unfair, this probably isn't the server for you. No shame in that. If you die, tell them good fight if it was a good fight or give a witty comment, but don't trash talk. If you trash talk there's more then a good chance they will want to kill you again just to get under your skin. Loot your corpse, and get out of the area. If you feel you are getting angry, log out, go watch some TV, spank the monkey, whatever.

Twelve : All those camps you used to speed level from 1 - 50 on a blue server? Yeah, don't go there now. Why? Because you remember how nice and fat with loot they were and the experience was super because everybody knew about them? That's the problem, everybody knows about them and they WILL be going there to see if you were dumb enough to try to camp them on a red server. Be smart about which spawns you camp.

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There's a lot more I will add as time goes along, but these are some good starter tips for you as a blue on this server.
Good luck on Red99, and have fun.

[Eldaran]

Those are some good tips for PvP mindset no matter what game you are playing. thumbs up

[valithteezee]

Nice guide sir.

[dusk883]

Fun read although I think you can lone wolf and have a great time. It's a matter of hunting spots, where you choose to exp, etc. IMO at low to mid levels, don't go pvp hunting where you exp, the don't shit where you eat theory.

[Mardur]

The most important aspect of PVP is game knowledge and you can't really teach that. Especially if you don't have a huge crew of friends, you're going to need to know some good exp spots that are rarely frequented. Also not knowing how to navigate zones like lower guk by sheer muscle memory can get you group wiped in pvp situations. If you don't know where that hidden pit is with the enemy cleric/wizard in it you're fucked. If you can't 100% navigate any classic zone (don't care if it's Kedge or Kerra Ridge) log into a GM command emu server and learn it asap. Find good tactical locations because most likely everyone else knows them. EQ pvp is pretty simple and terrain is one of the only things that can give you a huge advantage. The other is knowing how mechanics work (which spells are blocked by walls, etc).

[Bockscar]

I find that the best hotkey setup for a caster class is to put spell gems 5 through 8 in hotkeys 1 to 4. That lets you cast any of your spells with 1/2/3/4 (in the hotkey bar) or alt+1/2/3/4 (basic keys for first 4 spell gems). You don't want to be reaching across the keyboard for alt+8 while trying to strafe-juke away from a rogue or something, and you also need spare hotkeys for instaclicks, pumice, /hidecorpse all and so on. You'll have a spell hotkey setup that looks something like this:

Spell gems -- access key
(1) Heal -- alt+1
(2) Dispel -- alt+2
(3) SoW -- alt+3
(4) Gate -- alt+4
(5) Nuke -- 1
(6) DoT -- 2
(7) Snare -- 3
(8) Root -- 4

Your hotkey bar would look something like this:

[1] Nuke
[2] DoT
[3] Snare
[4] Root
[5] Assist group's MA
[6] Various utility such as tracking or racial hide skill
[7] Clicky
[8] Clicky
[9] Clicky
[0] /hidecorpse all

If you constantly have to lift the heel of your hand off the desk or bottom of your keyboard/laptop, your hotkey setup is bad. If you have to type something in a hurry while fighting, such as assist/hidecorpse, you don't have the right hotkeys. If the first bar isn't enough, put less crucial hotkeys in bar #2 and switch back and forth with shift+1/2 - consider putting insta-clickies there so you don't have to reach for 8 and 9 every time you get dispelled. Don't waste hotkey space on auto-attack, map that shit to Q.

[valithteezee]

This ^^^

Anyone know of any ways to bind multiple mouse buttons to a specific key? I don't know if this is allowed or considered hacking but damn it would make life easier.

[dusk883]

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

This ^^^

Anyone know of any ways to bind multiple mouse buttons to a specific key? I don't know if this is allowed or considered hacking but damn it would make life easier.

Logitech mice will do it with the Setpoint software it comes bundled with.

[Mardur]

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

This ^^^

Anyone know of any ways to bind multiple mouse buttons to a specific key? I don't know if this is allowed or considered hacking but damn it would make life easier.

Let me introduce you to my secret weapon: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16826153054

With voice communication, if you didn't have to type a password to log in you could throw away your keyboard.

[Forestdweller]

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