Wow player looking for more of a challenge

[Uggme]

Originally Posted by Simba4793 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Ive been playing wow for quite a few years. Ive lost alot of respect for it due to its casulation and dieing community. A friend of mine told me about Everquest and Ive decided to give it a try.

Any tips for someone just starting out?

Well, welcome to p99 first!

You're in for a big change friend! It's going to be rough, unforgiving, and infuriating at times. All this though adds to the entertainment value. There's actual RISK to the actions you take and where you go!

I would recommend looking at some info about the various classes you can play on the p99 wiki. There is a detailed explanation of each class and what thier role is. Some are more able than others to solo and level, where others are completely dependant on groups. Think about how you want to play and go from there.

If you can, start in either Freeport or Neriak (cities). these are close to a zone where many many high end players hang out. They can help, and even buy some things from you to help out.

Save all your spiderling silks, bone chips, and HQ bear pelts for sale to players. You'll need the money.

There's really too much to go over in a post like this, so I'd recommend doing some homework. check out Youtube videos explaining old eq, and read the wiki for info. There might even be a few other threads on the forums to help guide your decision [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Lastly, Contact Uggme in game if you ever have any questions. I'd be happy to help if I'm online.

[Danth]

If you are familiar with Warcraft but not Everquest, there are some things you should be familiar with.

First off, be aware that much of the community populating an emulator of an old game is composed of diehards who consider the game in question the best thing ever. Take what they say with a grain of salt. Everquest has its strong points, but it's also an old game and some aspects of it are simply outdated. Be prepared to take the bad with the good.

The first thing you should know about EQ is that the classes aren't equally powerful--not even close. In Warcraft, a 10% difference in effectiveness was considered significant enough to warrant much forum complaining; in Everquest you'll run into more like 40-80% differences in effectiveness between classes doing basically the same job. One of the effects of this is that different classes have vastly different soloing capabilities. This isn't Warcraft where a "bad" solo class gets maybe half the experience per hour of a good one. Here, a bad solo class basically can't solo at all. In particular, don't pick Rogues or Warriors if you wish to maintain solo capability.

Classes don't even level at the same rate. Paladins, Shadow Knights, Bards, and Rangers all have a massive 40% experience penalty. Some races (ogres, trolls, iksars) also have significant experience penalties. You probably want to avoid any of the above as a new player. Use the Project 1999 wiki class guides and try to decide on a class you'll like. The different classes have massively different gameplay styles. Discussing them all is beyond the scope of a single post.

Game mechanics will feel horribly dated in some respects. Spell casting classes generally have more power for soloing than melee classes do, but come with built-in downtime because regaining mana is a slow process. If you're not patient, this isn't the game for you.

Mechanically this game isn't as hard as Warcraft. Once you grow accustomed to the game, you won't die as often as you do in Warcraft. However, Everquest hits you like a hammer when you do screw up. If you die here, you respawn at your bind point. You do *not* automatically respawn close by where you died like you do in Warcraft. You can only change your bind point with the "bind affinity" spell. Not everyone gets it, and the folks who don't have it are heavily restricted in terms of where others can bind them (mostly cities). Remember this, because if you die far from your bind point, recovering your corpse isn't going to be a pleasant experience. This mechanic, by itself, accounts for much of Everquest's reputation for difficulty. Bad players or folks who can't (or won't) learn don't tend to last long in this game. Warcraft kills you more often, but it makes death relatively painless so players tend not to care.

Come here with an open mind, give it a chance, and you may find EQ grows on you. Alternately, you may not; at the end of the day EQ probably has as much bad as good and some of the bad might be impossible to surmount. See for yourself and make your own call.

Danth