How realistic is casual raiding?

[Scalem]

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

I’m looking at this for green 2.0. As someone who doesn’t have time, nor do I care about the truly hardcore raiding how realistic is it to still have access to raid targets? I know some are more contested than others but I really know very little about the actual raid scene. While I’m not opposed to buying MQs and such I’d prefer to avoid it if I can. Is it realistic to do it on a more casual schedule? Does access to raids for a casual change through the eras the server will progress through? Feel free to add anything else I should know. Note I don’t really want opinions about raiding and whether you personally think it’s fun or not, I can decide for myself when or if I experience it.

When the server is in just "classic" EQ it's probably the easiest time to be a casual and get raid gear as the only real content is Hate/Fear clears. In Kunark there is a bit more mobs to go after but it doesn't change to much. Come Velious it just becomes a numbers game and every raid guild needs "warmbodies" who are casuals that just show up. Will you get Vulak, AoW or Tunare loot as a casual? Probably not unless you are a paladin or SK or your guild has had the content on farm with minimal competition for a year. Every guild needs casual members and you can easily get some gear for what raids you do show up to. It's also incredibly class dependent, playing a rogue/monk/war? You going to be waiting a long time for good gear. Playing ranger/sk/paladin? You won't have to wait that long for half decent raid gear.

[yorumi]

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

It's also incredibly class dependent, playing a rogue/monk/war? You going to be waiting a long time for good gear. Playing ranger/sk/paladin? You won't have to wait that long for half decent raid gear.

I figure I’m just going to play what I want and not worry about how popular it is. I’m using the last months of green to test out different race/class combos to figure out what I really want to play. It’s mostly that I’m looking to change things up and not play what I normally do and try out new things. The way I see it if I’m enjoying myself in the raid scene it won’t matter how long it takes to get items and if I’m not then playing a class for easier loot won’t matter.

[Scalem]

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

I figure I’m just going to play what I want and not worry about how popular it is. I’m using the last months of green to test out different race/class combos to figure out what I really want to play. It’s mostly that I’m looking to change things up and not play what I normally do and try out new things. The way I see it if I’m enjoying myself in the raid scene it won’t matter how long it takes to get items and if I’m not then playing a class for easier loot won’t matter.

Should know that no one knows if green is going to end or when it will. You could be waiting years before a green 2.0 if we even get one.

[loramin]

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

Should know that no one knows if green is going to end or when it will. You could be waiting years before a green 2.0 if we even get one.

We will get one. Green (and it's subsequent 2.0, 3.0, etc. revisions) are the entire point of this place's existence.

Now there's certainly a question of "how long will they wait after the last patch?" before they take 1.0 down and put up 2.0 ... but while the dates may be uncertain, Green 2.0 isn't, because the whole purpose of this place is to give people the experience of playing classic EQ.

[Scalem]

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

We will get one. Green (and it's subsequent 2.0, 3.0, etc. revisions) are the entire point of this place's existence.

Now there's certainly a question of "how long will they wait after the last patch?" before they take 1.0 down and put up 2.0 ... but while the dates may be uncertain, Green 2.0 isn't, because the whole purpose of this place is to give people the experience of playing classic EQ.

No one knows for certain if we will get one. I’m sure the original plan was for it but the fact is we don’t know what their actual plans are. All people can do is speculate one way or another. Hell we hadn’t seen R for months until all the drama around Ryan and Sean.

[PlsNoBan]

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

We will get one. Green (and it's subsequent 2.0, 3.0, etc. revisions) are the entire point of this place's existence.

Now there's certainly a question of "how long will they wait after the last patch?" before they take 1.0 down and put up 2.0 ... but while the dates may be uncertain, Green 2.0 isn't, because the whole purpose of this place is to give people the experience of playing classic EQ.

"Server Merge - The staff has had considerable discussion internally regarding the merging of Green into Blue at the end of the timeline. We've heard your concerns. At this time, we haven't made a final decision, but we have also decided that we will leave the door open. A lot can change in 3 years, and we may chose to leave Green running independently as we open additional servers in the future." - Rogean

[Mblake1981]

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

When the server is in just "classic" EQ it's probably the easiest time to be a casual and get raid gear as the only real content is Hate/Fear clears.

Original EQ is still the best and most cohesive EQ, it was a downhill slide with Kunark and the rest of the expansions.

[greenspectre]

Originally Posted by Mblake1981 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Original EQ is still the best and most cohesive EQ, it was a downhill slide with Kunark and the rest of the expansions.

Also, can we talk about how nuts Hate and Fear were with a level cap of 50? Wiping was not uncommon even with good organization. At 60 you don't wipe nearly as much to ToV trash as you did at 50 to Hate trash. One spite golem gates and its "EVERYONE CAMP!"

[Ooloo]

Yeah currently on green there's quite a relaxed policy for most raid guilds. However you should be aware that if you join one, it will be very cliquey and you might have a hard time making your way if you can only play on a casual schedule. I'm somewhere between casual and neckbeard depending on work, but its quite fun. It's not just ST dominating everything on green anymore.

[Keebz]

So there's two types of raids:

1) Semi-scheduled content — Some group of guilds have agreed to rotate access to a raid zone on a weekly/semi-weekly basis. So these raids will mostly be scheduled and easy to attend. Think Plane of Sky, Plane of Fear... basically the Planes and less competitive content.

2) 'Batphone' content — These are highly desirable mobs that get killed as soon as possible after they spawn. Someone from your guild sits around 'tracking' for when they spawn then sends out a guild-wide text or discord message alerting everyone to assemble and try to get the kill. This could be at any time—4am, 4pm, Midnight whenever. This mobs tend to drop the best of the best gear.

Type 1) content is much easier for casuals obviously, but type 2) content is actually pretty achievable as well. Just set healthy limits on when you're willing to respond to a batphone.

As for guilds, generally each guild does a different balance of type 1) and type 2) content. So you should pick your guild based off what type of content you want to experience. A common pattern is to start in a more type 1) heavy guild then swap to a type 2) heavy guild as you get bored with the scheduled content.

All that being said, if we're talking about Green 2.0, you should know there's very few batphonable targets for the first 2 years of a sever. So I highly suggest joining the most competitive guild and just being a casual in it. You will get to experience all the content and get a good shot at decent loot. Moreover, the longer you are in a guild, the more clout (social and DKP) you have which means as new content releases you will have quicker access to the new loot.

Hope this is somewhat informative. Cheers.