Slower Paced Gamer Giving This Another Try

[Breidr]

I made an account a while ago, but never gave this game a fair shake. I guess life got in the way. That combined with the fact that I was dead set on Warrior at the time. it was possibly a bad mix.

Now I have time due to a change in circumstances. I've been trying to get back into MMOs but have been unable to find a fit. I've generally stuck to Vanilla WoW era Tab Target games, but even those are getting a little fast these days. LOTRO, a game I keep coming back to every once in a while, is even starting to wear on me. I guess things are hitting me harder than I thought.

Add to that the limited income I'm on and trying out a lot of the new "old-school" games isn't really an option. Embers Adrift looked cool but has a low population and a box price. TLP servers require a sub.

Well, I'm kind of getting off topic. I've got the game installed again. I've had a little EQOA experience in the past, but nothing that really amounts to anything. Just spamming LFG in Qeynos and playing my class wrong.

I love the social aspect of these games, and if I could group 100% of the time, I would. I know that's not a realistic expectation as the server is probably progressed.

I've seen folks recommend classes like Necro, Bard, and Shaman, and I can see why. My issue is complexity. How complex or "active" do these classes get? I'm pretty sure I can rule Bard out. I'm okay with low APM or "boring" gameplay. That's actually kind of what I'm looking for. I just want to chill out in an online world, and hopefully meet some cool people. Nowadays games have so much stuff going on, 30+ keybinds, I just can't keep up.

If I was going to give P99 another shot, where would be a good place to start?

[Toxigen]

For low apm /easy role: rogue, cleric, mage

Mage will solo best out of the 3.

[bcbrown]

If you want chill gameplay and want to group as much as possible, cleric is a good option. People tend to want a cleric in a group, and are generally fine if all you do is stand up and cast a heal every so often. It's also possible to play clerics more actively when you feel like it, with undead nukes, stuns, lulls. They're pretty terrible solo, though, so you'll have to stick with the popular zones where you can easily find groups.

Solo, mages are good, as Toxigen said, but root rotting also sounds like it might be up your alley. You cast a couple damage-over-time spells, then sit, watch, and wait until the mob dies or you need to re-apply the DOTs. Necro, Shaman, Druid are all good at root rotting. I really enjoyed a druid as my first character on p99, because it has good mobility with SoW and teleports, as well as a lot of versatility of playstyles available, but they aren't great in groups.

Shaman definitely needs a lot of clicking, but it's not "complicated clicking". You spend a ton of time casting Cannibilize to convert health to mana, but that's pretty straightforward. Solo, you can root rot, and grouping, you can focus on buffing up the other players, then casting a single slow on each mob as it gets pulled to camp.

[Rader]

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

I made an account a while ago, but never gave this game a fair shake. I guess life got in the way. That combined with the fact that I was dead set on Warrior at the time. it was possibly a bad mix.

Now I have time due to a change in circumstances. I've been trying to get back into MMOs but have been unable to find a fit. I've generally stuck to Vanilla WoW era Tab Target games, but even those are getting a little fast these days. LOTRO, a game I keep coming back to every once in a while, is even starting to wear on me. I guess things are hitting me harder than I thought.

Add to that the limited income I'm on and trying out a lot of the new "old-school" games isn't really an option. Embers Adrift looked cool but has a low population and a box price. TLP servers require a sub.

Well, I'm kind of getting off topic. I've got the game installed again. I've had a little EQOA experience in the past, but nothing that really amounts to anything. Just spamming LFG in Qeynos and playing my class wrong.

I love the social aspect of these games, and if I could group 100% of the time, I would. I know that's not a realistic expectation as the server is probably progressed.

I've seen folks recommend classes like Necro, Bard, and Shaman, and I can see why. My issue is complexity. How complex or "active" do these classes get? I'm pretty sure I can rule Bard out. I'm okay with low APM or "boring" gameplay. That's actually kind of what I'm looking for. I just want to chill out in an online world, and hopefully meet some cool people. Nowadays games have so much stuff going on, 30+ keybinds, I just can't keep up.

If I was going to give P99 another shot, where would be a good place to start?

Cleric. Shaman, if you want to be able to solo during those uncommon times when there are no groups to be had regardless of your class.

[Lune]

All things considered Mage is probably going to be as forgiving as you can get. Popular and effective in groups, but can solo and farm as well. Easy to play with low APM, but some complexity there to master if you ever want to. I would say this would be your best bet for "Chill out in an online world, hopefully meet some cool people".

[Seducio]

I recommend Cleric as well. An underrated ability for a casual is ressing abilities. By Level 39 you can res yourself at 50%. This cuts pain of death in half.

I've seen more casuals rage quit due to tough CR situations and exp loss around death than any other reason.

EQ isn't considered hard mode for vets, but for folks that only have an hour or two a week a death can mean they don't login again.

Vote Cleric.

[Vexenu]

Cleric and Mage are both good options as others have said. Both very low APM, both very welcome in groups. Since you know very little/nothing about the game, a brief primer on how each class plays:

Cleric: You are the best healer in the game, and in grouping situations will spend most of your time sitting down medding and casting the occasional heal. Clerics are always in demand for endgame raiding, as well. Not only do Clerics have the best heals in the game, they have very powerful buffs, resurrection spells to restore lost XP from death, strong CC (crowd control) spells and a line of undead nukes that allow them to solo undead mobs fairly well if no group is available. Clerics also need very little gear to be effective while leveling since they are mostly just healing other players. A really great choice if you want a low APM class that is social and enjoy helping other players.

Mage: You are basically a one-trick pony. You summon a powerful pet and it fights mobs for you. The Mage is a fairly limited, specialist class, but they are exceptionally good DPS in a group setting with their pet, damage shield and nukes. They can solo for XP very well from 1-50 but fall off a bit 50-60 due to increased HP of mobs and their complete lack of any CC. They are also in less demand for endgame raiding than Clerics, although they fill a niche role there as well. Like Clerics, Mages require very little gear to level effectively, since your summoned pet is doing the heavy lifting. The Mage is a good choice if you want a low APM class and enjoy doing a lot of damage and/or controlling a pet.

If you're on the fence between the two, I would go Cleric.

[Breidr]

Thanks for the help, guys! I went and made two characters today. I have a Gnome Mage and a Dwarf Cleric. We will see how to goes from here.

Navigation is currently what I'm struggling with the most. Also trying to learn how to correctly interact with NPCs. I can't seem to "talk" to the gnome guides past the initial hail. Good News is, I just stumbled onto my guild NPC on my dwarf.

[Vexenu]

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

Thanks for the help, guys! I went and made two characters today. I have a Gnome Mage and a Dwarf Cleric. We will see how to goes from here.

Navigation is currently what I'm struggling with the most. Also trying to learn how to correctly interact with NPCs. I can't seem to "talk" to the gnome guides past the initial hail. Good News is, I just stumbled onto my guild NPC on my dwarf.

Be patient starting out, and remember that the journey is the destination with EQ. This is definitely the sort of game you're looking for based on the criteria you provided, but it will probably take a bit of time for you to start figuring things out enough to feel totally comfortable. The wiki will be a great help throughout that process, as will these forums.

For talking to NPCs, look for [words] or [short phrases] in brackets [like this]. If you repeat those specific words back to them, that will advance their dialog. Ex:

NPC: Hail, young gnome. Have you come to learn about [the magical arts]?
You: I want to learn the magical arts.
NPC : Very good *starts talking more and eventually offers you a quest*

[bcbrown]

http://www.allakabor.com/eqatlas/atlas.html is going to be your best friend for navigation. Also, train a couple points in Sense Heading, put it on your hotbar, and add a keybinding for the same key as one of your navigation keys, like 'a'. That will let it level up as you move about as well as give you constant feedback as to what direction you're heading. What are your character names, and are you on Blue or Green?