Discussion - Maybe Returning to EQ (1 Viewer)

Greetings Denziens of Norrath!

I played a fair amount of EQ back in the day, leaving in 2004 when WoW was released (Didn't help that I was able to solo GoD raid bosses by dual boxing a cleric). I had used SEQ and MQ back in the day (though less of MQ, mostly made scripts for a couple of friends... they were crude but effective if you had the plat, mostly they were tradeskill scripts) and made some money on the side by selling plat. All of my plat gains came from playing the most ridiculously OP class ever put into an MMO... The Enchanter (dual boxed with a cleric of course for that Complete Heal action).

I just spent all night fighting with SEQ getting it running again (and having a blast getting it to work, think I might enjoy that more than the actual game lol), and my itch to play EQ hasn't been this strong in... well, a REALLY long time.

Several years ago I thought about returning to EQ and reactivated my account for a bit, but was pretty disgusted with the nerfs to Enchanters, mostly because of the XP nerf to charm soloing, as that was how I leveled that toon, and it made me easily one of the top Enchanters on my server (NO one could do CC like I could). Don't get me wrong, Enchanters needed some nerfs in a terrible way, but SoE nerfed the wrong thing (imo).

Anyway, I say all of this because I really had a lot of fun playing my enchanter, and challenging myself to seeing how many mobs I could kite at once, charming, dotting (lol sucky dot), aoe nuking (Gravity Flux didn't do much, but the spell effect was hilarious imo), utilizing my full arsenal of spells to pull off some really amazing stuff, etc. It was a blast (and honestly, even soloing a raid boss dual boxing a cleric was a blast, if rather ridiculous). But I'm curious about just how much EQ has changed, and if I would even enjoy things the way I used to. I can't imagine they left Enchanters as broken as they were, but at the same time that was part of the reason I enjoyed playing one.

This time around I'm looking to mostly bot, partially because I want to see if I can write a sufficient script for one of the bots available here that can do what I used to do, and because I'm rediscovering my love of breaking software and doing clever things with it (used to use hex editors back in the day to rewrite active memory of games I played to see what would happen, though never in EQ because... well, I just didn't, SEQ and MQ were enough for me and quite fun to mess with).

So given that it's been so long that I played, and EQ has changed so much, I really feel like a noob coming back in, and am curious about just how drastically things have changed, especially around Enchanters and charm mechanics (since that was what I enjoyed most about this game).

Another reason I'm planning on botting is I don't feel like starting over from scratch and grinding all the way to level cap then working on AAs and whatever else has been added. I don't have that kind of time anymore... but botting? That's just fun, and considering I work IT these days, well, I'm a Systems Engineer that loves to tinker.

So for the people that never left (or left for short periods but always returned), what's kept you coming back over the years? How has EQ stayed "Fresh" for you? How did the move to F2P go over? Any idea how many people actually still play?

For those that are recent starts, what brought you to Norrath?

Thanks for reading this wall of text. I now return you to your regularly scheduled forums.

PS: Mods my apologies if this is in the wrong section, this seemed the closes to a sort of general discussion area.

Edit: Missed the "Hail a Fire Beetle" forum section. Could a mod move this there please?

I wrote a guide for returning players, but haven't updated it in two years and the game has changed a lot since then. Here it is if you'd like to take a look:

http://www.redguides.com/community/...mp-Returning-Player-s-Guide-to-EverQuest-Live

The big changes for me:

Free to play.

Plat inflation - it's insane and nearly breaking the game, since there's a hard-coded limit for bazaar listings.

RedGuide's quest macros. (go from 1 to lvl 70 in hours)

Mercenaries. So handy to always have a rez. (I use quest macros on free accounts to make lvl 70 mage's, get a cleric merc, and put them in all my hunting spots. CotH / Rez whenever I need)

Auto-grant AA's. This will save you so much time, though the newest 4 expansion's AAs you'll still have to grind yourself.

Heroic characters ($35) instant lvl 85 and geared.

All the gear has a billion stats and you need a PHD in EQ to tell what each one does.

Boxing. Nobody plays a "class" anymore, they play a full group.

Hello PixieDust,

About a month ago I was in the same situation as you. Away from EQ for many years, got the itch to try it out to see how it changed and perhaps relive past glories. Because of MQ2, I jumped back into EQ. For me it is more fun getting MQ2 working, and succeeding in that regard, than doing content/quests/grind in EQ. EQ has a ton of content that will keep you entertained, but I have more satisfaction getting a script working just right, and figuring out ways to script content.

I played on my old server for a little bit, then moved onto a newer server to join a group of MQ2 users. Being part of a group of players that are MQ2 users brings a new dimension to the game. Chat about how to use a script or where to afk camp etc. Having such a resource available will prolong and enhance the enjoyment of the game for ya.

If you are interested in coming back, and scripting one or more toons, hit me up with a PM. We can get you to any level you want to play at quickly, and will be able to help you out with MQ2 assistance.

Redbot is right, no one plays one class anymore. My "main" is a 6 box :-) .

Cheers and game on,

MNKenr

RedBot:

THanks for the post! I don't see a "Thanks" button or I would click it. Great response thank you very much!

MNKenr

Thank you too! Definitely something I'm looking to get back into. One of the primary reasons I'm interested in EQ is to do some botting. Still need to figure out exactly what I want to do with this. Couldn't believe how much crap I had in my inventory/bank, that kinda crap drives me nuts these days, but I'm something of a digital hoarder.

Trying to decide how I want to approach this. Make a bunch of new toons and bot them up, bot some toons that would complement my existing ones then bot all of them to max, do some crazy multiboxing for the lulz, or what.

I am a bit sad though to see that they nerfed charmed pet damage output (though truthfully that was a DESPERATELY needed nerf... Enchanters were WAY to OP with charmed pets, though granted most people couldn't really pull it off that well). That and it means my old method of charm solo kiting a gazillion mobs is pretty much dead *cry*. I was looking forward to trying to modify an Enchanter bot do do that.

With MQ2 there are so many way to gain XP, you do not need to just focus on one (Charm Kiting). XP comes pretty fast and you may just forget about how the game was when you charm kited :-) . EQ has a strong and generous free to play model. Content from 19 expansions are available and without restrictions. There is some limit to end level character customization (due to AA cap). Load up as many accounts as you want, they are all free, and enjoy most of the game without paying.

If you do create new accounts, be sure you 'recruit' them from your main account. Just by recruiting them you start off with a large bag and a basic mount. You can also recruit older accounts and get the bag as long as they have not logged on within 6 months.

Game on!

i came back to EQ and MQ a year ago after a 7 year hiatus.

We have it real good now. GMs are not bothering MQers anymore.

Free2Play in EQ is pretty insane, unless you want to experience end game content right now, you can stick with free accounts for most support classes. I suppose only if you are tank (War/Sk/Pal) that you would want to be All-Access and even then you can get by with Heroic augs.

This is why Sony/Daybreak wanted to nerf the xp in older zones, so the 105 Gold accounts wouldnt be PLing their F2P gimps to 100.

Came back the last time about a year ago but i have a very small amount of free time. My original toons i dont really play anymore and like redbot says i play a group or combination of.

With the release of the last expansion i decided to not buy it and let my boxes catch up in expansions over the next 2 years and see how far i could get with non prestige gear (free to play) across the board. Augs certainly take some effort but the answer is you can get all the way through RoF and the only 2 mobs that i cant beat are multi group names in t4. I do pop a krono to add aa's when i want them.

Certainly MQ2/Kissassist is required from my POV, and as i have got better at it my enjoyment has increased by a long way. If i had a wish list it would be to hook up with some others and do some raiding with all the boxes, maybe thats a conversation for another thread

I am no fan of all the quests/achievements and to a degree the homogenised nature of gear and expansions but there is a depth and freedom within the game still that noone has replicated.