bitbreaker
Member
- Joined
- Jul 18, 2023
- RedCents
- 72¢
I have four characters going at the moment. Took about a week to get them set up - but finally off to the races in Gloomingdeep. Feels like I just took a college course after going through all the documentation and videos on boxing.
Is the difference between 4/6 and a full 6/6 group worth adding the extra two on? Or can a player be successful with just four toons?
I've covered tank, healer and have 2 dps.
SHD, SHM, MAG, NEC.
My goals are simply to experience the game as someone who has never played before, but I don't really want to get hung up on not being able to do content due to lack of players looking for group during my odd hours of play / no interest.
----------------------
[ Unrelated Notes ]
Updated: August 16, 2023.
Going to use the bottom part of this thread to keep some notes, so future brand new boxers have some answers to noobie questions that may bug them the first time around.
They should be able to arrive here with the search function. Eventually I'll move these into their own thread once I have a more complete list - and if useful / not reposting.
What plugins should I use?
One of the very first things you should do is to type
A list of all the plugins that were already installed by veryvanilla will be there.
In any order you like, have a browser window open to RedGuides, and using the search function, type in the plugin name.
Navigate to the resource page for the plugin and read the overview, faq and commands list. If there's a video for it, watch that too.
At the time of me writing this, there's a few plugins that are enabled by default that are actually no longer used by the community. So knowing about them allowed me to go back and disable them.
MQ2HUD has fallen out of favor in place of newer ones. LQ2Labels causes crashes? EQBCS is slowly being replaced by DanNet.
How do I save my UI window position?
Not all windows will save their place. Namely the CWTN plugin windows and the Macroquest console window.
Refer to this video to see how to save a window's position
How do I copy my UI between characters?
Alt + O to open your settings. "Copy Layout" and choose the character you want to copy from.
What do I do with keybinds / macros / aliases?
The bulk of botting will require you to issue commands from your "driver" to your "slaves."
This is done in the form of creating macros, then putting them on your hotbars so they can be pressed by keybind or by mouse when needed.
A good deal of time in your first week or setting up your bots will be spent figuring out what macros to create. And then putting them on your hotbars 1 by 1.
Take your time during this setup, it's the bread and butter of this whole thing.
To start, open your "Actions" window. "EQ" button -> "Actions" or Alt+M.
Once open, there are four little tabs. One looks like a chat bubble called "Social," open this up.
You will see 10 pages with 12 little tiles on each page. The first page should be full of premade macros. 2-10 are yours to edit.
Use https://www.redguides.com/community/resources/sics-hotkeys.1150/ this page to get started. Then create some of your own afterward.
How do I set up combat routines?
There's several creators of routines. Kissassist, CWTN, and some basic ones included with MacroQuest like MQ2Melee.
Go through them and see if you want to pay for the premium ones or just start with the basic first.
Where do I browse or find more plugins, macros and LUAs?
I use the RedGuides awards to get a brief idea of what other users are using and slowly incorporate some of them into my own setup.
Go here https://www.redguides.com/community...are-awards-win-krono-prizes-for-voting.84968/
Under "Select Category to Vote" are links to each of the threads concerning plugins, macros and LUAs.
How do I use steam wallet funds to purchase membership and cash shop items?
If you're like me, and want to use Steam Wallet to make the bulk of your purchases, install Everquest (or Planetside 2) on Steam.
Then on the launcher for either game, you can buy Daybreak Cash using Steam Wallet as payment.
Once you have the Daybreak Cash, you can simply use the cash shop ingame to buy things.
Unfortunately, you cannot buy Krono with steam wallet. Use 3rd party sellers at your own peril at $10/ea. Or buy official Krono from the cash shop at $18/ea.
How many boxes? What should my group look like?
This one is personal preference.
However, a large part of your Everquest experience is going to be tackling content solo.
You should respect your time and not sit around finding the best solo class, or having to resort to tricks & exploits.
You can always socialize as you see fit, but you should never be sitting around waiting to fill a group - that's just a pure waste of your own time.
You can always drop a bot or two to make room for a friend to join you. Then add the bot back in when it's just you playing.
So ideally, choose any character to play as your main. The one that fulfills your fantasy. Then add up to 5 other bots to round out the group. I'm playing four toons myself.
1 Tank + 1 Healer + any four other toons.
The cost to bot will be $10 for Redguides, $15 for each character you want to play for a monthly total of $ 15 x 7 = $105 if you are running a full 6 bot group.
On top of that, you'll want a little money in the cash shop (optional) and maybe some Krono as needed to fund your ingame bankroll.
As for resource usage for your computer, each instance of Everquest takes 1-2% CPU and 1400MB of RAM. This is without any limiting of my graphics. Use that to judge what you can handle.
Questing / Leveling
As a new player, you can certainly just go out and kill stuff.
If you prefer to just turn your brain off and let your bots grind, you can certainly run through the open world, focusing on White and Blue mobs in one area before moving on to the next. Once they turn grey, they grant no xp.
Using MQ2Map you will be able to reveal all monsters, all interactable objects like plants and other resource nodes, all NPCs, and all players. With your map, you can plan your route ahead of time and just head in the general direction of "stuff," leveling up and acquiring loot as you go.
However, if you want more of a guided path, Hero's Journey, which you pick up from Emissary Tinnvin, is the way to go.
It's a long chain of quests that will hold your attention for the first 85 levels of the game.
With the AutoLoot plugin you can
Food / Drink
There's an annoying You are thirsty, you are hungry, you are out of food and drink chat message you get spammed with as a new player.
It doesn't go away, and will clog your chat until you do something about it.
Some characters can summon food and drink like Shamans and Mages.
For other characters that can't, I recommend buying the Cookies and Milk off the cash shop.
If using CWTN, you can use
If I'm playing a rogue, it would be
Keybinds and Macros
Interacting with NPCs
Use
When popup windows appear on your screen for accepting new quests, use
Mimic Me - included in your group window when you install AutoGroup and AutoAccept
Hail - a default social macro that can be found on Page 1 of your Actions window
Navigation
Uses Map, Nav and DanNet
Open your map and
You can also
Have a macro that does
You can also do
Exiting game
How do I interact with the RedGuides forum?
You'll have a browser window open to RedGuides 99.9% of the time to find solutions to your questions.
Use the search function in the top right hand corner of the website whenever you have an inquiry.
Soulbinding
You'll need to rebind your hearthstone as you move around the open world. So that when you and your toons die, you can respawn closer to the action.
In Crescent Reach, the soulbinder's name is Aelea. Use
Remember to find the names of the soulbinders in other regions of the world as you progress.
How easy is it to add on toons after I've begun?
There is an xp limit for groups. A toon more than ~5 levels above the lowest level member will prevent the lowest level from receiving xp from kills.
If you start a 4-box group and get them to level 20, then decide you want to add 2 more boxes on... you have to level those last 2 separately until they're level 15 or so.
You can still pull with a higher level member, use the higher level ones to heal, and give them buffs.
But the lower levels must do 50% damage to the monster to get xp.
It will take awhile, but do decide early on if you want to add more boxes, so you're not wasting time re-grinding lower level mobs.
What is the best way to level new toons?
Gloomingdeep awards a full armor set. If it's your very first time playing, go through the tutorial area. Get comfortable with the controls and pulling mobs. They kick you out at level 10.
If you don't want to do the tutorial caves, use the cash shop, buy a full armor set for 500 coins.
Where do I level up my spells?
There will be a little hut in Crescent Reach to do your 1-20 spells. It's not in the big structure, it's down a short path in a semi-outdoors thatch hut with lots of trainers inside.
After that, you will be visiting Plane of Knowledge (the game's main city?) to level up 21+ spells.
To get to POK, enter Brightfire Moors from Crescent Reach. Once in Brightfire Moors, just hug the wall to your right for about 30 seconds and you'll come across a little Tome/Book on a pedistal to teleport.
Once in POK, go to the center of the zone, a big Library. Inside, you'll find all the trainers.
Shadowknight is 2 floors down.
Wizard, Enchanter, Bard is 1 floor down.
Shaman and Druid are on the ground level library.
Magician is 1 floor up.
Ranger, Paladin are 2 floors up
Beastlord is 3 floors up.
If you are using CWTN and need to know which spells the combat routine uses that you haven't learned yet...
What do I use for Maps?
With it, you will have every player character, monster, and other object you could want revealed to you and will be able to navigate across your map with shift + ctrl left click.
However, the default Map drawings are poor. So you will install either of Brewall's Maps and Good's Maps to upgrade the appearance of your map.
Download both, then swap between them ingame to choose which of the two you like better. Keep them both, or remove the one you don't want to use.
Gear:
Armor
Free Option: Just send your group out to grind/quest, collect armor as you go and distribute them between your toons. Gearly is useful to quickly show you which of your toons will benefit from the upgrade.
Paid Option: Get the Consigned Complete Armor Bundle off the cash shop for 500 coins. These pieces upgrade with your toon as you level up until level 85? Ignore the jewelry from the cash shop. These are gatcha-based, only give you one piece of jewelry, and are outshined by the ingame option below.
Jewelry can be purchased at one of two vendors immediately when you enter Plane of Knowledge at Keefe (1-49) or Iason (50+). The jewelry is quite pricey at 800 platinum per piece. But the trick here is to just buy 1 Krono, convert it to platinum ingame, then use that as your bankroll for these purchases. You need 2 earrings, 2 rings, a facemask and a necklace, for a total of 6 pieces. Or roughly 4800 platinum in total per toon.
Some errors you may get:
Group corpse nearby, where are you going?!
On the toon that owns the corpse, use
Typically you will not be able to resume pulling if there is a corpse of your group member nearby. If you don't yet have a rez, you'll need to decay the corpse or move your camp to resume pulls.
LUAs that are useful:
AFKAmp
Run this on your main toon. It performs an auto logout if you forget to turn off your bot and walk away from the computer. I have mine set at 2 hours. Others recommend less time like thirty minutes.
Is the difference between 4/6 and a full 6/6 group worth adding the extra two on? Or can a player be successful with just four toons?
I've covered tank, healer and have 2 dps.
SHD, SHM, MAG, NEC.
My goals are simply to experience the game as someone who has never played before, but I don't really want to get hung up on not being able to do content due to lack of players looking for group during my odd hours of play / no interest.
----------------------
[ Unrelated Notes ]
Updated: August 16, 2023.
Going to use the bottom part of this thread to keep some notes, so future brand new boxers have some answers to noobie questions that may bug them the first time around.
They should be able to arrive here with the search function. Eventually I'll move these into their own thread once I have a more complete list - and if useful / not reposting.
What plugins should I use?
One of the very first things you should do is to type
/pluginman into your chat window.A list of all the plugins that were already installed by veryvanilla will be there.
In any order you like, have a browser window open to RedGuides, and using the search function, type in the plugin name.
Navigate to the resource page for the plugin and read the overview, faq and commands list. If there's a video for it, watch that too.
At the time of me writing this, there's a few plugins that are enabled by default that are actually no longer used by the community. So knowing about them allowed me to go back and disable them.
MQ2HUD has fallen out of favor in place of newer ones. LQ2Labels causes crashes? EQBCS is slowly being replaced by DanNet.
How do I save my UI window position?
Not all windows will save their place. Namely the CWTN plugin windows and the Macroquest console window.
Refer to this video to see how to save a window's position
How do I copy my UI between characters?
Alt + O to open your settings. "Copy Layout" and choose the character you want to copy from.
What do I do with keybinds / macros / aliases?
The bulk of botting will require you to issue commands from your "driver" to your "slaves."
This is done in the form of creating macros, then putting them on your hotbars so they can be pressed by keybind or by mouse when needed.
A good deal of time in your first week or setting up your bots will be spent figuring out what macros to create. And then putting them on your hotbars 1 by 1.
Take your time during this setup, it's the bread and butter of this whole thing.
To start, open your "Actions" window. "EQ" button -> "Actions" or Alt+M.
Once open, there are four little tabs. One looks like a chat bubble called "Social," open this up.
You will see 10 pages with 12 little tiles on each page. The first page should be full of premade macros. 2-10 are yours to edit.
Use https://www.redguides.com/community/resources/sics-hotkeys.1150/ this page to get started. Then create some of your own afterward.
How do I set up combat routines?
There's several creators of routines. Kissassist, CWTN, and some basic ones included with MacroQuest like MQ2Melee.
Go through them and see if you want to pay for the premium ones or just start with the basic first.
Where do I browse or find more plugins, macros and LUAs?
I use the RedGuides awards to get a brief idea of what other users are using and slowly incorporate some of them into my own setup.
Go here https://www.redguides.com/community...are-awards-win-krono-prizes-for-voting.84968/
Under "Select Category to Vote" are links to each of the threads concerning plugins, macros and LUAs.
How do I use steam wallet funds to purchase membership and cash shop items?
If you're like me, and want to use Steam Wallet to make the bulk of your purchases, install Everquest (or Planetside 2) on Steam.
Then on the launcher for either game, you can buy Daybreak Cash using Steam Wallet as payment.
Once you have the Daybreak Cash, you can simply use the cash shop ingame to buy things.
Unfortunately, you cannot buy Krono with steam wallet. Use 3rd party sellers at your own peril at $10/ea. Or buy official Krono from the cash shop at $18/ea.
How many boxes? What should my group look like?
This one is personal preference.
However, a large part of your Everquest experience is going to be tackling content solo.
You should respect your time and not sit around finding the best solo class, or having to resort to tricks & exploits.
You can always socialize as you see fit, but you should never be sitting around waiting to fill a group - that's just a pure waste of your own time.
You can always drop a bot or two to make room for a friend to join you. Then add the bot back in when it's just you playing.
So ideally, choose any character to play as your main. The one that fulfills your fantasy. Then add up to 5 other bots to round out the group. I'm playing four toons myself.
1 Tank + 1 Healer + any four other toons.
The cost to bot will be $10 for Redguides, $15 for each character you want to play for a monthly total of $ 15 x 7 = $105 if you are running a full 6 bot group.
On top of that, you'll want a little money in the cash shop (optional) and maybe some Krono as needed to fund your ingame bankroll.
As for resource usage for your computer, each instance of Everquest takes 1-2% CPU and 1400MB of RAM. This is without any limiting of my graphics. Use that to judge what you can handle.
Questing / Leveling
As a new player, you can certainly just go out and kill stuff.
If you prefer to just turn your brain off and let your bots grind, you can certainly run through the open world, focusing on White and Blue mobs in one area before moving on to the next. Once they turn grey, they grant no xp.
Using MQ2Map you will be able to reveal all monsters, all interactable objects like plants and other resource nodes, all NPCs, and all players. With your map, you can plan your route ahead of time and just head in the general direction of "stuff," leveling up and acquiring loot as you go.
However, if you want more of a guided path, Hero's Journey, which you pick up from Emissary Tinnvin, is the way to go.
It's a long chain of quests that will hold your attention for the first 85 levels of the game.
With the AutoLoot plugin you can
/setitem quest <number of quest items needed to complete the quest> to automatically distribute quest items to all of your toons while you're grinding.Food / Drink
There's an annoying You are thirsty, you are hungry, you are out of food and drink chat message you get spammed with as a new player.
It doesn't go away, and will clog your chat until you do something about it.
Some characters can summon food and drink like Shamans and Mages.
For other characters that can't, I recommend buying the Cookies and Milk off the cash shop.
If using CWTN, you can use
/<your class name> addclicky summon <number of items you want the script to summon and maintain at all times>. "3" is a good number to have so you're not summoning all the time. Because you want more than "1" stack of food and drink so it occupies a space in your bags. Otherwise, when distributing loot, you will sometimes take your food and drink slot and need to reorganize everything manually.If I'm playing a rogue, it would be
/rog addclicky summon 3 to summon and maintain a stack of 3of whatever I'm holding.Keybinds and Macros
Interacting with NPCs
Use
Mimic Me to get your toons to copy your actions, then Hail the NPC to begin the dialogue. Then click the blue text in the chat from your main toon to proceed through the dialogue.When popup windows appear on your screen for accepting new quests, use
Yes and No to interact with them.Mimic Me - included in your group window when you install AutoGroup and AutoAccept
Hail - a default social macro that can be found on Page 1 of your Actions window
Yes - /dgga /yesNo - /dgga /noNavigation
Uses Map, Nav and DanNet
Open your map and
ctrl + shift + left click on any entity inside your map to path towards it.You can also
/nav spawn <name of entity> to do the same.Have a macro that does
Nav Stop - /nav stop that you can press whenever you want to manually stop your character during any navigation action.You can also do
/nav ui and set Break Behavior to something other than Disabled to achieve the same thing.Exiting game
Exit - /dgga / camp desktop to exit any and all instances of everquest and return you to your desktop.Exit - /dgga /camp to exit to your character selection screen only.How do I interact with the RedGuides forum?
You'll have a browser window open to RedGuides 99.9% of the time to find solutions to your questions.
Use the search function in the top right hand corner of the website whenever you have an inquiry.
Soulbinding
You'll need to rebind your hearthstone as you move around the open world. So that when you and your toons die, you can respawn closer to the action.
In Crescent Reach, the soulbinder's name is Aelea. Use
/nav spawn aelea to get there and bind each of your toons now.Remember to find the names of the soulbinders in other regions of the world as you progress.
How easy is it to add on toons after I've begun?
There is an xp limit for groups. A toon more than ~5 levels above the lowest level member will prevent the lowest level from receiving xp from kills.
If you start a 4-box group and get them to level 20, then decide you want to add 2 more boxes on... you have to level those last 2 separately until they're level 15 or so.
You can still pull with a higher level member, use the higher level ones to heal, and give them buffs.
But the lower levels must do 50% damage to the monster to get xp.
It will take awhile, but do decide early on if you want to add more boxes, so you're not wasting time re-grinding lower level mobs.
What is the best way to level new toons?
Gloomingdeep awards a full armor set. If it's your very first time playing, go through the tutorial area. Get comfortable with the controls and pulling mobs. They kick you out at level 10.
If you don't want to do the tutorial caves, use the cash shop, buy a full armor set for 500 coins.
Where do I level up my spells?
There will be a little hut in Crescent Reach to do your 1-20 spells. It's not in the big structure, it's down a short path in a semi-outdoors thatch hut with lots of trainers inside.
After that, you will be visiting Plane of Knowledge (the game's main city?) to level up 21+ spells.
To get to POK, enter Brightfire Moors from Crescent Reach. Once in Brightfire Moors, just hug the wall to your right for about 30 seconds and you'll come across a little Tome/Book on a pedistal to teleport.
Once in POK, go to the center of the zone, a big Library. Inside, you'll find all the trainers.
Shadowknight is 2 floors down.
Wizard, Enchanter, Bard is 1 floor down.
Shaman and Druid are on the ground level library.
Magician is 1 floor up.
Ranger, Paladin are 2 floors up
Beastlord is 3 floors up.
If you are using CWTN and need to know which spells the combat routine uses that you haven't learned yet...
/<class name> missing will show youWhat do I use for Maps?
MQ2Maps will come pre-installed in your Very Vanilla.With it, you will have every player character, monster, and other object you could want revealed to you and will be able to navigate across your map with shift + ctrl left click.
However, the default Map drawings are poor. So you will install either of Brewall's Maps and Good's Maps to upgrade the appearance of your map.
Download both, then swap between them ingame to choose which of the two you like better. Keep them both, or remove the one you don't want to use.
Gear:
Armor
Free Option: Just send your group out to grind/quest, collect armor as you go and distribute them between your toons. Gearly is useful to quickly show you which of your toons will benefit from the upgrade.
Paid Option: Get the Consigned Complete Armor Bundle off the cash shop for 500 coins. These pieces upgrade with your toon as you level up until level 85? Ignore the jewelry from the cash shop. These are gatcha-based, only give you one piece of jewelry, and are outshined by the ingame option below.
Jewelry can be purchased at one of two vendors immediately when you enter Plane of Knowledge at Keefe (1-49) or Iason (50+). The jewelry is quite pricey at 800 platinum per piece. But the trick here is to just buy 1 Krono, convert it to platinum ingame, then use that as your bankroll for these purchases. You need 2 earrings, 2 rings, a facemask and a necklace, for a total of 6 pieces. Or roughly 4800 platinum in total per toon.
Some errors you may get:
Group corpse nearby, where are you going?!
On the toon that owns the corpse, use
/decaycorpse then accept the prompt to get it to disappear.Typically you will not be able to resume pulling if there is a corpse of your group member nearby. If you don't yet have a rez, you'll need to decay the corpse or move your camp to resume pulls.
LUAs that are useful:
AFKAmp
Run this on your main toon. It performs an auto logout if you forget to turn off your bot and walk away from the computer. I have mine set at 2 hours. Others recommend less time like thirty minutes.
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