Question - Rolling a new Group

[Squirrely]

Been playing EQ off /on for 20 years and I still don't know squat. However, made the decision of rolling a new group and running them all via CWTN. There are a 3 classes I have never played (SK, Bard, and a Zerker). Looking forward to going back and playing a rogue. the last one I played years ago was a Rogue and leveled to 75 Max at the time. Group will consist of SK, Bard, Shaman, Rogue, Beastlord , and zerker. New group will all be level ones. Curious running CWTN , how fast will the group level?

Watch out Lockjaw - trouble is coming back

 

[Sic]

this isn't a question specifically related to the cwtn plugins so i moved it to hail a fire beetle --- yes you'll be using the plugins, but it isn't like they give you free magic xp

 

[Algar]

I think that you'll get a level approximately every 100% xp.

 

[diazepam]

I’ve leveled a couple groups from lvl 1 up to max and it really just depends on your gear on how fast it will go.
It’s def slower than having a higher lvl toon powerleveling but it is a lot more fun to go up through the levels as a group

 

[TinyBubbles]

Truly. The group composition has the holy trinity of tank, healer, and mezzer. And the BST will help out the other two melee's. XP? what diazepam said. Gear dependent.
That said, gear aside, you can make the lower levels a bit more trivial by giving your tank a number of ..... can't think of them, gimme a second.....
Borrowed this from Quicksand's post on June 1, 2024 from the daybreak forums. "Try these at level 1 - "Primordial Noodles with Indigenous Primordial Meat" for food and "Primordial Plasma Smoothie" for drink. together 210ac 2160h/m/e , plus 12/7 hp/mana regen" That amount of hp and ac for the tank will make him pretty unstoppable. You will be able to hunt above your level for some amount of time. Which I can't define.

Good luck to you!

 

[Redmonkey]

You may want to look before you leap. Lockjaw was merged with Ragefire a few years ago . And that result was merged into Vox last month.

 

[Squirrely]

Thanks for replies . I was looking and watching baz for the Primodial Noodles and Drinks - I have seen none available on Luclin. I kinda like that route.

 

[MagesRock]

Going to have fun with that group. I bet you will have a blast going to old zones being young. I might suggest Unrest as usually nobody is there and that team could destroy it. Highly recommend the Magellan navigation Lua. Major quality of life improvement for travel.

Previously I rolled SK, BER, SHM, BRD, MAG, ENC before the cwtn BRD plugin. I was handicapped as ENC DPS is terrible but I also had the advantage of ENC plugin making pulls always manageable. Bard KISS wasn't awful but having to rely on others KISS configs was not ideal.

I think you'll have a period where the bard will be less effective than he will be later. My guess is that will be somewhere in the 60 to 100 range.

Since the BRD plug-in came out I dropped the ENC and the BER and added a WIZ and a second MAG. BRD is my lockpick, CC and general ADPS. BRD double invis and selos is godly for travel while WIZ makes getting around good and he keeps up DPS with enough gear.

Good luck!!!!

 

[Valdemar]

Been playing EQ off /on for 20 years and I still don't know squat. However, made the decision of rolling a new group and running them all via CWTN. There are a 3 classes I have never played (SK, Bard, and a Zerker). Looking forward to going back and playing a rogue. the last one I played years ago was a Rogue and leveled to 75 Max at the time. Group will consist of SK, Bard, Shaman, Rogue, Beastlord , and zerker. New group will all be level ones. Curious running CWTN , how fast will the group level?

Watch out Lockjaw - trouble is coming back

I gave this advice just recently to another returning player who was starting at level 1 also. Go to Crescent Reach and do all the quests in that zone. Start the "Hero's Journey" quest (goes from level 1 to level 85) which will take you through all the Serpent's Spine zones. These zones are laid out well for progression, the mobs are not insane (looking at you Gates), but most importantly, there are frequent drops of level-appropriate Defiant armor and many of the quests also grant Defiant armor pieces/augments as a reward. The XP is good and leveling is fairly rapid (at least it was for me). I managed to level a group from 1 to 50, playing only about 6 hours on the weekends in one month, and that included all my persnickety sidetracks and perfectionist obsessions.

Once you've leveled up to 40s or 50s, you can do LDoN progression for XP and the LDoN charm and vendor augments. There is a brilliant plugin that automates the LDoN instances which removes the drudgery of completing all four themes. Highly recommended. Then do the DoN progression. I recommend it still. Afterwards you can return to complete the Hero's Journey or explore. Hero's Journey has some pretty involved quests towards the end which will take you to many places, so it's not limited to Serpent's Spine zones.

Anyway, the main reason I recommend this to all people starting a level 1 group is because the progression here is tied to one, central over-arching quest with very good rewards, as well as many related lesser and side quests, that upon completion, advance your main quest and offer good rewards. Think of it as a structured syllabus for your first 85 levels.

Oh, and don't forget your Epic quests as well.

 

[Redmonkey]

Thanks for replies . I was looking and watching baz for the Primodial Noodles and Drinks - I have seen none available on Luclin. I kinda like that route.

Yes, no one makes these much anymore. Most players make the upgraded versions which are not use able at level 1. You might could ask if anyone could make you a couple or set up a barter to buy a few. Remember you only need a couple to gain the stat and then use cheap or free food to actually eat.

They are a massive time sink and trivials at 423 so not something easy for sure.

 

[hackzimus]

Been playing EQ off /on for 20 years and I still don't know squat. However, made the decision of rolling a new group and running them all via CWTN. There are a 3 classes I have never played (SK, Bard, and a Zerker). Looking forward to going back and playing a rogue. the last one I played years ago was a Rogue and leveled to 75 Max at the time. Group will consist of SK, Bard, Shaman, Rogue, Beastlord , and zerker. New group will all be level ones. Curious running CWTN , how fast will the group level?

Watch out Lockjaw - trouble is coming back

This group will start off slower, but the 85-105 stretch is going to see big gains and really flesh this composition out.

It is very gear (hdex) and AA dependant, but once you're established it is a wrecking crew. This build is all about the game of inches, many little things adding up to big gains.

Just note the shamans aren't super great healers until the 85-95 range, and bards need the top level in a tier/expac to get their good AE mezz (ie lvl 100 to mezz up to 103)

But with autogrant on, as long as you keep up with gear, you will see massive increases every 5 levels from like 75-105. I think my sustained DPS at each junction 95,100,105 was at least double the dps of the previous tier.

Make sure to get augs along the way to keep your tank up to speed, especially if you're using group gear.

 

[afortner87]

You can’t go wrong with cwtn plugins . I would go with an enchanter bard healer nerf and 3 mages . Start another group and level up a cleric and a shaman with a healer and a tank merc and when the second group is leveled up join one of your healers with group 1 and drop healer merc.

I only do the two group thing this way because the healer merc is going to be superior until at least lvl 85 until you get your toons geared up appropriately

 

[Lord Sivion]

this isn't a question specifically related to the cwtn plugins so i moved it to hail a fire beetle --- yes you'll be using the plugins, but it isn't like they give you free magic xp

Maybe not "free exp". But using RG and tools definitely feels like magic to me every time!

 

[ArcaneProphet]

It certainly cuts out downtime while fighting/grinding. Especially if you set it to auto-pull or hunter-tank.

Might be a lot faster for the first 30 or so levels to split into 2 groups with tank mercs. Anyone try that?