Coming back to EQ - Going solo
 

Hi all,

I haven't played in a while on the server (busy with work and real life stuff...)
Actualy I played when Box of Abu-Kar still droped.

I REALLY want to start playing again but, I don't have much time. It can be as low as 30 minutes a day to maybe a few hours if I am lucky.

I have a 24 mage (not enjoyed him that much)
I have a 16 shaman
I have a 9 bard

I would like to have opinion on what could be a good solution for me? I know people will say play what you like. And i think i will find out what I like as I try stuff. But I would love to have opinion or story on what i could do to be able to play and have fun even though it can be a 30 minute session.

If i can play for a few hours of course i would group for the social and fun part of it. But i guess i would mainly be going solo.

I don't have much plat to buy stuff (200-300pp)
I do have 1 Box of Abu-Kar (what is it worth?) Should I trade it for a few piece of gear or should i keep it?

Thanks in advance all.

All three of those characters are viable solo characters. Bards can do a pretty hefty swarm kite in 30 minutes, shamans get much better at soloing at higher levels, and mages are just a great soloing class all through classic. Necromancers are also a great solo class.

Honestly, I play in a similar manner and I play my mage and love it. It isn't intense, but I watch tv at the same time I play.

1 bard pull usually takes me 25-45 minutes, depending on how long I take to gather things up and how often I miss the range on the dot or get resists. Its also quite repetitive and doesn't work well outside of open plains (no dungeon soloing), so there are those restrictions. You may level fast, but you're going to miss out on the dungeon crawl feel.

My choice for this playstyle (hardly time to play) is a monk. Getting my mend skilled up then will get fiend death will allow me to crawl some dungeons alone when i get that urge to go inside. I used to live in Dalnir on Live.

Thx for you quick information!

I would basicaly put the mage away for now as I did not quite like it. I will probably take all his money and xfer it to the char I will end up playing.

As for bard i just read a few thread about aoe kiting. It might be fun to try out. As I understand it start to shine at level 18. Doing that, will I level at a decent speed? I don't mean super fast. I mean will it feel like im going forward even though i only have the time for 1 pull in 25-45 minutes? Is it gear dependant?

As of shaman, i read effectively that it gets better as you level. Starting as low as 16. Can i solo well and feel a progression? Is it gear dependant too?

I'm asking about the gear dependant thing as I don't have any. Where as a mage is only spell dependant (well mostly)

You can sell the box for 5k or so.

Personally, I'd keep the box, having 100% WR is so much more important down the line then having 5k now. (ESPECIALLY if you decide to go for a monk, lets you keep several different weapons handy and take some choice loot back home with you). There are some good camps that will drop bronze/fine steel weapons that will quickly weigh you down, being able to pick up 10 of the heaviest without it affecting your encumbrance is a huge boon and will allow you to farm that much more, paying for itself and then some eventually.

Solo classes don't typically need a lot of gear if you pick a caster. If you didn't like your mage, try a necromancer. They're a lot more involved then a mage(mage casts pet, casts another pet, maybe heals their current pet, then hits with a 5dmg nuke before the mob dies).

*It occured to me after typing this you have a mage, just steal his gear for your necro and you should be fine*

I did lvls 1-30 with a full set of cloth armor and did it pretty quick (not a single magic or stat increasing item). Take your 200-300p, use it to buy some cheap hp/mana bracelets and if you can find it some cheap ac/hp rings and and a halfway decent dagger like a dragoon dirk or something to help you with meleeing mobs down until lvl 12 or so. I'd save at least 50p just to ensure you can buy spells and only get the spells you need. I skipped most of the resist spells and things like summon coldstone ect... because you generally don't need them at low levels and get upgrades at higher levels so you end up learning spells that you never cast.

If you have money left over, I also like the 2str/4int earrings & the 7int/7str necklace (carrying loot, believe me, it helps) but I'm not sure if you'd be able to afford that just yet.

Oh, as to bards. No, all you need for a bard is:

1) Skill
2) A couple of instruments, storebought serve well enough at the beginning.
3) The ability to not care that you're pissing off 5+ people by swarm kiting and keeping 20-40 mobs from repopping for 20-30 minutes.

That is indeed a possibility I will take some time to read about necro to see how much different they are. So that I can get a feel early if I will like it. For some reason I would tend to create an iksar necro now that Kunark is out. Evil to the teeth! lol

Thanks for that Info I will consider that.

Keeping the box is indeed something I would want to do. I was a bit curious as if it would have given me the chance to buy some gear to work my way through!

Ahah sounds nice!
Can i start doing that at level 9 to get a feel of it?