To play or not to play
 

Hello everyone,

I've just recently read about P99 on the Emu forums. I played for a short period of time during the earlier Emu days so I'm familiar with the whole concept.
Kudos to the team and their efforts!

On "Live" I was active from '99 (a few months before Kunark release) to around 2002, some weeks into the PoP expansion.

This project would be a nice opportunity to experience the glorious old days once again which does bring up several problems though.

I never was a hardcore raider - maybe because I am from Europe, but was a member of an US based guild since the first day which meant raids usually at night for me -, nor did I ever play excessivley.
First main character was a ranger who I leveled up to 52 including first epic, got annoyed with this toon (crappy defense, pointless bow etc), so I created a new one in 2000 after a short break. I fell in love with my iksar monk!
Never looked back, got to level 65 around PoP, raided, quested, "AA'd" aso.
So in 2002 I quit because I wasn't far from college and EQ became more time consuming in my opinion (flags *argh*, the necessity to grind AAs, uber time consuming dungeon key quests - Vex Thal key was just ridiculous-). Looking back now I should've just switched servers and joined a casual european guild.

Ok, lets cut to the chase. I was wondering if there's a place for people like me on this server. 1 1/2 years left until I'll graduate college, after that it's "job-time". I won't be able to play every day, especially not for several hours in a row. 3-4 months before "the end" I probably won't find any time to spare beside the whole studying drama. I don't know exactly, but time will not be a surplus once I have a job.
Futhermore I do have more than enough time until the Kunark release to level up an avatar. Of course I chose a monk again because a) I have no *real* idea how to play another class and b) I don't really want to play another class. :)
Sadly I HAD to start a human monk - although I very very very much dislike them. I said to myself "come on, get over it, this way you can play NOW", but I keep getting reminded how awesome an iksar monk is. Well, so I thought. I've just read about the XP penality (I forgot all about it) and it sounds HORRIBLE! Iksar -20% and monk -20%! For someone that won't have much time to play after this summer, it sure is an argument against waiting in my opinion.

The quintessence of my dilemma is: should I wait for Kunark and live happily ever after or should I continue playing that hidious human?
AND even more important: should I "waste" my time on this game once more or forget all about it and look for another time killer (not game-wise I mean)?

No fees is great, so I'm not "forced to play" for my buck, but are there other casual players out there for me to group and eventually raid with..?
Sadly I have no real life friends who play MMORPG. Otherwise I could have at least one steady group to hang out with.
edit2: The thing is, there are already so many level 50 characters waiting for new hunting grounds while I'm still sitting here thinking about playing.
I wouldn't want to chase raiding guilds (which is what I want to do in the end: raiding), always being one or more steps behind, because I don't have equal time to grind levels / gear etc.

Thank you for reading in case you made it through. ;)

edit: PS: I forgot to mention that I find the noob leveling very tedious - granted it has been more than 8 years, but I never had to experience the hardcore way because a friend of mine helped me out with some basic equipment, nothing too fancy, but it did help. Of course it was even easier with my monk since I had him twinked somewhat by my first main char.

If you had time to write all that, you have time to play.

Yes.

Glad I could help.

Play for the fun of it and if you can handle it. If you're looking for some nostalgic entertainment on dull evenings then I doubt you'll be more or less pleased/dissapointed with the game whether you start now or after Kunark is released. /shrug

Your name is from One Piece?

http://moestaverne.com/p1999wiki/index.php/Europa <== european casual guild

First of all, I would suggest that you do indeed play. It's a great environment and if yo loved how EQ was back in the "Classic" era, then you'll love this server. Granted there are some minor differences and deviations from the "true classic" servers but I must say that I rarely notice them and am enjoying everything all over again.
I would suggest switching from your human monk to play some other class which you never had played. This way, when Kunark is released, you can start a lvl 1 Iksar monk and feel at peace and not have to go through the newbie levels for the same class once again. You may wish to consider a class which allows soloing such as Necros. (something which I did). This will allow you to play when you feel you can't find a group. Try something different for now, you may wind up loving it or at least returning to it now and then.
I would not worry so much about the people who maxed their level and are in a holding pattern for Kunark. You'll get there in good time. Most importantly, have fun while you level up. You expressed concerns about the fact that you can't devote a significant amount of time to the game. I can't either (I have a job, kids, etc.) so I spend what time I can in the game. It's taking longer to level up but I am having fun when I am on. I have an enchanter as my main and started a necromancer so I could solo when I know I can't be on too long. I also made a Shadowknight (in order to try something different from my live days) and a cleric (so I can group with my wife when she's on with her Paladin). On live I pushed hard to level up and missed a lot of the fun places at low / mid level to group and I am not making that mistake again. Find a "family guild" and have fun!
If you feel though that the drive to level is too great to resist and that you'll be constantly frustrated because you can't devote large blocks of time to the game, then this is perhaps not the place to spend your leisure hours. Remember, this IS Everquest and it can be quite addictive.
I hope to see you in game!

As a new player myself, that's probably not the best first impression to make..just sayin'.

Don’t be dissuaded or turn off from the server by the forum tone / crowd. I'm not saying the community is an ideal group of mature care bears, but it's far better than the impression you would get from visiting these boards.

I can vouch for Europa.
For what it's worth, every time I come across a member in game it has been a pleasant encounter.