New-ish player unable to find groups

[Seiryu]

Hey all. I've been on here for a few weeks and am finally posting here because I wish to say a couple of things.

First, I love EQ. I don't mind the XP Grinds or camps. In fact, I finished the Paladin Epic back on live way back in the day if that says anything. My issue is that I have gotten two levels in the past two weeks from level 16-18 as a druid, solely due to the fact that I'm unable to find any groups at this level. I've attempted to solo kite, and without a clarity available, I'm able to reliably get two kills every ten minutes or so charm kiting.

As much as I respect the server for wanting to keep groups going, the population is way too low to bar multi-boxing. At least with a box alt, I'd be able to progress at a reasonable rate. There are times where I easily spend four hours at a time LFG with no luck.

Now, like I said, I'm an old EQ player, so none of my friends appreciate it or want to play it like I do. I'm generally playing solo and when I finally do get a group, it's usually at p1 in Oasis, which xp moves slow as molasses.

I'm going to give the game another week and see if things get better, but I feel I'll be leaving you guys very shortly. As much as I appreciate the option to play, the low level player base is too small to get anything done.

[fragmaster]

This is EQ, you've played it before, XP moves slow unless you have a great camp and competent players. Try Unrest.

If you're charm kiting, are you using camo to break the charm and then killing your pet and mob to avoid the pet xp penalty?

[Seiryu]

You're right, it is slow unless you get a great camp. The issue is just that. I can't port yet, so even if there is a group all the way in Unrest, It will take me about an hour of traveling to get there from Oasis/Highpass via boat, or I could pay for a port, which I don't really have the funds for since Oasis gives no cash drops and I need level 19 spells as well.

Also, you can't compare this to classic considering it was the most popular game for its time. Groups were never an issue. There were always an abundance of players in each zone and if you wanted a group, you simply put your name on the list. Now it's a matter of finding any, or enough players, to effectively group with in a zone. Even then you'll have to travel a considerable amount of time as a new player, since you don't have a main to fund it for ports.

[Expediency]

Originally Posted by fandAONgo [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

First off, the thing to do is start the groups. Pick a good group dungeon, cb, unrest, mistmoore, sola, solb, kc etc etc....

....

People are always WAYYYYYY MORE interested in grouping if they think the group is already established at the camp and doing well. So spam ooc with "MM pond group lfm"

This guy gets it. My main is a druid and I did 0-60 on p99 this year. You have to accept the fact that druids are not highly groupable. You can *not* sit around waiting on a group or you will not get anywhere at all.

Protips:

-Move around. You are a druid. You can self port soon. You need to be checking out sol a regularly for a group, its right by LS rings. You should check SK/Paw for groups, its not far from your NK rings. etc.

-Learn to quad kite. its fun and you can go afk for a while while you med. rotting things is not as efficient.

-at your level, check out upper guk. Excellent exp

-if you charm exp, remember you lose half the exp if pet does more damage than you and is still under your control when mob dies.

-root/rot either right outside or right inside dungeons while you wait. Slow but its something.

-Port people while you wait once you get high enough to do that. Make some money and ask people if they need a druid whereever they are going. I got tons of groups by asking the people I was porting if they wanted me.

-If a camp is open, as a druid you are very good at duoing/trioing. take the camp, and hold it, even very slowly, with one or two others until you can fill the group. Never turn down a bard or a monk, they work well with druids. Do not be picky about tanks, any will work. Dont give up camps that are desirable, like ones in MM/CoM/KC unless the zone is dead.

-If you want to box, go somewhere else, you *will* get banned here.

[Expediency]

Also you should join a leveling guild. You will meet lots of people your level and that will help you.

[Kowalski]

Quit while you can

[brinkman512]

Are you playing on GMT hours? If yes, i would suggest you start on red and play with us and join our social group "Euros for red". I personally have a lot of fun at the moment levling up with 2 very nice players that i have met on red. Also, the community seems to be very helpful here. I got quite some items for free and many offered to pwrlvl us also.
Send me a pm if interested.

Yours Brinkman!

[Gaunja]

If you were on red server I could help you out and provide free ports as a new player. If you are on blue I can't help.

[trite]

Sitting around LFG doesn't get you groups, most people on p99 blue server aren't newbs and will grab the classes they want who are spamming lfg in ooc....druid is only up to bat when clerics aren't around at lower levels...

Form groups or hang out at the camp with the group you want to join for awhile.

Don't be underleveled for an area since from most peoples perspective you are a gimp cleric. You will need to be in the upper lvl range for an area to be an effective healer and this is conducive to receiving a good share of the exp anyway.

Research druid soloing and how best to bother enchanters for Gift of Pure Thought (group clarity 2 since the single target version will be too powerful for you) and clarity...

[Crawdad]

Originally Posted by Seiryu [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

... I've attempted to solo kite, and without a clarity available, I'm able to reliably get two kills every ten minutes or so charm kiting.
...

Everyone else has pretty much touched on all the other points so I wanted to comment on this. Thanks to Velious, Druids have plenty of charm spots from 14 until 60, and it is easily the best way to make exp (the only exception being quadding 46-49ish thanks to Lumi staff).

If you're unable to kill more than 2 mobs per 10mins charming, you're doing something wrong. Are you spending mana buffing your pet? What % are you breaking charm to nuke? What mobs are you trying to charm kite?

Especially at low levels, you should only be spending mana to snare, root, charm and a low level nuke/dot to kill.. this should only run you around 100mana per kill, and you'll be medding a lot during your charm shenanigans.

Gorge hounds and other fauna in East Karana are a great spot for your level and should get you a level per hour or two max. Honestly, Druids are possibly the best charming class (when there are enough charmable targets), so learning how at low levels will do you well.

Good luck! If you need any help/tips on charm kiting you should let us know, lots of people are happy to help you out with tips/demonstrations.