Does this server have more casual players then EQ Live did?

[Tonden_Ockay]

What I am getting at is when I played EQ Live I used to group for 4 to 6 hours at one time. Now that I am married, with two small kids, a full time job, and rental properties I no longer have the 4 to 6 hours in one sitting like I did back then. There for, I am doing fairly well if I can get 2 solid hours of nonstop playtime.

So I guess my real question is how long does the average player spend in a group on this server in one setting? Am I to tied down / casual to group on this server?

I was going to play a cleric but they are very group dependent. My second choice would be a shaman and then a bard. All three are group classes but only the later two can solo well at later levels. If its going to be hard to only group for short amounts of time on this server then I think it might be better to go with one of the later. However if there are a lot of players on this server in the same boat as I am. Then may be it would be ok to play the cleric who can’t group for very long periods of time.

I am asking you all because this server has been around for over a year and I am just now looking into playing on this server after not playing EQ for over five years.

Thanks for you time.

Tonden Ockay

[JackFlash]

I've never seen it drop below 200 at the most off peak times. If you play bard or cleric you should have no problems finding a group. Higher levels can be harder but the 1-30 group scene is bumpin.

[likely moxie]

I'm sure there's going to be people who get pissy if you can't spend 4+ hours on an exp group, but that's their problem, not yours. just be upfront and say "yo, I've got about an hour or two" when you join a group, and it would never hurt to try and find a replacement shortly before you have to leave.

I'm new and have very casual playtimes myself, so if you ever want to chill and duo with a necro just shoot me a tell. :D

[eqravenprince]

I would say play whatever you want. A lot of people would love to group with a Cleric even if it's for short periods. I'm also in the same boat as you, the only classes that I will most likely never play is Warrior and Rogue simply because they can't solo for shit. While I love Melee classes and I have a level 21 Monk, but between having to get a bind from someone else and corpse runs, any melee class can get old real quick.

[Yam]

People wont mind if you only have an hour or so to group. That's plenty of time.

[odizzido]

I think the only reason people would be annoyed is because losing the cleric would put the entire group on hold unlike losing a DPS player.

Of course you could make it all good by finding a rep before taking off.

[Loke]

Sable, you don't happen to be the same guy that played WoW as a mage on Cenarius by the same name do you?

[likely moxie]

nope, sorry! I've never played WoW.

[Loke]

Lame, it would be way cooler if you were. He was a pretty awesome dude. His awesomeness now makes you look less awesome by comparison. Sorry.

[likely moxie]

oh man, this is the first time I've been retroactively de-awesomed because of some dude who plays WoW. guess I'm gonna have to do some kind of 80's training montage to get my groove back

[Yak]

I found this server to be very populated and at the lower levels on live was very empty.

[Lindsay Carouselle]

I was showing my wife the game last night and was telling her about why it's superior to WoW (the game she and I played together for a couple years). Risk vs. reward, as well as other reasons. As I was roaming around, she had commented on how other people in the zone were responding to questions respectfully and she was amazed. Considering our most recent gaming experiences, it's not a surprise. I told her back in '99 when I first started, the community (Innoruuk server) was so tight-knit that even the so-called "bad" boys and girls had strong support...enough so to help stifle long flame wars and such. That just doesn't exist in the highly accessible department store-feel of WoW.

The idea of "casual players" here is both sensible and a little strange at the same time. Casual, in the sense that it's not necessarily a booming, overcrowded server with a much more toned-down gaming style that favors being more cerebral than, for example, hopping from one quest hub to the next with easy directions inbetween. Modern MMORPG's are like factory assembly lines in that it's constantly in motion, no time to stop and think as there's probably someone nearby who's blasting you for being a "noob" or cramping their style.

On the other hand, this EQ project is also a bit hardcore, too. When my wife mentioned the respectful nature of the other players (which I agreed with), it occurred to me that it's very likely that the majority of you who're supporting this cause are old-time players from EQ's infancy, such as myself. Therefore, it's probable that the time we're spending gaming online could have been spent on a more modernized, heftier game such as WoW, Guild Wars or even the underrated EQ2. ..but no. We're here, treading very old ground, doing things we probably haven't done for ten years. That's dedication; loyalty on a grand level. I call that "hardcore." To bypass the simplicity of other games for the sake of regaining a memory of when they were tough and required a true community and the "togetherness" that comes with it. A standard gamer would float to where it's easy and popular. So be it, no problem with that. ..but it was for me, which is why I'm here now...doing Bertoxxulous' bidding as well as I possibly can. :)

Sorry for the long-winded opinion, but coming back to EQ after a long, LONG hiatus has been a therapeutic thing for me. I appreciate this a lot and it's been fun grinding like hell to just reach level 5.

-Bryan.

[Nedala]

Your cat got a nice helmet! Where does it drop?

[Lindsay Carouselle]

Your cat got a nice helmet! Where does it drop?

The Plane of Produce.

When you first enter, hang a right at the statue of the Broccoli King and head down the banana-yellow hallway. Bypass the Carrot Rogues as they are non-aggro and don't really drop anything good anyways. You'll find yourself at two doors. The one on the left will go into the Vegetable Arena and the one on the right will go to the Fruit Catacombs. Go right.

Pull everything you can as there's a chance that each kill may trigger an instant spawn of King Ka-Melon-Melon. Take him out fast as the longer you keep him alive, the stronger his progressive Rind Armor spell lasts and, thus, cumulates. He's got a roughly 15% chance to drop the Skullcap of Tartness; the headpiece that goofy cat in my avatar picture is wearing. :D

[stormlord]

What I am getting at is when I played EQ Live I used to group for 4 to 6 hours at one time. Now that I am married, with two small kids, a full time job, and rental properties I no longer have the 4 to 6 hours in one sitting like I did back then. There for, I am doing fairly well if I can get 2 solid hours of nonstop playtime.

So I guess my real question is how long does the average player spend in a group on this server in one setting? Am I to tied down / casual to group on this server?

I was going to play a cleric but they are very group dependent. My second choice would be a shaman and then a bard. All three are group classes but only the later two can solo well at later levels. If its going to be hard to only group for short amounts of time on this server then I think it might be better to go with one of the later. However if there are a lot of players on this server in the same boat as I am. Then may be it would be ok to play the cleric who can’t group for very long periods of time.

I am asking you all because this server has been around for over a year and I am just now looking into playing on this server after not playing EQ for over five years.

Thanks for you time.

Tonden OckayOkies. Don't play a cleric. I'd go with the bard. 2 hours is not much time. You might want to throw out your dreams and play a necro or druid or magician. I'm not joking. Maybe i'm exaggerating a bit. Even when I am working 8 hour days I can still push 5 hour playtimes. That's more than enough. But 2 hours is just not enough if I'm speaking honestly. It takes a while to get a good group and then there's the whole "Ahhh, you can't leave us soo soooooon!????? (pout, tear)" It's a whole lot easier to play a necro or magician or druid because then you're not tied down in anyway. Druids might get port requests, but you can go anon.

If it doesn't work out, as a last effort to get interested, play a necro. No need to feel bad about it. The class was designed that way. It's not too powerful when you consider that in the raiding scene you need diversity to survive. If anything necros and mages are great in the non-raid zones for peeps with low playtime.

Then when you're lvl 50 you can twink a cleric/shaman/bard if you -must- play one.

[feste]

oh man, this is the first time I've been retroactively de-awesomed because of some dude who plays WoW.

just made me laugh coffee out my nose lol

[Dr4z3r]

People wont mind if you only have an hour or so to group. That's plenty of time.

[jim454ss]

Some of these posts got me real sentimental, lol. Tonden, an hour or two is fine in my opinion, just always do your best to find a replacement.

[Bubbles]

I would hesitate to call anything on this server "Casual". It's the word that, for the most part, is the worst one to describe the player base, at least in comparisons to live... where a ton of people did play casually.

That said, while the cleric isn't the world's most efficient solo player, the cleric is highly sought after in pretty much any group setting, and clerics are one of the best duo classes in the game.

Their Stuns / Lulls / Heals / Buffs / Roots / Fears / etc are incredibly diverse for a class thought to be a one-trick pony, and you can add a ton of utility to almost any situation.

[Daywolf]

Played a cleric on live (and have one on grand creation) and soloed sometimes. Actually it is/was a pretty solid class for solo vs. undead. Cleric is more than a heal-bot, people hah