Never played EQ, how hard to get started?

[SabbyPuppy]

Hey all! I never played EQ, but I had friends who did I've heard quite a bit about it, and after being very unsatisfied by anything else out there, I had a co-worker mention this to me and I thought I'd give it a shot. But I was wondering if I never played EQ in it's original incarnation, how difficult would this be to pick up? I've been playing WoW since early BC, and I've played about a million different MMOs, plus other various games.

I just need to feel challenged, and WoW isn't doing it for me anymore, and I remember my friend telling me how hard EQ was. I just wanted to get some input from people before I downloaded and such.

thanks <3

[Bristletoe]

Sabby

Welcome to Everquest. This game is by far more challenging then WOW. I recently moved over and I completely love how hard EQ is. It's free so download and try. Everquest does not have quests like WOW so it requires killing things and turning in items. I would suggest, since it's what I'm comfortable with, is to start in Qeynos ( humans, erudites, half elf ... I can't remember the rest)

Kill mobs in qeynos till level 4. Once you are done, you'll wonder off to Blackburrow and have some fun grouping and Collecting.gnoll fangs. You get tons of xp from them!!

If you do, hit me up. Ingame name is Gonnadorn.

[Tre_Selor]

A good thing too remember is that Classic EQ is essentially a dungeon simulator (like Wizardry) and shouldn't be compared too WoW..

EQ is difficult and requires lots of time and attention, not too mention a group. The game encourages grouping by being difficult.

[AbstractVision]

It can be difficult for a modern mmo player to come to original EQ. Be sure to brush up on the /chat commands. Aside from that, faction can be pretty brutal to a new player. You can make entire cities and races hate you and all their NPCs kill on sight all over the world just from your race choice but also things like killing other npcs, certain guards, ect. So make sure you understand faction.. other than that just have fun. I recommend a druid for any first time player, it does everything and you'll be able to travel around the world quickly as well as make money at your early to mid levels.

TL : DR Understand chat commands, faction, and be a druid.

[JurisDictum]

Hey all! I never played EQ, but I had friends who did I've heard quite a bit about it, and after being very unsatisfied by anything else out there, I had a co-worker mention this to me and I thought I'd give it a shot. But I was wondering if I never played EQ in it's original incarnation, how difficult would this be to pick up? I've been playing WoW since early BC, and I've played about a million different MMOs, plus other various games.

I just need to feel challenged, and WoW isn't doing it for me anymore, and I remember my friend telling me how hard EQ was. I just wanted to get some input from people before I downloaded and such.

thanks <3

Its hard to get people to see the merit in the old and dated concepts in EQ -- unless they learned them before modern games.

Unfortunately it doesn't help how leveled and geared everyone is, at least from a new players perspective. Its like going to college surrounded by trustfund babies driving Porsche when you have to make due with the bus. Its not a big deal when its a few, but when its every god damn person -- you get disaffected pretty quick.

I find that you have to set up a static group with your rl friends and give them starting gear...hopefully they will overlook the sheer oldness of the game and come to appreciate the slower pace and more challenging curve EQ offers.

If they are complaining about games being "too easy" or being like a "hamster wheel," that's a good sign. If they are annoyed over some other BS they probably are just your average impossible to please gamer these days.

[Phenyo]

Hey all! I never played EQ, but I had friends who did I've heard quite a bit about it, and after being very unsatisfied by anything else out there, I had a co-worker mention this to me and I thought I'd give it a shot. But I was wondering if I never played EQ in it's original incarnation, how difficult would this be to pick up? I've been playing WoW since early BC, and I've played about a million different MMOs, plus other various games.

I just need to feel challenged, and WoW isn't doing it for me anymore, and I remember my friend telling me how hard EQ was. I just wanted to get some input from people before I downloaded and such.

thanks <3

Its difficult and incredibly satisfying. Risk vs reward gameplay. Read the wiki religiously and forget everything about wow and other mmos, as mentioned previously, this is more akin to a dungeon crawler. Take things slowly, consider EVERYTHING. EQ takes level differences extremely seriously.

You will die, a lot. Dont get frustrated and put off, its part and parcel of what makes the game so enjoyable. Dont expect to power through levels, some people focus so much on the destination they forget to enjoy the journey.

The community is unlike any other and you'll meet people that will check in on you from time to time or bend over backwards to help. A big part of the server is keeping players and good deeds tend to pass forward. However, like any community there are mentally unwell and generally toxic players. It is what it is and you'll learn to spot them.

Gear is nothing like your typical mmo fodder, you wont be replacing your nooby gear every level and items hold much more use throughout the leveling experience. There are untradable raid drops like you will be familar with, however a huge amount of the gear is freely tradable and wearable at any level.

It may seem simple and clunky at first but you'll soon realize how complex and immersive eq can be.

Its a fine wine.

[EQBallzz]

You are a brave soul and I commend you for it. If you are looking for a challenge and can get beyond the dated graphics you are in for one hell of a ride. EQ is still the best MMO out there even today IMO. I recently came back after 15 years or whatever and it's still great and I'm having a blast compared to the modern MMOs I was playing like BDO and even ESO which I liked (until it went B2P).

Like others have mentioned you need to throw your other MMO experiences mostly out the window as far as expectations go. This game is hard and punishes you without a second thought. It doesn't hold your hand. You have to figure stuff out. It literally drops you in the game world with a tattered note to get some terrible potato sack for armor and then you are on your own. Luckily, the p99 wiki is very good so use it.

I like to think of EQ like a graphical and real time pen and paper D&D session come to life. Unlike other MMOs where you are always the hero and always win and nothing bad ever happens...things bad can and will happen. You can fall through a trap door and be literally locked in a cell deep in a dungeon. You can fall to your death. You can lose your corpse and it can rot (with all your gear). The game allows you to screw up character creation or ruin important factions. If you turn a quest item into the wrong NPC it's probably gone. You really have to pay attention to details. It's also very rewarding..especially when you have a great group of interdependent classes working together well or even just hitting that next level feels like an accomplishment.

I suggest finding a guild ASAP that is willing to answer questions and give you info. This game is really meant to be played with others. If you try to tackle everything solo all the time and have nobody to talk to you will probably have a bad time.

Feel free to contact me in game if you want to join my leveling guild. We have mostly under lvl 45 players. Not a ton under 10 anymore but we are still inviting people of all levels so we do have people in that very low level range still and we have helpful people that will answer questions and help out when they can even though most of us are pretty poor in game (no twinks here!). There are some other good guilds I'm sure but I think they mostly have min level requirements starting around 15.

[Arkanjil]

Wow! Hats off to you for giving Classic EQ a try! It's really a different experience than modern MMOs...one of the 1st sandboxes. You make your journey in this world, it's up to you! Shoot me a tell in game if you have any questions and I'd be happy to help.

[Jimjam]

It's pretty easy to get started. If you can get hold of the old kunark disks to create a separate install there is a good tutorial with that for how to play the game.

When you create a character you have everything you need to get started; a basic weapon and some food and drink. You'll also have a couple of quest items: a tome of discord to flag yourself as a pvp player (not recommended) and a note inviting you to your classes NPC guild.

Once you're in game it's just like real life; you walk about talking to people, going on adventures whilst trying to avoid new and interesting ways to die.

If your character does die, don't worry! You'll reappear at your starting point with no equipment and can keep playing from there. You'll be able to find your corpse to get your old stuff back. There are also banks in game which will let you store items and currency you don't need on your adventures (perhaps a spare weapon banked will be useful to help you on a 'corpse run').

Going on an adventure to retrieve a corpse is one of the most fun parts of EQ.

[RDawg816]

Going on an adventure to retrieve a corpse is one of the most fun parts of EQ.
There is no in game map. You navigate by landmarks or by using /loc to get your in game coordinates. I suggest making a macro that says /loc on line 1. Hit that whenever you are fighting/exploring. If (read: when) you die, navigate back to those coordinates and get your corpse. If you die in a bad spot, make another macro for/drag to pull your corpse to safety...

[Ruhtar]

Welcome to EQ and P99!

The only thing I'd add, which seems to be the toughest thing for my friends to get past, is the beginning of the game (without gear) is probably one of the hardest humps to get over if you're not a pet class. It will either feel extremely dull (lack of abilities/spells) or it'll feel too difficult and seem too time consuming to continue. If you can get to lvl 20 or so, most classes start to have a decent set of spells or abilities to work with and start to make that class unique.

Stick with it, take your time, group up and meet people in game and you'll have a blast! Feel free to whisper me ingame if you happen to be on at night. Euphonic or Ruhtar.

[ThePayback]

Hey, I also never played EQ back in the day and have just started on P1999. I heard about it but never knew what it was like and found a video about it that I found really interesting called "Everquest: A Retrospective". From there I binge watched a bunch of videos about P1999 and was reading the wiki a lot and decided to just try it out. I really find the game extremely interesting and charming, I really like that when EQ was made there wasn't really anything like it so it has a lot of weird quirks to it and some convoluted design choices which led to the players getting deeply invested in it to figure out how to progress. I'd be down to play with you assuming you have a character around the same area, I'm only level 5 Druid and still super new to this lol. My in game name is Bluetrain and my start city is Rivervale

[snergle]

LOL @ everyone saying classic eq is hard. every raid in vanilla wow is harder then every raid in eq until omens at least. Leveling is tedious not hard. tedium =\= difficulty. I play eq because wow is harder and i have a high tolerance for tedium.

[georgie]

LOL @ everyone saying classic eq is hard. every raid in vanilla wow is harder then every raid in eq until omens at least. Leveling is tedious not hard. tedium =\= difficulty. I play eq because wow is harder and i have a high tolerance for tedium.

[Izmael]

Leveling in WoW back then was orders of magnitude easier at low levels at least.

As soon as you reach level 4 or 5 untwinked in EQ you can't just yolo rush the mob and hope to win. Unless you are a mage or necro I guess.

TLDR: EQ is goog. Make a druid.

[Lorian]

Not only have you chosen the toughest game, you also have chosen the toughest server. You will be competing against people who are geared to the teeth and realistically you will have to make do with low xp scrap mobs until you get your gear sorted. So its important that you select a class which is not that gear dependent. I usually recommend new players to head to Permafrost around lv 16-17, the velium bits blocks sells for between 5- 50pp to vendors, that way you can gear yourself and become more competitive.

[Dimmestsalmon]

What mob drops those

[Muggens]

Not only have you chosen the toughest game, you also have chosen the toughest server. You will be competing against people who are geared to the teeth and realistically you will have to make do with low xp scrap mobs until you get your gear sorted. So its important that you select a class which is not that gear dependent. I usually recommend new players to head to Permafrost around lv 16-17, the velium bits blocks sells for between 5- 50pp to vendors, that way you can gear yourself and become more competitive.

Lol the game isnt so hard n tough as some make it out to be, it just takes time to grind levels and get familiar with all its quirks. definately dont go to permafrost , solb is closer and groups happen there, the ore drops in solb aswell.

[Ménage à trois]

LOL @ everyone saying classic eq is hard. every raid in vanilla wow is harder then every raid in eq until omens at least. Leveling is tedious not hard. tedium =\= difficulty. I play eq because wow is harder and i have a high tolerance for tedium.

Are you serious? MC was a joke after mechanics were determined, BWL, AQ, ZG, all ridiculously easy raids the only incredibly hard raid in Vanilla IMO was Naxx, it reminded me of playing EQ. If you die, who the fuck cares - just group up and head back in.

Nothing like EQ when an entire guild dies in Plane of Hate because something on the second floor aggro'd, then you have to ask another guild to come save your ass.

the difficulty of both games are not analogous at all.

[Halfelfbard]

The game is alot of fun, and remember you are never alone...dont forget to ask for help. And dont be a dick to people.

Get some leveling friends and enjoy the ride together...soon you'll find yourself logging in just to talk to these people.

[drunkdinosaur]

I've got a ps3 controller setup for soloing. Can party/dual just fine as well. Started playing this around a month or two ago.

[snergle]

Leveling in WoW back then was orders of magnitude easier at low levels at least.

As soon as you reach level 4 or 5 untwinked in EQ you can't just yolo rush the mob and hope to win. Unless you are a mage or necro I guess.

TLDR: EQ is goog. Make a druid.

Leveling in eq is tedious and the only person who has a hard job in a group is an enc who slows mezzes buffs and charms and even then its just paying attention.

Are you serious? MC was a joke after mechanics were determined, BWL, AQ, ZG, all ridiculously easy raids the only incredibly hard raid in Vanilla IMO was Naxx, it reminded me of playing EQ. If you die, who the fuck cares - just group up and head back in.

Nothing like EQ when an entire guild dies in Plane of Hate because something on the second floor aggro'd, then you have to ask another guild to come save your ass.

the difficulty of both games are not analogous at all.

plane of hate wipe is spending more stones and time to get corpses or waiting a week and getting gms to give it back. plat and time sink. wiping in wow is a gold and time sink. every eq raid from vanilla to omens can be summed up with tank and spank. at least wow made you move and pay attention. I boxed in live on raids and was #1 dps my own bard and my own healer with no one dying in my group. I couldn't do that shit on any mc fight as horde. maybe you played alliance and got carried by paladins.