Tell me it gets "better"

[Stormhowl]

I think today it's been nothing but a bit of a train wreck in terms of my leveling experience since I logged on this afternoon. About 4 deaths and only 1 bubble of EXP to show for 4.5 hours of "work". Blackburrow is a bit over-crowded full of about 6-7 people just soloing the dungeon at any given time and there's constant competition for spawns, and no one seems to want to group. What gives?

Is this trend indicative of how things will continue to go at higher levels? Or will things get better beyond level 16 and outside of Blackburrow? I've had pretty rough luck of not getting any groups (and not convincing anyone to actually group instead of having 5+ people just soloing and fighting over spawns) and the groups I have gotten have had rotten luck of being trained or having members that face pull yellows (and not waiting for mana, bleh).

Does it get better once you leave the "lowbie" levels? Do people group more often and are they more willing to group beyond level 15 or whatever you can get yourself up to in BB? Or am I kind of SoL in this regard and should resign to playing a class better able to solo?

Apologies for the rant (which, considering my experience with forums, will more likely than not get me flamed), but it's been an... exhausting night.

Edit: I started playing EQ back just before Velious was released, so it's not as if I'm a "newbie" to classic, but I never remember it being this rough and having so many deaths except in my first week or so when I didn't know how to play. >.>

[Gustahn]

Pretty much the same. This server is a far cry from the original community and fully dependent group days.

Its gonna be up to you to get the ball rolling, but dont expect much unless its an item camp.

It also doesnt help alot of areas are lacking in spawns that were more plentiful in live. I remember spires in sk supporting 3 groups, loio having multiple groups around the lake killing roamers and 2 groups on the cliffs hitting the masses of stuff outside the sarnak fort.

[Stormhowl]

Pretty much the same. This server is a far cry from the original community and fully dependent group days.

I'm sure the amount of twinks you see isn't helping huh?

Its gonna be up to you to get the ball rolling, but dont expect much unless its an item camp.

I was afraid of that. I guess I'll have to start being more proactive and start directly /whispering people instead of /shouting LFG and LFM. More annoying, I suppose, but it seems people prefer fighting solo and over spawns rather than working together and sharing (and getting safety in numbers AND exp bonuses for being in a party)

It also doesnt help alot of areas are lacking in spawns that were more plentiful in live. I remember spires in sk supporting 3 groups, loio having multiple groups around the lake killing roamers and 2 groups on the cliffs hitting the masses of stuff outside the sarnak fort.

Would be even more reason for people to group together instead of always fighting over spawns.

[enatomi]

It'll get better.

You might consider joining a lower-tier guild. Give you a chance to meet some people that are in the same boat. Even finding a leveling buddy will probably make your life a lot easier.

What class are you?

[Pyrocat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7IcVyvg2Qlo

[Hobby]

Try heading to the Freeport side of the world. Generally, if you can make it to North Karana, you can find a port.

Freeport / East Commonlands and surrounding area's are much more populated with higher people who will help with buffs as well as alot of people wanting groups.

[AreYouAngered MyBrother]

It gets better. Like they said, find a level buddy and never let go of his/her nut sack/vagina flaps.

[Tarathiel]

You just picked a rough zone to start fresh in, gfay/crushbone or ec/nro/oasis would probably be a little better place to start its a lot easier to find groups in these zones. If you hang out at some druid rings or wizzie spires long enough I'm sure to wouldn't be hard to convince someone to give u a lift especially if u explain your situation to them

[Stormhowl]

Thank you for the replies everyone!

I'm a level 9 Barbarian Shaman (I level a 6 Human Monk and 3 Halfling Druid in my downtime... like tonight after being burned too many times touching the hot stove that is Gnoll Trains), so I have SoW; it's not as if I can't make it to Freeport or Gfay or something on my own with a bit of care (nothing outruns SoW in the Karanas except Griffons and Werewolves IIRC? Been a LOOOOOOONG time since I did that run), so I might just make the trip and get bound in Highkeep on the way through before I hit up Freeport or something.

It just amazes me; I remember Blackburrow thriving with newbies back in the day getting groups at the big bridge underground or at the elite / commander camps, with the occassional druid passing through tossing Skin like Nature/Shield of Thorns/Chloroplast/Strength of Earth on people. I guess, maybe people just learned that Freeport / GFay areas are better for leveling? /shrug

Thank you for the replies, it's good to know it might get better. I don't know any of the guilds here so I never really explored my options for a lowbie leveling guild that doesn't need stuff like "Register on our site / have vent / etc..." that I'm so burnt out from on other MMOs.

[Troy]

The Freeport area isn't better, it's just closer to EC where everybody already hangs out. GFay is probably popular because it was the trading zone on many servers.

[Stormhowl]

The Freeport area isn't better, it's just closer to EC where everybody already hangs out. GFay is probably popular because it was the trading zone on many servers.

How are places like NRo and Oasis for grouping? Just as bad as my experiences have shown in Blackburrow? I would've imagined they'd be where all the Faydwer newbies would congregate eventually once they reached the appropriate levels.

[gnomishfirework]

People in blackburrow just want fangs. That's my understanding of why it's like the way it is. Elsewhere, you can find groups. EC > Oasis > uguk > MM and you won't be LFG long.

Just form your own group. Grab a tank and you are pretty much set.

[Stormhowl]

People in blackburrow just want fangs. That's my understanding of why it's like the way it is. Elsewhere, you can find groups. EC > Oasis > uguk > MM and you won't be LFG long.

Just form your own group. Grab a tank and you are pretty much set.

I figured the leveling "routes" would be different on this server than my own. I played Tarew Marr, and it was always Blackburrow (Or Crushbone) > Highhold Pass (Or Oasis) > Highkeep Hold > The Overthere > Dreadlands....

I probably should've assumed that was partly the reason for it, anyways.

Never seen Uguk or MM being popular though, even during Velious era. Maybe I just missed out. Thanks for the recommendations, I'll be sure to hit them up when I make the journey to the east.

[Troy]

How are places like NRo and Oasis for grouping? Just as bad as my experiences have shown in Blackburrow? I would've imagined they'd be where all the Faydwer newbies would congregate eventually once they reached the appropriate levels.

Nro is hit and miss but there seems to always be at least 1 group going in oasis if not 4 or 5. I hate blackburrow and paw because of the pathing and trains so I never spent much time in either.

[Dravingar]

I don't know your play schedule but really try to make friends with people leveling at the same time as you. I leveled up 5 months ago as a fresh start rogue and usually had a gaggle of like 10'ish people that would always be on at the same time to pull from but it does get better once you get 40+.

[gnomishfirework]

You can people in HHK, I never saw people in HHP except moving through (lately).

MM is a sure thing here. It's really good exp.

You are probably likely to find groups in kunark, but oasis, uguk, and MM treated me very good and the exp >>>>> any kunark zone if only because the mobs aren't as vicious. Maybe that's just my personal prejudice. I rarely leveled up in kunark before Karnors on live even. Sol A Ive always had to bring my own group., but it was never hard to put one together because lots of people are around that area or can get a port easily.

[Doors]

Blackburrow is awesome 5-15. Just solo and turn in gnoll fangs.

People tend not to group at low levels because you can usually solo 1-20 and grouping before 20 exp turns into 1-2% a kill, which is typically what exp is like anytime after 20 in a group.

Once you break 20 head to unrest/Southkarana/Guktop, grouping is much easier after 20.

[Stormhowl]

You can people in HHK, I never saw people in HHP except moving through (lately).

MM is a sure thing here. It's really good exp.

You are probably likely to find groups in kunark, but oasis, uguk, and MM treated me very good and the exp >>>>> any kunark zone if only because the mobs aren't as vicious. Maybe that's just my personal prejudice. I rarely leveled up in kunark before Karnors on live even. Sol A Ive always had to bring my own group., but it was never hard to put one together because lots of people are around that area or can get a port easily.

I can agree with you about exp in a standard zone being >>> in Kunark, if only due to the fact that Kunark mobs tended to have higher HP and hit harder from what I remember.

Never grouped in Sol A. Only went in there when everything was already green to farm up a drop or two back in the day. How is it "at level"?

[Tarathiel]

Uguk and mm provide some of the best xp in the game and nro/oasis is also close to befallen which for its lvl also provides some pretty decent xp. All of the places just involve a little more risk and require slightly more group planning but its definitely worth it

[gnomishfirework]

Sol a is amazing exp and loot. Tons of FS, ore, and flame agates (6pp per). You might actually see some high level melees farming cash there.

Make sure your bags are empty going in. If you can get a Druid or sneaking class (or halfling) you can have them ML (the druid can port to the lavastorm rings and the sneaker can sell to the goblin merchant in zone).

It's good from about 20ish (24 is the typical level to start, but you can go as earlier) to mid 30s. Still some good items in there too.

[Stormhowl]

*sigh* All these places I missed "growing up"... No wonder I didn't hit 60 until after GoD came out, and I was always dirt poor. XD

You guys have definitely helped reinvigorate wanting to play my Shaman a bit further, knowing that it is better out there. I love this community! <3

[stormlord]

I think today it's been nothing but a bit of a train wreck in terms of my leveling experience since I logged on this afternoon. About 4 deaths and only 1 bubble of EXP to show for 4.5 hours of "work". Blackburrow is a bit over-crowded full of about 6-7 people just soloing the dungeon at any given time and there's constant competition for spawns, and no one seems to want to group. What gives?

Is this trend indicative of how things will continue to go at higher levels? Or will things get better beyond level 16 and outside of Blackburrow? I've had pretty rough luck of not getting any groups (and not convincing anyone to actually group instead of having 5+ people just soloing and fighting over spawns) and the groups I have gotten have had rotten luck of being trained or having members that face pull yellows (and not waiting for mana, bleh).

Does it get better once you leave the "lowbie" levels? Do people group more often and are they more willing to group beyond level 15 or whatever you can get yourself up to in BB? Or am I kind of SoL in this regard and should resign to playing a class better able to solo?

Apologies for the rant (which, considering my experience with forums, will more likely than not get me flamed), but it's been an... exhausting night.

Edit: I started playing EQ back just before Velious was released, so it's not as if I'm a "newbie" to classic, but I never remember it being this rough and having so many deaths except in my first week or so when I didn't know how to play. >.>
I have the authority to post since I've played a PAL in that area on this server and played quite a bit in the area in 1999-02. I'll try to explain.

For some reason I don't remember seeing camping or fighting over camping in blackburrow in 1999. There must have EASILY been up to 2500 or more on the server at that time. I recall seeing up to 3000 on servers on the server select screen back then. There're usually less than 1000 when I'm paying here. I guess I just never noticed because the game was new and also because it was a pvp server. But it's true that blackburrow can fill up real quick and it loses its luster when there's nothing to kill and train after train further ruins it.

Here're some places for you to go between 9-17:
Kerra Isles
... Lots of willowisps. If you have a magic weapon or you're casters then this might be a good place to go for experience. Collect the greater lightstones to turn them in at the gypsy camp in North Karana.
Blackburrow
... Collect as many gnoll fangs as you can. There's a lot of competition in this dungeon for spawns. It's good until about 9-10 but by then you should have enough gnoll fangs to level yourself up to 11 about. Go to Captain Tillin in South Qeynos to turn them in. Then I'd suggest going to another place instead of blackburrow unless there're not many people there.
Qeynos Catacombs
... you can kill things here probably all the way up to 15 but it's not near as good as blackburrow. There're some +5 hitpoint rings/earrings. The smugglers and ring leaders are db until about 14-15.
West Karana
... Here you can kill bandits, grizzly bears (if you want to tailor even better, but they are lower con than the others) and scarecrows. Collect the sashes on the bandits to turn into chesgard in South Qeynos. I don't think the scarecrows drop anything of use but they don't aggro each other either and they're higher con than the bandits so you can do em until 17 if able to.
North Karana
... There're some bandits here too. But is more dangerous and is a long walk from Qeynos.
Everfrost
... I don't know a lot about this place but there're orcs to be killed. Collect their wristbands to turn into the warrior GM in the arena. You may be able to kill the mammoth calves.
North Qeynos
... Not much here except the two gnoll spawns. The place where fippy zones in can pop real quick sometimes. It's not much but it can fill in the empty places. Holonix is a tough one because he casts a lot.

There're a lot of options but I'm not saying there're no problems. The Warrens will come out soon along wiht Jaggedpine and Steamfont Mountains. That should give some traffic to odus. But if you take any single area, like surefall, it obviuosly could have had a few more poachers to keep players interested. And where're hte poachers in qeynos hills that're mentioned by a NPC in surefall? And Qeynos Catacombs, considering how easy it's to get lost for a new person, should have had something more - there's no draw. I get the feeling that they added these things as an afterthought without really caring about the result. Maybe they were rushed. And then there's a long list of general problems with the game that's for another post.

Beyond that, there're a bunch of little quests you can do that will grant experience and platinum. If you're in surefall, kill the poachers in hte caves. Turn the head into the ranger guildmaster. If you kiill a gnoll poacher, you get a rough elm recurve bow. If you see the bottom/top part of the staff on the gnoll hunter(s) in qeynos hills turn them into the guy that shouts in surefall for the crook. It grants some platinum and a tiny bit of experience. If you kill furgy in qeynos hills you can turn in his head to the guy at the campfire in surefall. Sometimes he only gives you a few gold but he gave me over 3 plat. Sold the chest patchwork for 1 plat. Then turn in the note you get to Captain Tillin for several more platinum. And if you kill the rabid wolves and rabid grizzly in qeynos hills you can turn those into Priestess Caulria in the rodcet nife shrine for plat and experience. There're various other quests that can be done to fill in the empty spots. All in all, not many people seem to do them so there's not much competition. That's good because you can do a lot of those while passing through.

All in all, there're things to do. But, honestly, most people run off to north/south ro or something when they're around level 11. There're other options, but I think most people want to be near east commons for trading. And freeport is the hub of norrath. I've always liked to be in the far off areas, though.

If I could change this game there's so much I'd want to do. I have ideas every 5 minutes when I'm playing about how the game could be better. I wouldn't do instances, though. That's the knee-jerk reaction from people too lazy to think. By copying other ideas without doing the work of understanding the details then you're just becoming a victim of them. There're other ways to address the main limitations of open-environments: predictability and finity. Open environments are predictable so players end up camping certain areas. And they're finite which means players fight over things. That's a topic for another post.

[Dr4z3r]

Everyone in Blackburrow is just interested in avoiding groups, because you can blow through levels soloing and picking up fangs. It's just the way the population is - there's never been a critical mass of people near Qeynos, so everyone goes there to avoid groups, meaning there never will be any groups.

You're MUCH more likely to get groups (and meet nice people!) in places like Crushbone, Oasis, and Unrest. My level path to 50 was something like CB > Oasis > Unrest > MM > LGuk > SolB.

[maestrom]

Wow, sure are a lot of bums in this thread. There are groups out there. Joining a leveling guild will certainly help and takes the loneliness away.

[Volsic]

I level at CB, Unrest, MM etc and never have an issue finding groups. I played a barb shaman for a bit and couldn't find a group for the life of me.

[Nedala]

I leveld like that: cb (until 14) - uguk (until like 20-25) - sola/mm (until somewhere in the 30th) - kedge/splitpaw for exp solb/lguk for loot. That was before kunark was out tho :)

And i always found lower lvls to be more painful than higher lvls. At least until lvl 50.

[Versus]

Like people have mentioned...find some buddies. It was always easy for me to log in and find a group after establishing a few people I'd regularly group with because we'd be in the same level range and in the same zone. Whenever a spot opened in their group, they'd smuggle me in and vise versa. Just make a good name for yourself skill wise and you won't have problems finding groups as you climb the ladder.

[Amelinda]

Drama is always high in Blackburrow and HHK. I personally recommend avoiding those two zones specifically.

At level 9 - i'd hit up EC/WC or Nro/oasis Always plenty of people to group with.

/tells are better to find a group than /shouting yes.

[Aadill]

/tells are better to find a group than /shouting yes.

/invite works, too! It is always great to start your own groups - people start to remember you and how you play when they know that you are just as willing to group as they are.

[falkun]

Honestly, besides some solo guard camping, HHK is a ghost town these days. Noone camps LR, WR, or RR anymore. And since those camps have like 5 mobs each and crap for loot, it's really not that suprising. Looking back, I'm still amazed that back in the day on live those were 3 separate camps.

[maestrom]

HHK has a very special place in my heart. Great EXP, Bank and merchants in zone, pretty safe pulls, wide range of mob levels.

[starspun]

Befallen is underrated imo, with a good group the XP there is amazing. Spent two nights there last weekend with a group of level 10-14s camping the second level, good times. Not too hard to assemble a group either (but then again that might be because we started out with two clerics and a shadow knight and didn't need much else than damage dealers).

Definitely start groups yourself by looking for people in /shout or /ooc and sending tells to similarly levelled people in the nearby area, rather than wait around for others to start one, or an already established group to start looking for more. You'll get the ball rolling that much faster.

[Aadill]

Definitely start groups yourself by looking for people in /shout or /ooc and sending tells to similarly levelled people in the nearby area, rather than wait around for others to start one, or an already established group to start looking for more. You'll get the ball rolling that much faster.

I always point this out to people because sometimes you end up with better groups than the ones you find. Sometimes you end up meeting people who want to group again and again and you start making friends with them. Way better to do this than just type /LFG on and go AFK till someone sends you a tell.

[starspun]

I always point this out to people because sometimes you end up with better groups than the ones you find. Sometimes you end up meeting people who want to group again and again and you start making friends with them. Way better to do this than just type /LFG on and go AFK till someone sends you a tell.

Oh goodness yes, this is so incredibly important! Make a mental (or physical) note of who you'd like to group with again and who you'd like to avoid in the future (you don't want that mage that keeps pulling even though you've told them not to half a dozen times already in your group more than once, you really don't), it's very likely you'll end up with a semi-regular group of people you enjoy playing with and can hook up with for XP groups.

[Stormhowl]

I have to admit, much to my shame, I'm fairly inept when it comes to talking to people and forming my own groups, and I lack confidence in building my own groups (e.g., can X class tank in place of a Knight or Warrior? Are people willing to group together to root-rot or have a pet tank instead? Can a Druid or Shaman heal well enough for smaller pulls? Would they even be willing?).

But I suppose it's time for a change huh? Maybe I'll go to EC / NRo and see about forming a few groups (and perhaps even hitting Befallen with a couple anti-undead classes, too) to break up the monotiny.

As for leveling guilds, any recommendations?

And while I'm rambling away, perhaps a quick question: Do people in EC still pay for things like stacks of Silk or LQ/MQ/HQ Pelts and other tradeskill components or do people not care about that sort of thing? I'm tired of being poor. :P

[Seeatee]

shouting and OOC'ing when forming groups seems to work well enough, but I always have more luck with /who all LFG you can even add a level range like who all LFG 10 22 and it will give you a list of everyone with LFG On between those levels.

[starspun]

I have to admit, much to my shame, I'm fairly inept when it comes to talking to people and forming my own groups, and I lack confidence in building my own groups (e.g., can X class tank in place of a Knight or Warrior? Are people willing to group together to root-rot or have a pet tank instead? Can a Druid or Shaman heal well enough for smaller pulls? Would they even be willing?).

But I suppose it's time for a change huh? Maybe I'll go to EC / NRo and see about forming a few groups (and perhaps even hitting Befallen with a couple anti-undead classes, too) to break up the monotiny.

As for leveling guilds, any recommendations?

And while I'm rambling away, perhaps a quick question: Do people in EC still pay for things like stacks of Silk or LQ/MQ/HQ Pelts and other tradeskill components or do people not care about that sort of thing? I'm tired of being poor. :P

Take this as an opportunity to learn what works for group compositions and what doesn't, in my opinion! ;)

And yes, you can very much still sell silk and pelts in EC. Just the other day I sold 30 stacks of spider silk and walked off with a good chunk of plat in my pockets and a mage looking forward to a ton of combines behind me. It might take a while before someone bites, but that seems to go for a lot of the things being sold there anyway.

[Aadill]

I have to admit, much to my shame, I'm fairly inept when it comes to talking to people and forming my own groups, and I lack confidence in building my own groups (e.g., can X class tank in place of a Knight or Warrior? Are people willing to group together to root-rot or have a pet tank instead? Can a Druid or Shaman heal well enough for smaller pulls? Would they even be willing?).

But I suppose it's time for a change huh? Maybe I'll go to EC / NRo and see about forming a few groups (and perhaps even hitting Befallen with a couple anti-undead classes, too) to break up the monotiny.

Druid, Shaman, Paladin, Ranger, Monk, Wizard. Paladin uses Deepwater helm to heal Shaman that's casting Cannibalize non-stop and healing the Monk tank while the Druid CCs, the monk tanks, and the ranger and wizard beat the mob up. I got more experience in such a short time frame in that group in Karnor's Castle than I ever did before and it lasted for hours. Sometimes you just gotta figure out what works by finding new ways of doing things :)

As for leveling guilds, any recommendations?

Take a look at the guild discussions thread. There are a lot of guilds that do not have level requirements and are friendly to players that are new to the server or even the game.

And while I'm rambling away, perhaps a quick question: Do people in EC still pay for things like stacks of Silk or LQ/MQ/HQ Pelts and other tradeskill components or do people not care about that sort of thing? I'm tired of being poor. :P

Bone chips, silk, you name it!


EDIT: I guess it's bad I'm talking about "oh grouping is easy" when my signature says "PERMANENTLY LFG"

[Stumpes]

You're just in a part of the world that people don't typically level. The amount of twinks at low levels is very high, and typically those people don't want to group at 4 because it would drastically slow down their experience.

Like it was mentioned before. You should try and make your way to Freeport and level in the east commonlands and northern ro.

[Vondra]

How are places like NRo and Oasis for grouping? Just as bad as my experiences have shown in Blackburrow? I would've imagined they'd be where all the Faydwer newbies would congregate eventually once they reached the appropriate levels.

Oasis gets good traffic. Usually a group (or 2, or 3) in oasis killing crocs or at orc highway or whatever

[maestrom]

Nro isn't really a group hotspot. Oasis has people though.

[Tewaz]

One thing that is awesome about original EQ is you can make some sweet groups. Basically any combination can do well. Tons of classes can tank at low levels and there are some fun combos like bard/rogue, enchanter, warrior. You just need to be creative, and shamans are FANTASTIC for group combos since they bring so much to the table. My 15 shaman is in Unrest and people love me.

[Stormhowl]

Druid, Shaman, Paladin, Ranger, Monk, Wizard. Paladin uses Deepwater helm to heal Shaman that's casting Cannibalize non-stop and healing the Monk tank while the Druid CCs, the monk tanks, and the ranger and wizard beat the mob up. I got more experience in such a short time frame in that group in Karnor's Castle than I ever did before and it lasted for hours. Sometimes you just gotta figure out what works by finding new ways of doing things :)

Thank goodness! I was afraid that, even though this is the "Classic Experience", people's attitudes would've changed and we'd have a bunch of min-maxers running around demanding that all groups at all times have Clerics and Warrior (or I guess Knights instead, whatever it was in Velious) :P

Take a look at the guild discussions thread. There are a lot of guilds that do not have level requirements and are friendly to players that are new to the server or even the game.

I did. I just see a fair amount of petty shit-talking, e.g., the <Young> thread. I'll just have to sift a bit harder to find the golden nugget in the giant turd that is online gaming forums. ;)

Bone chips, silk, you name it!

And yes, you can very much still sell silk and pelts in EC. Just the other day I sold 30 stacks of spider silk and walked off with a good chunk of plat in my pockets and a mage looking forward to a ton of combines behind me. It might take a while before someone bites, but that seems to go for a lot of the things being sold there anyway.

Makes me regret selling so much. Maybe I can scavenge a bit from the Qeynos merchants before I leave and try to turn a profit or something. :3

But it's relieving to know that the old ways of making money still work; ports, buffs, and trade skill / casting components that even level 1s can farm.

EDIT: I guess it's bad I'm talking about "oh grouping is easy" when my signature says "PERMANENTLY LFG"

Signatures are serious business. :3

[Amelinda]

Honestly, besides some solo guard camping, HHK is a ghost town these days. Noone camps LR, WR, or RR anymore. And since those camps have like 5 mobs each and crap for loot, it's really not that suprising. Looking back, I'm still amazed that back in the day on live those were 3 separate camps.

Judging by the number of camp disputes I get here on a weekly basis. This is sadly untrue. :(

[Striiker]

I'm not sure what else you may have been looking for in terms of answers. It is important to note that trains happen and you will die (sometimes a few times on a given day). It's part of the fun in a way. For example, Unrest is fairly train prone. Fighting stuff in the Main Room or Fireplace could be challenging as it is but add in the occasional train and that moment when you all need to haul it out to the zone line and it adds some excitement to the game. The best times I have had in game were in places where death was always lurking around the corner.. The dullest times were spent grinding XP in relative absolute safety (Overthere, Oasis, etc). It was fun going deep into SolA with a group a few weeks ago. We always kept the nearest exits in mind (and had to use them a few times) and had a great time exploring. The battles where people almost die or the party almost wipes were exhilarating to survive.
Once you get enough levels under your belt, head to Befallen, Guk or Unrest or Najena (Najena however is a bring your own group place though as is Befallen but it's easy to pull people together). It's great fun fighting in these zones. Great XP and some nice loot at times. You could also head to Kunark and hit Kurn's tower.

[falkun]

Judging by the number of camp disputes I get here on a weekly basis. This is sadly untrue. :(

Seriously? I've stopped by HHK a few times for bard songs, and every time I see <7 people in zone and they are all different level ranges (not close enough that I would think they would be in 1 group).

TIL...

[baalzy]

http://www.itgetsbetter.org/

[Aadill]

Thank goodness! I was afraid that, even though this is the "Classic Experience", people's attitudes would've changed and we'd have a bunch of min-maxers running around demanding that all groups at all times have Clerics and Warrior (or I guess Knights instead, whatever it was in Velious) :P



I did. I just see a fair amount of petty shit-talking, e.g., the <Young> thread. I'll just have to sift a bit harder to find the golden nugget in the giant turd that is online gaming forums. ;)


Makes me regret selling so much. Maybe I can scavenge a bit from the Qeynos merchants before I leave and try to turn a profit or something. :3

But it's relieving to know that the old ways of making money still work; ports, buffs, and trade skill / casting components that even level 1s can farm.



Signatures are serious business. :3


Welcome to Project 1999 where it means something to be a player in the game. You're in our world, now!

[WizardEQ]

Stormhowl,

BB is fine for levels 4-11 or thereabouts. After that, definitely HEAD EAST. I left at lvl 11.

First thing, put your LFG tag on. You will get tells, eventually. Nightly, I usually get one within 5 minutes. I did Oasis from level 11-17 in groups. Croc/caiman group or Orc HW groups are good. I also went to Befallen; it is great exp, but get in a good group! You will gain exp consistently and should be leveling around 1 bub every 30 minutes or so.

I've been at Guk now at lvl 18. You can obviously stay there a while. As for starting a group, it's really easy. Just make sure everyone knows their role and there's no crossover. For example, you want one main tank in Guk to /assist. Two wouldn't be good. You'll go through ok groups to amazing groups. It's all good though. I know dying sucks, but unfortunately it does happen!

When I played before as a wizard, I used to solo a lot. Now the community is great for grouping! You will meet some extremely nice and caring people now. Others are also quite generous with newbie gear.

Xaxian

[Stumpes]

Oasis gets good traffic. Usually a group (or 2, or 3) in oasis killing crocs or at orc highway or whatever

The last few times I have been in Oasis there have been 20-30 people in the zone. You could also check out Kurns around that level instead.

[Aadill]

The only problem with leveling in Kunark at such low levels is that you're forced to travel around high level zones with no great place to bind or buy spells without dodging everything in sight. It's doable and the rewards are high, but I didn't consider it because if you're just coming back to the game it's a bit .. well, scary.

[Amelinda]

Seriously? I've stopped by HHK a few times for bard songs, and every time I see <7 people in zone and they are all different level ranges (not close enough that I would think they would be in 1 group).

TIL...

It depends on the time of day and WHO is in the zone specifically...I've had to show up a ridiculous amount of time in the past few weeks.

[Stormhowl]

The only problem with leveling in Kunark at such low levels is that you're forced to travel around high level zones with no great place to bind or buy spells without dodging everything in sight. It's doable and the rewards are high, but I didn't consider it because if you're just coming back to the game it's a bit .. well, scary.

Scary is fun, no? And I tend to think of Kunark dungeons being better for exp and loot compared to their "Classic" equal level counter-parts. But perhaps I'm wrong in that regard? Who knows. :P

[Daywolf]

I'm sure the amount of twinks you see isn't helping huh?
That's obvious. But that too starts to become less relevant at lvl20+. However, starting out, it makes it much harder for new players to get groups as twinks mostly twink to solo through early levels really fast. Unfortunately, some I've noticed have no scruples and step on the un-twinked player group camps. This happened a lot when the SOE servers were down and we had an extra 250+ players on peek time. It really takes the classic feel away, as there were few twinks the first few years, or at least a lot of new players, while depending on the server you played, twinking was considered weak and players would get ridiculed for taking the easy rout - or being excessively twinked.

But you know, things changed on live over time, shared slots and all that, so you will get the same exp whether here or on live as twinking has become the mind-set as set by the revamped easy to play games. Although there on the regular servers, there just aint enough players packed into less zones so the ks'ing isn't as bad... but even harder to find groups unless on progression there.

Anyway, I agree with starting in fay for the OP, there are more players there on average, at least starting. So like gfay, CB, Unrest, MM, you may find groups. Or as many do, port there and bind.

[Stormhowl]

I managed to chill in EC (orc camp 2) for a while and racked up 5 bubs of exp in a couple hours... faster than I was doing in Blackburrow! I really appreciate the recommendations for the journey east. And Gfay is a short 30 minute trip away if I want to hit up Crushbone, too.

So thanks again. I feel a bit less bitter about things. :)

[Striiker]

It depends on the time of day and WHO is in the zone specifically...I've had to show up a ridiculous amount of time in the past few weeks.

Funny. I read this the other day and was in HHK last night. I hadn't been there since back in 1999 - 2000 so I had no recollection of the camp definitions. I had gathered a group of five people and had a 6th on the way. We were fighting the goblins, pulling from the different rooms in the basement. These two other players show up and claim the two bottom rooms for themselves (each took one room as a camp). They indicated that the area was comprised of three camps and they owned the bottom two.
Obviously, the spawns in the main area were far from sufficient to sustain a group of 6 (level range 27 - 32). Rather than getting into a pissing match with them, I opted to break up the group and move on. It would not be worth the aggravation and guide time (if people started KSing etc). It was also obvious from their commentary that they were immature and would be a problem.

It's sad to run into these problematic players like this but it happens. Two people were more than happy to ruin the fun for 6 other people.

This isn't a complaint or rant. I'm just mentioning this as it relates to Amelinda's comment and the original post. When you run into these people it's generally better to move on and find some fun content elsewhere.

[Aadill]

From Drinal the gobbos were considered 3 different camps, 4 if people just *had* to solo in the far most right room. Lookout (LR), Main (MR), Warrior (WR), Raider (RR) were the camps that we had, and this was right around when Velious was coming out.

[Agecroft]

There are definitely days like that along the way.

[Stormhowl]

From Drinal the gobbos were considered 3 different camps, 4 if people just *had* to solo in the far most right room. Lookout (LR), Main (MR), Warrior (WR), Raider (RR) were the camps that we had, and this was right around when Velious was coming out.

That's how it was on the Tarew Marr server too; LR was for the lowest level groups and was barely enough to sustain a party, it was really only camped by a group if everything else was camped, otherwise MR would pull LR between MR pops.

WR and RR were usually one camp too, unless it was so crowded that people started dividing the two.

I don't see why it would be an issue here; I never had an issue with spawns. If no one was in the room, it was fair game to take the camp, but no one would tolerate a single person soloing a room to themselves over a group of 6.

Maybe its a good thing HHK isn't popular...