Complaining about pet prices is infuriating.

For the people selling these higher level pets, most of us could not even purchase them despite being willing to throw platinum at them.

500 may seem pricey for a 34 pet, but the rare words (suffering) is used in the 39 pet as well, and actually I think there are more copies of the 39 pet flying around thanks to spectres being perma camped. So there is a logic to the price, and anyway by 34 a necro should have plenty of platinum. If you don't, then maybe you should plan out your leveling path better. Because there will be other necros with plenty of platinum to buy a spell which is a huge upgrade.

44 and 49 pet are pretty freaking difficult to get at the moment and most of the people who hit 50 first didn't even have them on their way to 50 because no one did. Note, that also does not mean the current 50 necros are drowning in extra scrolls and just charging an arm and leg cause they are greedy.

Also the advice to train research because scrolls are expensive is dumb and bad logic. Materials are expensive, so train research?? Material cost has nothing to do with research. I am sure there are 50 necros happy to do the combines. Yes, you may have to run to them and you may have to be proactive in sending tells to people.

Strip a rich account

You will get banned after but it's the fastest way to acquire a large amount

Account sharing isn't supported by the staff, and your account is your responsibility. Technically, you would get away with this. So long as you didn't RMT it.

I completely forgot that the rank 39 and 44 pets are Research-only until Kunark. That's yet another reason to grind out Research if you roll Necro right now, which I wouldn't recommend if you want an easy ride to 50. Like I said in my original post, Bard is the class to play if you want to cruise to max level without any major impediments.

All of mine have been DE. Second only to Erudite in int, and you can go 1-20s (Nektulos>Lavastorm>Najena) without ever going more than one zone away from your home city, and anything you want/need to buy is also just a single zone away from home in EC.

In DE necro form I've spent far less time running somewhere and much more time killing things than with any other race. I mean, even if you do need to go someplace far away, EC with pretty much continual porting support is a 5 minute run down the road as long as you're bound at Neriak gate, and like I said there is no reason (other than change of pace) to be bound anywhere else until mid-20s.

Also DEs get the racial Hide trait. If you hide then FD, it will entirely clear your hate list and no other type of necro can do that. Hide is also a good way to break charm if you're charming undead.

And I never once really needed to go anywhere that I couldn't go. That said, I tend to have fun and make money and buy what I want rather than questing for the better items myself. If you like that part of the game a lot, then gnome may be better choice.

And DEs just look cool.

My second favorite necros though are gnomes, just because it's always amusing to see these little tiny guys stomping giant mobs so badly that you feel sorry for the mobs.

Exactly. If your plan is to deck out another toon like next year, you won’t get far enough to do that by next year on a couple hours a day. Why have this complex two toon plan? If you have limited time, just focus on developing one character and take your time. You will actually enjoy the game more this way than most people playing on the server. We are rather like those ever present drunks at the bar - sure, we are always there sipping a beer, but we’re not really having a good time.

Mostly because I'd like to have 2 characters, 1 solo focused and 1 group focused. Considering my current IRL situation with limited play time, it just makes sense to play the solo focused one first. With the solo one I can play and level at my own speed when I have time, I can farm myself some money to use on the character itself as well as the future group centered character I make. Next year I'll probably make either a Tank, Cleric, or Rogue to level mostly in groups with. With my limited play time right now, grouping isn't really an option. I don't imagine I'd have more fun trying to solo level on one of those right now, at least not any more than I would with something like a Necro, Druid, Shaman etc.

Necro actually sounds really fun and I'm looking forward to leveling / playing one. I wouldn't bother playing the game if I didn't enjoy it, simply to give money to another character down the road haha, that's just a nice bonus; and even after I make my second character, I'll still be playing my first character often. I plan to play on this Teal server all the way through to the end of it's life, in 3-4 years. So I think it's a good idea to use the limited time I have now to try and establish myself on the server first with a character I will not only enjoy playing, but can also farm a bunch of $$$ with.