Just getting started in Project 1999
 

So I was wondering if you guys could give me a little bit of advice for a project 1999 newbie. I started up a toon this weekend and I am loving it. I have a level 5 necro, but I just wanted to get some input from some people. I wanted to know if it is a lot harder to be evil and if I am better off making a tank or healer so that I can get into some groups.

I really enjoy the necro, but so far it seems like I can only cast 3 spells before I am OOM. Which is making leveling very difficult, because there is A LOT of downtime between kills. Is it harder when you are broke to play this character? Would I be better off going with a ranger or something out of GFAY? Plus being evil is really annoying, my bags fill so fast because I am trying to save money to buy spells, which btw is a tough task. Then once my bags are filled no one will buy from me, at least in EC. So I am forced to go all the way back to my home spot to sell.

This might be just a low level issue, but I wanted to get some insight into character creation. Is it going to be really hard to level and make PP as a necro?

Any advice is always helpful and if you want to group I will be around! Maybe this is just how it is and I have been spoiled by the watered downess of every game made since. EQ is truly a grind and maybe I just forgot how much it really is. Either way I am excited to get some levels under my belt.

So, spell casters get progressively more powerful as you level. Necro is a good choice too, because you will start to be able to solo more than other classes.

Two suggestions:

1) To fix downtime (a bit anyhow, there will always be downtime), ask for clarity in the EC tunnel. Usually some kind enchanter will cast it on you to regain mana faster.

2) for selling loot, the shady swashbuckler in the EC tunnel should buy/sell from you, and killing orc pawns will eventually raise faction enough to let you sell at the inns around EC as well.

https://wiki.project1999.com, and in particular the guides page (https://wiki.project1999.com/Players:Adventure) has a ton of helpful information.

Where is your home spot? I would think you could sell in Neriak as a necro unless you are iksar (which is best necro, let's be honest) and if you are iksar there's no need to come to East Commonlands except for the tunnel market.

A Shady Swashbuckler is one of the "greedy" merchants if I remember correctly, which I think means he gives you less for your items and everything he sells is overpriced. It's better than nothing I guess but I'd rather run to Neriak.

Necros are a great first character if you don't mind being evil. I don't think being evil makes the game much harder but am biased with Neriak as a favorite city. You're a great solo class, a great beginner class and solid group dps/utility until the highest levels. Down time is gonna be tough for a bit, make sure you're using your highest pet available and make sure he's eating shots, his hp is an almost free resource.

What you're experiencing is exactly how the game is supposed to be, you're not doing anything wrong. The grind is real at low levels. Save your cash for spells, you're perfect level to kill bears for HQ skins that will sell in EC for the best plat available to you right now.

Welcome and let us know which server you're on, as that changes advice and grouping slightly.

It's not a lot harder to level as Evil for the most part. Casters have a rough time before like level 10 solo, but quickly become very powerful. Necro especially.

You're probably going after mobs that are a bit too high for you. Not sure why you'd only be able to cast three spells, but if you're draining your entire bar on something you should look for easier prey. I think all pure casters have the benefit of not really needing equipment as long as you have your spells.

At level 5, you should be using your level 4 pet for most of the work. Just make sure to do 51% or more overall damage to whatever you're fighting so your pet doesn't steal exp.

You would probably have a much more difficult time as a non-twinked Ranger, but characters in gfay have the benefit of handing in bone chips for easy levels. Then again, a DE Necro can probably do the bone chip quest in the Freeport tunnels too.

You should prioritize bag slots as soon as possible. I use medicine bags for my new characters and they work great. Kill every decaying skeleton you see and sell bone chip stacks for 5-10pp per.

If you want to make Freeport and EC a more permanent home, work towards killing the orcs there. Shouldn't take too long to get Dubious.

Necros are basically the best soloer in the game so no, you'll be fine! Sell bone chip stacks, spiderling silks, and high quality pelts to other players. Kill decaying skeletons and orc pawns for rusty weapons too. It all adds up.

EQ's pacing is unlike any modern MMO for sure. Take it easy, fight smart, save every copper and you'll eventually get to a level where you're pretty much unstoppable as a Necro. Don't forget to use Hide when you're meditating!

Long down times from the ridiculously low regen rates is just how the game is. I think I read at one point even the original devs of the game said that they made a mistake with how slow the regen is. I think they said they mentioned they were intending to make more of a dungeon-crawling game, but in this game the vast majority of the time you just find a single spot that you sit at for incredibly long periods of time.

Getting the PP for spells is hard for all newbie casters. Check out guides on the wiki for help on ideas on how to make PP. Kill skellies that have weapons you can sell, especially if it has a staff. Necro is one of the strongest/easiest solo classes. Eventually as you level up you can kill things that will give you more and more PP. You can try to get cash camps as they are available and in your level range. I played enchanter and was able to get all my spell PP and then some from doing the Stein of Moggok quest, but I don't know if that's something that's feasible for a necro to do - it's more of an enchanter thing.

I haven't played an evil class, but it does take an already difficult game and make it more difficult like you're experiencing.

You should pick Iksar as your race and being an Iksar Necro is a little tough to get around, so I edited this zone connection world map to include the places Iksars can bank and sell: https://wiki.project1999.com/images/...arGuideV1.jpeg

Also, Necros have one of the best player guides ever made thanks to Sesserdrix: https://wiki.project1999.com/Sesserd...Strategy_Guide

At level 5 you should still be runnin around stabbing things that are weaker than you. Its good to build up your defense/offense skills. Make sure to wear a full suit of cloth armor.

Yes and no. You have to be a bit more careful since it's more likely that a random NPC will want to kill you, but there are also evil NPCs that might like you but "good" characters will have to be careful of them. Unless you're an Iksar in which case just about anything outside of Cabilis will want you dead (except for the handful of factions which are chill with everyone).

You'll also want to learn some tricks to make life easier as an evil character, such as how to use line of sight to bank at places that don't like you.

There's also a big advantage to being evil which is having more options for things to kill. The biggest example of this is various guard and bard NPCs around the world which respawn every 6 minutes or so and those can be a really nice solo camp for a necro.

That's up to you. Necros are a good starting class since they have a lot of utility that aids survival, they're good at soloing, and they're good at farming money later to fund different characters. It's not impossible to group as a necro as they bring DPS and some other utility, but they're also generally not a necessary class that people are desperate to invite.

For healers it really depends on the particular class. Clerics are the game's main healer and they'll be the easiest to find groups with throughout all levels (although Shamans probably become more in-demand at very high levels), but they're also the worst at soloing. The gameplay is also generally pretty straight-forward.

Druids are decent at soloing, but around level 30 or so they struggle to keep a group healed so they'll also run into problems getting groups. The major reward and reason to play a Druid is for the teleportation spells, which makes travel way easier and they can be a really nice way to make passive income.

Shamans are a bit in between; they have the same healing problem as Druids but they also bring some additional utility so it's a bit easier for them to find groups. They're also decent soloers. Shaman is also a "late bloomer" class which feels a bit mediocre from 1-50 but then become quite powerful at 51+. At that point it becomes a lot easier to find groups or solo and you can do both quite well. At the same time Druids mostly have to rely on soloing.

Tanks are more challenging. Especially Warriors since they're very gear-dependent and you won't have much of that as a new player, although it can be very rewarding to work your way up from nothing if you don't mind a bit of a struggle.

Paladins and Shadow Knights can use spells to generate aggro (and add some other utility), so they're not quite as gear dependent but their effectiveness is still going to revolve around the quality of their gear. Tanks are also a really important role to a group, so it's up to you whether you want that kind of responsibility as a new player.

This sorta gets better, especially for Necromancers since they get a line of spells that allows them to slowly drain their HP for faster mana regen. But EverQuest is generally a game designed to have downtime. To put things into context I'm currently playing a level 37 Necromancer, I'm camping 2 guards that respawn every 6 minutes, I can kill both in about a minute, so I have about 5 minutes of down time to regen mana each cycle.


Not compared to other classes, no. Necromancer is perhaps the class least reliant on money and gear. All you really need is some bone chips for your pet. There are some items that are nice to have like Jboots, but other classes want these items plus a whole lot more. In general casters are the "cheapest" classes to play, since they don't need gear like melee characters do. Necromancers are also really good at making money to fund other characters.

Spells can be expensive, but the weapons and armor that melee classes need are generally going to be quite a bit more expensive. Make sure that you're only buying spells that are the most necessary for you each level (figuring this out takes a bit of experience though).

Also part of being an evil character is just learning some tricks of the game. For example, the vendors inside the EC tunnel should sell to everyone. The Shady Swashbuckler is flagged as a greedy merchant so he'll give you less for your loot, but there should be some other merchants around the sides that will give you full price.

It's always hard to level and make money in EverQuest. But Necromancers are probably the best at those things, especially for a new character.