Hardcore / Permadeath

[TheGrind]

Hey, new player here with some questions. I only ever play mmos as a permadeath character, maybe I do a test run first but then its death delete.
Anyway I have been looking for a new challenge for quite some time now since I've completed the others on my list, and I must say I have been avoiding EQ since it is a whole other beast compared to the others. But here I am....

Server, does it matter if I choose green or blue? Most likely I will run solo 80% of the time.

Class, Necro, Shaman, Enchanter or Bard Im thinking after reading up on the classes, any input here?

Starting zone, early life should be a learning time so which starting zone is the most forgiving?

Good, neutral or evil character. How will it affect my time in Norrath?

Appreciate any input and tips. See you out there!

[kjs86z2]

i recommend necro...they get FD/gate/DS/root/mez/snare

iksar starting zone + leveling path is great

godspeed

[WarpathEQ]

Good luck on your Journey,

Any of the classes you listed would be fine as they are among the least gear dependent in the game with great solo abilities which you indicated as a preference. I personally love bard because of its unique play style against any other class in EQ but the other 3 will have a lot more solo power at the top end of the curve.

For the most part anyone new to P99 is starting on the Green server because its newer and more populated, I say more populated not populated...both will have plenty of wide open world for you to enjoy solo life without crowding. 90%+ of the population on both servers spends the majority of their time raiding at this point, most of the levelers you will encounter is someone working on the 6th lvl 60 toon.

I personally like starting on Faydwer as crushbone is one of the best early game zones in all of EQ imo, starting anywhere on the west half of the world is going to be the most remote/least interaction with other players. East commonlands is where the entire economy lives on both servers so the closer to there you start would give you the ability to get boosted by other players (people will often buff and give out free low end gear to new players there).

Good characters tend to have less issues with starting faction in most places versus evil characters, with that said it doesn't really matter that much, and starting faction can be overcome its just a matter of putting in some time and effort (and a little research on the wiki) to improve your faction. Iksar is their own type of evil, they don't like any other races and every other race doesn't like them. They are also the only race that came from an expansion so they start on kunark continent not Antonica like all of the rest.

There are some people that indicate they play hardcore and would delete their character upon death, the reality is death is a big part of EQ. Its an old school game so there is real depth and difficulty. You wouldn't be able to participate in the full depth the content has to offer without dying. Virtually all raiding will result in some deaths along the way.

[DeathsSilkyMist]

I'd say necro as well. FD and harmshield is almost a must IMO in a permadeath run. I'd avoid Enchanter to be honest. Charming is way too risky for a permadeath run.

[Goregasmic]

Chanters are powerful AF but any good chanter will tell you if you aren't dying you aren't enchanteering. Sometimes you do everything right and you still get messed up. Half their kit revolves about taking risks and mitigating fuck ups. High risk high reward and when playing perma death I guess you just want to minimize risks. I'm sure you could make a good run as a chanter, just not your first chanter.

I'd go necro too for the reasons other mentionned. They're fun and a great solo class.

I'm 100% behind anyone trying to do permadeath, just know this game ca be highly hostile to players and feels like a dark souls mmo sometimes. Be ready to die.

[Swish]

Don't write off a druid...survivability is important and spirit of wolf will keep your legs running when you need to, as well as starting to pick up self teleports all over Norrath to help cut the travel time and give you options for things to kill.

Being evil adds difficulty and will make it harder to find places to sell. Druid ring vendors are neutral even to the iksar but be careful on any NPCs nearby that might want to attack at some of them.

[Goregasmic]

Yeah I feel druid/shamans could do good too. Good ability to solo and gate, root, heals, sow + ranged killing makes it harder to die if you're not greedy.

Necro have a strong pet though that can be used as a decoy and/or sacrificed if you get adds. It is basically a second life on top of having fd/gate. Combined with UD lull i think it opens up a bit more spots while keeping sow on will limit you to unrest/KC/COM for dungeoneering.

[Snaggles]

I personally don’t think a permadeath EQ char as your first will be fun. Dying happens a lot even for experienced players and you likely won’t see much of the world if playing it safe. There are static 7 min easy spawns to get you to 60 without drama but it’s about as much fun as watching paint dry.

To each their own, but it generally is the path of people who have played the game ad nauseam and are trying to feel some level of excitement again.

[Ennewi]

Agreed. More fun would be to stay in an xp area until you die, then you have to move on to another zone or at least another camp/setting in the zone, depending on its size.