Some concerns about starting P99

[Wired Aces]

I played Everquest back when the game was new and played through the Planes of Power Expansion before moving on to other games. I have always remembered EQ fondly and recently I came across Project 99 and was pretty excited to dive in and see the old world that I remembered. I say "was excited" because there seem to be a few factors that might make starting undesirable. I was hoping the community could address them.

1. Because there is only one server that has been going for a while the game seems very top heavy and overcrowded. Of course, I only have one toon at level ten right now, but it looks to me as if lower levels almost don't exist and end game raiding is a cluster**** because there are so many people going after it. Raiding is obviously a big part of this game and I don't want to get to level 50+ only to find out that every raid has a Disney World sized waiting line just to get a shot at it.

2. Due to issue number one and most players are either already high level or are power leveling lower level toons, it looks like I will literally be soloing all the way to at least level 50. I don't want to solo my way through these levels and having to do so would kill any desire I have to play. But so far I have been unable to get a group playing around the Blackburrow area.

3. Inflation has gotten out of control and I don't know if I will ever be able to catch up financially. Because there are no real plat sinks everyone has tens of thousands of plat. I saw one player offering 12k for a rez, another offering 10k, one paying 300 for a port, etc... When I played live, 10k was more than enough to MQ the Ancient Cyclops quest much less get a rez. And if I got ten plat to port someone I considered myself lucky. I have no idea what that MQ goes for now. If platinum is really that worthless then I will never catch up to the rest of the game.

Any thoughts from the community are welcome.

[jijii]

Sounds like you're out of Qeynos which is not going to be ideal for meeting up with others your level -- it's just simply not that popular of an area. If you were around Freeport or on Faydwer I believe you'd find more groups.

That said, true, it's top heavy, but there are still plenty of new players around. Hell I'm not new but I play my necro untwinked because, well, it's a necro, and I've grouped with plenty of other non-twinks. And that's another thing -- just do yourself a favor and make your first class on p99 something that can adapt to your schedule and what's available -- something that can solo and group. Bonus points for being able to farm later (which helps address point 3).

And further on point 3, if you can eventually take good camps with relevant items you can start to catch up in plat relevancy. You don't have to catch up with static plat camps like seafuries.

The raid scene... That's just EQ man. It's classic [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[Masakizt]

Option 1: Get in line at disneyland and wait for those pixels

Option 2: Consider red99 (Recommended)

[Eastwood]

Interesting post,

Pardon me, I've been playing a lot today, and drinking a bit.

First question, what is your proportion to reading message boards to playing games? Because that will effect you, and it seems to effect your perception a lot in your questions.

As far as playing as a casual, this server will be friendly to you. Right out of the gate in Greater Faydark, there are players offering fine steel weapons, and if you group enough around crushbone, you will eventually find yourself grouped with a generous alt. So far, I don't find the group to be devoid of lower level social characters. I've had a blast in the level 4-10 range so far, crushbone seems good until level 15.

I'm not sure about the mid levels, but with another character level 31, I've had lots of fun in Sol A.

I think the game is still pretty accessible to a newish player. It depends on what you qualify as success in EQ. Honestly, 5pp still means something to me without much. Top end items are expensive, average items which are great for getting into the game are inexpensive. I don't see problems in the economy.

I don't know what else to tell you, I started here in 2010 long before Kunark came out, and I'm here well after Velious came out, as a casual non maxed level player.

I played EQ live day 1-mid to late velious.

[Xaanka]

Originally Posted by Wired Aces [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played Everquest back when the game was new and played through the Planes of Power Expansion before moving on to other games. I have always remembered EQ fondly and recently I came across Project 99 and was pretty excited to dive in and see the old world that I remembered. I say "was excited" because there seem to be a few factors that might make starting undesirable. I was hoping the community could address them.

1. Because there is only one server that has been going for a while the game seems very top heavy and overcrowded. Of course, I only have one toon at level ten right now, but it looks to me as if lower levels almost don't exist and end game raiding is a cluster**** because there are so many people going after it. Raiding is obviously a big part of this game and I don't want to get to level 50+ only to find out that every raid has a Disney World sized waiting line just to get a shot at it.

Take 5 minutes and read the blue rants and flames forums. Raids, and many spawns do have Disney World sized waiting lines for them. The blue server is overcrowded and the end game raiding scene is more than a clusterfuck.

Consider playing on the red server, where there are no welfare lines for raid mobs and rare spawns. Even if you don't give a single shit about Everquest PVP, there's plenty of other people on red who share your mentality to play with.

2. Due to issue number one and most players are either already high level or are power leveling lower level toons, it looks like I will literally be soloing all the way to at least level 50. I don't want to solo my way through these levels and having to do so would kill any desire I have to play. But so far I have been unable to get a group playing around the Blackburrow area.

It's a lot easier to find leveling groups on the red server, because of the global ooc chat. There is also a very active leveling guild on the server with pretty constant groups going at most level ranges during most times.

3. Inflation has gotten out of control and I don't know if I will ever be able to catch up financially. Because there are no real plat sinks everyone has tens of thousands of plat. I saw one player offering 12k for a rez, another offering 10k, one paying 300 for a port, etc... When I played live, 10k was more than enough to MQ the Ancient Cyclops quest much less get a rez. And if I got ten plat to port someone I considered myself lucky. I have no idea what that MQ goes for now. If platinum is really that worthless then I will never catch up to the rest of the game.

Any thoughts from the community are welcome.

Yeah it's crazy, you'll never catch up if you haven't played for years. 10k is more than enough to get 3 Ancient Cyclops MQ's on the red server. Inflation is not nearly as bad, and while both servers are top heavy and 60 focused, it really isn't as bad. Sure once you're 56+ these people can kill you on red, but it's taken me less than 6mo to go from being in rags, to outgearing many players who've active on red since release. The gear gap and topheaviness is still pretty crazy on red, but it's nothing compared to blue. Especially with Velious, and Plane of Fear 2.0 recently released. Due to the way the red server raid rules work, and how the scene is with less guilds than blue, most new players see loot MUCH quicker than they do on blue because their guilds see more raid mobs every week + have less people to distribute gear between.

[Xaanka]

really, you should play both servers and make up your mind (exp is quick on red, so it doesn't take a huge time commitment!) but i hope i gave you some valid reasons why the red server should be considered. from the sounds of your post, it really sounds like you'll be the kind of person who hits 60 on blue and wonders why they even bothered in the first place. do it right the first time, come to the dark side.

[jcr4990]

Welcome to Project 1999! You'll soon realize who all the Red promotion spammer posters are and ignore pretty much everything they say like the rest of us. They post DAILY about how good Red server is and if people would just try it they'd love it. Apparently they aren't aware that most of the server HAS tried it and realized its a cesspool of a server with a nearly dead population and gave up on it. But by all means if u enjoy getting permacamped in Crushbone/Unrest/MM (the only places you'll ever see other players at low lvls) by Fungi/CoF twinks all day long then feel free to "Try Red" maybe someday you'll get to max lvl and join TMO and you can pay the Cuck Tax to Empire for your chance at Halls of Testing raid loot!

In all seriousness though welcome! To answer your questions it is indeed true that the server is topheavy but I wouldn't let that discourage you. I got a pretty late start myself and have managed to catch up decently. I don't have 1+ million plat in the bank like some of the earlier players but I've got respectable gear and enough plat to get by without farming too hard. As others have mentioned Qeynos is generally a dead area hardly anyone goes there. It's super far out of the way of dru/wiz ports and generally doesn't have very much appeal to most players. I'd recommend trying to re-locate to Freeport/EC or Gfay area. Groups or at least people to duo/trio with will be MUCH easier to find in Crushbone/Unrest than Blackburrow. As far as plat NOBODY is paying 10k for a rez. At least not that I've ever heard of. I tip most clerics a couple hundred plat for a rez if they're nearby. Maybe more if they have to travel to rez you. You can buy Jboots MQ for somewhere around 7k I think? Really not THAT bad.

On the topic of raiding. Don't let the forumquesters scare you. You will by no means be waiting in endless "lines" to get loot. I'm a member of <Bregan D'Aerth> only joined up at the start of Velious a couple months ago and I've already gotten a bunch of loot. I don't know what people expect when they're raiding dragons that drop 2-3 pieces of loot on avg with 50+ players on the raid. You might not get a new item every single week. That doesn't mean it's a "Disney World waiting line" bunch of casual WoW players imo :P

Hit me up in game if you need advice or some help getting started. Would be glad to assist. Names in the signature.

[Aeaolena]

Originally Posted by Wired Aces [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

I played Everquest back when the game was new and played through the Planes of Power Expansion before moving on to other games. I have always remembered EQ fondly and recently I came across Project 99 and was pretty excited to dive in and see the old world that I remembered. I say "was excited" because there seem to be a few factors that might make starting undesirable. I was hoping the community could address them.

1. Because there is only one server that has been going for a while the game seems very top heavy and overcrowded. Of course, I only have one toon at level ten right now, but it looks to me as if lower levels almost don't exist and end game raiding is a cluster**** because there are so many people going after it. Raiding is obviously a big part of this game and I don't want to get to level 50+ only to find out that every raid has a Disney World sized waiting line just to get a shot at it.

2. Due to issue number one and most players are either already high level or are power leveling lower level toons, it looks like I will literally be soloing all the way to at least level 50. I don't want to solo my way through these levels and having to do so would kill any desire I have to play. But so far I have been unable to get a group playing around the Blackburrow area.

3. Inflation has gotten out of control and I don't know if I will ever be able to catch up financially. Because there are no real plat sinks everyone has tens of thousands of plat. I saw one player offering 12k for a rez, another offering 10k, one paying 300 for a port, etc... When I played live, 10k was more than enough to MQ the Ancient Cyclops quest much less get a rez. And if I got ten plat to port someone I considered myself lucky. I have no idea what that MQ goes for now. If platinum is really that worthless then I will never catch up to the rest of the game.

Any thoughts from the community are welcome.

I agree with Jijii, it sounds like two things - 1) You started in Qeynos, and 2) You read the RnF forums which is filled with trolls from the Red Server spouting lies/nonsense trying to get people to play on their own server since the PoP is so low. (If you do not believe me, just look at your own thread [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.])

So Qeynos -
In classic Everquest, and on P1999, the Qeynos area is one of the most isolated in the game because it is much farther away from the Druid/Wizard port-in hubs. It's a ghost town. I feel like P1999 always has an influx of new people, but they quickly figure this out and move to popular leveling zones.

12k for a rez is the highest I have ever seen. I wonder if that person was joking?

Normal donation is 100pp I think? Full Jboots MQ is 20k? Making a level 1 character in Freeport and running to East Commonlands will give you a better idea of the "market" on P1999. That is the hub of all auction-spam trading.

I recently leveled an alt to 31. Here are zones I always found populated:

1-15 - Freeport Area (East Commonlands/West Commonlands in Orc Groups)
1-15 - Greater Faydark Area (lv 4-7 Orc Hill, 7-15 Crushbone)
15-25 - Unrest
20-30 - Mistmoore
20-30 - South Karana
25-35 - High Hold Keep Goblins
30-40 - The Overthere Skyfire Ramp Group
30-40 - City of Mist Group
35+ish - Lower Guk, Sol B
50+ - Karnors Castle, Sebilis


Again, there are many other places to level and places people make groups on P1999, but these are what I have observed to be the very popular zones. East Commonlands for example is always bustling with people willing to buff newbies at the tunnel.

As for Disney Land waiting lines - It may just be the guild I am in but ever since Velious was released I really don't see it. Sure, there is some competition for mobs here and there but there are no giant rotations like before.

Even as a casual player with very limited play time, I have found it fun and rewarding to play end game content on P1999. I've been level 60 for at least 2 years. There are many guilds on the server that have great communities to offer. Rampage is uncontested right now in NToV. And Divinity is the only guild on the server who purposely went Giant Faction and is farming that armor that I know of. BDA is the best fit for me because they are very casual-friendly and still accomplish alot. Many people here with kids, families, etc. I find myself laughing in guildchat and having a great time because there are some real personalities here. (Quick note: BDA also doesn't muzzle their members from posting in Rants-n-Flames, which unfortunately makes them a prime target for bored Trolls. Trolls that love to make up shit and throw it out as bait. Many guilds here on P1999 have a "No posting in RNF. Period." rule, but our leader Chest kinda feels that treats grown-ups like children.) Anyway, the point is - take everything you read on RnF with a grain of salt. And take all posts that say "come to red" with a grain of salt too.



I shouldn't check the forums when I wake up at 3am. Going back to bed now.

Enjoy your wall of Text, and welcome to P1999!




PS - If you need a lift out of the Qeynos area. Do /who all dial to find the guild <Dial a Port>. Their guild is great about hooking people up. And if they can't, and I am on, /t Aeaolena.

[elwing]

honestly, I've been able to raise blacksmith as a new player to 175 without loosing my shirt by selling banded armor... I wasn't able to do that on live, too much competition and no one would buy that. inflation is definitely not crazy here, you can get good mid level stuff for hundreds of pp. as for players, well the server tops in the 1k player, that's less than live server years ago, but that's far from empty. Finding group in CB, unrest, deep in MM, sol A+B, HHK or such dungeons is usually pretty easy. also if you're in qeynos, you might want to travel to the warrens, not many people here but that's a fun place for low levels, or if you really wants to group move to FP or faydwer...

[Xaanka]

Originally Posted by jcr4990 [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Welcome to Project 1999! You'll soon realize who all the Red promotion spammer posters are and ignore pretty much everything they say like the rest of us. They post DAILY about how good Red server is and if people would just try it they'd love it. Apparently they aren't aware that most of the server HAS tried it and realized its a cesspool of a server with a nearly dead population and gave up on it. But by all means if u enjoy getting permacamped in Crushbone/Unrest/MM (the only places you'll ever see other players at low lvls) by Fungi/CoF twinks all day long then feel free to "Try Red" maybe someday you'll get to max lvl and join TMO and you can pay the Cuck Tax to Empire for your chance at Halls of Testing raid loot!

In all seriousness though welcome! To answer your questions it is indeed true that the server is topheavy but I wouldn't let that discourage you. I got a pretty late start myself and have managed to catch up decently. I don't have 1+ million plat in the bank like some of the earlier players but I've got respectable gear and enough plat to get by without farming too hard. As others have mentioned Qeynos is generally a dead area hardly anyone goes there. It's super far out of the way of dru/wiz ports and generally doesn't have very much appeal to most players. I'd recommend trying to re-locate to Freeport/EC or Gfay area. Groups or at least people to duo/trio with will be MUCH easier to find in Crushbone/Unrest than Blackburrow. As far as plat NOBODY is paying 10k for a rez. At least not that I've ever heard of. I tip most clerics a couple hundred plat for a rez if they're nearby. Maybe more if they have to travel to rez you. You can buy Jboots MQ for somewhere around 7k I think? Really not THAT bad.

On the topic of raiding. Don't let the forumquesters scare you. You will by no means be waiting in endless "lines" to get loot. I'm a member of <Bregan D'Aerth> only joined up at the start of Velious a couple months ago and I've already gotten a bunch of loot. I don't know what people expect when they're raiding dragons that drop 2-3 pieces of loot on avg with 50+ players on the raid. You might not get a new item every single week. That doesn't mean it's a "Disney World waiting line" bunch of casual WoW players imo :P

Hit me up in game if you need advice or some help getting started. Would be glad to assist. Names in the signature.

this guy's in a guild that makes you give back your tradeable items when you leave to join a better guild. just think about that for a second, that's the guy promising you there's no pixel lines on blue.