Gearing my un-twinked Ranger to lvl 36

[utenan]

In October 0f 2014 I created my Ranger alt Krade with the idea of playing the game as it was when it was released (and my bro made a shadowknight: Maxadonn). In my opinion twinking kind of ruins the whole point of the game, to progress your character, so I wanted to earn all of my gear by either looting, crafting, or questing it and so far it's been a lot of fun. The idea being that each piece of gear I wore would be a lot more meaningful if I had to actually go obtain it as opposed to just buying it from someone. And hopefully each item I earned would have a story or memory attached to it (which has very much been the case). I also hoped that when looking to find gear I would travel all over the world to areas of the game that are often overlooked. And thus my journey began.....!

My first piece of gear that wasn't the standard stuff vendors sell! I didn't even know this guy existed until i killed him and took his treasure while strolling through North Karana..
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PGT!!! Amazing low lvl weapon, was a nice upgrade from my gypsy bought combine long sword = 6/28.
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This guy was hard to kill and even harder to find. Turns out he can spawn right in front of the Runnyeye entrance. We thought it was a warrior but turns out he's a necromancer or something! I had to zone a few times but we finally killed this strange red thing. Of course we stayed until we got 2 of them - we knew it'd be hard to find something better than this chest piece.
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This was just a fun time in Highpass - Full Hybrid Group! This was back when the exp penalty was still in place - did anyone care? nope. Were we havin fun? YES
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I kept that Shiny Brass Idol until level 31 when I accidently used it at the bank in Firiona Vie while I was trying to open a backpack : ) Before we left Highpass Maxadonn Finally got his Shiny Brass Halberd after many failed attempts. I also won many a Shralok Pack.
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Didn't loot anything in Najena but it was quite an adventure. We met 3 scalemen and ventured deep into the torture dungeons of the infamous sorceress - one time we pulled some scary high level elf woman and Max fell into a jail pit while we were trying to flee and everyone died! it was fun!
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Everyone knows how important the Short Sword of Morin is as a Ranger rite of passage. This was a tough fight. We were lvl 23 I think, and this ghoul was very red. I made a few hundred arrows, we headed to the center guard tower in NK where a kind shaman gave us sow, headed to EK where I was able to actually find this guy, then we proceeded to kite him for 15min. Finally replaced my other combine longsword!
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Here we are at The Littlest Tree in South Karana - a sight that everyone should see at least once in their lifetime.
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I like this shot a lot. By this time I had gotten a Dragoon Dirk from Dorn in Nro (didn't think to take a pic) and Maxadonn had won an Axe of The Iron Back from one of the giants - a nice upgrade 16/48 to 16/37! We were having a hard time finding a place to win treasure on Antonica so we made the long journey to the lost continent.
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I got some nice stuff from the giants. We must have killed over 100 of em and only got 1 forest loop. The hammer not only looked cool but was a small upgrade to my dragoon dirk (if my math was correct? maybe not, prolly should have left the ssom in my primary OH WELL).
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[utenan]

Max and I were murdering fungusmen in Runnyeye and somehow we turned into a full group and slew some goblins! I mistakenly pulled Lord Picklaw with an add - it's not my fault Runneye is an indoor zone - and half of us died BUT we felled the goblin king and Max got a nice Blackened Alloy Coif. I got lucky and the longsword also dropped! (I knew I wouldn't find a better weapon for a long time). and I got some gloves yay
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We decided to go to Permafrost in an attempt to get Maxadonn some rare bronze armor. It was cool to group there because.....no one groups there - so immediately it was more fun and interesting than Unrest. I ended up with a ringmail mantle for my trouble. : )
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This guy was brutal BUT being the heroes that we are we destroyed the purple skinned fiend. One half of my Ivy Etched Bracer down the drain!
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We delved deeper into Runneye than ever before. We summoned all of our lore, and skill, and we learned the secrets of the fungus people. Then we threw down their leader - The Moldmaster - and wore his skin on our hands. And with these gloves I came one step closer to becoming The Green Guillotine!
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My first piece of Ivy Etched! I had to win a ring from a water goblin tidal lord in Dagnor's Cauldron to finish it ( was a rather boring screnshot ) - and spend my hard earned fletching money to buy a fire emerald.
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Max and I killed many thousands of goblins in the Lake of Ill Omen to earn 4 of their bracelets. I lucked out super hard and got the Sleeves from the turn in, knowing full well that I'd probably never get the Ivy Etched Sleeves. We spent way to many hours killing those goblins.....fun fact - medium ringmail is almost impossible to find! which is why i resorted to trying this quest - had no idea the armor was green : )
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Got some minor ac upgrades while waiting for the undead jester to spawn at the bottom of Kurn's Tower. At least the helm is kind of green. At the ripe age of 30 I've just about out grown all my vendor bought leather : p
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Finally! I saw 48 placeholders over the course of a week before this guy spawned. Maybe I shouldn't admit such things......
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With so much shiney Velious and Kunark loot the Avenging Caitiff in Mistmoore often remains unchallenged.
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My first ever Trueshot Longbow! It was a very rewarding experience - getting my fletching up to about, 123 I think, gathering all the items, runnin back and forth across the world, it was fun! I initially gathered enough materials for 4 combines, and after failing them I then went and got enough mats for about 20 combines and made it on the 1st attempt : )
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[utenan]

We were there for nearly 5 levels. We both got a set of rings and all I wanted were those damned ghost's boots. The only time we saw them drop Max won the roll - curse him! Oddly enough the basement was almost never camped - if Max and I wanted a shot at that sweet ghost dwarf treasure we had to spend a lot of time recruiting adventurers.
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This minotaur was quite a hero indeed! Fortunately we had the hero advantage. Once I was done on Faydwer I ran across the world and got those beautiful green bracers!
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It took forever to find this guy - I think I logged on randomly over the course of 2 weeks until I found him. He was harder than I thought (being a caster and all) but I was lucky enough to have The Slayhill on my side. Ivy Etched Tunic here I come!
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I performed my signature move during this fight : Not Die - I almost didn't pull it off. This guy was an even con necromancer with 2 bodyguards = we had a rough time! that Green Shirt will be mine soon enough!
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I went to the Ocean of Tears and found that rare named pirate and kited him around Seafury Island forever and finally got the Quiver of Kithicor! Then Max and I slaughtered many a Brownie Outcast to get the 6 different arrows needed for it. THEN I ran to Odus and bought some weird gem. I could almost taste those Ivy Etched Leggings. But first I had some unfinished business in Castle Mistmoore....
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YEAH! I had wanted this helmet every since I made this guy (there are few plate helmets for a ranger, you see). We were about to camp after many an hour when I said calmly to Max, "ONE MORE SPAWN YOU STINGY BASTARD!" - It was the right call.
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AND THUS THE GREEN GUILLOTINE WAS BORN! I wanna thank,... Orc Pawns, for being green, and uh, Malachite. Goodbye Minotaur Ribcage - you served me well! I will not miss the iron shackles though.
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We headed back to Runnyeye and looted all sorts of upgrades knowing now that the goblins couldn't withstand our might and heroics. We spent several weekends in this hell hole trying to get Max a Blackened Alloy Bastard Sword - We finally found one and then proceeded to leave Runnyeye forever. I also got a Blackened Alloy Medallion 5ac 6wis (now I can cast an extra Light Healing!!!)
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The first time Max and I headed to Iceclad to get some earrings we got mauled. We were level 30 and it turns out there's no where to run when cats start agroing you from all over the place - they're white and hard to see, they run faster than normal speed, and they hit pretty hard compared to the stuff we were fighting before. We couldn't find anyone to bind us at the docks so we decided to hoof it inland and kill some cats. Turns out rangers get sow at 30 instead of 39 like I thought so we ended up dieing trying to run to the Eastern Wastes (I went oom trying to keep snare on all of them) - BUT NOT THIS TIME! Max ended up with 2 earrings and I with 1, replacing my precious Mithril Earring.
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I traded 1 ac for 5 strength which I'm fine with - what with me being a major dps class and all. Had to get 2 ground spawns in the Eastern Wastes and a medium dire wolf fur for this thing - pretty easy quest! Max got one too. I don't have much to say about it to be honest.....getting close to that coveted 150 strength milestone.
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[utenan]

That's it for now - but who knows what the future holds? Keep on Everquesting folks!
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[georgie]

A slowmo video with violin soundtrack would have worked well

[Bones]

well done its awesome to see someone having fun playing this

[rukkerz]

I played an untwinked ranger on Red. Followed a similar path except i did allow myself to purchase items from players. Bought a set of small banded when I could afford it and saved for like 20 levels to buy a Natures Wrath around level 30, Ranger is 56 now. has actually really legit gear (both epics and Sky Cloak) and I can look at every piece and be like damn, I earned that.

[fan D]

fantastic thread, love your posts and videos

my friends and I did something similar back in 2014...started a guild with the same mindset as you two. We grouped in all the random and obscure camps/dungeons around and completed all those random quests. My favorite ranger quest is the Electrum Plated Wakizashi. Took tens of hours to get two of them on my friend and I, but we were the only rangers walking around with duel wieldin Wakizashi;s...

[fan D]

you make Everquest look fun again, makes me want to reinstall and login..

[Jimjam]

Great thread!!!

I don't understand why more people don't play like this.

They talk about how difficult it is to self-gear a melee.... but that's the fun!!