*** If you are starting a Iksar PLZ Read ***

[waffel]

As an Iksar Necro, I left for the mainland @ 20. My level 20 summon was only sold in paineel, ogre town, troll town. Dumb. So I run to Overthere and get a port to SRo, run to the swamp, and ask a noob Troll for help. I need him to take my plat, buy my spell, and return it to me. He does! Yay!

But now what? I have all my level 20 spells, I'm on the mainland, might as well make this my home! So I run north, zone, run north, zone, and bind outside Freeport. I decide that I'm going to make the Karana's my home. More specificly, Lake Rathe so I can slaughter birdmen. So I run to EC tunnel, bum a SoW and make my cross country trip. Invis up, maps up on other monitor, I'm ready to go. Long story short, I bind an Arena, and kill aviaks for many levels.

But one lesson I learned during my playtime is this: sometimes (in my case, almost always) exploring for an even better exp spot isn't worth it. Either it's already camped, far away, too high, you die, etc. So, SO MANY TIMES, have I gone to a new exp place, die or find it camped and mumble to myself "I shoulda just stayed where I was..."

[radda]

i left kunark at lvl 8 and didnt return for exp till 40,

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[Swish]

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

i left kunark at lvl 8 and didnt return for exp till 40,

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where did you train dual wield etc?

[BahamutDF]

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

Having returned to the game just a couple of weeks ago, here is my recent (Warning: long but true) ordeal traveling to the old world as an iksar monk at level 8, attracted by thoughts of money and gear:

1. I farm up a ton of bone chips and spider silks and decide it’s time to get some monk weapons

2. A passing druid offers to port a few of us to WC. I grab all of my stuff. He casts some buffs on us and away we go

3. Everyone just thanks the guy and runs off. I think to myself that this is kind of rude, so I tip the guy, knowing I will soon be selling stuff anyway. Oh, wait, trading with someone breaks invis. Oh, my, the NPCs at the druid ring don’t like me. LOADING, PLEASE WAIT

4. I’m back in Cabilis, only now everything I own is on another continent. Panic time. One of my traveling companions manages to get a kindly cleric from EC. He drags my corpse to a safer spot

5. I get my rez, grab my stuff, and head to the EC tunnel, which I only vaguely remember how to get to. I’m running with no SoW and no invis, which is kind of scary now that I’m aware of the consequences

6. The EC tunnel is great. My bone chips and in particular my massive pile of spider silks go quickly. Ooh, I now own a Wu’s Quivering Staff. This was a great idea!

7. I could really use some 1H Blunts. Those Trance Sticks would go great with my staff. What’s that? People pay up to 35 plat for a drop from level 4 bears? Sign me up!

8. I mow down every bear in the zone in seconds with my new staff. Ooh, a High Quality Bear Skin! My dream of a pair of Trance Sticks seems like it will soon be a reality. What’s that noise? I grab the loot from my fallen lowbie mob. That really sounds like flapping in the background. A vague memory of over a decade past stirs… Bam! Dead by a griffon. LOADING, PLEASE WAIT

9. I’m naked in Kunark and all of my worldly possessions are again on another continent. I find another non-anonymous cleric eventually, who locates my corpse, drags it to the tunnel and gives me a rez. I’m now becoming vaguely uneasy of the world outside the EC tunnel

10. I ask in /ooc how I get back to Kunark. Someone describes what sounds like a complicated combination of dodging mobs, boat trips, swimming, and more dodging mobs. The thought of dying at sea doesn’t sit well with me. I rule boats out of my immediate future

11. I get a brilliant idea! I’ll shove my stuff in the bank, eat another death, and wind up at my bind point, where I can just make a short walk to the local bank. I ask in /ooc where an iksar can sell and bank. This is met with some laughter. Some kindly soul tells me that selling to a vendor is possible, but banking is rather more difficult. It requires a combination of invisibility, dodging guards, and camera angles. Remembering my last ordeal with invis, I decide this will likely not end well for me and that I am now trapped in the old world

12. But hey, I can sell in this zone? Might as well lighten my load, and inch my way closer to those trance sticks. I decide that the safest place to sell must obviously be closest to Freeport. After all, it’s a noob area, right? I go near the Freeport zone line, go into a hut, and try to sell. The merchant tells me to get lost. So I decide to try the opposite hut. Oh my, there’s a guild master in here. She doesn’t like me. LOADING, PLEASE WAIT

13. I’m level 7 again, yay! Separated from all possessions and now on another continent, I have become better at Cleric Locating (3). I get my rez

14. I’m now terrified of going anywhere outside the EC tunnel. I don’t know if I’ll ever leave the tunnel. Those trance sticks will have to wait until I’m a higher level. I see a druid announce that she’s porting people all over. Hey, I got here from a druid, why not just go home with a druid? I tell her that I want to go home, so she tells me the nearest place is Dreadlands. It sounds ominous. I vaguely remember the zone, it’s been over a decade since I was last there. I take the port. She casts levitate and invis on me, and wishes me luck. Only she doesn’t say “Good Luck!” like most people. She says “good luck…” which I take as an ominous portent, but it prompts me to caution. She ports out and I’m now alone, except for an afk druid sitting at the ring.

15. I look up a map of the Dreadlands and plan my route home. I’m looking for Frontier Mountains. At this point, a habit that I’ve developed as an iksar kicks in – I forage for food. It’s a great tool for the cheap. Only I didn’t realize, forage breaks invis. I’m really not good with invis. I ask the afk druid for an invis, but I get no reply.

16. I make my way to the exit tunnel completely exposed and sure that I’m going to die. I remember the comment from the guy who told me how to bank in Freeport, and I’m hugging walls and using camera angles to peek ahead. There’s a yeti there that won’t let me past, but camera work has saved me. I head back out of the tunnel.

17. There’s something that looks like an iksar city on the other side of this clearing. I decide to head there and wait for players. I narrowly miss a skeleton that doesn’t like me. The city isn’t safe

18. I head back to the druid ring. Afk druid is still not responding to my invis requests. Another group ports in. While I explain my situation, the group is already running away, and the druid gates out. I didn’t get the explanation out in time. I decide to make a macro button asking for an invis. I also take the time to level up my Sense Heading skill, since I have nothing better to do

19. Time passes. My sense heading skill is now 120. You could drop me into a dark cave blindfolded and I can tell you which direction I’m facing

20. The original druid comes back with more passengers. I quickly ask for an invis. She seems surprised to see me. I get my invis and I now know to do NOTHING but move. I thank her and tell her I want to tip but it will break my invis. She says she wouldn’t take it anyway. My noobness can apparently be sensed from a mile away. I head out, slip past the yeti in the tunnel, and look for the next zone.

21. My levitate that she had originally cast on me drops, and I realize how useful it was. On the plus side, every broken piece of ground seems to give me a chance to level up my safe fall skill.

22. Wow, zone lines are hard to find in Kunark. I find what looks to lead me into another zone. It’s Burning Woods. Not exactly where I had planned, but I look up the map. Looks like Frontier Mountains should be easy to get to, southeast corner of the zone. I head out, glad for my invis.

23. THAT ZONE CONNECTION IS IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. I spend the next 30 minutes or so stumbling around through ridiculous thick trees and I can find nothing. My invis drops and I’m on my own

24. I’ve learned to spam the “Target Nearest Enemy” key to make sure that I’m not in agro range of anything. Everything here can kill me horribly. I eventually find the tiny zone exit buried under some trees high on a wall

25. Frontier Mountains is also way too high for me. I dodge lots of mobs that can’t be seen over the jagged landscape. Levitate would be an awesome spell to have here. Oh yeah, I had levitate and squandered it

26. Lake of Ill Omen at last. I’m so happy that I don’t notice the Marauder slaughtering me. LOADING PLEASE WAIT. At least this time I can drag my own corpse.

27. I decide that I’ll stay in Kunark. I never did get my trance sticks, but Master Wu can take his sticks and shove them where the sun don’t shine

TL/DR version – Leaving Kunark as a young iksar pup will teach you valuable skills, but you’re basically choosing the hardest mode for a game that’s already hard. Kunark has everything you need as an iksar. And gear is overrated at low levels.

Kainor, level 8 (again) Iksar Monk

God I love EQ. Almost irrationally so.

[Clark]

EC/Nro/Oasis is best for 3-18. Anyone saying otherwise is a noob.

Nothing better than tunnel buffs man.

[Portasaurus]

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

Nothing better than tunnel buffs man.

P99 EC tunnel is like the Woodstock of Everquest. Much free love and good feels combined with a pinch of unscrupulous activities.

[Clark]

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

P99 EC tunnel is like the Woodstock of Everquest. Much free love and good feels combined with a pinch of unscrupulous activities.

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[webrunner5]

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

Sometimes it can take shouting in West Freeport for 10 minutes or more to get a bind but people will do it... but still, Kunark is the place to be [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

Yeah but Kunark mobs also have a lot more Hit Points and also hit a lot harder than Classic zones. So yeah better loot, but a lot harder to get it lol. [You must be logged in to view images. Log in or Register.]

[ko37qtl]

My iksar shaman had things to sell and left for EC at 9th. I'm both stingy and a bit stubborn, so I did the WW>OT>TD>Oasis>NRO>EC route. I decided to hang around a bit and got a bind so I could hunt while I sold. I treated the path of Sgt. Slate like a busy freeway and looked both ways no matter what and I haven't had any guard trouble.

The only faction-based death I have enountered thus far is trying to sell at the druid rings in WC. I was fully aware that the druids standing nearby hated me but thought I could sidle up close enough to the merchant to sell and not set them off. I know better now. The end was merciless but quick.

I had collected a number of greater lightstones when I wasn't doing orc camps, so I decided to make the run the long way out to North Karana since without an invis, I'd get smashed to a pulp by either halflings or Highpass guards. It turned out to be such a (long) cakewalk that I did it again and stayed for a few levels when I could bind myself (I had already returned to Kunark to buy spells at 14 and to level to 15 to train in dodge). The money was excellent and will cover my spells at least to 19. I'm 16 now and inclined to faction group a bit in Highpass if I can get a group but if it proves too difficult, I may just head home.

[Swish]

Oasis gypsies are another selling option if you need one ^^