TLDR - Learnings fro ma new player who did 1 - 60

[Pseudechis]

General Tips 0 – 60 on Red99

So I probably made the worst mistake in rolling race/class although it has resulted in the ongoing entertainment of both the guild and the server. Wood Elf Warrior.

However having picked possibly the hardest race/class combo to level up from scratch with no contacts or connections on the server it also led me to come up with some key learnings, and like anything I keep learning every day. I thought I’d share them since there seems to be a moderate influx of players.

On starting a character :

1. Don’t pick a wood elf warrior.
2. If you have no friends or gear do pick – Bard, Druid, Cleric, mage
3. If you have gear do pick – Enchanter, Shaman, or any of the above
4. Don’t pick wood elf warrior.

On PvP -

1. Learn how to plug. If you ask what plugging is, it is simply hitting a zone line at lower health (if you are outmatched don’t feel bad about plugging anywhere from 50% down) and then closing the window or disconnecting the net.People say plugging is cheap but the reality is taking an unnecessary PvP or PvE death during PvP encounter is going to slow down your groups exp substantially when compared to plugging for 5 or 10 minutes and coming back. A funghigriefers sole intent is to make you LnS and lose an hour which will break most groups.
2. Set up hotkeys for assist and target. It is likely you are going to find a group of people who play the same time zone as you and you are all leveling simultaneously at great pace. Get your assists figured out early and make it #1 hotkey this is going to benefit you in both PvE and PvP. Get your target key set up so you are all aligned on how to deal with a potential pker.
3. Make a /Target Smallmee hotkey at level 49.He’s a genius in getting quick kills because people are clicking all over the place as he moves fast and puts his dots out quickly. Smallmee got me 3 times from level 49-52. Then our group set up this hotkey, the first time we saw him we plugged him at 7% (Strange HT in LS) second time we plugged him at 14% (Paineel) I think I took 2 more cheap deaths at a Gorrenaire raid and no more since. Although we did engage numerous times. The guy is brave and undoubtedly plays smart in PvP but he prefers the quick easy kills. Like in any PvP if you pick and focus and make it hard, they are more likely to go off looking for something easier. From 49-59 is going to be rough, be patient. Remember the pkers with big ratios will not risk taking YT. So if you can even get him down to 50% he is likely to run for it or gate.

I singled out smallmee here as he’s the flavor of the day atmbut truly from Level 4 onwards there will always be some annoying pker that lurks around your leveling area unless you have a core group willing to go to remote spots, adjust this hotkey accordingly as you level up. Most griefers are looking for the easy kill. Don’t make yourself that target (I was a wood elf warrior, I was that target a lot and it took 55 levels to learn to plug).
4. For a warrior build gear around getting like 100 base MR and max str/hp. Carry Pumice always and unclick your first slot when combat starts. You will resist most root snare at 100mr, but should one land pumice immediately and keep moving. The wiki list for sub 50 gear reference is not optimum for red99. Even 50-60 may not be ideal as you really need to balance that resist gear.
5. Get a goblin skull earring and jboots. If you don’t have jboots invest the 500pp a week and buy 4 - 10 charge SoW pots. ALWAYS HAVE SOW POTS.
6. And on PvP – for a melee you’re engagement should be something like:
a. Assist or target
b. Pumice
c. Kill
d. Plug at 50% health or less unless victory is likely. Don’t take unnecessary YT.
7. Take necessary YT when it truly is necessary. I would consider necessary YT to be protecting a cleric camping out at a camp spot, buying your guild or group time to let them plug ahead of you general good judgment, let’s be clear I didn’t show good judgment hence my YT Ratio.
8. Buff Order – no SoW top slot. A nice buff order might be grim aura – resist cold, fire, poison, disease, magic, hp buffs, sow, dmf/levi.
9. Always have dmf or levi if you are entering planned pvp. If you don’t have levi and you’re pvping outdoors consider just plugging.

On PvE:

1. The Red99 community is not all toxic, sure there are some real pricks out there and you are going to get griefed by some funghitwink from time to time, but this can be avoided. Point is don’t be discouraged by one poor experience, persist through, you’ll find a good core group of people and they’ll help carry you through. Shameless plug to the likes of Arioch&Kalea also Eruza&Kecleon, Chongo too, my mind is mush and I’m sure we had some other key members (Kammbo, Concave Burgerking, Lowi, Samhain, Bump, Diogenes, Pumpkinlatte at later levels) of our leveling group, but I’m pretty sure Arioch and Kaleaconsistently included meinexp groups for a long while there. Big plug to Holocaust in general, call em what you will, the guild is solid and the loot decisions have all been fair and reasonable in my time in the guild. There are some cliques within it and probably some drama and politics I’m not privy too but to my experience everyone is mutually benefiting in that guild at the moment.
2. Don’t get rustled, don’t troll back at someone who kills you. Either plug (see item 2 in PvP and wait 10 minutes or log and go have a beer, do a shit, smoke a blunt, whatever strikes your fancy. Again most twinks are looking for quick easy kills and pure griefing rustling, don’t let em have it. They are mostly unlikely to camp a plug, they want numbers so sitting around for 10 minutes for 1 yt is not efficient for them.
3. Learn the zones that are hard to get to, hard to get to exp spots within, just generally a pain for PvP if you want to settle in for a serious 4-5 hourexp session. A quick guide to my experience:
a. Level 1 – 10 = do whatever you want if you are leveling in the faydark area I like to do average shit through to level 5, 5- 10 on the bandit camp in gfay, 10 – 19 on sister camp in lesser fay (you might see some pvp but mistmoore is close and you can generate up to 1k plat across 10 levels here.
b. At 19 you have options – unrest is a great exp modifier and often has groups, but you will see PvP. You could go to HHK. You could think befallen, or many places in Kunark. Depends if you have found a group of steady people or not.
c. 30 – 40 Mistmoore is optimum, you’re gonna see pvp, but you’re also going to be able to find groups. Tons of alternatives if you have a core group willing to travel.
d. 40-45 – Solb if you’ve developed a core group or Yetis in Dreadlands. I liked Yeti’s, very easy camp to pull constant singles for exp with nice gem loot table for cash.
e. 45-55 - The world is your oyster. If you’re ok with the pvp perspective Solb continues to be good right through to 60.or if you don’t want pvp. Try The Hole, Kedge, Permafrost, HS, Sebilis
4. Who you level with and what your play style is should dictate who you guild with. But after 49 you may as well pick a side. Staying untagged just means you’re going to get killed by both sides. Don’t be fooled by the “zerg” argument, the only difference between one side or the other is the number of people tagged to the same guild. After alliances (temporary or permanent) are considered numbers tend to be pretty even, at least up until the last week or 10 days.. And really the “zerg” factor doesn’t factor into you leveling up. You are going to see PvP from twinked out de-leveled pkers with their epics and you’re going to be in rags. If you know you can’t win, don’t be worried about plugging. But Holo be crootin and I recommend joining!
5. Be willing to Need before Greed all the way through levels. Trust me anything that drops from 1-50 you’re likely to out level in value so quickly it will barely matter. But in a game where pixel lust and pixel frenzy is real people will look at you fondly and be more willing to group if you are generous. Every now and then it repays you 10 fold.
6. Learn the timers on a few key mobs and do your utmost to maintain them for as long as you can before you lose them. It’s not hard to make a lot of plat if your core little group is picking up 3-5k for someone in the group every day (multiple times a day if you are neckbearding and have timers on <12 hour spawns). Even the worst little team can pull in 3-5k plat for each member a week. If your group is particularly tight knit and generous to each other you’re going to have moderately well twinked alts pretty fast.
7. Have an Alt. When you get plugged you still want to play and you may want to monitor the situation. Have an alt to hop on and level etc.
8. Be grateful. If someone does something good for you be grateful. For example don’t be Charlatan. If you wipe on a mob and a group fights down half of them naked using bank gear and fine steel weapons to get your corpses back with substantial risk of further exp deaths, whilst you sit dead complaining in teamspeak and not participating In the CR efforts, then the druid binds deep in the hole so they can safely port two groups out risking a horrible death cycle loop, say “thanks.”not “ Why the fuck did you port me to tox, what the fuck can I do now!” and rage quit. This behavior means people won’t want to help you again and you’ll end up having a breakdown and leaving the server.

On raiding:
1. PvP deaths have a 5 minute timer. Make a consent hotkey. If you are on a raid and you take a PvP death as soon as you pop into your bind point hit your consent key and log off. Don’t get on an alt, don’t log back in, just sit in Team Speak and wait until the CR is ready for you. This is especially key in raids like Trakanon, Hate, Fear. You’re lead consents are likely to be you’re guild leader, you’re monks doing pulling, and if in fear maybe a bard or two that might be running trains. If you take nothing else from my post this one is probably the second most important after having patience.
2. Ask Questions – this seriously applies to everything, you might feel like you’re revealing your noobness but believe me you’re better off revealing your noobness and not fucking up than you are not asking and then fucking up anyways. Don’t ask a question and then fuck up anyways.
3. Learn how to adjust those assist keys and target keys fast. In PvP you may want your assist key to assist multiple targets. Set up a set of hotkeys specifically for PvP with only disciplines and skills for PvP. As a warrior you might want your disarm, kick key to be the same bind etc.
4. Warrior disciplines in PvP – props to drez for this advice. In drawn out PvP precision is probably optimum. If your target is tash’d, rooted and getting chain raptured and you really want to try get the kill, pop felstrike. Keep those kick stuns for gating interrupts. Use a good dmg two hander.
5. Keep your resist gear through leveling. Even if stuff dies really fast it’s a good practice to keep resists gear. I aim to have 160 in any given resist with basic buffs which will push you to 250 + with a bard. But even at 160 you’re going to survive most raid mobs
6. My first raid with Holo I ended up corpse camped for about 24 hours. Not 72 hours like Lite will claim but a solid 24 hours. He even linked a quote from me as though it was some great victory. I think I said something along the lines of “No corpses? I’m heading to bed then I’ll sort it out tomorrow.” This was his great victory. Know what I did, I had a beer, read a book and went to bed. Next day I played around on an alt and the guild batphoned and cr’d everyone later that day. Don’t go petition quest or forum quest, these things are going to happen. Especially in a competitive environment. Stay calm, trust that the guild you are in Holo or otherwise has enough characters and resources that sooner or later they are going to get you out.
7. The more you let yourself get rustled or griefed the more the toxic people in the game will troll you and grief you. They thrive on it, they love upsetting people and they really enjoy the drama.
8. Alpha cash loots starting at the cleric for dot money. It’s a good practice. What this means is cleric gets first cash item and then the loot is distributed from that point in alphabetical order. Also means the guy who’s name starts with an A doesn’t always get the first piece of cash loot. Distributes it reasonable evenly.

On Gear:

Don’t fuss on gear 0-50. I did and I regret it. You will outlevel most gear so fast it’s not funny. But just out of interest for a char that had absolutely nothing to start with and no early assistance here is some of the progression I had.

a) Earrings - + stamina – they were cheap went straight to goblin skull and earring of essence.
b) Rings – begged for jagged bands – plat fire are good for a long time
c) Helm – Skull Shaped barbute – 1k will be good all the way to 60.
d) Necklace – the undead protection one 10 pr/ 10 dr (keep for severilous/trak gear later) straight to white gold.
e) Armor, you are going to level so fast I went out and invested but I should of saved the pp for later game. I went with banded  bronze  crafted mith/planar/Kunark. I could of stayed in bronze and accepted the shame through raiding.
f) Clickies – you want to get that clicky shit for your class post 50, but most likely you won’t wear it you just use for self buffs.
g) Jboots/SoW pots are a must.
h) Shoulders – Bloodstained Mantle  IGS (if you get lucky in the hole) or WurmScale.
i) Bracers – Hero Bracer is a worthy investment at 400pp. Silver Plated is cheap early game and you can hold onto it for PR/Dr later on. I wouldn’t even bother upgrading until planar/dragon hero.
j) Belt – mith girdle, TBB are both good
k) Cloak – HBC is fine through to 60
l) Weapons – KunzarKu’Juch (100pp) Ykeshan War Club (still use) 200pp. Throne blade of ykesha (still use) (100-200pp). Mudman Enforce, Vilk’s Defender are good for keeping those skills maxed after each level. As a warrior don’t over invest in weapons.
m) Range – Runed Bone Fork – excellent resists and still ok through to 60.
n) Face – splitpaw hide mask – cheap and still ok at 60 – upgrade to a diamond mask when you can afford it.


Haste – I was patient on this for raiding ended up in CoF. If you aren’t patient I wouldn’t go any heavier than an FBSS. RBB is a suitable alternative once raiding. Sky Haste belts rain so not hard to get one of those after 46 if your guild raids sky. If you are starting from scratch there are better ways to spend 5k than on a FBSS as you will get a haste item fast once raiding.

Resists – again for PVP I aim for standard suit to be as close to 100 across the board as possible with a locked in 100 mr.

This is the most important thing I can emphasize - On loot – the pixel lust is great, but if you choose any raiding guild, obviously Holo you’re gonna see pixels raining and within 2-4 weeks you will surely have a few items. Even if you choose one of the minors you’re still going to see plenty of loot compared to classic or blue. BE PATIENT. My main is what I would consider a moderately well geared 60 epic warrior with Cloak of Flames in 12 weeks of playing starting with nothing. Patience is key. Having a melt down over not having you’re epic at Level 57 or missing out on an item that you really wanted that is dropping two or three times a weekis silly, makes you look silly, and makes people not like you.

On Plat-
You’re gonna need it and if you’re a warrior you can’t farm sea furies.

The best plat I have made is from an earlier mention – get the timers on some key mobs with your core group and farm them hard for as long as you can hold the timers. I’m not gonna tell you what mobs but it’s pretty easy to figure out which ones have items that drop n sell well and fast.

If you level up in certain places keep certain items that relate to people’s epics. Two things can come from this 1. You can MQ and sell for good coin. 2. You can MQ and give to guildies or friends and build good will to guilt them into helping you with your epic. :


Dread Lands – Giant Sized Monocle – Giant patriarch you might get one or two leveling 40-45 on these mobs and any warrior will prolly pay you for it.
Permafrost – block of permafrost
Frozen Heart
Kedge Mage Epic piece - undertow
Phinny Backbone
Solusek A Giblets Signet Ring - cleric epic and pearl for ragefire. Depending on the guild you are in if you use a pearl to spawn ragefire you should get loot preference. This is a way to get either a CoF or the always desirable blazing armor.

I’m sure some people can provide further advice on this.

Summary:

You’re gonna have bad days. Sometimes you might even get a bit of rage or be griefed. Don’t take it personally. If you’re raging log off have a beer or whatever and take some perspective on the fact it really is a 15 year old Elf simulator that is being played by just 200-300 other nerds. Don’t be told you’re shit at games or whatever else, there isn’t a person who is playing on this server that wouldn’t go straight to domination in any of the current MMOs out there. EQ is HARD, far harder than any other game out there, it always has been and it will always continue to be the benchmark of challenging MMOs.

Make friends and enjoy yourself. Having come back just 12 weeks ago – I started with absolutely nothing on September 1st and to already have an epic equipped 60 warrior with a CoF tells you that it just isn’t that hard to get results and enjoy your character no matter how hard the class/race combination you picked is.

If anyone else has any other tips chime in. If anyone wants to troll go for it. I know a lot will say I have little to contribute, but honestly I actually searched the forums for this type of advice early on and failed to find it, and what I did find was scattered about the forums so I thought I’d consolidate my view on it and try help some of the new players coming to the server learn from the last 3 months of my experience.

Nakor NotaRanger
Holocaust