Everquest: The best way to get started

[Masco73]

I have been considering getting started with Everquest on the PC. I know nothing about it at this point. This will be my first time with any online game. I have waited this long mainly because I don't know exactly how to begin. Do you just join in a group or what? I was wondering if any of you veterans of EQ can give me any pointers on the best way to start.

Should I start with the original version?

Can I level online by myself without being part of a group?

Where is the best online host for the game?

How much will it cost?

Those are all the questions I can think of at the moment. I am sure I will have more. Please feel free to offer any suggestions you might feel will be useful. Thanks in advance!!

Masco73 :D

[rngwrm]

wait until EQ 2 comes out and start with everyone else. This late in the game if you don't have any friends who play and can give you equipment then the lower game is dead. You will have a hard time getting a group up until level 30 or so just because the game has shifted to the high-lvl MMORPG. Been like that for over a year now. Only low levels are people who are twinked to solo well or power levelers who have two accounts.

[Starcade]

Should I start with the original version? ah, buy the expansion.

Can I level online by myself without being part of a group? uh, I guess...but not effectively, it would take a month to gain a level if you are alone.

Where is the best online host for the game? WFF

How much will it cost? The original game is like 10 bucks, plus the i think, 13 dollars a month you pay by credit card or gamrcard each month.

And you shouldnt have trouble finding a group, people are making alts (alternate characters) all the time.

I say this, I dont play EQPC, i play EQOA for PS2, I am assuming i is rougly the same for both games.

[Raedon]

And you shouldnt have trouble finding a group, people are making alts (alternate characters) all the time.

I say this, I dont play EQPC, i play EQOA for PS2, I am assuming i is rougly the same for both games.

You are wrong. EQ on the PC and EQ on the PS2 are two entirely different games.

Wait for EQ2. the original EQ is a fun game, but if you jump into it now you will find a game with 5 year old graphics and a world occupied by high level guilds and raids on places a newbie wouldn't see for 6 months at least. EQ takes a LONG time to level your first time in. I think it took me 2 months of constant play after work to get to level 50. You start the game with nothing and getting good items takes a lot of money. Take a horse for example.. they cost 100,000 for an ok one. Creatures you fight at level 55 only drop 2-5pp each. Who has 100,000pp? The gamers like me who have been playing the damn game so long that they have taken more then one character to level 60 and in that time had a chance to /roll 100 on many high dollar item drops.

[chocobokick]

I had to buy the Luclin Expansion to be able to deal with the graphics, so that with trilogy is like $40. If you can find gold for under $50 pick it up, if you don't want to open it you can sell it on ebay for $80ish.
That said, I'm having fun in EQ. Granted I had friends that play and have a guild, but the second character I created within a week of playing is the one I'm sticking with, and my guild didn't give me any stuff for her. Actually instead a random nice player gave me an Ebon Razor which is apparently a really great sword, and some armor. So random people will help you out quite frequently with armor and/or buffs. I haven't really sought out groups yet, I'm only level 5 or so, but I have seen a big range of levels out there.
Also if you play EQ you are supposed to get some good stuff or be able to unlock stuff in EQ2 that wouldn't otherwise be available to you. And EQ2 is probably going to be pretty taxing, so make sure your computer is up to snuff. The idea that laptops have trouble running these big online games is stupid, I've never had any trouble at all.

[portnoyd]

Professor Falkin,

The only way to win is not to play.

/cheers and shouting

dave

[Raedon]

There was a real sense of playing something more grand then any game before it when I played EQ for the first time. It's good to know I got to play the start of a new Genre.

Potnoyd is just pulling out the War Games quotes cuz Butta gave him a dirty sanchez. ;)

[portnoyd]

There was a real sense of playing something more grand then any game before it when I played EQ for the first time. It's good to know I got to play the start of a new Genre.

Potnoyd is just pulling out the War Games quotes cuz Butta gave him a dirty sanchez. ;)

I'll let butta respond to that, biznatch.

dave

[Masco73]

The reason I was going to get the original is because it is cheap now, but also my computer is older. I don't know if it would even run EQ2. I do have a cable connection, but I am running a pentium 2 400mhz chip. Do you think that will cut it for EQ2??

I do like the idea of starting out fresh on an even level in EQ2. Does this mean all the things people collected in the original EQ will not carry over to EQ2?? That would be great for me since it will take a little while for me to figure out everything.

Another question I thought of is how exactly do you acquire stuff(armor,money,weapons)while fighting in a group?? Do you divide it up between your team or is it like Diablo where the stuff falls on the ground and you have to run over to get it ??

Sorry for the questions, but I want to be well informed before I jump into this?

Thanks everyone for your answers and suggestions so far. Keep them coming!!

[hezeuschrist]

Wait for EQ2. When I first started EQ 3 years ago it was something amazing and mysterious... no game will ever do that for me now, and I garantee all EQ will do for you now is put a sour taste in your mouth. If you want, start with EQOA. It's very fresh, and some said it was a "dumbed down" version of EQ. How EQ can get dumbed down, I have no idea, but thats what everyone who has played both described it as.

The original won't get you anywhere... literally. You'd at least have to go to kunark, and from what I understand now Kunark is mostly dead. You can get a package with all of them in it, but this late in the game if you haven't 'grown up' as the game has, it'll be an incredible and downright impossible amount of information to try to decipher.

As for equipment, when you group and kill something, anyone in the group can loot it. Since the game is 120% reputation, -20% skill, chances of someone 'ninja looting' an item is slim to none. When one member loots something, the other members of the group all see what was looted. It'll either go to the person who can use it the most, or if it's an extremely coveted item it'll usually just go random. Each member rolls 1-100, highest wins.

Your Pentium 2 400 will have a rough time with the original, let alone EQ2. EQ2 isn't gonna be out for ages though, mid-late 2004 I think. EQ2 will be 100% stand alone from the original EQ, just like EQOA is different from EQ PC. It'll be a totally different game too, different advancement structure, some familiar places, new people and areas, quests, ect.

Just to scare you, I played EQ for quite some time, and I got to the endgame and spent a fair amount of time there. When I quit (a couple months after Luclin came out) I had a 60 High Elf Enchanter, and a 55 Human Monk. Both had epics. Epics are, or were, the best weapon for that class only obtainable by huge groups of people with tons of time to do it. Well, that's what they were designed for, and when i got both of mine thats how they were.

I had over three thousand hours logged into EQ, and I struggled to keep up with my guildmates. I had 112 days played on my enchanter, 20-something on my monk and countless other hours on other people characters for corpse runs, ect. This game is the definition of time-sink. If you're not careful, and you easily get into games where the main objective is to 'be the best', it's highly addictive. People have killed themselves over ingame items/money/players ect. I knew people that had spent well over a year of the past 4 years of their life logged into ONE character. That's 6 hours a day, every day of their life for the past 4 years... not including other characters. If you aren't careful, it's very easy to get sucked in.

[Raedon]

Getting my Dark Elf Enchanter his epic weapon was the end-game for me in EQ.. many others to. (though I still play, that was the high water mark of MMORPG'ing for me... so far) Many people I know quit EQ or sold their accounts after getting their Epic's.

[FrankLee]

I had never played a online RPG (other then PSO) when i bought EQOA the day it came out and it was very enjoyable. I didnt make it far in my EQ life tho i made it to level 30 in the 2 months i played then I didnt wanna buy an other game card because i was poor so now i dont play it anymore.

[Masco73]

Are all the everquest games playable without being online? If so, are they any good??