Everquest guide for new players, Feel free to add to it returning vets!

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zwstearns
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Sun May 28, 2017 1:55 pm

So Everquest is an MMO from 1999, it is unlike pretty much any other MMO. As I play more on Agnarr a lot of things are returning to me, and in an effort to help new players i'd like to compile some information and useful links to people playing, as well as some of the changes vets may not know about to make playing the game more easy for everyone.

Everquest was one of the first real MMOs, expecting modern balance and polish on a lot of things is fairly unreasonable, as devs were really breaking new ground when they designed this game. Things were a lot worse but now its mostly better, still expect some classes and races to be stronger than others, as well as some class/race combinations being better and more viable than others, in a way that doesn't exist in other classes. Mobs take a while to kill, its considerably faster on this server than it was when I first played EQ, but it is still not like WoW. Mobs die quite slowly, and since there aren't really quests to level off of you will level up by grinding these mobs. Expect to spend hours playing this game before you start to level, and expect to run around with weak gear for a long period of time.

What makes everquest fun however is that the game practically forces you to play with others, you will get to know people, and people will get to know you. Everquest builds communities better than any MMO since has. People will know each other by name and reputation, this is both good and bad, as you can tank your reputation, but either way you will make memories in this game. There will be no pvp on this server, and you wouldn't want it, as resists will make half of the classes pointless in pvp, and thus would not be particularly fun.

First when picking your class there are things you need to remember and think about. This is an important decision, every character in EQ is a real time investment to the player. As such you want to know what your responsibility in a group is, what your options will be to solo or group, and just what your strengths as a class will be. Every class plays differently, races add different dynamics into the game that, in most modern MMOs you just do not see. So starting out I will discuss the races, what they offer, and what weaknesses they have. Then move on to classes. I will try to be concise. Finally, after discussing classes for character creation I will discuss the worship of gods, as this is another critical part of character creation and will impact your experience in game.

First the races that you can play on agnarr right now, then the races you will be able to play by the end of Agnarr's content. Of note to returning players, the exp penalty to all races has been removed. Keep this in mind when creating your characters. So lets get on to the races!

Barbarian: The frigid northerners. They used to be THE race for certain classes. Like shaman, as they had a low exp penalty. Now they are a decent pick for certain classes because there are few cities they are banned from, so travel is relatively easy. The racial abilities for this race are access to the slam attack and a +10 cold resistance. Their armor type is large and medium. IIRC they have a bonus to strength and stamina, making them a decent choice for melee classes. Okay starting zone but you will likely be better off branching out relatively quickly.

Dark Elf: Evil elves! My favorite race, and what I am playing(message me on Agnarr IGN Clericalerror if you need some advice, help or friendly banter!). They have dark vision(though this is less important now than it was in the past), and are the best, IIRC evil caster race in the game. Most cities won't let you in, so keep this in mind if you go with them. They can play A LOT of classes, but if you want to be melee, except for *** reasons keep in mind their stat lines just ARE better for caster classes. You might want to be a dark elf SK or rogue, and if you do more power to you, but there are stronger options. Their starting zone is relatively bad, but you are in luck the common lands are easy enough to get to and a great place to get that early leveling done!

Dwarf: The stunties as orky folk tend to refer to them as! One of the best starting races imho for a number of reasons. The good about them is, they have infravision, great melee and cleric stats and the coolest jump in game along with epic beards. They start on the faydwer continent which is amazing for leveling, so it is a great starting spot, and if you can get lots of them a quest in the paladin guild hall will get you some good faction bonuses and some starter leather armor and weapons. I highly recommend this race if you are new and you want to play one of the classes they have access to. They are close to Crushbone, a zone everyone would like to level in(though some races probably shouldn't exp here due to faction hits pre luclin).

Erudite: A human race, also egg heads. The best starting stats for casters, but relatively poor melee stat lines. Good wisdom, good intelligence. No other racial bonuses other than their starting stats. They can be evil or good. Be aware if evil that you will have issues with travel and this is more punishing to them than possibly any other race as they start on an island by themselves with no real friends near by. To get off of the island you will need to translocate to Queynos, who are not fond of the evil bros. By no means does this mean you should never start an erudite necromancer, but keep this in mind. This will be much much much less important once planes of power goes live, so if you are starting later in Agnar's run this information will be less important.

Gnome: Another short race. A good pick for rogues, a good pick for casters. They have access to tinkering, a gnome unique trade skill as well as infravision. They can play clerics and paladins but they have rather low wisdom so I would generally advise against it. Their evil class choices are not nearly as punished as certain other races, so if you want to play a necro this is probably the race to do it. They start on the same continent as the dwarves, high elves and wood elves. This means you have access to Crushbone, and thus a great place to start out as. Their town is fairly hard to navigate so keep this in mind, or at least I have a hard time navigating it. Trolls and ogres will want you as a snack.

Half Elf: Similar to humans, used to be a strong pick due to a lack of a leveling adjustment, but this is gone now. One of the strengths of this race is the sheer amount of class options, another strength unique to this race is they can start in so many cities. They can start in the wood elf city, the high elf city, and any of the human starting zones. They CANNOT be arcane casters, but they can be druids, and rangers, Their wisdom stat line is not the best, but they have decent dex and strong agility as well as strength.

Halfling: A "good" race, but know that amongst EQ vets this race has a stigma attached to it. Decent stat line for rogues, druids and rangers. The stigma comes from the fact that it used to be seen as a race played by asshole players. Nick named asslings, usually if someone was going to kill steal or train you it was the halfling druid doing it. They get a 5% bonus exp and a bonus to sneak and hide, as well as poison resist as well as infravision. Their starting location is not at all punishing. If you want an easy starting spot they possibly have the best, with relatively easy access to the common lands and a lot of good exp locations right in their newbie zone they are fairly good. Most races will at least tolerate them in their cities, they are not particularly hated.

High Elf: Arrogant elves, Arrogant good alignment! They have infravision and a strong stat line for casters of any variety. They start on the faydwer continent, and get a lot of positive faction bonuses from grinding orcs in crushbone. They cannot be warriors so keep this in mind. They cannot be evil classes, and their stat line for paladins leaves something to be desired. Dark elf NPCs will want to kill you on sight generally, so keep this in mind when running around. They are tolerated in a large number of cities, so if you want to play a caster, and not be punished this is your best option imho.

Human:The jack of all trades, master of none. This used to be one of the best races to play as they had no penalties to exp at the start of the game. This is gone now, so there is less of a reason to play them. They can play pretty much any class, barring a few options(Shaman being one of them). They have average stat lines for every class, and no bonuses from playing them, however they have possibly the most travel options of any race.

Ogre: Pound for pound the strongest race in the game. If you don't mind being hated by pretty much every non evil faction in the game. They have frontal stun immunity, slam and infravision. They make the absolute best tanks in the game, and are still a strong choice for other classes like shaman. Their wisdom is relatively low, but gear will eventually fix this. Their starting area is rather friendly to new players. Again if you want to tank and don't mind being evil play ogre. I promise you they are min max wise THE best.

Troll: Next best tanks to ogres. Arguably the best shaman. Also evil so they like to much halflings and gnomes. Decent starting area. They have low wis, but have HP regen strong STR and strong STA stat lines. They have infravision but they have reduced fire resist. The reason they make strong shaman is their passive HP regen. This eventually wont make a huge difference but shaman use a skill called cannibalize regularly and this regen really helps offset this. Especially at early levels before they get heal over time spells and regen buffs and is still useful after. This regen is still not as strong as frontal stun immunity, but if you don't mind being evil, this is a strong option for tanks like ogre, just imho not as strong as ogres. Decent starting area, they live close to ogres, but as an evil race are not particularly well liked among not evil circles, likely because they like munching on smaller races.

Wood Elf: The good choice, imho for dex based classes. They have good starting stat lines for it, bonuses to sneak and hide. Their stats are average for any class making them similar to humans. They are relatively well liked amongst most factions, and have infravision. Worth noting that their city is dangerous. It is one of the coolest cities in the game, built well up in the trees, but be aware that there are falling risks and it will kill you. Their starting area is really close to their high elf cousins, and as such have easy access to Crushbone. They cannot be arcane casters. Not terrible warriors, but imho there are better choices for warrior.

Expansion races:
Iksar: Prepare to be despised. A very interesting race. They get bonus armor, their swimming starts at 100 skill points, one of the two races capable of being monk, they have higher HP regen so a pretty good option for shaman, if not the best, again they compete with ogres and trolls for this. They also can all forage, which is helpful for keeping food stocks up. Until luclin the only city they are accepted in is their own. Keep this in mind. They are KOS to everyone. Planes of power really helps them out with travel issues though. Acceptable choice for every class they don't excel in, but for tanks there are better choices. The only necro choice with starting bonus HP regen, so if you want to play one you might want to wait for Iksar to be out to do this as that regen will really help them keep mana levels up. They have a bonus melee attack with their tails.

Vah Shir: Cat boys and Cat girls. They live on the moon(how cool is that?). Nobody hates them(because who can hate cats). They all have safe fall(because cats always land on their feet). When live they are one of the strongest non evil options for tanks with strong agility, strong STR and STA as well. They are one of the shaman options neutral/good characters have. No city will kill them on sight iirc though cabilis might? They welcome all races into their home city.

Froglok: The last unlockable race for this server. Frogloks can be good or evil, and are one of the few good shaman. A strong choice for dex based classes, and the strongest starting swimming skill cus you know, amphibians. Really neat looking race with a really vibrant look. Decent arcane casters, and a decent choice for starting out. Since they will be live post PoP travel will not be an issue for this race, so if you want to be a frog person they are a good choice. They have ultra vision so time of day will not matter to them at all. Again their stat lines are average for most classes, so don't expect to be punished for this race choice.

Religion: Religion plays a pivotal role until Shadows of Luclin, when it gradually becomes less important. Who and what you worship will shape how a number of NPCs view you. Below will be a list of gods and methods of worship. Keep in mind some evil races can avoid the stigma of evil depending on what they worship.

Agnostic: Unless you want the immersion of a god if you can be agnostic generally you should be. A lot of factions will hate you a lot less if you are agnostic, evil factions might tolerate "good" races if agnostic, and some evil races will be at least basically toleranted by members of the good races if they are agnostic. Some classes will not be allowed to be agnostic and are defined by religious worship.

Brell Serilis: God of stone, dwarves and gnomes. He is a good god and enemies with Cazic Thule and Veeshan.

Bristlebane: good of halflings and rogues, sometimes bards. He can be found, and fought in the plane of mischief. He is an ally of Brell Serilis

Cazic-Thule: The lord of fear, an evil god. God of lizardmen(as well as Iksar) and trolls you can find, fight and kill him in plane of fear after a very hard break in fight.

Erollisi Marr: Goddess of love, She, and her brother created the barbarians and are worshipped by barbarians, humans and elves. A goddess of good, and enemy of Innoruuk the god of hate.

Inoruuk: Price of Hate, the god of dark elves(but he is not their creator), but trolls, the humans of freeport and some froglok followers are known to worship him. You will fight him in the Plane of Hate.

Karana: The rain keeper, god of storms. God of farmers druids and rangers. Many halflings humans and half elves of the druid/ranger variety worship him. You will fight him as the end boss of bastion of thunder, where he is protected by many giant lords.

Mithaniel Marr: The Lightbringer, God of Honor Co-God of the barbarians and thought to be partially behind their evolution to humans. The god of frogloks as well, and principal enemy of Innoruuk

Prexus: The Ocean Lord, God of the seas, worshipped by some goodly Erudites fishermen and sailors.

Quellious: Goddess of Tranquility, lord over the plane of tranquility, you will not fight her, but you will learn to love and respect her Plane come PoP content. God of human monks from freeport and Erudites as well as some bards.

Rallos Zek: God of War, lord of the Plane of War. God of ogres and warriors some bards follow him as do many giants. You will fight him in his home plane, which is also a fun zone to exp in.

Rodcet Nife: God of Healing, a good god worshiped by many good clerics, mainly and namely Queynos clerics and paladins as well as many bards. The enemy of Bertoxxulus.

Solusek Ro: Lord of Fire. God of wizards, and some bards, you will fight him in his tower.

The Tribunal: Gods of Justice, lords of the Plane of Justice. Many barbarians follow the Tribunal, particularly shaman and beastlords. This leads to them not liking rogues, who are outlaws. Some bards follow them.

Tunare: The All Mother. Mother of the wood and high elves worship her, some humans and half-elves also do. She is not jealous though, so not all elves follow her. Bards, clerics and paladins make up the majority of her followers.

Bertoxxulus: God of disease. Evil gnomes follow him and he has a cult in Queynos catacombs that recruits necromancers, shadow knights, clerics and an assortment of other evil casters. Principal enemy of Rodcet Nife.

Veeshan: God of Dragons. Few worship her outside of some bards and a race(that won't be a part of this server)

With races out of the way lets go to classes.
Arcane Casters
Enchanter: A must have for most parties. They get a pet, but it is relatively weak, and until they get alternate advancement points cannot be controlled in combat(they need to be hit by a mob for the pet to attack and it will taunt so its best to not summon it in most parties as its damage will generate aggro for you, and it will make the tank's job harder). Unlike most games EQ does not have the holy trinity of Tanks, DPS, Healers. EQ has support classes, true support classes and enchanter is with out a doubt the best support class. They provide strong magic debuffs in the form of tash, the second best slow in the game, a mana regen buff that literally every caster but necromancer wants, and the ability to mez NPCs(think a long duration stun that breaks on any damage). They can also charm and have an AOE stun so even big AOE groups will want two enchanters in them to chain AOE stuns back to back. Don't listen to the enchanter channel if they tell you mez is useless. Any long term veteran knows mez is one of the best skills in the game.

Magicians: A pet class, second best nukes to wizard. Multi boxers will run with an army of these guys. They have no root, long term vets will know this was a major gripe/issue mages had. Their earth pet roots, and is their "tank". Their pets provide the most raw utility of any class. When you see boxer armies running around this class is a dead give away of their existence. A decent pick for a new player wanting to try EQ out as they solo fairly well. Know that they will not have a lot of sustain on their hit points so your pet will need to tank. The pet will eat up a reagent with every summon so try to not let it die. They are welcome in groups, and are a high dps class. They can summon mod rods(clicky from the inventory staff that trades HP for mana) and pet weapons as well as food and water.

Necromancer: One of the best solo classes. They have a lot of sustain, a rather cool undead pet they can summon, and the ability to steal life from their enemies. They have great mana regen due to a buff that gradually eats HP to provide mana. They have snare and root so they can kite, but note that if you root and your pet is on the mob it will get hit. With snare as long as you have the room you can kite 3-4 mobs endlessly whittling them down with damage over time spells and life steal spells while your pet punches(or hits them if they have weapons) from behind. When they get higher levels their pet turns from a skeleton into a grim reaper looking shade with a scythe(you can still give it a weapon and it will benefit from it but it will retain the scythe it is holding as it is a part of it's model). They do good enough damage that parties will want them, but have enough solo flexibility that you can play solo if you do not feel like grouping. If a mob does not summon a necro can safely kite it with no negative repercussions. Very beginner friendly play style. Has feign death.

Wizards: The big damage caster. They have the strongest nukes, and decent ability to solo with both root and snare. When PoP gets released if you get fire flagged they have the option to get the largest solo exp in game by running to tables and quad kiting. Welcome in groups but not limited to groups. They have the ability to teleport, which will still be valuable and worth charging money to cast even after planes of power is live. Early levels you will want a group, and they do not have the sustain warlocks do, so soloing is more dangerous but they are still viable. They produce a lot of aggro, so tanks be aware of this, and wizards be aware that you can steal the mob from a tank and get yourself killed. Also know that this class can kill steal groups. Kill stealing happens when one player or group does more than 50% of a mob's HP, thus taking kill credit, so if a wizard is following your group you might need to race him on damage. It likely won't be common but be aware this is a thing, and a strategy some wizards may employ.

Hybrids
Bards: A jack of all trades master of none. They play songs that will give you carpal tunnel. They have possibly one of the most unique class designs of any mmo. They run the fastest of any class in the game with one of their songs, their melee skills are decent, can play an HP and I believe a mana regen song. More experienced bard players here can regale you with their strengths and if one does I will update more. They are one of the few classes that can kite without snare due to just how fast they run. They are a dex based melee class and are one of the better puller classes in the game. Relatively low DPS but make up for it in raw utility. They can do limited mez, but not as strong as enchanter mez.

Beastlords: A melee pet class. Think melee only wow hunter. They get one pet, but it is savage damage. The pet is locked based on race. Vah Shir get a tiger, wood elves get a treant, trolls get a croc, ogres get a bear, iksar get a scaled wolf, barbarians get a wolf. They provide some buffs, one being a stacking(stacks with enchanters clarity line of buffs) hp/mana regen buff as well as melee steroids. They can solo, as they have weak heals to keep themselves going, pet heals and enough durability to tank mobs while providing enough damage to do it, however this exp will not be as efficient as group exp. They can also slow, but this will be much weaker than shaman or enchanter slows, so if you need a slow for your group they will do in a pinch but your group would be better with other options.

Paladins: A tank class. They have a unique line of HP buffs clerics don't have, and some heals. They also have lay on hands, which is a huge heal that is useful. They can stun to help them tank and have strong threat gen. They used to be sub par but acceptable tanks, currently in game they removed a lot of those barriers so now they are perfectly acceptable tanks. They do less damage than SKs, but make up for it in utilities like stun, heals and buffs. They can solo, but for best results join a group and let the exp roll in.

Rangers:A ranged bow/melee hybrid class. They use some weak druid magic. In vanilla nobody liked them. There is a mechanic on some boss mobs named death touch. Guilds would take rangers to raids literally just to absorb a death touch then get res'ed back into the game. Things are a bit better now. Rangers do more damage and are viewed as less useless. I have never really played one so I cannot attest to their strength, but theres nothing wrong with playing one. They can solo, since they have snare they can bow kite, but exp will be faster in group.

Shadow Knights: The other hybrid tank. Think an EQ death knight. They get a weak necro pet, weak necro life tap, and some aggro generating abilities. They get anti lay on hands, a huge nuke with a long cooldown. They can solo but are better in groups. They have some of the best tank damage in the game, and generate good hate. They are evil so if you play one remember you will be limited to what cities you can travel to. Has feign death

Melee
Monks: The puller extraordinaire. Groups will want you if you can master feign death pulling, you will bring great damage and are not super gear dependent. You get a lot of interesting quests and a lot of special monk melee abilities. your damage will be high but do not expect to be able to solo unless you are super geared. Few races can play this class, so be SURE to research what race you want to play before picking it(I recommend iksar if it is a choice when you start playing.) They use martial arts and are limited to what weapons they can use but thats A-OK because you can largely get by with just your fists as weapons, in fact this is probably the best weapon for you until your epic.

Rogues: They do it from behind. They back stab, they stealth, they do pretty good damage, though in vanilla its not going to keep up with casters, however as more gear comes around they outpace casters. They also stealth and pick pocket. They sneak and stealth, they also hide and have safe fall. They will need a group, from exceptionally early on and this will never change. Melee skills make them more of a vibrant class to play, so if you are a returning vet and never played when they had melee skills they will be different than what they were. They make post wipe much easier as they can drag corpses to the cleric to rez with little risk. Remember some mobs will see through stealth(same with invis) but they have the easiest time avoiding see invis mobs in the game. Consider is your friend though.

Warriors: Used to be the best tank in the game, this isn't the case now, but they have possibly the best raw survivability in terms of stats of any tank. People will want you, and you will be glad because this class will have a hard time soloing without a lot of gear, but that doesn't matter because you will take that tank spot, and get a lot of offers and thus can consistently get good exp if you tank well. Better gear makes all of this better.

Divine Casters:
Clerics: The best healer in the game. They bring armor and HP buffs, the strongest heals, including complete heal, something vital to raiding should you decide to partake in it, in fact complete heal rotations are and will be standard. You also have the strongest single target heals, as well as rezzing, something you will be able to charge for. Groups will demand having you in the group. Their best rez gives 96% exp, and are the only class people will want to rez them.

Druids: Second best healer in the game. They can heal a party but ignorant people will not want them as healers because of a lack of a rez spell. They are one of the best soloers in the game, they have snare, they can heal themselves and they do really good nuke damage. They are limited good races, so keep this in mind. They also cast SOW, and portals, though to different locations than wizards, so people will both love and loathe you, as druids tend to have, amongst vets, an anti-social reputation.

Shaman: A powerful support healer class. They can heal a party, especially when they get their more powerful slows, and their damage was okay but I hear it was nerfed to normalize them. They can still solo, but without snare their method of soloing is called root rotting. This was the class I played during vanilla. I could write a thesis on this class, so if you want advice please do send tells my way. People will not expect you to be able to main heal parties, and they cannot do exp rezzes and cant rez at all until they get an AA, but do not be deceived they can heal a party. Its just the weakest heal. They make up for it by providing the most raw buffs in the game, and the strongest slow in the game. Slow was so broken that by planes of power every single NPC people would grind exp on would mitigate slow. They slow attack speed by 75%, this is an insane amount of slow if a mob can be fully slowed, so keep this in mind. When you slow to its maximum an NPC will sit there and stare at you or the tank for long periods of time before throwing out a few weak attacks. Their dots did tolerable, but not excessive damage. They get a pet, its not strong but it helps soloing, however you're a shaman you will not want to solo unless you are in the right mood to, groups will want and love you if you play the class well, and you will get great exp. Finally they have one of the most broken class mechanics besides slow in the game, cannibalize. Like the necro lich form I briefly mentioned above but this is one you decide when you need it. You cast this spell and you nuke yourself BUT you get a chunk of mana. Be aware you can kill yourself with this spell. It will not take you 1% health but leave you alive. Its a right of passage that every shaman does this at least once and feels stupid for doing it, but everyone does it. Thus theres never excessive down time for a shaman and you can keep going without enchanter buffs, though you will still enjoy them if there.

What can play what:
Enchanter: Dark Elf, Erudite, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Magician: Dark Elf, Erudite, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Necromancer: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Human, Iksar

Wizard: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Bard: Half Elf, Human, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Beastlord(after luclin): Barbarian, Iksar, Ogre, Troll, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Paladin: Dwarf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, High Elf, Human

Ranger: Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Wood Elf

Shadow Knight: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Human, Iksar, Troll, Ogre

Monk: Froglok, Human, Iksar

Rogue: Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Warrior: Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Froglok, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Iksar, Ogre, Troll, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Cleric: Dark Elf, Dwarf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Halfling, High Elf, Human

Druid: Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Wood Elf

Shaman: Barbarian, Froglok, Iksar, Ogre, Troll

Now lets talk about terms and things you will want to know.

This game has no auction house. Until Luclin goes live you will be selling your stuff in two places. General chat, and the common lands tunnel. These are the only areas people will tend to sell at. You will find the most people looking to buy here, this is where you want to hawk your sellable goods at, if its worth anything.

SOW, spirit of the wolf, if you can cast it people will beg for it, if you don't have it you will almost want to beg people to cast it.

KEI. Kodiacs endless intuit(or is it intelligence?) A mana regen buff. Once enchanters CAN get this, every low level will beg for it. It lasts over an hour with extended duration buffs and will smooths out leveling considerably if soloing.

Ports: Wizards and druids do this, people will pay them for it. It is a good source of ancillary money once you get it.

Mez: Mesmerize, the best CC in the game. The absolute best.

Kite: In this game its either run really fast and do damage while running, or snare a mob with aggro while doing damage as the mob uselessly runs after you. This is the most efficient method of soloing.

Root rot: Rooting a mob in place while you apply damage over time effects which won't break root until the mob withers and dies.

Rez: resurrection. Clerics do it best. You will want to be rezzed. Each death eats your experience, each rez returns a portion of it capping out at 97%. Be aware of rez sickness.

Epic: A quest that will come out in Kunark. A long long quest that rewards you with a class weapon. Some classes get it better than others. All clerics will absolutely want it as it has a clicky 97% rez thats mana free. As kunark comes out I will post links for all of you for the epic quests so you will know what to do. It will be very very hard in kunark to get it, the sign of a dedicated and high end player. By PoP it will be much much easier.

Train: In this game aggro can be finicky, training is done for two reasons, one you get more adds than you can deal with and thus need to run to zone in, or TWO you want to steal a camp. Monks SKs and Necros do it best because they have FD, but this is considered rude, bordering on reputation ruining. Remember until you or the mob dies aggro never fades except on zoning. It is considered polite to call your trains, a macro is usually the best for this. Note you can report intentional trainers.

Zoning: Running to another area. Each zone is it's own instance so to speak. Zones can be very very big Being near the zone is a double edged sword. On one hand you can run away more easily if things get bad, on other hand people will know you can run to that zone, and thats where they will train mobs to. If you set up camp near a zone in, be strong enough to handle the mobs that will inevitably be trained on top of you.

Invis: invisibility this will help. Some casters have it, others dont, cast it when running to camps.

Camp: Both logging out, and sitting down on an area with a group of mobs that you are grinding for loot(of the phat variety) and NPCs. When going to an area to exp its considered polite to do a camp check. Some people say CC, so say this, it will save you time running to an area if it is already camped and give you an idea as to where you want to go.

KSing: Kill stealing. People will do it, you shouldn't want to though. In EQ whoever does 50% of an NPC's health pool in damage gets the rewards for the kill. Shady people will abuse this to let a group do the heavy lifting, and then burst the mob to steal the rewards. This is frowned upon but it is A strategy. It will damage your reputation with other players.

Boxxers: People running multiple accounts on either one(violation of server rules) computer or multiple computers. Sometimes people use a program, macroquest to automate their characters, this is bannable offense if discovered so I advise against doing it. The only way to do this within the rules is to use multiple PCs. The good news is, if you want to do this, it does not take a powerful PC to run this game due to it's age. Note, not all boxxers are jerks, but expect some to trample all over courtesy. A large number will walk to camps with no camp check and steal named mobs for loot, that they sell for krono, or plat to buy krono. Remember names of people who do this. People who regularly act insidiously will develop a reputation, and reputation is king in everquest.

Most zones have acronymns. Learn them it will be useful.

Always ask questions, always seek to learn. I am Clericalerror on the server, I will answer questions if I know, to the best of my ability. if you need me to elaborate on something.

Med: Meditation how casters get mana back, open your spell book and you med increasing mana regen. This is vital to most classes, pullers and tanks be aware of healer and dps mana

inc: incoming when a puller pulls some will say this, usually as a macro to make the party aware of a potential threat.

Food and Water: These are essential, but unlike WoW eating does not help you regen HP/Mana, instead to regen HP and mana at the base rate you need food and water. Cooks can later make stat food that provide buffs. Some food is better than others, depending you will deplete it faster or slower. Some classes can summon it, but at low levels you are stuck summoning it one at a time. Rations are great, they are relatively cheap and it takes a long time to eat them down. You eat food and water automatically. Stuff at the top of the first inventory slot(s) get used first. So arrange your bags appropriately if you don't want to eat or drink a specific item.

You can fail to cast spells. It happens in two ways, it gets interrupted by movement, but this will not stop the cast. Jump will do this, or by getting hit. Your spells can also fizzle, where you just don't cast and lose mana.

Most mobs when low on HP will try to run away, if they get exceptionally low on HP they will run slowly, however normally they will run at full speed, which can get adds. The best way to counteract this is to bring someone with snare. Necros druids and wizards are good for this. You can also root but this is more resource heavy as the mobs will fight back when rooted.

OOM: Out of Mana

Expansion names: Kunark/ROK = Ruins of Kunark expansion, Velious/SoV= Scars of velious, Luclin/SOL = Shadows of Luclin, PoP = Planes of power. LoY=Legacy of Ykesha, LDoN= Lost dungeons of Norrath.

Where to level: On the project 1999 wiki you will find a list of zones. I included a link to the main wiki page, and i'd advise looking at it for ideas on where to level. On the list of zones on that site they have the zone's EXP bonus. This generally tells you how much a group will likely be necessary to survive there, and where the best spots to level up at are. Remember that camps and zones will sometimes have huge level disparities between mobs. There are usually not regions in the vanilla zones where its always safe to grind at a specific level. For instance Nektulous forest, most of the areas around the zone in to neriak will be safe, however you will get random young kodiaks or zombies wandering around the entrance and these mobs will kill you fast and will aggro on to you. It isn't forgiving, but at level 1-5 you will not lose exp on death so outside of a lack of efficiency this isn't a big deal. Just be aware sometimes high level NPCs will wander near a camp with NPCs you want to grind on for exp, so never feel like its just safe to pull everything, always make sure it isn't red before pulling it, and watch all the mobs around you so you can dodge things that might be too difficult for you to handle.

Powerleveling: This involves a (usually) higher level player buffing and healing you while you kill a bunch of hard to kill mobs to quickly level you up. KEI, cleric and shaman buffs help, as well as haste, however the best buffs for this are spells called damage shields. A high level druid or wizard casting their thorn/fire armor buff on a low level will let them aggro 30-40 mobs and let them kill themselves on the armor, druids do this the best because they can heal that low level player. Do not expect anyone but a good friend to PL you for nothing, but if someone is willing be grateful as it will let you play with higher level friends faster.

Helpful links:

http://everquest.wikia.com/wiki/EverQuest_Wiki
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/
http://www.eqstats.net/
http://www.eqtraders.com/index.php?menustr=010000000000
https://wiki.project1999.com/
http://www.eqmaps.info/eq-map-files/ (this will be very useful, as the in game maps can be fairly spartan, and virtually nonexistent for dungeons, there are instructions for installation on the website but send me a tell if you need help with installation, I also accept twitch messages as well and can help guide you through it.)

If anyone thinks of something I need to add let me know.
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HarryPrime
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Mon May 29, 2017 10:40 am

Cool guide!
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slydown
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Mon May 29, 2017 2:34 pm

[QUOTE="zwstearns, post: 44573, member: 27053"]So Everquest is an MMO from 1999, it is unlike pretty much any other MMO. As I play more on Agnarr a lot of things are returning to me, and in an effort to help new players i'd like to compile some information and useful links to people playing, as well as some of the changes vets may not know about to make playing the game more easy for everyone.

Everquest was one of the first real MMOs, expecting modern balance and polish on a lot of things is fairly unreasonable, as devs were really breaking new ground when they designed this game. Things were a lot worse but now its mostly better, still expect some classes and races to be stronger than others, as well as some class/race combinations being better and more viable than others, in a way that doesn't exist in other classes. Mobs take a while to kill, its considerably faster on this server than it was when I first played EQ, but it is still not like WoW. Mobs die quite slowly, and since there aren't really quests to level off of you will level up by grinding these mobs. Expect to spend hours playing this game before you start to level, and expect to run around with weak gear for a long period of time.

What makes everquest fun however is that the game practically forces you to play with others, you will get to know people, and people will get to know you. Everquest builds communities better than any MMO since has. People will know each other by name and reputation, this is both good and bad, as you can tank your reputation, but either way you will make memories in this game. There will be no pvp on this server, and you wouldn't want it, as resists will make half of the classes pointless in pvp, and thus would not be particularly fun.

First when picking your class there are things you need to remember and think about. This is an important decision, every character in EQ is a real time investment to the player. As such you want to know what your responsibility in a group is, what your options will be to solo or group, and just what your strengths as a class will be. Every class plays differently, races add different dynamics into the game that, in most modern MMOs you just do not see. So starting out I will discuss the races, what they offer, and what weaknesses they have. Then move on to classes. I will try to be concise. Finally, after discussing classes for character creation I will discuss the worship of gods, as this is another critical part of character creation and will impact your experience in game.

First the races that you can play on agnarr right now, then the races you will be able to play by the end of Agnarr's content. Of note to returning players, the exp penalty to all races has been removed. Keep this in mind when creating your characters. So lets get on to the races!

Barbarian: The frigid northerners. They used to be THE race for certain classes. Like shaman, as they had a low exp penalty. Now they are a decent pick for certain classes because there are few cities they are banned from, so travel is relatively easy. The racial abilities for this race are access to the slam attack and a +10 cold resistance. Their armor type is large and medium. IIRC they have a bonus to strength and stamina, making them a decent choice for melee classes. Okay starting zone but you will likely be better off branching out relatively quickly.

Dark Elf: Evil elves! My favorite race, and what I am playing(message me on Agnarr IGN Clericalerror if you need some advice, help or friendly banter!). They have dark vision(though this is less important now than it was in the past), and are the best, IIRC evil caster race in the game. Most cities won't let you in, so keep this in mind if you go with them. They can play A LOT of classes, but if you want to be melee, except for *** reasons keep in mind their stat lines just ARE better for caster classes. You might want to be a dark elf SK or rogue, and if you do more power to you, but there are stronger options. Their starting zone is relatively bad, but you are in luck the common lands are easy enough to get to and a great place to get that early leveling done!

Dwarf: The stunties as orky folk tend to refer to them as! One of the best starting races imho for a number of reasons. The good about them is, they have infravision, great melee and cleric stats and the coolest jump in game along with epic beards. They start on the faydwer continent which is amazing for leveling, so it is a great starting spot, and if you can get lots of them a quest in the paladin guild hall will get you some good faction bonuses and some starter leather armor and weapons. I highly recommend this race if you are new and you want to play one of the classes they have access to. They are close to Crushbone, a zone everyone would like to level in(though some races probably shouldn't exp here due to faction hits pre luclin).

Erudite: A human race, also egg heads. The best starting stats for casters, but relatively poor melee stat lines. Good wisdom, good intelligence. No other racial bonuses other than their starting stats. They can be evil or good. Be aware if evil that you will have issues with travel and this is more punishing to them than possibly any other race as they start on an island by themselves with no real friends near by. To get off of the island you will need to translocate to Queynos, who are not fond of the evil bros. By no means does this mean you should never start an erudite necromancer, but keep this in mind. This will be much much much less important once planes of power goes live, so if you are starting later in Agnar's run this information will be less important.

Gnome: Another short race. A good pick for rogues, a good pick for casters. They have access to tinkering, a gnome unique trade skill as well as infravision. They can play clerics and paladins but they have rather low wisdom so I would generally advise against it. Their evil class choices are not nearly as punished as certain other races, so if you want to play a necro this is probably the race to do it. They start on the same continent as the dwarves, high elves and wood elves. This means you have access to Crushbone, and thus a great place to start out as. Their town is fairly hard to navigate so keep this in mind, or at least I have a hard time navigating it. Trolls and ogres will want you as a snack.

Half Elf: Similar to humans, used to be a strong pick due to a lack of a leveling adjustment, but this is gone now. One of the strengths of this race is the sheer amount of class options, another strength unique to this race is they can start in so many cities. They can start in the wood elf city, the high elf city, and any of the human starting zones. They CANNOT be arcane casters, but they can be druids, and rangers, Their wisdom stat line is not the best, but they have decent dex and strong agility as well as strength.

Halfling: A "good" race, but know that amongst EQ vets this race has a stigma attached to it. Decent stat line for rogues, druids and rangers. The stigma comes from the fact that it used to be seen as a race played by asshole players. Nick named asslings, usually if someone was going to kill steal or train you it was the halfling druid doing it. They get a 5% bonus exp and a bonus to sneak and hide, as well as poison resist as well as infravision. Their starting location is not at all punishing. If you want an easy starting spot they possibly have the best, with relatively easy access to the common lands and a lot of good exp locations right in their newbie zone they are fairly good. Most races will at least tolerate them in their cities, they are not particularly hated.

High Elf: Arrogant elves, Arrogant good alignment! They have infravision and a strong stat line for casters of any variety. They start on the faydwer continent, and get a lot of positive faction bonuses from grinding orcs in crushbone. They cannot be warriors so keep this in mind. They cannot be evil classes, and their stat line for paladins leaves something to be desired. Dark elf NPCs will want to kill you on sight generally, so keep this in mind when running around. They are tolerated in a large number of cities, so if you want to play a caster, and not be punished this is your best option imho.

Human:The jack of all trades, master of none. This used to be one of the best races to play as they had no penalties to exp at the start of the game. This is gone now, so there is less of a reason to play them. They can play pretty much any class, barring a few options(Shaman being one of them). They have average stat lines for every class, and no bonuses from playing them, however they have possibly the most travel options of any race.

Ogre: Pound for pound the strongest race in the game. If you don't mind being hated by pretty much every non evil faction in the game. They have frontal stun immunity, slam and infravision. They make the absolute best tanks in the game, and are still a strong choice for other classes like shaman. Their wisdom is relatively low, but gear will eventually fix this. Their starting area is rather friendly to new players. Again if you want to tank and don't mind being evil play ogre. I promise you they are min max wise THE best.

Troll: Next best tanks to ogres. Arguably the best shaman. Also evil so they like to much halflings and gnomes. Decent starting area. They have low wis, but have HP regen strong STR and strong STA stat lines. They have infravision but they have reduced fire resist. The reason they make strong shaman is their passive HP regen. This eventually wont make a huge difference but shaman use a skill called cannibalize regularly and this regen really helps offset this. Especially at early levels before they get heal over time spells and regen buffs and is still useful after. This regen is still not as strong as frontal stun immunity, but if you don't mind being evil, this is a strong option for tanks like ogre, just imho not as strong as ogres. Decent starting area, they live close to ogres, but as an evil race are not particularly well liked among not evil circles, likely because they like munching on smaller races.

Wood Elf: The good choice, imho for dex based classes. They have good starting stat lines for it, bonuses to sneak and hide. Their stats are average for any class making them similar to humans. They are relatively well liked amongst most factions, and have infravision. Worth noting that their city is dangerous. It is one of the coolest cities in the game, built well up in the trees, but be aware that there are falling risks and it will kill you. Their starting area is really close to their high elf cousins, and as such have easy access to Crushbone. They cannot be arcane casters. Not terrible warriors, but imho there are better choices for warrior.

Expansion races:
Iksar: Prepare to be despised. A very interesting race. They get bonus armor, their swimming starts at 100 skill points, one of the two races capable of being monk, they have higher HP regen so a pretty good option for shaman, if not the best, again they compete with ogres and trolls for this. They also can all forage, which is helpful for keeping food stocks up. Until luclin the only city they are accepted in is their own. Keep this in mind. They are KOS to everyone. Planes of power really helps them out with travel issues though. Acceptable choice for every class they don't excel in, but for tanks there are better choices. The only necro choice with starting bonus HP regen, so if you want to play one you might want to wait for Iksar to be out to do this as that regen will really help them keep mana levels up. They have a bonus melee attack with their tails.

Vah Shir: Cat boys and Cat girls. They live on the moon(how cool is that?). Nobody hates them(because who can hate cats). They all have safe fall(because cats always land on their feet). When live they are one of the strongest non evil options for tanks with strong agility, strong STR and STA as well. They are one of the shaman options neutral/good characters have. No city will kill them on sight iirc though cabilis might? They welcome all races into their home city.

Froglok: The last unlockable race for this server. Frogloks can be good or evil, and are one of the few good shaman. A strong choice for dex based classes, and the strongest starting swimming skill cus you know, amphibians. Really neat looking race with a really vibrant look. Decent arcane casters, and a decent choice for starting out. Since they will be live post PoP travel will not be an issue for this race, so if you want to be a frog person they are a good choice. They have ultra vision so time of day will not matter to them at all. Again their stat lines are average for most classes, so don't expect to be punished for this race choice.

Religion: Religion plays a pivotal role until Shadows of Luclin, when it gradually becomes less important. Who and what you worship will shape how a number of NPCs view you. Below will be a list of gods and methods of worship. Keep in mind some evil races can avoid the stigma of evil depending on what they worship.

Agnostic: Unless you want the immersion of a god if you can be agnostic generally you should be. A lot of factions will hate you a lot less if you are agnostic, evil factions might tolerate "good" races if agnostic, and some evil races will be at least basically toleranted by members of the good races if they are agnostic. Some classes will not be allowed to be agnostic and are defined by religious worship.

Brell Serilis: God of stone, dwarves and gnomes. He is a good god and enemies with Cazic Thule and Veeshan.

Bristlebane: good of halflings and rogues, sometimes bards. He can be found, and fought in the plane of mischief. He is an ally of Brell Serilis

Cazic-Thule: The lord of fear, an evil god. God of lizardmen(as well as Iksar) and trolls you can find, fight and kill him in plane of fear after a very hard break in fight.

Erollisi Marr: Goddess of love, She, and her brother created the barbarians and are worshipped by barbarians, humans and elves. A goddess of good, and enemy of Innoruuk the god of hate.

Inoruuk: Price of Hate, the god of dark elves(but he is not their creator), but trolls, the humans of freeport and some froglok followers are known to worship him. You will fight him in the Plane of Hate.

Karana: The rain keeper, god of storms. God of farmers druids and rangers. Many halflings humans and half elves of the druid/ranger variety worship him. You will fight him as the end boss of bastion of thunder, where he is protected by many giant lords.

Mithaniel Marr: The Lightbringer, God of Honor Co-God of the barbarians and thought to be partially behind their evolution to humans. The god of frogloks as well, and principal enemy of Innoruuk

Prexus: The Ocean Lord, God of the seas, worshipped by some goodly Erudites fishermen and sailors.

Quellious: Goddess of Tranquility, lord over the plane of tranquility, you will not fight her, but you will learn to love and respect her Plane come PoP content. God of human monks from freeport and Erudites as well as some bards.

Rallos Zek: God of War, lord of the Plane of War. God of ogres and warriors some bards follow him as do many giants. You will fight him in his home plane, which is also a fun zone to exp in.

Rodcet Nife: God of Healing, a good god worshiped by many good clerics, mainly and namely Queynos clerics and paladins as well as many bards. The enemy of Bertoxxulus.

Solusek Ro: Lord of Fire. God of wizards, and some bards, you will fight him in his tower.

The Tribunal: Gods of Justice, lords of the Plane of Justice. Many barbarians follow the Tribunal, particularly shaman and beastlords. This leads to them not liking rogues, who are outlaws. Some bards follow them.

Tunare: The All Mother. Mother of the wood and high elves worship her, some humans and half-elves also do. She is not jealous though, so not all elves follow her. Bards, clerics and paladins make up the majority of her followers.

Bertoxxulus: God of disease. Evil gnomes follow him and he has a cult in Queynos catacombs that recruits necromancers, shadow knights, clerics and an assortment of other evil casters. Principal enemy of Rodcet Nife.

Veeshan: God of Dragons. Few worship her outside of some bards and a race(that won't be a part of this server)

With races out of the way lets go to classes.
Arcane Casters
Enchanter: A must have for most parties. They get a pet, but it is relatively weak, and until they get alternate advancement points cannot be controlled in combat(they need to be hit by a mob for the pet to attack and it will taunt so its best to not summon it in most parties as its damage will generate aggro for you, and it will make the tank's job harder). Unlike most games EQ does not have the holy trinity of Tanks, DPS, Healers. EQ has support classes, true support classes and enchanter is with out a doubt the best support class. They provide strong magic debuffs in the form of tash, the second best slow in the game, a mana regen buff that literally every caster but necromancer wants, and the ability to mez NPCs(think a long duration stun that breaks on any damage). They can also charm and have an AOE stun so even big AOE groups will want two enchanters in them to chain AOE stuns back to back. Don't listen to the enchanter channel if they tell you mez is useless. Any long term veteran knows mez is one of the best skills in the game.

Magicians: A pet class, second best nukes to wizard. Multi boxers will run with an army of these guys. They have no root, long term vets will know this was a major gripe/issue mages had. Their earth pet roots, and is their "tank". Their pets provide the most raw utility of any class. When you see boxer armies running around this class is a dead give away of their existence. A decent pick for a new player wanting to try EQ out as they solo fairly well. Know that they will not have a lot of sustain on their hit points so your pet will need to tank. The pet will eat up a reagent with every summon so try to not let it die. They are welcome in groups, and are a high dps class. They can summon mod rods(clicky from the inventory staff that trades HP for mana) and pet weapons as well as food and water.

Necromancer: One of the best solo classes. They have a lot of sustain, a rather cool undead pet they can summon, and the ability to steal life from their enemies. They have great mana regen due to a buff that gradually eats HP to provide mana. They have snare and root so they can kite, but note that if you root and your pet is on the mob it will get hit. With snare as long as you have the room you can kite 3-4 mobs endlessly whittling them down with damage over time spells and life steal spells while your pet punches(or hits them if they have weapons) from behind. When they get higher levels their pet turns from a skeleton into a grim reaper looking shade with a scythe(you can still give it a weapon and it will benefit from it but it will retain the scythe it is holding as it is a part of it's model). They do good enough damage that parties will want them, but have enough solo flexibility that you can play solo if you do not feel like grouping. If a mob does not summon a necro can safely kite it with no negative repercussions. Very beginner friendly play style. Has feign death.

Wizards: The big damage caster. They have the strongest nukes, and decent ability to solo with both root and snare. When PoP gets released if you get fire flagged they have the option to get the largest solo exp in game by running to tables and quad kiting. Welcome in groups but not limited to groups. They have the ability to teleport, which will still be valuable and worth charging money to cast even after planes of power is live. Early levels you will want a group, and they do not have the sustain warlocks do, so soloing is more dangerous but they are still viable. They produce a lot of aggro, so tanks be aware of this, and wizards be aware that you can steal the mob from a tank and get yourself killed. Also know that this class can kill steal groups. Kill stealing happens when one player or group does more than 50% of a mob's HP, thus taking kill credit, so if a wizard is following your group you might need to race him on damage. It likely won't be common but be aware this is a thing, and a strategy some wizards may employ.

Hybrids
Bards: A jack of all trades master of none. They play songs that will give you carpal tunnel. They have possibly one of the most unique class designs of any mmo. They run the fastest of any class in the game with one of their songs, their melee skills are decent, can play an HP and I believe a mana regen song. More experienced bard players here can regale you with their strengths and if one does I will update more. They are one of the few classes that can kite without snare due to just how fast they run. They are a dex based melee class and are one of the better puller classes in the game. Relatively low DPS but make up for it in raw utility. They can do limited mez, but not as strong as enchanter mez.

Beastlords: A melee pet class. Think melee only wow hunter. They get one pet, but it is savage damage. The pet is locked based on race. Vah Shir get a tiger, wood elves get a treant, trolls get a croc, ogres get a bear, iksar get a scaled wolf, barbarians get a wolf. They provide some buffs, one being a stacking(stacks with enchanters clarity line of buffs) hp/mana regen buff as well as melee steroids. They can solo, as they have weak heals to keep themselves going, pet heals and enough durability to tank mobs while providing enough damage to do it, however this exp will not be as efficient as group exp. They can also slow, but this will be much weaker than shaman or enchanter slows, so if you need a slow for your group they will do in a pinch but your group would be better with other options.

Paladins: A tank class. They have a unique line of HP buffs clerics don't have, and some heals. They also have lay on hands, which is a huge heal that is useful. They can stun to help them tank and have strong threat gen. They used to be sub par but acceptable tanks, currently in game they removed a lot of those barriers so now they are perfectly acceptable tanks. They do less damage than SKs, but make up for it in utilities like stun, heals and buffs. They can solo, but for best results join a group and let the exp roll in.

Rangers:A ranged bow/melee hybrid class. They use some weak druid magic. In vanilla nobody liked them. There is a mechanic on some boss mobs named death touch. Guilds would take rangers to raids literally just to absorb a death touch then get res'ed back into the game. Things are a bit better now. Rangers do more damage and are viewed as less useless. I have never really played one so I cannot attest to their strength, but theres nothing wrong with playing one. They can solo, since they have snare they can bow kite, but exp will be faster in group.

Shadow Knights: The other hybrid tank. Think an EQ death knight. They get a weak necro pet, weak necro life tap, and some aggro generating abilities. They get anti lay on hands, a huge nuke with a long cooldown. They can solo but are better in groups. They have some of the best tank damage in the game, and generate good hate. They are evil so if you play one remember you will be limited to what cities you can travel to. Has feign death

Melee
Monks: The puller extraordinaire. Groups will want you if you can master feign death pulling, you will bring great damage and are not super gear dependent. You get a lot of interesting quests and a lot of special monk melee abilities. your damage will be high but do not expect to be able to solo unless you are super geared. Few races can play this class, so be SURE to research what race you want to play before picking it(I recommend iksar if it is a choice when you start playing.) They use martial arts and are limited to what weapons they can use but thats A-OK because you can largely get by with just your fists as weapons, in fact this is probably the best weapon for you until your epic.

Rogues: They do it from behind. They back stab, they stealth, they do pretty good damage, though in vanilla its not going to keep up with casters, however as more gear comes around they outpace casters. They also stealth and pick pocket. They sneak and stealth, they also hide and have safe fall. They will need a group, from exceptionally early on and this will never change. Melee skills make them more of a vibrant class to play, so if you are a returning vet and never played when they had melee skills they will be different than what they were. They make post wipe much easier as they can drag corpses to the cleric to rez with little risk. Remember some mobs will see through stealth(same with invis) but they have the easiest time avoiding see invis mobs in the game. Consider is your friend though.

Warriors: Used to be the best tank in the game, this isn't the case now, but they have possibly the best raw survivability in terms of stats of any tank. People will want you, and you will be glad because this class will have a hard time soloing without a lot of gear, but that doesn't matter because you will take that tank spot, and get a lot of offers and thus can consistently get good exp if you tank well. Better gear makes all of this better.

Divine Casters:
Clerics: The best healer in the game. They bring armor and HP buffs, the strongest heals, including complete heal, something vital to raiding should you decide to partake in it, in fact complete heal rotations are and will be standard. You also have the strongest single target heals, as well as rezzing, something you will be able to charge for. Groups will demand having you in the group. Their best rez gives 96% exp, and are the only class people will want to rez them.

Druids: Second best healer in the game. They can heal a party but ignorant people will not want them as healers because of a lack of a rez spell. They are one of the best soloers in the game, they have snare, they can heal themselves and they do really good nuke damage. They are limited good races, so keep this in mind. They also cast SOW, and portals, though to different locations than wizards, so people will both love and loathe you, as druids tend to have, amongst vets, an anti-social reputation.

Shaman: A powerful support healer class. They can heal a party, especially when they get their more powerful slows, and their damage was okay but I hear it was nerfed to normalize them. They can still solo, but without snare their method of soloing is called root rotting. This was the class I played during vanilla. I could write a thesis on this class, so if you want advice please do send tells my way. People will not expect you to be able to main heal parties, and they cannot do exp rezzes and cant rez at all until they get an AA, but do not be deceived they can heal a party. Its just the weakest heal. They make up for it by providing the most raw buffs in the game, and the strongest slow in the game. Slow was so broken that by planes of power every single NPC people would grind exp on would mitigate slow. They slow attack speed by 75%, this is an insane amount of slow if a mob can be fully slowed, so keep this in mind. When you slow to its maximum an NPC will sit there and stare at you or the tank for long periods of time before throwing out a few weak attacks. Their dots did tolerable, but not excessive damage. They get a pet, its not strong but it helps soloing, however you're a shaman you will not want to solo unless you are in the right mood to, groups will want and love you if you play the class well, and you will get great exp. Finally they have one of the most broken class mechanics besides slow in the game, cannibalize. Like the necro lich form I briefly mentioned above but this is one you decide when you need it. You cast this spell and you nuke yourself BUT you get a chunk of mana. Be aware you can kill yourself with this spell. It will not take you 1% health but leave you alive. Its a right of passage that every shaman does this at least once and feels stupid for doing it, but everyone does it. Thus theres never excessive down time for a shaman and you can keep going without enchanter buffs, though you will still enjoy them if there.

What can play what:
Enchanter: Dark Elf, Erudite, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Magician: Dark Elf, Erudite, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Necromancer: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Human, Iksar

Wizard: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, High Elf, Human

Bard: Half Elf, Human, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Beastlord(after luclin): Barbarian, Iksar, Ogre, Troll, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Paladin: Dwarf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, High Elf, Human

Ranger: Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Wood Elf

Shadow Knight: Dark Elf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Human, Iksar, Troll, Ogre

Monk: Froglok, Human, Iksar

Rogue: Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Warrior: Barbarian, Dark Elf, Dwarf, Froglok, Gnome, Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Iksar, Ogre, Troll, Vah Shir, Wood Elf

Cleric: Dark Elf, Dwarf, Erudite, Froglok, Gnome, Halfling, High Elf, Human

Druid: Half Elf, Halfling, Human, Wood Elf

Shaman: Barbarian, Froglok, Iksar, Ogre, Troll

Now lets talk about terms and things you will want to know.

This game has no auction house. Until Luclin goes live you will be selling your stuff in two places. General chat, and the common lands tunnel. These are the only areas people will tend to sell at. You will find the most people looking to buy here, this is where you want to hawk your sellable goods at, if its worth anything.

SOW, spirit of the wolf, if you can cast it people will beg for it, if you don't have it you will almost want to beg people to cast it.

KEI. Kodiacs endless intuit(or is it intelligence?) A mana regen buff. Once enchanters CAN get this, every low level will beg for it. It lasts over an hour with extended duration buffs and will smooths out leveling considerably if soloing.

Ports: Wizards and druids do this, people will pay them for it. It is a good source of ancillary money once you get it.

Mez: Mesmerize, the best CC in the game. The absolute best.

Kite: In this game its either run really fast and do damage while running, or snare a mob with aggro while doing damage as the mob uselessly runs after you. This is the most efficient method of soloing.

Root rot: Rooting a mob in place while you apply damage over time effects which won't break root until the mob withers and dies.

Rez: resurrection. Clerics do it best. You will want to be rezzed. Each death eats your experience, each rez returns a portion of it capping out at 97%. Be aware of rez sickness.

Epic: A quest that will come out in Kunark. A long long quest that rewards you with a class weapon. Some classes get it better than others. All clerics will absolutely want it as it has a clicky 97% rez thats mana free. As kunark comes out I will post links for all of you for the epic quests so you will know what to do. It will be very very hard in kunark to get it, the sign of a dedicated and high end player. By PoP it will be much much easier.

Train: In this game aggro can be finicky, training is done for two reasons, one you get more adds than you can deal with and thus need to run to zone in, or TWO you want to steal a camp. Monks SKs and Necros do it best because they have FD, but this is considered rude, bordering on reputation ruining. Remember until you or the mob dies aggro never fades except on zoning. It is considered polite to call your trains, a macro is usually the best for this. Note you can report intentional trainers.

Zoning: Running to another area. Each zone is it's own instance so to speak. Zones can be very very big Being near the zone is a double edged sword. On one hand you can run away more easily if things get bad, on other hand people will know you can run to that zone, and thats where they will train mobs to. If you set up camp near a zone in, be strong enough to handle the mobs that will inevitably be trained on top of you.

Invis: invisibility this will help. Some casters have it, others dont, cast it when running to camps.

Camp: Both logging out, and sitting down on an area with a group of mobs that you are grinding for loot(of the phat variety) and NPCs. When going to an area to exp its considered polite to do a camp check. Some people say CC, so say this, it will save you time running to an area if it is already camped and give you an idea as to where you want to go.

KSing: Kill stealing. People will do it, you shouldn't want to though. In EQ whoever does 50% of an NPC's health pool in damage gets the rewards for the kill. Shady people will abuse this to let a group do the heavy lifting, and then burst the mob to steal the rewards. This is frowned upon but it is A strategy. It will damage your reputation with other players.

Boxxers: People running multiple accounts on either one(violation of server rules) computer or multiple computers. Sometimes people use a program, macroquest to automate their characters, this is bannable offense if discovered so I advise against doing it. The only way to do this within the rules is to use multiple PCs. The good news is, if you want to do this, it does not take a powerful PC to run this game due to it's age. Note, not all boxxers are jerks, but expect some to trample all over courtesy. A large number will walk to camps with no camp check and steal named mobs for loot, that they sell for krono, or plat to buy krono. Remember names of people who do this. People who regularly act insidiously will develop a reputation, and reputation is king in everquest.

Most zones have acronymns. Learn them it will be useful.

Always ask questions, always seek to learn. I am Clericalerror on the server, I will answer questions if I know, to the best of my ability. if you need me to elaborate on something.

Med: Meditation how casters get mana back, open your spell book and you med increasing mana regen. This is vital to most classes, pullers and tanks be aware of healer and dps mana

inc: incoming when a puller pulls some will say this, usually as a macro to make the party aware of a potential threat.

Food and Water: These are essential, but unlike WoW eating does not help you regen HP/Mana, instead to regen HP and mana at the base rate you need food and water. Cooks can later make stat food that provide buffs. Some food is better than others, depending you will deplete it faster or slower. Some classes can summon it, but at low levels you are stuck summoning it one at a time. Rations are great, they are relatively cheap and it takes a long time to eat them down. You eat food and water automatically. Stuff at the top of the first inventory slot(s) get used first. So arrange your bags appropriately if you don't want to eat or drink a specific item.

You can fail to cast spells. It happens in two ways, it gets interrupted by movement, but this will not stop the cast. Jump will do this, or by getting hit. Your spells can also fizzle, where you just don't cast and lose mana.

Most mobs when low on HP will try to run away, if they get exceptionally low on HP they will run slowly, however normally they will run at full speed, which can get adds. The best way to counteract this is to bring someone with snare. Necros druids and wizards are good for this. You can also root but this is more resource heavy as the mobs will fight back when rooted.

OOM: Out of Mana

Expansion names: Kunark/ROK = Ruins of Kunark expansion, Velious/SoV= Scars of velious, Luclin/SOL = Shadows of Luclin, PoP = Planes of power. LoY=Legacy of Ykesha, LDoN= Lost dungeons of Norrath.

Where to level: On the project 1999 wiki you will find a list of zones. I included a link to the main wiki page, and i'd advise looking at it for ideas on where to level. On the list of zones on that site they have the zone's EXP bonus. This generally tells you how much a group will likely be necessary to survive there, and where the best spots to level up at are. Remember that camps and zones will sometimes have huge level disparities between mobs. There are usually not regions in the vanilla zones where its always safe to grind at a specific level. For instance Nektulous forest, most of the areas around the zone in to neriak will be safe, however you will get random young kodiaks or zombies wandering around the entrance and these mobs will kill you fast and will aggro on to you. It isn't forgiving, but at level 1-5 you will not lose exp on death so outside of a lack of efficiency this isn't a big deal. Just be aware sometimes high level NPCs will wander near a camp with NPCs you want to grind on for exp, so never feel like its just safe to pull everything, always make sure it isn't red before pulling it, and watch all the mobs around you so you can dodge things that might be too difficult for you to handle.

Powerleveling: This involves a (usually) higher level player buffing and healing you while you kill a bunch of hard to kill mobs to quickly level you up. KEI, cleric and shaman buffs help, as well as haste, however the best buffs for this are spells called damage shields. A high level druid or wizard casting their thorn/fire armor buff on a low level will let them aggro 30-40 mobs and let them kill themselves on the armor, druids do this the best because they can heal that low level player. Do not expect anyone but a good friend to PL you for nothing, but if someone is willing be grateful as it will let you play with higher level friends faster.

Helpful links:

http://everquest.wikia.com/wiki/EverQuest_Wiki
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/
http://www.eqstats.net/
http://www.eqtraders.com/index.php?menustr=010000000000
https://wiki.project1999.com/
http://www.eqmaps.info/eq-map-files/ (this will be very useful, as the in game maps can be fairly spartan, and virtually nonexistent for dungeons, there are instructions for installation on the website but send me a tell if you need help with installation, I also accept twitch messages as well and can help guide you through it.)

If anyone thinks of something I need to add let me know.[/QUOTE]
THANK YOU!!!!
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HighDeaf
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Mon May 29, 2017 2:35 pm

"Rogues: They do it from behind."

Could not have put that better myself xD Great guide

cohhDD
cohhPts ROEN cohhPts
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zwstearns
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Mon May 29, 2017 2:58 pm

[QUOTE="oakley813, post: 44604, member: 51618"]"Rogues: They do it from behind."

Could not have put that better myself xD Great guide

cohhDD[/QUOTE]

I tried to put some stuff in to break up the monotony of raw information. I'm particularly proud of my bit about high elves personally. I feel its easier for me to engage guides and things like this when you can get a bit of a chuckle every now and then while reading.
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CptHellhole
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Location: Northen Sweden
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Wed May 31, 2017 9:16 am

Havent played a mmo in a long time aka 2007, but this makes me intrested in the idea to play a mmo again
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Sogrom
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Wed May 31, 2017 3:06 pm

Several people have asked about how to change the graphic models since the stream,

So to add to zwserns excellent guide here is how I change the settings to new/ old models :P

So when you click play in steam - or just simply open the launcher, you need to open the advanced settings by clicking the cog as shown here:
[ATTACH]1886[/ATTACH]

Once you have the advanced settings open you need to select game configuration as shown here:
Beanie there done that shirt for Cohh.jpg
This will go through a short wizard for which you can make the changes you can only make outside of EverQuest.
Firstly you are asked to select your graphics card, select it and press next.
Son of a Dingus shirt with beard for Cohh.jpg
you are then presented with a lot of tick boxes, this is where you choose which models you would like to use the most recent models or you would like to use the original EQ models.
Baby Big for Roe Cohh.jpg
To give you an idea of the difference here is Sogrom in both models, nothing else has been changed.
OLD:
[ATTACH]1890[/ATTACH]

NEW:
20170509_155619.jpg
Once you have selected which ones you want as old , and which ones you want as new, press next and we move on to the graphics options:
20170517_142919.jpg
There are several options here and I cant recommend which ones you set for your particular computer but I can explain what each one does. (I have what is shown in the picture)
  • Sound
    • Turning this off will prevent sounds from playing in game
  • Mip Mapping
    • Mip Mapping causes the world to blend together better (but uses more memory)
  • Texture Caching
    • This improves load time on many systems at the expense of using extra disk space.
    • The first time you load any zone or the character selection screen with caching on, it will take time to build the cache, after that load times should be reduced.
    • Changing your settings here will require new caches to be build the next time you play
  • Social Animations
    • Turning this option on will enable the social animations for the detailed models
    • this was memory intensive in 1999
  • Dynamic Lighting
    • Any light source carried by a player requires the effect to be calculated and drawn
    • Turning this off will make the graphics faster (but not look as good)
  • Texture Compression
    • This option will save memory and decrease zone load times..but will reduce the graphics quality
  • Texture Quality
    • The higher the quality of textures the better Norrath will look, but the more memory it will use...
  • Resolution
    • This is where you set the resolution for the game (can be changed once in game if it doesn't show your monitor resolution)
Once you've chosen, press finish and then launch EverQuest.

You're in our world now......
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tocu
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Thu Jun 01, 2017 1:47 am

Few notes the clicky res is 96 % (semantics I know) and epic parts that are from classic zone are available to obtain now so its good to get that knocked out to have as much as possible ready for the bottle next that kunark will bring.
Vinylblair
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Wed Nov 08, 2017 10:41 am

Thank you so much for this guide - I have just registered here to say that :)

I used to play EQ vanilla back in the day and had a blast playing a high elf cleric called Vinylblair Valhooligan on god-knows what server/instance (Can't even remember how the server side is/was setup!). And recently I stumbled onto some of the old midi files I heard which really brought the nostalgia back, so much so that I found this guide along with P9999 and have managed to locate a second hand copy of EQ Titantium edition so I can have another go after a 16 year hiatus! Can't wait!

Now then...what to roll...
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Cmdr_Halfmead
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Thu Feb 08, 2018 2:12 am

https://eq.magelo.com/profile/1293787
haha, good old clicky res-stick :) i saw the EQ streams... itch is there... i even went onto Magelo and checked... voila, there my trusty Cleric Mardella was... gear and all...
Raided pretty hardcore at the time, Omens of war and RL broke me though lol

And yeah, My first character was the renowned Halfmead Honeyrumble, druid extraordinaire Gents ;) As said best solo class, it takes patience and learning to meditate a bit while several snared BIG mobs try to get to you ;)
https://eq.magelo.com/profile/1002948 (Halfmead)
Waiting for Pantheon.... :D
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