Is it still worth starting new?Follow

As stated in a previous thread, the population is reported to be dwindling, though on the Antonia Bale server everything seems fine. I'm currently level 11 with my Druid and all of the low level zones are plentiful with people of like level. All of the high level zones i '/who all' have 40-80 players even at 2:00 in the morning.

I know people do hesitate when getting into a game any certain time past launch, EQ2 is still fresh and the endgame elitism has yet to begin, so its like trying to join EQ1 back in 2003 when anyone you leveled up with had Argent Protectors and other twinked gear.

Population is increasing on Nektulos too. Also, note at all the mesages here from people who are either coming back or joining new. (Maybe AB is not increasing because it's always at a heavy load, being one of only 2 role playing servers, and it's not 'recommended'.)

Nek is back to 2 Antonica's most nights and Blackburrow is packed to the gills. There is no shortage of low level players.

Leveling is faster than in EQ1. Make sure you approach EQ2 as a different game, and don't use the leveling concepts you did in EQ1. For example - grinding on the same mobs in the same spot for hours is NOT the best way to gain experience. Take every quest you can find and fit in your log. You'll find you've got overlapping quests and quests for things you would be killing at your level anyway, which just means added exp and loot.

All classes can solo. Guardians, Paladins and are the best soloers according to most sources, but it's definitely not by a huge margin. You know how things change with the nerf bat, so YMMV in the long run anyway. There is a major combat and magic update in the works that will change many things, but they say it will not effect your soloing capability.

If you're interested. Templars solo better than other priest classes, and pretty well in general, I'd say. Not necessarily because we're overpowered, but becasue we're the "least broken" priest class ATM. I solo a lot and keep up my defense, nuking and melee skills.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say Illusionist is the worst solo class. I can *once in a while* kill a blue con solo mob and I regularly have long tough fights with greens. I would love to have the solo skill of your scout Lierta!

Of course it could just be that I don't know what I'm doing but the other Illusionist in my guild has the same results *shrug*

The problem is that Illusionist has very low dps and very low defense so it takes forever to kill anything but at the same time they can kill you very quickly if they get a chance.

On the flip side though, groups I am in can kill things that they never thought possible. They are regularly surprised by what we can take on with the right strategy.

You're forgetting about Adventure bonus! Every hour that goes by, you get .05 adventure vitality, it starts acrueing from when you first get on the island.

While you have adventure vitality, you get double normal exp. So, for people that can only play a few hours, your vitality builds up, and you gain exp at double the normal rate.

Note that as you gain exp, your vitality lowers. Whether it be from quests, or killing mobs, or from discovering a new area (yes you get exp from discovering "sites")

As for soloing, the only class I haven't solo'd with is priest classes. My main is a 46 Paladin. SUPER easy to solo with him. I could take on groups of Heroic encounters from like level 12 up. It only got easier and easier. For the casters, soloing was super easy until around level 16, then monsters started breaking root more, and damn did they smack the crap out of me. Scouts have two ways to solo, you can sneak in and backstab, then dps the bajeesus out of it, or you CAN kite them. Some scouts are better at kiting than others, such as rangers who have great bow abilities, or bards/troubadors/diges that get offensive songs great for kiting.

I have just as much fun with my low level alts as I do with my High level main. There are always things to kill solo, and there are always people looking for players when you feel like grouping.

It really is a great game for just about every type of player out there.

In EQ2 class selection and development is linear and you can only have one. It's not like those other games where you can choose a secondary class to gain additional abilities.

Now that it's mentioned, I have heard very bad things about soloing enchanters. The few solo strategies I have heard are extremely complicated. I actually considered making an illusionist, until I heard they worked much better in groups...then I decided against it. :)

Both bard types can be played in both cities. The same goes for warriors, druids, and sorcerers. All other lvl 10 classes are divided into a good subclass (Qeynos only) and a bad subclass (Freeport only). If you want to play a good race (like a high elf) as an evil subclass (like a shadow knight), you have to do a complex quest in which you betray your city and join the opposing city. Same goes for an evil race playing a good subclass.