switchin from FFXI to EQ2, got some QsFollow

First off, welcome to EQ2. You are about to have a lot of fun. Second, please eliminate the word job from your vocabulary. You will not be seeing jobs of any kind here in EQ. We prefer to call them classes. Jobs just have a negative connotation. Games should be a relaxation, not a job. On to the questions.



You can duo the entire game. Granted you will not receive the uber loot from the mobs, but you will be able to grab some decent gear. You can play as little or as long as you want and still feel like you have accomplished something.

Last night, I logged on with my templar alchemist and gained two crafting levels. Then, I logged my guardian to help some guild mates with quests. After that, I went and finished two quests on my own. Allotted time: 2 hours. This is the main reason I love EQ. A little bit of time can go a long way.



If you are looking for the exact classes, you will want to choose either Templar/Inquisitor and Monk/Bruiser.

To answer the second part of the question regarding levels: that is a thing of the past. You pick your class at the start of the game now. No more going through to level 20 only to find out you can't stand playing your class.



The other great part about this game is diversity. I have not seen a class yet that is useless. The majority of people are very mature and friendly. They are willing to accept any class at any time. Of course, there will always be the need for a healer or two, a tank and some dps, but for the most part, people subscribe to the "more the merrier" approach.

As far as duos: have fun. Idealy you should have a tank and a healer. However, diversity comes into play yet again. I know OBD will swear by his fury/warden duo and I personally like my guardian/guardian duo with Dak. I also like Conjuror (or other pet classes)/Any tank or DPS class. Playing a duo with a pet class is actually like playing a trio. Their pets can tank or DPS and on top of that, the pets' masters can heal them while dealing out their own massive damage. Experiment and have fun. That's what makes this game truly unique.



Very simple: you pick your server at the character creation screen. Pick the same one and you are good to go. Myself and Dak play on Lucan DLere. If you choose this one, look us up. We can get you into a great guild and help you get on your feet. We love helping noobs!

Welcome to EQ2! Enjoy Norrath.

Edited, Wed Mar 22 13:42:50 2006 by Mearyk

Ack, pwned again.... :P

NO! Pick Nektulos! My guild can help you too. This is my last chance! If you don't join our guild I'll have to join Tutan's guild and all will be lost!!!

Race has very little bearing on how the class plays out. In the beginning you will find a slight, if even noticeable, difference depending on race. By the time you upgrade your gear, it will be moot. You customize your character the way you see fit. There is a conjuror on my server that has more agility than almost every scout. It all depends on gear in this game.

As far as a damage dealing healer class, you will want to pick Warden or Fury. They are by far and away the best DD's amongst the healers. The same goes for monks and their class. As others have stated in numerous threads, they are the best DD tank, but they will not come close to the damage put out by a pure DPS class.

Edited, Wed Mar 22 16:00:40 2006 by Mearyk

Expansion packs can be bought at retail, or bought at Station (Sony main website for EQ and other Sony games) and downloaded. Adventure packs can only be bought and downloaded at Station, although I believe that if you get the Station access pass you get those adventure packs for free. And ofcourse access to all Sony games (EQ, EQ II, Star Wars, Matrix Online and two minor games)

The adventure packs are very small patches really, but they are fairly good. They add instances to the game, suited for your level. I've been in a couple, but never did do much with them.

And a monk is a good choice! Stealth, Feign Dead, good damage, good avoidance (not much armourwise, but not that much necessary against most mobs), fun to play.

Wait a second here, just one sec....are you saying that at the beginning of the game I can pick any class I want?! Meaning I could be a Shadowknight or a Fury right at the beginning??

So do I still have to go through the starting island place? Or does the game startout in Qeynos and Freeport now?

ok i lied, 1 more Q. what happens when you die? do you loose xp, is all of your gear left out for the world to loot, etc? thanks!

You fall to the ground and a Revive window pops up, giving you the option of selecting where to revive at fixed locations. Sometimes there may be only one choice, but all are safe rev points. This gives you the opportunity to lay there and wait for the healer to Resurect (sp?) you.

- All your gear and money is on, your gear takes a 10% hit in effectiveness each time you die.
- You will have Revive Sickness, where your stats are extremely low for 2 minutes.
- All your buffs are gone and you must rebuff.
- You incure a Exp Debt of somewhere between .8%-3% or more. That can be worked off by killing more mobs.
- No shard or body to recover.
- You retain your group and mentor ststus.

I don't want to rain on your parade, really :) but you should know that you're going to have a hard time keeping a monk up sometimes with a druid due to the nature of their heals. I feel the need to go into more detail about what I mentioned earlier.

Monks have low mitigation, so when they get hit it tends to be for big chunks of their health. Druid's main heals are over time, with some instant heals to back up. Lets say you're fighting a tough MoB Druid pre-casts his group HoT early on your Monk gets hit hard, the druid casts his single target HoT which may or may not heal all the damage, but it will take 15 seconds(?) to do so. Monk gets hit hard again, so you cast your direct heal, Monk gets hit hard again, but your recast timers are still winding down. Monks health is dropping faster than you can replenish it, Monk dies.

Templars have the same problem with Monks. It happens especially when fighting high damage dealers above your level.

For healing efficiency you'll find a Shaman (mystic or defiler) will have a much easier time and let you fight higher level MoB's and more types of MoB's. Shaman specialty heals are wards, which prevent damage from landing in the first place, which they can also back up with instant heals. They don't need to worry about spike damage like other healers. Their wards also fire off any unused amount as a heal when the ward expires.

Go with a Fury healer if you really want the DPS more than anything, but the best compliment to a monk by far is going to be a Shaman. If you have to spam the heals a lot to keep the Monk up, whatever DPS you're capable of is really going to be moot. You'll be able to take on tougher content with a Shaman and get better exp and loot. Defilers have great debuffs which while not directly adding DPS, will increase the DPS your duo or group will do by quite a lot.

Edited, Thu Mar 23 14:09:19 2006 by Lydiaele

Lydiaele mused:

I gotta disagree with you here... I have duoed my warden extensively with a monk in T2, T3 @ T4 and never lost him! Not once... ever!!!

Where you may have gone wrong is in assuming that the recast timers are a factor in slowing us down. They have not been in my experience. In fact, I often have my primary heal back up before I have to toss my secondary. And when I do have to drop the secondary before the primary is back up, it always seems to return right after the 2nd heal has landed.

Now while I'll admit that HoT's can be problematic when dealing with raid lvl named mobs who dish out gobwads of burst damage, in the overwhelming percentage of encounters this is not a problem.

Wardens have no less than 8 healing lines to call upon including 3 single target, 3 group and 2 long recast 0 cost. I have never yet found myself at a loss for heals to toss at the tank.

Don't get me wrong, I have nothing against shamen... they are fine healers... it's just that I don't think wardens play 2nd fiddle to anybody!

I wouldn't worry about race too much nothing is so exaggerated one way or another, play something you like.

As far as newb friendly LS's the Foundation LS on Najena has treated me and my fellow newbs very well.

(except for Amorina who keeps hogging the dancing gnomes T_T )

Edited, Tue Apr 11 08:55:57 2006 by Levish

oh wow, thanks for the fast reply's
im definetly going to your site and signing up^^
and the guide was great thanks a million

The high end game in EQ2 is very different from EQ1. For starters the largest raid is 24 people and many raids are for 12 or 18. You can try them with less than the required number but not more.

Encounters can be locked so whoever does the first damage owns the fight.

Many raid zones i.e. dungeons are instanced so you have your very own raid arena There are also many instances for single groups.

It's possible to set *loot lotto* as an option so an automatic roll takes place for all loot, however boss mobs still drop that one special something that many will want.