How do all the new players advance?

[Malkosha]

I started over on a new server and I'm running into problems. After I completed my intro quests I took my Assassin and started his long journey to stardom ... well at least competency <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> When I hit level 10 I decided to buy an armor/weapons upgrade. Nothing really special but enough to survive in solo play. I think I have my Assassin attack sequences down fairly well and its a fun class to play. Always something different and many ways to do the same thing. Most fun I've had in a while and when I get new CA's I can almost always rearrange their sequence to get the max efficiency from them. In terms of mechanics and just shear fun, the Assassin makes the WoW Rogue (which I love BTW) look like a cheap copy. I really want to bring this char up. When I went to the market, I noticed that even the crappy (barely counted as upgrades) weapons/armor were a small fortune. What was worse is that the CA's I needed were even more outrageously priced. Now, people will talk about what they can do both solo and grouped and the common factor is at least adept 1 level CA's with a few Adept 3's thrown in for good measure. They must be right because the further I go the harder it gets because my damage just can't keep up with the MOB's increasing damage. To an Assassin this means death. If you think a new char can buy this stuff then think again. The prices were just so outrageous that I was actually stunned and at a loss on what to do. Without decent CA upgrades (hell I'll take app 4's) and even moderately decent weapons, an Assassin can barley hold their own against a single even con MOB without losing most of their life doing it. Forget adds because you just can't accrue enough damage. How is a new char supposed to play this game like this? I guess I can just craft my way up but I'm not a real fan of crafting and even then, you are always behind the curve. As you know, the stuff you need for the next tier are in areas that are instant death to even a well equipped char. Adept1's do drop but they are usually for someone else and it may be a while before you can get enough from them to upgrade your char. This translates into waiting to actually play your char until something breaks. Not a great sign for new players heh? If EQ2 has a problem, and I truly wonder if they do at the basic game play level, its at the low levels where new chars are completely outclassed by the twinks around them and find it difficult to get a great start. Not good for getting new people to play here IMO. All the advertising in the world won't fix this. Is there anything I can do that would help me out but at the same time play my char as its meant to be played (by my standards) instead of being a miner or a craftsman of some kind? Can this game be played with combat alone or are new players forced into harvesting and crating just to break even? I'm very discouraged at the moment and I when I login I search for new upgrades, find a few at outrageous prices and just logout in frustration. Am I just to late to play this game now? Is EQ2 for old timers only? Does a person have to beg for help (I will never do that) to catch a break? Is there a solution? What am I missing? Thanks for taking the time to read this mess <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Thunderthyze]

Well I rarely twink any of my alts and have no trouble levelling. Much of the time I will play with App2 skills unless I am able to buy one at a reasonable price or am fortunate enough to pick up one via looting. I usually complete the AQ line for my character and don't worry too much about weaponry. I harvest and use the rares I pick up. Generally I have to say that gaming experience more than makes up for any lack of cash. I levelled my main 2 years ago FAR more slowly than I do my alts. Join a guild and get the support that provides. It is still possible and it is still most definately enjoyable.

[Nulad]

It runs both ways, you sell the Adept 1's for a decent price so you can buy Adept 1's, the only time it's a pain is when your trying to do it with multiple characters and even then it's only a minor inconvienience.

[Kassia]

You are right though.  <b><i>Transmuting </i></b>has totally screwed up the prices for people just starting out from scratch with no ties on the server and no mains to be found.  If your a new person buying an Everquest 2 account you don't know much about the game but you do know that the whole broker thing is a joke because even low lvl stuff is far out of your reach because they have came up with a secondary tradeskill whose lone purpose is to take items from lvls 1-30ish roughly and make them insanely priced even if treasured.  The market is really messed up because of transmuting.  It basically has pushed the person who's just now creating an eq2 account to the back burner because you are now soo far behind that curve that even a secondary tradeskill is taking items you can actually use for your level and using them to destroy for raw materials.  I guess that is a great way to drive up the plat farmer market and not get new customers coming in to eq2.

[Novusod]

You can make a level 20 tradeskiller in about an hour. Take maybe an hour harvesting for materials and there you go. I recommend scholar/jewler so you can make all your own app IV Assassin combat arts. After you got all app IVs get out of the Common Lands and go to Greater Faydark. Run those solo designed questlines for good armor and that will get you set until level 25 when groups become more common. The HQ In Honor and Service (solo-able at 17) will even get you a piece legendary armor.

[steelbadger]

One of your problems is that assassins are pretty crappy at soloing anyway, compared to the greats. I remember when I started out I was tearing my hair out with Algazeed, the only way an assassin can level at a respectable rate is through xp groups, where they really come into their own. Solo quest lines? Takes an age, is dangerous and gets blocked by little things like one up solo mobs and grouped solo mobs. Assassins can solo almost decently, under certain conditions, but those conditions are expensive (buying the best arrows, poisons and maybe even potions). I'd suggest getting a group in Wailing Caves or BlackBurrow, maybe even Stormhold or Fallen Gate depending on your level. You'll get some xp (far more than if you tried to quest as an assassin), some loot and start building a circle of friends that you can call on to group with all through the levels <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Jenarie]

It is hard but it gets a lot easier in your 20s - if you just hang on until then you should be fine. I didn't bother with anything higher then AppIV on spells until I hit mid 20s because I figured I'd level past them too fast to be worth spending and I did fine. If you realize what is going on you can use it to your advantage though but unfortunately it is hard for a new person to see it without prior knowledge. 1) You can't buy anything priced at your level because transmuters buy it up.  So... sell to the transmuters.  Price your junky +1 stat items that most people wouldn't wear as if it were great because to a transmuter it is.  If it is treasured and has stats on it, it is worth at least 1g and possibly more... I buy everything up to 1g almost every day and there isn't very much so someone else is doing the same thing. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  You can probably get more then that... do an advanced search for "treasured"  and "atunable" and see what the prices are like on your server - after watching that a couple days you are set to sell to transmuters.  Adept 1s are worth the same (or usually more) as the junky treasured stuff because they are also transmutable but are still valued as spells as well.  2) Collectables! People will pay insane amounts to finish out collections.  There are a very few items that are so common that they are almost worthless but there are also collection items that drop in newbie zones that sell for 10g and more.  The ones that go in the level 70 EoF quest can easily sell for 50g+.  When you get a collection item always check the broker - they sell to a merchant for 7c but are probably worth anywhere from 1 silver to several gold depending upon the collection.  Broker prices ARE insane but you can sell at those same insane prices to all those people who are twinking or transmuting and you'll soon be able to afford everything you need with no problem.

[Novusod]

Also do some of the Lore and Legend quests so you can get a free combat art called sinister strike. Orc in CL at the crossroads, gnoll at gnollslayer keep, goblin in greater faydark, and skeleton in kelethin are all very solo'able at level 10 and will give you a really good master rated attack against those said mobs.

[liveja]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote>Is there anything I can do that would help me out </blockquote><p>Yea: go ye forth & harvest. Spend a couple hours in Commonlands harvesting, sell the rares -- or use them to upgrade your stuff -- & on you go.</p><p>It may be boring, but it's the easiest & fastest way to make money.</p>

[Rijacki]

To make money, sell those things that you loot and don't need on the broker.  Sell them for the same "outrageous" prices and then you can buy the stuff you want. Also, if you directly communicate with many tradeskillers, they'll often make items for less than they sell them on the broker.  Join the Freeport_crafter channel and ask. In EQ2 anyone can harvest.  Your harvest skill caps are based on which ever level is higher, adventure or tradeskill.  Harvesting stuff and selling it is also a great way to make money.  If you get rares, you can either sell them or talk to a tradeskiller to have them made into stuff.

[Gungo]

<p>Sell the loot you get on the broker (DO NOT VENDOR IT).</p><p>and harvest yoru rares for your mastercrafted gear, peopel will make the items cheap if you supply the components. </p><p>Make a tradeskiller to equip yoursle if you can.</p>

[Malkosha]

Thanks for the replies. I will re-think my game play style and possibly class, and see what I can come up with. In some ways this remind me of UO when I always made mining a first priority so I could get some cash and prepare to adventure. I guess I got accustomed to the easy button. However, transmuting and the way the mechanics work tells me much thought went into the idea and less into the effect on the economy. Thanks again!

[-AtPlay-]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote>I started over on a new server and I'm running into problems. After I completed my intro quests I took my Assassin and started his long journey to stardom ... well at least competency <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> When I hit level 10 I decided to buy an armor/weapons upgrade...  </blockquote>Im going to be honest here, I didn't read past this point.  There is little point in spending, really, any coin getting from 10-20, since it just doesn't take long to get there.  Since you are on the Freeport side, and since I love quests... Start in Sunken City...do the quests there.  I know one of the rewards is an "okay" weapon, maybe a piece of armor.  I think you are then sent to the Ruins for more armor upgrades.  The second half of the quests require some grouping, but the rewards are well worth it.  If you cant find a group, the start the questline at the commonlands dock. Or just grind up to about 19 in outfitter to craft all your weapons and armor. The 10-19 range is painful if you are and adventurer...its a goldmine if you are a crafter.  It becomes much better once you hit 20...for the advent side.  Its rather painful for the crafter from then on (at least from my experience).

[SignumX]

Go Into Begging, Problem Solved.

[MasterRaistl]

Thought I would chime in since, back in December, I first started playing EQ2 and it was my first MMO. I rolled an assassin as my first toon and, knowing very little about how everything worked, I found it extremely easy to get OK gear and solo. In fact, I pretty much solo'd right to 70 with the odd grouping here and there for HQs and in the end for the final push to 70. Harvesting is the easiest way to get that money you need for gear as some other posters have pointed out. You don't even need to be selling rares either. Just check the market for materials in the tiers you are able to access and see what is at good prices. I even went so far as to keep track on a spreadsheet for a while so I could figure out where the market's "fair value" was on some popular items. Of course, the good money doesn't start rolling in until T3 and T4 (Feysteel clusters rock!) but that's when it'll take you longer to level anyway and it's worth it to save up and purchase the premium spells and gear. P.S. - the effect of transmuting is relative. The cost of low level items are high but you're also able to sell those low level adept I and whatnot for much higher prices than they're worth also.

[Cathars]

My alts take in more money than my main.  This isnt hyperbole.  Lower level transmutables, lower tier tradeskill raws, commonality of tradeskill rares, and the ability monopolize entire tiers of crafted gear since no one bothers to make and stock the stuff.  All overland zones and quests within them have been changed from mostly heroic to 95% solo.  Advancing and making cash for the newbie should be a walk in the park if they take the time to look at the situation and turn it in their favor.

[SignumX]

Because stay in newbie island for 10 hours is a way to attract new players right.

[Ganon]

<p>I recently started up a Troubador and decided that I would try to keep him self funded.</p><p>What I found is that the market for Adept1 and other Treasured items is quite a boon to the newbie. Low level items selling for 2-3g each and during those low levels, random items drop like rain during a storm.</p><p>I never vendor anything, it all goes on the broker. I spent some time and leveled up my crafting up to 10 - made some backpacks/strongboxes and got selling.</p><p> I have made about 3pp in just under 2 weeks - not bad for a newbie.</p><p> This has allowed me to buy some nice upgrades both in terms of gear and songs (I even found a cheap master prices at 12g - woot!)</p><p>Good luck in your adventures!</p><p>~Ortega Elgato (Befallen Server)</p>

[YeldarbSpiritbla]

Make some friends. Join a guild. Do a search for lfw crafters in the teens and 20's. You could get appIV's made pretty cheaply. I never buy crafted stuff off the broker. I'll even send a /tell to people that have crafted stuff on the broker and ask them if they'll make a bunch of stuff for me.

[Firam]

With the addition of transmuting the prices are definitely higher.  However, I don't see why new (poor) players see this as a bad thing... how about using it to your advantage? Here's what you do.  Easy enough: 1) Save up enough gold to buy a few large backpacks/boxes to store in your shared bank. 2) Buy a decent sized sales container for your broker on your main character. 3) Roll up another char to farm newbie isle: druids (furies) work best. 4) Level that character up to about L12 on newbie isle; do not take it to town.  There are ways to do this.  Ask around. 5) Use your main to harvest T2/3 rares until you can sell them and afford some decent armor for the druid.  This should take maybe 2-3 hours.  Also have AD3 versions of the fury damage shield and your main heal made.  Buy T2 adornments that give damage shields (I think there's at least 2 and possibly 3 slots for this.)  Use the shared bank to transfer this all over to your fury. 6) You now have a L12 fury in mastercrafted or solid treasured armor, with his important spells AD3'd, and stacked damage shields where it counts. 7) Mentor down to L5/6 on the newbie isle.  There is a neverending stream of players coming through and they love the exp bonus so this shouldn't be a hassle.  If you have 2 computers you can leave a char from another account there instead and just mentor onto that. <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> You now have a mentored (i.e. overpowered for the level) fury with stacked damage shields and the ability to heal through almost anything.  The pump is now primed. <b>9) Pull huge amounts of mobs at once and let them kill themselves on your damage shields.</b> 10) Loot the massive amounts of treasured gear and adepts that drop.  You will clear entire areas <i>very</i> quickly. 11) Stash these all in your shared bank, sell them on your main's broker for 2-3g each (prices vary by server), and rinse/repeat. You now have a huge amount of cashflow and the ability to replenish it at any time.  I guarantee that if you find the sweet spot (talk to a few transmuters to get your server price point for T1 gear) you will sell everything off within hours.  It's just a matter of how long it takes a transmuter to do their search and clean the market up.  Could be a few minutes or a few hours.  They literally buy dozens to hundreds of items at a time when they're breaking them down (I just maxed transmuting, trust me on this.)  Get yourself 2 of the large capacity sales containers once you can afford it and it'll go that much faster.  Even on a conservative estimate you'll pull down 1-2 plat per run. Voila: you now have the buying power to fully kit yourself out in mastercrafted/legendary and AD3's.  Your character has improved dramatically. =)

[interstellarmatter]

<p>Welcome to the world of good intentions.  In the beginning, this was suppose to be a crafter's economy.  The crafters were suppose to make the top of the line gear maybe short of raid dropped gear.  Itemizaton revolved around the crafters on top with drop gear being less in quality.  </p><p>Somewhere down the line, this was changed for the the top gear.  Now the dropped gear 60+ is better than the crafted.  This has driven many crafters (mostly armorers and weaponsmiths) from crafting.  So, what's left is high priced stuff mostly used for transmutting.  </p><p>Players are left with options of using lesser quality dropped gear up to lvl 60 or crafting their own gear.  Unless they are part of a guild with people willing to craft stuff for you.</p><p>Maybe they need to think about having a rare chance for mobs dropping rare gear.  Like Feysteel plate piece or ebon sword.</p>

[Laiina]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thanks for the replies. I will re-think my game play style and possibly class, and see what I can come up with. In some ways this remind me of UO when I always made mining a first priority so I could get some cash and prepare to adventure. I guess I got accustomed to the easy button. However, transmuting and the way the mechanics work tells me much thought went into the idea and <b><u>less into the effect on the economy</u></b>. Thanks again! </blockquote><p> Actually, a lot of thought went into the economy - and that is exactly why it was done that way.</p><p>Before Transmuting, AD1 and even some common Master spells, and the vast majority of Treasured loot items were selling on the broker for almost nothing. AD1 spells were selling even below what it cost crafters to make APP4 spells. Transmuting at least gave all that at least SOME value, so you can sell it now for some cash instead of vendoring it for 12s.</p><p>And as for harvesting - not all items will sell. Don't bother even listing or even keeping the soft metals for example. Roots, hard metals, hides, and some loams (not all) sell pretty well - but most of the rest is not even worth listing on the broker.</p><p>On the other hand, some of the rare/scarce collectibles can sell pretty good. But there again, some are pretty common and sell for pennies.</p>

[RpTheHotrod]

<p>I recently started a new character on a new server. You are correct in your statement about overpricing. I have seen level 16 gear sell for 1.5 plat.</p><p>What I did was hunt in dungeons with groups and sell what loot dropped on the market. I also would hunt for collection items and rares and sell them, too. I actually ended up getting 7 plat by the time I hit level 25. </p><p>Yes, it is terrible in the pricing, but remember, what drops can be sold for a lot, too. Eventually you should be able to afford what's on the market, hopefully. The market does hurt new players, but you can adapt if you know where to look.</p><p>It's like this</p><p>Server 1 has item 1 for sell for 5 gold. Adept I costs 10 gold Server 2 has item 1 for sell for 50 gold Adept I costs 100 gold</p><p>Go dungeon crawling until you loot item 1, then you can sell it for half what your adepts cost, regardless of server.</p><p>On my new warden, I went into Crushbone and looted two oracle collection items in a row. I went to the market to check the price (I already had 2 previously for my own collection). I was suprised to see them selling for a plat. Well, I put them both on the market for a plat each, and within minutes, I was 2 plat richer. Not too bad still being in my teens/early 20s. With that, I was able to afford the lowbie adept I spells selling for 30-50g each.</p>

[Lasai]

<cite>Firamas wrote:</cite><blockquote>With the addition of transmuting the prices are definitely higher.  However, I don't see why new (poor) players see this as a bad thing... how about using it to your advantage? Here's what you do.  Easy enough: 1) Save up enough gold to buy a few large backpacks/boxes to store in your shared bank. 2) Buy a decent sized sales container for your broker on your main character. 3) Roll up another char to farm newbie isle: druids (furies) work best. 4) Level that character up to about L12 on newbie isle; do not take it to town.  There are ways to do this.  Ask around. 5) Use your main to harvest T2/3 rares until you can sell them and afford some decent armor for the druid.  This should take maybe 2-3 hours.  Also have AD3 versions of the fury damage shield and your main heal made.  Buy T2 adornments that give damage shields (I think there's at least 2 and possibly 3 slots for this.)  Use the shared bank to transfer this all over to your fury. 6) You now have a L12 fury in mastercrafted or solid treasured armor, with his important spells AD3'd, and stacked damage shields where it counts. 7) Mentor down to L5/6 on the newbie isle.  There is a neverending stream of players coming through and they love the exp bonus so this shouldn't be a hassle.  If you have 2 computers you can leave a char from another account there instead and just mentor onto that. <img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> You now have a mentored (i.e. overpowered for the level) fury with stacked damage shields and the ability to heal through almost anything.  The pump is now primed. <b>9) Pull huge amounts of mobs at once and let them kill themselves on your damage shields.</b> 10) Loot the massive amounts of treasured gear and adepts that drop.  You will clear entire areas <i>very</i> quickly. 11) Stash these all in your shared bank, sell them on your main's broker for 2-3g each (prices vary by server), and rinse/repeat. You now have a huge amount of cashflow and the ability to replenish it at any time.  I guarantee that if you find the sweet spot (talk to a few transmuters to get your server price point for T1 gear) you will sell everything off within hours.  It's just a matter of how long it takes a transmuter to do their search and clean the market up.  Could be a few minutes or a few hours.  They literally buy dozens to hundreds of items at a time when they're breaking them down (I just maxed transmuting, trust me on this.)  Get yourself 2 of the large capacity sales containers once you can afford it and it'll go that much faster.  Even on a conservative estimate you'll pull down 1-2 plat per run. Voila: you now have the buying power to fully kit yourself out in mastercrafted/legendary and AD3's.  Your character has improved dramatically. =) </blockquote> Overkill, overcomplicated and dependant on Mentoring. Roll a new char. Send new char all advanced TS books 1-9, a whopping 1s 20c each. Harvest on the isle till you can make your own T1 mastercratted gear and Adept IIIs with that toon. Lock at level 7 twinked, and you can kill anything on the island but the Hawk or Gurreck, and niether of them are worth the effort since the main drop is lore. Level 8 is still good, just cuts the number of green mobs. I did this with a Warden, the only thing sent to the island besides book was Adorns, spiked shoulders being the most important, and yes, I did the same thing, aggroed 7-8 at a time and let them kill themselves on my barbs and spikes. Leave the quest mobs alone, don't even go in the treehouse (FP Side) if you are just farming, it is rude, and people need those mobs. All the other named are fair game, and not needed for quests. Kill everything that is green, Legendary chests can drop off nearly anything. On freeport side, its pretty easy to get the full set of Bloodseeker gear, Legendarys, to gear the char up even more. Lost Traveler gear on Q side is good also. If you get sick of the island, on FP side go directily from there to GY/Sunken City, which are noob named paradise. Level 8 ^Named Knights in GY drop one of the best low level cloth hats in game for casters, Crest of Marr, these can easily sell for for 20-30 gp each on my server. The nice thing about the Named Knights is that most people have overleveled, and so these are not camped as hard. There are a lot of low level named in GY, Sunken and a few in Sprawl that all drop legendary/Fabled chests. It is very easy to make money on a new toon, and, you can do it without looking like a Gold farmer.. Level 12 on newb Isle just leaves a bad taste, to me, particularly since it involves sending collection items there to artificially level past the cap.

[Novusod]

When you hit level ten on the island all you have to do is mentor down to level 8 or 9 and you can keep on gaining xp. You don't really need collections to get to level 12 on the island. However, either way you are correct. Going beyond level 10 on the island to farm loot is in poor taste. There are a dozen other ways to make coin in the low levels so it is not needed or called for.

[Firam]

It's only poor taste if you're pulling mobs that someone is actively trying to kill for the newbie quests.  We all know that you only need 3-4 mobs for each of these, and the respawn rate is <i>fast</i>.  It's really a non-issue if you just look around the area and don't pull mobs that someone is currently near and trying to kill. The method I listed is only slightly more complicated to set up than doing it without mentoring.  Otherwise it's essentially the same deal.  I just listed it step by step for the new players to latch onto.  Going to L12 gives you access to the T2 mastercrafted or good treasured gear, and T2 adornments, which will make your killing much much faster.  You can go in and pull tons of mobs at once from areas that aren't heavily camped. But yes, you can just lock a druid at whatever level and do it without mentoring.  Either way, it's the fastest way for new players to make money.

[Lord_Quaymar]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote>I started over on a new server and I'm running into problems. After I completed my intro quests I took my Assassin and started his long journey to stardom ... well at least competency <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> When I hit level 10 I decided to buy an armor/weapons upgrade. Nothing really special but enough to survive in solo play. I think I have my Assassin attack sequences down fairly well and its a fun class to play. Always something different and many ways to do the same thing. Most fun I've had in a while and when I get new CA's I can almost always rearrange their sequence to get the max efficiency from them. In terms of mechanics and just shear fun, the Assassin makes the WoW Rogue (which I love BTW) look like a cheap copy. I really want to bring this char up. When I went to the market, I noticed that even the crappy (barely counted as upgrades) weapons/armor were a small fortune. What was worse is that the CA's I needed were even more outrageously priced. Now, people will talk about what they can do both solo and grouped and the common factor is at least adept 1 level CA's with a few Adept 3's thrown in for good measure. They must be right because the further I go the harder it gets because my damage just can't keep up with the MOB's increasing damage. To an Assassin this means death. If you think a new char can buy this stuff then think again. The prices were just so outrageous that I was actually stunned and at a loss on what to do. Without decent CA upgrades (hell I'll take app 4's) and even moderately decent weapons, an Assassin can barley hold their own against a single even con MOB without losing most of their life doing it. Forget adds because you just can't accrue enough damage. How is a new char supposed to play this game like this? I guess I can just craft my way up but I'm not a real fan of crafting and even then, you are always behind the curve. As you know, the stuff you need for the next tier are in areas that are instant death to even a well equipped char. Adept1's do drop but they are usually for someone else and it may be a while before you can get enough from them to upgrade your char. This translates into waiting to actually play your char until something breaks. Not a great sign for new players heh? If EQ2 has a problem, and I truly wonder if they do at the basic game play level, its at the low levels where new chars are completely outclassed by the twinks around them and find it difficult to get a great start. Not good for getting new people to play here IMO. All the advertising in the world won't fix this. Is there anything I can do that would help me out but at the same time play my char as its meant to be played (by my standards) instead of being a miner or a craftsman of some kind? Can this game be played with combat alone or are new players forced into harvesting and crating just to break even? I'm very discouraged at the moment and I when I login I search for new upgrades, find a few at outrageous prices and just logout in frustration. Am I just to late to play this game now? Is EQ2 for old timers only? Does a person have to beg for help (I will never do that) to catch a break? Is there a solution? What am I missing? Thanks for taking the time to read this mess <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </blockquote><p>How does a new player buy all that stuff? Simple...farm collectibles and rare harvests, sell them and you will have more than enough cash to buy ANYTHING you might need.</p><p>That's how I had 10p by level 20. It's quite easy with some time and effort put into it. </p>

[callahan]

the frustration is quite obvious in the OP post how many *new* players are there, that try this game and quit due to issues like this. i'd bet 9/10 new players take a while to find out they have to - 1) broker all their T1 crap (if they even know where broker is). 2) not buy weapon/armour upgrades from the npc vendors. 3) can upgrade spells to app IV and above. 4) there are the AQs (armour quests) starting at level 20. 5) they *have* to harvest and collect shinys. 6) trawl the forums for info. etc..etc the old choosing city and archetype/class quests, introduced *new* players much better to the game, imho. other than the faction quests in T1 zones, quest rewards in lower tiers really do suck. its easy to say.. 'its simple, all you have to do is ....'

[Nastharl]

Harvesting for rares is never needed. My best source of low level cash was slaughtering noob zone named mobs <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> GFay doesn't have nearly as many, but i pulled all kindsa cash down off peat bog.

[liveja]

<cite>callahan44 wrote:</cite><blockquote>its easy to say.. 'its simple, all you have to do is ....' </blockquote><p> But it's even easier to get on the in-game chat channels & ask for help. Sure, you'll run into a few trolling idiots, but you'll also run across people who will answer the question & push you in the right direction.</p><p>& isn't that what a social game like EQ2 is for? For people to talk to each other, maybe make friends, help each other out, etc.?</p>

[Lord_Quaymar]

<cite>callahan44 wrote:</cite><blockquote>the frustration is quite obvious in the OP post how many *new* players are there, that try this game and quit due to issues like this. i'd bet 9/10 new players take a while to find out they have to - 1) broker all their T1 crap (if they even know where broker is). 2) not buy weapon/armour upgrades from the npc vendors. 3) can upgrade spells to app IV and above. 4) there are the AQs (armour quests) starting at level 20. 5) they *have* to harvest and collect shinys. 6) trawl the forums for info. etc..etc the old choosing city and archetype/class quests, introduced *new* players much better to the game, imho. other than the faction quests in T1 zones, quest rewards in lower tiers really do suck. its easy to say.. 'its simple, all you have to do is ....' </blockquote><p>It doesn't take a genius to figure out that you can ask questions in general chat.</p><p>That's how I figured out where and what the broker was within minutes of leaving the noob island. I simply asked in /ooc "Where do I buy upgrades?" and the rest is self explanatory.</p><p>If a new player never asks questions, pays absolutely no attention to the chat for useful info. and never looks at the forums then they have nobody to blame but themselves for failing. </p>

[Cathars]

I'll take it a little bit past asking others for help ... Isnt it part of the point of a game to figure out how to succeed within the system?  Pretty much every game mechanic is explained by the NPCs on the island or by the purple question marks.  It may not be obvious immediately to a new player but theres far far far more opportunity and clarity today than when the game launched if they do put some time into looking around.  Two key quests that are given automatically that I'd hope new players don't neglect: getting an apartment and picking a tradeskill.

[callahan]

the introduction to tradeskilling (starter island) and house quest (is a new one tho) were removed, when they cleaned up the city quests and added the race quest. couple of days ago, i had someone ask where they could get recipe for cooking frog legs - so i wouldn't say it runs smoothly gameplay wise for *new* players. i know players from release who still don't know about healing thru the mob, so i don't expect players to know intricacies of each servers economy from day #1. new players should be given at least the basic knowledge on how to upgrade and advance, but not led from 1-70 like sheep, in some other games. frustrated players, new to the game, is not good for the game in the end.

[Eugam]

<cite>Malkosha wrote:</cite><blockquote>Thanks for the replies. I will re-think my game play style and possibly class, and see what I can come up with. In some ways this remind me of UO when I always made mining a first priority so I could get some cash and prepare to adventure. I guess I got accustomed to the easy button. However, transmuting and the way the mechanics work tells me much thought went into the idea and less into the effect on the economy. Thanks again! </blockquote>Hell no. If you like the class then stick to it. Think a bit different and try another approach. If i where you i would start a career as jeweler. That gives you a) a reason to harvest and b) you never will buy any CA again unless you are 70 and want masters. Stick with it. Either you have friends to help you through the lvl20 armour quests or struggle a bit until you can do the quests in enchanted lands for quite good chain armour. Do quests and by lvl 40 you should have 2-4 platin on the bank. KoS, lesser faydark and loping plains has quests that really pay to have a good start into engame then.

[Morgane]

<p>Hi. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </p><p>I'm a Guardian and solo fairly well so I'm not sure how it much my situation differs from your Assassin but I do know it's imperative that my Guardian is well-outfitted with very good armor that brings up his STR and STA, decent food/drink and the various trinkets that make life a little easier on a Guardian who is either 1) soloing or 2) getting his [Removed for Content] kicked as a MT. </p><p>So... it can get pretty expensive at times. I usually upgrade my armor at every ten levels or so. Consequently I spend about half my play time on harvesting. It's not as fun as adventuring but I've come to have a certain fondness for it. The only time it truly sucks is when you go through an area that's been cherry-picked and you're gathering off of ten bushes that give you nothing but worthless coffee beans. My Guardian just spent the 10p he'd earned harvesting and selling loot on new gear and upgrades. Personally, I'm glad the prices are so outragous.... how else is a legit player supposed to keep up with the people who buy from the plat sellers? Thank the Queen I can sell my roots and loams and metals and low-level stat gear at inflated prices. </p><p>Anyway... I don't really see how you can get around harvesting. You need money to outfit yourself well... the only quick and reliable source of money will be harvesting or crafting. Even if you group there is no gaurantee you'll get any of the "good stuff". I've grouped twice in the last week and come away with very few decent items from the lotto.  (sniffle)</p><p>Anyway... good luck and most importantly, have fun! </p>

[Xtremities]

Maybe I'm just smarter than the average bear, but I'm a new player- 3 weeks fresh- and I've had no trouble getting money and upgrading gear/spells. Ok, so I'm not technically a new player. I played when the game first came out from Nov 2004 to Feb 2005 and came back to a 23 Berserker with all of 5g. And after about 5 minutes I realized I knew nothing about the game. I created a new character and after doing every single quest on the newbie island and even managing to find some help for the hard mob (and i killed the mobs in the cave 4 times lol) i ended up with enough adept books and gear and harvested rares to make a good amount of money. I do enjoy crafting (once i figured it out...) so i've made some decent money of my crafted items and managed to make most of my spells adept. I've since had a friend join the game and he's had similar success.  Neither of us hurt for money and we may not be twinked, but we've also not needed to be. If I can just get a third friend we might be able to take blackburrow. It was a little hard for just two of us and we've learned you vets have little patience for a couple of newbies who don't know where they're going. LOL Sorry, a little off topic- So my answer to the OP, this game is definitely accessible to a new player. It's easy to do without when you don't know what you're missing. -Feral Butcherblock

[Ba]

<p>The number one mistake a lot of new players make is NOT SELLING.</p><p>If you vendor all your loot to NPC's and just try to get by on quested stuff you will never have any money and you won't be able to afford the gear, spells and items you need to become stronger and be effective in the game.</p><p>Golden rule: If you don't need it, PRICE IT ON THE BROKER. If its worth some cash then put it up for sale. Keep your broker stocked at all times. Most items can be sold and there is usually a market for almost EVERYTHING. With a steady flow of income the game becomes SO MUCH more playable.</p><p>When it comes to spending your cash BE smart. If you are on a tight budget stick to common crafted and basic treasured (the broker is filled with these). If you fancy an upgrade buy some rare mastercrafted (usually still reasonably priced). Stay away from Fabled and Legendary unless they are DIRT CHEAP and much better than anything you have already -- paying 2pp more for a tiny increase in stats simply isn't worth it. You can achieve Legendary (and occasionally Fabled) fairly easily from certain quests and by joining groups in dungeons that kill named monsters. Shop frequently but don't buy unless its an obvious upgrade or its a real bargain price.</p><p>Low cashflow: <i>crafted and cheap treasured gear, app4 spells, plus whatever quested stuff you can lay your grubby little paws on</i> Average cashflow: <i>crafted (some mastercrafted) and cheap/average treasured gear, app4-adept1 spells, plus decent quested stuff </i>Good cashflow: <i>mastercrafted and good treasured gear, all important spells adept 1, some adept 3 spells, plus some of the better quested gear (HQ, Legendary, good treasured) </i>Great cashflow: <i>mastercrafted and high-end treasured gear with some reasonably priced legendary items, all important spells at adept3 (with the rest at adept1), key/critical spells at master1, most quested gear is usually a downgrade except for certain HQ items or some of the other harder quests that give legendary rewards </i>Amazing cashflow: <i>Buy whatever takes your fancy <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></i></p>

[Voq]

<p>IMO, as a returning player and longtime MMORPGer, I find the current player economy in EQ2 to suck completely.</p><p>There are a few problems that I see.</p><p>For one, you almost have to gather and/or craft if you want to have decent gear - but not all people want to gather and/or craft, and if you're a totally new player faced with a lot of things to learn, explore, and see, you might not want anything to do with crafting immediately even if you like crafting.</p><p>You can get some drops, you can quest for some stuff, but at low levels rare-based crafted stuff annhilates anything else you can get (outside of select legendary or better that'll also cost a fortune).  Most people want the best stuff, especially when the discrepencies between the best and everything are so huge.</p><p>The occasional person might not twink or care about gear, but the game is definitely more fun with decent gear and spells/arts.  No biggie for me - I enjoy crafting and as a jaded vet I know how to generate plats via selling drops and selected noob/lowbie crafted gear (that's probably bought by twinks and/or plat buyers - since they are the only once who could afford what I'm selling).</p><p>I despise cheaters that buy plats for cash - but you can sorta see why people would be tempted faced with the incredibly out of whack and hostile economy.  A new player has a ton to learn about the game AND faces a brutal player economy where they absolutely can't afford anything - because even generic crafted junk often sells for gold where it's made with common mats and worth coppers.</p><p>Everywhere you look there are twinks.  Maybe 1 out of 20 noob level characters you see isn't twinked.  That new player sees everyone else decked out and mowing down mobs and they want to be somewhat similarly equipped - but it can't happen without coin.  New players aren't the only ones who'd be tempted.  Just because some have played EQ2 forever doesn't mean they're crafters or magically wealthy.  A player with a semi-retired 70 looking to play alts might be willing to spend cash on twinking rather than lift a finger to make it happen via their own efforts.  You can spend 15g for a single bronze weapon/armor piece as a T1 noob, then prices soar to ~50g per at T2.  For soft armors prices might be 5g then 15g.  Jewelry around 10g.  Adept I/III are 3-10g ea at T1, 3-30g at T2.  It all adds up - and if you're new and not crafting or a really good loot farmer, then forget about it.</p><p>The next problem is that crafted is vastly superior to quest rewards and drops a lot of the time (at least rare-based crafted is).  Rich high level crafters can crank out piles and piles of items to sell, and even if they sell at reasonable costs compared to the cost of the rares (if you want to make your own stuff you need to level the craft, harvest for eons hoping for the right rares to drop, or pay out the behind to buy the rares you need), the stuff is still crazy expensive unless you're "in" on the market.  I swear some of these crafters MUST be using macros to pump out their goods - because I can't see some level 70 spending a lot of time putting together trivial T1 and T2 gear that they sell for marginal profits (but sell in quantity so they make lots of gold).</p><p>This leads to another problem, because lets say I get my tailor up to mid 20's, can make T2 stuff for skill and profit, but even if I gather like a machine I still only get so many rares.  If I really want to earn gold (enough gold to buy the gear I want) I really need to buy rares - which are ungodly expensive.  Then my profits are minimal and limited because I have to compete with someone in a 7 room house who can crank out trivial T2 stuff like a factory and that doesn't care if they're only making 1-2g on a 15g item.  I might spend 10g on a rare, spend time making and imbuing a piece (cost of imbue spew is cheap but still more costly than the generic mats or fuel), and then *might* get to list the item at 15g - even if the market would readily pay more, because joe factory sells multiples for 15g and never runs out of stock.</p><p>There was a thread on another forum by a guy seeking to make 1,000,000 plats discussing this concept from the controlling end - saying how new crafters are screwed due to guys like him that can essentially control prices because they mass produce everything, make money on volume rather than high margin, and make it so that new people can't really make much money or get rolling like the big sellers - almost like a mom & pop vs walmart kinda thing.  He says there are a few people like him on every server - players that do all trades at high levels and essentially control prices - not on purpose - but just because of how they do business.  For a lot of players who already have coin, it means they get good deals - but for a new player it's very hard to get rolling and break in, especially when the only good way to generate gold is to craft, and you can't compete.</p><p>Side note:  IMO, true rares are a bit too rare, and imbue rares are way too common.  I can add an imbue to every rare-based I make and make tons of hex dolls and still have imbue rares stacked up forever.  You would think making the pristine piece would be slightly easier than adding the imbue - so that getting imbued gear was slightly special - but it's more like imbued gear is the norm - making crafted that much more superior to noncrafted.  On my server you can easily pay 10g for some T1 rares, 20g for T2 rares, and 50+g for T2 rares, and that's just idiotic.  Hell, on my server there were NO silver clusters for sale at all yesterday (price was previously up around 20g and there were only a few for sale - and I bet I'll see a bunch for sale this weekend at about 30g ea - because someone probably bought them all up to screw up the market and try to capitalize on drought demand).</p><p>There should be a better balance between crafted, quest rewards, and drops.  Maybe if you're grouping with your mentored down uber buddies doing content way above what a normal person could ever do you can get good drops or maybe if you know the game inside out and know which corners to visit to find the rare amazing quest you can get a good item outside of crafting - but a new player won't be able to do either.</p><p>You can say join a guild and have them help you, but that's kind of weak from both sides.  When I've been a guild elder I didn't want noobs joining and asking for all kinds of money or gear.  When I'm on the otherside as that noob, I don't want to join a guild to ask for handouts.  Some players are [Removed for Content], but a lot want to earn their own way.</p>

[YeldarbSpiritbla]

<cite>Voq wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>IMO, as a returning player and longtime MMORPGer, I find the current player economy in EQ2 to suck completely.</p><p>There are a few problems that I see.</p><p>For one, you almost have to gather and/or craft if you want to have decent gear - but not all people want to gather and/or craft, and if you're a totally new player faced with a lot of things to learn, explore, and see, you might not want anything to do with crafting immediately even if you like crafting.</p><p><b>This is simply not true. You are in a full set of decent armor at level 8 when you leave the island. A number of quests keep you pretty well outfitted, plus keep you in the money up to level 20. Believe me, the mobs are not that hard at all through the 30's. I've seen vets in newbie armor into the 30's before they finally broke down and started buying armor or making it through their alts. While some vets are probably knowledgable enough about the game, and probably have friends that they party with to gain levels, the content is just not that tough compared to any race/class combo of the same level.</b></p><p><b>As was said many times, normal crafted gear and skills/spells are not that pricey, especially if you talk to a crafter, to make. Normally, if you do very many quests at all, even solo, you won't even have to buy a full set, but have pieces filled in you are behind on.</b></p><p>You can get some drops, you can quest for some stuff, but at low levels rare-based crafted stuff annhilates anything else you can get (outside of select legendary or better that'll also cost a fortune).  Most people want the best stuff, especially when the discrepencies between the best and everything are so huge.</p><p><b>While mastercrafted IS better than anything but legendary drops, it is NOT NEEDED. While most people "want" the best stuff, they don't "need" the best stuff. You can easily get by on quested and normal crafted gear and skills/spells compared to the content.</b></p><p>I despise cheaters that buy plats for cash - but you can sorta see why people would be tempted faced with the incredibly out of whack and hostile economy.  A new player has a ton to learn about the game AND faces a brutal player economy where they absolutely can't afford anything - because even generic crafted junk often sells for gold where it's made with common mats and worth coppers.</p><p><b>I really believe this is an over-exageration as normal crafted gear cannot be transmuted. Therefore it is worthless to twinks who either have alts that craft, craft themselves, or belong to a guild that have crafters that can make stuff for them. Plus, most twinks will probably be in the mastercrafted category anyways if they can afford it, or take the time to gather/craft themselves. I'm on a pretty old server, Butcherblock, and handcrafted gear/spells do not sell for much. I know, I make it and it sits in my sales crate for weeks for under half a gold.</b></p><p>Everywhere you look there are twinks.  Maybe 1 out of 20 noob level characters you see isn't twinked.  That new player sees everyone else decked out and mowing down mobs and they want to be somewhat similarly equipped - but it can't happen without coin.  New players aren't the only ones who'd be tempted.  Just because some have played EQ2 forever doesn't mean they're crafters or magically wealthy.  A player with a semi-retired 70 looking to play alts might be willing to spend cash on twinking rather than lift a finger to make it happen via their own efforts.  You can spend 15g for a single bronze weapon/armor piece as a T1 noob, then prices soar to ~50g per at T2.  For soft armors prices might be 5g then 15g.  Jewelry around 10g.  Adept I/III are 3-10g ea at T1, 3-30g at T2.  It all adds up - and if you're new and not crafting or a really good loot farmer, then forget about it.</p><p><b>Then forget about it. Who cares. As said before, compared to the content, handcrafted gear and appIV skills/spells are sufficient. I have 3, 70th level chars, and 3 chars 45 and under, and just started another character that is up to 10th. Most vets don't even worry about skills/spells or even gear until their 30's because it just doesn't matter. I can solo. I can group. I can do just fine against the content until I'm ready to start outfitting them. Most of the time, I don't even worry about mastercrafted. Sure, I have a 36th level berserker that's twinked out with "the best" gear, but that's because I can, it doesn't cost me anything because all my characters are crafters, and I have quite a stockpile of rares.</b></p><p><b>You cannot compare "newbs" to vets because most vets have played the game for 2 years or more, in my case since beta, and know all the "tricks" of the game. When I started with my first character 3 years ago mastercrafted armor was VERY rare. It wasn't the fact that it was expensive, because it was when you could find it, but that it was nearly impossible to find. Rares were very rare, and crafters of any decent level were equally as rare. My first "uber" gear was a feysteel sword. I got that when I was nearly 40th level. I wore normal crafted armor until 50th, and ebon was just a rumor.</b></p><p><b>Everyone goes through "newbness" when they relish the quest items, scrape together their earnings for crafted, and hope for the lucky roll on a chance legendary. Now, I don't even bother rolling on legendary as it isn't even an upgrade for me any more, and I really don't need the money. My alts make more money leveling to 50 than my first, and even second, character ever dreamed. My friend started playing about a year ago and at 50th level had more plat than I did. Now, I concede, he did have a lot of advice from me about how to do things, but he did it all on his own.</b></p><p>This leads to another problem, because lets say I get my tailor up to mid 20's, can make T2 stuff for skill and profit, but even if I gather like a machine I still only get so many rares.  If I really want to earn gold (enough gold to buy the gear I want) I really need to buy rares - which are ungodly expensive.  Then my profits are minimal and limited because I have to compete with someone in a 7 room house who can crank out trivial T2 stuff like a factory and that doesn't care if they're only making 1-2g on a 15g item.  I might spend 10g on a rare, spend time making and imbuing a piece (cost of imbue spew is cheap but still more costly than the generic mats or fuel), and then *might* get to list the item at 15g - even if the market would readily pay more, because joe factory sells multiples for 15g and never runs out of stock.</p><p><b>So what? Who's going to buy T2 rare gear? Rich vets with twinks, or transmuters, that's it. Even a "newb" in normal crafter T2 gear will pass this tier in a couple weeks. It's really not worth the time and trouble, which is WHY the only people selling T2 rare gear are rich factories pumping out gear from extra rares they harvest themselves. T2 rares are pretty common to a 350 gather skill anyways, so it doesn't take very long for a high level crafter to gather several rare T2's.</b></p><p>Side note:  IMO, true rares are a bit too rare, and imbue rares are way too common.  I can add an imbue to every rare-based I make and make tons of hex dolls and still have imbue rares stacked up forever.  You would think making the pristine piece would be slightly easier than adding the imbue - so that getting imbued gear was slightly special - but it's more like imbued gear is the norm - making crafted that much more superior to noncrafted.  On my server you can easily pay 10g for some T1 rares, 20g for T2 rares, and 50+g for T2 rares, and that's just idiotic.  Hell, on my server there were NO silver clusters for sale at all yesterday (price was previously up around 20g and there were only a few for sale - and I bet I'll see a bunch for sale this weekend at about 30g ea - because someone probably bought them all up to screw up the market and try to capitalize on drought demand).</p><p><b>This is off topic, but as I said before, T2's are rare like that because nobody cares. Only people interested in T2 rares are rich twinks and transmuters. T2 rares are not worth the trouble for the amount of time characters are in that tier. If they sell for that much, great for them, but rares are NOT too rare. A 350 skill can pull tons of rares from low level places pretty quickly. It IS based off your harvesting skills.</b></p><p>There should be a better balance between crafted, quest rewards, and drops.  Maybe if you're grouping with your mentored down uber buddies doing content way above what a normal person could ever do you can get good drops or maybe if you know the game inside out and know which corners to visit to find the rare amazing quest you can get a good item outside of crafting - but a new player won't be able to do either.</p><p><b>While I agree that there are places and quests where the rewards are out of whack (especially after two CU's and 3 expansions), the typical first player newbie has a lot greater chance of good gear and making money than we did in the beginning. Rares are up, Crafting is much easier, and content is quite a bit easier with a lot more solo opportunities than before.</b></p><p>You can say join a guild and have them help you, but that's kind of weak from both sides.  When I've been a guild elder I didn't want noobs joining and asking for all kinds of money or gear.  When I'm on the otherside as that noob, I don't want to join a guild to ask for handouts.  Some players are [Removed for Content], but a lot want to earn their own way.</p><p><b>Why not? Isn't that what guilds and groups are for? What is this, a glorified chat room? I have 2 70th level raid geared characters and another in the making, and several alts that craft pretty much everything under the sun, you better believe that if someone wants my help and needs something from me, I'm MORE than happy to help them out. A full set of crafted T3 or T4 gear/skills/spells costs me a few gold to make, and I can make that all back in one instance run and then some. Seriously, when we start losing the community that makes this game great, THAT'S when we lose new players, not because they can't afford master spells and mastercrafted armor.</b></p></blockquote>

[Kaishod]

<p>Why couldn't there be a flag for players that enjoy helping others... it could be placed in "personal" window the same place you can lfg, lfw, annon, hide cloak, etc.  Then anyone/new player can always see who is willing to help instead of just asking someone randomly.  There are alot of ppl that are willing to help, as well as, just as many willing to flame in channel chat when a question they deem as stupid is asked.  As much flamming that goes on in the channel chats why would anyone want to ask anything there.  Sure, someone nice will answer your question... several others tend to give their opinions on the subject.</p><p>Maybe a simple system like this would help new players.  There are alot of us that enjoy helping either by mentoring, or answering class specific questions as well as quests.  </p>

[Malkosha]

<p>I thought that since so many have given me suggestions that I would give you an update.</p><p>I kept my Assassin and started harvesting with him. Stealth is your friend. At the same time, I made a Fae Warlock (very fun class BTW).</p><p>Between both of them, I managed to get a few rares. Quite a few actually and sold them on the Market. After that I noticed that armor and weapons were much cheaper on the Q side than on the FP side. I used my Fae to buy stuff there, email it to my Assassin and then re-sell it for a profit. The trick was to find a balance between the FP broker and the Black Market Broker plus the cost of emailing it. I now have around 2.5P. I did question how ethical it was to re-sell stuff that would drive the economy up even further, but business is business. <img src="/smilies/e8a506dc4ad763aca51bec4ca7dc8560.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>I had such a good time doing this that if I'm not careful, I may never actually level my chars.</p><p>Thanks again for all the advice.</p>