Character goals beyond grinding...

[Bluu]

Hiya all. So I've been noticing that I have been in a rut as far as my EQ2 gaming experience goes. All my characters are mid Teir 3, and I spent my time mostly either grinding in a group or grinding solo, coupled with a few kill quests in between. Sure i'm leveling pretty fast and getting decent AA.... but I feel like I'm missing out on alot. Like... Deity quests (what lvl should you be to start them?) Writ quests (what use does faction really have?) Quests that grant titles... (what type quests do?) Decorating a house... (is there anything beyond just buying and placing furniture?) Learning a language... (are there any specific languages that would be useful to learn?) etc.... Those are the only ones I should think of. So I was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas about some goals I should set with my chars (all being mid 20's), so I can have more fun... get more variety... and well.. simply advance my character somewhere beyond leveling! Maybe tell me what YOUR goals are (or were in Teir 3) to give me some idea <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thanks in advance for the help <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[jagermonsta]

I play with my experience off... Here are goals I set for each tier. Preparation... 1. Harvest, harvest, harvest... Need many rares and commons for crafting and mastercrafted items. 2. Craft! Craft to a decent level into your tier. As an armorer I craft till lvl x7 of the tier so I can create my own suit of Vanguard armor. 3. Create and have mastercrafted items created for the tier. 4. Get level x2 so you can wear the mastercrafed items. Goals... Once my character is prepared for the tier I develop my goals which normally consist off... All heritage quests in the tier. Access quests still necessary in the tier. Discovering all new zones in the tier. Playing each dungeon in a tier. Completing each Lore and Legend in the tier. Completing each available languages for the tier. My deity quests if applicable. Bang out a few writs if I'm in the area of the mobs necessary to complete. I also like to make it a point to slay at least 2 raid mobs per tier. If I get to do slay more then 2... great! My main goal is to have fun and discover as much lore as I can. It's how I enjoy the game... your questions... Deity quests you will start in your 20s. Writ quests are mostly good for leveling your guild. Leveling your guild will enable things like good mounts and extra guild bank slots and more... You will get status points for your character and faction for what ever city guild you are doing writs for. This status/faction will enable you to buy titles and fancy armor and things of not much use really... Not sure what normal quests grant titles but you can like I mentioned purchase titles once you have enough faction/status, you can do many heritage quests that will enable titles for you as well. You also get titles from slaying a particular mob a certain amount of times. I don't find much use in the decorating of a house thing. Most people do this to reduce the amount of status necessary to pay rent with (some furniture reduce status rent cost). Some people buy big houses for more broker slots so they can sell more items at once... these big houses cost money and status when paying a weekly rent (this is where the furniture reducing stats comes in..). Learning languages are good because it will enable you to do quests for a particular race you may of not understood. If you can't understand what their saying, you can't get the quests from them. A bunch of heritage quests require you to speak certain languages so you continue the steps.

[xguild]

<p>Well the game is called EverQUEST so I think your thinking down the right path when talking about the variety of quests you can do.  To me the game really is about questing and I don't recall ever just grinding for XP.  </p><p>Just some suggestions here but I would start by looking up things like Heritage Quests, Access Quest into some of the unique Instance Areas, Adventure Packs (if you haven't already done them) are a great way to experiance the game in a different way and certainly seek out just some regular multi step quest for some of the unique and legendary trophy items like interesting books and furntiture, pets and mounts.  Quests really open up the game and allow for some very interesting and unique aspects of the game you simply can't get access to via just grinding.</p><p>Are you in a Guild?  I would also suggest getting in a guild if your not already in one, this really helped me in the enjoyment of the game quite a bit and as a whole there really is no reason not to be in a guild, its just plain helpful and hinders you in no way at all.</p><p> Also I found personaly that when I get tired of looking at a zone, I just delete all the quest and find another zone to play in.  There is a feeling being locked down until you "finish" sometimes and I hate that feeling so I just don't obligate myself to finish anything that doesn't suit my fancy.  Most important thing to remember is that your playing for the sole purpose of self satisfaction and enjoyment, if something hinders that you have to shake it fast and hard.</p>

[Krystara]

<p>I love decorating my house! It is just buying and placing furniture (or making and placing if you are a carpenter), but you can get really inventive with the furniture placements and make amazing homes.  I suggest you visit the Norrathian HomeShow forum here to see what interesting uses people have found for some of the furniture.  People in Norrath have gotten really creative.</p><p> The writs/faction gives you the ability to buy certain items and to level your guild.</p><p>I believe you can start the deity quest lines at 25, but I'm not sure about that.</p><p>Heritage Quests! Fun items from EQ1 for your home and amazing status.  I love doing these quests.</p>

[Raveller]

Grinding is not a goal. It's what you do on your way to see the wizard to get a brain.

[mee]

<p>I've never grinded at all in EQ2, I love questing. I won't be able to do your question justice, both because it really covers a lot of ground and I'm at work. But let me suggest you check out <a href="http://www.eq2i.com/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">www.eq2i.com</a> which is packed with useful information on quests and zones and whatnot. </p><p>Deity quests: I *think* start at 20 or 25. Depending on which you choose really changes how difficult each step is. </p><p>Writ quests: 10% of the status earned helps to level up your guild and unlocks more guild benefits. Personal status is used to buy some items from city merchants, titles, furniture, etc. as well as mounts (depending on guild level) and houses, and the upkeep on houses (for Qeynos and Freeport). </p><p>Quests that grant titles: Well, I don't think there's a single place with a comprehensive list, and I certainly can't think of them all now. Choosing a faction in Maj'dul and doing the quest once ally grants a title. Some major quest lines grant a title. Doing live world events sometimes grant a title (not exactly a quest, but kinda). And though not a quest, killing obscene amounts of certain types of critters will eventually unlock a title. Oh, and doing certain amounts of heritage quests unlocks titles as you go (and awards certs for the house for some or all of them... forgive me, I forget!). </p><p>Decorating a house: Really that's more for the flavor of having a house. You can get containers to sell out of which would have people visiting your house. And some people create great houses that they open up to the public to help inspire roleplay and whatnot. </p><p>Learning a language: Some quests require you to have a language to do certain steps, or even start it. Well, quite a few, from speaking barbarian in the Thundering Steppes to get the ability to open the gate there on up to the major quest lines.  Again, eq2i is your friend in finding those out. It would be madness to try to compile full lists to respond to this post (and while at work!). Though some of those questions would be great to have compiled somewhere, and maybe they are. Could try searching the forums if you haven't. Never know what treasures are already here. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>Goals huh? Hard to say since I don't know your playstyle. I like questing and exploring. If you have the splitpaw expansion you could have some fun working in there - it scales to your level and has some solo and group (and raid) content, unlocks a spell you can buy once you earn the trust of the gnolls and also gives you a shard that ports you to splitpaw, giving a convenient way to get to Thundering Steppes (after completing 3 different trials or quests for the gnolls). And if you do the arena and stop after defeating... uh... 3 I think it was (not counting the treasure chest) you get a flaming boar head for your house. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>I think the Bloodline Chronicles is a bit higher - maybe 30ish. Pretty much group content if I recall as well. But eventually you get an illusion vampire item or something. </p><p>Stormhold is around level 20 and has some quests. Or you can hunt by the druid rings in the Commonlands to get the Lightbringer Wisp which drops the burned out lightstone to start the heritage quest. Or if goodly and in Greater Faydark you can talk to the dwarf next to the broker to start the Dwarven Chainmail heritage quest. Think it's level 15 to start the last one. Heritage quests give good status to you and your guild and also give decent rewards which can be turned into items to place in your house if you're not wearing/using them (inspect and place the mounting on it). </p><p>That's just a couple ideas off the top of my head, but like I said, I like quests. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p>

[steelblueangel]

<p>rofl @ raveller post <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></p><p>that was a cute post lol</p><p>I do hq's , quest, harvest, and tradeskill as I level. In other words stop to smell the roses along the way to your next level or to the wizzard as raveller said lol</p>

[Obviousman]

<p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: andale mono,times">It's nice knowing that you have 3 separate characters with their own distinct paths. I myself made it a purpose to understand all of the ways a character can play (tanking, DPSing, healing, utility) and set out on their own areas (Freeport, Qyenos, Kelethin). That way, even if you feel like leveling a bit faster to reach the end of it all, you have others that can go a lot more slowly and enjoy the experiece more. After all, these are your people and they are designed to help you enjoy the game as fast as you can.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: andale mono,times">In terms of writs and gaining faction, there's only minor things that you need a specific amount of faction for. You can attempt to gain faction for a group so you can say they're friendly with you, and most of the time they ask you to do things that you're already in the zone for.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: andale mono,times">For languages, the majority of them involve killing enemies until you get enough tablets to gain knowledge of the language. The Dragon language quest "To Speak as a Dragon" is an epic-level quest and requires loads of traveling, but I believe its well worth it in the end. [That requires the person to speak giant, so you should get to that by hunting in the Thundering Steppes]</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: andale mono,times">In my opinion, harvesting and tradeskilling are more of a chore than anything, and you'll soon find out that the level of tradeskill experience is far less worthy than the amount of time you put in it. If you like the path of tradeskilling and don't mind the fact that you're spending hours in a room grinding material after material (to tell you the truth, as long as you can make all the things necessary to finish a recipe and as long as it doesn't consume materials like SUVs and gas, I'm all for bringing back combines and subcombines) then go ahead and make any material you want. It will benefit your character in the long run, but considering the amount of lore you can experience traveling and questing, I'd be wary of this path.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: x-small; font-family: andale mono,times">You have three characters, spend time with each of them doing whatever you feel like doing. I honestly think there's no better way to play this game than to explore each zone carefully, gather as many quests as you can, and gather a few friends along the way (coupled with a few dungeon runs for the chance of better equipment/spells)</span></p>

[Novusod]

If you are bored with grinding and end game raiding than perhapse it is time to join a PvP server. Not much grinding is required to get into it because the best PvP is between level 14 and 24. PvP is EQ2 on hard mode and because it hard your goals can mean something.

[Salonkolya]

Quests. Some of them are pretty annoying but some i've found to be fun and satisfying. I keep restarting my ranger to try out different trade skills so I've done a bunch of them a few times now and even on the third go i still enjoyed them. Well worth getting into the habit of deleting the ones that get on your nerves though.

[Ba]

I have a long term goal to take over the world and bake all Gnomes into cookies. I haven't gotten very far on the first part but I have made good progress on the latter.

[Lortet]

<p>Character goals before grinding for me, not beyond. The second my alts hit lvl 10, xp is turned off through to somewhere in the 40's. There is so much to do and I want to do it before it is grey - mentoring is good for the things you miss, but so simple (mentored characters are so much more powerful than "real" low lvl characters).</p><p>Once I get to need grinding for lvls the interest in the game is almost gone.</p>

[tass]

well since quests aernt required to level and dont have any real use besides maybe a hq or the prismatic and such I just grind and kill dungeons. You dont even need to quest to stock up on aa's just head to raids and kill all the names there are. For game game named everquest  they didnt really put alot of value on quests.

[Bluu]

Thanks so much guys this has helped alot. By the way, when people say 'AQ group LFM' in chat, do they mean access quests or armor quests?

[Lortet]

<p>Armour quests</p><p>And further to "quests not being required" so why do them? That IS the game to me - the quests (and the exploring) - not the levelling - i am actually concerned about levelling as it might be greying out quests i have missed. Levelling is not my goal. All to their own, iI suppose.</p>

[DizzyGee]

There is so much that I (still) want/need to do, that I often don't even know where to start - and I am a lvl70 wizard/sage with 100 aa-points. (Ok, I still need to level up my transmuting skill). At the moment I have been concentrating on Heritage Quests and old Access Quests (even if they are no longer necessary). In doing so I am (just) starting to get to know the zones and have discovered some zones that I never knew existed. But when I get "bored" I tend to work on one of the more difficult and time-consuming titles, e.g., "Hero of Maj'Dul" (the quest is called Of Fate and Destiny) or "Golden Sun" (available from the monks in the tower in the Village of Shin, i.e., from the Fallen Dynasty adventure pack). As was already mentioned, the Splitpaw questline not only scales and is a lot of fun, but also gives you a port to the Thundering Steppes; and then there is the vampire illusion and special spells/equipment available from the Bloodlines adventure pack - all fun stuff that should keep you busy for quite some time. My advice: Turn off combat experience and start enjoying the game. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Gladiia]

<p>I think one of my favorite things about this game over other mmos is the severe lack grinding.  I have almost never done it in this game, other than grinding some writs on occasion to help level our guild.  It's hard for me to answer the ops question - I can't seem to go anywhere without getting more to do, more goals, more things to see and accomplish.  Sometimes, there are so many things I can do I don't even know where I want to start!  </p><p>I have never turned off adv xp - it never made sense to me - but I think that when I get interested in really working another alt that I will turn it off.  I know that there is just tons of stuff I missed in the first 40 levels on my main, and it would be fun to have done more of that stuff before reaching 40.  I don't even know how many instances I skipped over between start to level 55.   I've just tried to make sure I at least conquer one ever 10 levels or so.</p>

[Araxes]

Mazzick@Antonia Bayle wrote: <blockquote>Hiya all. So I've been noticing that I have been in a rut as far as my EQ2 gaming experience goes. All my characters are mid Teir 3, and I spent my time mostly either grinding in a group or grinding solo, coupled with a few kill quests in between. Sure i'm leveling pretty fast and getting decent AA.... but I feel like I'm missing out on alot. Like... Deity quests (what lvl should you be to start them?) Writ quests (what use does faction really have?) Quests that grant titles... (what type quests do?) Decorating a house... (is there anything beyond just buying and placing furniture?) Learning a language... (are there any specific languages that would be useful to learn?) etc.... Those are the only ones I should think of. So I was wondering if you guys could give me some ideas about some goals I should set with my chars (all being mid 20's), so I can have more fun... get more variety... and well.. simply advance my character somewhere beyond leveling! Maybe tell me what YOUR goals are (or were in Teir 3) to give me some idea <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Thanks in advance for the help <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </blockquote>Hi Mazzick!  I think I mentored in your group the other day, in Stormhold. To answer your questions : Deity quests can be started around level 25.  However, there is roughly 1 quest per tier - so you won't be able to get all 5 miracles and blessings until you are at or close to level 70. Writs.  Well, if you are part of a great guild like Vermin, (winkwink) then writs serve the purpose of gaining you guild status.  They are also great time-wasters while you are LFG or wiating on a group to form.  They also gain you faction status.  For example, you an get one writ from each of the four main factions in any city (except Neriak which appears currently to work on a tier system as opposed to a faction system) and then you can go out and do all 4 writs, and gain a bunch of status.  However, some writs are heroic and in my opinion not much worht the time it takes to put a group together and then go deep into some dungeon or instance, but that's only my opinion.  So be sure to actually accept the writ and then check your hjournal to see if it is flagged heroic or not.  The solo ones are much more worth your time.  A few hundred more personal status is not worth the trouble of the heroic writs in most cases.  Additionally ... Quests that grant titles.  Well, if you gain enough faction status, you can get some spiffy prefix titles from the faction.  For example, in Freeport, the priest faction at the Temple of War in North Freeport grants titles like Blight Sage and Occultist.  Those titles can't be had from any other path.  A few other quest lines grant titles.  The one that comes to mind first are the Ashen Order / Ashen Disciple quest lines (either Ebon Dragon or Jade Tiger, respectively, depending on whether you are evil or good).  Also, if you own the Fallen Dynasty adventure pack, doing the solo pebble collecting instances in the tower can grant you a title - although I know VERY few people who can complete them all.  Housing.  Not really.  You buy it, place it, and tell your friends to come visit.  For most people its a social thing.  In Qeynos and Freeport there is such a thing as status houising - certain items in your house grant a bonus to your overall status which can thereby increase your status gain and also reduce your rent.  However, currently Kelethin and Neriak don't use this same system.  According to last night's dev chat, though, they will soon (LU 36 or 37). Languages.  Learn as many as you can!  For many of the common racial languages you can simply buy a primer from a sage in either North Freeport or South Qeynos.  However, the less common ones like Draconic, Chaos Tongue, and Death's Whisper can be more involved.  Most languages are learned by collecting items and studying them.  But Draconic involves a LENGTHY rune-collecting quest that is actually part of a larger Tier 6 quest line for special weapons called prismatics - which, sadly, almost no one does anymore since level 50 is not the end-game, now. Personally I play the game to socialize and group.  EDIT - I notice you are in Blackhawks, already so nvm about joining guilds.

[Lana]

I suggest doing Quests instead of grinding. Grinding (to me) is very boring and while I am doing I always think, "Why the hell am I doing this? Just so I can get to the next level and grind more?" For me doing quests adds a lot of variety to my gameplay. The lore in Everquest is really awesome, there is a great deal of interesting stories behind places that you go. When you grind, you just grind through and never really see the world of Norrath for all the great thought and design that went into everything. I often find myself blown away with how MUCH there is to do in this game. So many quests that are really fun to play through, so many items that are a great deal of fun working my way toward attaining. Sure I do some grinding every once in a while, but I usually run around and find (or look up) really cool quests and play them through. When I look up a quest, I don't even look at the reward. I just find it exciting revealing the lore behind Norrath. So those are my thoughts on the subject. I had a friend that quit EQ2 because he got sick of grinding. It is sad to hear that most people just roll a new toon and grind as hard and as fast as they can so they hit 70.  There is SO much more to do in EQ2, why waste it grinding in the same spot so you can get to the next tier, with the next spot? My main has several cool titles that I earned through quests, my charectors home is full of objects that I have found through questing. She speaks most of the languages and has traveled most of the world of Norrath. There is more to EQ2 than gaining levels and earning AA points. So much more. HQ's can sometimes be a lot of fun. You work your butt off for a really nice reward. Signature quests are also cool. Also if you haven't already, you should quest around in Faydwer. There are thousands of cool quests over there with great rewards that you can do solo.

[Ixalmaris]

A goal can also be to do a certain quest line for the lore/story they tell.  There are many longer quest series which tell more or less important stories like the Houndslayers etc.

[Bluu]

Ooh  great ideas guys. I didn't even think about the Splitpaw expansion, I believe I have it, but for some reason I never hear anybody shouting LFM for that zone <img src="/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Anyway, I'm a bit of a list-o-holic so I made myself a list of goals <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> <b>The first five being things that I need to get STARTED on each character </b>1.    Acquire a diety 2.    Buy house and set up 3.    Get harvesting skill up to current teir 4.    Acquire all available AQ/ArQ/Heritage/Writ quests 5.    Acquire a language quest to begin learning<b> </b> <b> And the next are basically what options I have each time I log into the game</b> -Tradeskilling -Deity quest -Craft & create mastercrafted items for your teir -Heritage quest -Language quest -Writ quest -Decorate house -General questing -Access quest -Harvesting -Guild / pickup raid -Soloing (only solo if quest; writ preferred) -Grouping (misc. areas) -PvPing (group only) -Armor quest -Splitpaw expansion quests Let me know if there is anything you think should be added to my list! <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Lortet]

<p>regarding buying a house for each alt - remember that if you share a house (make the other alts trustees) you can pool the status items each character gets to qualify for the the status needed for those spiffy status houses</p><p>You can only sell from one character per account at any one time, so having multiple houses doesn't help that. Of course you may want a house in each home city in which you have an alt.</p>

[arvydys]

<p>A major thing in EQ2 not mentionrd here is collecting and books.</p><p>Buy yourself a bookcase, and go fill it (and curse those 'stack of books' graphics).</p><p>This also ties into collecting.   Try to complete those books in zones like EL and feerott.  they require harvests, clicking on items, mob drops...lots of stuff. </p>