Coming Back Low

[Zhern]

<p> Guys, I have recently come back to EQ2 after a big time off. I am enjoying the game again. But want to take a break from the high level stuff. My brother in law and myself are wanting to start new characters to enjoy the new content. So I have several questions.</p><ol><li>Which newbie area has changed the most? (Since we have neither played in Neriak, more than likely we will go there, but just in case, we are asking.)</li><li>Which duo classes in the area you mentioned would work the best? (Example: If we chose Neriak, we will both go Necromancer).</li><li>Which new content would you recommend? Is there any new fun quest?</li></ol><p>Let me also say this. We are looking for content, not leveling quickly. However we both want to get achievements.</p>

[Vatec]

<cite>Zhern wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> Guys, I have recently come back to EQ2 after a big time off. I am enjoying the game again. But want to take a break from the high level stuff. My brother in law and myself are wanting to start new characters to enjoy the new content. So I have several questions.</p><ol><li>Which newbie area has changed the most? (Since we have neither played in Neriak, more than likely we will go there, but just in case, we are asking.)</li><li>Which duo classes in the area you mentioned would work the best? (Example: If we chose Neriak, we will both go Necromancer).</li><li>Which new content would you recommend? Is there any new fun quest?</li></ol><p>Let me also say this. We are looking for content, not leveling quickly. However we both want to get achievements.</p></blockquote>Darklight Wood (Neriak) is a great starting area.  But all the starting areas have changed in the last couple of years, so it depends on how "big" a break you guys have taken whether they'll be new to you or not.  But SOE has definitely reworked the "newbie experience" so it's more structured:  the quest chains on the newbie islands have been expanded, the newbie villages now have quest lines starting with the racial mentors who then send you on to quest lines in the newbie hunting zones, etc.

[Lana]

I would say that Neriak would be the best place to start out. There are tons of quests, both inside Neriak, and in the outdoor zone Darklight woods. There is a lot of lore,  and the quests are pretty fun. If you guys want to play on the good side, Kelethin is also pretty cool. I personally despise Greater Faydark, not for any real solid reason, I just hate navigating it for some reason. If you do all the quest lines in Darklight and in Neriak, you will come out of there around level 20 or so, with a pretty solid start on AA points. One of the quest lines sends you to butcherblock, where there is also a lot of quests and content. But so far, Darklight wood is my favorite place to start out new classes.As far as classes go, Duo's generally work best when the two classes support each other well. The obvious option would be a healer/tank combo, but if you guys both want to play squishies (casters) then perhaps a Necromancer/Coercer would be a good combo. I have an alt Warlock that I play with my friends Necromancer, and it is a lot of fun. The pet tanks, the warlock melts the mobs face off, rinse and repeat. The warlock gets a couple portal spells which is handy for travel purposes too. But I personally think a Necro/Coercer would be a strong team, the Coercer can Mezz adds, or stop the battle for a moment so the pet can heal up or whatever.If what you guys are looking to do is content, then you really want to go for a Duo that works very well together, so that you guys can do some of the Heroic content as well. I two box a Defiler and Berserker, and with the two of them I can do just about anything. With both of them, I have finished the quest lines in most of the zones, and can even handle some dungeons. Good luck to you guys!

[Effie]

<p>For an <i>evil</i> duo, I would suggest a Berserker and a Warden (or Fury).</p><p>Berserkers are awesome, durable meatshields that can dish out some pretty impressive AE damage and can tank anything.</p><p>Wardens are perfect healers for a duo or group plus you get super-fast SOW (45%), Portals and Evac (which all make questing a lot more enjoyable)... and if you choose a melee spec AA path, you can get right up in the action with the tank.</p><p>The best thing about a tank/healer duo is that when you want to tackle group content and dungeons, you already have the nucleus of the group. Just pick up some DPS and you're good to go!</p>

[Zhern]

<cite>Vatec wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Zhern wrote:</cite><blockquote><p> Guys, I have recently come back to EQ2 after a big time off. I am enjoying the game again. But want to take a break from the high level stuff. My brother in law and myself are wanting to start new characters to enjoy the new content. So I have several questions.</p><ol><li>Which newbie area has changed the most? (Since we have neither played in Neriak, more than likely we will go there, but just in case, we are asking.)</li><li>Which duo classes in the area you mentioned would work the best? (Example: If we chose Neriak, we will both go Necromancer).</li><li>Which new content would you recommend? Is there any new fun quest?</li></ol><p>Let me also say this. We are looking for content, not leveling quickly. However we both want to get achievements.</p></blockquote>Darklight Wood (Neriak) is a great starting area.  But all the starting areas have changed in the last couple of years, so it depends on how "big" a break you guys have taken whether they'll be new to you or not.  But SOE has definitely reworked the "newbie experience" so it's more structured:  the quest chains on the newbie islands have been expanded, the newbie villages now have quest lines starting with the racial mentors who then send you on to quest lines in the newbie hunting zones, etc.</blockquote><p>We left after EoF. Neriak is completely new to us. Currently we play Conjuror-Wizard combo, level 56-58. I also have a 58 Paladin, and burnt out on him.</p><p>But since we came back, of course Neriak is there. So we thought about starting new toons there. But didn't know if other areas had changed, so I thought I would ask.</p><p>I am the guild leader of our guild, which is small and weak by design (just family). We never wanted a big guild. But now we are seeing that our only option is to get on pick up group raids. And that's not fun. So we thought to check out the new content, maybe join another guild (bigger) for raids. Or maybe start recruiting, which is hard, unless you just stay in the newbie zones. </p><p>More than likely we will start a Tank/Healer combo. But didn't know how the other classes have changed, since we have been gone for several months.</p><p>But thanks guys for your opinions. It really sounds like Neriak is the place to go.</p>

[Kalem]

<p>The original starting areas have changed considerably for the better since launch.  That said, I'd equally recommend Neriak and Greater Fay.  </p><p>If you start out in GF, you're limmitted to a few races.  But it's a great starting area, with loads of quests.  The starting area boreders with Crushbone, and Butcher Block, so you'll be busy for quite some time.</p><p>If you start out in Neriak (Darklight Woods).  You'll be there till about 19-21.  Since you have easy access to the Commonlands, you can quest there as well, to keep things fresh.</p><p>Pick the classes you guys think you'd enjoy the most.  The game has changed a lot for the better, and leveling be it solo or duoing is rather easy.  So you don't really need to find the perfect fit.  It's not like you have to have a tank and healer.</p><p>If you want to get the most achievement xp out of quests as possible, I would recommend locking your combat xp when you ding 10.  You'll find that you'll still level at a decent pace, but that will give you more time to complete all of the quests in the Darklight Woods, Neriak, and Commonlands.  So that by the time you're 20, you can have a decent amount of AAs (20 or more AA's.).  There are plenty of quests in GF as well to supliment your AAs, though I will say that the quests in DW are easier to find, since GF is quite large.  I think Darklight Woods has the advantage since it boreders with the Commonlands which is a large zone of the same level.  Crushbone and Butcher Block are geard for tier 3 rather than tier 2.</p>