New convert looking to feel at home

[jarland]

Hey guys. I've been a WoW addict for a year, and my love affair is over. I simply love the feel of this game but I'm hoping some of you can give me some assistance to make me feel a little more "comfortable" in my surroundings as this is only my second MMO and WoW kind of likes to baby people so it isn't the easiest transition.First, threat meters? I know they exist, just having trouble finding this, maybe I'm not aware of a different name used for them here.Second, anything like an experience per hour UI mod? Believe it or not, sometimes I enjoy mindless grinding because I can totally space out for an hour or two while I'm watching tv.And last, any guides on how exactly to install UI mods? I don't wanna be screwing up an installation for a game that took me all of half my life to download.Thanks guys. Look forward to contributing to the community!

[Deathma]

<p>Check this site out, has tons of mods and a FAQ for installing them</p><p><a href="http://eq2interface.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">http://eq2interface.com/</a></p>

[jarland]

Thank you much! Any you personally recommend?<cite>Deathmate wrote:</cite><blockquote><p>Check this site out, has tons of mods and a FAQ for installing them</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://eq2interface.com/" target="_blank">http://eq2interface.com/</a></p></blockquote>

[Valthius]

<p>Hey,  </p><p> EQ2 MAPS</p><p>is really nice</p><p><a rel="nofollow" href="http://maps.eq2interface.com/index.php?action=download" target="_blank">http://maps.eq2interface.com/index....action=download</a></p>

[Aurumn]

Not having played WoW I don't know what you're referring to as a Threat Meter. Perhaps if you could describe exactly what it does. Going on the name I <b>assume</b> it is something that tells you how tough your target is. If this is the case then That's called the "con" or "consider" of the mob around here. For a rough idea, the mob's name will be color coded as follows:grey (trivial, no xp) < green < blue < White (even match) < yellow < orange < red (you must have a deathwish)In addition there may be modifiers depicted by 1, 2 or 3 arrows pointing up or down next to the level #. Up arrows means its tougher than it appears. Down arrows means it looks tougher than it really is. I've been told the rule of thumb is for every ^ (up arrow) you need one more person to help... so a level 20^^^ would need 3 level 20's. I've also heard that each arrow is roughly equivalent to a level (level 20^ = Level 21-ish). I dunno which is the official translation, but basically just assume ^ means harder. Also there are two special types of mobs: <ul><li>Heroic: Usually tough to solo or intended for a group of 2-6 players of comparable level.</li><li>Epic: Very tough mob intended for 2-4 groups (a raid) of comparable level players. The number of groups it is intended for is usually denoted by a coat of arms. X2 = 2 groups, X3 = 3 groups and X4 = 4 groups. Generally if you see one of these and it's not waaaay below your level, give it a wide berth. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> </li></ul>In both of these cases a player that outlevels the mob is usually able to take it down with less, or even no (if they're like WAY over its level), help.

[Malki]

I had a look around on EQ2 interface, and couldnt see a threat meter there..although, I could be half asleep still.@Mezz,A threat meter is used in WoW for raiding so the dps can see how much hate they are generating towards a mob and adjust their nuking accordingly, also for the tanks to keep in the right order on the aggro list, so that if one tank needs to back off for a moment, the off tank is 2nd on the aggro list so the mob goes for themEDIT: Why is my signature in German *boggles*

[Deathma]

<p>I think he means a "Hate Meter" and as far as i know i dont think there is a mod...but i could be wrong.</p><p> Also i use Profit Reborn UI..... if you have a good size screen you will love it.</p>

[Miladi]

<cite>Rhiaden@Runnyeye wrote:</cite><blockquote>I had a look around on EQ2 interface, and couldnt see a threat meter there..although, I could be half asleep still.@Mezz,A threat meter is used in WoW for raiding so the dps can see how much hate they are generating towards a mob and adjust their nuking accordingly, also for the tanks to keep in the right order on the aggro list, so that if one tank needs to back off for a moment, the off tank is 2nd on the aggro list so the mob goes for themEDIT: Why is my signature in German *boggles*</blockquote>You probably won't find anything like the "threat meter" in this game. We don't get that kind of information from the game, other than how much damage you're doing and what others are doing, in the chat window. Thankfully we don't have anything like that here as it takes any type of "skill" requirements out of playing your character and all you end up doing is taking note of some meter and adjusting accordingly. I for one would hate something like that, its way too much of an "easy mode" add on.

[Elorah]

Eq2maps updater (already mentioned) is a LIFE saver...  You might want to look into the PoI finder add on to the map as well....

[Kahlef]

Yup. No Threat Meter on this game. We don't have AddOns in the same way that WoW does. Actually as far as I know no other game has.What we have here are interface modifications. I think everyone already listed the only ones who will be a time saver here, that are EQ2Maps and PoI finder. Everything else is mostly a question of taste. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Anyway, if you have any more questions about the game feel free to ask. <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Shumanjo]

HoiI have escaped Wow myself, and EQ2 do not have any way near same freedom when it comes toaddons. EQ2 have no lua programming, I wish they did, but you just have to overcome and adapt.As others said before EQ2 Maps, Poi finder are essentials that will make your EQ2 life easier.Profit Ui is a very nice set of Ui modifications that makes the information you get from game easier to view.With Profit (and many other Ui collections) you also get Infocenter which have alot of info for newbies.You also get ability to get directed to AllaKhazam and other sites directly from quests and items, usingan internal browser, so you have no need to alt tab out to check something. Look at it as a builtin Thottbotor Wowhead.You get all this with other Ui collections too so your best bet will be go to <a rel="nofollow" href="http://www.eq2interface.com" target="_blank">http://www.eq2interface.com</a>and look for yourself.You can find all this on the net too, you do not need any Ui modifications at all, and I must admit youget alot more freedom in basic EQ2 than you do in Basic Wow. Like you can move, resize and change colorson most without any Ui modifications at all.

[jarland]

No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!

[Spyderbite]

<cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!</blockquote>Yup yup. WoW converts, please leave your "Easy Mode" at the door. You won't need it any longer. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Norrsken]

<cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!</blockquote>well. you have a sort of threat meter. when the mobs turn aroudnand beat on you instead of the tank, you know that you did too much dps. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />Other than that, no. hehe. <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[jarland]

Haha, I love that. Honestly raiding on WoW got so boring with all the mods telling me what to do. I might as well have been a bot.<cite>Ulvhamne@Nagafen wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!</blockquote>well. you have a sort of threat meter. when the mobs turn aroudnand beat on you instead of the tank, you know that you did too much dps. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" />Other than that, no. hehe. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></blockquote>

[Seidhkona]

<cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!</blockquote>While you can't exactly measure hate, you can measure damage-per-second. One point of damage pretty much equals one point of hate.  A big key for the hard-hitting DPS classes is... count to five once the tank pulls before you start hitting the monster. Don't open with a big nuke - let the tank get a little hate built up. Start with small attacks, DOTs, and debuffs. Once the creature is to about half health, then you can pull out the stops and fry it in its tracks.  If you do have the thing turn on you, RUN TO THE TANK, slow your DPS and use any hate-reducing or deaggro spells you've got.So, back to measuring DPS. There may be other tools out there, but probably the most commonly used is <a rel="nofollow" href="http://home.maine.rr.com/eqaditu/ACT/" target="_blank">Advanced Combat Tracker</a>.  ACT is a parser that does its magic by reading your log files.  It's can be either a very useful tool for learning how to get the most out of your character, or it can lead people into ePeen-waving competitions where they try to outparse each other and in so doing end up getting their group or raid wiped because of their own stupid vanity.  Don't let yourself fall into this latter category, the rest of your group will love you more.There are also <a rel="nofollow" href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/plugin-downloads-f8.html" target="_blank">plug-ins for ACT</a>.  The one I like best is "<a rel="nofollow" href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/single-double-attack-detection-notification-v1-0-1-2-t20.html" target="_blank">Single/Double Autoattack Notification/Detection</a>", which gives you a small audible sound when your autoattack hits, which lets me get the timing right on when I push hotkeys for my combat arts. I listen for the autoattack, do some combat arts, then let the next autoattack fire. You want to make sure you get your combat arts and/or spells in (i.e., button mashing), but you also want to let any autoattacks you have hit if you are doing melee or ranged weapons.  So you want to develop a rhythm in which you fire a spell/art, let your autoattack hit, then fire another spell or art.  This is how you do the maximum possible DPS.And P.S. to SPyderbite... have you seen the <a href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/harvest-tracking-v1-0-1-1-t16.html" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">ACT plug-in that keeps track of your harvests</a>?  I've found it to be pretty cool just to look back and see exacly what I got! I know you're also a harvesting fiend <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[jarland]

<cite>Sigrdrifa@Lucan DLere wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>No threat meter? I have to think for myself? Oh thank god. I think I found the right game. Thanks for the help guys!</blockquote>While you can't exactly measure hate, you can measure damage-per-second. One point of damage pretty much equals one point of hate.  A big key for the hard-hitting DPS classes is... count to five once the tank pulls before you start hitting the monster. Don't open with a big nuke - let the tank get a little hate built up. Start with small attacks, DOTs, and debuffs. Once the creature is to about half health, then you can pull out the stops and fry it in its tracks.  If you do have the thing turn on you, RUN TO THE TANK, slow your DPS and use any hate-reducing or deaggro spells you've got.So, back to measuring DPS. There may be other tools out there, but probably the most commonly used is <a rel="nofollow" href="http://home.maine.rr.com/eqaditu/ACT/" target="_blank">Advanced Combat Tracker</a>.  ACT is a parser that does its magic by reading your log files.  It's can be either a very useful tool for learning how to get the most out of your character, or it can lead people into ePeen-waving competitions where they try to outparse each other and in so doing end up getting their group or raid wiped because of their own stupid vanity.  Don't let yourself fall into this latter category, the rest of your group will love you more.There are also <a rel="nofollow" href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/plugin-downloads-f8.html" target="_blank">plug-ins for ACT</a>.  The one I like best is "<a rel="nofollow" href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/single-double-attack-detection-notification-v1-0-1-2-t20.html" target="_blank">Single/Double Autoattack Notification/Detection</a>", which gives you a small audible sound when your autoattack hits, which lets me get the timing right on when I push hotkeys for my combat arts. I listen for the autoattack, do some combat arts, then let the next autoattack fire. You want to make sure you get your combat arts and/or spells in (i.e., button mashing), but you also want to let any autoattacks you have hit if you are doing melee or ranged weapons.  So you want to develop a rhythm in which you fire a spell/art, let your autoattack hit, then fire another spell or art.  This is how you do the maximum possible DPS.And P.S. to SPyderbite... have you seen the <a rel="nofollow" href="http://actparse.freeforums.org/harvest-tracking-v1-0-1-1-t16.html" target="_blank">ACT plug-in that keeps track of your harvests</a>?  I've found it to be pretty cool just to look back and see exacly what I got! I know you're also a harvesting fiend <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></blockquote>Thank you much! During my time in WoW I found it perfectly easy to use my brain to measure threat (I was a mage in those days), but I had to grab a threat meter simply to not be a hypocrite as I found nearly everyone around me thought that cloth was absolutely made for tanking.

[Alamoo]

Hai jarland! =D =D =DBack to 10 hrs...woot! woot!

[Seidhkona]

<cite>Alamoo wrote:</cite><blockquote>Hai jarland! =D =D =DBack to 10 hrs...woot! woot!</blockquote>Heh! Ignore the time estimate on the launcher download when it's updating. It is notoriously wrong.  And welcome to Norrath!

[jarland]

I bring my crew! Hey alamo!Maybe we will be raiding in this game after all <img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Alamoo]

<cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>I bring my crew! Hey alamo!Maybe we will be raiding in this game after all <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />" /></blockquote>never gonna....oops.hehe, yup. As soon as my super awesome connection gets me started!

[Alamoo]

Btw i will say i loved the graphics in screenshots and vids. The skills look quite cool. I am leaning towards a wizard..any suggestions <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Collison]

<cite>Alamoo wrote:</cite><blockquote>Btw i will say i loved the graphics in screenshots and vids. The skills look quite cool. I am leaning towards a wizard..any suggestions <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /></blockquote>No...im a wizard.....and i dont feel you are cool enough to be like me :0.By the way you shelled out the money for the game and never even tried it? You must really like me and jar lol

[Alamoo]

<cite>chrissy17104 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Alamoo wrote:</cite><blockquote>Btw i will say i loved the graphics in screenshots and vids. The skills look quite cool. I am leaning towards a wizard..any suggestions <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /></blockquote>No...im a wizard.....and i dont feel you are cool enough to be like me :0</blockquote>But...but.....they are..... =/Okay fine! ill be a .....wizard <img src="/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[Alamoo]

<cite>chrissy17104 wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Alamoo wrote:</cite><blockquote>Btw i will say i loved the graphics in screenshots and vids. The skills look quite cool. I am leaning towards a wizard..any suggestions <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /></blockquote>No...im a wizard.....and i dont feel you are cool enough to be like me :0.By the way you shelled out the money for the game and never even tried it? You must really like me and jar lol</blockquote>Actually, i have played everquest before (not EQ2, however it was only for a week cuz i was at my cousin's and he had it <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /&gt<img src="/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />...sooooo....Welll needless to say you have already seen my post about our previous adventure in our forums =). The money has to go somewhere <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/69934afc394145350659cd7add244ca9.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img mce_tsrc=" />" /> Besides they charge me on the 17th of next month lol. Talk about not being so greedy upfront eh.And..i can haz wizard?P.S.  HAI!!!

[Wyle]

<cite>Miladian wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Rhiaden@Runnyeye wrote:</cite><blockquote>A threat meter is used in WoW for raiding so the dps can see how much hate they are generating towards a mob and adjust their nuking accordingly, also for the tanks to keep in the right order on the aggro list, so that if one tank needs to back off for a moment, the off tank is 2nd on the aggro list so the mob goes for them</blockquote>Thankfully we don't have anything like that here as it takes any type of "skill" requirements out of playing your character and all you end up doing is taking note of some meter and adjusting accordingly. I for one would hate something like that, its way too much of an "easy mode" add on.</blockquote>That's what I used to think too before I started using Omen, the threat meter used in WoW. Once I got it I quickly saw otherwise. Now, I'll boot anyone from my group if they don't have an up to date version of it.Far from an easy mode, it allows you to see a full spectrum of information as to what is going on around you. For a tank it is vital for being able to understand how much threat you're putting out, whether or not there is someone in your group who is playing at subpar skill, and whether or not your healers are close to getting into danger.For a healer, the ones who in WoW need the threat meter the most, its about the only way to gauge whether or not you are in danger of stealing aggro by healing too much, and as well, whether or not one of your DPS is about to [Removed for Content] your tank, steal aggro, and cause a wipe by forcing you to split your heals around the group.The threat meter doesn't make it any easier to play well, but it does make it harder to have an excuse for playing poorly. That's a subtle, but very key difference.

[Miladi]

<cite>Wyleai wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Miladian wrote:</cite><blockquote><cite>Rhiaden@Runnyeye wrote:</cite><blockquote>A threat meter is used in WoW for raiding so the dps can see how much hate they are generating towards a mob and adjust their nuking accordingly, also for the tanks to keep in the right order on the aggro list, so that if one tank needs to back off for a moment, the off tank is 2nd on the aggro list so the mob goes for them</blockquote>Thankfully we don't have anything like that here as it takes any type of "skill" requirements out of playing your character and all you end up doing is taking note of some meter and adjusting accordingly. I for one would hate something like that, its way too much of an "easy mode" add on.</blockquote>That's what I used to think too before I started using Omen, the threat meter used in WoW. Once I got it I quickly saw otherwise. Now, I'll boot anyone from my group if they don't have an up to date version of it.Far from an easy mode, it allows you to see a full spectrum of information as to what is going on around you. For a tank it is vital for being able to understand how much threat you're putting out, whether or not there is someone in your group who is playing at subpar skill, and whether or not your healers are close to getting into danger.For a healer, the ones who in WoW need the threat meter the most, its about the only way to gauge whether or not you are in danger of stealing aggro by healing too much, and as well, whether or not one of your DPS is about to [Removed for Content] your tank, steal aggro, and cause a wipe by forcing you to split your heals around the group.The threat meter doesn't make it any easier to play well, but it does make it harder to have an excuse for playing poorly. That's a subtle, but very key difference.</blockquote>This threat meter you're referring to is sooooo much easy mode gaming that its not even debatable. You're basically taking any skill out of playing a character by letting him/her know how much damage or healing aggro they have, and using that to adjust your playstyle accordingly. How is that not taking any skill out of the equation? If you, as a healer or a dps can't figure out how much aggro you generate after 50-80 levels of playing your character, then you need to stop playing it solo and start grouping more to get the skills needed.Your explanation of what it does shows <b><u>exactly </u></b> what I mean.

[Wyle]

Now we're drifting off topic to EQII, but I would have to say - unless you've raided in WoW, you really can't know. I can say its not something to make the game easier because I have experience with raiding with and without it in the game it is used in.Its primary purpose is to eliminate the excuses game for the bad players. After using it in as a few as a few raids, any decent player no longer needs it - it shows them what kinds of things can be problems, they then try out new forms of behavoir and no longer make those mistakes. After they start on that path, the addon provides nearly no utility to them. It will not help you in learning to improve your play, it will merely call you publicly on bad play.In a raid wipe, the blame game is popular, and that's when people can point to things like damage meters, healing meters, and threat meters, and say - stop blaming others and go sit down and examine your own play skills. These meters, and if you've used them in that game at raid level you will know, don't make it easier - they just give data to enable the skilled player to examine different choices and understand why those choices are leading to different outputs.You want to see an easy button addon, look at something like a boss mods addon, that actually calls out what should be done when. That is not what is being discussed with a threat meter, but with no equivalent in EQII to the threat meter, it's not really possible to explain or discuss it here.

[Miladi]

<cite>Wyleai wrote:</cite><blockquote>Now we're drifting off topic to EQII, but I would have to say - unless you've raided in WoW, you really can't know. I can say its not something to make the game easier because I have experience with raiding with and without it in the game it is used in.Its primary purpose is to eliminate the excuses game for the bad players. After using it in as a few as a few raids, any decent player no longer needs it - it shows them what kinds of things can be problems, they then try out new forms of behavoir and no longer make those mistakes. After they start on that path, the addon provides nearly no utility to them. It will not help you in learning to improve your play, it will merely call you publicly on bad play.In a raid wipe, the blame game is popular, and that's when people can point to things like damage meters, healing meters, and threat meters, and say - stop blaming others and go sit down and examine your own play skills. These meters, and if you've used them in that game at raid level you will know, don't make it easier - they just give data to enable the skilled player to examine different choices and understand why those choices are leading to different outputs.You want to see an easy button addon, look at something like a boss mods addon, that actually calls out what should be done when. That is not what is being discussed with a threat meter, but with no equivalent in EQII to the threat meter, it's not really possible to explain or discuss it here.</blockquote><p>I have raided in WoW, a while ago, but still I've done Molten Core and Onyxia for example. I still think that the only thing that the threat meter does is to eliminate any and all skill involved in aggro control. I've played probably 7-8 different MMORPG's and I've never had to resort to having an add on that's telling me how not to s**k at playing my class. I've never over aggroed a raid mob in my life, because I learned how not to do it, and still was able to contribute more than my share of damage.</p><p>Sorry about derailing the thread, but I'll quit if they ever put one of these in the game, because it would mean the lamers have won, and my game has succumbed to easy-mode wannabe's.</p>

[Wilin]

<p>A couple of other things to note about ProfitUI...</p><p>ProfitUI although nice and pretty and useful, it does chew up more processor cycles than the default UI so it will slow down your system a bit if you're not running a decent setup. And you'll quickly notice that EQ2 needs more system resources than WoW by default.</p><p>ProfitUI is extremely handy for healers and some other support classes, but not so much for tanks and DPS.</p><p>Also, you might want to get the version of ProfitUI that auto updates so that you don't get a surprise on patch day where you can't login because the game UI was updated but your ProfitUI wasn't.</p><p>Just a couple of things to keep in mind when trying to pick a UI for you.</p>

[Zhedx]

<cite>jarland wrote:</cite><blockquote>I bring my crew! Hey alamo!Maybe we will be raiding in this game after all <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY<img src=" width="15" height="15" /></blockquote>That's right, there is no escaping us!

[Risiko]

<p>What server are you guys going to play on?  You sound like a fun group.  I might come make an enchanter with you.</p>