Returned after 2 years - No groups to be found & Soloing tedious

[Broomhilda]

<p>Hello, I just resubbed last week after two years and just ended up cancelling the account today.  My main is a Defiler and I find it impossible to solo and there are NO GROUPS TO BE FOUND on Butcherblock, my home server.  Its a lose/lose situation for me.  Cant solo effectively or fast enough and cant get a group (imlevel 72) to save my life. </p><p>I really think SOE needs to consolidate some servers.  Just my thoughts.  I provided more on my exit survey.  I used to love this game, what happened?  Its so deserted!</p><p>Peace out. </p>

[eqaddictedfool]

Its not deserted you just not 80. thats where the game is at right now. I would hate to be merged with another server when new content is released. On unrest on a weekend night we get about 4 instances of the same zones. We still get 2 versions of moors on weeknights.

[Broomhilda]

<p>SO how does one get to 80 if soloing is tedious and there are no groups? </p>

[Rahatmattata]

<p>Play on Antonia Bayle. There are low level groups. SH, FG, RoV, CBK, RE, Obelisk, DFC, Nek Castle.... I see groups for all that stuff. Even Wailing Caves and BB. Just solo or do something else while /lfg, or try to start a group... use the /lfg tool and watch 1-9 chat and your current level chat for opportunities. Push U and join one of the many guilds with low level players/alts.</p>

[Skywarrior]

<p><cite>Chaosdoll@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>SO how does one get to 80 if soloing is tedious and there are no groups? </p></blockquote><p>Love it or hate, the most efficient way to get from 70 to 80 in RoK is by following the solo quest lines.  These provide steady and fairly fast adventure xp while also giving good AA xp.  Yes, many of the quests are tedious and this exacerbates the problem of finding players to group with who are already on their second, third, or tenth alt through the quest grind.  I've done it with four characters now and have two more coming up soon, but I'm most certainly in no hurry about it.</p><p>The best way to get through the quests is to duo them with a friend, in my opinion.  In your case, find a fighter you can hang with.  You certainly do not need a full group just to level in Kunark.  I haven't leveled a Defiler personally but I did solo a Mystic through (my main at the time Kunark released) and while it wasn't like riding a rocket up the levels it certainly wasn't all that hard.  I know Defilers aren't quite as good sololing as Mystics but I know that most of the Kunark solo content is very doable by Defilers.  You aren't going to wade through stuff like you might have previous expansions though.</p><p>Many of the quests are actually quite interesting and some of them are simply "must do" because the reward(s) are simply that good.  That said, RoK is certainly a bit of paradigm shift from the rest of the game in that there is very little provided in the way of viable group heroic content that is worth leveling on.  This was the major complaint by many regarding the Kunark expansion and why so many seem to dislike it.  And since the vast majority of player posts in the official forums are complaints about some aspect of the game they dislike, it stands to reason that there is a lot of negativity about Kunark as an expansion.</p><p>I like Kunark, for the most part.  Yeah, there are things that I dislike to the point of distraction at times but that is true of every single expansion of pretty much every MMOG I've ever played, from EQ1 on.  But then I'm not the kind of player who identifies with any specific class so much that if it becomes unplayable (or at least unfun) then I have to quit the game.  I simply find another class that is fun and play it until my preferred class is fixed or is simply relegated to being a storage or crafting mule.  There are 24 classes in this game (way too many, honestly) and most of them are different enough to provide more than adequate entertainment choices as an alternative to frustration.</p>

[Finora]

<p>As the above poster said, the quickest route to 80 in ROK is via the quests. I personally have a defiler alt myself that I'm currently working through the 70s. I feel your pain. Defilers are slow soloers. My suggestion is to try to find someone to duo with, makes it MUCH faster. I have a convient person to force to help me, who happens to play an assassin alt but surely there are other people working through and they go faster for everyone with a partner.</p><p>I can't speak for butcherblock, but Everfrost seems to have groups in that level range pretty frequently, and channels are full of people forming groups, most 80s groups but still, I see groups in even the old dungeons (like fallen gate and stormhold) with regularity.</p>

[Kari]

<p>As a defiler I can agree that the solo grind is no fun and going 72-80 in kunark was almost enough to make me quit also. That whole expansion design was extremely tough on defilers.  I was fortunate enough to be in an active guild and had a friend that would duo with me and kill things.</p><p>If you do want to keep playing I would recommend that you try to find a large guild and see if anyone would invest the time to help you level up. A lot of people in active guilds just group in their guild and avoid pickups.  Alternatively, you could betray to a mystic, they are much better soloers than we are. The problem would be losing all of your spell upgrades.</p>

[Xalmat]

<p>It's natural for MMOs to have a very small non-level-capped population. Unfortunately you're going to have this problem with just about every established MMO out there (ie: been out for more than a couple years). And EQ2 is no exception.</p>

[Obadiah]

<p><cite>Karianne@Antonia Bayle wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>As a defiler I can agree that the solo grind is no fun and going 72-80 in kunark was almost enough to make me quit also. <strong>That whole expansion design was extremely tough on defilers.  </strong></p></blockquote><p>Darn skippy it was.</p><p>I got to level 71 in RoK with my Defiler (who was my #2 toon at the time) and then gave up and played my other toons. Didn't touch him til a couple months ago. If you can stomach soloing in RoK until 75, as a healer you should still be able to get a group for some of the easier TSO zones, which are good XP. There are also always people willing to go trio or so Shard of Fear for certain drops.</p><p>Once you get even your T1 shard gear your DPS when soloing more than DOUBLES. (At least mine did). I looked at parses after banging out a bunch of Moors solo quests and the shard armor accounted for<strong> OVER 70% of my DPS</strong>. But .... what stinks is even if (like me) you have the shards to buy it from an alt, you can't use it til you're 80. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/9d71f0541cff0a302a0309c5079e8dee.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Yimway]

<p>As others have said,  solo to 80, then the MMO begins.</p>

[Daysy]

<p>You're 72 so Kunark is indicated. There are loads of quests there and they're great to duo. However, they're seen as being exclusively solo, so nobody will join up, in case one of his friends sees him and thinks he's a wimp for doing a solo quest in conjunction with someone else.</p><p>Find yourself a guild of decent people and there are sure to be some keen to duo through Kunark with a healer.</p>

[Yimway]

<p><cite>Daysy wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Find yourself a guild of decent people and there are sure to be some keen to duo through Kunark with a healer.</p></blockquote><p>Unless you have a partner that plays the exact times you do, duoing this content isn't an option.</p><p>If you are a healer having trouble with it, you simply need to respec for dps and set your nose to grinding this crap out so you can get to the real game.</p>

[Maebus]

<p>EQ2 might be the only MMO out there that actually discourages grouping due to the way AA's are handled and then the RoK expansion that was released without group content available while leveling. I feel you, my group just returned but we have not been able to do the solo questing thing in RoK yet. We rerolled on a new server and are again enjoying the game. On AB the lower levels have some grouping going on but again due to AA issues it is not what it used to be. We are hoping when we will be mid 70's by the time we are done with all content prior to RoK that we can get through that mess quickly and into the new expansion.</p><p>A good guild is a great place to start. A healer should not have a problem getting groups.</p>