Returning Old Player, some questions etc

[Natras]

<p>Hello, i played EQ2 way back at release, but only for 3 months and was pulled away for RL issues, then eventually went to others games.</p><p>I'm back now and looking to enjoy eq2 properly but have a few questions if answers are possible.</p><p>1.  How is it for new players levelling, are zones empty until you hit max level, are there plenty of players hanging about as you level to group up with for dungeons etc.</p><p>2. Dungeons, how are they done, is it like eq1 where it's everyman for themselves and spawn camping etc, or is it instanced for the group you go in with, and is there a dungeon finder system or do you just shout for extra people and head on in, either would be fine heh.</p><p>3. Server populations, how are they, i noticed on their servers that the UK server has 170k people, but i'm guessing thats characters in total, not 170k people online at the same time.  Is the UK server a little ghost town like or should i possibly try the US servers,  find one with a Euro population for similar gaming times etc.</p><p>4. How is levelling up, solo wise, can you level from 1 to 90 alone if needed, or after a certain level do you need to group up to continue, and is levelling via questing, or grinding like in EQ1.</p><p>5. Would welcome any further important tips and tricks you think a new/returning player might need to know urgently.</p><p>Kind Regards for help in advance.</p>

[Raahl]

<p><cite>Natras wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>Hello, i played EQ2 way back at release, but only for 3 months and was pulled away for RL issues, then eventually went to others games.</p><p>I'm back now and looking to enjoy eq2 properly but have a few questions if answers are possible.</p><p>1.  How is it for new players levelling, are zones empty until you hit max level, are there plenty of players hanging about as you level to group up with for dungeons etc.</p><p>2. Dungeons, how are they done, is it like eq1 where it's everyman for themselves and spawn camping etc, or is it instanced for the group you go in with, and is there a dungeon finder system or do you just shout for extra people and head on in, either would be fine heh.</p><p>3. Server populations, how are they, i noticed on their servers that the UK server has 170k people, but i'm guessing thats characters in total, not 170k people online at the same time.  Is the UK server a little ghost town like or should i possibly try the US servers,  find one with a Euro population for similar gaming times etc.</p><p>4. How is levelling up, solo wise, can you level from 1 to 90 alone if needed, or after a certain level do you need to group up to continue, and is levelling via questing, or grinding like in EQ1.</p><p>5. Would welcome any further important tips and tricks you think a new/returning player might need to know urgently.</p><p>Kind Regards for help in advance.</p></blockquote><ol><li>Zone population is lower in the lower level zones.  I started seeing more people around level 60'ish, but not in large amounts.  So unless you are very agressive at getting pickup groups or have a guild with some low level players in it, you will probably not group much till higher levels.</li><li>There's more instanced zones than free for all zones, especially at higher levels.   Not sure on the dungeon finder system.  </li><li>No solid numbers on server populations.  Yes not 170k online at a time, that would be the total population.  Not sure on the UK server populations.  In the US, I've heard that AB is one of the more populated servers.</li><li>Leveling up is rather easy.  Yes you can solo for 1-90, but if you want to complete some of the nice quests for items you will need some help at times.  Questing is your best source of exp.   You can easily out level the content because there are so many quests. </li><li>When you get the chance to set your AA exp slider, I'd recomend 40-70% depending on how quickly you want to level.  This should ensure you get AA's fairly quickly and you don't out level the quests too quickly.</li></ol>

[Revman]

<p><cite>Natras wrote:</cite></p><blockquote><p>3. Server populations, how are they, i noticed on their servers that the UK server has 170k people, but i'm guessing thats characters in total, not 170k people online at the same time.  Is the UK server a little ghost town like or should i possibly try the US servers,  find one with a Euro population for similar gaming times etc.</p><p>4. How is levelling up, solo wise, can you level from 1 to 90 alone if needed, or after a certain level do you need to group up to continue, and is levelling via questing, or grinding like in EQ1.</p></blockquote><p>3. Splitpaw is packed with people. Promises of server upgrades coming in as well.</p><p>4. Easy to solo 1-90. Questing is the fastest way unless you have high level friends.</p>

[gatrm]

<p>I have found that populations in lower level zones and grouping lower level content depends wholy on the server.  I recently started a new toon on Antonia Bayle Server and was amazed to see people running low and mid level groups.  I have seen a lot of others doing the solo quest thing in New Halas starter area as well, so it doesn't feel empty in the low levels on AB like it does on other servers. </p><p>At cap I suspect most servers are pretty populous. </p><p>There's no dungeon finder system.  The LFG tool theoretically would allow you to find and contact a group or form a group with others that want to do something similar as you, but in my experience, no one uses that.</p>