Newbie Leveling Question

WNxTyr4el · 11-05-2012, 12:55 PM

I just started last night and already got to level 11. I noticed grinding mobs and doing quests was a pretty fast way to get XP. Is this the best way to get experience throughout the whole game? I know there are dungeons and they're instanced but do quests take you to them or is it something where you bring up a menu and queue up for a dungeon? Do dungeons grant the best experience and loot?

Sorry if this has been done before but I just needed a quick, straight answer. Thanks!

General_Info · 11-05-2012, 03:03 PM

personally any way which you enjoy is the best way. xp varies by zone as well as level due to devs tinkering around trying to find a fix for people gaining xp to the extreme beyond what was intended. (odus areas as an example the % per kill is terribad there)

questing and grinding can be fun or boring depending on how you go about it. at high level geared players typically grind out lower level dungeons while mentored for AA exp (i.e a lvl90 mentored to 85 to run chelsith over and over).

take note if you want to reach adventure cap (soon to be level 95) you need 280 AAs in order to be able to level past 90.

jblackfox · 11-05-2012, 03:06 PM

Initially, up to about lev 20, exp comes pretty quickly whereever you go. Starting at 20 you do have some dungeons available but they are not all instanced. In fact at low levels most are contested areas. At higher levels dungeons probably offer more exp because the mobs are generally harder and the rewards are better but you can adventure all the way through without doing dungeons annd be fine. One of the things about EQ2 is that there is no "best way" to go. It is an individual choice.

WNxTyr4el · 11-05-2012, 07:55 PM

Oh okay, thanks. So for now basically just do quests and mobs, right? Later on I can start hitting up dungeons and such. If I'm a Silver account and dungeons drop legendary equips, I can't wear them can I O.O? That sucks if I can't. I guess I could buy equip unlocks.

Regolas · 11-05-2012, 08:32 PM

The solo quests in the non dungeon zones reward you with reasonable gear. Some quests you receive in these outdoor zones may require you to go into a dungeon to complete. Generally dungeon loot is slightly better, as the mobs are harder and originally designed for groups to kill. Nowadays you can probably do some of it solo if they are blue, and definitely with one other player or a mercenary (you need to buy AoD expansion for mercs). It's totally possible to get to 90 without going in any dungeons, but you will miss a large part of the game. But you can always go to them later using the chronomage to reduce your level temporarily. For your first character, I recommend visiting as many overland zones as possible and completing as many quests as you can. Up until around L60 the majority of loot will be treasured so you can wear it.

WNxTyr4el · 11-06-2012, 12:22 AM

Regolas wrote:

The solo quests in the non dungeon zones reward you with reasonable gear. Some quests you receive in these outdoor zones may require you to go into a dungeon to complete. Generally dungeon loot is slightly better, as the mobs are harder and originally designed for groups to kill. Nowadays you can probably do some of it solo if they are blue, and definitely with one other player or a mercenary (you need to buy AoD expansion for mercs). It's totally possible to get to 90 without going in any dungeons, but you will miss a large part of the game. But you can always go to them later using the chronomage to reduce your level temporarily. For your first character, I recommend visiting as many overland zones as possible and completing as many quests as you can. Up until around L60 the majority of loot will be treasured so you can wear it.

Thanks for the tip but what do you mean overland zones?

Mohee · 11-06-2012, 02:18 AM

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Soloing_Timeline

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Dungeon_Timeline

http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/The_Legen...Goldie_Timeline (The Golden Path)

The first link is a list of all the "Overland" zones that are meant to be soloable. Overland means they are open contested zones (Examples: Frostfang Sea, Darklight Woods, Timorous Deep, Commonlands, Antonica, ect...). The big outdoor open zones.

The second link is a list of all the dungeons in EQ2 and their level ranges. If you scroll down a little bit, you'll see the first section titled "Heroic Dungeons." These zones are contested. Meaning the mobs respawn, and anyone can zone in and share the zone with you. Little further down you'll see the list of "Major Heroic Instances." The instances are the dungeons that you have all to yourself (and they have lockout timers, and most instances are persistant, meaning you can zone out, and zone back in later and resume where you left off). Typically the instances don't respawn. There are maybe 1 or 2 instances in EQ2 where mobs respawn.

The third link is a solo timeline commonly referred to as the "Golden Path." These quests will guide you through zones as you level up. It is generally the quickest way to level up as a new player. The zones it will take you to have quest lines that will upgrade your gear as you go through them.

I think at level 15 or 20 (or something like that) you can hit "Alt + Z" and bring up the Dungeon Finder menu. Here you will be able to queue up for dungeons appropriate to your level. A fair warning though, sometimes it can take a long time to find a group this way, because not a lot of people use this tool. A more popular way to look for a group is by using the chat channels. You may also want to join up a newb friendly guild with a wide variety of different level of players as well to help find groups.

By the way, which server did you pick to play on? Some are far more populated than others and have more people in the lower-mid level ranges. That will increase your chance of finding groups. Also, with the new expansion coming in a few weeks, SOE is updating the way group XP works by increasing it (well... removing the penalty almost entirely) so hopefully, maybe, that will also encourage people to group more at lower levels (versus powerleveling themselves).

Hope some of this info helps!

WNxTyr4el · 11-06-2012, 03:37 AM

That info helps a lot! Thank you! I'm on the Unrest server and I can't wait for this week to be done so I can get back on and play some more!

I'm really enjoying the game and look forward to being able to purchase some of the expansions SMILEY . For dungeons though you mentioned doing the dungeon finder tool. Isn't that only for dungeons that people have made? What if I wanted to do a dungeon that was already in the game? How would I go about doing that? How would I go about even finding one in my area, lol.

Mohee · 11-06-2012, 09:37 AM

Alt + Z brings up the Dungeon Finder window. Which is used to queue for groups of normal dungeons that are in the game.

Clicking on your EQ2 button and going to "Dungeon Maker" will allow you to browse for player made dungeons.

SMILEY

WNxTyr4el · 11-06-2012, 02:27 PM

Do they all have to be found that way or can they be entered from the world? Like at point locations

Mohee · 11-06-2012, 05:04 PM

All of the Dungeons and Instances CAN be zoned in from the world at their location (For example: The door to zone into the Halls of Fate is located in The Bonemire).

Using the Dungeon Finder will automatically port you inside of the dungeon when the group is ready and you click the "Yes" button to join/zone in. But if you want, you can always use the old school method of travelling to the zone in point within Norrath.

The player made Dungeons (accessible from Dungeon Maker in the EQ2 Menu button) can only be zoned in from that in-game window.

Regolas · 11-06-2012, 06:56 PM

On those links Mohee posted, you can click on a particular zone or dungeon, and it will give you information about it, such as what zone it is next to. Some pages have more information than others. When you're in the game, press M to bring up the map. Any purpleish arrow type symbols are dungeons off the zone. The green ones are the overland zones.

WNxTyr4el · 11-06-2012, 09:22 PM

Regolas wrote:

On those links Mohee posted, you can click on a particular zone or dungeon, and it will give you information about it, such as what zone it is next to. Some pages have more information than others. When you're in the game, press M to bring up the map. Any purpleish arrow type symbols are dungeons off the zone. The green ones are the overland zones.

Why then does the wiki say there are dungeons for level 11-15 but the dungeon finder says dungeons don't start until adventure level 20? I so noob SMILEY

Karrane1 · 11-07-2012, 12:19 AM

I haven't seen you mention if you have downloaded EQ2Maps or not..

Here is the link for the download... http://eq2interface.com/downloads/i...onOfficial.html

The game itself no longer supports maps... so you really want to have EQ2Maps installed. =)

Welcome to the game btw !!! Its always great to see new players.. esp on Unrest =)

Regolas · 11-07-2012, 12:47 AM

Another flaw in dungeon finder. Wiki is correct. The Wailing Caves in the North East of The Commonlands and Blackburrow in the South East of Antonica are both <20 dungeons. Stormhold and Fallen Gate are high teens to 25 and there's a few more instances scattered around Commonlands and Antonica too.

WNxTyr4el · 11-07-2012, 04:50 PM

Karrane1 wrote:

I haven't seen you mention if you have downloaded EQ2Maps or not..
Here is the link for the download... http://eq2interface.com/downloads/i...onOfficial.html
The game itself no longer supports maps... so you really want to have EQ2Maps installed. =)
Welcome to the game btw !!! Its always great to see new players.. esp on Unrest =)

Thanks! Two things though:

1.) What is the EQ2Maps add-on? What does it do?

2.) Are there any other useful addons I could use? Where would I find them?

Regolas · 11-07-2012, 05:51 PM

Adds more detailed maps to your map window. You shouldn't need anything else

Juggercap · 11-07-2012, 05:56 PM

Karrane1 wrote:

...
The game itself no longer supports maps...
...

What? I do agree with using eq2maps, but what does "The game itself no longer supports maps.." mean?

11-05-2012, 03:03 PM	#2
General_Info Lord Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 658	personally any way which you enjoy is the best way. xp varies by zone as well as level due to devs tinkering around trying to find a fix for people gaining xp to the extreme beyond what was intended. (odus areas as an example the % per kill is terribad there) questing and grinding can be fun or boring depending on how you go about it. at high level geared players typically grind out lower level dungeons while mentored for AA exp (i.e a lvl90 mentored to 85 to run chelsith over and over). take note if you want to reach adventure cap (soon to be level 95) you need 280 AAs in order to be able to level past 90. __________________

11-06-2012, 12:22 AM	#6
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	Regolas wrote: The solo quests in the non dungeon zones reward you with reasonable gear. Some quests you receive in these outdoor zones may require you to go into a dungeon to complete. Generally dungeon loot is slightly better, as the mobs are harder and originally designed for groups to kill. Nowadays you can probably do some of it solo if they are blue, and definitely with one other player or a mercenary (you need to buy AoD expansion for mercs). It's totally possible to get to 90 without going in any dungeons, but you will miss a large part of the game. But you can always go to them later using the chronomage to reduce your level temporarily. For your first character, I recommend visiting as many overland zones as possible and completing as many quests as you can. Up until around L60 the majority of loot will be treasured so you can wear it. Thanks for the tip but what do you mean overland zones?

11-06-2012, 02:18 AM	#7
Mohee Lord Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 502	http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Soloing_Timeline http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Dungeon_Timeline http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/The_Legen...Goldie_Timeline (The Golden Path) The first link is a list of all the "Overland" zones that are meant to be soloable. Overland means they are open contested zones (Examples: Frostfang Sea, Darklight Woods, Timorous Deep, Commonlands, Antonica, ect...). The big outdoor open zones. The second link is a list of all the dungeons in EQ2 and their level ranges. If you scroll down a little bit, you'll see the first section titled "Heroic Dungeons." These zones are contested. Meaning the mobs respawn, and anyone can zone in and share the zone with you. Little further down you'll see the list of "Major Heroic Instances." The instances are the dungeons that you have all to yourself (and they have lockout timers, and most instances are persistant, meaning you can zone out, and zone back in later and resume where you left off). Typically the instances don't respawn. There are maybe 1 or 2 instances in EQ2 where mobs respawn. The third link is a solo timeline commonly referred to as the "Golden Path." These quests will guide you through zones as you level up. It is generally the quickest way to level up as a new player. The zones it will take you to have quest lines that will upgrade your gear as you go through them. I think at level 15 or 20 (or something like that) you can hit "Alt + Z" and bring up the Dungeon Finder menu. Here you will be able to queue up for dungeons appropriate to your level. A fair warning though, sometimes it can take a long time to find a group this way, because not a lot of people use this tool. A more popular way to look for a group is by using the chat channels. You may also want to join up a newb friendly guild with a wide variety of different level of players as well to help find groups. By the way, which server did you pick to play on? Some are far more populated than others and have more people in the lower-mid level ranges. That will increase your chance of finding groups. Also, with the new expansion coming in a few weeks, SOE is updating the way group XP works by increasing it (well... removing the penalty almost entirely) so hopefully, maybe, that will also encourage people to group more at lower levels (versus powerleveling themselves). Hope some of this info helps! __________________ EQ'ing since 1999

11-06-2012, 03:37 AM	#8
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	That info helps a lot! Thank you! I'm on the Unrest server and I can't wait for this week to be done so I can get back on and play some more! I'm really enjoying the game and look forward to being able to purchase some of the expansions . For dungeons though you mentioned doing the dungeon finder tool. Isn't that only for dungeons that people have made? What if I wanted to do a dungeon that was already in the game? How would I go about doing that? How would I go about even finding one in my area, lol.

11-06-2012, 09:37 AM	#9
Mohee Lord Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 502	Alt + Z brings up the Dungeon Finder window. Which is used to queue for groups of normal dungeons that are in the game. Clicking on your EQ2 button and going to "Dungeon Maker" will allow you to browse for player made dungeons. __________________ EQ'ing since 1999

11-05-2012, 12:55 PM	#1
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	I just started last night and already got to level 11. I noticed grinding mobs and doing quests was a pretty fast way to get XP. Is this the best way to get experience throughout the whole game? I know there are dungeons and they're instanced but do quests take you to them or is it something where you bring up a menu and queue up for a dungeon? Do dungeons grant the best experience and loot? Sorry if this has been done before but I just needed a quick, straight answer. Thanks!

11-05-2012, 03:06 PM	#3
jblackfox Loremaster Join Date: Jan 2009 Posts: 42	Initially, up to about lev 20, exp comes pretty quickly whereever you go. Starting at 20 you do have some dungeons available but they are not all instanced. In fact at low levels most are contested areas. At higher levels dungeons probably offer more exp because the mobs are generally harder and the rewards are better but you can adventure all the way through without doing dungeons annd be fine. One of the things about EQ2 is that there is no "best way" to go. It is an individual choice.

11-05-2012, 07:55 PM	#4
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	Oh okay, thanks. So for now basically just do quests and mobs, right? Later on I can start hitting up dungeons and such. If I'm a Silver account and dungeons drop legendary equips, I can't wear them can I O.O? That sucks if I can't. I guess I could buy equip unlocks.

11-05-2012, 08:32 PM	#5
Regolas Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 603	The solo quests in the non dungeon zones reward you with reasonable gear. Some quests you receive in these outdoor zones may require you to go into a dungeon to complete. Generally dungeon loot is slightly better, as the mobs are harder and originally designed for groups to kill. Nowadays you can probably do some of it solo if they are blue, and definitely with one other player or a mercenary (you need to buy AoD expansion for mercs). It's totally possible to get to 90 without going in any dungeons, but you will miss a large part of the game. But you can always go to them later using the chronomage to reduce your level temporarily. For your first character, I recommend visiting as many overland zones as possible and completing as many quests as you can. Up until around L60 the majority of loot will be treasured so you can wear it.

11-06-2012, 02:27 PM	#10
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	Do they all have to be found that way or can they be entered from the world? Like at point locations

11-06-2012, 05:04 PM	#11
Mohee Lord Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 502	All of the Dungeons and Instances CAN be zoned in from the world at their location (For example: The door to zone into the Halls of Fate is located in The Bonemire). Using the Dungeon Finder will automatically port you inside of the dungeon when the group is ready and you click the "Yes" button to join/zone in. But if you want, you can always use the old school method of travelling to the zone in point within Norrath. The player made Dungeons (accessible from Dungeon Maker in the EQ2 Menu button) can only be zoned in from that in-game window. __________________ EQ'ing since 1999

11-06-2012, 06:56 PM	#12
Regolas Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 603	On those links Mohee posted, you can click on a particular zone or dungeon, and it will give you information about it, such as what zone it is next to. Some pages have more information than others. When you're in the game, press M to bring up the map. Any purpleish arrow type symbols are dungeons off the zone. The green ones are the overland zones.

11-06-2012, 09:22 PM	#13
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	Regolas wrote: On those links Mohee posted, you can click on a particular zone or dungeon, and it will give you information about it, such as what zone it is next to. Some pages have more information than others. When you're in the game, press M to bring up the map. Any purpleish arrow type symbols are dungeons off the zone. The green ones are the overland zones. Why then does the wiki say there are dungeons for level 11-15 but the dungeon finder says dungeons don't start until adventure level 20? I so noob

11-07-2012, 12:19 AM	#14
Karrane1 Tester Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 1,055	I haven't seen you mention if you have downloaded EQ2Maps or not.. Here is the link for the download... http://eq2interface.com/downloads/i...onOfficial.html The game itself no longer supports maps... so you really want to have EQ2Maps installed. =) Welcome to the game btw !!! Its always great to see new players.. esp on Unrest =) __________________

11-07-2012, 12:47 AM	#15
Regolas Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 603	Another flaw in dungeon finder. Wiki is correct. The Wailing Caves in the North East of The Commonlands and Blackburrow in the South East of Antonica are both <20 dungeons. Stormhold and Fallen Gate are high teens to 25 and there's a few more instances scattered around Commonlands and Antonica too.

11-07-2012, 04:50 PM	#16
WNxTyr4el Guardian Join Date: Dec 2011 Posts: 14	Karrane1 wrote: I haven't seen you mention if you have downloaded EQ2Maps or not.. Here is the link for the download... http://eq2interface.com/downloads/i...onOfficial.html The game itself no longer supports maps... so you really want to have EQ2Maps installed. =) Welcome to the game btw !!! Its always great to see new players.. esp on Unrest =) Thanks! Two things though: 1.) What is the EQ2Maps add-on? What does it do? 2.) Are there any other useful addons I could use? Where would I find them?

11-07-2012, 05:51 PM	#17
Regolas Loremaster Join Date: Oct 2010 Posts: 603	Adds more detailed maps to your map window. You shouldn't need anything else

11-07-2012, 05:56 PM	#18
Juggercap Elder Join Date: Jul 2012 Posts: 208	Karrane1 wrote: ... The game itself no longer supports maps... ... What? I do agree with using eq2maps, but what does "The game itself no longer supports maps.." mean? __________________ ------------------ Run away! Run away!