Good morning Redguides:
I'm one month into my six box team using MQ2 and CWTN and I'm having a blast. I thought it might be enlightening for members newer than me to see what I did, and it might be laughable for the vets to see my dumb errors. Having said that, my dumb errors really have taught me a lot about using the system AND about EQ since I last was a regular player. I want to thank everyone that gave me great advice on my first posts a month ago and for giving me a free month of VV (which I've just renewed today!). I apologize in advance for the length of this post, I'm a long talker (writer)! If you want to skip the detail and go to the questions, they are at the bottom.
Anyway, I decided first that I wanted to run 6 boxes instead of 3 with mercs. Most of the advice I got was that I'd appreciate that decision later, so better to start now and learn. That was great advice not only for learning but for a decision I'll get to later in this text. I went with a Shadow Knight as my tank and driver and put him on my main (Gold) account. For the other five, I started FTP accounts and created a Cleric, Beast Lord, Berzerker, Enchanter and Shaman. I know this isn't optimal, but I wanted to experience the play of a few classes I've never got past 10th level. I wanted to do Alchemy eventually and play the BL, BZ and ENC which I've never played at all before. I'm considering adding a Rogue (mostly because I want to experience Poison making eventually). I bought the CWTN plugins for all 6 characters.
Anyway, I skipped the tutorial and started right in Crescent Reach and started playing with buttons and learning commands. I watched most if not all of Sic's videos and just started to kill snakes and stuff just outside the gates and got the group to 10th level in pretty quick order. I had decided to play on Firiona Vie because I thought that might make buying equipment easier down the line. I had no other characters on that server so had no platinum to start with - but I kind of liked it that way - I wanted to see what I could do without twinking them.
On that server, parked in CR, were a few members of the guild "***". I don't know if they were automated or not, but the second my group would pop into the zone, they would run right up to us and start buffing. Their higher level spells kept making my automated Cleric and Shaman chain cast buffs that would never land. This is also when I got some more help from the boards here, and read all the commands in the CWTN options so I could stop the Cleric from chain casting Yaulp. I also learned how to go into the Character Options and stop certain buffs from being cast on characters. I was having trouble with the spell casters casting competing buffs on all characters. Once buffs would land, another character would cast their buff which overwrote the first one. That caused the first character to see their buffs weren't on and they went and recast the buff - it went around in a circle.
On my one main character who is at 115, I've always wanted to start and finish the Hunter quests. I thought "why not take my group around and level up while killing nameds?" I won't level as fast but I'll see all the old world and complete a bunch of achievements along the way. First stop was Butcherblock where there is a aqua goblin named that is only like 14th level. I had forgotten that good races/cities don't like Troll Shadow Knights! After the guards at the dock killed the SK, we opted to come back to this plan later and go back to CR.
About 12th level I got cocky. It was easy killing reds in CR at this point, and I was tired of having to deal with *** (even though they were nice, is was disconcerting to have other characters run up to me all the time while I'm learning macros), so I ventured out to Blightfire Moors. Here's where the lessons really kicked in. Lesson 2 - Make use of the extra UI information given you by VV! I finally notices that the target window didn't just have the mob's stats like normal, but also told me the level and class of the mob! Everything was fine when I was pulling 16 and 17 level mobs. Things didn't go so well when I accidentally pulled a level 22 because I wasn't paying attention! First group wipe!
I laughed, and went back out. Things went well and I gained a few levels. I decided instead of running back to CR to buy new spells, I'd run the tank to POK. Lesson #2 came shortly after. I pooled all the money on the SK and headed in. I had forgotten about Plaguebringer after all these years (Lesson 3). He popped and wiped the group while the SK was in POK. In a way that was good because about that time I also was reading in RG about leaving toons AFK in public areas and how I should have ended the camp and macros anyway when the SK left. At least now the other toons died and the SK didn't. :-)
After regrouping, the next few levels went by quickly. I decided at 18, I wanted to do the daily quest. At this point, my characters only had the spells they needed to run CWTN and only about 1 piece of Defiant gear apiece. I took the group to POK and got the 20th level daily which was Guk. There, multiple lessons ensued like, "Don't have the party autofollow over the little bridges, use MQ2Nav (that is what it is there for)", and "Don't use weird combinations of modes/camps/Come To Me because the toons will run all over the place". A number of trains happened (which actually caused me to laugh remembering the old Blackburrow trains) and deaths occurred, but we eventually figured out the Chase Assist mode with the tank as MA. With that finished we all got our first reward armor and looked for the next challenge.
I thought, "Hey, why not do an LDON" since it will be an instanced zone I thought it might be fun and safer way to level. I did a couple and got all the way to 28 in just the time needed to complete two of them (kill missions). What I forgot about was that there were traps in LDONs. I ran right over one, the rest of the group chased, all got poisoned, and because I was not watching closely, 4 of the 6 died. Another great lesson!
So that is where I sit after a month, mostly playing a few hours on the weekends only. I feel like I've learned enough to keep going with this team and get better and more efficient with leveling. I'm trying to decide on continuing with LDON, doing other quests or just grinding experience in various zones...
QUESTIONS (most but not all are CWTN - but I didn't think this post should go in that forum:
1. Is the SK/CLR/BEAS/BZ/ENC/SHM a fatally flawed group at higher levels? Will I need more DPS?
2. Will the ENCH under CWTN automatically cast an illusion on an evil character in a good zone or vice versa? Anything out there for that or is that just a manual decision?
3. With little cash, what are the best quests for armoring up (at least the SK)? Should I do the Hero's Journey? If I remember right, many of those gave Armor pieces as rewards.
4. At what level should I pay for a month for the other 5 FTP accounts? 51? 55? Later?
5. I guess I will eventually buy the latest release since I want to take these toons to max level. What is the best plan for that knowing that I probably won't get from 55 to 120 in a month only playing on weekends?
6. Will CWTN Rogue (if I had one) have automatically removed the traps in LDON?
Thanks to anyone that actually reads this. I appreciate this group and am really enjoying learning EQ again with all this help. MQ2Nav alone is worth anything I've spent!
I'm one month into my six box team using MQ2 and CWTN and I'm having a blast. I thought it might be enlightening for members newer than me to see what I did, and it might be laughable for the vets to see my dumb errors. Having said that, my dumb errors really have taught me a lot about using the system AND about EQ since I last was a regular player. I want to thank everyone that gave me great advice on my first posts a month ago and for giving me a free month of VV (which I've just renewed today!). I apologize in advance for the length of this post, I'm a long talker (writer)! If you want to skip the detail and go to the questions, they are at the bottom.
Anyway, I decided first that I wanted to run 6 boxes instead of 3 with mercs. Most of the advice I got was that I'd appreciate that decision later, so better to start now and learn. That was great advice not only for learning but for a decision I'll get to later in this text. I went with a Shadow Knight as my tank and driver and put him on my main (Gold) account. For the other five, I started FTP accounts and created a Cleric, Beast Lord, Berzerker, Enchanter and Shaman. I know this isn't optimal, but I wanted to experience the play of a few classes I've never got past 10th level. I wanted to do Alchemy eventually and play the BL, BZ and ENC which I've never played at all before. I'm considering adding a Rogue (mostly because I want to experience Poison making eventually). I bought the CWTN plugins for all 6 characters.
Anyway, I skipped the tutorial and started right in Crescent Reach and started playing with buttons and learning commands. I watched most if not all of Sic's videos and just started to kill snakes and stuff just outside the gates and got the group to 10th level in pretty quick order. I had decided to play on Firiona Vie because I thought that might make buying equipment easier down the line. I had no other characters on that server so had no platinum to start with - but I kind of liked it that way - I wanted to see what I could do without twinking them.
On that server, parked in CR, were a few members of the guild "***". I don't know if they were automated or not, but the second my group would pop into the zone, they would run right up to us and start buffing. Their higher level spells kept making my automated Cleric and Shaman chain cast buffs that would never land. This is also when I got some more help from the boards here, and read all the commands in the CWTN options so I could stop the Cleric from chain casting Yaulp. I also learned how to go into the Character Options and stop certain buffs from being cast on characters. I was having trouble with the spell casters casting competing buffs on all characters. Once buffs would land, another character would cast their buff which overwrote the first one. That caused the first character to see their buffs weren't on and they went and recast the buff - it went around in a circle.
On my one main character who is at 115, I've always wanted to start and finish the Hunter quests. I thought "why not take my group around and level up while killing nameds?" I won't level as fast but I'll see all the old world and complete a bunch of achievements along the way. First stop was Butcherblock where there is a aqua goblin named that is only like 14th level. I had forgotten that good races/cities don't like Troll Shadow Knights! After the guards at the dock killed the SK, we opted to come back to this plan later and go back to CR.
About 12th level I got cocky. It was easy killing reds in CR at this point, and I was tired of having to deal with *** (even though they were nice, is was disconcerting to have other characters run up to me all the time while I'm learning macros), so I ventured out to Blightfire Moors. Here's where the lessons really kicked in. Lesson 2 - Make use of the extra UI information given you by VV! I finally notices that the target window didn't just have the mob's stats like normal, but also told me the level and class of the mob! Everything was fine when I was pulling 16 and 17 level mobs. Things didn't go so well when I accidentally pulled a level 22 because I wasn't paying attention! First group wipe!
I laughed, and went back out. Things went well and I gained a few levels. I decided instead of running back to CR to buy new spells, I'd run the tank to POK. Lesson #2 came shortly after. I pooled all the money on the SK and headed in. I had forgotten about Plaguebringer after all these years (Lesson 3). He popped and wiped the group while the SK was in POK. In a way that was good because about that time I also was reading in RG about leaving toons AFK in public areas and how I should have ended the camp and macros anyway when the SK left. At least now the other toons died and the SK didn't. :-)
After regrouping, the next few levels went by quickly. I decided at 18, I wanted to do the daily quest. At this point, my characters only had the spells they needed to run CWTN and only about 1 piece of Defiant gear apiece. I took the group to POK and got the 20th level daily which was Guk. There, multiple lessons ensued like, "Don't have the party autofollow over the little bridges, use MQ2Nav (that is what it is there for)", and "Don't use weird combinations of modes/camps/Come To Me because the toons will run all over the place". A number of trains happened (which actually caused me to laugh remembering the old Blackburrow trains) and deaths occurred, but we eventually figured out the Chase Assist mode with the tank as MA. With that finished we all got our first reward armor and looked for the next challenge.
I thought, "Hey, why not do an LDON" since it will be an instanced zone I thought it might be fun and safer way to level. I did a couple and got all the way to 28 in just the time needed to complete two of them (kill missions). What I forgot about was that there were traps in LDONs. I ran right over one, the rest of the group chased, all got poisoned, and because I was not watching closely, 4 of the 6 died. Another great lesson!
So that is where I sit after a month, mostly playing a few hours on the weekends only. I feel like I've learned enough to keep going with this team and get better and more efficient with leveling. I'm trying to decide on continuing with LDON, doing other quests or just grinding experience in various zones...
QUESTIONS (most but not all are CWTN - but I didn't think this post should go in that forum:
1. Is the SK/CLR/BEAS/BZ/ENC/SHM a fatally flawed group at higher levels? Will I need more DPS?
2. Will the ENCH under CWTN automatically cast an illusion on an evil character in a good zone or vice versa? Anything out there for that or is that just a manual decision?
3. With little cash, what are the best quests for armoring up (at least the SK)? Should I do the Hero's Journey? If I remember right, many of those gave Armor pieces as rewards.
4. At what level should I pay for a month for the other 5 FTP accounts? 51? 55? Later?
5. I guess I will eventually buy the latest release since I want to take these toons to max level. What is the best plan for that knowing that I probably won't get from 55 to 120 in a month only playing on weekends?
6. Will CWTN Rogue (if I had one) have automatically removed the traps in LDON?
Thanks to anyone that actually reads this. I appreciate this group and am really enjoying learning EQ again with all this help. MQ2Nav alone is worth anything I've spent!
