Returning? 65 Ranger - Soloing? Groups?Follow

I don't like grinding. (Who does?) I don't like taking partial groups unless we're out for a specific item for wearing or a quest. It's as slow as ever (except for the LDoN peak months) for sitting around 6 hours and getting nothing on LFG. (Not counting the one DoD group that ignored my "No DoD" tagline, talked me into buying it, and ended up getting me a nice item.) So I'm stuck either soloing, which I can't seem to do without finding some fearable animal for XP, farming giants for cash, or tradeskills that take drop-only components or more components than I can spare money to undertake.

What would you guys who have been around for the past few expansions suggest I do before I switch back from All Access to Planetside only? :) (The only expansion I don't have currently is DoN.)

Everquest may not be the game for you. I am not being sarcastic. Everquest is a grind and the population is low enough that many people play more than one account because there are no groups.

Unless you are in a stable guild, Everquest is not a new or returning player-friendly game.

.. unfortunately this is the current state of the game. The casual population is gone so the casual group is gone. The only thing you can do is join a family guild. When people start groups they always start in guild first.

DoDh is easy xp and easy groups. I really dont like them and apparently you dont either but its a way to atleast get something done.


As a previos poster said eq may not be the game for you. In its current state it is mostly about raiding and that is most of the population that is left. Being able to log on and get something done in the style and location that you choose is why WoW has 5 times as many players as eq and may be a better situation for you.


Good Luck.

I'm thinking I'll have to find a new guild, then. My Magelo profile is way out of date, and almost all of that gear has been upgraded. I bought a ton of stuff with my leftover cash to get my gear up to date, and I have every expansion other than DoN. I've already seen the XP I get for DoD, so those groups will be a priority when I can find groups at all.

I'll have to find a guide on ranger soloing, then, unless it really is as simple as root+bow. Would you recommend DoD or regular grinding for churing out the archery AAs?

And for random useless information, I've played since two weeks into retail, so I'm pretty sure EQ is a right game for me, there just aren't any right players for me. :) That also means I have all the veteran rewards - anything special I can do with those other than doubling my experience just in time to die and recovering my corpse and XP just before logging off for about the length of that timer? :)

And... WoW? No thanks. I actually liked SWG (pre-NGE) better than WoW, and I never could find good groups in that game. I'd go back to AO first, even. (Yes, I've played or betaed pretty much every game in the genre. You can guess why I come back to EQ. :) ) I had the same problem finding groups in WoW, and I tended not to get very high level before becoming bored with a character. (And that's not to be confused with systems where only the top level means anything - I tend not to like PvP, and I'd pick Planetside over DAoC any day. :) )

Edited, Thu Dec 1 02:05:01 2005 by CLU

Run the dbl exp and steadfast servant together. Half hour each and every night, I'd go for AAs. The servant should keep you alive. Invest ih HoT elixirs if needed. Remeber you have staunch and expedient recovery, bind in GH, etc. etc.

Hopefully you got your HP to 5K with the new gear. You were also under AC'd and your atk was low.

I'd consider doing Noc/Ukun/Kyv in DS to get to the point you could do the Tier 1 armor quest. Personally, I've only done the leather, but the armor is pretty good and family guild doable with ease.

Grinding is pretty much a fact of life in EQ untill you get true raid gear.

DoN missions are good (not great, not risk-free, but good imo) xp and about as entertaining as LDoNs ... until you hit 'creator burnout', try to find folks that are interested in doing a variety of em.

All depends on what you consider grinding. If you only consider it grinding if you're sitting at one camp and not if you're crawling through a zone (ldon, don, etc), there are plenty of non-grind ways to go.

Edited, Sat Dec 3 15:19:18 2005 by Brewnoe

.. I guess every server is different. It has been my experience that any groups you build outside of your guild these days are both vary rare and usually pretty crappy.