EQMac.com

Howdy all.

Thought this might be interesting. I read where a lot of people are coming to the server with the free trial and I am one of those.

I did my due dilligence and researched a lot obout the game as I could. Printed out many of the maps, looked for quests.

Edit: I am currently playing DDO (I'm not from the WoW crowd. I tried that and did not like it)

So, I rolled up my character. Human Necromancer: why human? I did not like the idea of being a lizard in Cablis. Humans are pretty well rounded stat wise (Iskar are too) and everything I read said "Play what ever race you want. It does not make a real difference." Maxed out Stamina because Int will max out faster and necros need HPs. So it goes. Rest [5] in INT.

I come to life in a jail like area and there is a guard standing there.
I hail him.
He says something and I type a reply and die.

I tried to type W H A (I am a pretty quick typer so I got to the "A" in about half a second) and apparently I did not hit the enter key to type in the chat box and when I hit the A key, autoattack engaged, and I am zoomed to my respawn area.

I load up my trusty dagger and candle which are the only two pieces of equipment I have (and aside from a necklas listed below are still my only pieces of equipment) and scribe my shield spell ... I get the LifeTap spell scribing and go to make coffee.

Its 1 p.m. (I work nights so I was just getting up)

Come back after a few moments (1 min?) and it was still scribing so I went and finished making coffee.

I memorized the two spells (another Min? I will check for sure tonight) This takes a LONG time. I have been told that I can get the meditate skill now that I'm level 4 which will make this horrible process; better.

I run up to a rat - after con (says even fair fight) and die.
Mem spells (3 - 4 min?) again Ill edit this after I time it tonight.

I kill a snake!!

I kill another snake.

Rat kills me.

after about 5 deaths, DING Level 2!!

Now the rats are Blue to me.

I go into the city of Qeynos (the guards are dubious but do not seem to mind me) and get my two free boxes - from the tax collector (10 slot tiny) and the paladins 6 slot large.

I speak to just about everyone I see for quests... zilch.

Now that the rats are blue to me this should be easy.

About 5 more deaths and I'm halfway to level 3... I attack and then have to rest to get my spell points and health back up.

I cannot land a spell in combat because they get interrupted .. the lifeTap is ok to start a fight with.

About 2 hours have passed and I find the Book to PoK. I go there and after some trial and error, I get bound.

I spend about an hour running around trying to find quests... nothing.
I talk to the guys at the pool but the other guy does not have a dialog [quest] text so I don't know the words to say to him (I went online and got the cheat to get the quest) Not sure why they want you to have to go on the internet to figure out what to say to get a quest, but, so be it.

I go back to Qeynos via the portal.

The leveling is extremly difficult. Blue mobs kill me. If I'm attacking a mob and a gnoll pup adds; dead.

Forget beetles. I had a train of them chasing me through the city. The guards do not seem very tough becasue I had to run to the zone to escape them. I zoned right back in and there were 6 guards standing there. I could not count all the Klinkniks and beetles but there were probably 10 chasing me.

The time is now 7 pm. I have played for 6 hours. Here is an estimation of my time:
Level 3 1/4
3 hours running back to Qeynos and Later Paneel after dying
1 hour memorizing my spells after dying
1 hour Looking for quests
30 minutes attacking stuff.
30 minutes looking up stuff on Internet.

I ask everyone I see if they are a magician because I'm told that they can summon a dagger that is magic and MUCH better then the one you start with.

Alas, no magicians. I did run into a few guild meetings and that gets me to ...

PART TWO:
So, I figure, this game sux. I tell my wife I spend all of my time memorizing spells and running to get back to where I'm going to be killed again and again again ...

A couple of people were friendly. Most were AFK.

One helpful person told me I had to buy spells from my starting area. I tried to find it (as you know from reading above, I was there all of three letters W H A .... dead) so I told him I did not know where to go ... (I look it up on line and there are sewers I have to find).

But I can buy them here in PoK at the library. Whoot ... oh wow... I don't have enough money to buy but 3 .... I see there is my pet .. whoot but I cannot scribe it until level 4, which seems a LONG way off (For whatever reason I did not see the level 1 pet)

So I get more spells ... and then I cannot figure out how to get out of library!
I run around for 1/2 hour and ask in OOC but only two people in PoK.

I am so used to dying, I figure I'll just die and go back to my binder. Which is what I do.

The new spells don't help and I die a few more times. Seems I only get one spell off before the start of the fight becasue I ALWAYS get interrupted.

Then I see a guy and I ask "Are you a magician"
"Nope", he says
"Oh. Ok. Looking for a summoned dagger so I can kill someting"

We chat and he gives me some money and a container and a necklas (Holgresh Spirit Beads). I run back to library and buy spells and some containers.
He says to get some one to buff me. Which he says will help a lot.

I die die die.

It is now 8.

I see a group of players and ask if they can buff me. It is getting late for me. It is Sunday and I have to go to an interview (Fire dept at refinery) at this point I pretty much have given up on the game.

I get SoW (which is FANTASTIC) a Heart (not sure what it was) a something Replinishment (Mana??)

I go back out and DING level 5 1/2 in about 1 1/2 hour.
7 hours to get to 3 1/4 and another 1 1/2 hour buffed to double it.

Did not die after getting buffed. I could cast spell and not have to rest for a longer period of time.


EPILOUGE:
I read that when they expanded EQ PC they had to make the mobs UBER because everyone was twinked. You had level 2 characters running around with level 20 - 50 items and gear. People had KEI at levels below 40 or 50 (Not sure what is the proper level for that spell) in short, people simply blasted through the mobs.

As it stands, now, the game is pretty much impossible to play unless you are Twinked or Buffed to an equilivalent of 3x your level. I hate beggers and, no matter how much I wanted to beg for money to buy spells or a weapon, I did not. As I said, someone gave me enough to buy spells and bags, but he did it on his/her own.

Having a better weapon would have cut down on the death rate by an amazing factor. It usually came down to the very last swing as to whether I would live or the mob lived and I got to stare at my spell book for 5 min. An even slightly better weapon, or a robe or piece of armor would have made all the difference. If even One of my lifetaps landed, I won the fight. But they usually didn't

My wife played a few months ago. I saw she had a level 4 character, druid I'm guessing, she played it for 2 weeks; said it was impossible to do anything. I said "what do you mean?" Now, I understand.

I am going to continue playing for the month and see how it goes. Maybe after I get over this mountianous learning curve, it will be a fun game. God I hate to see what happens when after I die I have to go back and find my body and get my stuff.

Oh and I know I made a million Noob mistakes, did it all wrong, picked the wrong class, picked the wrong race, did my stats wrong, picked the wrong ____________ (fill in). But isn't that what its all about? Wonder how many, as my wife did, simply quit?

Thanks for sharing your experience, sounds like you're getting things figured out pretty well. Starting out used to be easier when there were other new players to group together with. Definitely use the command "/who all 1 10" (or whatever level range) to watch for players to group with.

This game does have a very harsh penalty for dying, and the first couple levels it's practically unavoidable. And dying gets worse after lvl 10 when you have to recover your gear and lose 10% of a level exp, although it happens much less often. I thought level 2 is one of the worst levels ever untwinked. It's risky to attack a blue (lvl 1) mob and the exp bar barely moves. It really does get better.

One last thing, use the command "/join alliance" or "/autojoin alliance". It's a great serverwide channel.

_________________
Zenum <Dark Conquest>-- 65 Gnome Enchanter

EqChar -- Save your character's profile in a text file.
Zenam's Item List.xls -- (12.1 MB) Pretty much every player usable item on Al'Kabor ranked in a spreadsheet.
EQMac_LogAnalyzer.pl -- (0.31 MB) Script to parse log files for melee DPS plus realtime automatic spell timers! (Forum post)

Well, I plan on being on tonight. Babyfayce. So If you're a magician; toss this poor soul a summoned dagger ....

You can probably find me taking a dirt nap next to the spirit binder in PoK.

I am going to time how long it takes to scribe and mem before I get Meditate skill... I'm curious how many hours game play that ate up.

One thing I did was go swimming in Qeynos and got that up to 30!! while I slept

I think we can all empathise about the initial difficulties and the learning curve. EQ was a really hard game when in came out in 1999 and the even the concessions by our PoP era (2002) still make it hard for someone starting out. That said, keep in mind a lot of people who come to Al'Kabor are looking for an old school experience and know what they are in for.

It will take a while for you to learn the game dynamics and your class, but once you do, you are playing a class that is very effective when you are soloing or in a group. Same goes for druids in your wife's case if she persisted. Past level 4, you won't be relying as much on melee once you have your darkness (snare), pet and fear spells.

Check out:

http://lucy.alkabor.com/index_Necromancer.html

and Necrotalk (Shelobe posted a lot of her experiences on Al'Kabor under the hunting guides at different levels and for different camps. She was a dark elf, the embalming dust DOES drop for the newbie armour quest) which has a lot of necro information, e.g.

http://necrotalk.com/showthread.php?t=8843

I think I saw you on the other day, so will try and say hello in game.

_________________
Aerili, Storm Warden
Officer of <Destiny>

Hey, Wymyn!

You sound like me 3 years ago. My knowledge of the game was through watching two PC friends playing it on occasion. Let me tell you, from a friend standpoint, I hated the game. They'd consistently be late or no shows for dinner parties, concerts, theatre or movie dates.

Three years ago I found myself in limbo and ended up living with one of these friends. They got me to set up the Mac EQ version so I'd have something to do while they were playing. I got a little guidance, but not much. My friends are of the sort who had to figure it out on their own when the game was new and think that is how everyone should do it.

I started out with a half elf Pally and made all the same mistakes and was as lost as you are. I attacked my guildmaster when I hailed him. Ooops! During my 30 day trial I somehow managed to get myself to 14. I knew nothing of PoK and made my way around by zoning blindly and jumping on boats. My gear was what I looted from mobs or bought from NPC merchants after killing many rats and snakes. My starting city was Freeport, and I had to travel to Qeynos for spells or something. To this day, I have no idea how I got to Qeynos from Freeport. To this day, I hate Qeynos and still get lost there.

In one day I died all the way from 14 to 10 trying to find my corpse. I had no idea even what zone I was in when I died. I quit. My trial ran out and I said good riddance.

My friend, thinking I was actually enjoying this, gave me a 3 month subscription for my birthday and made me get back in the game. All the gear that was on my corpse was long gone. I had to start over. I also made some other characters.

My friend suggested that since the Mac population (at that time) was so sparse and seemingly only high level players, I should try a mage. I did, and I found having a pet to fight with me really increased my enjoyment. I also found websites that (including this one) gave tips on playing both my class and the game. Around the same time, I started meeting people in game who gave me tips and helped me learn. I remember my first time entering PoK and being scared to death of all the red cons around me.

Being a caster can be rough. The down time scribing and loading spells is painful. But it gets better as you age. Fizzling spells and running out of mana while a mob is beating on you is beyond annoying. I learned to cast low level spells of all types over and over while I was waiting for a boat to increase my skills. I learned to spam sense heading to stop the compass from spinning. I learned to fish for food and cash. I learned that a lot of the stuff I was looting could be made into something to eat, drink, wear, or fight with. YAY! I learned to swim. I learned to fight while swimming. I learned that sitting down quietly every now and then is a good thing and it was a joy to watch my blue mana bar fill up faster each time.

It will get better and many of the people on the server are very friendly and helpful. Kudos for you for wanting to make your own way and not by begging.

Good luck to you and say hi when you see me.

_________________
Miztig - 65 Mage - Proud member of Pathfinders of Al`Kabor!

~http://eqpathfinders.com/ ~
http://www.guildportal.com/Guild.aspx?G ... abID=77836

do you still hate the game?

I never had all the problems you had. I don't type fast so that autoattack your guildmaster thingie I never did... However lots and lots and lots of people do that so you are no where close to be alone in dying the first time you talk to a NPC.

I hated when I first started the scribing spells as they take a long time but I figure I am scribing them so how fast can I write? I decided it was a resonable amount of time but still didn't particularly care for it. The memorizing spells gets much faster with meditate.

As for fighting I am apparently more cautious than you are. I did the same thing you did, attack something and got an add and died. After memorizing the spells again I decided I never wanted that to happen again (memorizing spells was just too time consuming at level 1) so all future pulls were planned to have no adds. I don't think I died again until level 8 or 9 when I was getting cocky about how good I was.(the game frequently puts you in your place just as you start thinking your invincible)

I never got a magician dagger (on my original necro from 1999 or so)and even at level 51 on this server, I still don't have any dagger but the original and don't use it. I only melee after level 8 just to improve defense. Thus I'm saying you don't have a reason as a necro to ever have a magician's dagger. Your pet might want one.

Also I never got a buff that I didn't cast myself until way past level 20. It is not needed. It is helpful..but not needed. As a necro your pet is very powerful. Even at level one.. i would stand against a wall.. cast one spell to bring the mob I wanted. When it hit me once i would move away from it and let pet finish it off while I sat, if the pet got into trouble I would move in melee range again. This technique works at higher levels too, but modified a bit.

_________________
Daro - 65 Monk ** 4/30/2011
Lots of other characters

Welcome to EQ

This game is a challenge, that's a big part of its appeal. No these mobs have not changed, they are as hard as the were when the game first started. Eq is really not very user friendly, it can be a very daunting and difficult game for beginners. I just started out myself again, no friends to help me, no gear, no money, I did have the experience from 6 or so years ago to help me but its still not easy.

No one likes to beg, but there are many people out there willing to help younger players but they are not going to find you unless you ask. I have several items in the bank that I am saving for when i find someone in need of some gear. /join alliance and just ask if anyone can help you out, I'm sure there are many other players like me who like to help others out if the can. If i see you online i'll be sure to come and help you out anyway i can (although my time zone is way out u probably will never see me).

Buffs make a huge difference especially in the early levels. You will annihilate mobs with the right buffs. Again, dont be afraid to ask, just let the alliance channel know you are starting out, and would appreciate some help.

You are a necro, rely on your pet to do the hard work, dont risk your life when you can risk your pets life first. Let your pet fight while you stand back and cast your spells. And yes scribing is horrible, get to pok and find your guildmaster and train in meditate, this will reduce the spell scribing time faster and faster - I actually forgot about this and put up with it for 20 levels before i realised about the meditate skill.

And while its nice to have good weapons and gear, as a necro you can get away without it. As a magician i kept my crappy dagger and robe for 30 or so levels, just make sure you can afford your spells.

Hope that helps, all the best mate.

Darc

_________________
Darco 65 Enchanter <Destiny> Australia
Darcreign 65 Magician <Destiny> Australia
Darcnite 65 Paladin <Destiny> Australia

Wymyn-

Wow, that post really brought back some memories of the first few days/weeks! Thanks for sharing.

I think Zenum's quote above really sums it up... EQ back in the day wasn't -as- bad starting out because more than likely you had a few people next to you who were also dead and memming spells. You could share what little bits of knowledge you had picked up from the day before or discuss how you just learned to make a hot-key or a macro.

Being such a top-heavy server these days means that the newbie type info that used to be discussed endlessly in groups and beginner exp spots will more likely have to be sought out rather than just absorbed. The good news is that this server just plain rocks in terms of friendliness. You can just about be assured that any question asked will received in a very helpful manner.

So, don't be shy.
Use /alliance.
Search /who all 1-10 etc.
And don't be afraid to do a /who all necro and ask one of the level 65's for advice.

Hope you stick with it! The learning curve is steep at first, but it really is a great game in possibly one of the best online communities out there.

B.

_________________
Beerswiller
-HORDE-

Yep. That sounds just like me. I can imagine loosing 4 levels dying when I am able to loose exp for dying.

I would not say that I hate the game. I think it is very difficult compared to DDO where you KNOW which NPCs have quests and you can click on the words to advance the dialog.

"What about quest." no that did not work
"What about I will help collect the tax" hmmm
"What about I will assist you with tax" nope
"What about I will assist you with collecting the tax" WHOOT ...
And one guy at he pool in PoK did not even give you a clue ... you had to know what to say ahead of time.

I did see Aerili in Qeynos last night. Too bad I was just going to bed [5 am] it would have been great to see how it goes with another person. I'm working 4pm to 2 am Chicago time so probably only Aussie are on. She did give me a few buffs so maybe I'll go to Qeynos Hills and get Giant snakes and the Queen Kliknik in N. Qeynos.

One problem is the mobs don't have what they're supposed to have way too many times. That kinda sux.

Having a Pet is a LOT better. I made a command to have it /pet attack a gopher snake and /pet attack a grass snake and off it goes to kill those things and I can pick up the stuff from the bodies.. I don't get the exp but it makes it faster.

I am still not able to kill mobs that give exp efficiently without buffs. Mainly, I suppose, because where I am only the bettle/klickniks give exp now and they mob you. I still need to help my pet out in fights against bugs because if I don't, more bugs come and it dies then I die running to the guards.

I'll be on tonight .. in about 2 hours ... and I'm buffed so I'll probably be in Qeynos Hills hunting Giant snakes and rabid wolves (Faction for guards and priest of Light).

I may try a fighter class to get equipment for the necromancer. if you drop something on the ground will it stay there ... so I can make a Magician ... get items and drop them on the ground and pick them up with my necromancer?

One good thing, aside from the snide comments when I was hopelessly lost in the Library (I know how to get out now ... Look for the Mystics and it is in a semi hidden passage) most of the people are friendly.

gotta go do some work

Edit: I will start practicing my low mana spells to get better at the magic skills. I read where you pick a low manacost spell from each school and make a macro to use them. I'll do that whilst fishing. I actually enjoy that sort of thing. I bought a spit to make sandwiches and fish rolls and I know where to buy supplies for baking.

Ahh ok you are on at my time, ill wont be on tonight but ill try and catch up with you tomorrow night, i can summon you some gear and i'll see what i have lying around in the bank for you. If aerili buffed you last night - you should be able to demolish mobs when u log back on.

I wouldnt bother making a fighting class to help you gear your necro. Fighting classes have more trouble without good gear and cannot solo well. And making a mage to give yourself summoned items wont be worth the effort.

Dont worry, things will get easier with your necro as you learn more and level up.

_________________
Darco 65 Enchanter <Destiny> Australia
Darcreign 65 Magician <Destiny> Australia
Darcnite 65 Paladin <Destiny> Australia

I've never played DDO, but I will say the EQ in our form is a much less obvious game compared to most other MMO's out there today. You absolutely need to use resources outside of the game. (I do realize that by the very nature of your post here it's obvious you get that!)

/mci x will window you out of the game and allow you to check alla's, eqatlas, and other sites while still logged in.

Here is your future: Binders full of printed maps, quest info, bazaar prices, spell lists, etc. Not that it's by any means absolutely necessary, but Al'Kabor EQ is very much a research game. If you thrive on that, you will thrive here. If not, you can still have an excellent experience and if you have a better memory than I do you might be able to skip the binders altogether. However, there is so much going on in EQ that you 100% still need to go outside the game to collect information.

Not to sound like a broken record, but it will get easier! At some tipping point, the tedious research will become a labor of love!

B.

_________________
Beerswiller
-HORDE-

Wymyn,

You raised a few more points, which mainly relate to game mechanics. You may have read or been told this, but anyway, this might help.

Quests: As a rule, NPCs will give you quests (assuming appropriate race, class and faction elements are suitable) when you hail them. Since this is old school, it is up to you to find them rather than NPC indicating they have quests like WoW. Alternatively, look them up using whatever resource, Allahs, Necrotalk, etc.

The NPC then usually gives you a narrative outlining their story. Within that narrative text, there is usally a block of text that is highlighted. For example, in Qeynos, part of the necromancer newbie quest is:

Start Text

You say, 'Hail, Bruax Grengar'

Bruax Grengar says 'Hail. I am Bruax Grengar, master necromancer of the Bloodsabers. I assist not only young necromancers with their training but also aid all those Bloodsabers who have chosen to practice the [sorcerous arts]. If you a practitioner of a sorcerous art I can give you instructions to obtain an [outfit and robe] that will assist you in your work. Once you have been properly outfitted I will also assist you in acquiring a [Staff of the Bloodsabers].'

You say, 'What Staff of the Bloodsabers?'

Bruax Grengar says 'A Staff of the Bloodsabers is a useful implement for young sorcerers dedicated to Bertoxxulous the Plague Lord. I will assist you in the creation of a staff but first you must complete a task for me. The sorcerers of The Order of Three are supporters of Antonius Bayle IV, the haughty ruler of Qeynos. They lend magical aid to the Knights of Thunder and Priests of Life to identify and capture members of the Bloodsabers. A rather troublesome member of The Order of Three, Larkin Tolman, has recently been spotted at a settlement in the Western Plains of Karana. Find this Larkin Tolman and bring me his head.

End Text

Most of the time, the syntax will be you saying "what [text in box]". There will be times when this doesn't work and you need to play around with it.

Drops: Getting the right drops from the right mobs is part and parcel of the joy and frustration of the game. This frequency of the item varies greatly, some always and others randomly, depending on the loot table and depending on the rarity of the item you are after. Sometimes this means minutes, hours, days or weeks of killing the same mob or mobs. Or killing placeholder mobs to get the mob you need to appear, then having done all this, the right mob might still not drop the item you are after. Yes, it sucks, but that is again the nature of the game.

Pets & Experience: If your pet kills the mob by itself, you get no experience. In order to get any experience, you need to do at least 1 point of damage to the mob whether you melee or cast a spell. You get no experience from green con mobs.

"Social" mobs: Generally speaking mobs that are social will assist each other when another one of their kind is attacked/aggroed within a certain range. Part of the game is working out how to manage this problem. Running to the guards is one option. Another is to be careful about when and where you attack, including moving the mob once aggroed to a different location where there are less likely to be adds. In your case, as a necro, you will also have the option of splitting mobs with FD and/or pacifying undead mobs so they don't aggro and you can pull singles from camps. This can be explained when you get a few more levels.

OK, enough for now. It was a pity you logged last night - it is a lot easier to show you what we mean. Darc or I might catch you online again soon.

_________________
Aerili, Storm Warden
Officer of <Destiny>

Oh wow.. I love the fact you are learning this stuff. I personally think you are doing well as it seems you are learning a lot. As a Necro in Qeynos I wasn't very happy with levels 4 to 7. Leveling seemed too slow. Once you hit 8, that goes away as you have so many options of where and how to fight. I didn't group until level 9 or so because I didn't want to embarrass myself on how little I knew about being a Necro.

Spell are extremely important where as equipment is not so much. So if giving the choice of getting a new robe or the level 8 spells, go with the spells. Of course being able to get new equipment and all your spells would be ideal.

Oh and people have it easy now with PoK and buying spells there. When I started there was no PoK so I didn't even have the choice of getting lost in the library. I remember spending a lot of time figuring out how to get out of the area where my guildmaster was (your method was a lot faster) and after I had killed a few snakes and rats I had money to buy spells. It took me a few hours to find that guildmaster again. However I did make a map of everthing on route to finding the guildmaster so when I finally did find him, I had a decent map. Therefore finding him the second time was lots easier.

_________________
Daro - 65 Monk ** 4/30/2011
Lots of other characters

The default auto-attack key mapping is idiotic. I recommend changing it to something you won't hit when you don't want it (I set mine to the keypad enter key). You can remap things in Options (Option-O).

_________________
Yeniu
Pathfinders of Al'Kabor