Thinking of playing again (been 8 years)

[Beldukil]

I played EQ from when it started until about 2002 as a Paladin. I moderated the original Paladins of Norrath and wewere a pretty tight and helpful bunch back then. So, I thought I would come back here where it all started to ask some advice. I am aware that the game is very very different now, but I thought I might run my 60 paladin around some of the original zones for nostalgia's sake and then try leveling a new character.

Any tips for a newbie?

Anyone want to hear what it was like to be a Paladin in 1999?

Here are few fun facts. Paldins and SKs caused their group to have an experience penalty because the devs decided we were like two classes in one (we weren't of course). When you meditated, the entire screen filled up with your spell book so you couldn't see anything. Ghoulbane was arguably the best Paladin weapon in the game and was a 6-10 hour camp killing the froglock ghoul lord.

[Peaky]

I would highly recommend perusing this information, as anything you remember from that long ago is basically changed beyond recognition:

http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts ... _id=157517

[Valandil]

I was around for all the numerous incarnations of PoN (this is #4), so your name is familiar to me. Welcome back.

Tips? If I was leveling up a new character I'd start with getting a tank mercenary and hitting up whatever hotzones are within range. The merc can kill reds solo so the exp should be decent. I wouldn't worry much about gearing up the character til you get higher in levels. The tank merc is decent for leveling 'til at least 50th.

[Genadinee]

Welcome Back, I remember your name, also remember being smacked whilst staring at a spell book

As others have said get a tank merc and get your levels that way, also might be worth thinking long and hard on a server to choose and bare in mind that they are about to go through another round of merges.

If your Euro then only option is AB.

Most of all just go and have some fun.

Gena

[Abazzagorath]

Wow, that's a name I haven't heard in a LONG time, welcome back! Let's get Iustus, Romidar, that erudite paladin that used to wear black (before dyes) armor and had the tag line, "To do good, you must look good" and a few others and get PoN rocking again hah.

If you want to come back, this is about the perfect time. If you restart this weekend there is a promotional 125% experience boost until tuesday morning. We are also going to see server merges between June 22nd and July 6th, so you can come back, figure out a server you want, and then use the free server transfer option (active for 7 days after the server merges) to go to any server you want. Plus, prevent any mules you have below level 10 from being deleted for being inactive for 6+ months.

There are so many changes since 2002, its probably impossible to point them all out. Some highlights:

1) Mercenaries - cleric and tank version (and soon to be melee dps and caster dps version) - you get to pick one, pay a one time plat cost and then a minor upkeep cost ever 15 minutes - if it dies you can revive it for free after 5 minutes - can set its AI a bit and give yourself a tank or puller tag to prevent it from doing stupid things - free at lower levels - cost ramps up some at highest levels - highest tiers require group flags from Seeds or Destruction expansion. Good to help soloing, filling out a missing role in a group, etc. Give people a lot more flexibility.

2) ALL experience penalties are gone (class was gone when you left I believe, but race gone too), the halfling and war/rog bonuses remain.

3) There was a couple rounds of flagged/keyed zones being opened via level, basically, almost any flagged/keyed zone up through TSS expansion (2006) has had their zones unlocked. If you're high enough to be in them, its probably not flagged. They haven't moved it further yet.

4) A big one is that AA exp is no longer equal to the experience in level 51. It is now set to be about the same number of even con kills at every level, so it takes more experience to get aa at highest levels, but because of how aa exp ramps up its still faster at 85 than say level 70 (assuming same total aa). It was put in place to stop the need to start having like 100 cost aa since it was getting faster and faster to gain aa as you leveled and mobs gave more experience. Tied into this is number 5:

5) There is now a bonus experience curve at lower aa totals to allow peoople to catch up faster. With 0 aa, you get a 300% experience bonus, and that bonus decreases along a curvilinear fyunction until you get to either 1250 or 1500 aa (not sure if it was raised from 1250 when UF was launched, the last 2 expansions it has gone up 250 aa with each expansion). So instead of "get to max level first" its actually a good idea to do important aa as you level.

6) Out of combat regen was introduced. Basically, for non-raid zone/flagged mobs, 30 seconds after you are off of their aggro list, you go into ooc regen, and if you sit down, you'll gain 3% mana/endurance per tick. It was taking people 30 mins to med to full after a wipe or dying, so this was a positive change.

Tons of other changes of course. But those are some big ones. Paladins are still awesome, of course! If you end up on maelin, and need some help getting up to speed, send me a tell.

[Lucidan]

Low level equipment has also been revamped (ok, not so much revamped as new level tiered sets of equipment added and being the best easily obtainable equipment for the level). The visible defiant/combatant pieces and weapons drop from level appropriate mobs (should be able to get most of these pieces in the bazaar), the shoulder, back and waist pieces are rewards for doing a short quest from in pok (18 hour lockout. why?) and the face, finger, neck and ear pieces can be bought from the (50+) and (5-49) over by the cresent reach stone. At level 60 you should basically upgrade to a full set of elaborate defiant/combatant gear.

Potions have been revamped as well, they are stackable to 20 instead of being 10 charges/bottle. You will find , , and potions pretty useful. The and healing pots are also useful for saving mana while you are soloing.

[varutia]

Welcome back, Paladin class really go through a lot of radical changes as you level. Under 60 game is pretty much exactly same as before, once you go above it, changes start to stack on. This isn't much different compare to a lot of other classes where brand new abilities and spells start to settle in on higher level and have dramatic impact on how you play.

Pick up as much defiant stuff as you can get your hands on and you are golden until 70. I personally would stop between 65 and 70 to rack up some AA in the hole before moving on.

I remember the xp penalty thingy and med look into a book until level 35 and those mega hell levels, lol. Catching the boat and storing a set of gear in the bank for CR purpose.

[Tuathadendannan]

Welcome back, play a mage...

[Tirian Trueblade]

Welcome back, Beld!

One thing that was super-useful to me when I was leveling up alts recently was that you can get most, if not all sub-71 spells made for you via tradeskill now. Since we have an AA root and Divine Aura now, I can't think of any sub-81 spells I cast often, but depending on what your plan is, it might be helpful to get Ward of Tunare or other spells ASAP, rather than waiting on their higher-level replacements (which are generally factioned or quested).

I notice tank mercs have been mentioned. I've never used one myself, but I would almost think that a paladin with a current weapon and armor (Defiant as mentioned before), and maxed Slay Undead (for his level anyway) could do better off solo without having the merc cut into the experience. Are they really that much DPS?

In any case, I'm assuming you're either 60 or 65 based on your 2002 date. Veksar - a primarily undead dungeon - is still a hotzone (which means it offers more experience than normal), and should be a good place to go. I was doing it back at level 65 with a Cleric bot, but with the better weapons and gear out there now it should be soloable - especially if you can work up Slay Undead quickly, which you'll probably want to do regardless.

Abaz, I'm pretty sure that guy's name was Gaunt Akera. (No idea why I still know that....)

- Tir

[Luthair]

[Jace]

http://www.project1999.org/

Salvation Lies Within

[penodor]

i have a twinky warrior i play when my paladin is maxed aa and doesnt need much work doing on him so ive done some leveling/aa recently and i can tell you that once your toon hits 65-70 tacvi and anguish loots are far and away the best thing you can get for melee dps weapons i got my warrior a tacvi mace and its massively better dps than the low tier PoP raid weapons he had so if you choose a melee its worth your time doing these raids if you can tag along with anyone thats clearing them. That equipment will keep you very nicely until your 75 at least i would think.

[Xanderax]

I have to say that playing a paladin has never been more fun. Especially with all the hard work of some key folks (you know who you are and thank you kindly) We have some cool new abilities: leap of faith, fade, pacify (not a new thing but been a hell of a long time) some cool defensive discs and offensive ones! It is going to be a bit of a grind for aa and exp but there are some decent spots for it. Anyways welcome back and welcome back to the day where playing a paladin is different but alot of fun.

Xanderax

[Kinil]

I agree Xand. I was able to beta some stuff but work had me so tied up. Go figure he he. I sincerely salute those that championed for our changes on beta. Well done paladins!