The First Levels - Erudite Mage

[Iniaru]

I have tried this server and here is an update on what you are likely to expect at first.

I made an erudite mage, started in front of the guildmaster in erudin palace, turned in my letter and got my purple robe, equipped it. I forgot to go by the abnk and get the 2nd bag stored in there but you shold. I had 2 spells memorized, Burst of Flame and Minor Shielding. There was nothing really to do without any coin at all but to head out to Toxx forest and hunt.

The very first noticeable thing was that the XP gained per kill was much lower than what I was used to. I have even made a copycat mage on another regular server and tested the XP in Toxx. On the regular server I killed even (white) cons and got 8%, 8%, and 7% on the first three. On Vulak'Aerr the first thre were more like 2%, 2% and 2%. Level 1 does not breeze by as fast as on regular servers. You will need to adjust any old familiar thinking down to focus on leveling. I asked in Antonica Channel and was told this is the norm but it gets easier as you level and gain abilities/spells.

So I hunted in Toxx killing white and yellows. Thye few reds I tried (which turned out to be level 3+ mobs later on) killed me easily. i knew enough to stay with the humanoids (Kobolds in this case) so that I could get Rusty Weapon drops. They sell for 1-2 gold usually so I was able to acquire decent early coin. But the weight factor over time became a clear problem as movement did slow down. Erudite females have only 40 STR so as a forethought, new players should give thought to that stat for the early levels when you first start making your character.

I just kept running around killing. To make it easier, I copied my spell gem to otkey 1 for pulling, then Manual attack to hotkey 2 to turn on auto-melee attacking, then spammed BoF until dead. A nice thing in Toxx are the buildings in the area housing merchants so I could sell off. By the time I dinged level 2, I had 1.3 plat in total and went back inside erudin to shop for spells mainly, get the new water pet at level 2, and some malachites (about 10). The first summon spell I got was summon dagger.

I summoned Fluffy Prime and gave her a summoned shiv and went back out to toxx. Fluufy was a level 5 pet by the way so my killing did go MUCH faster. I didn't seem to need to out dps her but I always pulled with BoF, turned on autoattack and waited to get hit for Fluffy to react and usually get the kill within a couple of attacks. This also helped me gain basic skillups needed for later.

I kept at that basic pattern and it took me 6 hoursof soloing and eventually moving into Tocc down south across the eastern bridge and just a bit south from thee was a 'crossroads' of pathing mobs like Briar Snakes, Beetles, bigger Kobolds and the like that I was able to move from level 4 to 5 before needing to sleep for the night.

By the time I had camped out I had bought enough cloth armor for a full set (even replacing my purple Barney suit robe. Plat on this server is acquired easily but in smaller numbers. Realistically, by level 5 I had probaly made about 15 plat overall but spells, cloth armor, etc eats it up.

Another thing with sticking with Kobolds was that they also dropped bags often enough for me to never have to buy any. They came in small bags (4-slot), large (6-slot), backpacks (8-slot) and small boxes (8-slot). Over time I just switched them out to gain the most space. Also, all bags and containers exist under the newer rule - thhey can be stored inside other containers. So when you get that backpack and want to drop the small 4 slot bag, you can just put the small bag within another container slot and put the backpack in its place.

Eventualy I will move to the Warrens for more Kobold hunting as that is more "local" to the Odus zones.

Also, I will begin posting some older data from the prior eqsummoners site that I copied into Word for the time I was leveling my first mage (waaaay back in 2003) . The tips should still be essentially effective or may only give some ideas to beginning mages on this unique server.

Good Hunting all!!

Iniaru, 5th Magician of Quellious, Vulak'Aerr server.

[Goranothos]

Reading this gave me a warm and fuzzy nostalgic feeling. Keep us updated!

Next up.....grouping.

[Iniaru]

Grouping? Only if I have to. I am Mage, hear Fluffy Roahr!!

Let me start with things I have seen that make this server different.

Levleing is spread out for each level. With a 2% XP cap per kill, you can expect 50+ kills per level to get to the next one. Every level. For the first levels that is an eternity but afterwards it becomes easier to accept because that tended to be the norm at higher levels anyways, unless there was a bonus XP event and maybe an XP boost potion or similar in effect. So just get through the first levels and you will be fine with the killing.

Now based on that grouping is a great option because you kill faster and more mobs in a given amount of time, assuming the mobs spawn or roam through often enough. It ois therefore possible that groupage is the best way to level. The obvious drawbacks include looting rights, sellables, etc. The greed factor could get hot and heavy unless you accept leveling is more important than gear for at least a time. For casters needing spells and melees needing defensive gear and better weapons, it could get difficult.

The economy is different as mentioned. It was easy tolist those items that sold for gold and over time deastroying all the rats whiskers stacks accumulated for the space that another stack of spider or snake vendor would give. Later I used old quest ideas (Greater Light Stones, Gargoyle Eyes, etc) as turn ins to get 8 plat per. I will write up the wisp hunting guide in another thread. Rusty weapons sell for at least 1 gold per, up to 4 gold. The weight is the problem. But using ranger-gate techniques to get back to bind and nearer to a seller works well up to level 6 when XP loss can begin to occur on deaths.

I stayed in Toxx until level 9, finding spots where mobs path through the area, literally coming to you. The beautiful part of this is none of them agro you. Only mobs in Toxx like Poachers and the troll Rungupp will agro if they find you. The head from the troll can get turned into the Mage guildmaster for faction, XP coin and a spell which you likely already have. The same GM can gie a quest to summon a couple of things, turn in and give you a pair of AC3 gloves that sound better than they really are.

Factioning is of course undervalued but it is still something you can think about if you have a quest that needs you to be of high enough faction. I remember the years and time I spent factioning and still it stays with me even now.

The Poachers heads get turned into the guy (Jras) outside the Temple of Divine Light for faction, xp, small coin and an item. You can ALSO bring your ranger or druid from surefall glade here, get thiose same heads and turn them in at Surefall for the same results, which works well for those classes. I had a ranger I have worked to level with an enchanter (2nd account) in group. The ranger got XP and faction, the ench got Xp. At level 7 it was about 1% per turn in but after 31 heads, it was close to 28% Xp gained for each.

I tried leveling the Ench in GFay but people were already power leveling other chars there hogging a ton of mobs in 2 separate hunting areas, making leveling very hard. I got a port from Gfay to toxx, joined up the ranger and they hunted together for several levels. Very effective because NO ONE WAS IN TOXX, compared to many many players in Gfay. I had the zone to myself most of the time. Pick your hunting zone carefully.

At 9 on my mage I was in Qeynos and got an invite to Blackburrow, joined the group and made it to just shy of level 12 that night. I hunted a few blues in Q-Hills and dinged 12. With my new water pet, new DS spell for pet, I went to Eruds Crossing for wisp hunting. Burned outs were worthless/unsellable, Lightstones were wroth 4 gold, GLS’s I kept and stored in the bank in Qeynos for tuen in at the NK Gypsy camp, later selling the concordances I got in exchange for 8PP per. By the time I turned in I had 33 GLS’s. Now I had plat!!

After level 15 I wound up heading to S Ro for grouping, got into a croc group and leveled very fast. I was 18 when the group broke up. I came back the next day and soloed crocs because they path through all the time, are non-aggro (except Lockjaw, who was very red and killed me quickly 2x) and I was able to ding 20 there, with some orc killing because of the lack of blue or white crocs. Crocs do NOT drop much except the rare rune which can sell for 2-4 plat.

Iniaru went to EK to kill spiders and over several days of split leveling, made 2 levels and had almost 300 Spider silks, stacks of spider venom (worth gold), and now is upset because of the broken spell research tradeskill. While it appears to have been fixed, leveling spell research is very hard and EXPENSIVE under the new system. Just a combine for a spell will cost 5 plat for the Thickener, the Inks can be 3 plat, sometimes 1or 2 can be required, the “hide” which had to be prepared which is usually off a dropped item, but early skill ups can be made off vendor bought hides, etc. Why so important? Because at 22 you run into some of your pets only being available through spell research. Of course there are a couple of pets available from merchants in the levels to come, but for a while you have to use a pet a couple of levels lower that you until you get leveled to use one of them.

I did spend time in the Gorge of King Xorbb killig and eventually the guys killing the eyes left. I went there into a BROKEN CAMP and was able to obtain easily ny Polished Bone Hoop and Polished Bone Bracelet before the Minotaurs started to roam back in and made the whole thing impossible to solo.

I have no problem traveling around and even use the Wizards and druids occasionally. But the fun is back and I am enjoying my mage all over again.

Now I do have to say the more I thnk about options, the more I am moving towards grouping to level at least up to 30, when I can start doing the temple of Ro focus quests and the robe of the elements quest. I will also be past the point of needing spell researched pets as all pets after that are vendor sold. Beng on Vulak’Aerr, the population is good and not all that busy, as some who came over from Fippy say was a real problem.

Life in magedom is good!!

Some info I saw in OOC and Auction:

The Opal Encrusted Stein, which actually came out after Luclin 9it came out after I started EQ and Luclin was the expansion I came in on) is being made, the CHA stein which makes buying and selling better overall.

Befallen is for levels 8+
Lavastorm groups form for levels 11-14
Mistmoore groups tend to be around level 19+, although some try to go there at 15.
Upper Guk groups are level 17-22
Permafrost groups are level 20+, but my memory says that seems low
Lower Guk groups are around 34+
OOT Cyclops groups are level 35-ish
A level 33 char can group and get XP with a level 50.
Naggy Phiny and other raid bosses have been killed.

It is a good place to be and I will update some more as things go along.