Everquest going free to play in march - Whose playing?

Any class can "molo" up to the highest level. Moloing is you + your mercenary. Tank mercs are extremely powerful until about 70. This is to allow young players to "catch up" quickly.

However, some classes still level MUCH MUCH MUCH faster than others. So if you do intend on soloing mostly you should pick wisely. Rogues for example are gonna be much much slower soloing/moloing than a ranger or a shadowknight.

Each class has solo capabilities that vary a lot depending on their level to. For example, once Monk's get their 30 second Mend AAs at a high level they instantly become one of the best soloing classes in the game. But before that they are pretty mediocre soloers and require a healer merc to be successful.

I dunno, I think monks are pretty good solo artists up through about 50, merc or no merc. I did some research on good places to level and took a monk up through 51 pretty quickly with pretty terrible gear. I imagine a well-twinked monk would plow to the 50s fast using the same methods.

Of course, monk is my favorite class and really fit my play style, so I suppose results may vary. I found my bard on progression (read: total garbage gear) pretty easy to plow to 50 solo or duo as well.

I dunno, I think monks are pretty good solo artists up through about 50, merc or no merc. I did some research on good places to level and took a monk up through 51 pretty quickly with pretty terrible gear. I imagine a well-twinked monk would plow to the 50s fast using the same methods.

Of course, monk is my favorite class and really fit my play style, so I suppose results may vary. I found my bard on progression (read: total garbage gear) pretty easy to plow to 50 solo or duo as well.

Your absolutely right, play the class that you enjoy and the rest falls into place.


I was referring to the more "mid" level ranges like 65 to 85 where the game starts to get more challenging than simply bringing a merc. The closer you get to the level cap, the less effective your merc gets, the more your gear matters, and the more your AAs matter. For example, I'd rather have a level 85 in my group with a bunch of AAs than I would a level 90 with 0 AAs.

They still use the slider for AA's right? Like you could have 80% of your exp count towards AA and the remaining to your level experience for example.

You still get raped in terms of experience lost when you die? That was always a gripe of mine even after 4 years.

They still use the slider for AA's right? Like you could have 80% of your exp count towards AA and the remaining to your level experience for example.

You still get raped in terms of experience lost when you die? That was always a gripe of mine even after 4 years.

Yes and no.

The slider is still there, though I recommend going 100% in either direction.

Death means very little. When you die, you end up back at your bind spot with all your gear. You lose a decent chunk of exp upon death, but since cleric mercs can res 96% (ie you get 96% of your lost exp back) it's very little that you lose. If your not using a cleric merc, they are still common enough that your almost guaranteed a res.

AA's are really a non issue now. I can farm 50 AA's in a couple of hours with my necro/monk. Level 65 seems to be the sweet spot now for pouring out AA's. I am about to do rogue/SK and plvl with necro/cleric to get a ton of AA's. I'll let you know after this weekend how many AA's we can throw out in an hour.

AA's are really a non issue now. I can farm 50 AA's in a couple of hours with my necro/monk. Level 65 seems to be the sweet spot now for pouring out AA's. I am about to do rogue/SK and plvl with necro/cleric to get a ton of AA's. I'll let you know after this weekend how many AA's we can throw out in an hour.

Heh, the game really has changed so much. I feel like a dinosaur.

Heh, the game really has changed so much. I feel like a dinosaur.

But you also have to remember most classes have 5 or 6 thousand total AAs. Some hybrids have even more.

There is an exp bonus for AAs. When you have 0 AAs, you get a HUGE bonus to AA exp. The more you get, the smaller the bonus gets. Eventually the bonus disappears completely. It's designed to allow new players to catch up faster.