New to EQ2, Did my reading. Making a warlock, Questions inside!

Thorg · 10-28-2009, 10:42 AM

(feel free to skip to questions if you don't want to read my background / newbie experience so far)

Hello everyone. Thinking of getting into EQ2. I played a shaman in EQ1 from release (june, 1999) until Luclin, and I played a warlock in WoW from release until the most recent expansion. I lead a guild in EQ1, and I was a Gladiator (top PvPer) and in a top 3 raiding guild in WoW. Basically, I want you guys to know I am not a retard, based on how I've seen you treat retards here

My cousin has 4 lvl 80's on permafrost, and has been trying to get me to play the game, so I did some reading on the classes, and liked the AoE style of the warlock, so I made one on his account and played it for a while. I got to lvl 20 in essentially one session. I had tons of EXP bonuses though.

I found the best strat was to AoE packs of mobs. I could do packs of 4 green mobs and 3 blue mobs with relative ease, so the EXP flew in. I Spent most of my time griding, rather than questing. Only did quests when the coincided with grinds.

Anyways, here is my plan if/when I get the game:
Get to level 10, get 100 AAs (with help of my friend, obviously). Train explosives for AoE, and Hastening for those bonuses, and train STR/AGI for the bonuses those trees provide. AoE grind away.

Questions:
1. How important is diety and race? I picked a barbarian (probably not the best choice) and I don't even remember what diety. What is a good combo for Race/Diety for purely damage. Thinking Erudite or dark elf + whatever

2. How do you guys deal with all the spells! There are so many! Do you all hotkey everything, or are you clickers? I did find myself using my AoE spells (I think there were 4) my DD spells (maybe 3?) and then some utility spells and buffs most often. Do you guys ignore most of your spells completely?

3. I noticed some spells did not say that they were AoE, but when I clicked a pack of mobs, they all seemed to be targeted, so when I cast the spell, they all got hit. Is this because somehow we can target groups, or are the spells just AoE spells, and I am not seeing that?

4. Is there anyway to heal faster at lower levels? Or do you just have to wait around for your power/health to regen? How about in combat? Are there potions and shit we can use?

5. When do we get mounts? I was already bored of running miles and miles around.

6. How important is questing? Should I make it a point to do quests? I was able to get 2 master strikes just grinding in Wailing Caverns, I understand those are important, but aside from that, are there any quests I should really stick to?

7. Same question as above, but for trade skills. I ignored these completely. Should I tradeskill it up, or are they a waste of time.

8. The buff system is sort of confusing to me, I'm sure it's probably simple, but I haven't found any reads on it. Can someone give me a link explaining buffs and the buff system?

That's it for now. Thanks for the help.

--Thorg

Udoaka · 10-28-2009, 10:54 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thorg

Questions:
1. How important is diety and race? I picked a barbarian (probably not the best choice) and I don't even remember what diety. What is a good combo for Race/Diety for purely damage. Thinking Erudite or dark elf + whatever

Race isn't that important, but if you want to min/max, pick something with 2% casting speed. As far as diety, you're going to want anashti if you're evil, sol ro if you're good.

2. How do you guys deal with all the spells! There are so many! Do you all hotkey everything, or are you clickers? I did find myself using my AoE spells (I think there were 4) my DD spells (maybe 3?) and then some utility spells and buffs most often. Do you guys ignore most of your spells completely?

Personally, I click. I ignore spells that don't fall into the cast order, but you're going to need to get used to seeing 15 - 20 spells. As far as everything I my hotbars, I have 7 filled up with my macros and spells, if you want a rough estimate.

3. I noticed some spells did not say that they were AoE, but when I clicked a pack of mobs, they all seemed to be targeted, so when I cast the spell, they all got hit. Is this because somehow we can target groups, or are the spells just AoE spells, and I am not seeing that?

Spells with a blue background are True AoEs, meaning they hit everything up to the amount of targets listed in the spell. Green background spells will hit all the mobs linked in an encounter.

4. Is there anyway to heal faster at lower levels? Or do you just have to wait around for your power/health to regen? How about in combat? Are there potions and shit we can use?

Food and Drink will help you regen out of combat health and power faster. This can be bought on the broker or from merchants. They are power pots (clarity) and hp pots (dunno the name) and then you have you're power siphon spell as a warlock. You can also buy an imbued chest piece which procs a heal.

5. When do we get mounts? I was already bored of running miles and miles around.

Well, there are a few ways to do this. You can get a quested carpet at like level 40 from a Sinking Sands quest or you can fork out some seriously cash from a horse merchant. You can also try to get a LoN mount but that's going to cost you too much money so I would beg from your friend.

6. How important is questing? Should I make it a point to do quests? I was able to get 2 master strikes just grinding in Wailing Caverns, I understand those are important, but aside from that, are there any quests I should really stick to?

Questing may not be as fast as grinding, but it get's you a lot more AA, which is vital in this game. The more you quest, the easier it is to get to 200 AA. At level 20, you should probably get into the Nek Timeline which starts in nek forest from a guy right before you enter the rocky cavern place from the beach. It's hard to miss.

7. Same question as above, but for trade skills. I ignored these completely. Should I tradeskill it up, or are they a waste of time.

I have played the game since launch, and I am a level 21 jeweler. Basically, it's not important, but it can net you some decent cash. Also you can become a tinkerer as your secondary tradeskill, which lets you make some pretty useful shit.

8. The buff system is sort of confusing to me, I'm sure it's probably simple, but I haven't found any reads on it. Can someone give me a link explaining buffs and the buff system?

Click all your buffs. They stay on when you die? I'm not sure what you're asking for here lol.

Sadari · 10-28-2009, 01:06 PM

A few additions from a different point of view:

HOTBARS: I'm a button-presser. I have 3 active hotbars (normal, alt, and ctrl), and if I were a sorcerer I'd group my spells like this:
- 1,2,3,... direct damage spells, in order of importance
- alt1,alt2,alt3... green AoE spells followed by blue AoE spells (there are times you don't want to use blue AoE's)
- ctrl1,ctrl2,... control spells (roots, stuns, etc.)
- use the right side of each hotbar for miscellaneous but useful spells (heroic opportunity starter, temp buffs, etc)
- Any permanent buffs go on a separate hotbar. By the time you hit level 60, you won't have space for them on your 'active' hotbars.
MOUNTS: The moonlight madness event (fairie circle that are active on the 20th-21st of each month) has a horse reward (40% runspeed, I think). The 'level 40' carpet is a long, involved quest and you won't be able to complete it until you're closer to level 55 unless you get some serious help. At level 80, there are multiple quest and buyable mounts.
HEALTH/POWER: Good food/water is usually enough. You can also use totems to regen health and/or power.
Just to be clear on the encounters: if you click on one mob and multiple mobs highlight, then these mobs are an encounter. When you aggro one of these mobs, the others will always assist. Green AoE's will work on all mobs in the encounter if they're in range and normally won't aggro mobs in different encounters (although social aggro rules still apply). Blue AoE's will work on any/all mobs in range (subject to the maximum), whether or not the mob is currently hostile or part of the current encounter. To put it another way: blue AoE's near a city guard are bad, green AoE's near a city guard aren't.

Sadari
80 Illusionist

Thorg · 10-28-2009, 05:35 PM

Thanks for the replies.

Udoka, my question about buffs is the "slots" they have for them. Is there a max of 5 buffs, or are those something else? Do procs count as buffs? Can we only have certain types of buffs?

Also, again to Udoka, my AA's seemed to be flying in with limited questing, why do quests give more AA's then just grinding?

Sadari -- so I can't get a mount until 40 essentially?

Thanks for the info about encounters and spell types, and all my other questions really. Very helpful.

I have one more question I forgot to ask. What the hell is with the heroic opportunity stuff I keep seeing pop up? Where can I read about that, and how to execute them? I have no idea how to do those.

ZaiTh · 10-28-2009, 06:25 PM

Those are called concentration slots. The buffs that you offer are for group, self, and for single target. For example (I'm at work can't log in to check names)

Magi Shield is a Self Buff (Yellow Background) Does not use up a concentration slot.
Aspect of Moon - Group max power + poison/disease mit buff uses a "Conc" slot
Seal of Dismal Logic - Group casting skills buff uses a "Conc" slot.

This leaves you with 3 open slots. As you level you will gain 3 other spells you can place on an Ally or yourself.

1. Gift of Bertoxxulous - If hit, can proc a small grp nuke. Like a damage shield but has to actually proc. This is a "Conc" slot.
2. Grasp of Bertoxxulous - When you hit with a "Melee" Weapon, it will proc a small grp dot. This is a "Conc" slot.
3. Boon of Solitude - Works like gift but will proc a small power feed over time to whom you have it on and do a small hate transfer to them. Usually put on the Main Tank (MT).
This does not utilize a "Conc" slot.

Quest completions generate better rewards in terms of AA. Quests for the most part are now a waste of time with the AA slider that was put in just like how EQ1 worked. Like you said in your post, you did quests if they corresponded with w/e mobs you were killing. For myself when I powerlevel, I dont do them unless they are absolutely necessary. They are damn tedious and suck balls.

Mounts are expensive.....Someone mentioned the quest. That is a good place to start. If your buddy is in a high level guild, then you can buy a mount using status and money which makes it hella cheaper. If you dont know anything about the status system just ask your friend. What level is he/she btw?

If he/she is 80, then money should not be a problem.

Heroic Opportunies can be usefule I guess if maybe you are soloing but tbh, I think they are a giant waste in groups or raids. In my exp next to no one uses them. It kills your dps trying to watch it and get timing down blah blah blah. To start an HO mages get a trigger at level 5ish called Arcane Augur. Every class gets a trigger.

Just about every site is blocked at work but you can do a search on google to get great explanations and the HO Chart on what they all do.

Thorg · 10-28-2009, 06:43 PM

Thank you guys for all the help. I am surprised I was not met with an onslought of "STFU NEWB" based on some of the other threads I read.

My friend has 4 lvl 80's in the 2nd top raiding guild on permafrost. I think he has a couple thosand plant spread across his characters. Money shouldn't be too much of a problem.

ZaiTh · 10-28-2009, 07:06 PM

stfu newb

Udoaka · 10-28-2009, 09:01 PM

You weren't met with the onslaught because you asked nicely.

And I answered at 7am so I wasn't angry yet ;)

Sturges · 10-29-2009, 12:01 AM

wow youre not angry when you wake up at 7? jfc man

Udoaka · 10-29-2009, 12:12 AM

I was too tired to be angry. And I had to get the free tickets to my colleges football game. I was killing time on flames lol.