Newbie Guide

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Intro

So you got the game loaded on your computer. Emulator software downloaded. Now you're looking at the character select screen and wondering, "What race should I pick? What class should I play?" For those who haven't played EverQuest before (or even for those who haven't played in years), starting off can be rather daunting. Without much to guide a new player, the game itself can quickly become overwhelming and unforgiving. A few quick pointers can save a lot of time and a lot of frustration.

What classes are there in EverQuest?

The classes are divided into four major categories: tank, melee, caster, and priest.

Note: Class-based experience penalties were removed in the January 17, 2001 patch during the Scars of Velious expansion. While this change was not explicitly mentioned in those patch notes, it was mentioned in the January 14, 2001 Producer's Letter in which Gordon Wrinn stated they would be "going in next patch." The experience bonuses for Rogues and Warriors was left in so that the changes wouldn't be interpreted as a nerf, and because they weren't enough to be considered unbalancing.[1]

Tanks

The role of the tank is to keep the enemy monster's attention on him and to take damage, allowing other players to cast spells or melee the monster to do the brunt of the damage.

Warrior

The Warrior is the simplest tank, never learning any spells. They rely on melee damage, weapon effects, and the Taunt skill to generate aggro. They are among the most gear-dependent classes, but can perform incredible feats once they have acquired many raid-tier items. Although generally not as useful in experience groups (as opposed to raid groups) as knights (i.e. Paladins and Shadow Knights), who have superior aggro generation ability, they eventually scale to become superior tanks and damage dealers. Warriors are the cornerstone of many raids due to their Disciplines, which they acquire at high levels and allow them to survive blows that no other class can. Warriors are one of the less intense characters to play; though gear and situational awareness are important, they have very few abilities at their disposal. Warriors have a 10% EXP bonus. Warriors are a good class to pick for someone interested in tanking, dealing damage, and participating in raids, and those that enjoy working with others to accomplish their goals.

Paladin

The Paladin is a hybrid between a Warrior and a Cleric who uses Flash of Light (a blinding spell) and various stun spells to maintain excellent aggro on the enemy. He also has access to weak healing spells, lulls (useful for pulling), and roots (useful for crowd control). His unique ability is Lay on Hands, which heals the Paladin for an enormous amount of HP but has a very long cooldown time.

Shadow Knight

The evil version of the Paladin, a Shadow Knight is a hybrid between a Warrior and a Necromancer. He has the use of a very weak pet, weak damage over time spells that are excellent at holding aggro, weak lifetaps, Feign Death (extremely useful in various situations), fears, and snares. His unique ability is Harm Touch, which deals a large amount of damage but has a very long cooldown time and can be resisted. Unlike Warriors and Paladins, Shadow Knights are not only excellent in groups, but also decent soloers.

Melee

Rogue

The masters of melee DPS, Rogues use their Backstab ability to inflict huge amounts of damage to monsters from behind, as well as providing solid DPS with their weapons. They can also Sneak + Hide to move around unseen by most monsters. However, they are poor soloers. Rogues, like Warriors, have very few abilities at their disposal, making them one of the more straightforward classes to play. They have a 9% EXP bonus.

Monk

Second only to rogues in melee DPS, Monks have the added bonuses of: (1) the Mend ability, which lets them regain a quarter of their HP once every six minutes, (2) Feign Death, which saves them from sticky situations and helps them split groups of monsters to pull back to their group, and (3) superior tanking ability compared to Rogues. Monks must be played carefully, as they suffer major AC penalties if they are carrying 15 or more equipment weight, especially at higher levels (at very high levels, this weight limit is relaxed a little).

Ranger

A popular class in classic EverQuest. Rangers can provide good DPS, pulling, and tanking capability to a group. They have the ability to track monsters better than anyone else in the game, a niche but very useful ability. They are great soloists for an experienced player. Rangers have less hp/ac then warriors but can hold better aggro. Rangers do more damage than paladins/shadowknights but take more damage.

Bard

Not exactly a melee class per se, since they spend most of their time singing, Bards are excellent at soloing, grouping, and raiding. They are the kings of solo DPS, able to take down entire zones at once through careful play, and can be huge assets to groups, providing pulls, crowd control, tanking, DPS, buffs, debuffs, mana regeneration and heals. The Bard is one of the most intense classes to play, requiring a lot of thought and work to play well.

Casters

These classes spend their time casting spells and sitting down meditating (regaining mana). They use the intelligence stat to determine their maximum mana, and are sometimes called intelligence casters. They rely on the Research tradeskill to produce many of their spells from level 16 onward using items dropped by monsters.

Enchanter

The Enchanter has a powerful arsenal of abilities at their disposal allowing them to manipulate the world around them to their will. Some of their repertoire include: Lulls to make monsters less aggressive, single target & AoE stuns, mind-controlling charms, mana regeneration buffs (Clarity), melee haste buffs, and melee slow debuffs. This makes them incredibly useful for groups, and very effective soloers, but they can be challenging to play well and often require a lot of constant attention and fast reactions when charming enemies. When things get messy, it's often up to the enchanter to keep the situation under control. Unfortunately, this often means they are the first to die when things go south.

Necromancer

Similar in some ways to Enchanters, but more solo-oriented. Their primary ways of damaging monsters are through DoTs (damage over time spells), pet DPS, and charming undead. They can root, fear, and snare monsters, they can feign death, and they can transfer mana and HP to allies. A very versatile class.

Magician

They specialize in summoning powerful pets, useful both solo and in groups. They also pack some hefty nukes, and can cast powerful damage shields on themselves and their allies (spells that damage the enemy when the enemy hits you). Can be somewhat monotonous to play, though not as much as a Wizard.

Wizard

Has the best nukes (immediate direct damage spells) in the game; unfortunately, nukes have limited use outside of a raid setting due to their poor mana efficiency. Can also provide some crowd control in the form of roots, snares, and stuns, and is able to solo by quad kiting. They can also teleport around Norrath. Excellent in specialized groups, since Bard duos and AoE groups allow them to nuke entire zones at once. Not so good in standard EXP groups; a Rogue or Monk will almost always contribute more DPS. Very straightforward to play; the wizard lifestyle is to cast a nuke or two and then sit meditating for a couple of minutes.

Priests

Similar to casters, but with better healing abilities and the ability to wear leather, chain, and sometimes plate armor, rather than just cloth. They rely on the wisdom stat to determine their maximum mana pool.

Cleric

A straightforward and extremely useful class, the Cleric focuses almost exclusively on healing, with the best heals in the game. They get their heal spells faster than any other class gets the same spells, and they cast them more efficiently (other classes only heal 90% as much with the same spells). They also get Complete Healing, the mother of all healing spells. They also have excellent HP/AC buffs and resistance buffs, and can root. They can also revive themselves and their allies, restoring up to 96% of lost EXP at high levels.

Druid

An easy class to start off with, the Druid has many useful abilities for soloing and grouping: heals, damage shield, regeneration, some buffs, animal charming, nukes, DoTs, roots, and snares. They can also teleport around Norrath. Their primary role in a group is healing and snaring. Very capable soloers, they can get great EXP by charming animals, or by quad kiting. They are not as desired in groups as Shamans or Clerics, though.

Shaman

A class that focuses on buffing allies and debuffing enemies, they have many buffs at their disposal (regeneration, stat buffs, weak haste, HP and AC buffs, and resistance buffs) and they have the best slows in the game, reducing monster DPS by an enormous amount at high levels. Their Cannibalize ability allows them to exchange HP for mana, providing great mana regeneration, and they get (somewhat weak) pets later in their careers. They are very useful for groups, and while they start off as weak soloers, they evolve into one of the strongest soloers in the game as they level up.

What class should I pick?

In order to decide what class/race combination you should pick, you should decide what exactly are your goals in EverQuest and what you want to accomplish when playing. This ranks classes from best to worst based on various categories. Going through these categories should help you determine what class you would like to play.


I want to get a little money relatively quickly

Druid or Wizard. Once you hit your thirties you can teleport people around Norrath for money. Depending on your luck finding people to teleport and getting payment, this can typically net you a few hundred platinum an hour (sometimes more, sometimes less). Not chump change, but not as much money as can be made by farming. Druids are better for making money because they can also power level, and power leveling rates are much better (one or two thousand platinum an hour). Druids are excellent power levelers for low level characters, not so much for higher level characters. Note that getting to your 30s where you can port other people will take many hours of gameplay, especially if you are new, so if you do not actually enjoy playing these classes, you should probably not make one just for porting money.


I want to be able to solo and not have to rely on a group/raid and/or my time is limited in Real Life

Bard > Enchanter > Necromancer > Druid > Magician > Wizard > Shaman > Cleric

The above list is in terms of how fast you gain EXP an hour. Bards are far and away the best at solo EXPing because they can take down entire zones at once, starting at level 2. Enchanters, Necromancers, and Druids are all excellent soloers because of their ability to charm and their crowd control and mana regeneration (except for Druid, until much later) abilities. Magicians are strong soloers because of their strong pets, and Wizards and Druids both have the ability to quad kite starting in their late 20s or early 30s. Shamans are pretty weak soloers initially but become one of the strongest solo farming classes in the game at 60. Lastly, clerics are slow but reliable soloers using undead nukes with lulls and roots for crowd control.

I want to explore everything and travel quickly

Druid > Wizard > Bard > Shaman

Druids and Wizards are the only classes capable of teleporting themselves (and others) to many locations across Norrath. Bards have the best run speed in the game with their run speed songs, and Shamans get Spirit of Wolf. Note that it is easy to find ports on this server, and all classes are capable of getting Journeyman's Boots], so this is not necessarily a good reason to make a character.

I want to be able to get groups and level quickly

Enchanter > Cleric > Warrior/Shadow Knight/Paladin > Rogue > Monk > Shaman > Bard

The "holy trinity" of standard dungeon groups in EverQuest (and most MMORPGs) is tank/healer/DPS, and tanks and healers are especially in high demand. Warriors, Shadow Knights, and Paladins are the standard tanks in EverQuest.

Warriors are better tanks in raids due to their disciplines, but in standard EXP groups, Shadow Knights and Paladins are more effective due to their much better aggro generation abilities; they are also better for new players due to less reliance on having good equipment to be effective.

Clerics are by far the best healers in the game, and they later get the ability to resurrect their allies, restoring lost EXP from death. For this they are well-loved in groups.

Enchanters are possibly the most important class in a standard EXP group even though they are not so much part of the holy trinity, and they are in especially high demand because they are uniquely suited to fulfilling their role (except for bards, which can perform many of the same tasks, but carry a large EXP penalty [NOTE: Class EXP penalties are no longer in effect on Project 1999 servers that have reached Velious expansion] and are often soloing anyway). Enchanters have excellent capability to crowd control, meaning they can guarantee that your group is fighting only one monster at a time, which greatly increases efficiency. They can also provide mana regeneration to the casters in the group, melee haste to the melee DPS, and they have some weak slows they can use to decrease enemy DPS. Finally, they can charm enemy monsters to provide a great boost in DPS.

Rogues and Monks dominate DPS in EXP groups. Rogues are better DPS and have a small EXP bonus, but monks have additional utility in the form of pulling with Feign Death.

Shamans are weaker than Clerics as healers but still useful in that regard, and also provide an array of very useful buffs to the group. They also have excellent slows they can use in later levels to significantly reduce the DPS done by the enemy.

Bards can fulfill much the same role as an Enchanter, as well as potentially being a good puller and tank, so they are certainly very useful for groups.

I want to be able to go AFK in my groups sometimes

Wizard > Druid > Magician > Necro > Bard

These classes often have less of an active role in group play, especially Wizards, who will often find themselves meditating for several minutes to regain mana for more nukes. Druids, Magicians, and Necromancers are more active. Sometimes groups will let a Bard be AFK playing a mana regeneration song.

I don't want to have to worry about losing exp when I die

Cleric

Clerics can resurrect, regaining (with the highest-level spell) 96% of lost EXP upon death. However, most high-level groups have a cleric or at least have some other cleric present in the zone who can take care of resurrection if you die, so rolling a cleric for this reason is not necessarily the best idea. A committed player with some platinum to pay people can get a 96% resurrection whenever they die.

I want to tank but I want to do other things too like cast spells or pull mobs and feign death

Shadow Knight > Paladin >> Monk > Bard > Ranger

SKs and Paladins are both great tanks in EXP groups, and SKs have the added bonus of being able to solo somewhat. Some of the melee classes can also be passable tanks with the right gear and know-how. Bards have excellent aggro generation, can wear plate, and have a huge array of other useful abilities. Rangers and Monks can both be acceptable tanks; Rangers are better at holding aggro, but Monks are better at DPSing.

I want to get groups but because this is my first character; I don't have money for good gear

Enchanter > Cleric > Shadow Knight/Paladin > Bard > Magician > Necromancer

People are generally happy to take a newbie with no good gear into their groups as long as that person is eager to get better at the game and learn. However, some classes have a much more noticeable difference in their performance depending on what gear they have. This doesn't mean that an ungeared warrior or rogue can't get groups, but it does mean that they need to be smarter about farming a little money at low levels and going to East Commonlands to buy some cheap gear.

I want to play this game on hard mode

Ranger

Rangers suffer from being well-rounded. Other classes are superior to each aspect of what rangers can do, except for tracking and in some areas pulling. They require a lot of gear to truly shine, and even then other classes frequently shine brighter. They do however bring a great deal of versatility which can be invaluable in the right group, and eventually they provide powerful unique buffs which are always welcome among melee classes. On a pre-Velious server they also suffer from a 40% EXP penalty.

I want to be in high level raids

Cleric > Warrior > Rogue > Wizard

Note: There is a strong emphasis on Clerics and Warriors (Iksar Warriors preferably)


OK, I understand everything, but I want a little more info about the classes

Check out the list of guides for further information on each class. You could also go to the classes section and select the class you want more info about.

What race should I pick?

Ultimately, that all depends on what race you like. The in-game benefits and penalties that each race gives are not massive, and every race is viable. However, you are stuck with your racial choice (and seeing that character's visual appearance) for their life, so choose carefully.

For further consideration see Choosing a Race.

Where should I allocate my character stats?

So by this point in the guide you should know which class and race you would like to play. Here is a basic list of each stat that you can allocate your points and what the stat does.

Main article: Statistics

Strength

Strength determines how much you can carry. It influences maximum and average damage and how quickly you learn many offensive skills. This skill is important to melee classes such as Warriors and Rogues as it directly influences how much damage you are going to be doing in close combat. Do not allocate points into this if you are a Shaman, Cleric, Druid, Magician, Necromancer, Enchanter, or Wizard.

Note to End Game Raiders: If you are a melee class it would be recommended to put some points here especially if your race has low strength. Do not add a lot of points if you are a melee class and plan to raid extensively because once you have high end gear with buffs and Bard songs, this stat is easily maxed at 255.

Stamina

Stamina affects how many hit points you have and how long you can hold your breath. The number of hit points gained from increasing this statistic varies by class; warriors gain more than knights, knights more than casters, and so on. The stat is especially important for tanks. While HP is important for all classes, casters (who get minimal returns from STA) might be better served by putting points into a different stat and then getting HP gear. Melee DPS classes may consider this stat of some importance as they are directly on the front line, even if they aren't the one being focused by monsters.

Note for End game Raiders: Do not add a lot of points if plan to raid extensively because once you have high end gear with buffs and Bard songs, this stat is easily maxed at 255. If you are a caster and plan to raid a lot you may want to try to up this close to 100 as you do not easily max stamina as a caster with high end Velious gear. HP is very important to absorbing boss AE's and not dying.

Agility

Agility affects how quickly you can learn some defensive skills, how difficult it is to hit you, as well as how much damage you take when you are hit. The true effect of Agility is often debated, but the consensus among veteran players is that its effect is minimal. Reducing incoming damage is useful to every class as you will get hit at some point in your journey. However, it doesn't seem to make a noticeable difference, and there are quite a few Agility increasing items in the game. The only real reason to put points into Agility is if your Agility starts below a value of 75, because having sub-75 Agility causes a major AC hit.

Note for End game Raiders: This stat can be useful for tanks to add at the character select screen because this stat is harder to max out than strength and stamina and can add value to tanking end game bosses.

Dexterity

Dexterity affects how quickly you learn weapon skills and how often weapons with combat effects will do perform them (or 'proc'). For Bards it also affects their chance of missing notes (akin to fizzling). Typically Bards and Warriors are the classes that tend to add points here. This stat is not important for casters.

Note for End game Raiders: This stat can be important for melee to add at the character select screen because this stat is harder to max out than strength and stamina and can add some value to tanking end game bosses.

Wisdom

Wisdom affects the amount of mana the priest classes have, as well as priest hybrids (rangers and paladins). It also affects how quickly you can learn most skills if your Wisdom is higher than your Intelligence. Wisdom is only of primary importance to the priests. You should only allocate points here if you are a Shaman, Cleric, or Druid.

Note for End game Priests: This stat is very easy to max at end game; however, having more WIS early game can be useful, and priests do not have a lot of very useful other options. If you plan to raid you may want to add to stamina as it helps you eat AoE's from bosses in the end game.

Intelligence

Intelligence directly affects how quickly you can learn most skills if it is higher than your Wisdom. It affects the maximum mana all Intelligence casters, as well as Shadow Knights and Bards. It's important for casters, not so much for SKs and Bards. You should probably only allocate points here if you are a Magician, Necromancer, Enchanter, or Wizard.

Note for End game Casters: This stat is very easy to max at end game; however, having more INT early game can be useful, and casters do not have a lot of very useful other options. If you plan to raid you may want to add to stamina as it helps you eat AoE's from bosses in the end game.

Charisma

This affects amount you will be paid for goods by NPC merchants, and how much you will pay. It also affects the saving throw on certain Bard and Enchanter songs/spells, charms and lulls in particular (note: druid, shaman, and necromancer charm is not affected by CHA). For Bards, Charisma is more important than for other classes as it improves their songs' missed note (fizzle) chance. Because of these factors, only Bards and Enchanters should consider this an important stat.

Overall Recommendations for selection You can see recommendations for every race/class combination on the relevant class pages on this Wiki, there is a lot of info on how to balance your stats out there. However, with Velious now released if you plan to raid you will generally want to go against the grain and try not to pump up your main stat because that is the one that is most easily maxed. It is recommend to create a very balanced character otherwise you will be staring at your stats fully buffed while raiding Velious wishing you had put stat points somewhere else on character creation

Druid, Shaman, Cleric -> While, wisdom is typically recommend here; if you plan to raid and play end game content an argument can also be made to try to get your stamina close to equaling your wisdom because wisdom is easily maxed in Velious. Stamina will help you eat AoE's from bosses

Magician, Wizard, Necromancer -> While, intelligence is typically recommend here; if you plan to raid and play end game content an argument can also be made to try to get your stamina close to equaling your intelligence because intelligence is easily maxed in Velious. Stamina will help you eat AoE's from bosses

Warrior, SK, Paladin -> Stamina is key, though warriors with high base stamina (e.g. ogres) may want to consider dexterity and Agility. Dexterity is especially important for warriors since weapon procs are one of the major ways they build aggro on a monster. Agility can help attacks miss you when mobs are attacking you. If you plan to raid end game mobs, it is best to balance strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity because stats can be maxed easily in velious.

Monk, Rogue, Ranger -> Strength and stamina are the big ones. Agility and Dexterity can be useful as well. If you plan to raid end game mobs, it is best to balance strength, stamina, agility, and dexterity because stats can be maxed easily in velious.

Enchanter - > While Charisma, and Intelligence are both important here; if you plan to raid end game mobs, it is best to balance Intelligence, Charisma, and Stamina because stats can be maxed easily in velious.

Bard - > Charisma, Stamina, and Dexterity are all useful. Try to create a good balance. Stamina is lesser of the three, but raise it some if it is low.

OK, I've started playing - oh god, what's going on? Did I just drown? Why does this bear keep killing me?

For those who are playing EverQuest for the first time and are not just rusty, there are some key things you need to know.

1) Always consider nearby monsters. This means right-click on them (or having them targeted and press C), and examine the resulting text. Green text means the monsters are very easy and give no EXP (not always true - at higher levels some greens have a different text and do give some exp, albeit a low amount). Blue means they're a decent challenge and provide good EXP. White means they're exactly your level; unless you're very low level (1-5 or so), well geared, or one of a few classes who knows that they're doing, white and higher monsters should not be tangoed with unless you have allies. Yellow means they're either one level or two levels higher than you. Red means they're more than two levels higher than you. The level difference between you and a monster enormously influences how successful you'll be against it: a red monster will be much more likely to resist your spells and hit you for full damage than a blue monster, for instance. Also, considering tells you whether the monster wants to kill you. If the text says the monster is scowling at you or glaring at you threateningly, be forewarned that it will attack you if you get close to it (unless, in some cases, if it is a green con).

2) If you die, always loot your corpse. It has all your gear on it. Trying to kill a monster at level 1 when you lost your weapon is an exercise in futility. If you're about to die, type /loc (or make a macro for it; a macro is a button you can click to execute a command, and you can make them by going to the Socials menu, scrolling over to a blank button, and right clicking on it). This will tell you your current location in the zone you're in. Then you can find that location later to locate your corpse. You can also enlist the help of Necromancers and Bards to find your corpse. Note that at higher levels when experience loss becomes more punishing, you will want to leave one item (preferably something not useful, i.e. vendor trash or a piece of food) on your corpse if you want to be resurrected.

3) You can change your viewing angle by dragging the right mouse button or by using Page Up and Page Down. This is useful if you're drowning. Look up, then go forward - you'll get to the water's surface.

4) Use this Wiki. It has maps of every zone, it has descriptions of most monsters and quests, it has a wealth of information about game mechanics and equipment.

5) Don't be afraid to ask for help from other players. "/tell playername blah blah blah" is how you send private messages to players. "/who" tells you who is in the zone you're in, and has various useful variations: "/who all druid 39 60" tells you who all druids between level 39 and 60 currently logged in to EverQuest are (except for those that chose to go anonymous with "/anon"). There are myriad other useful commands that you will learn as you play the game.

6) Don't expect to level quickly, or for the game to hold your hand. It's a slow game, you lose experience when you die, corpse runs can be long and annoying, and there will always be powerful monsters around trying to kill you if you don't watch out and stay in safe areas. A lot of players find that these aspects of the game make it more immersive, and make it more exciting to move through a dangerous zone, or go into a dungeon, and more rewarding to hit various milestones. If these aspects of the game annoy you, that's totally natural, but if they really annoy you, maybe this game isn't for you.

Starting in your Hometown

After your initial character is made, you'll load into your home city. Each player starts with a few items: food/drink, a weapon, a note to their guildmaster, a Tome of Order and Discord, and two spells if they're a casting class. The tome is used in to become PVP enabled, but on a PVE server this will only hinder your progression (you will be unable to interact in certain key ways with non-PVP players), so you should almost definitely destroy it (you can always get another one from a Priest of Discord).

The next step should be to find your guildmaster. Read the note given to you, take down the name, and find the NPC in question. Hand him/her the note to receive a training tunic/robe, a small amount of experience, and positive faction towards your guild. Lastly, scribe any spells in your inventory into your spellbook (ctrl-b or use the EQ menu) and memorize (left-click) the spells onto your spell bar.

Before heading out, it's a good idea to familiarize yourself with the layout of your city, mainly where your guild is in relation to the town gate, the banker(s), and any merchants close to the exit for easy selling (although be warned that a few merchants in EverQuest are greedy merchants, and offer terrible prices compared to most other merchants!). To bolster your inventory space, backpacks and other bags can be bought from a merchant in town or occasionally looted from humanoid monsters. Always be sure to have adequate food and drink as well. Casters will not be able to regenerate mana if they run out of drink, and all classes are unable to naturally regenerate HP without food.

Traveling

Safe travel will not only save you a headache, but will get you to your location quicker in the long run. A few things to note:

  • In-game maps weren't added until the Trilogy client. You probably aren't using an early client (although some like p99 have modified the Titanium client to disable it) so be sure check the maps on this wiki to make sure you know where you're going!
  • Hug the walls. If a zone is unfamiliar territory to you, the walls are usually the safest route. In certain cases, the roads are viable paths to follow as well, although they usually more populated with mobs.
  • Beware of Kithicor Forest.
  • Make sure to get a bind at your destination. When characters die, they are sent back to their bind point and have to run back to their corpse to get their items back (you can see where your bind point is with "/charinfo"). Anyone can get a bind in any city (and a few other non-city locations) from casters level 12 and up, and casters with the Bind Affinity spell can bind themselves almost anywhere.
  • Don't be afraid to ask for ports from Druids and Wizards. Try the commands "/who all druid 39 60" and "/who all wizard 39 60". Send tells to the players you find in these queries who are not obviously busy EXPing or raiding (for example, if you see someone in Karnor's Castle or the City of Mist, chances are they won't be able to help you, but if you see someone in East Commonlands or Greater Faydark, they likely will be able to). Ask politely for a port, explaining that you're new and can't pay them (once you get some levels and platinum, a typical payment for a port is 30-50pp; some people follow the metric of one PP for every level they are). People are nice and are usually happy to help a newbie in need. This can save you hours of travel through dangerous zones, corpse runs, etc.
  • Skill up Sense Heading, and learn how to use /loc - it's useful to know where you are and what direction you're going in.
  • Norrath is a big place, check out the Run Speed Comparison to find out how to get to where you're going faster.

Gear

There are a number of item flags to keep in mind.

  • MAGIC ITEM – Applies to weapon slots. Allows you to damage creatures otherwise immune to physical damage such as ghouls, willowisps, and elementals. Hand-to-hand uses the equipped glove item to make punches magical, while the shoulder slot determines Slam's magic status, similarly the Feet slot for Kick and Flying Kick, and Secondary for Bash.
  • LORE ITEM – You can have only one of this item on your character, including your bank.
  • NO DROP (NO TRADE) – This item binds to your character on pickup; it cannot be traded or dropped on the ground. Also known as NO DROP.
  • NO RENT (TEMPORARY) – This item will disappear from your inventory or bank upon logout. Also known as NO RENT. These items will remain on your characters for roughly 30 minutes after logging out of the character.
  • PENDING LORE - This is an extraneous tag which has no purpose or effect, present or future. See Shralok Pack

Armor

Equipment can be difficult to come by in EverQuest. Most items of any worth come from named mobs, usually in dungeons, and almost always require a group. Upgrading your gear efficiently will involve different routes depending on your different class and role. The starting point for all classes is generally cloth (dropped off of decaying skeletons, low-level kobolds, orcs, gnolls, etc.) because of its low-cost and ease of acquisition. For tanks and melee classes it may be it more efficient to purchase a few leather pieces (Raw-Hide or Tattered) and fill in the rest of your empty gear slots with cloth drops. There is no point in starting with cloth gear having upgrades available that are similarly priced.

Plate/Chain Classes

For any class in close-combat there are two options available early: banded and bronze. Both typically sell for 1pp per AC, but banded is considerably lighter and tends to be easier to come by since players can craft it. On characters with low strength, such as Clerics, choosing banded over bronze can be the difference between becoming encumbered * (overweight) and staying under your weight limit.

*Being encumbered causes a loss in agility, movement speed, and AC.

  • Banded - consists of 13 pieces for 91AC
  • Bronze - consists of 13 pieces for 102AC

Banded mail is player crafted using Blacksmithing, while bronze is dropped from mobs level 20+. While a tanking (knight) class would benefit from the extra AC of bronze, other classes could just as easily use Banded for its lighter weight. It comes down to play style as both are viable options for a new player.

For a young Monk, since patchwork is rather heavy, either raw silk or cured silk are viable until Wu's Fighting Armor, and can be relatively easily crafted yourself (unlike banded, which requires a couple hundred platinum's investment to reliably craft).

  • Raw Silk - consists of 13 pieces for 37AC
  • Cured Silk - consists of 13 pieces for 50AC
  • Mesh - consists of 13 pieces for 50AC

Both raw and cured silk are created by tailors. A common way to purchase either is to collect enough spider silk for the tailor to create a set and offer a tip to the player as well. Mesh is not commonly sold by players, but is also a viable option. It is commonly dropped in Upper Guk.

Casters

Armor for casters can be more troublesome to obtain. Any plat earned is likely needed for new spells, which should definitely be your priority (though some spells are not so important). Also, many lower-end intelligence/wisdom items tend to be sold to merchants rather than other players due to their relatively low value - for instance, a level 60 character who loots an item worth 10-100pp might just merchant sell it or destroy it rather than bothering to sell it to other players in EC (East Commonlands), since this character may already be able to make thousands of platinum an hour. The most viable option is to stick with cloth and keep an eye out for jewelers selling their wares. A pair of +2 stat rings and/or a bracelet can be purchased for under 15pp and will likely last into your 20s until more equipment is available to you. Low-level Clerics may consider purchasing strength jewelry to facilitate wearing plate armor if they are low on strength.

Fortunately, caster classes are much less reliant on gear to be successful than melee classes are (although enchanters without adequate charisma might find themselves in trouble trying to charm, and a 30+ Druid or Wizard without some mana gear will have trouble quad kiting). A naked necromancer is nearly as effective as a fully geared one! Don't stress out about trying to get all the fancy gear on your new character; you'll be much better served by picking up all of your useful spells and saving platinum until you are 40+.

Weapons

For the first few levels there isn't much available as an upgrade to your starter weapon. Depending on your style of play, it's not always a necessity either. However, your role in a group will require certain changes in tactics. Knowing which weapons to use in each situation is vital.

Tanks

Weapon DPS is important for any melee character, and at low levels is proportional to the weapon's shown damage divided by its shown delay (though mid-to-high level characters start getting damage bonuses, flat bonuses to damage per swing, which have the result that low delay weapons often have more DPS than higher-delay weapons, even if the high-delay weapon has a better shown damage/delay ratio). Before the mid teens (when most melee classes get dual wield), a decent shield is also something to look into. Each city will have a shield merchant with a variety of options available, but each Warrior's Guild will have a general merchant and a basic shield to sell as well.

Early on, if you find yourself with a bit of extra plat, there are a few lower end tanking weapons that may be available. Weapons like Gnoll Hide Lariat or Tentacle Whip are usually sold by players for 20-50pp and will vastly improve your tanking ability. These are especially useful for warriors; knights have excellent aggro generation spells, so they can focus on DPS instead.

Melee DPS

As a melee, your main focus obviously will be to deal out damage. Depending on your class abilities (rogues, for example, can only use 1-handed weapons), high damage/low delay weapons should be what to look for, but personal style plays a small part too. For hybrids (Rangers, Paladins, Shadow Knights) high-delay weapons allow the chance to time spell-casting in between swings.

Again, there isn't much available to a young melee right away, but there are a few options. Often, in certain zones, other players will set up camp killing city guards (Freeport is common, as is Oggok). If you're comfortable, politely ask one of the players if you can loot one of the Fine Steel or Bronze weapons the guards carry. If the player says no, just say thank you and be on your way. It's not a necessity to upgrade your weapon early (unless you are a warrior), so don't stress over this. There are also a few quests that will reward you with a slightly upgraded weapon. Also, with the right supplies, Blacksmiths can sharpen rusty weapons and make a weapon slightly quicker. Lastly, if you find yourself with extra platinum pieces, a few lower priced weapons may be available to you through other players in EC. You can always farm up a little platinum, even at level 1, for some small gear upgrades as well. It's worth noting that some excellent weapons (compared to your starting weapon) can be bought in EC for as little as 50-100pp.

Casters

Again, as a caster, most of your platinum early on will be needed for new spells so upgrading your weapon is not always a necessity. However, if you find yourself meleeing often (especially before you get Meditate) to take down the last bit of a mob's health, it may be a decent idea to follow the above advice and find higher level players at a city guard camp and politely ask to loot a Fine Steel Dagger/Staff. Clerics gain the ability to summon their own weapons at a low level. This is a good way for a young cleric to save money.

Platinum

A keen eye can make obtaining platinum in the early levels a lot easier. Most of what drops off of low level mobs can be sold to NPCs, but a few items are sought after by even high level players so it's important to know which items to keep and which to leave. The Vendor Junk page can help you with a list of items that are rarely sold to players, but might be worth platinum to vendors/merchants.

  • Bone Chips - these are used by Necromancers and Shadow Knights to summon their pets, and in various quests for experience. The price usually ranges from 5-10pp per stack of 20.
  • High Quality Bear Pelts - These are used to make tailored backpacks, and tend to sell for 30pp per pelt. Other non-ruined pelts can be used to make leather padding by tailors, but rather than saving them (they can't be stacked and they weigh a lot), it's advisable to make your own leather padding and sell that to smiths. Leather padding is an easy tailoring recipe that any new player can start doing as long as they have access to spiderlings as well as bears, wolves, or lions/pumas.
  • Grizzly Bear Skins - these are used in the Leatherfoot Raiders quest and easily sell for 40-50pp each.
  • Gnoll Scalps and Orc Scalps - mostly from Highpass but can be found in East and West Commonlands also. These sell for around 10pp each to faction hunters or powerlevelers. They are stackable.
  • Goblin ears - from Highkeep goblins, these sell well to faction hunters and powerlevelers as well. They go for around 30pp each.
  • Spider Silk and Spiderling Silk - Spider and spiderling silk sell for 10-20pp a stack (spider 10pp, spiderling 20pp). Both are used in tailoring. Spiderling silk is more valuable because it's used for leather padding.
  • Deathfist Slashed Belts - found on orcs in East and West Commonlands. These sell for around 5pp each to people fixing faction or power leveling.
  • Crushbone Belts and Crushbone Shoulderpads - if you go EXPing in Greater Faydark and Crushbone, you'll find that some of the orcs will drop belts and pads. These are used for quests in Kaladim: they are handed in to Canloe Nusback in the warrior guild for good EXP (at low levels) and tattered leather armor. Many higher-level players buy these up to speed their alts through the low levels quickly, and will pay around 2pp per belt and 4pp per pad. It can be very useful for a newbie to sell your belts and pads to these players instead of doing the quest yourself.

Where to Adventure

The best place to start off adventuring is right outside your city. Each starting zone typically has a certain area where players will meet to form groups. Greater Faydark has orc hill, Nektulos Forest has the newbie log, and the Commonlands have 2 Orc Camps. These locations are great places to meet new players and get a feel for the game.

  • Nektulos Forest (Neriak) - The newbie log is located due West of the Neriak gate just beyond the large hill. Recommended for any level, this area has a wide range of mobs to pull and is a great landmark to regroup at because of its visibility and relative safety.
  • East Commons/West Freeport (Freeport) - West Freeport is packed with mobs and can often accommodate 10+ players at a time. Pick your targets and watch out for skeletons. After level 3, it's time to move on. In East Commonlands, try to stick close to the inns since they tend to have guards. You'll often find other players in these areas too, so group up. Once you reach level 5 or so, try to join an Orc camp group. It's fast, safe, and often other higher level players will pass by and buff your group. You can also head to the East Commonlands tunnel and ask high-level players for buffs (the important ones are Regeneration, from Druids and Shamans, damage shield, from Druids and Magicians, and Spirit of Wolf (SoW), from Druids, Shamans, and Rangers).
  • Greater Faydark (Felwithe/Kelethin) - For High Elves, begin close to Felwithe killing bats, skeletons, and wolves until level 3. Afterwards, gradually move north killing orcs and the aforementioned monsters until you reach level 5. The druid circle outside Kelethin is a good location with fast respawns and a variety of monsters. Watch for Orc Centurions/Pawns who patrol near the path from Kelethin to Felwithe and appear with increasing frequency as you move farther north and approach Orc Hill. After reaching level 5 begin looking for Orc Hill/Crushbone groups (you can really start grouping at Orc Hill at level 3). For Wood Elves, follow the same path except begin at the druid circle outside Kelethin's south lift. Also, for soloers, Butcherblock Mountains has some excellent hunting, and Kaladim has a quest where you can hand in four bone chips to Gunlok Jure in the Paladin guild for a lot of EXP at low levels (though you may want to save bone chips to sell to Necromancers and Shadowknights for 5-10pp per stack).

So at this point you should have all the basic information about what to do, from this section forward this guide will give you a great strategy to hopefully get your first character to level 60 based on where characters are currently exping. This is assuming this is your first character and you have 0 platinum to start with. We will also make the assumption that you do not plan to solo. If you plan to solo, feel free to check out other guides such as Going Solo Guide. Typically though Everquest is a game about grouping, and meeting people. In general, just have fun goofing off in groups while watching the yellow bar.

Level 1-6

Typically your home newbie area is good for this with a few exceptions. There are definitely some areas of the game that have better newbie areas than others. If you are not in Cabilis, or Freeport starting off you may want to consider moving to Freeport and getting a bind even if you are an evil race, this is because there is a plentiful bounty of mobs to fight and you should level quite quickly at these zones. I highly recommend killing skeletons until they are green and you no longer get experience from them. The reason for this is because of the bone chips and the rusty weapons that they drop. These skeletons will be your first shot at getting a lot of starting cash. You can easily sell skeleton bone chips for at least 5pp per stack. If you are in Cabilis you can also do the Bone Chips (Quest) to gain some xp if you prefer but that's not recommended. If you can manage to save up a few hundred bone chips you may be able to get 5g to 1p each from a friendly high level necro. Especially if you are gonna save them a ton of time farming bone chips.

If you chose to level in a different area other than Freeport or Cabilis, bone chip farming may not be optimal. Take a look at the quest below to and try to do these. The bone chips are the reason it is recommended to bind in Freeport.

Level 6-12

If you havent already bound in Freeport it would be strongly recommended to do so once you reach level 6 because going forward this is probably going to be the best place to exp outside of Blackburrow in Qeynos Hills area. But there is a good reason not to follow the Blackburrow path for your first character. MONEY!!! Once you are in Freeport you are right next to East Commons, in East Commons you can sell your bone chips easily for 5pp a stack. You could even try for 10pp a stack if you have a lot. If you get about 100p worth of bone chips and saved up some money at this point you can probably get a decent newbie weapon from East Commons as well. Here are some good ones to look out for. All of these should go for around 100p.


Traveling to Freeport if you are an Iksar Just face the facts, you gotta leave home someday, why not when you're level 6? Not much gear on you. Some will say you're crazy, some will laugh at you. However, you should be bound starting out in Field of Bone. To start your journey follow the left wall till you zone into Warsliks Woods. From here you will want to go north to the water but be careful there is usually a wondering goblin or two by the zone in so do not hug the wall. once you reach the water, find a good spot to jump in, then you will want to semi-follow the shore and swim west for a long time until you can't any further. From here hug the wall and go south and then zone into The Overthere. Once there follow the left wall south until you reach the Frontier Mountains zone line. You will then semi-regularly, every 10 min or so in /ooc request a very kind Druid to please port a newbie Iksar to West Commonlands. When a druid finally joins with you to port you make sure you get SoW and Invisibility because the druids at the rings will be KoS to you. After the teleport thank the druid, travel eastward to East Commonlands. Once there keep going east towards Freeport and ask in /ooc if there is a kind caster WHO can bind you in Freeport. Once bound you can sell your bone chips in the tunnel, at least if you're good enough to not have lost them running from Cabilis.

If you really don't want to go all the way to Freeport post-level 6, these are other options.

Option 1 - While 6-7 may be a bit low for the orcs, sometimes you can still get a group at this level for orcs in East Commons. This is a good spot to exp mainly because of the Deathfist Slashed Belts that drop. Other guides may suggest you turn these in for exp using Deathfist Slashed Belts. But these beauty's sell for 5-20p a pop. The more you have the more platinum you are likely to get from these. There are 2 major camps to farm these at. Orc 1 and Orc 2.

Option 2 - Anything that cons blue in Qeynos_Hills or gnolls inside/outside of Blackburrow to level and take advantage of the quest there listed above.

Option 3 - If you are in Gfay the 3rd best places to exp are orcs on orc hill in Gfay and Crushbone.

Level 10-14

If you're in the Crushbone area, this is a great time to go there. The belts can generate you a lot money. Unfortunately though, if your an evil race this isn't the best option because you will become kill on sight in Neriak by hunting there. As well as every major place to exp at through level 60 is around Freeport, and changing continents can be a headache and corpse runs on other continents can get nasty. Befallen is another option at this level range, though it is trickier and not as popular, but does have the highest exp modifier in the game. In general, when EXPing in standard groups, you will want to stick with dungeons, because they have much better Zone Experience Modifiers(ZEMs) than outdoor zones. A ZEM is a zone experience modifier and the effect of it is that dungeons give more EXP per kill than outdoor zones do, so if you can handle them, they are almost always a better choice. They also give better loot than outdoor zones do, and can be great for helping to gear out your first character.

Ultimately though you will probably end up killing dervs in Nro with a group, or random blue mobs in West Commons to level. Spiders drop silk, remember to stack up on those to get a lot of money if you are soloing or duoing.

Level 14-25

Unrest is a great dungeon in this level range and has a lot of useful loot for new players. Unfortunately the challenge of getting to another continent can be daunting, getting binds, and doing corpse runs can be frustrating. Unrest can also be a dead zone unless you have a group of friends you can go there and hunt with.

Oasis is really easy to get exp groups in such as crocodiles or the Orc Highway, and it is always crowded even during off peak hours. If you are an Iksar you can also vendor at the gypsees.

Level 18-24

Highpass Orcs at Kith woods zone line in Highpass. Collect the scalps. The scalps can sell for a lot depending on how many you have, I sold 140 of them for 2k which gave me a huge boost in starting money. Also a rare mob will spawn and drop a weight reduction pack or an idol, the pack sells for around 150pp and the idol for around 800pp.

Level 28-35

High Keep goblins - Collect the Left Goblin Ears. They can sell for 30p a piece, amazing starting money. While you're not killing the goblins you kill the guards which always drop fine steel weapons for 5pp a piece to vendor. You will lose Freeport faction if you kill the guards.

Castle Mistmoore is also a great and popular choice from around level 18 to level 35ish.

Level 35-45

Lower Guk Bedroom mostly until a little higher you can move to the Assassin supplier room that drops Light Burlap Sack which sells for about 400p roughly. You can also get a rare belt drop sometimes that sells for a lot. Also you can do exe/cav/sav/sage if assassin supplier room camped which can drop loot for everyone in group varying 100p-2000p.

You can also try Solusek B's lower-level camps starting at around level 35.

Level 40-55

City Of Mist - Not the best place for money but its pretty much where everyone exp's at.

Solusek B - Window Room at first then nobles and finally bats/bugs as you progress

Level 45-55

Lower Guk Frenzy / Lord / Am / Hand - If someone is not there from higher level guild farming loot which is rare.

Level 50-56

Karnor's Castle

Level 50-60

Old Sebilis

Chardok

Charasis / Howling Stones

What about boss monsters?

You'll encounter non-generic, tough named monsters in a few different situations. First, when you're leveling, there are named ("boss") monsters that you'll encounter that are tougher and have better loot than their surrounding monsters. You will generally be taking these down in the context of an EXP group, though many people get to a high level and then specifically target certain named monsters that drop very valuable loot, who they can easily kill solo. These monsters don't give any more EXP than any other monster of the same level and don't tend to be all that much stronger (at most, they're generally just a different class than the standard warrior enemy, and higher-level than the surrounding monsters); their main value is better loot.

Second, there are raids, where you take down dragons or the avatars of gods. This requires a large number of people working together, and each person is generally doing just one or two things; raids are actually often somewhat boring compared to grouping, because the presence of so many people means that each person's role is greatly simplified (although more precision is often necessary in fulfilling that simplified role). Several of the biggest raid bosses that drop the best loot are in extremely high demand on this server, with many different guilds able to kill them, so what happens is that people will basically sit at their spawn points waiting for them to spawn, then once they do, amass as many people as they can in their guild to get online immediately (via text message, generally). Raid bosses are somewhat more complicated than typical monsters, but fighting them is not in general all that complicated. There is also no limit to how many people you can throw at a raid boss, so if you happen to have a guild that can log in 100 people on short notice to kill a raid boss, then you can take it down with minimal effort. Raiding, on a server with a high number of guilds competing for the same targets, can be in some ways less fulfilling and interesting than just doing an EXP group in a dungeon, or trying to solo a particularly tricky area/monster.

What about tradeskills?

Tradeskills are skills you can learn to create items that are useful and can be sold to other players. They are not a great way for new players to make money, because they generally require a large investment (several hundred to several thousand platinum) to get to a point where you can make popular and profitable items. Even then, it can often be faster to get platinum in other ways, e.g. by camping named monsters to sell their loot, by power-leveling (meaning, using a high level character to quickly level up a low level character), or by camping generic monsters that give good loot (e.g. the seafury cyclops). Tradeskills can be fun, but most are not necessarily a great idea to pursue unless you specifically enjoy doing them. The most profitable or useful tradeskills are, in rough order, jewelcrafting, alchemy, and blacksmithing; the others are less so. This will change in Velious when there will be a lot of new recipes.

What about quests?

Despite the game's name, quests are not a huge focus of it. You get the large majority of your EXP and items from just grinding. If you walk around a city hailing NPCs (with the 'H' button), they'll give you quests, but most of those are not worthwhile. There are a few good newbie quests that give nice EXP until level 10 or 15 or so (the various bone chips quests, Crushbone belts/pads, gnoll fangs), and a fair number of higher-level quests that give good items - one good way to find these is by using the Equipment By Class page, sorting by a preferred stat, and seeing which of them are quested, or by using the Class Race Quest List. However, most of your time will be spent just grinding random monsters.


How do I travel with teleportation?

If you are a wizard or druid you can get teleportation spells starting at around lvl 20. If you are not these classes start to be able to teleport others at around lvl 29. Teleports are high in mana cost and the porter usually has to travel with you so people will typically teleport for tips. Due to this, in EverQuest it is considered customary to tip your porter. A tip in EverQuest has classically been considered 1pp per level (for non twinks, otherwise you should tip based on your highest level character). If you are unable to afford a port it is also acceptable to give your porter items for payment. Also, note wizards have a special Translocate ability which usually cost them an additional 1pp per port due to a required regent from temple of sol ro. They do not have to teleport with you when they use translocate, tips should be given prior to accepting the port and the fact they do not go with you should not reduce your tip as the cost of these spells in mana is still very high. Tipping is a big part of the EverQuest porting system, so remember if you want to keep having ports freely available, you should tip well or no one will do them anymore.

For something closer to the true classic experience, I would recommend trying to travel by foot and boat at least once.

  1. ↑ January 14, 2001 Producer Letter. Available online from the Internet Archive at https://web.archive.org/web/20010124043300/http://everquest.station.sony.com/news/letter.shtml . Last accessed on February 27, 2022.
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