tmbpanthers wrote:
Sounds like it will be pretty much a new start then for me. I will know about Qeynos and Freeport obviously but it sounds like other than that I'll be starting from scratch. Well since I'll be starting from scratch what is a good role to start with as you get accustomed to the game? My guess is that it would be melee. I used to tank all the time on EQOA, but I'm guessing it would probably be good to sit back and watch how it's done in EQ2 before I do it once again myself.
Also, in EQOA I would say that most of the game had to do with getting a group and just going out and xping at camps such as Blackburrow as you level up. Is EQ2 like that? Or is it more kind of like WoW where you can basically level the majority of the way by doing so many quests?
EQII can be soloed all the way up to lvl 80 by doing quests, I've done so myself. You will miss out on a fair amount of content though, at least you will miss out on the thrill of beating it while it's profitable, while it's not greyed out. And there are a lot of great instances definitely worth checking out, for instance Nektropos Castle which for me has the best story in it in the entire game, really good job.
There are basic elements to any group: healing, tanking and DPS. I wouldn't chose anything just because it's popular in groups, try out all the different things and find the one you like. You'll play it better and that always helps for getting groups later on.
Melee is fairly varied. There's the pure tanks, and then there's the hybrids. I've played and loved (still do) my Monk. It's perfect for solo and adds something to a group, however I'm not a pure tank nor a healer nor a DPS, I'm in between and that can hurt my chances of getting a group. I don't mind much myself, I can add some good buffs to a group.
If you like melee, try out the tanks: guardian, berserker and the hybrids: monks, bruisers, shadowknight, paladin.
Just remember, a monk will give you invisibility and feign death. A magnificent combination. It can lead to a fairly sloppy playing style though, I've died more than once by misjudging the number of mobs hitting on me and just being too late to FD.
As for camping, well it's changed. You can set it up so that the mob you attack can not be attacekd by anyone else, problem ofcourse is that no one will be able to help you either when things go wrong, unless you break the confrontation. Respawning has been improved, although there are still quests that can drive a player mad by the scarcity of hte mob needed. A lot of the instances are not contested, although some sill are.
But to be honest, if it's not a very new instance, the competition for it is minimal.