EQMac Now Free to Play

Thinking of rolling up here.

What's the server class-mix like? Any class I should roll to have a better chance at groups? Or should I just go ahead and roll a solo class? I refuse to box so don't even suggest it.

I'd play whatever class you like, pretty much any class can solo with MGB buffs. Class shouldn't matter, you'll either be able to find a group or you won't in my experience but class wouldn't change your chances much (I'm still in the 40s though).

really wouldnt worry about groups, this is a boxing server

everyone is boxing whatever they need to support their main, you should too or don't even bother playing here unless it's a solo class

I really dont see the rampant boxing everyone is referring to as of yet. I see an occasional pocket cleric for out of group heals / rez or druid for transport / buffs, but thats about it. Mind, you I am only 36 and played a couple weeks now. But I have had groups in as low as Blackburrow, through to Unrest, up to High Keep goblins, Sol B, and just starting to break into High Keep nobles.

MGB buffs do make any class soloable. I do agree that this server needs a good population boost. 2-3x the players would be nice.

As I mentioned earlier I got into the Luclin twilight sea armor quests. If you look them up on the various sites most of the comments come down to "not worth it", and "omg this is too hard/rare".

After the dopamine wore off the time wasted, measured in percentage of life, really hit home. These kinds of quests are a real draw for me and I'm not really sure why. There's a basic gambler's psychology inherent in watching for respawns and hoping it is the rare you need. It's harsh and a really mean way to design something, but is also a big draw. Every day while working I'd be thinking about it.

This one was particularly brutal:

The shadow island had one of those wacky tin foil hat theories in the comments of one of the rares on zam. Most of it was way off, but I did discover that the same rare wouldn't pop twice with exception of 'a groaning shadow'. This meant that if a named popped that you didn't need, you could leave it up and the next named had an increasing chance of being the one you wanted. After many many hours, track looked like:

The one flaw in this theory is if a druid gated in and saw all those tasty names on track. And sure enough that is what happened. By the time I noticed half of them were dead. I came back later and gave it another go and eventually got the part. The result looks good on me I think!

Very odd quests though. So difficult that you will outlevel them before you finish, and by the time you are done you'll have easy access to much better gear. I gained 8 levels just killing placeholders, which were mostly light blue / green.

I have attempted to play many times, I always quit because it's non-stop soloing with MGB buffs inbetween to make it viable.

A majority of you are flat out lying in order to make this server seem more appealing to new comers, it is overrun with boxers and boxing crews. On my last attempted character (37 ROG) I only had about 3-4 groups after non stop alliance chat LFG messages.

Every time it was a person who was simply allowing me to leech off of his box crew and insisting I should be boxing myself.

Shit's boxed as hell and not live like at all, stop lying.

On live there wasnt endless F2P accounts, therefore 90% of the active population werent all boxing.

Swagdaddy_sl said:

I have attempted to play many times, I always quit because it's non-stop soloing with MGB buffs inbetween to make it viable.

A majority of you are flat out lying in order to make this server seem more appealing to new comers, it is overrun with boxers and boxing crews. On my last attempted character (37 ROG) I only had about 3-4 groups after non stop alliance chat LFG messages.

Every time it was a person who was simply allowing me to leech off of his box crew and insisting I should be boxing myself.

Shit's boxed as hell and not live like at all, stop lying.

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I am not at all saying your are lying. I am simply stating my experience, as short as it has been over the last two weeks. My level experience has been: solo outside city 1-6, QH / Blackburrowgroupeduntil teens, Unrest solo andgroupuntil 20'ish, Paludal Cavern solo andgroupuntil 25, then Highpass Keep goblins with many differentgroupsfrom 25-35, I made 36 last night doing the HK Nobles in a couple different groups.

Noble camp has players up to level 50 that I have seen and a couple of them bring pocket characters.

I dont doubt the box groups are out there, I was simply trying to say that I have got all the way to 36 with grouping found at all level ranges along the way. I dont give two shits about sugarcoating anything on the server. Hell, I have really only actually sat down and played for two weekends. Just sharing my experience.

As someone who has played off and on since late 2011 with different characters of varying levels, my experience with the "rampant" boxxing closely resembles what Swag posted - especially if you hop on the ZEM highway (PC -> HK goblins -> HK nobles -> PoN -> PoV).

Specifically, I can count on one hand the amount of grouping I have done over the course of the last two years (intermittently)where the groups did not have boxxed characters. Why, just last night as I rolled into Paludal Caverns for the level 16-24 grind, there was a 49 cleric sitting outside of a group which consisted of the cleric's boxxed enchanter and wizard. As I approached, a level 16 cleric and SK approached her and asked to join; a boxxed cleric and SK.

Three nights prior in CoM (on a different character, naturally), I joined a shaman, paladin, and rogue - all were being boxxed by one player. Also in CoM was a necro, druid, and sk - all being played by one character.

Things only become worse in HK, when you attempt nobles, and there is no room because two/three slots are being boxxed by the level 65 cleric sitting outside of the group.

Again, though groups with single players exist (I have been in two in the last two months), they are absolutely the rare.

For what it is worth, for me, what makes EQ Mac enjoyable is the, generally, slower pace of the server. There really is no reason to race to 65 + max AA's, thereby allowing one to explore and quest in the only true pre-2004 server that exists.

Ugh... Back to p99 I guess

what is super gay about eqmac is everyone uses the low pop as their justification to overkill box, but without the boxing overload alot of us burnt out from p99 would play on eqmac. it has alot of appeal with the PoP content and classic mechanics.

majority of us though arent going to want to play with people 6+ boxing and shit though, this is why eqmac will never have a legit population as its kinda taken hostage by extreme boxer nerds for now and the foreseeable future

Shits weak

Lets get real here, this is a 10 year old server that is free to make unlimited accounts-- there IS GOING to be boxing. If you're complaining about two boxing in your group then this ain't the server for you. There is a reason people like fresh servers. Even p99 is stale and extremely top heavy. You don't get groups in 5 minutes there either.

I hate to break this to you, but I saw some boxing done in my groups on p99 too, they just didn't announce it. I two boxed EVERYWHERE I went on live from kunark up until I quit in GoD-- in groups, and even while I MTed. I was the MT and the top DPS on many kills at the same time. (in rot loot, go figure) My guild leader boxed a cleric and druid almost every raid. I boxed friends' shaman or cleric to powerlevel that MT all the way to 60. I mean it happened everywhere back then too. Sam Deathwalker was pre-f2p.

Quaid_sl said:

Thinking of rolling up here.

What's the server class-mix like? Any class I should roll to have a better chance at groups? Or should I just go ahead and roll a solo class? I refuse to box so don't even suggest it.

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'Play what you want' is fine, but I'll add something more to that. Charm is ridiculous on this server, especially in PoP. If you do want to solo, druid or enchanter are the best options. MGBs stop being god mode when you start nearing Kunark levels, then you may wish you had considered your class more carefully. At least with a druid you can use it to powerlevel something else if you change your mind on classes or boxing.

Also the early levels are going to go really fast with MGBs, hence there won't be a lot of low levels LFG because they all leveled up. I did 1-50 in two weeks and 50-60 in like 10 days charming on my druid. Finding groups will get easier as you get higher. People do PoP zones fairly early on here too. You can enter the lowest tier at 46.

I see a lot of people worrying about gear in their low levels; non-tanks shouldn't concern themselves much. My druid hit 60 in mostly store bought leather. Mana regen is what is important and you get that from buffs. I have level 60 characters with over 100 AAs on them using multiple 2 gold cloth armor pieces and I have 1.1 million plat to spend but I'd rather just earn my gear later when I'm done with Luclin AAs. I'm doing well enough in the cloth for now. (I did buy some stuff though, especially ac/hp junk for the enchanters, but even they have some merchant cloth)