EQDiva

Progression server opens up next week, and I finally decided on my race/class combo. Now, I've only ever done a bard as a twink/alt before, but I love playing the class, and it goes well with the combo my friends are bringing in (Cleric/Chanter). No name yet, as I'll be creating him when I get home from work. So... comments from the experts? I'm looking at pumping Charisma and Dexterity up to 100 each, and leaving the rest of the stats as-is. Strength will come easily with gear, and I don't plan on raiding heavily, so I'm not as worried about Stamina as most high-end folks will be. I'm planning on a combination of dot-tanking and general group buffing/dps, and I'm looking through the excellent resources here for old-world quests and gear. Any suggestions on specific aims for gear and/or quests would be nice, of course... I'm starting on the progression server, so Original EQ only, at least until Kunark is unlocked and I start begging to get into a Trak raid :P

If there was 1 stat I could go back and bump up it would be AGI, that seems to be the 1 stat I have trouble getting close to maxing out. STR is too easy, STA isn't that bad, but AGI always seems to be a bit lower, even fully raid buffed at 70.

Well, starting stats on creation are... 070 Str 065 Sta 095 Agi 100 Dex 080 Wis 075 Int 100 Cha I did a test run last night with these stats on a wood-elf bard, skill gains seemed decent, and I didn't get much in the way of missed notes as long as my singing was maxed. Considering Agi is only 5 points under Dex and Cha, I think I'm happy with that one so far. The 70 Str will suck once I get into heavier armor, of course, but considering I want to start in Kelethin so I'll be right by my RL friend's High Elf characters, I don't have much race choice :P EDIT: And, unbelievably, I just managed to get the name "Amergin." Woohoo! EDIT 2: Yup, 70 Str sucks... A full suit of banded, and I can't loot anything more my normal foraging without going overweight :P

I have a couple bards live and played one on progression test over the last month....All wood elves. Encumberence is nothing to mess around with, IMO. A lot of the early gear is heavy (bronze and small bronze) so you should seriously think about getting your str up to 75 or 80. An encumbered bard is tantamount to a snared bard which is something you don't want to be. You also have spell costs every level and you are going to want to load up on spells when you make the runs to where they are sold since some are only in Qeynos, Erudin, Kelethin, etc.....Being able to loot matters. I found that using medicine bags in leiu of backpacks helps a lot with this. Personally I find the best way to start a wood elf is to balance everything...Go 80 Str, 75 Sta, leave dex and agi at base, and get cha to 90. I had no problem at all getting dex and cha over 100 with 90 base. But your mileage may vary. Personally I'll take a few extra missed notes that I'll eventually overcome in favor of not having under 75 STA and not being able to loot.

you are going to want to load up on spells when you make the runs to where they are sold since some are only in Qeynos, Erudin, Kelethin, etc

or use the shared bank with an alt

I think you can only have one character per progression server.

I started a new Eclapton on Combine same as my main on 7th Hammer in Qeynos with Karana diety. For songs and whatnot from different cities I just created another misc alt in that town and put a couple plats in the shared slot and had them buy the stuff. So having more than one char per account is fine.

Yep I have a Chanter and Bard on the same account (first time for a chanter...sheesh they die a lot, at least when I play them).

I am on the Sleeper named Racey. What I have noticed so far is that every other spell casting class that can land dot's on the newbie/lowbie mobs have a huge advantage over our Chords of Disonance song. I get my ass nearly handed to me from weakling dark blues and some light blues. My melee skills as a newbie bard are in the toilet compared to most other melee classes. If that is not bad enough here is the kicker, the momment my target turns to flee (under 20% health) from my dot tanking my dot is rendered moot. So there I am stuck chaseing this stupid mob accross the zone attempting lamely to bludgeon the thing to death while all its friends take note and start to rip me a new back end. Now I do understand the nerf to our point blank damage over time songs as far as having been too powerful, but here in the low end non-twinked world of the progression servers I feel that the newbie/lowbie bard is at a huge disadvantage. Anyone disagree?

Hummm. maybe (but doubtful) the progression server will cause them to take a new look at that nerf. If they would just take out the limitation of taking no damage when fleeing (or wanting to flee ie snared, rooted) I think it would be palatable.

Hummm. maybe (but doubtful) the progression server will cause them to take a new look at that nerf. If they would just take out the limitation of taking no damage when fleeing (or wanting to flee ie snared, rooted) I think it would be palatable.

I understand the intent of the AE songs that they don't take damage when they're trying to move, however, I used the two AE DOTs extensively while solo'ing or duo'ing up to about 20 on the progression server. [b][i]When the mob was snared and trying to flee... they still took damage from the level 2 and level 18 DOTs.[/i][/b] It's my understanding that they're not supposed to, but they did. And when I'm lucky to hit for 14/round, getting 30 every other round was a significant boost.

Hm, yep, I'm on Sleeper now. And apparently I suck at this game.

Could someone explain to me in 5 year old terms why they came up with the progression servers? Someone said just for new servers for hardcore guys and gals to start over and rock the new terrain? I just don't understand what makes them different and why would someone leave their toons and guilds to go to the progression? Filo

Could someone explain to me in 5 year old terms why they came up with the progression servers? Someone said just for new servers for hardcore guys and gals to start over and rock the new terrain? I just don't understand what makes them different and why would someone leave their toons and guilds to go to the progression?

You'll get different answers depending on the skepticism of the person you ask. People have been clamoring for years for a "classic" server, and they released this to capitalize on those who had cancelled their accounts but said they'd come back if it were just "old school" again. Most likely, it wasn't completely motivated by greed, and they wanted to provide an environment that would appeal to existing players and past players both. Most current players didn't get to experience original EQ and this gives them a chance. What makes them different is that no expansions are currently open, so it's just Vanilla EQ (+ the planes, + Paineel, + the Hole, + the Warrens, + jaggedpine). Kunark is scheduled to switch on tomorrow, and from there the progression [i]should[/i] follow a natural progression mainly thanks to keysinks. Some guilds moved there for the heightened competition. It's a direct test of skill/time devotion with everyone starting on completely equal footing within the same set of rules. Never underestimate the pull of a good competitive environment. But as with the individual reasoning, some guilds may have moved there because they skipped these areas the first time around and wanted a chance to meaningfully raid Fear, and ToV, etc.

I guess that would be awesome, so you can't move a character over to that server? I could see that being appealing, people with lower level main's...lol...surrounded by lvl 70 uber players... I bet getting groups there is easier than on the other servers...it's a good thing I guess. Someone is bound to ruin it...just watch...lol filo and thank you for the 5 year old breakdown. hehe