Thank you for all the encouraging replies. I apologize for not responding sooner.
Samatman wrote:
I'm away for a couple weeks now but I'll look you up, Azalysa, when I get back.
I haven't been following much of the recent news about FV (aside from the free transfers to it). Were there any changes in the ruleset or experience rates there? Was it affected by the server mergers? How has the population been with the 'free' 45 day extensions?
Would enjoy seeing you in game. Your questions have been well answered by egnaro but will add my thoughts:
*After I had been playing awhile years ago on the Tarew Marr (now merged with Drinal) server, I heard about the FV server. I was intrigued by the role play aspect so I created a toon there to check it out. At that time only one toon was allowed, players could only understand the language of their own race, and good races could not group with evil races, iirc. I saw language lessons offered in general chat regularly.
Now FV permits the same amount of toons as the other servers, Elvish is the default language (which can be selected from the menu by clicking the chat box), and all races can group. It is more convenient this way but from my limited past experience to the few weeks I've been on FV now, I personally found it more fun/challenging the way it was originally. I have no idea of exp difference. To me it seems just like other servers.
*As far as the population, I see a lot of general chat about people who played back in the day returning and choosing FV for the first time. I'm sure the 45 free days has something to do with people returning - that's how I came back. However, I saw this same chat on the Drinal server (which was what my original server, Tarew Marr, was merged with apparently), so returning to EQ is likely not specific to EQ. The population numbers seem similar to Drinal as well.
*The main thing I noticed that convinced me to transfer all my toons over to FV after creating a new toon to check it out is that the people overall seem a bit friendlier. In fact, I was invited into the guild that began this thread my first day in the tutorial and although I was debating on remaining in the guild, it was not due to lack of friendliness. I have now been on the FV server the same amount of time as I was on Drinal recently and I get tells from random people asking various questions so, again, I have personally found it a bit more social.
Samatman wrote:
...if the guild you're in is that large with 100s of active members, there are sure to be a lot of people sitting on the sidelines just leveling up at their own pace, and probably by themselves. I've found that when you feel marginalized by not being part of the guild "A" team, you often just shut up and plod along quietly.
I spoke to the guild leader this evening with my concerns and she said she can think of 15 people offhand in guild who have my same play style and that the main thing is if I'm happy. She said I would never be a detriment to the guild (one of my questions) by not being one of the fast leveling/raiding types. The leader and several guild members have been very helpful to me in getting the parchments/runes from higher level zones that I need for my spells. In fact, the leader asked me to join a small group she was in tonight to help me gain another level. I ended up dying upon zone in due to not having invis on, so I decided to try another evening, but just an example of her reaching out to me which I thought was very nice considering all the tells, etc. I'm sure she gets.
Renaissance wrote:
No you're not alone. my toon is lvl 82 and was 'born' in march 2000. She has all skills maxed, all tradeskills maxed and trophies, so don't feel you are solo in your preferred playstyle, mine is like you.
That is *exactly* how I enjoy playing EQ - having my toon being "well-rounded" and I really enjoy trade skills as well. Out of curiosity, are you in a guild, or have you been in the past, and did you have any of my concerns re: others mainly focused on leveling? (Another example is a member who began a new toon yesterday and as of tonight is already level 48!!! The woman I've mentioned who was in the low 20's level when we met is now level 75.)
egnaro wrote:
Sadly(imo)the majority these days do want to rush through the levels, but that is a little bit of the nature of the beast these days. I always say if someone wants to take their time, then that is fine, if they want to rush, then well I guess that's fine too - just don't be expecting me to PL you :)
It sure seems like rushing to level is popular. I found a bit of advice in a Druid leveling guide that said to not level too rapidly as one would not really learn their skills well that way. I guess if someone already had a toon that was leveled more slowly and he knew the game well that alts might be different, but (also imo) since different classes are generally chosen, I still think what I read is good advice.
Now do I sound like the kind of person that would ask for power leveling? *grins* I've had at least 4 people in guild specifically offer this to me. I'm probably puzzling them when I thank them for the offer but decline.
egnaro wrote:
A little tip on the Guild Roster, if you click on any of the columns at the top it will sort it o the column, making counting active members far easier (if you really want to get technical you can hit the dump button, which will put a file in your eq directory, you can then open this in excel or something).
Thank you for that tip - I've had fun looking through it now that I know about the sort feature.
egnaro wrote:
While you may not feel you are "contributing", it does not sound to me like your are taking advantage, or grasping or trolling or raiding the guild bank, or any of the other things that really would tick a guild (well me!) off
My main concern was not having anything to contribute in the way of helping others level or joining in on raids but the guild leader has now put that to rest. The guild bank seems to always be full and I heard an officer ask in chat the other day if people would please go look for items their alts could use so they would have room for more deposits. I am very conscious of only taking what I can use from the guild bank and deposit anything I can to help out.
Samatman wrote:
Just to put it all in perspective, the group I played with on FV left somewhere around 7 years ago. My last act at the time was to take the 100k plat I had and buy all the Flowing Thought gear I could find in the bazaar. I figured it was a hedge against plat inflation cause, you know, FT gear will *always* be needed. heh... yeah so much for that.
The new gear types is a learning curve for me. I worked so hard for my full Elysian outfit prior to leaving and now it is like newbie attire compared to the new items. I feel for you re: buying all the Flowing Thought gear to bank.
Sorry this is such a long post. I decided to answer everyone in one post rather than a bunch of smaller ones. Again, your posts and encouragement have been most appreciated and encouraging.