Old player, new to SoD and questions come along...

[ooorca]

Hi everyone in the community, I played in the SOE EQ sometimes ago, think i quitted after Omens of War came out. Anyways, I really miss the old EQ days and Im so happy to see SoD offers this opportunity to me and my friends.

Having read the forum a bit and i found out there are some differences from the SOE one, I would like to know some more info about SoD..hope you guys can help me out! :dance:

1. Can I download the client from internet? My whole set of EQ discs were lost

2. I used to play rogue and beastlord in SOE, and love 'em. Any major changes to the classes in here? I heard ranges are under-powered...

3. Is level-ing faster in here than in SOE? Im just a casual player and i spent like 2 yrs to lvl my rogue up to 65...

4. What's the population of the server? Likewise, is it easy to get a group?

5. As well as the drop rate, is it higher than in SOE?

6. Anything I should beware as a new starter in SoD?

7. I reckon zones are changed and new zones add-ed here. Back in SOE, I used to have an add-on that shows map in-game. Is there any similar function?

Thanks everyone!!

 

[BeittilBonker]

1. Technically yes, but staff prefers that you own your set of disks. (also, you cant patch using live version anymore unless u have an account)
2. No experience with em on live.
3. XP is indeed faster then with Company
4. varies, euro daytimes are calm, busiest is US midday/evening time.
5. Cant tell.
6. yeah, when u hit lv10 u can get Dark Rot (read info on it elsewhere), that that contained asap!
7. Press 'backspace' for ingame map! (u need near max sense heading to get an arrow to mark ur direction)

 

[Bhuvan]

As far as point (1) goes, I really don't see what the whole hush-hush taboo about this is; yes, the more legally and ethically-questionable ways of obtaining games (such as torrents) can certainly provide you with the game client, and I can completely understand staff and other players not wanting this to be promoted as a means of getting access. The thing is, this isn't necessary at all. The very company that makes the game provides the client as a very easy free download from their own web hosts--if they didn't want you downloading the client, they wouldn't be making it this easy to get it. Just fire up your favorite search engine and look for it--it won't take you long to find the official, sanctioned download. If I'm breaking some rule by saying this, I certainly apologize, but I don't even see how this can be a grey area. There aren't even terms posted for the download on the official site.

As for not being able to patch, it's true that a station account is now required to patch up with the new launchpad additions, but creating a station account doesn't require payment of any sort, so beyond the addition of an extra hoop to jump through, nothing has changed in that regard.

As for the point by point:

• Can I download the client from internet? My whole set of Game discs were lost
  • Yes, very easily and (in my opinion) in a very conscience-friendly manner.
• I used to play rogue and beastlord in the Company, and love 'em. Any major changes to the classes in here? I heard ranges are under-powered...
  • Classes have definitely been changed in a number of ways, most of which everyone agrees are positive. Check out the "Tome of Knowledge" forum for a lot of the details on this; to summarize some of the major points that quickly stick out, bards have been revamped to remove the repetitive-stress injury-inducing "twisting," melee classes have been given combat styles to add a little flavor, many spells and spell lines have been reworked for balance and consistency, a universal specialization system replaces the old spell school specialization stuff, and many classes have had their roles re-thought a little. Rangers are not underpowered; they're a very versatile source of dps that can perform well at both range and close-up. Sure, they suffer a little bit in specific areas in favor of their versatility, but they still perform very well at what they do. They're also, in my opinion, one of the most fun classes to solo with.
• Is level-ing faster in here than in the Company? Im just a casual player and i spent like 2 yrs to lvl my rogue up to 65...
  • Yes, it's faster, but don't expect it to seem easy. The first few levels, largely thanks to some nice intro quest content, won't feel bad at all, but it won't take long before you definitely feel a sense of achievement tied to leveling up. Joining groups and/or playing two complementary characters will help tremendously in making leveling faster and more enjoyable.
• What's the population of the server? Likewise, is it easy to get a group?
  • Honestly, it's difficult to say what the real population is of the server. Character-wise, it tends to vary between 130 or so (a low), to often about 400 characters online at once from what I've seen (forgive me if this isn't entirely accurate; I don't really pay that much attention to the number before I hit "play."). It definitely never feels empty, though, and there's always plenty of ooc and guild chat to amuse (annoy?) you. The playerbase is certainly topheavy in terms of levels, making big groups at lower levels often difficult to find, but it's not impossible to find groups as long as you're not always playing at really low-traffic times, and even then it isn't TOTALLY impossible, just more difficult. I highly recommend simultaneously playing two characters to make times when you can't find a group more enjoyable, though--if you haven't done it before, it sounds really strange and difficult at first, but once you get used to it, you'll never want to play a single character again. Well, maybe sometimes for nostalgia, but not beyond that
• As well as the drop rate, is it higher than in the Company?
  • There are still drops that are very hard to get, but it doesn't feel as frenetic or cutthroat as live did to me. You'll occasionally need to camp things if you really want them, but it really doesn't seem as painful--in general, the things you want will be more available, in part thanks to the more reasonable server population and in part thanks to the good dev work that's been done to make the game remain (shock!) fun.
• Anything I should beware as a new starter in SoD?
  • Don't worry about the dark rot thing, really. With any luck it'll be gone soon enough and even if not, it's not a game-ender by any means. The people who invest so much effort in avoiding infection for 10 atk and a couple of resists points are really putting themselves through more trouble than it's worth, in my opinion. I feel the biggest issue that the rot causes is the loss of a buff slot, and this isn't even crucial at lower levels. As for other things to watch out for? Don't kill non-hostile npcs indiscriminately, as many are important for quests. Beyond this, nothing you do is really terribly irreversible, so I wouldn't worry.
• I reckon zones are changed and new zones add-ed here. Back in the Company, I used to have an add-on that shows map in-game. Is there any similar function?
  • Limitations prevent the creation of entirely "new" zones in terms of terrain whatnot, but pretty much everything has been either completely redone or at least greatly modified in terms of content and zone connection. This is a completely different world with its own geography and its own history, and expecting anything to be the same beyond the most basic things will only lead to misunderstanding and confusion down the road. Just treat it as if you're playing it for the first time because, well, you are. There's a map pack available on the files section of the main site that lets the map functionality in-game (backspace accesses this, by default) show you relevant information--is this what you're referring to? As for larger-scale maps, there is a wiki for SoD that contains a few zone connection maps of various stages of out-of-dateness, and I'd recommend these if you'd like to get acquainted with the overall ways zones are connected.
    
    
    I hope this is at least somewhat helpful
    
    Formatting errors, gooo!:

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[lynnettell]

As far as point (1) goes, I really don't see what the whole hush-hush taboo about this is

Because of what Wiz says

This may surprise you, but we do appreciate the efforts of those that coded the clientside software we make use of, and we would like to see it properly paid for since the whole purpose of the "free download" is to pay the kind of monthly cost we do not charge.