Returning to the game...whats changed?Follow

Hello everyone, I've decided to return to eq pc after quiting a little after velious came back. I realize that was a long while back, but I was hoping you guys could tell me the big changes from a gamer's point of view...reading it off the official site never means much.

I played up to a 45war and 54dru...helped with epics, raided fear and hate, killed naggy and vox (back when kunark just came out and they were actually hard), and grouped in old seb all the time. I'm thinking of starting anew, this time with a class that parties look for more (druid back in my time was basically around just for snare). I'm thinking either kerran (whatever the name of the cats) shaman or high elf enchanter. Are these classes still in demand for groups with the new changes? Other random questions:

-Is N freeport still the market center?
-are there still hell levels?
-do hybrids still suck compared to warriors?
-how bad has twinking become? Will I massively suck compared to the twinks?
-What expansions would I want to start playing again, I'm assuming planes of power, the newest expansion are for high levels only so I can save my $ on them
-Are clerics still the Gods of healing? can shamans and druids heal effectivly at higher levels now?
-Are enchanters (and to a lesser extent bards) still vital in high level groups for crowd control?

This could take a while since the thread should be called @what hasn't changed'

1. No North freeport is a graveyard populated by 1 newbie killing rats for the 1pp tails , 2 high level toon passing through to the EC LDoN camp <more on that later> and 1 tradeskiller that got flustrated trying to get onto the PoK forge.

2. Hell levels are now 55 and 59 though you probably wouldn't notice. it is easy to get from level 1 to level 50 in a week now if you know what you doing.

3. No warriors now suck compaired to hybrids, warrior taunt ability has been equalled and surpased by Pally and SK spells and thier DPS has been overtaken by Bow happy Rangers hitting for 1000 dmg per pop. Throw in Beatslords that can solo upto 65 and life as a warrior can be a little bleak.

4. Twinking is rife, it is not uncommon to find a level one withe 1000+ hit points a 14 /27 1hb that proc's 175 damage at level 1. that said there is now level restrictions on items that has helped in a small way, they now gain stats slowly to thier 'Recommended level'

5. The following expansions are IMHO required after SoV

Luclin:- for the moon, beastlord class, Var shir <Cat men> and the Bazaar the new center of comerce made far easier. you now can set your char to sell automaticly overnight. people can search out items they want or look up slot by stat required etc. Oh and superb new graphic engine.

Planes of Power :- Plane of knowlage is the cultural center that everyone bases from now with click ports to all major city zones and acsess to the 46+ new Planes which is where you will be post 50 if you are not in a LDoN

Lost dungeons of Norrath<LDoN> :- introduced zones that a party get all to themselves where you earn points to spend on item, has created a whole new dimention to EQ and is the best expansion to date.

you can also get Legacy of Yeshka for Maps of zones , Froglok races and bigger bank but it's not as good as the three above.

6. yes cleric still rule healing but shammys and druid are viable now though don't really come into thier own untill 57+ when they get a Mini Complete heal.

7. Yes enchanters role is still the same and they still die just as fast. Bards however are now the best solo class in the game ntill SoE get the nerf stick out.

As far as it goes EQ is 10 times more fun now than 3 years ago when i started playing, the game has changed in more ways than this post can quantify but it still retains that something special that made it great.

I would disagree with waiting on the expansions...especially since you can buy Evolutions, even though you already have the originals and get all of them...or all but the last one anywway. You will not have the Bazaar if you do not get luclin and will not have the POK portals if you do not get PoP.

These have made GG less desirable, but there are still places that you can GG to that cannot be reached easily by portals.

If you do not have these, you will miss on the ability to get to where you are needed for groups, not to mention the Luclin zones which are excellent XP.

As for bazaar...you can search by stat, class, race, slot and price range or any combination of the above. For instance you can have it show you all of the items that a dwarf cleric can wear on his head that have a wisdom bonus that sells between 100 and 500 PP.

I started playing a little after Luclin came out with the trilogy but waited before buying Luclin until I had played some. Even though I still havent spent much time in Kunark or Velious, I think not getting the expansions detracts from the game - anyone whoever took the boat from BB to Freeport understands the reason you need POP; you need Luclin for Bazaar as well as access to your cat character, LOY gives you Frogs, but more importantly it expands your bank slots AND GIVES YOU 2 SHARED BANK SLOTS which allows you to pass most items easily between characters (no more asking someone to hold items while you log one off to switch characters or dropping item and doing the same thing) - this also eliminates having to move 2 characters into the same zone to drop off items. LDON is probably the best expansion IMHO, and is both a great place to get pickup groups and source of gear. GoD expansion has some new wrinkles but jury is out.
With the ability to get all the games except LDON and GoD in evolutions (paid $28 for it last year for B Day present for my nephew), no reason to wait.

I would echo the above thoughts on characters; I had to log off my chanter to switch to clc for LDON last night as only clc in our range (8 levels for LDON) didnt want to do LDON and you are risking failure often without a clc in LDON and we had another chanter available. Rarely do I have a problem getting group with chanter and almost never with clc. Good Hunting and Welcome back.