About to make the 2 box plunge and have a few questions

[Inunokami]

Hey all,
As the title states I think I'm gonna finally admit I'm EQ nerd enough to 2 box. After sorting through all the posts here I decided to make a druid (though I once swore to never make a dru or ranger).
However I still have a few questions if anyone has the time to answer them.
1) Are there any good guides for PLing a tonn with a BL (I will be starting a new character).
2)  Anyone know the min level you need to be to get exp from a 68-9 toon ( I know it's 46 for 65).
3) Any good general homepages for 2 box info that someone might point me to.
4) This is a bit technical and maybe newbie 2-boxish, but does anyone know if I can have 2 accounts on one credit card?Also do I need another station name for another account? (I assumse so just haven't researched it yet).

Thanks again my fellow beasties. :D

[Brungo]

Good questions, I will be sure to stay tuned for preceeding replies.  :D

[Bulge]

I don't know of any guide for BL's but the thing you will be missing most dearly is the damageshield. A druids level 49 DS really rocks for the first 40 levels. Not sure if you have enough money to spend on DS potions but that would help a lot. Off course a druid can at least slap his own DS on him, and you must surely do this.

You should have no problem healing your toon with Chloro(not sure if this is possible for a BL since we get this spell +50. Even then, simple Healing goes a long way if you give your toon good bazaar gear). One thing you can do, is have your pet up, and send him in once the mob is below 50%. However, do not send in your biggest pet and do not put a proc on him because I have found that when your pet does massive damage in those last 50% your twink will get no xp anyway. Not sure how this is calculated but I am convinced others here know. So gimpy pet and no proc. You will notice that the damage that your twink is dealing, is quit pathetic when you pit him against red mobs, there fore you want to help him get the mob down as much as possible. GIve your twink a fast hitting weapon so his skills go up quicker. Also there is a damage-cap in the first 20? levels anyway, so no use giving him a 30/30 twohander for the first levels anyway. (I hope I am still on the ball with this info...) Better give him a fast and furious weapon, because your toon MUST deal some damage to the mob in order to get xp. DS-damage and misses do NOT count towards this. :) Best is to pull the mob with the level 5 Burst of flame or so: even when it gets resisted, it will count towards damage and your twink gets the xp.


Off course make sure to put Chlorplast on your twink and any buffs that will stick (not much for a BL, I think only Spritual Brawn and Spiritual Light will work. Getting some real CLeric buffs is much better off course.

Paludal Caverns is your first dungeon. If you get your twink a good CLeric Buff, you can start him here at level 1 if you wish to. Begin with the Beetles at the Shadeweaver's Thicket side and just work your way in. In no time you will doing the shrooms and the Plargs, although the lack of a high DS may cripple you.  Really, if you can get your hands on some DS item/potion, do so. :) Nothing tops Paludal untill at least level 15, and I always stay here untill my toon hits level 25: the highest shrooms and the large crickets (forgot name) still give good enough xp. Though you may want to go to the Gunthak Beach at level 20 or so. Still not sure how viable that is without a nifty DS.... others may know better places after level 15.

You can put 2 accounts on the same credit card for sure. You have to purchase the game again for your twink though, since you will be making a new Station Account which requires a new CD-Key. SOE had a deal, that will give you the original game plus Kunark and Velious for free, but that means you can only play him on those zones. Your best bet would be the Platinum package: original game + all expansions minus OoW for 30 bucks or so. When you make your second Station account you can use the same creditcard and use the same adress and all: lots of families have multiple accounts on the same adress and card.

Good luck!

[Et^Cetera]

Bulge has most of it covered so I wont repeat what he has posted.

As a general rule, you can exp group with someone either 1.5 times (upwards) or 2/3 (downwards) your level and still get exp.

So: 68*.667 = 46 rounded up
45 + 22 = 67
46 + 23 = 69

Although not confirmed, if your partner cons green, no exp ..... LB is ok though.

Only thing I would recommend is to make sure every 5-10 levels, you max out defense, especially on a healer partner. Other than that, its all fairly common sense stuff (IE fast weapons for skillups, DS etc etc)

[Khathor]

Paragon can be cast on your twink at any leavel.  For a quick mana bar fill every 15 min.  Make sure TGB is on.

[danaconda]

Ok, to add to this conversation.... if your twink cons green you won't get exp grouping them both. I have personally confirmed this.

And in response to Bulge that wasn't getting exp on his twink when sending in the pet at 50%..... you must have been using a DS. The DS damage doesn't get credited to anyone. Example: a mob has 1000 hp and the twink deals 250 and the DS deals 250 for a total of 500 dmg done (50%) and the BL pet jumps in quadding for 100's and kills the mob before the twink does more dmg, then the BL gets credited (because the pet did 500 dmg to the twinks 250). So in essence the twink really just has to outdamage any other PC or pet/NPC. DS damage doesn't count at all. So in that same case with the 1000 hp mob... lets say the twink does 250 dmg again, but the DS does another 510 hp (total dmg dealt is 760) the BL pet jumps in and slaughters the mob in one round. The twink would get exp there because he did 250 dmg, while the BL pet could only do 240. Make sense?

As far as PLing your toon goes, if you have the cash to spend on DS potions, then DS the toon and keep him healed throughout the first 20-25 levels in Paludal Caverns. If it's a druid, don't worry too much about melee skills, you want defense/spell skill-ups mainly. You won't be meleeing much later on, but if a mob hits you, you want to be able to withstand a few extra swings.

After the first 20-25 levels mobs are going to start hitting harder than your healing can keep up with efficiently. So what you want to do is DS yourself (make sure to unequip any weapons and put a stein in each hand) and pull with some type of aggro spell like incapacitate. The druid then just has to deal 1 point of dmg to each mob and you can pin-cushion them to death by sitting alot. Since you equipped steins you won't riposte any hits, and just keep spamming Incapacitate or whatever you want to use on them to hold aggro. Ideal spots are places where there aren't any runners. Sorry I've never actually used this method, so I don't know where these spots are......

[Bulge]

And in response to Bulge that wasn't getting exp on his twink when sending in the pet at 50%..... you must have been using a DS. The DS damage doesn't get credited to anyone. Example: a mob has 1000 hp and the twink deals 250 and the DS deals 250 for a total of 500 dmg done (50%) and the BL pet jumps in quadding for 100's and kills the mob before the twink does more dmg, then the BL gets credited (because the pet did 500 dmg to the twinks 250). So in essence the twink really just has to outdamage any other PC or pet/NPC. DS damage doesn't count at all. So in that same case with the 1000 hp mob... lets say the twink does 250 dmg again, but the DS does another 510 hp (total dmg dealt is 760) the BL pet jumps in and slaughters the mob in one round. The twink would get exp there because he did 250 dmg, while the BL pet could only do 240. Make sense?

Yup, that sure explains it. :) I guess this is why that trick of sending in my own pet worked better when I PL-ed my Necro: both the Druid and Necro had a DS and were dealing their gimpy melee-damage, but the necro had his pet beating on the mob too, thus doing more damage.

[shimruel]

Ok, to add to this conversation.... if your twink cons green you won't get exp grouping them both. I have personally confirmed this.

I grouped my 65 BST and 43 Druid together, and the druid got XP (and flew thru 43-44).  The druid conned green.  So the above is not entirely true.

[negrismorte]

It is rough to PL the low levels with a beast.  Very few of your buffs will stick.  You can heal though and this works best with a melee PLee.

For a druid/caster, things are a bit rougher.  I haven't blown any money on DS potions because the shamie who was making them said the DS was based on the level of the person drinking them - not the creator.

If it was my toon, I would ask a friend (druid) to help me or hire a 50+ druid to get you to 20's or 30's.  By-pass the middle spells and use only the lowest cost spells to work on your skills while leveliing.  Once you get your first ae, forget groups and PLing.  Start quadkiting.  You can use SL for baby kei until kei will stick.  Once the mobs in the kite are <50%, use the beast pet to finish off.

[Inunokami]

Wow!
Thank you all so much for all your excellent advice. I dare say this should be stickied as a good " How to PL"  thread.

Again, great advice from everybody :D

[Hereki]

You can cast chloroblast (heal), but not chloroplast (regen) on a low level.

43 gets exp grouped with a 65, confirmed.

You can't give any hp buffs, as they are level limited; however, you can buff dex (spirit of monkey) and atk (spiritual brawn) and strength (raging strength), so your buffs aren't worthless.  Also a small regen from spiritual light.  Your heal is very effective up to level 40 or so; this is very good.

DS potions damage is based on the level of the drinker, confirmed.

The best way for a beastlord to PL is to borrow a 49+ druid or a 54+ cleric (for mark of retribution).

Another trick is to make a druid on the same account as the beastlord and level it to 9 for their first DS, then duo it with whichever class you want to level.  It works a lot better than you might think.

[danaconda]

I stand corrected. /kneel  :oops:

The level ranges I worked with was 54 to 35 so maybe at the higher ranges the % difference rounds off somewhere. Thanks for the correction.

[Hereki]

It doesn't make sense to me, either.  But I tried it out, and it works.

[pongu]

Ok, to add to this conversation.... if your twink cons green you won't get exp grouping them both. I have personally confirmed this.

I grouped my 65 BST and 43 Druid together, and the druid got XP (and flew thru 43-44).  The druid conned green.  So the above is not entirely true.

rule of thumb level x 1.5
or
level <divided> by 1.5

One way the math works, the other it does not, EQ swayed to the side of the druid.

[danaconda]

The thing about the 1.5x is that it is also the same formula used for /con. A mob is green to you if it is less than your level/1.5. That is why I just used the green con won't get exp. I guess they round off differently for exp grouping than they do for con colors.