Newbie Explorers Primer

Hi newbies,

This is a quick guide for newbie explorers. When I was a lot smaller, I was able to hit about 45% explore in a matter of days with minimal deaths; you learn a lot this way, and get some good exp (read: help explore) to start building your guild.

My approach to explore relies on invis, liberal use of quit + re-enter, and just being careful.

First, characters usually best at exploring; 

Riftwalker - a caster with entity, this gives you both invis and the ability to take on and dominate newbie areas. 

Mage - invis early on, exp spending nice and safe in Arelium. A young acid mage can use lock biter to expand access. You could stay in a rift-mage build forever.

Brownie anything - you get invis from your racial guild, as well as see invis. Brownie tarmas are surprisingly good explorers, and are effective in parties.

Ranger - the original newbie guild. Not as effective as invis builds, but great if you want to do some fighting at those lower levels too. Easy to get to for spending exp.

 

If you are under level 40 and under 10d of game time, you have unlimited access to recreate (help recreate). Try different guild to see a little bit about the game and its mechanics - this is also a cheeky way to get explore at other guilds, and get marks for the Shrine Search quest.

For my own exploring, I mostly ran as a low level sprite acid mage for teleport, invis, floating disc, natural flight, and one-shot ability on low level mobs and some cash  mobs.

Now for some general tips:

Do your research. Many areas have info about them online; even the theme of an area can tell you a lot about the dangers there. Other players have painstakingly written area info, maps, advice, etc. online, so seek those out.

 

Prepare properly. If you are expecting to get stuck, you want to be prepared for the trip home. This could be a teleport spell, the ruby shoes that give you instant teleport, the newbie crystal, word of recall, and of course a quit real if you are naked. You could even set the startloc outside (help start) to pick up where you left off. 

 

Proceed carefully and read room descriptions. Interact with things but understand some of those interactions might get you killed. 

 

You will die. Don't sweat it. 

 

Use the newbie posts until you can't. You can zip around to different parts of the world instantly with these, especially St. Patrics Abbey (do this early to get the quest there, but avoid going south of the Abbey)

 

Learn Esiris and capital cities. You can travel in between all of these for free - instantly if naked, and with a cooldown if you are carrying anything. It's vital to learn Esiris early on. Down the line, you can complete Esiris quests to allow instant (paid) continent changes, or the ability to teleport to Esiris and back from the outerworld.  

Check out daily tasks. Anyone can accept daily tasks (help continent quests) to build up favor for eq, or just for quick cash and exp. Some tasks are undoable for you (you can abort and ask for a new one), while others are nice and easy - and a good way to check out some new areas. 

Make use of navigator trees. They show up as a 'T' on the map. 

 

Take notes. I maintain a spreadsheet for myself with notes about explore status, special explore rooms, any nasty surprises, locks etc. which are invaluable

 

One final note, on exploring vs. killing things for exp. I recommend a mix; exploring is not a requirement, but it forces you to be accountable and independent when you're out there, which is a really important trait to have. At the same time, you can and should steadily build your combat effectiveness; a convenient spot is the Crystite Mines of Dortlewall, where you can amass healthy exp and some good gear. 

Thanks to

Kalahar

Kanis

Malcom