- Apprentice I: earned each level
- Apprentice II: purchased from trainers in cities
- Apprentice III: no longer exists! (used to be non-pristine player-crafted)
- Apprentice IV: player-crafted from common harvests
- – - (Sages for priest & mage upgrades, Jewelers for scouts, and Alchemists for fighters)

- Adept I: chest drops from mobs (any but grey)
- Adept II: never existed!
- Adept III: player-crafted from rare harvests

- Master I: chest drops from mobs (any but grey)
- – - Named mobs are more likely to drop them, but you do occasionally get them off non-nameds
- Master II: earned every so many levels
- – - Chosen on your Skills (L) > Character Progression tab

The new and improved tiers:
- Apprentice (was Apprentice I-III)
- Journeyman (was Apprentice IV)
- Adept (was Adept I)
- Expert (was Adept III)
- Master (was Master I)
- Grandmaster (was Master II)

I think the new naming scheme will be a lot less confusing, especially for newer players.

Y’know the sort of thing… run across the zone to kill something, run back to the quest giver who sends you running back to where you just were to pick up the old shoe the something you killed has dropped.

And vile, vile spawn times on some named mobs. Last night we waited an hour (literally, I timed it) to kill a particular open-field mob. (Bloodtalon, for those who read this who might play.)

Also remember when you get a skill, you get it at Apprentice I. The levels go something like Apprentice I, Apprentice IV, Adept I, Adept III, Master 1, Master 2.

(Someone will correct me if I have that wrong, but numbers are definitely skipped)

Upgrades to Apprentice IV are player crafted and cheap on the Broker (send an in-game mail to Riowa if you want Shadowknight upgrades; I can do those for you — I’m sure we have someone that can do Fury spells, too!) and you’ll want to do them asap.

That’s why new versions of skills don’t replace old versions when you get them. If you have 2 skills in the same line, Hit & Pound, and you get Hit at level 8 and Pound at level 12, and you’ve upgraded Hit to Master level, then it might be that Pound at Apprentice I will actually be *weaker* than the earlier, heavily upgraded, skill.

That said, I agree it’s a pain to have so many skills so early. You’ll have 6 toolbars before long.

We’re both also very tempted by ratgirl alts, ratongas were a huge hit here.

I really enjoyed EQ2. I played it with my friends after we got sick of WoW. I enjoyed the more complex gameplay and the character customization. More than a few times my Kerra Necromancer was able to save the party by using my life transferal skills. I wasn’t a main healer, but I worked in a pinch when the healer went OOM after a bad pull.

I recommend Provisioner to one of you – it’s great to have unlimited high quality food and it’s the resources that no one else wants but has to pick to force rocks to appear.

The only drawback is the one I found when I played Vanguard recently. The social stuff is mainly at top level and it’s a very long way to get there. Hopefully you can find or even start a guild for lower level players. If not, at least there are two of you.

One thing I wanted to clarify about mentoring: the high-level character (the one doing the mentoring) gets 50% less XP, while the lower-level character (the mentored) gets 10% bonus XP.

So if your partner decides she hates the SK and rerolls, you won’t have to. Just mentor her until she’s your level.

Collections are outstanding for several reasons. First, they can give you some great items, both gear and house items. Second, turning them in gives excellent XP and AA. And finally, the rare shinies can sell for a lot of gold–even plat.

Again, welcome to EQ2 and I hope you stick with it. You can find me via Unrest.Grabthar.