General thoughts from a returning player

[tropic]

Hey gang, having a good time coming back to EFU but wanted to brain-dump while the "new player" experience is fresh.

Context:

I haven't played in about two years, or basically since the end of Mistlocke. I have pretty much forgotten how to powerbuild a PC (not that I was great at it in the first place). I am playing a sword and shield pure ranger that is not a weak build but not necessarily an optimized one.

General thoughts:

1. Enemy AB is very high. Enemies that attack in groups of 4-5 consistently have higher AB than a max AB class within the level range. If I'm level 5 with 14 STR and no weapon focus (like I said, not optimized), my AB is +7. I faced a lot of +7 AB enemies at that level. My AC with the lucky drops I got (+1 AC amulet, +1 AC shield) was only about 20. Almost every quest was a very close call - and I died a few times. This is not a complaint, it was just a reminder of EFU's difficulty.

2. There are tons of quests! Awesome. Also Sanctuary as always is super cool - I did explore when the setting changed, so it's not totally new to me.

3. Climbing was great in EFUM and is even better now.

4. Getting around the "wilderness" seems pretty cool, as there are multiple routes with climbing and swimming. It's not super dangerous but the occasional Umber Hull behemoth reminds you of why the Underdark is feared.

5. You can get to levels 5 and 6 really fast, but if you do, you'll be broke.

6. I wanted to play a city-based scout, since I really enjoyed explore areas and bounties in EFUM. I have had trouble finding/buying stealth gear, and the alternative seems to be quest-training and hoping for a lucky drop. The problem there, as mentioned above, is that I don't really have a combat build. It would be nice if there were a ranger hunting quest somewhere near the city to get some +MS boots, cloak, etc.

Shout out to the players I encountered over the weekend - lots of great RP!