New/Returning Player - Phoenix Freeshard

Good day all,

Returning to play for the sake of nostalgia and well in between p99/GW2/FFXIV burn out I can't think of another game I'd like to play more - and well Uthgard is dead.

I was on Merlin/Alb for my tenure in DAoC (played until LoM was released). Mainly ran Wizard and varieties of anything else.

So, question, servers are looking fairly evenly distributed and active. Where should I go, just wondering and trying to get some perspective. I've played on each realm and I enjoy each for their own reasons (Wizard/Minstrel), (Skald/Shaman), and (Warden/Nightshade). Are there any realms that are more newbie/returning friendlier than the next? Also, any advice on starting out with Phoenix is much obliged. If I've posted this in error or something like that please let me know! Thanks and hey there.

The realms take turns dominating and leveling is so fast that it doesn't really matter where you start. You can always change later.

One of the biggest differences between live DaOC is that there are not a lot of quests and leveling is accomplished by killing mobs that drop xp items. Once turned in the xp items get you quite a bit of xp. It is also good to focus when possible on mobs that have a current xp bonus (up to 200%) and you can view that using /task realm. You also get Phoenix eggs leveling and can turn those in to any trainer for xp. You can search for xp item lists once you pick your realm.

Another big difference is templating. ROGs on Phoenix are randomly generated, so there is no template reuse. Most people run the Galla chest for its heal proc and other than that there are no standard items. Many end game items can be bought only with Phoenix Feathers (e.g. Ring of Tarka-oz, Fine Steel Long Sword, etc.). Feathers are acquired on Raids (Galla, Legion, Dragon, etc.), via RvR keep/tower takes and Darkspire runs. There are not tradeable, but the items you buy with them are. So you will see people buying and selling Feathers, but they are really buying and selling the items.

Have fun out there!