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Advanced Techniques Guide
There are many practices which experienced EverQuest players discuss that less experienced players may not be familiar with. The goal of this guide is to explain these techniques.
Stopping Certain Mobs From Fleeing
Mobs won't flee if they have "friends" close. Find a static spawn of a non-agressive non-social creature (such as a snake). Pull other identical mobs to it and fight in close proximity. The pulled mob won't flee because there is another one close.
This can also be used if the friend is behind a wall. Use it in places like Solusek A to prevent mobs from fleeing.
Item Recharging
See the Guide to Recharging Items.
Leaving Behind a Corpse With No Items
Normally in EverQuest when you loot every item on your corpse it disappears as soon as you stand up. However, if you want to preserve your corpse for a Resurrection, and you accidentally looted your last item, you can still save the corpse by reloading your UI skin before standing up from the corpse. You can either do this with the /load command, or by pressing ALT + O to display the options window, and then clicking on the Load UI Skin button within it.
Corpse Dragging
When a player runs while using /corpse repeatedly to bring their corpse along it is known as "corpse dragging". In modern EverQuest there is a command, /corpsedrag, that one can use to move their corpse. EverQuest in the Project 1999 era does not have this command however, which means players must use the older /corpse. Since the command needs to repeated frequently one option is to type it the first time, then press SHIFT + UP (while in the chat pane) and ENTER to repeat it. However most players prefer to create a macro, so that they can repeat the command with a single keypress or click.
One other thing to note about corpse dragging is that the /corpse command ignores the z-axis (ie. up or down in-game). This means that you can use the command to pull corpses from "underground" or above you, as long as you can get close enough horizontally.
Dragging Multiple Corpses - You can drag two different corpses by setting a key bind for "Toggle last two targets" in the options menu (I use tilde ` ), then open a macro button and make every line /corpse. Target one of the corpses you want to drag, and then target the other corpse, then run to where you want to take the corpses while alternating between your Toggle last target button (to cycle between the two corpses) and your /corpse macro (to make sure that the /corpse command is running for a few after hitting the button).
"Corpse-ing" Items
Sometimes it's helpful to be able to store items somewhere other than the bank or on your character. For instance, you could store some Fish Scales when adventuring underwater in case you die and need to cast Enduring Breath, or you could store a valuable Lore item so you could loot a second one, or you could store a no rent item (such as a key in the Plane of Sky) to prevent it from disappearing when you camp.
The solution is to die and leave the item behind when you loot your corpse. Your corpse will remain for up to a week (depending on level), and if you want to store an item longer you can repeat the process. To die without losing experience you will need to duel a fellow player or if you can cast dots, you can dot yourself at a zone line and zone before you die.
Sneak Banking
This technique is pretty simple but it can be very handy, especially for evil characters, by allowing them to use banks in places where they are KOS from outside the bank. Because characters who are sneaking and positioned behind an NPC count as indifferent to NPCs, even a normally KOS banker will bank with the character while sneaking. And because you can often click on bankers from a safe distance away by playing with camera angles, this technique let's you bank in places you otherwise couldn't without being attacked.
Multi-Questing
See Multi-questing.
Power Leveling
Power leveling is when a higher level character uses their power to help a lower-level character level unusually fast. Since the higher level character can't group with the lower-level character without taking most or all of the experience, there are several different techniques for doing this. Bards and others using "area of effect" can often kill so many monsters that the lower-level character still gains quick XP despite only getting a fraction.
Other classes stay out of groups, but help in some other way. Classes with damage shields can use them to add damage which doesn't count as coming from them. Classes with feign death or memory blur can bring a monster down to low health then feign death/memory blur to let the lower-level finish it off. Healers and buffers can also use their spells to power level.
Finally, many low level quests require a common items such as Bone Chips or Crushbone Belts or Deathfist Slashed Belts in return for experience. Higher-level characters can buy or acquire these items and then give them to lower level characters to turn-in.
Macros
While using 3rd-party programs to automate play is against the Project 1999 rules, EverQuest does provide a very limited way to "program" certain commands, so that they can be repeated easily. You can use any "/" command in a macro, but the most popular ones are /corpse, /loc, and the social commands (/g, /ooc, etc.).
To create a macro click on the "Social" tab of the "Abilities" pane. If your "Abilities" pane isn't visible, pressing CTRL + a should make it appear (unless you've changed your key bindings). Next, click on the right arrow to move to the second "Social" pane (the first one is pre-filled with macros the EverQuest developers thought you might want).
Next, right-click on any of the blank spaces on the pane, which will bring up the macro window. Fill in a (short) name for the macro in the top box and choose a color for it. Then in the bottom boxes type in commands just as you would normally (eg. type in "/corpse" in one of those boxes to create a corpse-dragging macro). Finally hit "Accept", and then click and drag your new macro to one of your slots on the "Button Set" pane. Congratulations: you can now run that command or commands by simply clicking on the new button.
You can also use certain special characters to make macros more dynamic. For instance you can use "%t" to fill in the name of the person/mob you are targeting. For instance, if you use the command "/g %t incoming" you can create a "pulling" macro which will tell your group the name of the mob you are pulling (as long as you have it targeted when you click the macro).
"Glitching" Through Locked Doors/Gates
There are at least two places in Norath which have doors that are technically locked, but which can be bypassed without a key. The two places are the entrance to The Hole in Paineel and the jail in the Temple of Droga.
To "glitch" through these doors you essentially just need to run in to them while crouching and standing. You can do this with auto-run or by pressing forward, and your goal is to move forward slightly, crouch, move forward slightly more, stand, move forward ... However, you also need to be running against the correct part of the door while doing this (otherwise no amount of crouching will get you through). It can be frustrating at first to learn this technique, but with practice you should eventually be able to use it to save yourself the trouble of acquiring the appropriate key.
"Glitching" To Zone-In By Wall Camping
There is a bug in Everquest which causes your character to get moved to zone if they camp-out inside of a wall. This can provide a way for non-gating characters to escape some awkward locations.
While normally it is impossible for a character to move into a wall, because of how EQ's geometry works it is often possible by combining illusion spells and/or shrink spells. In certain places in some zones (e.g. Trakanon's lair in Sebilis) it is even possible to position a character without illusions/shrink so that they camp inside a wall.
On live this trick also allowed characters to safely move across Siren's Grotto, but (in a surprisingly un-classic move) the staff fixed the bug to prevent this trick (for that zone) on Project 1999.
Getting Summoned Past Locked Doors/Gates
An alternative technique, which can be used to bypass the locked door guarding the Crypt in Sebilis, is to take advantage of a mob's summoning power to summon yourself past the locked door. To do this:
1. Agro, but don't damage, a summoning monster, then bring it to the locked door
2. Damage the mob until it starts summoning (Mobs start summoning at 97% or less HP. Typically a mob can only summon once every 10 seconds.)
3. Push (through melee attacks, pet attacks, certain items/spells, etc.) the mob through the locked door
4. Root the mob
5. Move back and let the mob summon you (past the locked door)
Looking Behind With SHIFT + T
There are two "official" ways to change your viewing angle: you can press F9 to cycle views, or you can use your mouse wheel to scroll out to a third person view. Neither of these however has a true "looking behind you" effect. For that you need to use a feature from a future EverQuest expansion that will never be implemented: titles.
When you bring up the title pane, by pressing SHIFT + T, your view changes to a "looking behind" viewpoint. You can alter that viewpoint to see a different angle by holding down and moving the right mouse button. Alternatively, you can use Options (Alt+O) in the "Keys" tab select the "Camera" dropdown option, and set two hotkeys for "User Defined Camera 1" and "User Defined Camera 2", this gives you full control over swinging the camera in any direction, and allows you to toggle quickly between seeing two different angles.
Resetting Spell Refresh Timers With Instant-Click Items
In EverQuest you can't continuously cast spells, because each spell has a reset or "cooldown" timer that has to complete after it's cast. Actually, each spell has two: a "Recast time" for that specific spell, and a general/global timer which affects all spells. When you cast a spell you have to wait for the global timer to complete before you can cast any other spells, and the spell-specific Recast Time before you can recast that specific spell.
However, when you right-click an item with an instant-click effect (such as the popular Shrunken Goblin Skull Earring), doing so resets the global timer, allowing you "instantly" cast another spell (although not quite instantly because clicking the item takes a small amount of time). This works for all spell slots, but it works especially well for the spell in the first spell slot. If a spell is assigned to the first (top) spell slot, clicking an instant-click effect item will reset the spell-specific Recast Time for this spell so that it can instantly be recast IF the cast time of the spell is as long or longer than the spell-specific Recast Time. If the spell-specific Recast Time is longer than the cast time, you will need to wait the difference after clicking before you can successfully cast it, otherwise you will be met with a message "Global cooldown not met". For example, if a spell has a Recast Time of 5 seconds and a cast time of 5 or more seconds, you can instantly chain cast the top spell after clicking. However, if the spell's Recast Time is 8 seconds, but the cast time is 5 seconds, you will need to wait 3 seconds after clicking in order to successfully cast the top spell (such as with the spell, Gate, for example). As such, this technique does not allow you to chain cast spells with a long Recast Time; a spell like Avatar with a long cooldown will not be helped, as its 6-minute Recast Time is far longer than its 3 second casting time. You will technically only be able to shave off 3 seconds from its Recast Time.
Looting Corpses in Hard to Reach Places
Sometimes when a mob dies it will do so in an inconvenient location, ie. somewhere out of reach. This could be vertically out of reach, or simply in a wall or other structure.
When this occurs, you can use the /target command to target the corpse, even if it's not visible. Remember to add "'s corpse", so for instance to target the corpse of a "a goblin" you would use /target a goblin's corpse.
Once the corpse is targeted you can /loot it.
Temporarily Gaining Inventory Space
If your inventory is full and you need to receive items from someone, you can give up to four bags to an NPC vendor, but do not click GIVE. When the bags are in the vendor window, they will not be in your inventory, allowing you to receive more items or manipulate your inventory more easily. This technique is good for tradeskilling when your output tends to produce a large volume of items. You can store your non-tradeskill items on a vendor while you use your inventory for tradeskilling.
Temporarily Lowering Weight
When you give coin (or items?) to other players, their weight is temporarily removed from you the moment you open the trade window ... even before you actually trade the coin.
Players often exploit this fact by giving large amounts of coin to random players, enabling them to (briefly) move faster, even though they have no intention of actually trading that coin.
Using Low-Level Buffs Instead of Heals
As the Healing Spell Lines page shows, at the lowest levels, for Clerics and Shaman, but not Druids, it is often more efficient to "heal" by casting low-level buffs, than by casting level-appropriate healing spells. When multiple healers of different levels exist in the group, be aware that the lower level healer will not be able to overwrite the higher level buff, leaving the lower level healer to use heals instead of buffs.
Strafe Running
When you move diagonally (either by holding SHIFT and pressing LEFT or RIGHT, or by autorunning, right-clicking, and then pressing LEFT/RIGHT) your character moves slightly faster than when they run forward. This can allow you to escape from many mobs which would otherwise overtake you. Using the "tether" camera setting (editor note: F99 cycles camera settings, and I think "tether" here refers to the last of them) while strafe running allows you to still follow your character.
Strafe running is 13% faster than regular running. Strafe running while sneaking provides an even greater increase in speed (vs. non-strafe sneaking).
Jumping while strafing does not provide any benefit, as the jumping action moves you in a direction different than your movement vector (the only time jumping provides a benefit is if you're moving in a straight line).
Verifying Hide Worked
Only Rogues receive fail/success message on using the Hide skill. For all other classes or races that have Hide, it's impossible to /target (your name) if your Hide was successful. A good Hide macro would be
/doability <Hide skill ability #> /target <your name>
If you fire the macro and are targeted, your Hide failed. Just make sure you're not targeted before you fire the macro.
Note that this does not work if you can see invis, either by spell or item effect.
Note that "ability #" refers to the abilities numbered 1-6 in the "Abilities Page" hotkey selection (bottom right tab of default UI layout). This is where you can select Hide, Bind Wound, Sense Heading, Fishing, Begging etc.
Salmon Laddering with Gravity Flux and Levitate Rings
Want to get up high in the air, but don't have something to levitate off of?
Gravity Flux and Invert Gravity will both toss a player up in the air if dueling a wizard or if a wizard casts on themselves. This doesn't work if a character currently has Levitation on, however. Because falling takes time, it is possible to vertically climb up in the middle of a zone using a Salmon ladder like technique where the user clicks off levitate immediately before Gravity Flux hits while holding Summoned:_Ring_of_Levitation. The player falls for a split second, then get fluxed upward as flux hits. At the apogee of their flux, they hit the Ring. Since it is instant-cast, the user will immediately levitate at the higher level. Repeat until at the desired height.
Note, there does seem to be an increased levitate decay rate at certain altitudes which may make this more or less useful.
This technique theoretically can work by dueling and having other players casting flux on you, but going higher than 1 flux is extremely difficult to time if you are not the caster, as the click off levitate has to be very close to when the flux hits or you lose the additional height from falling for too long.
Pushing
"Pushing" in EverQuest refers to when a mob (or character) is moved against its will by attacks. Being pushed is mainly a problem for casters, because movement interrupts their spell-casting. Since many powerful raid targets cast spells (including Complete Heal), pushing is an essential raiding technique.
Whenever a mob is hit it's moved (slightly) in the direction the attacker is facing. A character generates more "push" (ie. moves the mob farther) the closer they are to the mob. Thus, when a raid leader urges the raid to (for instance) "push the mob towards the wall" attackers should get as close as possible to the mob while facing towards the wall in question.
Push interrupting is not classic and has been patched out of the game. [1]
Killing Healer Mobs
If you are trying to kill a mob that is able to heal itself it will begin casting heals when itself or another mob is at 40% HP and a player or pet is in melee range. You can avoid the healing mechanic by rooting the mob and killing it from a range or using stuns to interrupt the heals. A popular stun item for races/classes that cannot stun naturally is Forlorn Totem of Rolfron Zek. If the mob is immune to stun and cannot be rooted you will likely have an Enchanter cast Mana Sieve on it in order to stop it from healing at low hit points.
A dangerous technique is to root the mob and fear it. A mob will stop casting when it is feared, but will continue to attack if still rooted. Be wary if root wears off before fear does...
Casting High Level Group Buffs on Lowbies
You can bypass level requirements for group buffs without being in the group as long as you follow a couple of steps.
- Make sure Target Group Buff is on with "/tgb on"
- Begin casting the group buff spell on yourself
- Change targets midcast with a targeting hotkey (default F7 for nearest PC for example)
- Buff will land on the group of the person you targeted regardless of level
Alternatively, you could just join the group and cast group buffs on yourself but then you'll be taking a spot away from the group buffs.
Questions About Other Techniques?
If you are curious about a technique that isn't mentioned here simply edit this wiki page to add a header for it, and someone should add an answer before too long.
