I've only been playing Everquest for about a year now and one of the things that really used to frustrate me was getting killed by a mob over and over again in a zone I was very familiar with. Afterwards, I would have to rebuff myself, and hoof it back to the zone and recover the items on my corpse, losing precious experience along the way. I rarely buy a soulstone to recover my corpse and asking for a rez(resuscitate) from a cleric always seemed like I was begging. If I was killed by a mob that conned red, then I might consider a rez, only because I was unprepared. But if it was my own fault because I got too cocky, then I should not bother clerics that could be using their mana on someone more deserving. Hoofing it made me think about what I did wrong while I was zoning in and out of areas and better preparing me for the next time.
If you've been fighting mobs that con dark blue and succeeding, and then get pounded on by a green one, one of several things may be happening. The first is tunnel vision. You get into a rhythm and don't pay attention to your mana or health bar. Patience is the solution. Take a second to forage, then sit down. Only Rangers in groups should be killing one mob after another. They have supporters to keep them healthy. The second is that you might have outgrown your armor or weapons. As you level up, your weapons and spells become less and less effective at doing damage against higher level mobs. Your armor may not be able to withstand a hit as well as it did 4 or 5 levels ago. Do some research on what might be the best weapon and armor against the mobs you're tackling. The third thing may be the way you are fighting a mob. What might have worked in the Butcherblock Mountains may not be such a good idea in Kurn's Tower. Being able to change your fighting style is the key to survival. Always have different types of weapons with you to experiment with.
My biggest mistake is in how much I counted on my spells working. Spells such as Spirit of the Wolf(which helps you run faster) and Camouflage only work outdoors. Spells like Invoke Lightening hit everything within a specific radius. Higher level fire spells such as Flaming Arrow take time to recast. When buff spells wore off, I was left vunerable to multiple mobs unless I had already put them in my hotbuttons, or God forbid, had to leave a zone to recast them. Make sure you keep an eye on your buffs. Nothing is more aggravating than having a temp buff wear off in the middle of a battle with a mob that only has 10% of its hit points left and you're only doing 1% damage per hit.
Experience is a long and arduous adventure and every time you die, you lose some of it. Make the time you spend worth it by using a little common sense. Every time I log my character in, I remind myself that I am building a Ranger. A Ranger uses all of his skills to advance, and not just the ones that will do the most damage.
