EQ2: Rough guide to the amount of AAs to aim for (end game)

[Noxxy]

Hey,

I am just writing this very short post to put down some experience I have re the amount of AAs required for end game to help out the new players.

As a simple rule of thumb - the game is roughly designed that your character will start to shine [end game] from approximately 50% of the new expansions additional AAs.

What does this mean?

Let's look at RoK to TSO - the 'old' RoK cap was 140AAs - the new AA cap with TSO is now 200AA - 50% of the difference is 30AA ([200 - 140] * 0.5) - therefore, you would expect to start 'owning' the new expansions content from approx 170AA onwards.

Now this 170AA figure is actually pretty accurate because if you look at the eq2 flames forums you will notice that many of the 'ideal' TSO AA specs, for any particular class, all involve AAs in the vicinity of 170-175AA - anything more than this is basically cream.

As a further rough guide to how many AAs you will have when locked:
- level 10 = 0AA /lock at ding

- level 20 = 20AA (very easy to get in TD/Mok/Darklight - highly recommend doing 'everything' as the AC and the weapons given as quest rewards (in TD/Mok only) as FAR SUPERIOR than that given in the old world equivalent zones (good chance you will still be wearing / using the items up to about 30 assuming you don't get any fable drops, etc.)

Fom approx. level 20 onwards your AAs should ALWAYS be > your level

- level 60 is = 100AA cap

Therefore, we can guesstimate the required AA at the following levels:
- level 30 = 40
- level 40 = 60
- level 50 = 80

Even though the math suggests 2AA per level I have actually found that I sometimes get 3AA per level resulting in my characters being stuck at the 100AA cap before level 60 - it just varies so you have to just be aware and /lock /unlock to suit

From level 60 you'd expect to get roughy the following AAs per zone:
- KoS is roughly 20AA (inc. dungeon AA)
- KP/Fens/KJ/JW is roughly 20AA - highly recommend doing ALL quests here as there are some very good quest rewards (especially the jewelry items!)
- Moors 10AA - pretty average rewards for an end game zone but the AA is easy enough to get

[Redbeard]

Very awesome guide, thanks for posting it. While im glad they added the AXP system to the game, granting you a lot more character choices, I wish it was a little bit more intuitive and natural you know?

[Lyonheart]

so for good races, all my guys were in Qeynos area. I should leave that area and head to TD? ( TD is evil side only isn't it?) My team is 12.. i will lock them now and do AAs and quests.

[Noxxy]

Anyone can go to TD without worry about being KoS - either race, should flee their starting towns and go straight there which is exactly what I have been doing since TD was introduced some years ago

The hardest thing when leaving your starting town is trying not to get any disco in your travels as it will not add to your AA (if you go to TD below level 10) - from memory, there is only the 1 disco I couldn't avoid and that was going down onto the beach at the Chrykori Island starting area - this single disco would probably ding you to level 2 but that's not biggy at all

As I mentioned previously, the items you get from doing TD are far superior than that found in the old worlds and will last till level 30ish. Why do I say this? Just look at the stats of TD ac. All pieces will have something like end game AC where you may have as an example +10 mana regen, +def, etc. The old world items do not have these type of stats and their overall mit is a lot lower. So basically, TD ac is like lower tiered mastercrafted AC but with better stats.

An added beauty of TD is also the fact that there are so many quests and they all relatively close together so saves the running.

On another note - TD/Mok has 2 matching sets of nice looking AC - you would be hard pressed to find a matching set of anything in the old world that looks any good till about the 30s (mistgoblins).

Just as a side - all my characters, including all my 80s - rats exclusively - all wear the beginner green ac from TD with the red cloak from the tombs lords quest in Mok - I find it quite funny but that's prob just me

[Lyonheart]

i started a team in TD but they could only be evil, and i had some toons from when EQ2 first came out that were good. So i started over BEFORE your posting this info. I'm thinking about just starting over again so i can lock at 10. I am only doing 4 acnts atm. I might come back and add two more later on. ATM I'm thinking Guardian,Warden ( not sure about what healer, I will only have one ) Troubadour and Warlock. If i add more later it will be wiz and complementary healer to the existing healer. What do you think?

IF that team make up is good, they are all 12, should I just lock now and head to TD or start over IN TD with an evil squad so i can lock at 10. Starting over is no big deal, the first 10 levels take like an hour or less.

[Noxxy]

Just go over as you are now with your good team - the 2 levels won't nerf your team at all - far from it

Saves a bit of mucking around

[Frosty]

Ok..I have a semi-crazy idea.. what if I create a low level toon over there..kick one member out of my group..and have them all mentor down?
So, I'd be only starting 1 group member over...then I could level lock my current 17's at 10.

[Noxxy]

Honestly - a group in their teens hasn't lost much AA really - just as easy to /lock all your 17s and just do any quests you missed - if you didn't miss any quests no worries - just /lock and keep going - you'll end up with a good handful of AAs

There are really several ways to maximise your AAs when you think about it:
- /lock at 10 - with the aim of getting 100AA at 60
- /lock at whatever level and go back and do all the grey stuff - just as valid if your a grinder - i.e., race to say lvl 40 via dungeon grinding, then go back and do all the grey quests
- /totally forget about it with the understanding that the character won't be the best in end game dungeons - which is ok if it's 1 maybe 2 chars (not the tank), after that, it does effect overall DPS which means the entire team starts to clear dungeons slower - doing it this way means you will have to visit all the old zones which can get boring doing grey stuff

It's just more simplier to get as much AA as you can whilst you are leveling - this way you also get to see the majority of the game content

[Frosty]

I got another silly question for ya Noxxy (or anyone who might know).. I did actually try to search on this one but couldn't find what I was looking for.

If you level lock and go back and do quests that are marked as say..level 1-9.. do you get AA exp for those? Or do the quests need to be level 10 and up?

[Khatovar]

They need to be 10+. Can't earn AA prior to that. So no need to waste time going back to the early starter quests.