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 ('http://www.eq2flames.com/') 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.

[Frosty]

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.
Doh! I was just coming back here to post that I found it. :P

But, that makes me feel a little better..becaues I spent an entire night level locked at 17 doing beginning quests..and only got 1 AA point on each toon. I think that was because I ran into some geen named mobs though. I was thinking it was going to take forever to catch up on AA's. Now I'll drop my lower quests and start getting the 10+ ones.

Thanks!

[Noxxy]

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. - Pretty much correct ;)

99% - you are correct - when leveling - quests and names under level 10 will not give you AA

1% - after you are level 80 - ANYTHING that gives experience will go directly to AA - therefore, doing a level 1 - 9 quest, at 80, will go straight to AA - but the amount will be so low that it won't really be worth it


As for easy AA - assuming you are in TD - doing the 5? odd quests up the top of Choroki Island and the 3? odd quests on the beach WILL give you 2AA (all level 10+) - I do recommend spending some time farming the pirates as they drop coral? status items - so set your loot to lotto and make sure each of your toons get 1 to maximise your AA - honestly, only give it say 15-20mins then leave it - these pirates are prob the first consistent mob you will find who drop the status items

Goro beach and Mok are an easy 10AA minimum - up the top of Mok is another easy 5??

Then zip over to commons - grab the disco and maybe (you will be close to greying out zone) you may see an odd green named (but doubt it) - while you are there, nip into WC - maybe (again will be a fair few greys) you might see a green named plus grab disco - that should give you say maybe 1-2 AA for both zones - then race into darkwood (good chars KoS but guards easy to avoid) - that's good for 3-5ish I think - maybe even more - while in commons do the greater lightstone HQ - you won't be able to finish but you should get all steps done up to the last 'kill the general' - come back later when he greys (trust me - save you alot of repairs) - also grab the WW & skel book in darklight for l&l

Depending on your level - you could then go back to Ant - do a tour for disco - visit BB (will prob be grey) - maybe do the few odd quests in there - speed laps of names (assuming they have colour) should take honestly around 5-7ish mins per full room (pull entire room) - that's another say 1 maybe..2AA (prob only 1AA) - from there, straight in SH - spend say 3hrs in there you will see about 50-60% of the names - do speed laps clearing the placeholders (a lap for a melee group with smuggle - top and bottom - clearing PHs takes about 15-20 mins - evac up from the bottom back to start to avoid trying to navigate the stairs) - tracking does help if you have a rogue - BUT - do a /who first as 1 FG doing speed laps will 'own' the dungeon - dungeon too small for two FGs - good for 2AA - grab your Armour quests as you may find a lot of the stuff is in SH - after SH, go back and do a speed lap of FG - grab zombie book

I would recommend going back and doing GF now - unlock the BBM birds and the way and drop off quests as you see then - GF will be mostly grey but highly recommend - do your HQs (in honour and service) - very easy 5AA?? more??? think more - laps of CBK - VERY NICE TANK DROPS - CBK was added in a later expansion (as was the whole GF zone) - so expect some tasty stuff out of both

Then you have TS - lot of running if you like that - I personally avoid Nek as, since release, Nek has always been a dark n sh!tty place - but grab disco and do flight paths for both zones - good for 1AA (disco only) or more for quests but lots of running

Then BBM - lot of running again but worth it - handful more AA

So there you go - well on your way to 35-40+ AA without even doing any challenging stuff with a level somwhere around 25-30

[Frosty]

Well..I'm getting closer. All level 24 with 18 AA's now. :P

Is there any reason I need to pick up the TSO expansion yet? I see the third tree, but don't have access to it.
Also, do you have any suggestions on what tree to go for first? I know you will end up with the same ammount of points in the end.
Just curious.

I'm going to have to re-learn all the abrivations for zone names again. I recognize some of them from EQ1, but there are a few I don't recall.

[Khatovar]

I pretty much just went down whatever would help the most early off. Some of my guys are going down the first, others the second. In some cases, I don't even want to spend anything in a certain tree at all. Check Eq2flames, they should have some good discussions going about what to go for first on a per-class basis.

[Noxxy]

Totally agree with Khatovar - check flames for some specs

Off the top of my head - healers tend to go do the 2nd tree first to get melee equivlanet of spell attacks - then concentrate on 100% melee crits (first page), etc. Whereas others classes go 1st page to get melee and spell crits, dbl attacks and stuff. Just find a spec you like and give it a go - don't forget you do get a free respec card (good for 5 free respecs) for both the class and subclass trees so easy to play around

As for TSO - if you don't have the xpac yet, you can easily just delay it till your ready - whilst some of the dungeons can be run at 50 - you are not able to do the shard quests, and after the initial AAs from names and disco, you will just be running tso for the fun of it with the odd drop which may do you for a few levels but that's it

TSO is really intended to be a 'lvl 80' xpac - even though some of the dungeons can be scaled down - TBTH - you prob will be flogging shard runs at 80 so I'd be inclined to avoid the dungeons till then

[Frosty]

Thanks again for the great info.

I've started updating the new wiki (not sure when it will replace the current one).

http://www.dual-boxing.com/mediawiki/index.php/Everquest_II

[Khatovar]

Whoohoo, I'm famous!



Ignore me, I just got off the treadmill and am delirious.

[Frosty]

I get delirous just looking at our treadmill. :P

[Ellay]

I saw a suggestion for healers to go melee spec AA, I found it quite a bit more relaxing to just stick my healer / ranged caster dps group in the back and just have my tank in the thick of it. Is it that much of a different to have everyone get close and start whacking away? I know it's extra damage, but seems like a hassle.

[Frosty]

I saw a suggestion for healers to go melee spec AA, I found it quite a bit more relaxing to just stick my healer / ranged caster dps group in the back and just have my tank in the thick of it. Is it that much of a different to have everyone get close and start whacking away? I know it's extra damage, but seems like a hassle.

I haven't stopped to see if I'm getting any extra benefit (I'm sure there is some) from melee attacks, but I do have all my DPS macros set to start with "/autoattack 1".

Most of the time my followers are in range anyway when I'm just running around.

Edit - I think in some of the AA lines, you get a melee attack here and there, but most of the times, you are just taking the 4 points to continue down the chain to something else.

[Noxxy]

From memory your running a warden - good chance you'd go long in the STR line (highly recommended)

Nature's boon - ever melee hit you do has a chance to heal the group - that combined with wild ferocity (dbl attacks - STR line) should mean you do a whole lot of healing

[HomersDonut]

I saw a suggestion for healers to go melee spec AA, I found it quite a bit more relaxing to just stick my healer / ranged caster dps group in the back and just have my tank in the thick of it. Is it that much of a different to have everyone get close and start whacking away? I know it's extra damage, but seems like a hassle.
One of the big advantages for melee specced priests (ie, using the replacement abilities from the second AA tree) is that all the replacement abilities will scale with you as you level and don't need to be upgraded again every 14 levels. If you continue with the standard spells, you would need to upgrade them every 14 levels or so with new Adepts or Masters.

It should also be noted that this is not available to all priests. Only Wardens, Inquisitors and Mystics are able to get melee replacements for their spells. However, all priests can get to 100% melee crit. :)

[Ellay]

Well shoot :) Melee Wardens that throws a wrench in the plan. Maybe I need to upgrade to more than 4 boxing to accomodate what I want/need.

If I'm going to be meleeing on the warden to maximize potential, it seems only effective to throw in a bard in there, since they need to melee too. Blah!

Let's see now, Guardian / Warden / Illusionist / Wizard. I suppose the Illusionist could be swapped out for the Troub... or just add the Troub on if I'm 5 boxing, but then I don't need the Illusionist as much do I? Could add another DPS in the mix somewhere... the decisions. I suppose this is the best part about playing though, all this crazy theory crafting.

[Frosty]

I'm slowly updating this page with charts: http://www.dual-boxing.com/mediawiki/index.php/Class_Selection

I'm hoping it will help with all our theory crafting when it's done. It doesn't take into account AA's just yet though.

[Ellay]

ya I've read through it a couple times :) I thought my plans of what I wanted to play would solidify on this weeklong vacation, but it seems it is never complete. That isn't to say I can't have multiple combos, but I definitely like to focus on just one and stick with that. I've never been a fan of alts as it takes away time from the main's, even though we play more than 1 character, sounds silly.

[Frosty]

I'm an alt-oholic..and working on that section of the wiki makes it worse on me. :P

[HomersDonut]

I'm with Frosty on the alts :) - there are just so many combinations available and it really isn't hard to just play mix and match depending on who you want to play and who needs leveling.

After having a look at the class selection table I was disappointed to not see Brawlers on the list :(. While they may not compare to a plate tank in sheer durability, they can certainly offer a lot to a group. Besides, it's not like you'll be heading out without a healer and Mystics and Monks just go hand in hand :thumbup:. Just off the top of my head, Monks can group buff haste, group feign death, and allow a group member to automatically feign if they would otherwise die (AA ability). If paired up with a plate tank, you open up the option of allowing the tank to fight with their own mitigation but with a 2nd chance avoidance using the Monk's avoidance skills.

Unfortunately I can't respond for Bruisers, but I certainly wouldn't write Brawlers off as a valid member of a multibox team. Besides. Who can beat a Brawler for sheer style? ;)

[Frosty]

After having a look at the class selection table I was disappointed to not see Brawlers on the list . While they may not compare to a plate tank in sheer durability, they can certainly offer a lot to a group. Besides, it's not like you'll be heading out without a healer and Mystics and Monks just go hand in hand . Just off the top of my head, Monks can group buff haste, group feign death, and allow a group member to automatically feign if they would otherwise die (AA ability). If paired up with a plate tank, you open up the option of allowing the tank to fight with their own mitigation but with a 2nd chance avoidance using the Monk's avoidance skills.

Unfortunately I can't respond for Bruisers, but I certainly wouldn't write Brawlers off as a valid member of a multibox team. Besides. Who can beat a Brawler for sheer style?
Just because it's not on the chart doesn't mean it's not good for boxing. :P

I'm still updating the classes and tables. I added 2 more tonight. It takes some time to get the info together and put it in the right spots.
After I get all the base abilities/spells I plan to add in AAs to the charts as well. ;)

[Crayonbox]

ellay, if youre throwing in a troub, make sure you know that the mana regen doesnt stack.

[Khatovar]

ellay, if youre throwing in a troub, make sure you know that the mana regen doesnt stack.

Illy and Troub in-combat mana regen does stack.


Scintillation ('http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Scintillation')
Increases in-combat power replenishment of the illusionist's group. This ability does stack with the bard's concentration group power replenishment song.

[Crayonbox]

oh i read that as does NOT stack. i went and reread the spell. youre right.

[Noxxy]

100% does def stack

[Khatovar]

I am pretty certain that the power pool increase from Aspect of Thought ('http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Aspect_of_Thought') does not stack with the Conjuror's increase from Elemental Cover ('http://eq2.wikia.com/wiki/Elemental_Cover'). I know some part of AoT didn't stack with something, but my group has so damned many buffs it's hard to remember why I use what. ;)

[Ellay]

I'm having a really hard time locking, I'm leveling so fast and it's so much fun >< is it really that hard to go back at 80 and redo the aa's you need?

[Frosty]

I can't speak from experience, but from what Khatovar and Noxxy have said, it's not a matter of it being hard, but having to go back and kill greys.

I have been fighting the urge too for the level lock. I try to get in at least 2 AA's per level right now, and travel around to keep the quests in check with my level.

[Khatovar]

It's not that it's hard, it just that you need to go back and do it. My non-locked team hit 80 last night and we're sitting around 125 AAs on the tank and 90ish on the others. But, we'd always planned on being able to go back and mentor up other characters. FYI, time /played 1-80 7d 15h

Now that we've decided to swap in a warlock and defiler, we're just going to start them from lvl1 and head out from Gorowyn. This will give most of the team a chance to get a lot more AAs while allowing us to power-level the newbs with the bonuses from our remaining RAF, mentoring, the mounts and the bonus for having a level 80 on the account. We'll probably spend a lot more time on quests this time around and just unmentor to trash-hop when we do hit dungeons to keep a steady stream of AAs coming in.

As long as you have a toon to mentor to, going back for AAs shouldn't be too difficult. It's more a matter of chewing through lower end content and resisting the nagging desire to go get your low-AA ass manhandled in a high-end dungeon.

[Ellay]

I just went back and did all of Timorous Deep, I'm sitting at 21 aa, and level 37. Working on Butcherblock now, went in with a friend on the dungeon crawl to kill named, and the exp just flew by it was nuts. So exp is locked and trying to recover :P

[Frosty]

I haven't even seen half the stuff I intended on seeing before it went grey..and I've had combat exp turned off since level 10.
I'm guessing I'll need to turn off quest exp next! :pinch:

[Ellay]

I probably didn't do the preferred method, maybe on my next group of characters I'll do it as suggested here but my aa is barely over my level, currently at 71. I just wanted to hit 80 and go from there :)