What is the best leveling path 85-100

Discussion in 'The Veterans' Lounge' started by uberkingkong, Feb 28, 2014.

  1. uberkingkong Augur

    Hello everyone,

    I've seen a lot of leveling paths for 1-85, well too many to count. However recent expansions such as HoT and beyond have made leveling and grinding AAs easier than ever. Yet I dont see any guides for helping returning players since Underfoot era and back to get back into the game. Now I've tried a little bit of HoT, so I know theres a lot of quests that go unnoticed and when people make there leveling guides they are not in the leveling guides. HoT and beyond was a new change to EQ where questing was more rewarding for xp than just killing mobs all day. For example, quests in HoT Al'Kabor's nightmare, where you just gather stuff and turn it in and instantly gain a good chunk of AA worth of xp. Also easy group missions that give you huge chunks of AA like Welcome to my Nightmare, where if you have a group its easily done for nice chunk of AA plus loot. Everquest really becomes Everquest strarting with the HoT expansion where when you do a quest you dont gain some xp, you gain a very nice chunk of xp, where a few quests could level you.

    So my main question is, what are the best quests to do from 85-100 to quickly level up and grind AAs? Solo and Group quests please and thank you.
  2. guado Augur

    Partisan of Shard's Landing (once you are level 90 ish) will yield 26% of a full level at level 100. Pretty easy quest line for all of the xp it gives. You are also taught the Alaran language with this questline.

    So really, research based on /ach which partisan quests are easiest in House of Thule, Veil of Alaris, and Rain of Fear for the best path from 85-100, if you choose to Quest for xp like you mentioned in your first post :)
    Ishtass likes this.
  3. Ammeren Augur

    There are many different routes you can go, depending on what zones you like. If I could, I'd like to get a little bit more information.

    First off, what class are you? Are you decently geared or not so much? ( compared to others at your level/class)
    Will you be boxing? If so, what classes are you boxing?
  4. uberkingkong Augur

    Do partisan tasks is what I been hearing a lot. Have they been recently added or what are they? I have two box options and they are lvl 85 with 50-500AA. Paladin or wizard, bard, druid or shaman. If I solo it will probably be with a wizard, he had raid gear but when I came back I got free gear which is better than Crystallos raid gear. Is there a list of simple tasks that yeild great experience similiar to the alkabor task I described?

    Also what about franklin teek?
  5. Vaeeldar Augur

    I've not really done quests for XP since the HOT days. What partisans are giving that much regular XP? I have an alt druid I've been trying to level up to 100 from 90 and it's not exactly the quickest thing in the world.
  6. Feradach Augur

    Mercenary and partisan tasks in Shard's Landing are great XP, but you probably can't box those until you're closer to 95. At 85, I'd recommend going with the pally/shaman box and go to Argath and doing everything you can find there. You'll get good xp, quite a few armor upgrades, and some good cash loot while you're at it.
  7. Ravengloome Augur

    Well the way i did it was
    Assuming a group or a box team:

    Underfoot - group mission: search for slaunk: 85 to 90
    Daisy Chained the optional Hero Mission in HOT Library: 90 to 95
    Resplendent Temple Basement: 95 to 100

    For the group missions, Just kill all the trash, /kickplayer task, go have a quick smoke/piss whatever, grab next mission. Rinse/Repeat ad nauseum till leveled.

    For the RT basement it was me and 2 friends trying to hit 100 first on our Server, so we just ran endless loops in the basement, crawling through in a circular fashion, clearing a handful moving up, clearing a handful moving up.

    As far as partisan/questing BS, I skipped all that until I was leveled up current for the expansion and had afew AA's. Although I can see the wisdom in saying its a decent way to level, I've never been much for grinding quests ( I usually run with a full group of players or boxes with no mercs, so YMMV)
  8. Vaeeldar Augur


    I could box the missions just trying to figure out which is the fastest path for me. Currently I box t4 zones in ROF (have not bought COTF since my return). I run a 5 box team of sk, shaman, necro, mage, bard/ench (usually bard but ench is getting up there now in aa). What I've noticed in recent expansion is the shaman isn't needed. I don't need slow and I'd be better off with a better DPS class. I should probably level a wizard but I had a druid and have been leveling him to replace. I just don't remember it taking this long to hit 100 the first time but then again I was running potions on top of lessons the whole time so that could be it. The other piece is I did 90-94 in pretty much 2 days with a couple potions/lesso nruns as I had a fair amount of vitality. not so much anymore and it's slowing up a lot.

    May hit up a few partisans or just stick with ROF t4. It's not that slow about 3 mobs per 1% - just want to replace the shaman asap at this point.
  9. Ravengloome Augur


    ^ Shamans aren't "uneeded" but if you arent main healing with them (which is what the class is) they are unnecessary especially with a chanter/bard. Try running a DPS merc instead of a healer the shaman will become useful. If your already using the shaman as your MH, and not using a merc, then pull more mobs.

    *** Also Shaman does basically nothing for necros/mages in the grand scheme of things (outside of alittle boost from panther/epic) so you probably would be better off with a druid if your using a caster based box team. Although if your not capable of using a healer class to heal, then don't box any kind of a healer its a waste.
  10. Vaeeldar Augur


    I use the shaman to main heal and run a dps merc. Quite frankly it's not bad but I just have a feeling I'll get more going straight dps. To the point you made though - the shaman just doesn't as much to my caster heavy dps team. He's not horrible it's just I think I'll have a stronger team with either a druid or truthfully probably a wiz in that box and just let my cleric merc main heal.

    I'm still playing with things it just seems the shaman has lost a lot last few expansions especially since I run a bard/ench on the final box piece.
  11. Ravengloome Augur

    Shamans are in a far far better spot healing wise then Druids.

    In a group pulling singles/doubles (not really pushing the limit) they are the absolute best healer ATM. They have gained tremendous ground from where they were in Say Secrets of Faydwer/Seeds/Underfoot. *** Between Surge (COTF spell...but i am guessing you can buy it in the baz), Recourse, Bias, Group HOT you almost never have to target the tank > allowing you to weave in Swifts/nukes/panther seamlessly.

    In a group pushing the limits of what they can do clerics still hold the major advantage (IE: Fast kill groups pulling huge clumps/clusters of mobs at once)

    Druids however are awesome for caster DPS box teams (Although better for mages/wizards then necros, they still add a decent amount to Necros through Skin to Vines + Aura).
    *** Wall of Wind + Vinelash is great if you dont have any CC
    *** Aura is kind meh, since you can use Chronomage pots, but is great if you dont wanna click those pots every 51 minutes on 3 or 4 toons
    *** Better quick heals then shaman so they can hold up better in multipull groups, but nowhere near a cleric with a renewal/renewal/intervention/intervention/remedy multibind.
    *** They do decent Nuke based DPS (Which is much better then DOTS, since the pace of the game has increased to the point to make doting irrelevant in the group game)
  12. uberkingkong Augur

    I've got question, why is one guy referring me to go to Argath at 85? Isnt that a level 90-95 zone? Is there any easy stuff to do there at 85 with low AAs? Why skip HoT expansion? Also I could not find any search for slaunk group mission, all I could find is a mob that's level 98 and I'm pretty sure a box team of 85s wont be able to handle him.

    Would really appreciate a dummy proof efficient way to get from 85 to 100. Like who to talk to, what quests to do, what quests to chain over and over again, when its time to move onto a different zone.

    Doesn't really have to be to 100, could just be to level 95 because at 95 I figure that's when people will accept you into their groups.

    Thank you
  13. Marshall Maathers Augur

    HoT kill quests? Hail the guy at the zone in and grab all the kill quests. Find a camp that is open and rinse and repeat until you are bored out of your mind and want another option?
  14. Reprisal Augur

  15. Wayylon Augur

    I did one of those HoT kill quests at lvl 87 yesterday, got less than 1%.
  16. Saphfyre Elder

    With my wizard/bard duo, at level 86 I would grab the level 80, 85, and alternate hot zone quests (the level 90 is too hard at that level). Those 3 hot zone quests would net me 20% of a level every day.

    Once I dinged 89 with my wizard/bard, I dropped the 80 and picked up the 90 hot zone quest. The level 85, 90, and alternate is currently netting me 25% of a level.

    I just log in everyday long enough to finish those quests. I should hit 90 by the weekend. I plan to just keep doing the hot zone quests until they do not give enough xp to be worth the trouble. Also going to stop at 90 and grind AAs for a bit.
  17. Bryan Augur

    My vote at 86+ would be 85/90/alt dailies then heroic adventures. Personally I like Gribble2 in Dead Hills. Start stockpiling alt currency and buying level 100 gear.
    CrazyLarth likes this.
  18. CrazyLarth Augur

    Hot zone dailies
    best EXP still in game the dailies - kill 5 mobs can level or AA on this.
    I still get AA even after the 4K bonus is gone and level 100.


    i was doing the kill quests at the same time but I saw it as extra exp if over the next few days the quest was close to being done then i would stay and kill to get a new one.

    i did not have heroic adventures at the time. So I dont know about them per say?
    here is the npcs i used if your interested.
    https://forums.station.sony.com/eq/...xp-question-specifically.201148/#post-2966297
  19. Wayylon Augur

    I've been able to do a few HA's from 86-87. They scale to level so are perfect for leveling up, the only snag is finding people under 100 that have Cotf if you want to group within your level range.
  20. Warmag New Member

    Even if you surpassed level 85 the normal way I would upgrade your main to heroic for the AA's. Then I would recommend getting your AA's up in combat agility & stability to the level of the toughest mob in the zone(s) you'll be hunting in. So for The Gardens, that's about level 90 (so on the AA it'll say what level's required for the next combat agility or stability - max it out to what a level 90 character can buy in those for The Gardens zone for example). With XP potions you can then go up to level 95 in Gardens no problem. Then step it up to the next hotzone, Valley of Lunanyn (90-95) and do the same thing - combat agility and stability up to what a level 95 can buy as you go along. Get a J5 healer and tank in your group if you don't have a cleric or warrior player. I have yet to test Valley of Lunanyn on this though but I'm assuming the same formula that worked to get my shaman to (very nearly now) 95 would work there as well to get to 100. I'm amazed at what combat agility & combat stability have done for me in The Gardens (originally if I got aggro I'd drop dead in 2 seconds flat - now the mobs barely harm me if I fail to land a slow and get aggro).

    Computer programming's my job in real life and as a programmer I can tell when I see an obvious formula in action - combat agility and stability seem to be a requirement to safely level up to 100. Do yourself a favor and sink all your AA's into these as soon as you can, even if you're not a melee class. You won't regret it.

    Edited:
    Basically to clarify, and some may correct me on this but I've found that hunting things up to 5 levels lower than you (in mass) is faster leveling than dealing with reds and the risk of dying.That's why I've opted on killing blues and light blues (as a shaman). It's just easier to land my slows on stuff like this if I'm out soloing or grouping.

    On my server (Bert-Saryn) you'll see level 90's and 100's in The Grounds. Do not be afraid to ask to join a high level group there. We're grinding aa's or plat farming and leveling up our friends. There's always room for 80+ toons. All you need to do is ooc (/ooc) that you're looking for group. Do be sure to get those combat agility & stability AA's up to par as you level normally though as it will help.

    And on Valley of Lunanyn, be careful as there's a faction hit for killing farmers and such that may be a problem on quests later on. It's a hotzone, so what can you do? Still, you can always fix the faction hit by killing other mobs later on.