Background: I've had my Paladin for since 99' with a 10 year break in my EQ playing. When I came back in March, I started leveling and then stopping every few levels to catch up on AA's. The last stop was at 91 and maxed out defensives, but didn't do all the dps AA''s. My AA count was around 3k at that point. I pushed on to 95 and just arrived with about 3,200 AA's. I'm now seeing how dreadfully slow AA's are at 95 compared to 91. I think I'll be lucky to get 5-7 AA's an hour. My normal group is a pretty good dps group, so my personal dps isn't a huge factor in the kill rate. I'd like to get up to around 6K AA'a but that might take 4-5 months at the current rate! Should I delevel and get AA's and then move back up? Yesterday, I saw a zerker tank and destroy the entire HoT courtyard in one pull. Is that something a Paladin could do, or is that not in our bag of tricks? It's hard to not have class envy when I see SK's and others get such fast exp at 95 that I could only dream of. Sorry for the pity party. I love my Paladin, but wonder if I'm doing something wrong.
I can tell you from xp, if you have class envy you'll never be happy. Each class has their own neat things they can do that make others want to be them. The sk swarming 50+ mobs, the berzerker creaming mobs that are light blue, the ranger headshotting, the rogue assassinating, the enchanter charming and killing light blues in a few seconds, the quad kiter, the soloer etc. Would I delevel? No. I'd find a new spot, or a good aa quest area and just go to town. Check out the exp in Fear itself, or city of bronze etc. Also consider learning to swarm kite. I understand paladins can do this as well, not just sks. It's a different tactic than the sk, who uses epic and mc. I understand at one point Shiftie (spelling?) had a video of how to swarm as a paladin.
I can only write generalities since I play a Warrior main and haven't played my Paladin alt in a year or two. 1. When you hit 91 and 3000AA's you had been benefiting from AA acceleration for most of your AA's. More normal advancement whatever it might be is going to seem slower because it is slower. 2. Paladins (and some other classes) have sweet spots where their abilities and the content line up great. When that happens take advantage of it. When it's not happening deal with things as they are. 3. Forget the class envy stuff - and I'll tell you exactly why. You are playing the second best (and sometimes the first) tank in group content. And.... a. You don't need 20 AA's per hour. You don't need 6000AA. At 3200AA you've got most of the good stuff. If you don't, you didn't choose wisely. And sir, the good stuff (in the right content) is awesome. Versus the rest of the content, those abilities are solid. b. You are a tank. Like you said - your personal DPS isn't a big factor in the kill rate. It never will be. It'll be best vs. lighter hitting light blue/barely blue undead mobs that beat themselves to death on damage shields and ripostes while trying in vain to get past your shield and a plethora of active and passive combat self-healing. IF you want to pwn content rather that pwn loot that you need then that's the kind of content for you to look for. By all means check out the Paladin forum and read some of the posts by veteran Pallies (including Shiftie who's a pretty skilled vs. named mobs moloer). But seriously don't expect a tank that also casts clerical spells to be a dps machine.
AA at 95 isnt bad, but I wouldnt go to 96 if you dont raid on him untill you max out aa. make a box cleric account to 89(free accnt works just fine) and cast shining armor on yourself, then swarm in BMK open / instance 4 . I do it without shining armor but i have 9k aa / t3 voa raid geared. Think raid buffed i top out at 35 aa in a lesson burn. I think hills of shade is green(was boss at 90? but stuff started going too green at 93/94) . Feerott is terrible BMK should be where its at.
Thanks for the responses and Ideas. I also really appreciate the reality check on class envy, I needed to hear that. You guys are absolutely right. Each class has it's purpose and moment to shine. Thanks.
Like others have said, try swarming for the fastest AA gain. That said, it's boring as all get out, a good group is a lot more fun, and close enough in my book. Remember, the key to getting a high AA count is simply to make sure and log in every day and burn a lesson. Even if it's just the half hour it takes to lesson.
If you are considering de leveling because it takes too long to get AAs at 95 don't forget to factor in the amount of time that you would have to spend to gain those levels back. It doesn't seem worth it to me.
Actually if he has exp recovery vet aa he can delevel to 90/91, exp for 6? days and then expid recovery his exp back to 95 I am pretty sure.
Three hour rez timer for experience (while online) so that's not an option unless exp recovery circumnavigates that which I doubt.
Korsath, simply give it your best shot. The ONLY time to consider a deleveling option is when max level ( like with this stupid shard stuff). I can't be any more blunt than that. Keep AAing, and having fun. Oh, and needle the haters, it's fun
The bug where expediant recovery rezzes all corpses within 6 days no longer works. Its only 3 hours now. As well, everyone is forgetting how AAs work when deleveled. If you do not qualify for the highest lvl of an AA you have, you loose all access to that entire line. Thus if you have max CS for lvl 91, and delevel to 90, you gain no benefits from the entire combat stability line until you reach 91 again.
Expediant still works but usualy before expansion launch they destroy all corpses so you cant stack then for exp About AAs, AAs are Not level based the rate you earn them is only bsed on how many you have the more you have the slower the exp, it is a curve which once you hit about 4K they are at their slowest but its still not all that bad.
