So I am in a pickle and could use some advice on which road to take. I am a returning warrior. I am not sure if I should grind out xp or level up. I am lvl 82, and have 1300 AAs. I have most of my defense AAs and some dps/aggro AAs(flurry,procs,crits). If I think about it I probably have 100 to 200 AAs that are poorly spent (killing blow and finishing blow). The question that I am looking for help with is if I should push forward in levels, I feel that I am ready to progress but I'm not sure how long to continue before I pause again for AAs. Is there a point where I should stop again or should I lvl to max and just catch up then? Any help from an experienced player would be helpful. The last time I seriously played was in OOW.
In the November Producer's letter, there was this information: My guess (which could be dead wrong) for EQ this will be level 90 with 1000 AA's (750 general one's marked as done if you haven't already done them and 250 AA's to spend) and better than Defiant gear. New alternate methods to acquire some "must haves" (familiar, access to Elite Energians, access to better mercs, etc.) will be added to the game. My guess (which could be dead wrong) is that you'd be wasting your time leveling or adding General AA's and that we can't reasonably guess how generous they'll be with gear handouts. If I was preparing for this (I'm not - I stopped playing alts when this was announced) I'd focus on Archetype and Class AA's and do what I could to acquire pp. I expect PLing services to be spammed in every channel and bazaar prices for gear that's better than or higher level than that provided /cough "Heroic" characters to be outrageously priced in the bazaar. I'd probably invest in Invis potions and farm found on the ground Collections for my newly higher level character needing AA's and for sale to other Heroic characters. If you assume Heroic Characters won't happen for a year plus then I'd level to open up Archetype and Class AA's which IMO aren't likely to be granted.
If you have most of your tank aa's you could consider pushing to level 85 which is the next gear bump which would allow allow you to wear voa tier 1 gear. Once you hit 85 You will to grind out more aa, i.e. remax defensive, tack on a few offensives, etc. before pushing to 90. As a tank class you will be both gear and aa dependent in order to do your job effectively. Hope that helps some.
If you are blazing through levels and AA I'd follow the advice given directly above - if you out race Heroic Characters then you will not have wasted any time leveling rather than AAing. If you aren't blazing through levels and AA, suspect Heroic Characters will be available sooner rather than later, and that you'll take advantage of that program then experience spent on leveling is experience not spent on AA's some of which might not be narrowly focused on tanking but still quite useful. I'd linger and get more AA's than just the bare minimum. (I've always looked for AA sweet spots where AA's come easily and do my best to nearly Max AA's when I reach one - skipping only useless AA's). Get all useful AA's (except General one's not exceptionally useful like Run5), then level until a new block of AA's becomes available, rinse/repeat. I wouldn't make major investments in level 90 or below gear until you know which way the wind blows. I don't think players should freeze just because Heroic Characters will be available (despite the fact that I'll not be playing my alts as a direct result of the program). I don't think they should proceed as if nothing will change either. The change will be profound and you want to be on the made out like a bandit side of it rather than the made effort when others did not and all for nothing side of it. My suggestions are intended to get you maximum benefit/take minimum loss when Heroic Characters happen.
the producers letter no help probly wont be in game till 2014. Tanks need gear and that includes Augs- The AA's below 4K come faster now. WARRIOR - http://www.thesteelwarrior.org Check what Survivability and DPS and other AA your missing before you level to high. http://eqaasearch.org/aainfo.asp?search_fd12=Warrior
What I liked doing was putting AA exp on 50% once I dinged and then I maxed the passive defensives and agro AAs for that level. Once I had them I put it back on real exp until the next level. I found that worked out fairly well for me. I usually had all the AAs maxed by the time I was 30% into the level and could focus on real exp, knowing I had what I needed in terms of AAs. You may encounter some people that maintain the old adage of "Levels > AA" and will try to convince you to hold off on AAs until you are max level. Don't do that, for the love of all that is holy, don't do that.
For a tank you will have to have all those defensive, and agro AAs. Levels can help you get into higher quality gear faster, but if you can't survive the beating you will take trying to exp it will not help. IMO AA with at least the Defensives, Agro AAs(Including all the swing agro AAs they boost DPS as well) and then level til the next block of AAs opens up.
if you have the plat, I would suggest getting gear in the bazaar, then head to the hot zones for your level, 80-hills of shade, 85- old bloodfields. Go for AA;s first til you have about 1500 and use them to max CA, CS and armor of wisdom, then shoot for level 90-92 as fast as possible. once there split exp between AA's and regular, continuing to max CA, CS and armor of wisdom. Go to valley of lunanyn for wraith's camp or the grounds, both are level 90 hot zones. upgrade your armor as you go, when you hit 95, check bazaar for Tier 1 ROF gear to buy. Regarding augs, there are 4-8 25AC augs that are relatively easy to get in Riftseeker's sanctum. I believe I soloed them with my merc at level 85. There are only 2 different AC augs in the zone, but they are not lore, so you can get 4 of each. Once you hit level 90, you can camp augs in HOT expansion. Many of the augs there are easy camps, not a lot of mobs. At worst , you may need one additional friend for some of them. That should get you to level 95.
AA xp is arguably the absolute easiest in the early 80s with cheap powerful HOT gear. Relative to prime hunting spots per level, this is the sweet spot as you can still hunt in places like PoFire. On that note, I wouldn't grind out crappy aa. Rather than hunt for xp, hunt for augments. Many might laugh at me, but even at Lv 100 many of the augments you could solo/molo as a warrior at this level - I still wear some of them and handle the hardest group content. Ac on augments were intentionally stagnated. You get a few extra hp an some mod2s, but I'm still even sporting my trusty old TSS era augments and they work fine. I pick up new ones as they fall in my lap but I haven't gone out of my way to replace things like forged frost steel ingot, crest of scarlet legions, ilsailin enforcer medal, etc. Hunt them now while you still get xp from the camps. The early game can be lonely though - nobody to play with. Keep your defensive aa's capped per tier at least as well as the few powerful tools available.
