Do you have to be a Gold player to earn Heroic AAs even if you complete the requirements? What happens if you complete the requirements but aren't a subscriber?
If you have not spent all your AA to your cap then there is no reason you cannot earn them. That is what will hold you up though since you can only have 250 as a free and 1000 as a silver After all if ones goes paid for a month and does Auto grant then go back to F2P/Silver then they can keep all the AA they got granted and any others they earn during that paid time Most of the Heroic AA are based on expansion completion and except for the last couple expansions F2P can finish the others. This is a nice list of requirements for those AA https://everquest.fanra.info/wiki/Hero's_Special_AAs
Presumably the OP is referring to the achievement rewards "Hero's Resolution" / "Hero's Fortitude" / "Hero's Vitality"? I think as they are granted/awarded via achievements and these are not purchased using AA points AFAIK F2P can obtain them, at least from the expansions available to F2P (currently everything up to & including TBL).
Yes, the hero aas (most folks call them hero, not heroic) are granted outside of the aa caps for ftp/silver toons. I've done it on both types.
Thanks, I went back and looked at the AA window and, sure enough, they say "Hero's" not "Heroic". So just to be absolutely sure before I let some of my subs expire but head off to do content that will result in Hero's Vitality, etc. ... When I'm f2p and finish the content to earn a Hero point, that will still be granted to me even if my already granted AAs are way beyond the cap?
Yes. Completely outside the normal aa system. It's just they display it in the aa tabs. Same thing for doing the DoN x/5 stuff or the Trials of Mata Mura x/6. All those can be earned regardless of account status and/or aa cap. And all the item clicky reward lines.
Big thanks! That makes a huge difference on what I choose what to do next in my personal progression.
Yeah the Hero's X are "0" cost AA, they don't go toward assigned or the AA cap, and everything else said above. You can also do the permanent Item X focus as a free account and it also doesn't count against assigned or check the cap limit.