Another Returning Player Asking for Advice

2.5 doesn't have any benefit over 2.0 for rangers. We only use it for the click.

Does the 2.5 change the appearance at all of the weapon?

I've read conflicting posts about the 2.0 epics. I have read that the 1.5 can be skipped, but I have also read that the 1.5 is required to turn into the 2.0? Not quite sure.

Also, I had a new general question. In regards to AA's, is it generally recommended to focus on leveling your actual Character level more-so than your AA's? I am currently level 69, with only 300 AA's or so. When I've done my short play sessions this past week, I get about 12 AA's in one hour of playing (with 30mins of Lesson of the Devoted). I was reading in some other threads regarding the topic of catching up, and I see a lot of people saying something like, "At lvl 80-90, you can easily get hundreds of AA's in a few weeks". So I wasn't sure if it is because at a higher character level, you have better equipment and spells at your disposal, so therefore getting AA's is easier/more efficient?

I know there isn't a "set way to play" this game. I am simply trying to get the most out of the time I do have to play, as it isn't as much as I would like.

Getting to 80-85 can be good for AA getting if.... you have regular access to groups doing HoT group missions. Those things are worth a ridiculous amount of AAs at low AA counts, get like 20 some AAs a mission under 2k AAs I think, and a few of the missions can be done in 20-30 mins.

Otherwise, I'd recommend getting to the 70-75 range, and chain doing missions at the farm in DSH or something relaxing like that. Much better to get AAs when you are lower and be better equipped, more skilled at using them than to wait until a lot later.

You will need to get your 1.5 to get your 2.0, this is correct.

The 1.0 can be skipped if you do the 1.5 prequest. The 1.5 can't be skipped. The appearance doesn't change from 1.5 to 2.5.

Kurayami/Gladare,

Thank you for clarifying about what is needed for the next Epics.

At my level (69), should I be using a Cleric merc or a Tank Merc? I decided to wander over to Sunderock Springs to do the Task that I had picked up, which was fairly easy. But if I get an add, I get rocked. This could be more due to the fact that the Basilisks are yellow to me still.

Once I get another level or two, I will head over to Dragonscale Hills (had to google that acronym haha). Is the farm a location in the zone with npcs?

Merc choice at that level depends on your class, AAs, and where you are fighting. If you are on yellows, then the tank merc will need healing, and possibly a lot of it. If you have low AAs and are a tank or melee class, you'll probably need more healing than a tank merc . On the other hand, the right class will still be able to kill without any merc at all (and if you can do that, it gives you more experience).

For fastest experience, for most classes I prefer dark or light blues (necro is the obvious exception).

The farm in Dragonscale Hills is near the entrance from Steamfont: zone in, turn sharp right, and you hit a tent of gnomes that give the quests, and then the farm is a short distance from there into the middle of the zone. If the farm is camped and the group doesn't have any slots, take the doombugs kill quest, and find the dragon skeleton (not far from the farm, but hidden around a corner so most farm camps ignore it).

Thank you Borek.

I am a Ranger (melee, have not dabbled in Headshot) with only about 300 AAs, which I am sure makes me low.

I will check out Dragonscale Hills, but that is probably too high for me still. Even Sunderock is primarily yellows right now, so maybe I should leave this area too for a dark blue area.

You could join a group at the farm, or take the doombugs kill quest to the dragon skeleton. Alternately, I would expect to find the fastest experience without a merc (if you have reasonable CA/CS AAs) in the Hole, or in PoP zones like BoT, Plane of Fire and Crypt of Decay, or Wall of Slaughter. Droga at the drop down is another good spot, and the back wall of Plane of Hate can be good.

Glad to have you back

I love all the suggestions Borek, thank you.
When you say "reasonable CA/CS AAs", do you mean all the ranks up to my current level? To be honest, I cannot even fathom soloing light blues without my Cleric merc. Even when I re-activated and found myself in Crypt of Decay, single pulled light blues seemed they'd still wipe the floor with me without my merc. I have a few ranks of CA/CS, but definitely not maxed to my current level. Does having a Merc really sap that much experience?

Thank you!

I just read in another thread that mercs can be "upgraded"? How does one go about doing this?

I know in PoK, I have seen the Merc Quest NPCs, but when I hail them nothing happens. I think right now I am using Journeyman, not sure on the Tier though (I think 1 or 2). It's the same merc I have been using since 4 years ago, I think it was around the time they were first introduced.

I read in the differences between the subscriptions, that there is an Apprentice rank now and other types, as before I have only seen Tank/Cleric. Is Apprentice better than Journeyman, and how many ranks does it go up to?

Apprentice is lower geared / AA'd merc (layed back group level) versus Journeyman (top-end group level). Both types have 5 Tiers. Higher Tier gives more confidence and better equipment / stats. As Bronze you can only go to Tier 3 Apprentice as the highest. Silver you can get upto Tier 5 Apprentice. Gold gets upto Tier 1 Journeyman. These are all without doing any progression. With full progression, Gold gets upto Tier 5 Journeyman, while Silver gets upto Tier 1 Journeyman, and I'm unsure about Bronze.

See http://eq.zam.com/wiki/EQ:Mercenaries for basic coverage. http://everquest.allakhazam.com/forum.html?forum=1&mid=1312609276177414664 offers some good info also.

EDIT: Speaking of CA / CS, you might want look at http://eq.zam.com/wiki/EQ:Combat_Agility and http://eq.zam.com/wiki/EQ:Combat_Stability and see the amount of benefit per rank for each. Basically the first 8-10 ranks are really big improvements per rank.

EDIT 2: I forgot to link to the progression stuff. Quick way to T5 merc: http://articles.eqresource.com/mercoverview.php - Alla guide for all of SoD: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/wiki/eq:progression_through_seeds_of_destruction - Almar's guide to mercs (not really progression): http://almarsguides.com/eq/general/mercenaries.cfm - Raspar's guides: http://home.comcast.net/~mathadon/Guides/index.html

Yther Ore.

Mercs take the same amount of exp as a player. So, if your kill rate is the same, which will be true if you use a healer merc on the same mobs, your merc will eat approx 40% of all exp. Obviously you could use the merc to take on higher mobs, or a tank or dps merc to kill the same mobs faster, but you should be aware of how much you need to compensate for.

Journeyman tier 1 is more powerful than Apprentice tier 5. Until you are 75 and have completed the SoD Warrens progression, J1 is the highest you can get. To upgrade, you have to dismiss the old merc and pay again to hire the new one.

There are two significant bumps in the CA/CS progression - rank 8, and rank 13. If you ever get hit, then I would work up to at least rank 8, or rank 13 at higher levels. If you are attempting to tank, push forward to max CA/CS as you level.

My priority for AAs as a soloer, however, are always to get dps AAs first, then defensive - simply because I can get AAs faster the more dps I can manage, and killing quick means less damage taken. I mix in utility AAs to keep me interested - and I don't get the old stats AAs until I am at max AAs otherwise, and max level. Sometimes you may need to catch up on defensive AAs just to be able to fight mobs that give reasonable experience.

Thank you Yther for the links, and thank you Borek for elaborating. I only Melee right now, and primarily solo since it has been difficult to find a group during the times I have been on. I checked, and I had CA/CS @ rank 8, and had some room to raise it a rank or two. It may be a placebo effect, but I feel that it has made a difference.

Gladare (and possibly anyone familiar with Headshotting),

I have been lurking on EQOutrider for the past day or so, and had a question regarding Headshotting.

In this link: http://www.eqoutrider.net/eqforums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4558&start=15 at the top of the page, it states that if I wanted to Headshot in Crypt of Decay , I need Rank 7 of Headshot. However, this post is from 2009.

In this link: http://www.eqoutrider.net/eqforums/viewtopic.php?f=20&t=4558&start=120 around the middle of the page, there is a chart stating that the Headshot mob levels were changed, effectively lowering the mob level of each rank by 2 levels. This post was made in 2011.

So basically, my question is, what rank do I need to Headshot in Crypt of Decay? Do I now need rank 8 because according to the chart in the second link, rank 8 is equivalent to the old rank 7? The reason why I chose this place, is because I am familiar with the zone and figured it'd be a nice place to practice, considering all the times I've been there in the past 2 weeks, it's been empty, besides me.

You're welcome.

http://eq.zam.com/wiki/EQ:Headshot is current on what level mobs each rank will work on. At rank 8 you can headshot upto level 60 which covers most mobs in Crypt of Decay (See http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/...g=UP&factions=0&image=1&order=level&ascdesc=d ). Rank 9, should cover all non-named mobs as there are a few in the 61-62 range. At rank 9, you start with easier suits of armor in Halls of Honor also, and rank 10, you can do most soldier mobs there.

Yther Ore.

Headshot now starts at level 46. Just looked up the bubonians on allakhazam and they range 60-62 except for a named which is 63. You need headshot 9 to headshot level 62 mobs.

Edit: Yther beat me lol.

Hmmm... Shaktah has 2 ranks in CA and 1 in CS. I'll work on that more.

For each one of the themes, I do all the quests, I molo, and then I can get the next rank merc ?

Each theme is tied to a specific merc, but you don't have to do them in order. Oceangreen is T2, Bloody Kith is T3, Field of Bone is T4, Rathe is T5. Most people just do the Rathe theme to get the T5 merc and don't bother with the rest. If you want to work your way up bc of difficulty or you just want to see more content, start with Oceangreen.

http://home.comcast.net/~mathadon/Guides/SoD/OG_Progression.html
Do the quests marked progression for each theme.

Shaktah isn't high enough level yet. Now that he has some AAs, he can handle Greig's, but I haven't tried any of the nameds there.

Since I re-activated a few weeks ago, I found a bag filled with a complete set of very nice armor in my bank. After some detective work, I realized it was a set of Cultural Armor that I had bought off of someone right around the time I quit, and had it waiting for me to use at lvl 75.

I've been taking my time leveling and earning additional AAs these past weeks, employing all the new tidbits of knowledge I have learned from everyone who here that has been nice enough to take the time to post their thoughts. As motivation, I have been earnestly working towards level 75 so I can wear this new set of armor, and also equip a new set of weapons I also have waiting at level 75 (my very first Fabled Weapon .

Anyways, I just realized last night while looking at the Cultural Armor, that despite all pieces of superior AC/HP/MP/Stats/Resists than my current Elegant Defiant Gear, none of them have any focus effects or those additional stats on the side (Ex: Dmg Shield, Hp Regen, Attack, etc). The latter does not bother me as much, but the former (the focus effects) seems like they'd be a devastating loss. Defiant gear was ver relevant 4 years ago when I had re-activated last, and I did not understand why I would spend a significant portion of my platinum on armor that may actually be inferior to Defiant. So I asked in General Chat, and someone explained to me that there are Augmentations that add focus effects, called "Last Blood" or something. I tried looking on the Bazaar, and found nothing.

Do any of you more experienced players know of a solution to this? A lot of people in General chat told me to simply continue using my Elegant Defiant armor until level 80, where I will find significant upgrades that will make my Cultural Armor obsolete anyways. But because I spent a heft chunk of money on this set, and has been my carrot on a stick so to speak, I would like to be able to make it work, even if it isn't a complete upgrade over my current armor (or not even an upgrade at all, but maybe a horizontal replacement).