I just returned to the game a few days ago and was wondering whether its worth my time to revisit old zones and dungeons (apart from my own nostalgia). Are the stats on new equipment that much better than the older drops? I would love to crawl through some old dungeons, but it will bother me if the equipment is totally obsolete. Also, my tank merc doesn't need to be healed or die. I rolled a Druid and if he stays this strong forever, I was thinking I should roll a character with better dps since healing him is unnecessary. Thoughts?
for the tank merc up to bout the 60's and maybe the 70's a j1 tank merc can go one on one with bout anything in those zones after that heal need heals. as for going back well with defiant armor dropping off trash mobs makes doing alot of the older world names not worth it.
eventually, you'll have to heal the tank mercenary... old zones and dungeons are worthwhile... LDoN has a slot 3 augment in everfrost on the vendor there to boost your dodge for a start... then you'll want to do a little of the progression in seeds of destruction expansion once you get to the 70s 80s... as it will open better journeyman mercenaries... some old zones have items that do not have counterparts in the new expansions... the paladin/cleric DI hammer, old snare weapons, slow proc weapons, there's even some all/all illusions out there to get... it really comes down to how you like to play and what type of zones you like to play in... or what goals you want to reach... but even if nothing else, the old zones also make a good place to get some of the hunter achievements in for the new ones they added lately...
i just started up recently myself and I found that defiant armor and weapons also drop off the old zones, so yea it would not be a bad idea to check out the old zones. the only difference I noticed, other then the hunter achievements, the new zones have a faster spawn rate so killing is faster. the old world zones have the old spawn rates, but then again since it is usually empty you have the whole zone to yourself so spawn times dont matter. the only problem though with old world zones, is what I found myself, is that when I get to the zone I want to hunt in, typically there is some level 100 running around killing everything, even in a level 30 zone!. They seem to be really rude when I ask if could xp there, i am guessing they must be ex wow players who got power leveled to 100 or something like that cause typically I find that the community is nice. Whatever so I just stick the new zones myself for now.
I would guess the reason your seeing some level 100 in zone is cause they are doing the slayer achievement. but for them to hog the whole zone is mean. I must admit I am level 100 and I go to old world zones to get my slayer achievements. But I do it at night just stand in one spot while pet kills anything that aggros me while i am in bed for the night.
Sub-80 stuff that will last: Epic 2.0 for most classes, Epic 2.5 for Necro, Anguish BP for some classes. Spec ____ +15% augs from LDoN raids, Type3 8% Dodge aug from LDoN missions Feral Guardian Channeler, Totem of the Wurines and Cursed Rage Channeler (DA clicks) An assortment of raid spells starting with GoD Chaos Runes which is still useful for Bard and Zerk Dozens of other clicks, check Magelos of your class and see what items people carry around.
Thanks for the responses. Seems like I can relive my fond memories of the old zones and still get compensated for investing time in those areas. On a side note, which priest class does the most DPS generally? Since I don't need to be on my best healing game because of the merc, I might as well pick a priest class with decent dps to get me through levels 1-60. Had a druid way back when and was contemplating shaman too.
In the 1-60 range, druid DPS is much better. This is especially true in old school zones, where the mobs don't have a lot of hit points. You'll be using nukes a lot more than DoTs.
I play a druid, and when I don't have to do alot of healing I can usually make the top ten in the parse. But I have seen a shaman in it a few times, but I couldnt say if they are better or not since I have never played one that much. I think druids though are the best soloing class of the priests. You could drop your merc and learn the fine arts of Quad kitting or charming. Back at those levels I used to quad kite alot. Now I prefer to charm kill as long as there is enough animals in the area to make it worth my while. You can still use the merc for when you get a mob that summons or that you can't snare.
I recently returned after a 6 year absence, and am doing quests and hunting old zones for nostalgic reasons. Currently in Qeynos Hills doing the newbie armor quests. Armor is useless when compared to Defiant, but reliving my early journey is as the ads say, priceless.
At higher levels with decent gear and supporting AA's a tanking cleric will out dps other priest classes. The trick is you need to be the person getting hit so if you plan on always using the merc to tank this won't work. Following is a list of spell lines that allow clerics to be battle clerics ( i listed the lowest level that the spell line is availabe, accept the mark line): Ward of Divine (lvl 50)- self only parry buff, chance to DD any mob that attacks you. Hammer of Judgement (lvl 56)- summon a self only useable hammer that has a nice DD proc. Yaulp 5 (lvl56)- increase melee stats and mana regen for short time. Mark of Righteous (lvl 65)- Reverse damage shield, target takes damage everytime you are struck Vow of Valor (lvl 71)- your weapon has a chance to proc a large DD and also a large heal over time, also it reduces your direct heals by 50%. Although you can melee at lower levels with quick heals & Hots, once you have the Vow Line your DPS and survivabilty go way up. Practice at lower levels with a cleric merc, then when you have the hang of it switch to a rogue merc, save the tank merc for when you come across a named or misison you can tank yourself. Most Crit AA's: Spell crit & damage combat stability & agility healing boon (increase chance to crit heal on heal over time) look for AC Augs and HP augs.
I just restarted a couple weeks ago on a regular server and this I can say that till about lvl 35 Its not worth going to older zones. Tutorial, Crescent Reach, Blightfire Moors will get you to 35 very quickly and very easily. From there though I found it was much faster to use older zones to level than the newer ones. I dont know why everyone thinks Mesa is good exp, because exp per mob killed vs difficulty of mobs makes old zones such as Griegs and Acrylia much better for exping. at 35 I went to Acrylia Caverns and leveled tehre till 59, locked and did 300 AA's in about 2 days time, then I leveled to 65 and went to Paw and Locked again, got 300 more AA's, leveled to 71 and locked again im now at about 1000aa's and they are rolling in. Paw is the best exp per mob (especially for how fast they die) than any newer zone out there, hotzones included. I can easily get 35% aa per kill in paw where Blackfeather Roost and the likes were only giving around 15% and the BF mobs had about twice the hitpoints. So yes, some old school zones are worth it...namely Acrylia and Paw
The best part of the old world Zones is that they do not have adjusted hp/ac to match up with defiant gear making the kills fast and easy. I was never a big fan of mesa as well, instead choosing zones like kaesora and howling stones.
I have been spending time in Greig's End since Friday. I have leveled from 55 to 61, and gotten about 60 AA's with a pet and tank merc. I did a lot of tabbing out doing research to relearn the class, participate in social media, or I could have done better I am sure. Tonight I will finish out 62, and switch back to AA's for a bit. I like the zone, mobs can hit hard but aren't too bad compared to later expansions. Mobs don't run, there aren't many healers at all if any. Leaving behind most tradeskill drops, I still manage a couple thousand pp per play session. If I took the time to set up a trader, I could probably triple that, with the number of people coming back to the game. I'll be moving on to another location by the weekend, but so far it's been a much better experience than Blackfeather.
Hey, don't leave behind all the tradeskill drops. Those Robust Shadow Essences are in some demand for alchemy, and they are a common drop off the shrouded willsappers. Collect a few stacks and sell them on the bazaar. I did the hotzone track once, and got sick of the Mesa and BFR. Now I roam the older zones I haven't seen with various alts. The old world mobs are weaker and don't tear my (necro) pet or my merc to shreds in a few minutes the way the Steppes mobs. do.
I spent a little over an hour in Acrylia caverns with my 52nd druid today. Had 4 AA going in, had 9 AA when I left. Lots of runes, a few acrylia ore. Overused mana, so I'll have to be more careful next time. Used Origin to leave and went to Kelethin. Must have been haying season in those caverns The Gremlins kept sayin, "Hay ! Hay ! Hay !"...
