I'm a returning player, played from OoW to Underfoot and came back just before TBM came out, and I'm at the point where I may have to make a decision on what the best route for my character is. Currently playing a 101 zerker. When I got to level 100, it was suggested that I stay there and put everything into AAs, because it was best to farm AAs from The Grounds before they turn into green cons. This kinda got me to thinking that maybe it is a better route to play in the long run. My initial plan was to get to 105, 10% to AA xp as I go along, and once I get some yellow into 105, switch to 100% AAs. I've only been in TDS zones a couple of times, and really haven't gone far into the previous expansions, because I was playing the catch-up game. Playing in groups, I don't really care where I go, I find it fun to play, but when a group isn't to be found, where does one go to molo around from 101-105. Yeah, it was easy to kill the light blue mobs in Grounds, and the light blue mobs in the Valley are doable (single pulls) now. Are TDS mobs going to be similar when I hit 105, or are they really going to be too tough for a zerker to molo. When Underfoot came out, the mobs there was a big jump in strength, and I was told TDS mobs were the same thing. Just wondering what to expect going forward, and what the best route may be.
Personally, I disagree with the advice you were given. Grounds, even when it's current, is not better AA xp than HAs at 105. I'd say go 100% level xp until 105. Use autogrant and then flip to 100% AA once you're at max level. At max level it's much easier to find groups than when you're in the 90s so blow through those lower levels asap unless you have a very specific reason to stay there.
I received similar advise. I stayed at level 97 until I had completed all partisan and Mercenary quests throughout the entire HoT expansion. (Some of those were still quite tough at level 97). I had been out of the game since PoP so I think learning how to accomplish those tasks probably made me a better player. However you can still get much more experience much faster doing three Gribble HA's in DH and popping a lesson than you can get in the same amount of time doing your Teak Daily. And you get more experience doing Teak Daily quests than you do farming Grounds. Unless you only want to play solo I would really recommend you do HA's if experience is what you are after. You can pause at 100 as Gribble doesn't scale quite right between 100 and 101 but it isn't that important especially if you have the Auto granted AA's through level 95. Just my two coppers, play the content that you enjoy most.
The advice you were given is terrible, I'm sorry to say. As others have pointed out, completing missions is far better XP than grinding mindlessly in The Grounds. I'll take it a step further, though. Better than grinding HA's, completing expansion group content is even BETTER, and you get fantastic rewards along the way (such as augs, bags, and other huge AA grants). Do the RoF, CotF, TDS and TBM group content. Complete the achievements. You'll get AA at an incredible rate... and it'll be far, far better than simply grinding the same handful of HA's repeatedly.
Okay, that's what I originally thought, but it did have me wondering. I'm currently doing DH HAs, and throwing in the 90 dailies from Teek, which is 6% at lvl 101 with the Lesson still running after the DH HAs are over. If I do want to get out there and molo around for a while, at lvl 105, what is realistically doable in content? Currently geared in TDS T1 group gear. Is it feasible to molo a bit in TDS as a zerker, or is content from Shard's & such going to be the place to roam around? I did start doing the progression tasks there, working on the ones in EWastes now.
RoF should be easy enough for you. Look to your server community to find some like-minded folks to plow through the content more quickly (and easily) if you like. If you're on Povar (I don't see that you said your server anywhere), do a "/who all echoes". Some of our members will be happy to work through this stuff with you =).
DOH! I'm on Vox. When I came back, I figured it was the place to go where it was listed as the recommended server, kinda like Stromm was when I first started playing EQ.
Here is Darkark's #1 EverQuests Advices yet again Don't just stick to Gribbles. Too many people just want to do Gribbles because they're so easy, but it's a double edged sword: Since they're so easy it gives you a totally unrealistic expectation for the rest of the game. If Gribbles are the only thing going when you're looking for something to do, yeah sure, go for it, but otherwise ... Do the Daily HAs (they're the level 95+ equivalent of Teek Dailys). You will learn to deal with different gameplay situations and problems as you work through them all. Do your CotF / TDS / TBM progression. Rewards are abound in completing these all the way through, but they also unlock additional content for you. Get your TBM mirror completed ASAP, it's super easy and you will have access to every zone in the expac then. The Daily HAs count towards your CotF progression. As others mentioned, levels are massively more important than AAs. Some AAs are game changing for you, don't get me wrong, but they will come free of charge as you're playing the game anyway, which will be much easier to do at max level.
also do some research on collections, some of them grant AA on completion and depend on collecting random trinkets from various places (not always mob loot)
Funny enough, I was going to post a question on something related to this tonight, so this is a perfect segue: Regardless of whether it's smart or not, I dinged 100 recently, with plans to not level to 101 til I got all relevant AAs done (skipping Planar DEX as a Druid, for example). I was already max AAs for level 99, so it's not as bad as it sounds. Anyway.... I haven't even finished Shard's Landing yet (1st zone I'm doing progression in), and I've made almost 30% of a level in regular XP, with XP set to 100% towards AA. There have been a LOT of quests in Shard's Landing that only have an option for regular XP, and not AA. Is this normal for progression? (I've only done progression quests in the early HoT zones before (Feerrott, Grounds, etc), so not sure if other zones were like this). I was hoping to do RoF progression before hitting 101, when the XP gets halved, but at this rate, I'll ding way before that happens. Tat
As I recall, some of the tier 1 missions are this way, Tatanka ... but, I don't honestly remember. I know that the later stuff is all AA.
Honestly, RoF progression is a bit of a waste now. You'll max out the stats on an aug, but meh, there's three expacs worth of augs ahead of you (TBM is an aug piñata), and anniversary augs coming up soon too. RoF progression, by comparison, is a lot of work for a single aug.
the frozen orb of the fabled king is still very relevant for a type 7/8. it ranks #11 for H Str* with HP and AC #12 if you ignore AC in a 5 way tie and have Hsta add to HPs. *i'm assuming that that is what zerkers go for could be wrong here but Hstr = damage right as i recall
Ferriciean, Dark Ark, Thanks for the replies. 1 - Good to know there shouldn't be too much more of this nonsense (i.e. no AA choice) 2 - Doesn't matter to me if TBM is better. Truthfully, I didn't even know there was a particular aug to go for in RoF. My main reason for sticking there now is, I know once I hit 101, the XP in RoF (and older) gets cut in half. And I want to get the RoF Progression done eventually anyway, so, might as well do it now and get a better reward. I still have over 5000 AAs to get before maxing at 105, so might as well make the most of it. Tat
So far as I know the RoF experience nerf was largely undone. Of course, more mobs will start greening / light blueing out as your get higher in levels, but that's fairly normal. Fair enough if you've got your heart set on RoF progression, tis a game after all, and certain achievements are fun to go for in their own right, whereas my advice is from a purely "best experience / skill development" point of view. Edit: Stone of the Landing / Frozen Orb of the Fabled King (check the rewards) are the augs that were talked about.
Wow, they undid the XP nerf? Surprised I missed that one! I guess I got lucky, I got a Stone of the Landing to drop off of a trash mob. Just need two more for the alts now Thanks again!
The quest rewards are still completely nerfed. It gets severely reduced for 101 and higher levels. Kill exp after 101 is closer to correct. That did get rolled back to some extent. But the partisan rewards for RoF give a very nice incentive for doing those quest lines, but the rewards get a heavy nerf over 101.
