I three-box the Gribbles consistently in 22-24 minutes, and I don't even play two of the boxes. I just have them along for the mercs. I'm ignorant of Ft. Mech, so not commenting on that, just thought I'd add one more data point for anyone who's curious. Also, for anyone who is going to do CotF HAs, the ones in EWK from Marla are just as easy, although slightly more time consuming. They run 35-40 mins each usually.
Have you tried XPing outside of Gribbles for any sort of comparison? I only ask because I, admittedly, am ignorant to a lot of the game pre 100 now adays. Back when I wrote all of my guides I was a noob and totally ignorant to post 100... Now it's the total opposite =P That being said I do plan to buy a 6 box of heroic characters probably this summer to perfect my boxing guides 85-100. I've never run a scaling heroic before and I feel kinda ditsy writing the guides on second hand information for those levels. I'm very interested to hear more opinions on how people find XP in and out of gribbles for those levels since it's still a ways away before I do them myself.
I haven't pushed my time trials or anything like that, but I made my way through all of TDS and have gone through the first couple zones of TBM using some combo of soloing, grouping, and three-boxing without really boxing. I don't tab well between characters, so I just don't. I focus on my main character and control the mercs. Actually, I have finished about half of my TDS time trials, but that's not really the point. I don't like Gribbles and pretty much refuse to run them unless one of them is a daily from Guard Hamarn, but I have run them so many times, I know exactly how long it takes me. I prefer to either solo in Combine Dredge or box content in TBM. Anyway, didn't mean to derail anything, just figured I'd offer a different perspective on that particular topic. Like everyone else, I appreciate your guides. When I leveled up a ranger, I referred to your headshot guide extensively. Much appreciated.
Don't worry you haven't derailed anything, more information just helps me write a more accurate guide =) And you're more than welcome for the guides. It's all the thanks I still get for them that made me decide to continue writing them again this year. It means a lot =)
Started a necromancer on march 8th, no powerlevel other than low level ds/regen/sow/ports. been following your guide, the 70-75 is a level range I did not like very much. I never gave dsh a shot but plane of fire just xp'ing in the field was overwhelming without much benefit. I ended up root/rotting in oceangreen at north side/loping plains crocs and finally resorted to using my 86 silver mage to kill in RSS pre 170% xp patch. I think the main thing is to try and keep your characters around the same level. I'm two boxing with a mage friend who doesn't want auto granted AA so my druid box is 85 and he's 83. He said the mobs conned white to him but as soon as druid zoned in they conned yellow. The gribble HA mobs are starting to terror up his RS and even his 81 air pet is succumbing to 3 pulls. We managed to kill one bloodsucker but warpriest poxxil is hitting for 4k and not really sure when we'll try killing.
Slap him. Slap him twice. Slap him thrice. Slap him four times. The reason you're dying in there is because of your friends stubbornness, he has to get autogrant AAs or start grinding AAs right now or his character is completely useless. His pet (dont use air) is going to get run over by mobs almost no matter what because he lacks the AAs to do just about anything at his level. Unless he auto grants he is only making himself and you crazy with unnecessary wipes. Tell him it's time to realize EQ isn't as grindy as it is before and there are still 5k or more AAs to get 96+. Also there's the whole Hero's line that gives you small stat boosts, health boosts and will keep you occupied for a good long time. I know why he doesn't wanna autogrant, it feels cheap and it 'may' make the game feel shorter. Less grind, less time invested to get anywhere = boring. Right? Just have him autogrant and once you complete your first full partisan/merc you'll unlock your first tier of Hero's Something-or-other. At that point he'll hopefully realize the AA grind is archaic and stop being such a stubborn fool =P
Folks walking onto the track don't want to Auto-Grant because they think it takes them to the finish line. That's defensible as an ethical position … when you don't know that autogrant is actually taking you to the starting line.
Hello I am the non auto AA Magician! I think it's funny that you guys have such a view that someone chooses not to auto aa grant. Everyone has their opinion and I am enjoying the game while AAing was not auto enabled. I have done it with every character I created since when it first came out, and I auto enabled two of my classes who I don't even play anymore because I didn't like using the auto grant. It wasn't causing the wipes, because we haven't wiped once in an HA. We did have a few deaths, and I am sure we would be killing faster if I did auto grant. Anyways about 2-3 days of casual playing and I got around 1300ish aa. Anywho just wanted to see the responses because my friend was LOLing in RL when he was reading your responses to me over skype. I too think they are funny, but sure they have merit because you guys have way more experience than me. Anywho^^ I do follow your guides Almar, thanks for making them, but I will never auto aa again! Read Way of Kings if you haven't.
Brohg said it best anything I say now can't come close to how logical his statement was. A+ But that being said, If your friend doesn't mind and you enjoy it, more power to ya. I still wanna slap the crap out of ya. =P I feel like you'll eventually reach a point where you look back and say "man old me was dumb..." - We all do it, recently I did it myself even by PLing far more chars than I needed rather than just focusing on making the ones I already had better. The strength to do better comes from learning from those mistakes!
Just wanted to give a big thanks to Almar for his time and energy he's put into his guides. They've been incredibly useful and have helped this returning player immensely.
I'm a returning player (left to play DAOC when SoL just came out) and your guides have been very helpful! So much has changed in the past 15 years I was pretty lost and had no clue where to go. Just a suggestion for your Bazaar guide for upgrades in the 80+ range would be a link to http://www.raidloot.com/Search.aspx If they set source to bazaar, they will get a good idea of what to buy for upgrades...
I haven't bought a single expansion since HoT I got a 90 monk - j5 merc (from sod prog.) And a very poorly geared 66 Shaman box (j1 tank merc) Any good places to get the shaman caught up? The monk can usually tank ok but the places i wanna go, no so much. lol. On a side note, I find auto grant a huge help especially when you just wanna grind to the end. I got plenty of time to grind aa's once I hit 90 and I am caught up with my monk. I found it also especially helpful on the monk, when I took a 4year absence and just wanted to jump back in it, since grouping is virtually dead at every level.
