Ok. Yes, I'm not a 10+ year player , so I only even really played solo on live server. I am playing a currently lvl 32 ranger. It is becoming obvious that I need to start grouping and raiding, etc. Now, along with constant imposter syndrome, how should I be building my AAs + basic strageties for being a helpful ranger when I do group. Thanks for any input and/or links. Thanks! =) Edited for spelling
I can't speak specifically to ranger as I have never raided on one, and the few times I have played one I was never any good (I suck at DPS classes), so this is more just general guidance based on my own experience. I've raided with quite a few guilds over the years, ranging everything from super-casual noob guilds, to top WW. When I started to get a bit more "serious" about raiding, generally I would do some research before committing to anything. Once settled on a class, I would look at the raid progression lists to look at what the top guilds were (for TLE that's going to be https://progress-tle.eq-raiders.com/, or back in those days EQFlames). Then, I would look at their roster and pick out a couple people with that class, preferably raider rank or higher, and look them up on EQ2U. I'd cross reference their AA builds and gear choices, and figure out the overlap, and consider this the consensus "base" build. From there, you can pick abilities at your discretion, based on your own play style. Once you have the basics specced, most things become a case of diminishing returns. There's rarely a one-size-fits-all build - more just a bunch of must haves, and then...a few points to do whatever you want, unless you really are trying to eek out that one or two percent extra. Once you get more experienced, you'll start to have separate AA builds, depending on the situation, and in some cases even for specific raid encounters. But I wouldn't concern myself with that if just starting out. Then, once you've got your build together, go out and start killing things, to get a feel for stuff like casting priorities and such. There used to be a lot of class guides out there, but over the years they've either disappeared, become obsolete, or in the case of the current forums, are geared more towards live players and therefore next to useless for TLE. In this case it's better just to strike up a convo with someone and get their advice directly. Most people are flattered when you come to them for advice - so don't be too worried about a hostile reaction. Those that do respond negatively, probably aren't the kind to give good advice anyway. I'd advise to join a casual guild if you haven't already, one that is pretty active, and just get out there and group. I'm sure even the most casual guilds raid on occasion, and generally don't have very strict requirements on who they take. If you're unsure about strategies, there's honestly no shame in asking the raid leader, or really anyone else. Believe me, they'd rather you ask now, than keep quiet and end up wiping the raid because of some fail mechanic you triggered due to not knowing. After one or two pulls, you'll get the idea. If people are using ACT triggers, ask them to share with you so that you can take advantage of those as well. As far as impostor syndrome is concerned, honestly, don't sweat it. As long as you pay attention, and make some effort at improving yourself (for example, looking through ACT logs and seeing where you can improve DPS), you'll get better with time. In the past I've had people join my guild as completely new to the game, be absolutely terrible, and then within only a couple weeks be out-performing veterans who've been playing for years, simply because they paid attention and put in a little bit of effort. A good leader will appreciate that. And, it's also a lot of fun to see yourself climb up the DPS ranks as you get more comfortable with things. Eventually, you will be the one that other people start looking to for advice, at which point you can pay it forward.
Its hard to improve dps doing groups atm everything dies in seconds I learned this on my newly 70 wizard a class I never played before. You can try on training monkeys but I dont think you get a good representation of your abilities using them because of their level and mit values.
Playing solo is fine, but slow. You will see all the zones content, at 32, Zek, Nek forest, Enchanted lands. As a solo player, most of the headache is all the unfinished quests that require groups. My suggestion is to do all heritage quests, signature quests you can up to where you need groups. Do each zone's solo timeline completely. Enjoy the game. You don't have to group, and everything you get on your own solo is sellable on the broker. Master drops, adepts, fertilizer, status items, gear drops. You can make a pretty plat selling 10 adepts from level 30 for 10 gold each. Transmuters need your treasured gear to increase their levels. But you don't need groups, don't need raids, just try to do all the solo timelines for the game experience.
