Been playing for a couple days now and i'm starting to get the hang of my new Warden (currently level 12), big changes from EQ1 but the transition hasn't been too terribly rough. I've had difficulty finding good information though as most of the old EQ websites/WoW websites I know seem to have a hastily slapped together EQ2 page with minimal information. (the allakhazam and casters realm sites were terrible) As such I have a couple of questions: - I've recieved two Halfling racial traits now, the first I just picked WIS but the second has a variety of options and i'm starting to wonder if i'm potentially in danger of gimping my character later in life if I recklessly pick whatever. The aggro reducing ability stood out in my mind, does anyone have a link to an article or something that covers the subject thoroughly? Or barring that any suggestions how to proceed? - I've heard a lot mentioned about EQ2's trivial loot code, is there anything too catastrophic that I may be in danger of missing in the first 30 or so levels by just plowing thru whatever quests I find? I found a guide for the level 20 armour quests on The Druids Grove, - I currently have the EQ2/KoS pack, should I be looking at picking up the adventure packs? Will I be missing out on anything terribly important if I don't add them? The Splitpaw pack looks interesting if for no other reason than EQ1 nostalgia, so i'm leaning towards snagging that. Thanks for your time.
For traits, pick anything that increases wisdom or in combat power regen. For racial traits, the deaggro is fine. Pick whatever suits you best, but try to go for things that are passive--meaning, they don't have to be cast. The deaggro for halfings has come in useful for me a few times, but none of the other castable ones ever have.
I always picked: 1) mana regen/power pool, 2) stats of any kind, 3) resists, 4) passive abilities, 5) whatever in that order kind of. Don't worry if you don't pick the best one, you'll have all the useful ones by the later levels and even if it didn't, it wouldn't make a huge difference. You really will get to 30 pretty fast, so don't sweat any gear you miss. More important to get good with what you do, find some good players to group with, and make some gold to buy stuff later. Harvesting is not a bad choice, although it's not as valuable as it used to be. You don't need any adventure packs to get far in the game. Splitpaw does have a useful level 25 spell that you can buy after you are friendly with the gnolls by completing their quests. It's also a good place to solo up to level 50 if you do a lot of soloing. Bloodlines, you don't need to buy that. Just get the level 35 spell, Spirit of the Bat, adept3 when you get to level 35. It's a spell you'll use even at 70. Look at upgrading your important spells to adept3, it makes a huge difference.
Pre- 30 Level Armor – imho probably not worth the effort to spend a great deal of money or effort on this. Even if you are playing solo the bulk of the time it doesn’t take too long to get to level 30; its even faster if you group (in your mid 20s you can go to the giant fields and rack up considerable xp in a very short time sometimes 3-4 levels in an evening depending on the group). The armor quests generate some decent xp but for the labor involved I am not sure the reward is worth it. I don’t think (and someone please correct me if I am wrong) the stats on level 30 armor and lower have a huge impact on your performance. If I recall correctly where you really start desiring decent armor is when you hit RoV, RE and NC (ruins of varsoon, runnyeye and nek castle respectively). If I remember correctly you start to run RoV in your high 20s and I think RE starts in the mid 30s), at the same time you will probably also starting running your hq’s (if you are interested) and there are some tough spots in those where good gear is handy. A couple of additional notes to this as I see you are level 12. Have you chosen a crafting profession yet? You might want to consider tailor which would greatly mitigate your search for gear off loot drops. You could also choose sage as well which would help with spell upgrades. It’s not necessary but it helps defray costs and sometimes you can even make a little money. Plus in harvesting to support your trade you may just find some rares to help your cause outJ. I also would tell you the longer you wait with this decision the harder it is since motivation-wise it will be longer before you can use what you make. The first 20 levels (probably somewhat longer now with changes to combines) go pretty fast and you can catch up to your adventure level in no time. Secondly I would invest in the SP pack as unlike the newer FD you actually get your money’s worth out of this one. It’s scalable, you can start using it in the 20s and the loot though I believe its quality might have changed was decent and the xp is good. I did notice you have the EQ2/KoS pack so one thing to consider when purchasing is you will need the DoF pack as well (I believe unless this has changed) to open up levels 50-60. Even if you can get to level 60 without it I have to believe it would be a long slog. KoS would be limiting until you at least hit level 60. As far as aggro reduction you do have your sylph line already (lists under willow and wisp I believe in earlier levels—I think this starts at level 13) and depending on group make up there are other aggro reducing buffs that can be placed on you to help your cause by other players. Of course no healer wants to be the love light in any mobs eyes so every little bit helps however you do have other options to lean on. Don’t forget you also have roots which will allow you to maintain your distance from mobs. As far as stats go wisdom by far I think would be the most important since it determines power pool and cost and also helps with increasing certain resists I believe. Your defense (aside from armor) is built on stam (increase hp) and agility (avoidance) and as a Halfling you will probably luck out with the latter since I think they have a good bit of it. Int is important from a dps point of view. The problem I always found coming up was that as leather wearers we ultimately were tied in with monk armor and lost out on wis and int stats. It seems at higher levels that we have a little love now but I am not sure how far down the armor chain this goes. Ultimately if you are fortunate you will build up alternate sets of gear for different situations and swap accordingly based on need. You don’t need to worry about this for a while. I would still think ultimately that your first priority is looking after your healing ability especially if you plan on grouping a lot which I think as you go on will be more likely than soloing. If you are going to adept 3 any spells (wouldn’t recommend doing this before level 30 - waste of money imho) I would start with healing, then buffs then dps. If you plan on soling a lot more you may want to balance dps and buffs and I would recommend upgrading your DoT first. One thing outside of this is roots. I would recommend to keep these upgraded right along with your heals since this is a good part of our soloing and even in groups you can use them to roots adds or mobs that have aggroed you and shift your location. It seems that the resist level has an opposite correlation with spell quality (lower the quality and higher level the mob more likely it will be resisted – bad thing is here roots generate a lot of aggro and mobs will only be too happy to punish you for your insolent attempt at group crowd controlJ - so less resists on roots = a happier warden). As far as guides did a quick search http://eq2.tentonhammer.com/index.php?module=ContentExpress&func=display&ceid=214 This didn’t exist when I started and I didn’t read it too thoroughly but it seemed like there was enough information to give you a starting point and some flavor of what the warden is like. GL always nice to have another warden around so welcome Think they have a spell list at ogaming http://eq2.ogaming.com/db/
