I've only been back a few weeks, so I admit my gear isnt upgraded. All my gear is either the purple etherial (base) or T1/T2 expert fabled gear (resolve 2050, potency 74k, level 20 etherialist). How are people doing so much DPS? Im seeing other priests do 10-20x what I do with my fury. Is is just due to potency? Is it upgrades in ascension spells ? What am I missing?
it's probably a factor of everything. try to get at least to expert in your etherealist spells (sage can craft journeyman and expert from harvestable mats, adept is crafted with an illegible scroll/page which is a chest drop) plat infuse your gear get CB over 4000, get pot over 90k, get fervor, get spell double cast over 100, get ability double cast it all adds up also get one of the new season 6 familiars get a good mount
Runes, runes, and more runes. Be sure to run all heroics to get your Blue fervor rune. Best current white adorns are in Keal Fabled contested zone (merchant) along with the current best Warlord Rune. Champion, Witness, Juxtaposition, and Glory V runes are free at the Library. Ethereal merchant has an updated class rune, and there is a Celestial gate upgrade from the merchant in Coliseum of Valor. And don't forget about temporary adornments, ++CB, +potency, +health. You're gonna need some status but it adds up quickly. Have fun.
Looks like you forgot to infuse your gear. At 2050 resolve 74k potency is very low. Also try to get grandmaster and above spells and ascensions.
It's not a matter of forgetting, I just returned to the game after a 2 year absence. No sense in infusing gear that I will outgrow a day later. It wasnt until the past week that my I got most of the expert gear and broke the 2k resolve mark. Ive been hunting item infusers and diety divine xxx items, but not sure if its worth dumping millions of plat into gear when the expac will be out in 2 months. I have most of the runes listed, 1 mob away from the blue ferver rune, ill go back and check the on in CoV too. Thanks
The game has turned sharply towards PTW and you have to buy the middle and/or collectors edition to get a solid 6k+ more potency. I have a mount from the overland kills, but I am not going to PTW and buy the 6k mount. If you do not have a mount try to get that one at least. In that sense you may be missing that 6k bump like my kids and I - mount-less or near mount-less. It hurts the potency. The 6k mount will push you to at least 80k if you want to PTW and then you can PTW even harder by buying kronos and selling them for plat to buy the +300 potency barding pieces. You can get 1 or more from quests but they are exceptionally extreme rare drops otherwise. You can also run solos and break down gear to make infusers but that recipe book is almost as rare as mount drops. Luckily I have the book, but have never seen a mount drop whereas I have a friend that has 12+ mount drops. I guess we all just need to pray to RNGeezus more or just PTW for that extra 6k potency and buy kronos to sell for plat to buy the barding. GL. Game is still very fun, but the PTW mechanics just suck hard. If it does not drop off a mob, or is granted by a quest, I personally do not want to PTW it and that costs me groups, but so be it. GL with your potency quest, but you should infuse what you can - start with jewelry crit bonus and then potency. It will help a lot. infusers come readily from quests too - esp the overland Dr's orders which you can run through quickly. And as others have said - upgrade your ascensions.. another sore subject for me...gawd I hate ascensions: Boils the whole game down to four classes (well, actually two, maybe three atm) and then the whack a mole Bulwark mechanic.
The things you listed are not the ptw mechanics sigh. mounts of equal or better quality are obtainable via playing the game. bardings buyable off broker or quest-rewarded gives in-game currency meaning, it's important, nothing's wrong with it. you detract from what the real ptw eq2 mechanics are by railing against the stuff that's fine. familiars and bonus infusers are the 2 current ptw mechanics in eq2, and are indeed very unacceptable
I would add Ascensions to the mix. Master pages are extremely rare and ancient pages basically not present in the game.
Disagree with this also. All pages besides Master and lv16-20 Ancients are reasonably obtainable in game and they can be researched in worst case scenario. Only like 5-6 spells in any ascension make up 99% of ascension-based dps. It's not amazing for new players, but also not awful for it to take 6months to fully catch up. This doesn't change that Ascensions are terrible for the game in its current implementation, drastically diluting the class system and contributing to class imbalance, but the current state of obtaining ascension upgrades is roughly in a B- state. Far from a mandatory ptw.
Let's agree to disagree about your statement, "All pages besides Masters and lv 16-20 Ancients are reasonably obtainable in game." I haven't seen either adepts or master pages drop in a long time and try finding a lot of them on the broker. You're generous with your rating of B-. I'd rate it a D-. That is unless you want to pay a significant amount of plat for them when you can even find them on the broker. Yes you can research them. And you're not going to "catch up" in six months. Try researching 10-15 spells/CAs from expert to GM and then start on just 5-6 ascension spells you indicate from adept to GM. Do the math on those times. You're literally talking 2 years. Frankly, some of the current game mechanics (loot drops, spell/CA drops for Masters, non-existent drops for ascension scrolls, gear you can't salvage or transmute) are driving players from this game. It's a PTW game.
Nah, let's not. While i'm not aiming to sway you from your opinion, I have first-hand proof that it is wrong. At the start of this expansion I've taken a guildy who was Apprentice in every Thaum Ascension to a nearly fully GMed. The only thing that was DBC-researched was Oblivion Link (Master). The only thing missing of note was Exsanguination still at Expert. Whole process took 3 weeks and ~5m plat. So the whole 6months thing? I was being considerate of people's ineffective farming techniques, sub-par gear that would make farming slower, random droughts of broker options, low-pop server, lack of plat, lack of friends to ask for help, etc. Really? Were you looking in the places they're likely to drop or just expecting them to show up in whichever content you fancy? That's the problem honestly, unfortunately a lot of people agree with you because the knowledge required to do what I did isn't available on-demand in game, and either they're not able to critically think or research / discover this knowledge on their own (in case of new members). Spoiler - pages are available from previous expansions as a mix of drops and rewards at a very reasonable clip. Compound the lack of knowledge with awful tactical mistakes like "Try researching 10-15 spells/CAs from expert to GM and then start on just 5-6 ascension spells" and conclusions are all-too-predictably incorrectly drawn from the experience that this whole thing is ptw. Frankly there is even nothing wrong with it taking 2 years to be caught up with every thing possible at GM+, but to be "caught up", with things that make any difference, 6months is generous with the proper knowledge and analysis of what makes a difference. Look things are tougher on Antonia Bayle than on Majdul for broker-assisted portions no doubt. Look I agree with you that there are not enough newbie, ascensions and gold-making guides written because eq2 doesn't have WoW's population of bored enthusiasts. Look clarity of mechanics to support the superb complexity we've built up is one of eq2's weakest points, such as why some gear can't be salvaged. I agree that these things are probably driving people away. The rest of your opinion is just based on lacking the know-how.
I think there's a key phrase you seem to be overlooking in your explanation and that is "...at the start of the expansion." What happened at the start is irrelevant 10 months later. I'm talking about now. I challenge you to find adepts on the marketplace, much less masters for a lot of the Ascension spells. Same is true for Masters for combat/spells. That is, if you don't mind paying 2-5 million plat for each one you can actually find. Secondly, researching either ascension or CA/Spell from Master to GM is 53 days...period. Do the math on a minimum of 6 ascensions and 6 CA/spells alone. Six months? LOL...and you want to say I have a lack of knowledge and make tactical mistakes? Sit down with a calculator and work on the progression for research times from journeyman up to GM and see what that gives you. Then multiply it times by the number of CA/Spells times average of 15 regardless of class (sometimes there's 20 or more). Unfortunately, my assumptions aren't...they're clearly evident on the broker or countless runs having been made on a number of toons or by actually sitting down and doing the math on research time--which apparently isn't something you've ever done.
What server are you on? Even on Skyfire there are a lot of ascension upgrades on the broker for reasonable prices. That and, as Twisty said, you can reasonably solo the older pages in KA and PoP (not to mention the weekly PoP pages if you can stand to do the mount quest). Our guild has hooked up a lot of raiders to expert+ on their ascensions for minimal investment. All that said...why should a new/returning player be able to gear as well as a veteran in a few weeks/days?
Maj'dul. Here's my observation at the moment based on having 20 toons at level 110 for both TS/ADV. I'm not playing on any other server, so those observations may or may not be valid. Getting ascensions for journeyman or expert aren't the issue as those are easily crafted with this xpac. Adepts and especially Masters are much more difficult to find especially now. At the beginning of the xpac, they were cheap and plentiful. But now, it's hard to find them. Not for every one, but I find there's a scarcity issue. As far as Maj'dul is concerned, I check the broker frequently. Nor am I looking to get every toon up on ascensions. I play about 2-3, more than that is just too much effort given current mechanics and resources. I'm curious...define "minimal investment" for gearing a single raider up to expert on their ascensions? I don't consider 600-800K for an adept as a "minimal investment," and again, that's when you actually can find it on the broker.Most raiding groups (and I raid), look at expert as entry level for lower raid content. Many consider Master/GM just to survive a reality at higher levels. Who said anything about a new/returning player be able to gear as well as a veteran in a few weeks/days? And to your own statement, why should you be gearing up wannabe raiders to expert if such minimal effort is required. Why should they expect you to do that for them in a few weeks/day (your comment). My responses have been directed towards Twisty's comment that you can research the class and ascensions in 6 months, which is mathematically impossible. If you want to throw out timelines, at least take the time to accurately research your statement--that's all I'm asking. If I wanted unsupported hypothesis or sheer fantasy comments, we can all tune into the evening news and watch politicians talk, haha.
a hard core raider like yourself may have a different opinion on what "reasonable" price means . they are still in the high hundreds of thousands to millions of plat for the main ascensions on MD.
Fair, everyone's definition of reasonable is different. I found a lot foe under 500k when I last was looking at them.
I think it is extremely reasonable to get ascensions up to expert level. It's the masters that get a bit pricey. Two days ago I crafted every Thaumaturge ascension level 1 - 20 from journeyman to expert, and it cost approximately 1 million plat total. I bought all mats on the Maj Dul broker and didn't farm anything. I did buy a few premade experts that were priced lower than the planar energies.
I don't think i can reasonably carry on this convo without coming across as rude, so I'm gonna close down the shop early. The reality is that if you read patiently, I didn't say what you think I said. The nuances matter, as always; I'll requote for emphasis: Just because they're not reasonably obtainable, doesn't mean you won't obtain any in 6months of trying. Assuming, that is, that you're looking for bananas in Africa and not in Antarctica. You just unlikely to obtain all. In 6 months you can research 3 master ascensions that you whiff on from both farming and broker, have a floating 4th to spend the free DBC u get during that time, be it some random class master that's elusive or another ascension. Let me be clear, i don't really care to change your opinion. I'm just sad that the truth is your opinion is probably held by the majority and it's like we're playing different versions of eq2. In my version (that's certainly shared by some others) I go out and get stuff that's available while doing fun content, and in the other version people just run around in circles with their hands in the air like moppets. Now, I allow for that is perhaps fun for some people in its own right, we all have fun differently who am I to say. It's also a lot easier I guess, and who am I to throw stones in lazy houses. Thing is, when I hear that you'll start by researching 10-15 class-spell masters, it all just makes sense, like slowly watching a car wreck pass by in the rear view. When I hear that you "haven't seen either adepts or master pages drop in a long time" it all makes sense why everyone's so mad about ascensions - they don't know where to look. When i hear that 500k is a lot, I feel bad that finding ways to make money isn't as obvious as I thought and like 3 of top 4 have zero to do with raiding, krono buying or even good gear. I dunno why you believe it was more abundant or cheaper in the beginning of the xpac to level ascensions; on the contrary, it was way stiffer competition for the 16-20 pages when the gates just opened. Look, if anything, I'm just disappointed in myself that I don't have the patience to impart the knowledge of how to transition to the fun version of eq2. I guess cliff notes on the shop-closed sign: - if you haven't started on any ascensions, pull out a spreadsheet and see which ascension masters of the 3 non-Geo are more open on your server broker. you should get advice which ascension spells "matter" if it's not obvious from description. things like the 'II' spells in 16-20 range being interchangable with their 'I' counterparts isn't obvious for example; you only need one or the other whichever is easier. - find out what it takes to make each tier of ascension spell and where the expensive ingredients drop. go farm in the right place for what your current priority is. ingredients and locations are drastically different for ascensions by level range 1-10, 11-15, 16-20 - don't research class skills first, and ideally at all; with literally a handful of exceptions, they're way less impactful than ascensions for dps. with exception of perhaps assassin and monk, they're all gonna come available on broker in the 6months of looking. possibly for several million plat. of course, level cap change inc and all spells reset, so... caveat emptor - don't have plat for expensive masters? well i guess there is a fairly easy way to make plat staring at you right there. there is easy heroic content that drops current tier masters that can be speed-farmed. coincidentally it also drops ascension pages - find a farming buddy or two or three of different classes and agree to farm in parallel and exchange class masters - get advice on which class spells "matter" so you know which to splurge for on broker and which to save up for later, if you don't have the analytical tools / ability to decide, or simply vet your findings. this 15-20 spells thing i can't even. there is like 5-6 on average per class that seriously matter these days, rest is nice to haves.
