Is It Normal...

I'll try to remember to bring up a merc and get some example numbers.

OP I lost post I was making so here the short of it. Get all your spells and ca to adept quality and if all access use the research to upgrade them.
Here the link to your toon and I did not see any other major problem with your gear and setup.
http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/871881764726

Alright, looking at your gear on EQ2U OP, you definitely shouldn't be wearing the level 20 stuff you buy from merchants or get in small chest drops. That stuff is basically just for looks or vendor fodder. The stuff you get from your newbie quests would be better.

The level 20 handcrafted would be vastly superior to what it shows in your profile. I would recommend getting/making a set of vanguard and laying your hands on some basic (handcrafted) str/sta jewelry.

I rarely use a mercenary on my shadow knights unless I'm doing a dungeon. They are a very self sufficient class, excellent soloers. Spend some AA in the shadow knight tree & get Reaver. That will add some heals to some more of your spells.


Good luck to you! If you were on Everfrost I'd help you out with some gear, alas the only character I have on Crushbone was a throwaway for looking at a house.

Just going to make a minor correction here, you don't have to be all access to upgrade your spells via research, you just won't be able to research past master quality if you are not all access.

Actually mercs leech 30% of your kill xp.. Not 50, and ive tested this myself.

A couple of things....First, while it is true that the merc eats a lot of the xp from the mobs you are killing, it is still faster to level with a merc. The reason being is that even 50% of the xp from heroic content is greater than the xp you will earn from killing an equal number of no arrow mobs. With a merc, you can go do heroic instances and open dungeons, mass slaughtering heroic content. Without a merc, you are most likely stuck killing solo stuff.

Second, I didn't notice anyone mentioning your AA's. My suggestion is this: create a new, blank AA spec and activate it. This will allow you to only spend the AA you have earned, so that you aren't spending a bunch of AA you don't yet have on future goodies.

Once you have a blank AA spec, go to your shadowknight tree and put points in stuff you want until you can unlock the Reaver ability. Get Reaver. This turns all of your spells (not combat arts) into life taps. You heal while damaging stuff. After you have reaver, switch back to your Crusader tree and put points in your strength line (far left). My suggestion for a soloing beginner crusader will be 10-10-2-2. The point of this line, especially for a young crusader is to get the end ability (Avenging Invigoration).

After that, put points in maximizing your crit chance and hit points, at least while you are leveling. Beyond that where you put points is up to you. As you play and get the hang of it you can further customize your spec. You should be able to play without a merc just fine if you'd prefer to play the game rather than letting the merc play for you.

This is the underlying reason you're dying a lot. You don't know what you're doing, so you're making a number of poor choices.

Take the time to educate yourself. Look up shadowknight guides. Ask lots of questions.

First you need to learn which stats are best for a shadowknight, then you need to compare the stats on the items. I started this game as an MMO veteran, and I didn't assume that I knew what stats were best for me. I researched them.
Every piece you wear should have +STR and +STA. No exceptions. If it doesn't have both, then it's not made for a shadowknight.

You're high enough level to do that quest, and the armor is rather good (at least equal to other options that level). If you can do the quests and live, I would go that route.

Do you know what each of your spells does, when to use it, and when not to use it?
You have a number of Area of Effect ("AE" or "AOE") abilities. Do you know what they're going to hit (and anger) when you use them?
Do you know how to use your spells/combat arts without interrupting your autoattack?
Do you understand how aggro works? Do you understand how encounters work? Do you understand how social mobs work?
Look up as many EQ2 Shadowknight guides as you can. Read them. Read the comments criticizing them. You'll find a bunch of contradictory information, and some information that is consistent between guides. After you read enough of them, you'll be able to get an idea which of the guides are better than others.
Or you could go into the Fighters section of the forums and ask them which Shadowknight guides they recommend.
If you're just starting fights and using your abilities randomly, you're going to die. A lot. To enemies that you should be able to easily kill. If you fully understand how to use your abilities, you'll be on your way to being a far more effective combatant.

I'm not using the pre-made AA build, and at level 24 I was routinely killing enemies that were level 26-28 (without using a merc). However, I did enough research to be sure that my AA build was better than the pre-made one. I'm guessing that you don't have any clue which AAs are better than others. You're just choosing them based upon reading the descriptions.
Aside from your AAs, over half of your spells haven't been upgraded. They're still Apprentice level. If you upgraded them (at least to Journeyman/Adept level) you would see a significant boost.

It's not a necessity. I use a merc when I'm soloing dungeons that are higher level than me, but that's about it.
If he's dying to enemies that are 7-8 levels lower than him, he's doing something wrong. A merc may allow him to survive, but it will be a crutch that allows him to limp along without fixing the underlying problems.

Looking at your gear, it isn't average (average is the quest rewards we get in Darklight) but unless you're extremely exaggerating, you are flat out wrong.

A level 24 simply cannot die to a level 16 or 17, even with your gear and just autoattack. I logged in my 26 Bruiser and attacked a few level 20 mobs, using just autoattack. Longer fights, but I was in no risk of dying. Are the lower level mobs heroic? Meaning they have ^^^ on their targeted health bar? MAYBE that may be a possibility? Were you in a dungeon or instance, where exactly were you dying?

Are you using the skills that automatically appear on your hotbars each time you level? Even at base Apprentice level, hitting a few of them on an even con mob will destroy its face.

Yes, the gear you make will be better than most things you loot, but anyone who can acquire a PC that can play EQ2, download and install EQ2, and have the intelligence to craft in EQ2 (which IMPLIES you are crafting to make better armor, meaning you know what better armor is and how things work in regards to).... should know that when you get a piece of gear, you compare it to what you have on currently, and make the decision to use or not. I can only assume you are NOT doing ANY quests, but just randomly killing mobs and not looting any chests that they drop. But you DO have some items with stats, so you DID do quests and loot things. *boggle*

If you get a Merc, you won't be playing EQ2 at all. At your level, a Merc will own mobs. It'll own heroic mobs. It'll own Boss mobs. You will do nothing more than run around leading it on a leash as it kills mobs before the 6 second delay on your attack can happen most times.

Anyway, looking at your gear, your class and your tradeskill... I simply can't comprehend how you are not messing with us.

Or exaggerating outrageously for some reason.

The agnostic dungeons give you gear that works for your level...have you tried getting into groups in those dungeons yet?

Satanic troll legion, troll character, making mistakes that would actully take effort to make...could it...wait for it....Be a forum troll? I dont know but the guy speaks with too much intelegence to really be having these problems, it also seems kind of impossible hence my earler post. I'm giving him the benifit of the doubt but I think he just being a subtle troll. I mean, I dont know why I'm thinking that but having some past exsperince with warcraft before the game went to the dogs, I know a troll. Jamaican with tusks, eq or otherwise, when I see it. I think this is one. I could be wrong though and no offince if I am, but the mark of a good troll is he keeps you guessing. Which makes people trying to help feel like fools later which is the intent of course.

In case anyone is curious... this is the level 20 agnostic gear for a Bruiser:

http://u.eq2wire.com/soe/character_detail/2168963602654

The Shadowknight will be Plate, higher mitigation. Great gear for the level.

I'm not a troll, I was dying in the wailing caves fighting heroic level 16-17 Ree orcs. Not sure if that helps explain. The armor I had previously equipped was all bought from an armor smith with no STR or STA stats. I'm going to go back and smith some of my own armor so atleast i'll have some sort of bonus. I made A LOT of mistakes. This was my first character in EQ2, but i don't want to scrap him...

I've read your other threads (and you can just use 1 thread to ask all your questions, it's easier for people to help you) and I'll give you the benefit of the doubt.

In Wailing Caves, I am thinking you're getting attacked by 3-4 mobs at the same time, and not understanding how to use your Skills/Spells/Abilities to handle this type of fight?

I have to disagree here. There is no reason whatsoever to ever use a Merc when playing an SK. Other than just wanting it to be super easy. SK's (and Pallies as far as that goes) are superb solo-ers that can take on huge mobs and mop them up with ease...if you're geared well and take the time to learn the class.

Not sure, I usually use Blasphemy first, then Hateful Slam or Hammer ground if there are a lot of enemies, Death cloud and Insidous Whisper, and save Harmful Touch until I really need it. I had legionnaires smite but I guess I chose the wrong focus at level 24 and now I don't have it anymore...

I love well love maybe the wrong word of people tell me and others how to play game using by not using a merc. I have 10 toon and I love playing with a healer or puller type of merc because its fun for me to play that way and the game is all about playing your way

I like being able to kill harder mobs easier that way and I know it make up for the short amount of xp taking when your killing stuff using a merc. I like to learn to protect my merc healers so I learn aggro control that way. When using a healer merc it nice to have the heals and rezzes if needed if merc is alive when I die. It also save you xp and aggravation not having run back to where you were fighting due to death or making up for xp loss from deaths.

I have played this game since 2004 so I know how to play all my toons solo without a merc but I still prefer using mercs on all my toons these days. If you want to play solo then do but dont tell other how they must play your game style.
I for one dont care how YOU play the game but I still like to help the newbies get ahead.

That said no one NEEDS to play with a merc but they are fun and also helps my healers and tank types learn the game by supporting there mercs with heals and tanking a lot more that they would learn playing solo and be the all aggro and healer of each encounter!

Again taking about need over want I like playing duo with the SK dont NEED a merc but its fun and read my previous post on mercs!

He could be doing what I did when I made my paladin. Selling off armor that he really needs without being aware of it. He was my toon in a MMO and being a newbie I was screwing up left and right. I scrapped him and started over with a new toon.

I just really don't want to scrap my character though...

Yes being long time paying player I dont keep up with the changes with FTP much these days so sorry for the misquote.
I wish there was still a webpage that had all the differences between FTP and Allaccess they used to have unless it there but missed it. Could not find it last time I looked.