Hello. It's probably not really Dirge related, but since i am playing a Dirge, i ask here. I started EQ2 around one week earlier. I did play several MMO's so i am not really an newbie to MMO's, but an newbie to EQ2 ;-) (Did play EQ1 since 2000, and WoW since 2006 or 2007, dont remember). I did read alot of things about Leveling, and gathering AA's, but i am really unsure, since you dont really find something concrete. My Dirge is at this moment Lv 20, with 22 aa. I did Halas, went to Butcherblock with around lv 20/13 AA did 2-3 Quests and decided to go back to TD to do some quests there with the AA slider at 100%. My question is: Should i keep AA at LV, or at LV*3, or should i concentrate on level and get my AA's up sometimes later at lv 80+ ? I dont mind questing, that's a part i like (Soloquests at least), and i prefer to NOT having grind aa's at 90% if a Dirge is useless without AA's. And i dont want to be lv 90 with 50 aa's and say to myself: "Why did i not grind some AA at lower lv" ;-) I just dont know whats the best way. I want to hit 90 and have a decent Dirge AA-wise.
Throw the slider at 50% and tweak from there one way or the other as you see fit. All classes are usless w/o AA. I cant really comment on how many AA you should have by level X cause Ive been playing so long Im always at cap. Check out Eq2wiki for the solo quest lines as well if you need more info, if you feel like you are out leveling the content but AA feels low throw the slider all the way to AA and do more quest to it feels right to you. By 90 dont expet to have all 250, but anything between 174-200 is great by then.
I suggest puttin the slider at 75% or even higher and then leave it there til you max on eor the other. As a Dirge without AA you will be nearly useless, and by that I mean 180AA+ at 80.
Agree with the two players posting above, I think it is wise to level up not as fast as SOE has made it possible, but instead throw a good part of your XP into AA xp. Having AAs at smth like 2,5*Lvl seems like a good objective. The more AAs the better anyway
Disagree with the responses above. Dirges are a non-solo friendly class (they can be soloed, but its is *relatively* slow and painful compared to many other classes). The current age of the game means a fair bit of solo work is likely. Dirges become much better at solo with some decent AA under their belts. IM(nv)HO there are only two sensible positions for your AA slider to be in: 0% or 100%. You either (a) want to level, because you have either exhausted content and need to level up to make new areas do-able, or you have aquired the mission critical AAs you want and are happy to by pass some content. OR (b) There are some AAs you want ASAP. If there are some AAs you want, then get them as a priority. So, decide what AAs are important, and on that basis decide the 'interesting' numbers of AA that you need to get the abilities you really want, using this: http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/ (btw for me that doesn't work in IE, I use chrome). Then get to tier+2 levels (22, 32 etc) so you can get some MC gear, then go 100% to get to your next target e.g. maybe you have 30 AA and you know that 36 AA will give you something sweet. Run around and do quest in the first half of the tier, piling on the AA, till you get that magic number. Then ask yourself if you are running out of content. If you are, its time to move on. Go 0% to AA and pile on the levels. If you still have plenty of content, consider sticking with AA building instead. Similalrly, there are certain key levels that give you the first version of very useful spells. For example, you might decide that you really want your life tap (howl of death, L2, or your fear (Garsins L26) or maybe your single target rez for group use (Elegy Deaths Door L44). If you use intermediates settings then you will still tend to out level the content in the mid tiers. Fundamentally, if you are say Level 20 and 20 AA, it will take a certain ammount of effort to get to level 21 or 21 AA. If you split your XP there will be a point where you could have been either L20 / 21AA or L21 / 20AA, but instead you'll still be L20/20AA. So essentially I am saying at any point you should know what it is you want next, and make that your single priority by selecting 0 or 100% as appropriate. Have fun. Oh, and learn to kite.
Kimmble@Antonia Bayle wrote: Only useful part I saw. IF a person 'knew all the areas' etc there are to level blah blah, then he/she probably wouldn't be asking this question. Put the slider at 75-80% and leave it and explore and you will end up at 90 with a good amount of AA, probably sometime next year. And yes, learn to kite to solo.
CoLD MeTaL wrote: Certainly, sticking the slider at a value and leaving it there has the (great) virtue of simplicity. But it not optimal, and since the person bothered to ask the question this implies they are looking for optimal. It really takes very little effort (half an hour on the class section of EQ2i and a litle bit of exploration of the AA calculator I linked) to realise there are certain key points, both for level and AA, to aim for. As for 'know all the areas' etc, its hardly rocket science. A quick glance at the solo questlines or any of the newbie forums or even just mousing over the travel map tells them the level appropriate locations. To the OP: If you like to plan ahead, do it my way. If you're happy to amble along and spend your AAs as and when they ding, on whatever seems like a good idea at the time, thats cool too. Welcome to EQ2, where there are probably as many different ways of playing the game as there are players.
