WARNING: LONG READ This is going to be reduntant I am sure, and using the search feature first (yes I did) I really did not find direct answers to many of the feelings of despare I have felt over the past few years. On Launch years ago I rolled a Paladin, it seemed like such an awesome class. I am somewhat of a RP, and really liked the feel of having heavy armor, sword and board and leading a group of friends into danger. I had a couple of years where it was awesome, I ended up at level caps doing some light raiding (always the MA mind you) and had a blast. Then came a few other games (mmorpgs) of interest, (Conan, LOTRO, WAR) and so on and I took a break. I was gone from the game about a year total and decided to return as I had so much fun and made many friends. My Wife also was / is an EQ2 fanatic / Raider. And stuck with it more than I, but her role as a conjy seemed to keep solo and utility play pretty interesting. (and useful) Pally's as many know started to fade off, there was a time when Guardians were a toss up with Zerkers on runs. That brings me to the past years worth of on and off play. I leveled up a new main (90 Warlock) and filled my character slots with all the various classes. I tried a couple of times being my old Pally, loaded with raid gear in his shiny parade armor and just failed. I spoke on the dreaded flames forums (which are just so annoying) about the perfect AA setups, first for tanking, then when that seemed to fail, solo play because well I lacked AA's to properly raid at this time. (AA? lol) Anyways back to my point as you all know Pallys are going bad, why? From research Shadow Knights are incrediably awesome. Not only can they do massive damage, MT / MA and have fun while doing it. Pallys seemed to be losing even more ground. I hear our crit heals are nerfed / gone. And we have nothing really improved. But I just can't seem to let character go? And keep thinking if there are so many of you still out there posting away, what makes us any good? I do not want to be a healer, I dont want to hang out in the back and twiddle my tumbs? Are we only good with max AA's in solo instances? Does not seem many raid guilds are using Pallys as MT or MA? Sorry this is so long, Just needed to give people a happy morning read. Any insight, tips (I only have 66 AAs), Hope, anything would be very appreciative! Thanks guys!
The reason people are saying "get more AA" and "you don't realistically have enough AAs" is pretty simple: because you do not; gear or no gear; most classes, especially paladins best spells and abilities come from AA choices. Whatever level gear you decide to give your paladin untill you sort out your AA you cannot hope to fully realise the class to make an informed decision. Pallys arn't "going bad"... but we have thanks to the heal crit nerf a selection of broken abilities; which do not scale correctly with the level of content. I'm going to give you the same advice you will have gotten on your hated flames request; not because I wish to "flame" you.. its becuase it is good advice. Go away and grind some AA up; quest and enjoy the game and sort out your mythical spell. After you have done return and we can talk busines with "AA specs" and better advice here is a spec given your low low AA : http://www.beetny.com/eq2aa/?f0151a...p@b555@15@14@51 Now go away and have fun
I love having a pally for a tank! Any overachieving DPS type or Heal type without a hate transfer should love a pally too. To be honest at level 90 if you are not 220AA or better your are not going to perform well compared to those other tanks I group and raid with.
Restarting after a long break isn't easy, but "Ouch" 66 aa? I would suggest chronomentoring to get every bit of aa you can where you haven't been, move the slider over towards AA, and then I'd go ahead and spend 5 points in ample harvest, and mine everything near where you are doing solo quests in sundered frontier or stonebrunt. Retrain that when you are happy with your spell upgrades unless you want to mine for cash.
Thanks for that advice also, ya I quit playing right after the AA system was introduced so I did not pick up much. I was trying to figure out the fastest way to gain AA, I did not know harvesting gave you XP TBH, never really paid attention. But if it does that sounds like a really good Idea, will it only give me XP if I am around where mobs would normally be green? Or can I even go a tier down considering I think a few harvest types I need to build up? Thanks guy, you made my day!
Sorry, those were two completely different topics. Get aa, and harvest for rares to get spell/combat art upgrades. I meant you need to get AA by talking to a chronomancer, making yourself mentored to a lower level, and redoing the named and discoveries in low level zones. With the spec Boli listed for you, you should have plenty of ae firepower to take on green/blue heroic content solo (in your higher level raid gear). Also, you need to upgrade your spells to expert if you have not done so. If you spend 5 AA points on ample harvest in the shadows tree, you will be much more effective at getting the T9 rares in sundered frontier and stonebrunt. Any rares you do not need can be sold for good money. If you already have money to get your spells, then forget I said anything, and just worry about AA. I also mentioned moving the slider over towards AA. On your alternate advancement window, there is a slider which can designate your kill xp to go towards leveling or AA. You want the AA.
Thanks for the clarification! They reset all AA (discovery/named) from T1 on up I take it? So I need to Chrono to T1 and start from there? TYVM!
No, but if you never had a chance to do them for aa, I'm not sure "reset" is the right word. Also, everfrost got revamped so you can actually redo the zone with quests and everything while mentored. And butcherblock probably didn't exist when you were originally leveling up.
One other thing to remember is that AA from Name resets. So you can go back to places you have already been and get AA from those. Mentored down you should be able to solo most T2-T5 zones no problem. Sorry from dropping in on the Pally board, but thought I would offer a suggestion. Happy Hunting.
Just ran through Storm Hold, got about 5 or 6, other people were in there though. I have yet to get any "discovery" XP so I guess that did not reset, just the names. Its fun though, heading to Varsoons now. How long does the chrono change last btw? Thanks
chrono uses the mentoring mechanic, except there's no mentor recipient, so it lasts until you type /unmentor or I think you can unmentor by right clicking on your name in the party window and selecting unmentor
Paladins are very strong and have nothing to hide against shadowknights. Your actual problem is AA and gear. While gear is easier to get (just do some BGs untill you have the pvp gear which does very fine in heroic zones), you'll have to spend significant time on getting AAs. 66 AAs is just not enough to compete. I have a paladin but he is one of my many alts that i do not play very much, but even without concentrating him on gear throu raiding (hes max aa) he can tank everything that isnt considered hardmode raid encounter. In good groups i can easily tank medium difficult heroic zones without a healer. This is your aim mate, dont give up and one day you'll be able to do the same easily. For now concentrate on AA, mentor down and go throu ALL tiers starting by Tier 1. A little hint from me, there are zones that are known to be used for AA runs. These are dmortes chamber, enchanted lands and pillar of flames for example. Mentor to the appropriate level and do them, you'll be surprised.
And again, thank you very much. I got 9 AA's yesterday, and plan on working hard doing exactly as suggested this weekend. Its really fun too, nostalgic even to run those old zones. I am already noticing a difference with the above mentioned AA layout for solo play. Once I hit what was suggested is there any other line / tree to concentrate on to help speed up my solo efforts until I get a heap of AAs? I was looking down the Agility line, seems to pack some punch. Thanks again!
I tell you what... The Chronomage set up made all the difference in me coming back to the game while on deployment. I am currently in Kuwait, only able to play solo from my laptop, on a crappy connection. When you Chrono down to any level, you experience massive mayhem. As a pally with 200 aa, i would room pull, everything in sight, blast off aoe's and done. Names would spawn, but there is a trick to chrono leveling. You need to have EQ2MAPUPDATER going. you see where all the names are supposed to be, and by far the best thing ever for me... TRACKING! When i sit down and play and I know I am going to play for a few hours, I will burn a Tracking scroll... available at station cash. I put in $25.00 and got a few goodies, but the best is the Scroll of Tracking. Here is what i recommend, every day, get the chrono quest and complete it. Read EQ2WIKI to get the strats so you are not wandering around zones you have never done. After that, complete the sinking sands questlines, then go to pillars of flame, now don't get too wrapped up in all the epic and heritage quests, i am talking about the solo and group quests. These will take you right over so many instances that a pally with low aa could easily obtain 5-10 a night. Once you do this for about a month, you will be on track. I was level 90 with 200 aa, starting in August 15th. Yesterday I hit 245 and most of it is chrono'd name and instance killing. keys.... chronomage quests, chronomage the tt,barrensky, bonemire if you haven't done the quests scroll of tracking for 5 hours of tracking ability for $1.00. A serious desire to challenge your self by pulling up to 50 mobs at a time see if you can survive.
Returning Paladin myself, I left the game about a year-and-a-half ago. I rolled my Paladin not long after the game launched, and it was a rollacoaster love affair. Paladins were awesome, but Guards complained that we were too good, so we were nerfed.. but then Sony gave us Amends and we were stylin' again, and then nerfed again... I got tired of constantly trying to roll with all the punches that the Dev's kept throwing at the class, it was just easier to start a Dirge from scratch, level it to 80, and raid with the Dirge. I mean, everyone wanted a Dirge in their group/guild; Paladin... there would be crickets in /ooc if a Paladin was looking for a group. But anyone who has played a Pally seriously knows how exciting it can be, or maybe they are just the type of person that likes to root for the underdog- not sure. Regardless, I came to the forums to ask if people are still playing their Paladins, if they are still viable tanks, or if we have become just a curiosity of sorts, invited to groups only by friends who feel bad that we invested so much time and effort in a useless class. Thanks for your thoughts. Thorsson
