So...where do we go for comprehensive info??

Well, I think it's important you invest your time / energy in what benefits the EQ2 community at large the most. My perspective is as a player brand-new to the game, but I don't know if that's a majority perspective — long-running MMOs tend to be dominated by veterans, and they of course have very different needs than newbies.

So I mean, I'd love to have X, Y, Z features to help me navigate this huge game as a new player but in a world with limited resources, I know you have to prioritize what's useful to the most users. Especially since a huge error many different services make is trying to satisfy too many minority needs — popular features are what keeps your service alive & development continuing, after all.

I mean I really appreciate your interest in my specific concerns, I just don't want to lead you astray with work on minutiae that won't actually be used by most of the vet population. (But I'm honestly not sure what rate of new players EQ2 sees relative to other MMOs, so maybe I'm downplaying my own perspective too much)

The problem is that's a loaded question with no easy answer, especially with a "talent" system as grotesquely bloated / convoluted as EQ2's. (Don't get me wrong I find AA's fun so far because it's so sprawling, but, it is also a tangled mess)

The reason I wanted accurate info about ranks & stuff while trying to sort things out as a new character is exactly that — to comprehend what's most beneficial, instead of picking blindly.

Recommended builds are either going to be:

• Requested personally and answered by the community after examining your character, needs, situation, etc. (This is ideal but also a ton of time each time it gets asked, so low success rate)
• General-idea cookie-cutters which are probably better than the game's suggestions, but not really tailored to your specific character's exact activities, gear levels, stat balance, bluh-bluh blah-blah. (This is very likely to be the reality, even if you ask on forums)

If you don't understand the game enough to choose the "correct" AA's just by reading the tooltips, then you're also not going to be able to discern between the correct pre-recommended builds so in the end we're back to square one anyway — asking and crossing your fingers.

I think it really comes down to: The ideal situation (assuming infinite time and resources from everyone involved) is to just provide every player with as much information as possible, and allow them to "drink" as much of it as they personally want or need to feel comfortable with their game experience.

But that will always lead to a lot of overkill / excess that only serves X% of the players seeking info. So we come to the problem of, given the reality of very limited resources, choosing what information to cut and what info to provide. And that's going to unfortunately be very subjective, without a lot of marketing-style data-gathering (which even when performed by billion-dollar experts, is still imperfect).

I think the TL;DR of my rambling is:

• I wouldn't find pre-made builds or build recommendations useful, because my personality is a lot more hands-on and detail-oriented; I just want to know exactly how everything works and make my own decisions from there. I don't trust pre-built anything... I'm too critical and sceptical.
• Other people (like you, it sounds) would prefer less investment / hassle and a more straightforward explanation of why this-or-that AA is probably better in most situations, etc, etc. so here take this build and move on.
• Neither perspective is wrong and the only limiting factor is that trying to satisfy both (all) types of people takes exponentially more time / resources.

So I guess what I'm saying is: Yes, you're right... and wrong... simultaneously, lol. And you can say the same thing for me, because the type of help an individual player needs is so variable & subjective.

It's a really tough call I think, when developing a massive investment like a database site, to choose what to leave in the hands of the players (ie, in-game research, "ask on forums", etc) and what to put in the development time to provide automatically, ready-served.