(N)EverQuest Scrolls

I stayed mostly in the Plane of Justice Death Row for 63/64/65. 18% per lesson in 63, 15% in 64, and 12% in 65. In 65 mobs were 50% green, but prisoners were light blue; in 66, most row mobs (60%?) were green, prisoners still light blue. It gives around 0.8-1.0 AA/lesson in 66. Death Row is holding good at 1.0 AA/lesson, and only drops to about 0.9 duo with a 62 druid with a dire charmed pestilent rat; the druid gets 1.2 AAs/lesson in this pair. (continue reading…)

I have spent my accumulated AAs in 64, and have 10 left over from the 30 stored AAs. I will next level to 66 for the new pet; I have most of the 65 spells, and have enough Minor Muramite runes to get all 66. Once there, I will work on AAs again, and look for a new spot. My current spot is Death Row (aka Mavuin Hall) in Plane of Justice, which will start to show green at 66, I believe (note: I was wrong; at 65, Death Row is roughly 50% green, although prisoners are still all light blue). Many other good spots, although with less experience, like Nurga, will suffer from the same problem at 66. It is possible that there may be a new set of hot zones to explore by the time that I reach there. (continue reading…)

62 was a problem for me. The only suitable hot zone was Acrylia Caverns, and Outer was all green, and Inner was starting to get tough on my pet. I was down to 1.0 – 1.2 AAs per lesson in Inner Acrylia; then I discovered that my exp rate on greens in Outer Acrylia was also 1.0 – 1.2 AAs! People wandering into Inner Acrylia could seriously damage my rate there, and there was usually at least one good camp available in Outer, plus the risk was a lot less, so that’s when I ended up. While getting level experience, my rate was about 15-18% per lesson, which is respectable. (continue reading…)

Ding 239! Still 61, and that flushes out all of my stored AAs. The last purchase was to get Persistent Casting 3, which I had held off until defensive AAs were at max.

I have come back to Outer Acrylia. If I pick the section near the entrance to Inner, I have the skeletal minions and shik’nar, which are 50% roughly light blue, and I have the pick of bloodpriest and bloodmage spawns, without so much competition, except for the odd person trying to run to Inner without invis. Exp rate here is around 1.3 – 1.4 AA per lesson.

Dragon Necropolis was both good and bad. The phase spiders are just fine; all light blue, non social, etc. No cash drops to speak of, but two problems: the mercenaries are all dark blue and don’t split at this level, and have a significant aggro radius. That wouldn’t be so much of a problem, if it wasn’t for the beetle swarms. Add those two to the long run from overnight as a shroud in PoK, and the limited numbers of spiders, and the zone just isn’t worth it. Exp rate is around 1.2 AA per lesson.

So I checked out some other spots. Nurga, tier 4, is safe, but again, it’s 1.0 – 1.2 AAs per lesson; it’s advantage is safe afk spots, and an effectively infinite number of spawns to pull, with almost no possibility of adds, if you know the zone.

I ought to check for solo in Plane of Innovation, Plane of Valor (unlikely, but still), and deeper in the Hole.

I will continue in Acrylia, possibly trying Inner for a change, and may also try Ward of Xegony instead of epic.

The AA set for 62 will be: ID2, LR2, PP2, IE2, and Suspend Minion 1. 16 AAs total, so I think I’ll be levelling straight through.

Update, 24 May: stored AAs complete, started levelling to 62. Outer Acrylia gives 1.2 – 1.5 AAs per lesson; the variance is explained by RNG related issues of the light blue/green mix, and the odd power leveller thinking that it’s just fine to pull all the mobs in my area that aren’t actually dead, and training them through me. One lesson gave me 18% in 61.

At 59, Dranik’s Scar is annoying. The caves are a mix of grey/green, with a few light blue rats in one. The various mobs have the full gamut of grey/green/light blue, and up for nameds.

Outer Acrylia is all light blue, although I see that at 62, it is all green. Inner Acrylia has light and dark blue.

I now have 30 stored AAs, and am progressing through 59. My AA rate was 1.5 – 1.7 per lesson, although the higher rates were probably using had C2. With C4 (Tranquility), 1.75 is the norm. Also with C4, I have been getting about 30% per hour in 59 (44% in 90 mins, or 20% in 40 mins).

I did feel a small temptation to get MGB before levelling, but I managed to hold it off. At 60, a proportion of grimlings turn green – a rough estimate from a small sample would be 1/3, so I’ll stick through 60 here, which should only be a couple of hours, based on the time for 59 and 60 being a half level.

At 61, most (more than 2/3) of Outer Acrylia is green, so it’s time to move on. Lesson of the Devoted in 60 gave me 44%; the total time spent in 60 was a little over 90 minutes (which gave me 95%, and included the lesson).

The stored 30 AAs was enough to buy all suitable AAs available at 61 (no new AAs are available at 60), with 3 left over. I need to find an exp zone for 61+; I will test out Dragon Necropolis, which is both a hot zone and, of course, has an augment, and a James the Watchmaker quest there.

I’ll update this to cover suitable exp spots.

I now have 200 AAs. Everything from general/archetype/class that is desirable I have already purchased, and I have 3 AAs stored. My maximum rate of earning AAs at 59 was 1.5 AAs per lesson in the Hole, at the destroyed constructs/gargoyles camp and the spirits of the ruins camp below it. If I timed it poorly, or if there was anyone else even close to the camp, I’d end up with about 1.4 AAs; if I got it just right, I once managed to take 1.6 AAs.

The “hot zone” exp boost for the Hole lasted several days into the new hot zones. On the first night of the patch I tested out Acrylia Caverns, and everything in Outer was still light blue; the exp rate seemed as if it would match the Hole, although I still haven’t measured it precisely. The Heart of the Sky augment dropped several times, as did the pieces for the James the Watchmaker cloak quest. There were several people, all much higher farming the area, so it wasn’t possible to get a clear determination. I came back the next night grouped with my wife’s mage (62, < 50 AAs), and the level range of players was more appropriate; plus I discovered that all of the mobs in Outer were green to her. My epic can hold aggro off my wife's WoX, although if I hold back for a relatively short time WoX will hold aggro. The only other options at 59 would be Dragon Necropolis, which is a very long hike considering that I need to be shrouded to keep pet toys; Dranik's Scar is too low level for decent exp, and has annoying wanderers. Of the non-hot zones, Howling Stones is a possible, but has a scattering of greens, and I would imagine the the North wing is too low for decent exp, which I would need to traverse every time to get to the next wing. The plan now is to grind to the full 30 AAs stored, then level to 61. There are no new AAs at 60, but I will continue to pause each level from 61 to 65 to grind a full set of the better PoP AAs, as detailed in previous posts. I think that I will be using epic pet on the lowest available light blues until low level aggro starts to become a problem, then switch to Ward of Xegony. I will definitely switch pets at 66. I might consider grinding through 65 to get to 66 and the new pet (Child of Wind), before getting the pet damage AAs at 65; I am undecided as yet.

I had a 10 day break in the middle of this, but I have cleared my 30 stored AA, and, as of this morning, am now 59 (updated on 30 March, 2007). Destroyed constructs and gargoyles in the Hole are still light blue, even at 59, so should do for my next batch of AAs.

Level 56 took about 2 – 2.5 hours; I didn’t time it accurately, but the last 20% took 35 minutes (18% for 30 minutes) – no lesson. Level 57 was over in one day, 3.5 – 4 hours; lesson gave me 28%. As of yet I am still using the same spell set as for 52, with the one exception of Scirocco, from 54; nothing else has been an upgrade. I had one death early on, and am on my third epic pet; one died in a big pull, and one was lost when Plane of Knowledge was respawned. I have gated out of bad pulls (aka other people’s trains) twice.

Update at 59: 58 took me two days to clear. In my last two lessons, I got 21% and 28%. At 59, my spell set has been updated with a bigger nuke (Seeking Flame of Seukor) to replace Char. AAs have been spent on Pet Discipline, Mend Companion, Frenzied Burnout, and Quick Damage 2, with 4 remaining. Next spend will be to complete QD, then I think Turn Summoned, the four elemental forms at level one, and Quick Summoning.

Given the general trend of increasing times required per AA, I am slightly regretting not getting trade skill and resist AAs back at 51. At the time I was getting bored, but I think I could have stuck it a lot longer. Given that the epic is fixed level, that shouldn’t be a big surprise to me. Although the archetype AAs have helped, they haven’t been a massive improvement. Looking forward, I can see Mend Companion having a significant effect on exp times, as well as the mini-pet AAs, before the pet dps AAs that start to kick in at 65.

Update 13 April: I am now back up to 1.5 AAs per lesson, which isn’t as great as 51 was, but is a step forward from 55. Exp location is still the same area in the Hole, although there is considerably more competition for the camp spot. When I started, the Hole was almost guaranteed to be empty at all times; now I can expect a mid-40s group either at ZI or the pit, and a PLer with a 30s tag along in the other spot, plus one or two high 50s at my preferred spot, either PLing or gathering AAs (I presume). I have also found that if you sit a character down just before the drop off into the pit, he will get grouped exp from you killing any of the massive constructs, most of the destroyed constructs (apart from the one in the bedroom), and everything in the castle – but not the zone in set of elementals.

Other AAs at 61, not considered in my previous posts:

Convalescence 6
(Lasting Breath – required Imp Lung Capacity)
Packrat 15 – forget it

GoD+ level 65 AAs:

Pet Affinity 12
FoM Mastery 18
Shared Health 25
Elemental Durability 18
Elemental Agility 18
Elemental Alacrity 25
Elemental Fury 15

Total 131 !!

Note that at 61, there is a DoN spell, Summon: Lava Orb, for 120 crystals.

My mage is now 55, with all spells including the PoR pet buff (Earthen Strength), courtesy of 65/66 beastlord and cleric. The Hole massive constructs have turned green, so he needs a new spot, as he has to acquire another 58 (plus 30 banked) AAs before levelling again. I’ll update the following review as I experiment with AAs, there’s time enough to do everything, I’d imagine. Last update – 3 March, 2007.

Hot Zones – The Hole, Tower of Frozen Shadow, Sebilis, Chardok, Grieg’s End

In the Hole, the destroyed constructs, gargoyles and the first spirits area is working out. It’s more like 45 – 50 minutes per AA (roughly 120-130% per hour), which is slower than at 51, but it’s a convenient camp. There are several two pulls, with a very rare add, which is survivable. Now that I have 108 AAs, this area gives me 140-180% AA per hour/lesson, which gives some indication of the impact of AAs; the earlier figure would have been with just the basic 30 archetype + 9 general, including SCM3, SCF3, and MC1/2. I don’t have a record of the rate before spending those extra 30 at 55.

ToFS. Top two floors – top floor should be best, not sure of levels on the floor below; at 53, most things were still light blue. It’s a long run, and you need the master key if the top floor is the preferred one. Plus the exit has the level 63 Advisor in the way, but that’s not a problem for gating. However, at 55, almost everything, apart from some names and some enraged vampires, is green. Good exp for greens, though, and would have been good for levelling – if I had all the keys at 51, which I didn’t.

Chardok. I want to keep faction here for two reasons – CoTH to King and Queen, and easy access to Chardok B.

Sebilis. One problem – SoWed runner frogs. Deaths are certainly possible, and it’s a long run. Requires a key, which I don’t yet have.

Grieg’s End. OK for groups, too high for soloing at this point. Should be good for the level 59 AA break, though. I have test killed exactly one mob here at 55 – dark blue, gave me 8% AA exp, and it felt easier than my light blues in the Hole. If I could be sure of single pulls, I’d switch to here.

Other Zones

Plane of Justice. Known camp spots, one of which is close to the exit. Should be no adds at 55. Has PoP exp bonus. Boring as hell. I have my doubts about this spot, as the prisoners are all light blue, and rats are mostly green. Good exp would have to be Mavuin hall or caves, which are much higher level, and not safe; guards are all dark blue.

Howling Stones. Basement and North wing at this level. Requires a key, and zone in can be tricky (2 aggro mobs on zone in pad). Undead, shouldn’t run (but some do). Zone in and basement looks good, but the chance of higher level nameds makes it tricky; if none are up, it’s an easy camp, but one named anywhere can either make a very risky pull, or totally block off an area. Good exp for a non-hot zone: 120% AA in one lesson.

Nurga. I know it well, several tiers, and I would need to test each for a couple of AAs to see what works best. Middling long run, decent loot, low aggro range, relatively low hitters. Tiers 4 and 5 seem ok, but I still haven’t timed exp there; first impression is that it is no better than the Hole (but probably would be if made a hot zone). At 55 tier 2 is mostly light blue, some green, tier 3 and 4 are all light blue, tier 5 is mostly dark blue, some light blue.

Nadox. Several camps for varying levels. The Gunthak zone in (temple) has mobs up to 53, which is probably too high with no way of splitting them, but the inner troll camp with no wanderers is tempting (Lieutenant camp/vehement and furious) – there are mid 40s, all light blue, and some of the lowest mobs in Nadox. Temple steps is also an option, but might be too few mobs for ooc regen. Courtyard was very poor – roughly 1% AA per minute. I didn’t stay long enough (one clearing) to get a more precise figure.

Dulak. Would need to camp multiple boats, or possibly Dandolak plus storage trolls. 80% AA in one Lesson, so not so good – on Dandolak and docks. This is barely better than Nadox, although I imagine I could do better there if I had the storage attendants as well. This is only likely if I am alone in the zone. In a later session (alone in zone) I managed 140%; although this was with a few more critical AAs.

Veksar. Camp goblins and the first set of undead; the downside is that everyone in Veksar runs through here, and often kill a few on their way. Killing the goblins, and the first few (3) sentries/crusaders, I get 80% AA in one hour (no lesson). They have more HP than the destroyed contructs in the Hole.

Velketor’s Labyrinth. This is an old favourite, and popular on the various boards list of recommendations. Clearing the ground floor, I get 85-90% AA in one lesson. Not so good. Spiders have more hit points than the Hole or Howling Stones, and loot is limited to velium.

Too low for…

Grieg’s End. Scarlet Desert sun revs. Plane of Innovation.

In the last week, I have gathered 39 AAs at level 51. All were gained in the Hole, as was level 52 (plus a little level exp in Echo Caverns and the Deep zone in area). The 9 AAs are spent on run speed, regen and metabolism; I have avoided resistances, stats and plan on avoiding tradeskill AAs entirely.

My camp area in the Hole has been the zone in elementals (13, I think), the drop down massive constructs (7, but three of the respawn at double the rate), 2 crumbling gargoyles in this area, a couple (two or three) destroyed constructs, and maybe a spirit of the ruins. The latter area is often camped by powerlevellers; I have only found the zone in camped by a group once. All of these mobs are light blue (under the new scheme), apart from destroyed constructs and spirits which are mostly dark blue, and the named elemental, Elemental Striker, which is always green. At 52, a few elementals (only very few) are now green.

At 51, an AA would take around 30-40 minutes (15 if lesson was on). I didn’t time levelling, but I managed 70% of 52 in one lesson, so normal rate of exp would be 70% per hour.

If I wasn’t in the Hole, I’d have tried City of Mists stables or Nurga, possibly Dulak, and would have considered the entire high side of Echo Caverns (but quite a few greens, and turns mostly green at 52).

My plan is to stay in the Hole to 55, or until the quantity of greens becomes unacceptable.

Update: at 54 (same day as initial post), I have finished the last 30% of 52, cleared all of 53, and am 10% into 54; this was all in the Hole. Elementals are mostly green at 54, and destroyed constructs all turned light blue at 53. Massive constructs remain good experience, and are all light blue still. The epic pet is still dark blue, implying that his level is 49. Tomorrow is a patch day (12 hours announced), so I don’t think I’ll be 55 so soon.

Update 2: (next day) now 55, all in the Hole, but on massive and destroyed constructs and spirits only. 30% level per hour, close enough. At 55, the massive constructs are all green, so it’s time to say goodbye to the Hole. Having bought mnemonic retention, SCM 3, SCF 3, and MC 1, I can clear multiple boats in Dulak before respawn (Stormwave and Dandolak), but level exp for all that was about 10%, which is significantly slower than the Hole. I still have to earn my Prophecy of Ro spell (a pet buff), which should improve kill rate.

Staying with hot zones, I don’t see anything attractive, although a group in Grieg’s End may be the answer when I decide to start levelling again. Sebilis and Chardok don’t appeal, thanks to crowd control problems. Possibly Veksar, maybe a different approach in Dulak or in Nadox.

Next AAs will be CA, ND, CS, then either finish MC, or SCS. Then level.

Since AA exp was revised, I’ve been considering a plan, which makes the most sense with a mage. And just yesterday, I made a start.

I have several higher level characters on two accounts (and my wife has a mage on her account), which made most of this possible. My mage has been 51 for a couple of years while I took a break; when I came back, after taking a look around TSS and getting updated on changes, I decided to give this a try.

Stage one: for the last two weeks, I have been working on my mage epic 1.0, and, thanks to a lot of luck, I got it last night! I was working through the Power of the Orb step, spending two days solid camping the Power of Fire, and decided to put my druid into South Karana to while away the time between spawns. I found a couple of 90 second spawns south of the spires, and after a couple of hours working on them, Quillmane popped – with the cloak. The next day I got the Power of Fire (from the lava elemental), and saw a Crown of Elemental mastery in the Bazaar. That was too much coincidence for me, so I started on the epic seriously.

Most of the remaining parts I handled with my druid and beastlord; Hate staff dropped on second kill in zone (a male forsaken revenant), Neh’Ashiir on sixth – Phinny was an odd one, because I had been camping Undertow for two days before he popped, and I was watching the Phinny spawn. OK, so why is the mob Phinegal Autropos, and the faction Phingel Atropos? Never mind. Every time before, Phinny died after a short up time, and I never saw the killer in zone (I wasn’t looking very hard). After Undertow, I was camped on the ledge, waiting for Phinny to show just so I could get a timer on his spawn. I logged on the druid, and he was being killed – a bard (level 50) in zone told me that a 73 ranger arrived a couple of minutes after the pop. Luckily, he let the bard loot the backbone, and me the staff.

At the moment my gear is basic – Goru’kar Mesa quest armor and Blightfire augs, Silver Serpent Shield, mage ring (Chipped Ring of Bloodcalling), solstice earring, Eye of the Owlbear Mother, etc – total FT is 13, I think. One important point is that I don’t have a pet focus, and I don’t think any are available that will work at 51 – maybe the Diamond Prism of Companionship from LDoN (760 points in Tak adventures), but that has it’s own problems to get, and is recommended level 65.

Update: Summoner’s Boon has reccomended level 65, and focuses all pets 59 up – which includes epic (thanks to the non-existent spell Manifest Elements having a level of 59). The Enchanted Harpy Blade from Blackfeather Roost was selling for 200k, but I haven’t seen one in the Bazaar since I started this project; it has recommended level 65 as well. I ended up with a different Minion of Darkeness focus, Drowned Man’s Hair, bought for 1.5k.

My plan is to accumulate AAs that will increase my power as early as possible, and preferably while the epic pet is still a killing machine; as I get more AAs and increase level, I should stay at maximum power for each level attained, and thus solo/duo AAs faster than would otherwise be possible under a conventional levelling scheme. So I’ll start with run speed 3, regen 3, metabolism 3, then save 30 while at 51 – I’ll probably use the Hole for this, but I’ll consider other places, like City of Mist and Nurga, both of which I am (very) familiar with. That’s 9 AA; I don’t know yet if I’ll spend any on resists at this stage; it depends on the boredom factor. I can see that Discordant Defiance (resist cap raise) and Mystical Attuning (buff slots) start to become available at 51; these aren’t relevant unless I decide to try for Vox and Nagafen at 52 (which I don’t intend to, but you never know). Discordant Defiance is level 66, that was an error in the page I was reading.

I am also skipping Quick Draw (extra potion belt slot) and Battle Ready (extra bandolier slot).

With 30 banked, I’ll run to 55 for Mnemonic Retention (extra spell slot), SCM 3, SCF 3. Then I’ll work through Archetypes – defensives, CA, CS, and ND with MC somewhere in all that, and probably SCS. I am not sure where to work on this – Nurga and the Hole are both options, as is GE; I am not sure if Sebilis with its indoor SoW’ed runners will be a good idea, and there may be new hot zones to choose from by then. Spend in Archtypes with this approach would be 12 * 7 + 3 = 87 AAs.

Skipping SCE and SCD (anti-fizzle and quick cast buffs). Also considering Secondary Forte (9 points), and Persisten Casting (cast when stunned, 3/6/9 – I may just get the first level).

With another 30 banked, a run to 59 is on the cards. Priority will be Pet Discipline, of course, and I’ll probably get Mend Companion. I can see little point in Elemental Pact, and even less in Improved Reclaim Energy (although it is used for pet chaining, which will become relevant at higher levels). Which leaves Quick Damage and Quick Summoning as averagely OK AAs – 14 essential AAs, 36 desirable, and 8 low value.

That leaves the elemental forms and Frenzied Burnout – the latter apparently isn’t as bad as it used to be. These are on the list to get, at least the first level of the elemental forms. Being ignored are MGB, Quick Summoning, Improved Reclaim Energy, and Turn Summoned. I may reconsider Turn Summoned.

By this point, any advantage from the epic pet will be almost used up, compared to a run to 61 for Ward of Xegony. The advantage here is an ability to take on higher mobs compared to epic, but I’ll probably need 2 box support or a group. If I keep it slow, the AAs that open up are:

61: Lightning Reflexes, Innate Defense (6); Planar Power and Innate Enlightenment (5); Fury of Magic and Servant of Ro (3 + 3). Then from GoD, Swift Journey (5 + 10). Total 32.
62: LR, ID (6); PP and IE (5); Suspend Minion (5), which doesn’t seem all that useful now that we can invis without losing a pet. Total 16.
63: LR, ID (6); PP and IE (5); FoM (6), Hastened Mending (2), Servant of Ro (3), Host of the Elements (5). Total 27.
64: LR, ID (6); PP and IE (5); Suspend Minion II (3), Hastened Mending (2), Host of the Elements (4). Total 20.
65: LR, ID (6); PP and IE (5); FoM (9), Hastened Mending (2), Servant of Ro (3), Host of the Elements (3). Total 28. Plus all the GoD abilities kick in at this point.

I haven’t considered a path past 65 at this point. These AAs came initially from EQSummoners, which I know is desperately out of date; it also only considers AAs it thinks are “good”, although it’s opinions are generally good – so it skips the elemental forms, for instance, which get added back into the schedule later for the Omens upgrades.

There is an updated chart just published here.