(N)EverQuest Scrolls

As I write this, my mage is 70, with about 10% to go to 71. Since the last instalment, just over a month ago, almost all my experience has been in groups. Most of that outside of groups hasn’t been strictly aimed at experience/hour, and none of has been earning AAs. I have all summoned items drop spells for 71 banked – focus items, armor, and mask (all bar weapons, in fact), as well as a good number of the rank II spells. (continue reading…)

I am currently at around 550 AAs, at 66. My camp spot is BoT Courtyard, which, with mainly Time gear now, gives me 1.7 – 1.9 AAs/lesson, which is the best I have had since 51. There are two problems; the first is relatively simple, which is that at 67 ALL of the turkeybees turn light blue, which means that my exp rate will drop to 0.9, which isn’t great. The second problem is the abandoned expansion problem (AEP for short). (continue reading…)

I’ve been level 66 for a few weeks now, and getting on for 100 AAs. Most of that has been at the same camp, stormriders in Bastion of Thunder. This is the second time that I have spent a long period of time at the same level (the last was 55, I don’t really count 59), and this time, unlike the last, I have upgraded by gear. Prior to this point, I have been using Scout Madu quest gear, required level 45, from Goru’kar Mesa. This time, I have been going on public Time raids, with some success, as well as attempting to work through PoP flagging. (continue reading…)

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…)

Shows HP, avoids item with non-mage effect/focus. Most items without focus have 3-5 FT. (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.