Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Not quite at the level cap.
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sgdirtbag
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Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by sgdirtbag »

So, I have been thinking about making a return to EQ for some nostalgia. I have a low to mid 80's Mage. I am thinking he is 85, with around 1000 AAs. I am unable to log in and check. I have a few questions:

1) Is it really feasible to level and not be power leveled to even close max level (95 ish) without 2k+ AAs? This could be solo or molo.
(I dont think this character has the J5 Merc yet)

2) I do have a second account that would be silver. With that in mind, would it be better to box with like a Shaman, or just use a druid to port the mage all over?
(I can pl the box with a 90 or 95 SK easily.)

3) Is the Air pet still better for solo leveling? I remember someone saying the HOT Earth Pet got to be pretty boss because they upgraded his health and armor or something but never ended up getting that spell.

If anyone has any other advice it would be greatly appreciated. I would like to get going soon after I return, so I can start blasting the higher level stuff.

Thank you in advance.
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Tweelis
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Tweelis »

If you have a gold/all access account then when you log in make sure you click the "autogrant" button in your AA window. Since you're level 85 you'll probably have around 4k AA's just by clicking that button. Autogrant is a new feature that'll give you all the AA's for your class up to your current level (up to level 90 iirc). Since you mentioned not having a J5 merc here's a fun little 30 minute quest for you: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/ques ... quest=7485

A second account is up to your playstyle. Depending on what I'm doing I'll either straight solo or sometimes I'll pop a merc or believe it or not even group with others. Some people swear by boxing but me no so much.

IMO the air pet is superior when you're doing single pulls and the mobs can be stunned. If however you plan on doing say Beza/Zeka where adds are common then go with the earth pet.
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Sancus
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Sancus »

I agree with Tweelis. Only thing I'll add is that, if you do choose to box, I'd suggest a Druid over a Shaman. Druid ADPS is awesome for Mages, on top of porting/tracking/healing/debuffs/pulling/other stuff that escapes me. You'll do fine either way if you do choose to box, but the only benefit I can think of of having a Shaman over a Druid is slow and some minor buffs.
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Tweelis
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Tweelis »

Keep in mind that while shaman have slows (that are always at least partially mitigated) druids have ATK debuff spells.
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spel ... pell=18405
and
http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spel ... pell=25726

When I put items with +ATK on my pet I see a marked increase in their damage output. Many parses in the past have proven this beyond a shadow of a doubt.

This is conjecture on my part so take it with a grain of salt. Debuffing a mob and removing over 100 ATK on a level 85ish mob will drop their damage output substantially. I group with a druid regularly. Although I haven't parsed it out with Silver Frost it is much easier to keep either my pet or the tank alive when the mob has lost a good chunk of it's damage capabilities.

Regardless of if you choose to solo or box just make sure you read up and learn what you can do. It makes me (and other mages) sad panda's to watch a shaman box only buff and slow or a druid port and track.
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Sancus
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Sancus »

I definitely agree, Druids have debuffs that are very beneficial (or, more accurately, detrimental to mobs), and I'd definitely suggest one over a Shaman.

The argument for slow (which was mentioned during pet debates) is that it has a huge benefit for our hit based runes. If you decide to spam a bunch of runes, slow will have a huge impact on the amount of damage your pet takes. I can't say for sure that this is better than Druid attack buffs as I haven't parsed them, but the impact of slow on a single mob (especially one that hits hard) when considering both Prism skin and our activated runes is huge.

That being said, the ADPS and convenience of a Druid (between track/port/debuffs etc) makes it a clear winner at least from my perspective.
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sgdirtbag
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by sgdirtbag »

I do have a few more quesitons.

1) When we are casting our rain spells we cannot cast anything in between the waves right? So it would be Cast Wave, hit, hit, hit, cast next spell, hit, cast next...

2) What is ADPS with the druid?

3) How many times can that 85 auto AA thing happen? lol.

Thank you in advance.
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Sancus
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Sancus »

1) Nope, if I understand the question correctly you do not have to wait for the waves to finish to continue casting. You may spam spells as fast as the game will allow you to with no detrimental effect on your rain damage :)

2) (Gonna list the 105 Versions, but I believe all these lines go back to at least HoT):
[41355/16203] Group Spirit of the Black Wolf
Classes: DRU/254
Skill: Melee
Target: Caster Group, MGB: No
Range: 200', AE Range: 200'
Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes
Casting: 0s
Duration: 2m (20 ticks), Extendable: Yes, Dispelable: Yes
1: Decrease Spell Mana Cost by 9% to 15%
2: Limit Type: Detrimental
3: Limit Max Level: 105 (lose 5% per level)
4: Increase Fire Resist by 150
5: Cast: Form of the Black Wolf
6: Increase Current Mana by 60 per tick
8: Increase Chance to Critical Nuke by 10% and Increase Critical Nuke Damage by 200% of Base Damage
Text: You are infused with the spirit of the black wolf.

[34933/5511] Skin to Seedlings Rk. II
Classes: DRU/98
Skill: Alteration
Mana: 300
Target: Single (If Living)
Range: 200'
Resist: Unresistable
Reflectable: No
Casting: 0.5s, Recast: 1.5s, Rest: 1.5s
Duration: 3m (30 ticks), Dispelable: Yes, Allow Fast Regen: No
1: Increase Spell Damage Taken by 1% to 11%
2: Limit Max Level: 105 (lose 10% per level)
3: Limit Effect: Current HP
4: Limit Type: Detrimental
5: Limit Resist: Fire
6: Limit Combat Skills: Exclude
7: Transform Body Type to Plant
Text: Your blood runs green and your skin becomes a mat of leaves.

[43828/5649] Frostweave Aura Rk. II --- Believe the HoT version is a fire aura (name would be Wild_____ Aura)
Classes: DRU/103
Skill: Conjuration
Mana: 1742
Target: Self
Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes
Casting: 3s, Recast: 1.5s, Rest: 1.5s
1: Aura Effect: Frostweave Aura Effect II (IODruIceProcAura103Rk2)
Text: You are enveloped by a winter's chill.

[43830] Frostweave Aura Effect II
Target: Single
Range: 300'
Resist: Beneficial, Blockable: Yes
Casting: 0s
Duration: 18s (3 ticks), Extendable: Yes, Dispelable: Yes
Max Hits: 6 Matching Spells
1: Cast: Frostweave Strike II on Spell Use (100% Chance)
2: Limit Type: Detrimental
3: Limit Effect: Current HP
5: Limit Spell: Exclude Frostweave Strike II
6: Limit Combat Skills: Exclude
7: Limit Max Level: 110 (lose 100% per level)
8: Limit Min Mana Cost: 10

[43833] Frostweave Strike II
Target: Single
Range: 300'
Resist: Cold
Reflectable: No
Casting: 0s
Hate: 1
1: Decrease Current HP by 3205
Text: You are frozen by an icy blast.

3) As long as you are an all access member, you can use the autogrant as many times (or on as many characters) as you want. My understanding is it will give you nearly everything up through level 90 (HoT). When the next expansion comes out (won't be for a while), AAs up through VoA (level 95) will be autogranted, and so on and so forth.
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Janiblis
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Janiblis »

Excellent post.... working on a Druid "Free Play" alt now.

Got Druid up to level 71 already.

Free Play characters only get 250 AA's.

Any suggestions which AA's are Essential for a Druid "Free Play" alt to be more Duo proficient with the Magician?
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Sancus
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Re: Just when I get out, they (EQ) pulls me back in.

Post by Sancus »

250 AAs is pretty rough... At that point you'll probably have to chose a specific role you want to buy AAs for (healing, DPS, porting, etc). Even within those roles, it's unfortunately fairly likely that you'll be limited to the lower level passive AAs.

My #1 suggestion is to train Group Spirit of the Black Wolf at least through rank 3 (I'd go through 5 personally). Beyond that it's up to you, but it'll be very limited :(

I don't know if it's a viable option, but if you can do so I'd suggest making the account All Access for a month once you reach max level. If financially you'd rather not spend the money, you could get the platinum to purchase a krono for the one month. They go for about 900k on my server (likely less on others), but plat is fairly easy to acquire these days (sell a couple briny essences or something). This has a really big benefit in that you will get all of the AAs up through House of Thule (level 90) forever, even after the account goes back to free to play. You can then spend some time grinding AAs, as you get to keep any AAs you earn after All Access expires. Between the autogrant and the AAs you can get in a month, your Druid will be much more useful, even after going back to free to play. You still won't be able to buy any more AAs, but a 7K AA Druid (autogrant is around 5-6K depending on class, plus 1-2K AAs in that month) will do a whole lot more than a 250 AA Druid.

Whatever option you go with, good luck and have fun :D
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