(N)EverQuest Scrolls

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.