Opinions on AA's welcomeFollow

Over the weekend, I worked on AA's for 3 alts. I would very much appreciate opinions on what I should get next, if any before leveling. I left the breaks where I found them on the online site I used as a guide. I am new to AA's, so if you think I missed some important ones, or my future choices should be different, fire away!!

Thank you in advance.


Necromancer Level 65 - 450 AA's

* Innate Run 5
* Innate Metabolism 3
* Innate Regen 3
* Spell Casting Mastery 4
* Natural Durability 5
* Mnemonic Retention 1
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* Pet Afinity 1
* Critical Affliction 3
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* Death's Fury 5
* Quickening of Death 5
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* Spell Casting Fury 3
* Fury of Magic 3
* Fury of Magic Mastery - (Now Fury of Magic 4+)
* Spellcasting Reinforcement 5
* Spell Casting Subtlety 3
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X Life Burn - 9 (LOL, kills you, NO)
* Wake the Dead 3
* Swarm of Decay 3
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* Pet Discipline 1
* Feigned Minion 3
// delete Suspended Minion
// delete Persistant Minion
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* Persistant Casting 6
* Theft of Life 5
* Combat Stability 3
* Combat Agility 3
* Innate Defense 5 (Now Combat Stability 4 - 8)
* Lightning Reflexes 5 (Now Combat Agility 4 - 8)
* Planar Power 5
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* Mend Companion 1
* Hastened Mending 3
* Convalescence (Now Innate Regeneration 4 - 5)
* Innate Enlightenment 5
* Mystical Atuning 2
Mental Clarity 3 (2 done)
* Innate Intelligence 1 (Just to get to 450, lol)
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Level 66+

Death Peace (66)
Destructive Fury (66)
Defensive Instincts 5 (Now Combat Stability 9 - 13) (66)
Reflexive Mastery 5 (Now Combat Agility 9 - 13) (66)
Chaotic Potential 5 (Now Planar Power 6 - 10) (66)
Willfull Death (66)
Healthy Aura (Now Innate Regeneration 6 - 10) (66)
Improved Critical Affliction (Now Critical affliction 4 - 6) (67)
Soul Thief (Theft of Life 6 - 8) (67)
Advanced Pet Discipline - (1st level only) (67)
Replenish Companion (67)
Army of the Dead (68)
Affliction Mastery (70)
Quickening of Death 6+ (70)
Thick Skin 5 (Now Combat Stability 14 - 18) (70)
Precognition 5 (Now Combat Agility 14 - 18) (70)
Graverobbing (70)
Spell Casting Subtlety 4+ (71)
Mnemonic Retention 2+ (75)
Persistant Casting 7+ (75)
Swarm of Decay 4+ (76)
Feigned Minion 4+ (81)

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Cleric Level 56 - 150 AA's

* Innate Run 3
* Innate Metabolism 3
* Spell Casting Mastery 4
* Spell Casting Fury 3
* Combat Stability 3
* Combat Agility 3
* Spell Casting Reinforcement 3
* Persistent Casting 3
* Healing Adept 3
* Healing Gift 3
* Mnemonic Retention
* Spell Casting Subtlety 3
* Natural Durability 3


Mental Clarity 2 (For later)
Innate Regen 2 (For later)


Spell Casting Reinforcement 4 - ? (At 59)
Celestial Regeneration (At 59)
Divine Resurrection (100% rez) (At 59)
Persistent Casting 4 - ? (At 60)
Natural Durability 4 - ? (At 60)
Innate Run 4 - 5 (At 61)
Fury of Magic (At 61)
Divine Arbitration (At 61)
Combat Stability 4 - 7 (At 61)
Combat Agility 4 - 7 (At 61)
Planar Power (At 61)
Radiant Cure (At 61)
Healing Adept 4 - ? (At 62)
Healing Gift 4 - ? (At 62)
Blessing of Resurrection (At 65)
Silent Casting (At 66)
Spell Casting Subtlety 4 - ? (At 71)
Twinheal (At 86)

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Wizard Level 55 - 122 AA's, 6 banked

Here, I left the order numbers as in the original guide, but I decided other
AA's were of more importance to my style of play.

* 1) Innate Run 3 (Run 5 avail at 61)
* Innate Metabolism 3
* 2) Mnemonic Retention (9th spell slot)
* 3) Spell Casting Mastery 4
* Spell Casting Fury 3
* Combat Agility 3
* Combat Stability 3
* Natural Durability 3 (Next at 60)
* Persistent Casting 3 (Next at 60)
* Spell Casting Reinforcement 2
* Mental Clarity 2
* Innate Regen 2 (Maybe hould have been later?)
4) Exodus (At 59)
5) Fire Familiar (At 65)
* 6) Spell Casting Subtlety 3 (Next at 71)
7) Crit frequency ??
8) Destructive Fury (At 66)
9) Gift of Mana (At 66)/Gift of Radiant Mana (At 71)
10) Silent Casting (At 66)
11) Mind Crash (At 66)
12) Quick Damage (At 59)
13) Mana Regen
14) Buff Slots
15) Pyromancy/Cryomancy
16) Stat cap
17) Innate resists
18) Resist cap
19) Magic & Cold Familiars

Edited, Mar 18th 2013 1:42pm by KEC

Well for necros you really will not use direct damage spells that much, so anything that adds more damage or crit chances for direct damage spells are pretty useless. The critical affliction line is what you should max out every level. Now the wizard on the other hand would benefit from those since that is really their only way to deal damage. Death Peace is a great AA and anything that can make your pet hit harder/faster would be beneficial. It has been a while since I have played my necro but somewhere around those levels there is an AA snare that would free up a spell slot. The only disadvantage to the AA snare is that it does not do damage like the spell version. The Gift of Mana line is a great way to save mana for casters.

I have never really played a cleric before, just playing around at lower levels so I would not be much help there.

AA selection can be such tough choices. I sure wish EQ did like WoW does with the talent "trees", allow you to re-do your AA choices, even if it was only partially and even if (moan) it cost us plat to do so. Like for 10k plat you can reallocate 100 AAs. But please let's not offer this for RL cash thru the Marketplace, no no, anything but THAT! ;)

NM, I was responding to a spam post but evidently the admins removed it! Nice work!

Edited, May 24th 2013 6:40am by Sippin

AA's vs. leveling.....all I can say is to each their own.
Personally I would much rather stop at level intervals and grind out some aa's, then move up and stop to aa again. Since your chars are still pre-75 (as of this original thread) you are at a prime spot to catch your Cleric and Wiz up in levels AND aa's, before you move on with your Necro, in levels --- IMHO. That is only if your alts are on the same account, though. If you are 3 boxing - then I would set your cle/wiz at 50/50 exp and work them up to level 65 to match your Nec. Otherwise, the choice is totally up to you. =)
I have tried many approaches to character building: level like hell to 75, then grind out a few hundred aa's - move up to 80-90 then grind more aa's (not a great choice, since your char will lack efficiency at higher levels and lower aa count. Or, you can try this tactic (since you're still young enough in levels): stay at 65 or 70, w/e you choose, pick a min # of aa's you want to achieve, THEN you level up again in small increments - say 5 levels each grind.
It really depends on "your" gameplay needs as to how you choose to grind exp vs. aa's. Are you in a guild that req you to be a min level for raiding? Are you a casual player? Weigh the want vs. need and you will figure out how your char matures.
Over the 13+ yrs I've been playing, I would much rather have a level 65 necro with 600 aa's, than a lvl 75 necro with 150 aa's. Just because you're a high level, doesn't guaranteeyou'll live as long without aa's backing you up. Powerleveling is good, to a degree. It sickens me to see anyone that is 85+ with any less than 500-1k aa's. If you're a tank type, you're not going to be a good one since you don't have the def / aggro aa's you need to keep the rest of your group alive.

A quick guide to class type aa's you should focus on capping out for your current level:
-- Tanks - all out defensive /aggro aa's. Anything that gains you HP, AC, or mitigation is a must.
-- Healers - Heal type aa's, concentration, GoM line
-- Casters - Offensive (DoT) or spell damage / crits, GoM line
Just don't forget those Combat Stability / Agility for all classes!!!! Easy to push them off for caster types, but you'll be able to endure hits and live longer to ensure your group doesn't totally wipe once your tank drops.

My current status is:

Paladin, Level 72 843 AA's (Awaiting the AA Grind)
Necro, Level 70 - 813 AA's (Awaiting the AA Grind)
Beastlord, Level 70 680 AA's (Still many to go)
Wizard, Level 65 563 AA's (About all useful for level I think)
Cleric, Level 65 324 AA's (Next in line to finish level 65 AA's)

Thank you! Zooming to level was what put me in this situation in the first place. Just before I quit the game, the strat was to get 65, then AA. I was aiming at that. Then the level cap went to 70 and my entire guild defected to WoW. EQ after that was no fun so I quit. I came back in late November or early December of last year faced with a stable of chars with zero AA's and not able to even handle some grey con mobs in current content. I don't box. I do have 3 accounts from back in the day, but they were never boxed and my current laptop has a hard time handling one instance of EQ, lol. I decided that the level grind was over and the AA grind should start. I must say though that getting one level still feels much more satisfying than dozens of AA's. I guess that is due to AA's being a hidden stat for all intents and purposes as only I know how many I have.

The AA grind has taken it's toll though. It has been very boring. I had been off work due to illness and needed something to do. Now I have the go ahead to start working again 3 days a week, so EQ will be curtailed somewhat. I will however keep plugging away at the last few AA's for these levels....

Well I reported it. Seemed like an ad to me. Not sure why more people don't report them. I let them go for a few days sometimes, just to see. Not sure, if they always get reported, or if a developer just happens to see it (maybe not logged in or under a different name than their admin name). Anyway, the admins get on it pretty quick once you report it, unless it's like 3am or some strange time (maybe prime time also), when they're all asleep or playing. :)

Yther Ore.