AA PointsFollow

What AA should I get?
This is the most commonly asked question, quite understandably. It's a matter of opinion, and your's matters most, but scroll down a bit if you want somebody else's.


What is AA?
AA, or alternate advancement, is a secondary class of experience. You can gain regular experience toward gaining levels, or you can gain "levels" of AA called points. Once you reach level 51, you can choose how to split your experience between these two. If you have some AA points, there is a menu in your inventory window that contains an enormous list of abilities you can acquire with them. Some cost as many as 9 points though!

Note that you have to be at least a certain level to acquire some of these abilities. Archetype abilties require level 55, Class level 59, and most PoP Adv and PoP Abil are 61 or more. You also MUST spend 6 points in general to get archetype abilities, and 12 points in archetype to get class abilities. Also, some abilities require that you have others first.


What are class titles? How do I get them?
Players gain a title before their full name based on the AAs they've spent. You can gain the title Baron or Baroness, by spending 6 points under the General tab. This is true to all players.
You become Venerable after spending 12 points in Archetype. This is true of all priests. Other classes have their own titles, notably Veteran and Master.
You become an Exarch after spending 24 points in Class abilties. Only clerics become Exarchs.
You can therefore possibly become an exarch after 42 points. (6+12+24) Most players do not beeline for their class title, and for clerics, it is unlikely you will want to spend 24 points in class right away.


What's an Exarch?
An Exarch is the head of an independent church. It's also a high-ranking official in the Eastern church, equivalent to a bishop. In other words, you're a religious leader. It follows suit with going from Vicar to Templar to High Priest.


How should I split my experience?
This is a major topic of debate. Some players think its best to level to 65 first and disregard AA completely. Others think you should split your exp as you level, either right away at 51 or at some later level. The prevailing opinion seems to be you should reach a certain level, usually 62, and then stop normal exp altogether, or set it very low, to get the AA most important to you before continuing to 65.

The key things to remember are...you gain AA exp at the rate you gain normal exp. So on higher levels, the same mob will give you less AA experience. On the other hand, if you are higher level, you should be able to tackle more difficult mobs that give you more. Generally speaking, this is why most people will say levels are more important than AA. People that stop at 62 do so because it's a reasonable compromise, and spells above level 62 from spectral parchments and runes are harder to come by, so you're really only maybe gaining some mana and HP. Level 65 increases your basic mana regen rate as well.

The one thing everyone seems to agree on is that you should get Run Speed 3 right away. Even the people that go to 65 first divert some of their exp to get only those first 3 points. Pick a goal level, and then focus on getting Run Speed 3.


Why is Run Speed 3 so great?
RS3 is like always having SoW. It's not actually as fast as SoW, just a hair under jboots speed actually. However, you *always* have it. You have it in dungeons. You can run faster than most mobs. No need to go mooch for a CR run. Great for just general everyday foot travel. Quoting another post by Keyera, "run3 is the single most useful aa you can get for the cost, no other aa gives you the worth for the amount of exp put into it IMO."

Nobody who has it already would argue with this opinion.


OK, so what should I do after that?
Your 4th, 5th, and 6th points are going to feel wasted. Don't worry about AA at this point until you're happy with your current level before directing yourself at AA again.

You still need to get 3 other points in general, and nothing there is anywhere near as useful as run speed. Innate Regeneration used to be the favorite pick for these before mod rod use was put on a timer. While still popular, many clerics opt for Innate Metabolism. If you don't use summoned food and drink, this is highly recommended. Innate Wisdom tends to be the third most popular option.


What AA are really important then?
Spell Casting Mastery. Spell Casting Mastery. Spell Casting Mastery. This is the other AA that goes undisputed. SCM lowers your relative costs for spells, meaning you should be able to cast a lot more of them. Use the rest of this commentary for loose guideline. You should spend points 7-18 here.

Divine Arbitration is a great ability for 3 points. Very fast casting skill that balances the damage in your group. (Not health, *damage*.) It comes at a slight penalty at level 1 that you can eliminate by putting more points into Div Arb (or DvA,) but one level will suffice for now.

Radiant Cure is also a nice pick-up for 2 points. If anyone gets a poison or disease, you can cure it outright every 3 minutes. Levels 2 and 3 increase the strength of the cure, and also add curse removal and then curing of *most* other detrimental effects. Get higher levels if they suit your needs, but get one level early on.

Mass Group Buff is a very important *raiding* tool. If you raid, you already know what it is, and if you don't raid, you shouldn't care. It comes at a steep 9 points, but they're also an important 9 points.

Those are the most important. Unless there's something else you're dying to have, you probably should get to level 65 at this point, although you might consider Mental Clarity 1 and Bestow Divine Aura.


What other abilities are important?
This is where opinion starts to matter more than advice. Already mentioned are:
Run Speed 3
Spell Casting Mastery 3
Divine Arbitration
Radiant Cure
Mass Group Buff
Mental Clarity 1
Bestow Divine Aura

You also might want to consider:
Healing Gift
Healing Adept
Innate Enlightenment & Planar Power
Natural Durability
Combat Agility & Lightning Reflexes
Spell Casting Reinforcement
Celestial Regeneration / Renewal



What's the deal with XXX ability?
I am placing a ranking from 1-10 on the significance of these abilities to me. Those rankings do not come without some bias, although I've tried to consider others' opinions.


General abilities
Innate abilities. One point for 2 wisdom, 2 stamina, etc. Not vastly important. Two wisdom is like 24 mana if you're above 200, 20 if above 255. The rest of these are probably not worth considering. Rating: 2

Innate Resistances. Same as innate abilities. Resistances become more important later in the game, while statistics tend to get capped by equipment, so these are a little more useful, but not high priority. Rating: 3

Innate Metabolism makes you eat less. While this sounds silly, it's actually something people take pretty seriously, especially people who bake stat food. Rating: 7.

Tanaan Craft Mastery is for you tradeskillers out there. It used to be you could only get one tradeskill above 200. (Tailoring, Smithing, Baking, Brewing, Fletching, Pottery) You can raise another of these to Grandmastery by putting 3 points into this ability. Rinse and repeat if you're a true tradeskill junkie. Rating: N/A

Innate Regeneration is nice to have. Not highly important, but not completely useless. Rating: 4

Innate Lung Capacity OTOH is pretty useless. Rating: 1
And First Aid is something no cleric would ever get, despite the name. Rating: 0



Archetype abilities

Spell Casting Mastery. Discussed above. Extremely vital. Ranking: 10

Mental Clarity increases your mana regen by 1 point per level. This does NOT count toward your Flowing Thought total. Diminishing returns with each level though. Rating: 1st level 8, 2nd level 7, third level 6

Natural Durability. Some players feel that your HP are more important than anything else. Whether you dwell on your HP total or not, it's nice to have a free extra 10 percent. Rating: 8

Combat Agility. It's nice to not get hit. Rating: 7

Healing Adept increases the actual amount your heals work for. Does not help heals over time, and you might argue the effect is minimal. Some clerics swear this is of utmost importance, others say it's a waste. Rating: 6

Healing Gift gives you a chance to cast a critical heal. Can be very nice at times. Since casting a critical CH is basically useless, some clerics feel this is more of a druid ability. It is, however, a prerequisite for some class abilities. Rating: 7

Spell Casting Reinforcement makes your buffs last longer. This includes your Elixirs, which are probably the biggest reason to get this. Rating: 6

Combat Stability increases the damage you mitigate with your armor. Fortunately clerics wear plate, so this helps more than with other classes. Unfortunately, the damage negated by CS is a lot less pronounced than that of missing completely with Combat Agility. Rating: 5

Spell Casting Fury lets you cast critical nukes. This does affect weapon procs. Higher levels increase the chance of having a critical. They also increase the effect of a critical from a 1/3 increase, to a 2/3 increase, to doubling the damage on the nuke. Very much a matter of taste and playstyle. Maxing this is probably not high on your priorities. Rating: 1st level 7 for fun, 4 otherwise

Channeling Focus. This ability is grossly unpopular by most clerics, as they have heard it was useless from other sources. There is a select group that have this ability and will stand up for it, as it is supposed to reduce your chances to be interrupted. The nay-sayers claim that that chance is negligible, but its supporters have claimed it has helped them channel in situations that seemed like certain doom. Rating: 3



Class abilties

Mass Group Buff is very important to a raider. After using this ability, the next group buff spell you cast will affect *everyone* around you. Makes buffing a raid infinitely easier. Can also be used with Ethereal Elixir or Celestial Regeneration to heal everyone around you. Using MGB will make the spell cost twice as much though - this is a bit of a misnomer. You need to be able to cast the spell normally to cast it, but you will have up to twice the cost of the spell removed from your mana pool when you cast it. (If you have 2000 mana or 4000 mana, you will be oom after MGB Blessings of Aegolism. If you have 5000, you will have 1000 left.) Rating: 9

Bestow Divine Aura is an underrated ability that can save your life routinely. The spell lets you cast Divine Aura on somebody else, and it works instantly. This is the intended purpose, and while normal heals don't work, you CAN use Divine Arbitration to heal someone low on health with BDA up. The far more common use however, because it is instant, doesn't use a spell slot, and doesn't take 10 minutes to recycle when you die, is to use it on yourself. Especially because of that instant part. Rating: 9

Celestial Regeneration is a group regen over time. It uses to affect a single target for a lot more per tick, but instead resembles a druid's Spirit of the Wood now. Using this in conjunction with Divine Arbitration works incredibly well. It heals roughly 300 per tick, depending on if you get the follow-up ability Celestial Renewal. Rating: 8

Spell Casting Reinforcement Mastery: See Spell Casting Reinforcement. Rating: 6

Divine Resurrection gives you your full experience back, and leaves you with full health and mana. If you've ever been rezzed by a GM, it does the same thing. Long reuse time makes it something you use only for a special occasion to bring someone in with full mana. That extra 4 percent is not worth being greedy over, nor is it worth spending 5 AA points. Used strategically though, it can be very helpful to get someone back on their feet. Rating: 5

Innate IVU lets you turn invisible instantly...to undead only of course. Very limited usefulness. Rating: 4

Purify Soul completely removes ALL detrimental effects on a single target, excepting rez effects and charm. The recently reduced reuse time makes it more useful, but Radiant Cure is usually more useful. Rating: 4


Turn Undead casts a targetable AE fear dot, affecting undead. It deals 250 damage per tick on level 1, 1250 on 2, and 2500 on 3, and it lasts about 4 ticks. The snag with this ability is that it has fear. Mobs above level 55 cannot be feared, so this ability does not affect mobs above level 55. By the time you get this, not many exp mobs meet this requirement. Rating: 1, unless you think it will be fun (and it can be very rarely)


PoP Adv abilties

Stat increases: see general
Resist increases: see general

Planar Power: Raises the cap on all your stats by 5. Combined with the increase of 5 per level after 60, this makes the maximum for your statistics 305.
Innate Enlightenment: Does the same thing as Planar Power, except only for wisdom and intelligence, and by 10. Your wisdom can then go to 355.
Rating these abilities is awkward since it depends on your wisdom. You should keep your wisdom uncapped (unless it's above 355.) IMHO, your unbuffed wisdom. The other snag is knowing which to pick. Two levels of Planar Power costs an extra point over IE, but also increases your other caps by 10. Rating: 8 while wisdom is near-capped, 2 when not.


PoP Abil abilities

Radiant Cure is discussed earlier on. Level 1 is important. Levels 2 and 3 are rather useful also. Rating: 1st level 9, later 7

Divine Arbitration balances the damage taken in your party. So if one person in a group of 5 is missing 2000 hp, and another is missing 3000, using this ability will fully heal them, and then give every party member 1000 damage. With the 20% penalty at level 1, all the players take 1200 instead. Level 3 eliminates this penalty. Rating: 1st level 9, later 5

Unfailing Divinity is a very important raiding tool if you cast Divine Intervention. DI is a buff that saves someone if they get close to death, and then the buff goes away. It doesn't always work though. Unfailing Divinity makes the spell reliable, though not fool-proof. Rating: 7 if you cast DI for raids, 0 if not

Lightning Reflexes: see Combat Agility
Adv. Healing Adept: see Healing Adept
Adv. Healing Gift: see Healing Gift, however this is not a prerequisite for anything. Rating: 5
Celestial Renewal: see Celestial Regeneration. The upgrades are not nearly as important though. 250/tick becomes 300/tick after spending 9 points. Rating: 4
Innate Defense: see Combat Stability
Fury of Magic: see Spell Casting Fury. This does not further increase the effect of a crit.

Hastened Purification reduces reuse time on Purify Soul. Yippee. Rating: 1
Hastened Turning reduces reuse time on Turn Undead. Yippee. Rating: 1
Hastened Divinity reduces reuse time on Bestow Divine Aura. Yip...actually, this is quite useful if you use BDA often. 144 minutes is a long time to wait. Rating: whatever you yourself rate BDA 1-10 after you have it.


Summary?

note: this is in need of a rework, and will probably wait until the new GoD AA's have been tested and evaluated.

This is a possible list of priorities, based on what's been said here.

10 - RS3, Regen 3, SCM3 (18 points)
9 - BDA, MGB, RC1, DvA1 (+20, 38 total)
8 - MC1, ND3, IE5, PP5 (+39, 77)
7 - MC2, CA3->LR5, SCF1, RC2&3, UD3, HG3->CR1 (+72, 149)
6 - MC3, HA3, SCR3->SCRM, CR3, AHA3, HD3, TU1 (+68, 217)
5 - CS3->ID5, DvA2&3, AHG3, Meta 3 (+48, 265)
4 - SCF3, IIVU, PS, DR (+23, 28
3 - CF3, resist increases (+87, 375)
2 - FoM3, stat increases (+123, 49
1 - ILC3, TU3, HP3, HT3, TCM6, FA3 (+51, 549)


Don't adhere to this too strictly; I didn't. You might find that Healing Adept is more important to you or that you like to tradeskill heavily. Above all else, remember that your opinion matters most.