Level or AA? What to do.....Follow

I am a shammy not a tank, but I stopped at 65 for AA's, though I had a some before that. But I mostly stopped until I can get runes for spells. It is easier to get AA's at 65. You are right about bot being better experience, but you should be able to get a group there.

How did you get CA1 and LR1. LR requires lvl 3 CA.


Realize that the higher zones will require a better tank. I would recomend getting CA3 - LR5 - ND3 CS and ID are mitigation and you'll get more out of the avoidance ones, especially LR5.

If you're tanking very well now I would probably lvl. If you're barely getting by I would aa. Once you hit 65 I highly recomend getting a lot of aa's. You'll have lots of choices of good xp zones and get a chance to gear up along the way.

I am in the same boat as you are, except that I play a lot more hour, i just don't actually spend my time doing the "Grind" of killing mobs for exp, I do a LOT of tradeskills and quests.

Anyway, I had the same dillemma when I was 55, all of my friends maxxed out their level and were strictly working on AA's while I was still seemingly stuck in 55. So I took all my AA Exp down to zero and focused on Leveling. MADE myself grind, until I hat 60. I had decided that I would not work on aa's until I hit 60.

That was about a week ago. Once I hit 60 if I was doing a planes (or any expansions that came out after Planes) group I would put exp at 50/50 (50% AA - 50% reg). If I was doing old school zones I was at 20% AA 80% reg. And Ldon I did the opposite 80% AA and 20% exp. This has worked out well for me, in a week I have several new AAs and 3 new levels. Also maxxed out Jewelry, fletching and baking.

I think you should experiment with the different ways the expansions seem to increase YOUR experience. Maybe it will be different for you.

As with all AA related discussions, it depends highly on where you hunt. My bard can get an AA every 30 minutes or so (double that with veteran AA double experience of course) doing the Creator mission at level 68. It's about the same pace in WoS cubby, but much slower at WoS on the wall. My bard doesn't have to tank of course, so it's not AS important that he have all of the defensive AA's.

I'd suggest just going to 65 and raping PoV inner and outer or doing BoT at 64. The only problem with BoT is people are going to expect you to tank the Kriger's and named, and that may be tough, depending on your gear situation.

Thanks for the input. I was only able to play a bit on Sunday but have taken your advice and started to level again. I'm half-way to 64. Hopefully will be 65 in about 2 weeks depending on how much time I get online. Then I'll just park it to get all my def aa's.
Dartanicusx
63 Paladin
Povar

Eh? That's an oversimplification though. In PoV *maybe* a level 65 with no AAs will tank better then a level 63 with 20 AAs. It's almost a wash actually. But that's largely because in PoV, the averge mob level is higher, and so level makes more of a difference. That's not always going to be the case everywhere you go though.

The point is that a level 63 with 20 AAs will do better then a level 63 *without* any AAs. Most often, and in most zones, you're going to be competing with people your own level. So if you take the time to get some AAs at level 63, then you'll be a better tank at level 64, and at level 65, and so forth. I do agree with the earlier statement that up to level 65, it's not as noticable. Post 65, a lack of AAs is *very* noticable. You try to tank in those level ranges with no AAs, and your group will know. Your healer will know. It *will* affect your ability to get into pickup groups if they expect you to tank. I know that I run into alot of the same people over and over in Oow and DoN zones/missions. They get to know who can tank and who's made out of tissue paper, and given the choice, they'll pick up the guy that can hack it over one that can't. And 9 times out of 10, that's going to be the guy who spent the time getting more AAs.


At some point, if you play a tank, unless you are lucky enough to have a group of people who'll carry you through your leveling and AA hunting, you *will* need to pick up a number of AAs in order to be an effective tank. At what point will you do that? A varient of the Peter Principle comes to mind here. If you don't get AAs *before* you require them, then you'll find yourself at a level (like 66 or 67) where you're suddenly very ineffective at tanking mobs for groups your same level. You'll find it harder to gain those AAs because you'll spend more time LFG, or you'll lose any AA/time benefit of higher level because you'll have to "slum" in lower end zones where you're still an effective tank.


While it's not required, your life as a tank will really go much more smoothly if you stop periodically to pick up AAs along the way. What you really really don't want to happen is to find yourself in that situation where you've outleveled your ability to perform your task (tanking) in a group. If you ignore AAs, and just grind up into the 66-70 range, you will most likely run into that problem.


Again though, the biggest determinant is fun. If you want to just gain levels, then just gain levels. If you want to stop and get some AAs, then do that. Ultimately, it's about what you enjoy doing. Honestly though, it's not like grinding AAs in MPG is much different then grinding them in NC/WoS. It's still killing mobs over and over for hours on end. What level you're at doesn't make that much difference. If you've got friends/guildmates that are all higher level, then by all means level up so you can play with them. But don't feel like you must rush to 70 as fast as possible just because that's the highest level in the game currently. You don't get a prize at the top level. The mobs are just tougher is all...

They'll both be hunting in PoV though because after the level 70 with 100 AA's gets in a couple of groups in MPG and can't hang, he'll never be able to find a group there again. Due to that, the 65 will still be gaining AA faster then the 70 because he's in a closer relative level range to the mobs they're hunting. That's why Gbaji was saying it's very relative to WHERE and WHAT you hunt. For casters, it's not as big a problem. Wether or not your spells stick is based on your level versus the mobs level and the mobs resistances. For a tank, a lot of the weight falls on his abilities and gear.

Getting to 60, then doing AA.

Then going to 62, then AA.

Then 65, then AA.

etc...

You need to factor into the equation what level that person would be if he put that XP that got him 20 AAs into regular XP. That would have got him to 64 definitely, perhaps 65.

No. You don't need to fact that in at all. You factor that in only in terms of how long it takes you to get to a particular level/AA point. But when someone looks at the LFG listing, they don't see how long you played your character. They only see your class and level. If they're looking at two level 63 tanks, both are equally desired for the group. But the one with 20AA points will be a better tank.


That's also the flaw with Elorian's post. It assumes that players have no memory. Maybe back in the heyday of EQ you could disappear into obscurity and level up rarely hunting with the same people. In today's game, I often find that it's the same 1-2 dozen people hunting any given zone on any given night. Always. The idea that they don't know if you have AAs only applies to the first time you get into a group with those people. They'll remember the next time and you wont get an invite unless you are the last tank available anywhere in the game.

That's the point I'm trying to make here folks. For most players, you are going to be compared to other characters of your same level and class. For tanks, the difference between someone with AAs and without is absolutely *huge*. It's immediately apparent to everyone in the group when tank1 leaves the group and tank2, who is the exact same level and class, is taking damage at twice the rate and dying every single time a named is pulled, taking half the group with him. The next time tank1 and tank2 are both lfg, who do you think will get the invite?


Sure. A level 70 with no AAs can tank in MPG if you've got a really good healer. But then so can a rogue or ranger or BL. But do you think that tank will get invited the next time they need one? Nope. Everything else being equal, a group will take the tank that will require the least healing. Why bother inviting that tank if he's not needed? That's an irrelevant argument then since you're essentially assuming a group that doesn't care how good the tank is. That's going to be a false assumption most of the time...

i would have to say LVL up and then AA, aa's come fast once your in the higher end zones.. Lvling is the big long grind once it is out of the way you feel so good knowing that its over hehe . i mean if there is aa's your guild needs you to have get those or the ones you CANT live with out but id stay with lvling as much as you can