EQ1 vs EQ2: making the AA's keep excitement lastFollow

I realize that in EQ1 many people (not I) felt the AA's might have been getting too powerful. I don't know about that, but I know I never ran out of things to do when level caps were reached.
I can make alts, and work on quests, but AA's ensured I always had something to work for.
EQ2 significantly decreases the amount of AA's available (though early in game so hard to say what will happen) and also the amount you are each able to attain has been reduced. I am okay with limiting so you can't just get them all, but I believe that you should be able to spend all aa's in any area you want, and keep giving more aa points available, even if they don't give more aa's to attain. So long term, you could actually get every tree filled in the initial aa lines if that was what you chose to do as an example.
Any thoughts on this?

EQ1 AA's were pretty easy to get once you got to a certain level. An AA point was equal to the exp needed to go from level 50 to 51. Thus @ level 75, you can blast out a bunch in a short period of time since your fighting mobs roughly 20 levels higher. I believe some classes could potentially get about 1300-1400 AA's. AA abilities were fairly nice upgrades even from the beginning.
Runspeed 3, Mana Regen, Hit Point Regen, etc... just a few AA's to max out and were quite nice.

EQ2 Achievements are 99% related to doing quests, killing named mobs, discovery exp, etc... Discovering a new area can give you 20% of an Achievement point. Killing 100 level 65 mobs may give you 5%. I am not a huge fan of this. As a casual level 70 who didn't get any Achievements until level 50 (when they first came out), I am stuck at 64 or so. Not really that big of a deal since I will probably catch up when the new expansion comes out.

IMHO - EQ2 Achievements are not really all that exciting. At least for Pallys. The Paladin side is okay with the strength, stamina, wisdom, etc.. lines. The crusader healing side is fairly lame. Who needs a 1 min shorter recast on Lay On Hands (from a 15 minute reuse timer)? I can't even remember the other abilities.

Edited, Aug 15th 2007 3:22:48pm by bubspeed

Granted AAs seem to be lacking some currently with what you have for choices and trying to specialize your class but as you said it is still pretty young. The level cap has increased 20 levels since the start of the game. Also with the original game you did not even have the AAs. As the expansions keep rolling out you will see the AAs expand to is my guess. Or at least get a power boost to them. I read someone when the game first came out that the designed it with the plan to have at least 100 lvls. If thats the case we still have 30 more levels to go. Maybe the will even give us another branch :P. Then I can specialize my troub and templar even more.

Personally I agree with EQ1 AA's that seem more usefull and easy to come by. I had a 70 Shaman (before cap increase) that had around 500 AA's. Sadly AA's made up so much of your character that simply Shouting, "70 Shaman LFG" wasnt enough. A lot of times people had minimun AA requirements for grouping and raiding.

I think SoE wanted to get away from AA's required to be successful in the game. and more of a use to customize your character. For example, If you took three level 70 SK's in EQ2 with the same gear, one with with no AA's, one with 50AA's, and one with 100AA's, they would still be able to preform the basic task of tanking or DPS. Completely based on how they are geared. However, If one of the SK's with AA's decided he wants to AA spec for Tanking, and the other Spec's for DPS, youll find that both of them will out preform the other SK with no AA's in DPs and tnaking abilities. This doesnt mean that the SK without AA's cant do the job, simply that its easier with more AA's.

In EQ1, you couldnt have a tank with 0 AA's. His mitigaiton, agro control, DPS, and everything else woudl lack so bad that it would be better to have a scout tank.

I dont think AA's should be made easier to come by. Having 100AA's and having 50AA's will make a big difference depending on what you are trying to get done. Also the time invested to get the AA's normally indicated a bit more hard core player then the casual or norm.

To stray for the AA talk a sec, I do beleive that SoE is making the game, or at least raid content more difficult then needed and making raids cater to the 1% of hard core guilds that can pull off that stuff. (Example: The Rumbler on the first floor of EH). or the Throne of New Tunaria.

Back to AA's. It should be difficult to get AA's, however I do agree that they shoudl be beefed up. Spending 8 AA's to gain 4% health increase isnt that much. Spending 20AA's to put 1 point into Siphon Hate and have it only trasnfer 3% is not enough