AA path Advice

[Argach]

- Pet mend is a bit like pet affinity and you just don't seem to be needing it yet. Also most once they finally buy pet mend drop 6 more points right into hastened mending. HM is great, but if mend is only so/so for you then it's not really where you want to go. I'd say stay away from it until you are ready to drop all 11 points into it.

For me, the ordinary pet mend with 36 (?) min refresh was very much worth the 5 points. I usually used it once or twice per evening of soloing/raiding, usually after a bad pull or the first time AEs got my pet low. Faster refresh wouldn't have done much for me since I already used it only once per 40-80 min or so, but the times I did use it it was a huge help. There's quite a number of tough solo battles I'm quite sure I would've lost if I hadn't had pet mend (GW + racnar in VP, 6 mobs in Hate's Fury etc).

[Tastian]

As always it depends what you are doing.  He didn't sound like he was really needing pet mend for the AE type of battles, but more as a free heal type of option, hence why pet affinity didn't seem so hot, etc.  You can certainly just spend 5 on pet mend and I had that long before hastened was even an option hehe.  It's a nice skill even if you don't use it that much and nice to have sitting there no doubt.  Guess I should have been more clear.  Good point arg and I still miss ya in game 8P

[Argach]

I see what yer try to do Tastian, but I have to say it takes more than being soppy to get rid of me - I shall remain until removed by WoW or some other EQ-killer. -_-

[Tastian]

hehe EQ is the greatest EQ-killer of all.  I think it's so funny people keep talking about WoW and AC and DAoC and everything else over the years, but ya know what's killed EQ more than anything?  GoD, Lack of (good) CS,  various other dumb expansions over the last few years lol.  I think EQ has easily cost itself more people than other games have successfully taken and kept.  Either way I'll catch ya on EQIM and stuff some I'm sure.  8)

[Vidyne]

little more for you to comment on Tastian.. :)

melee or spell crits? over the stuff I mentioned....  I was told they werent "that" much of an increase and ambi and pet crit/flurry should come first and that crits were just eye candy..... but I dont really know.

Healing AAs?

and last.. PP5, I am putting this off because I cant really max any stat past 280 atm cept sta with fero which would hit 305 I think or more.  Should I get it just to get it or ambi first like you suggested?

btw, atm its ambi vs pet affinity.... ambi because its what I think I "should" get next, and pet affinity because its what everyoen thinks is cool and what I would "like" kinda as a toy....   so I guess ill get ambi.

[TerjynPovar]

Level 1 Combat Fury is worth getting.  Beyond that, it's a very miniscule improvement on an AA/DPS rate.

Spell Casting Fury on the other hand gets better with more AAs spent...and really needs all 12 to shine.  Even with all 12 though, you have to consistently run 2+ DDs or have Lifetaps/high Damage weapon procs to make it worth it.

Ultimately, nobody can answer whether to get SCF except yourself.  If I had lifetaps or the mana regen to run 2+ DDs I'd be all over it, but I don't have either, so I don't have SCF.

[Vidyne]

updated magelo to reflect lifetap, thought I already had it on there... :(


and... not to be non-uber, but I only have the 10k drog.... its not nearly as fast as run2 it seems...

[Vidyne]

"Ambi is very nice, especially if you are going down the hth route, that will also open up SS so you have more questions to ask!! "

Ok.. got ambi and updated first post....
Now I got more questions, like you said Tastian :)

Am thinking pet crit5, then MC3 or Waffinity3 or so...

After that, thinking Pet affinity or Mend companion set of AAs...
After all that is done... im clueless.

[Tastian]

Looked over your magelo.  What you listed sounded good.  Also according to magelo you don't have combat fury 1 (by far the best deal),  frenzy of spirits (underrated, very fun/useful), no SCF, no healing AA's, Sinister strikes.  Not sure where those will for you personally, but a few of them are pretty cheap.  I'd only buy rank 1 combat fury so only 2 points,  Frenzy is cheap in class just one rank.  SCF like has been said is a personal choice, but as AA's wind down it's still quite viable.  Sinister strikes is a nice 3(ish) dps boost.  You mentioned LT proc, healing AA's are a big investment and I wouldn't do right off, but definetly as you feel your choices are winding down you could start working on.  You can easily stay busy until the next expansion imo hehe.

[Vidyne]

Feel bad to keep asking... but... really want everything now... but dont know what to get first..  Is this normal for a beastlord around 160?

I know I want to beef my pet some with pet crit.
I know I love the extra lifetaps from Waffinity.
I wanna see what pet affinity is like.
I could always use the extra mana regen from MC3 when being shaman/enchanter and beastlord.

Ive also been told spell crit3 and melee crit3 were good....
Sinister strikes but I hate to put that many aa into it for just a mild dps boost.
Mend companion but I never heal my pet anymore, even on raids, only when soloing... and I do that very rarely.

I.... I dunno, I dont wanna do the SS for the mild dps boost it seems to me, when I think proccing more lifetaps would be better or seeing kitty crit more.  I dont want a pet heal that ill hardly ever use, when I could use more mana regen or have kitty get group buffs.

I wouldnt mind dropping 10 more into melee crit, but spell crit... im kinda hesisitant on....

Just really ... confused yall :(
So much to get now that I weigh almost equal, where as before like... say at 18 aa, it was, you will get paragon, period, or before LR5, id get it Asap.... now... theres nothing... to really "get"  its just what I want.

Just looking for suggestions and understanding.  Hope I dont upset yall by posting so much.

[Tastian]

Yeah lots get torn on what to do and even those that have a "plan" seldom stick to it.  Situations change.  "mild" dps boost for sinister is a bit of a relative understatement imo.  Sinister is 15aa's for ~3dps boost.  Feral swipe is about 1dps and costs 9aa's.  SCF3 costs 12AA's to max and you'd have to be doing ~50 non melee dps to get the ~3 boost sinister gives you.  Combat crits are rough to as they get costly.  Anyone telling you combat fury3 is a good deal is smoking crack imo.  Combat fury 1 is nice, but the later levels just don't give nearly the return.  Combat fury 2 + 3 is about equal to what combat fury 1 was.

Pet affinity is ok, but if you seldom heal your pet then likely you wouldn't get much out of pet affinity.  Bards with overhaste raise pet dps.  The pet doesn't benefit nearly as much from atk buffs as a PC though and even catching Pred and tunare and vallons the difference in dps is modest.  

Pet mend might not be for you atm and if so skip it for now.  It's kinda like hobble and certain other AA's if you don't see yourself using it then don't get it for now.

Lifetap procs are fun and I always enjoyed healing.  I really enjoyed maxing healing AA's, but again they are a personal style kind of thing.  I know some bst that don't even have a heal mem'd half the time.  

Mental clarity is great.  Last rank is a bit rough with all the other things you can get with 6AA's, but the first two are really nice imo.

Weapon affinity is great, but again depends on your situation.  Weapon affinity does get costly after the first few ranks though and if you don't have high damage procs or atleast a couple lifetaps I'm not sure I'd do 4 & 5 right away.  Instead I'd probably work on something else.

Not really my style to say what I think you should get, so I'll just tell ya to have fun again and fire away anymore specific questions you might have that might help you decide what you want to buy next.  8)

[Vidyne]

as always your very quick to reply tastian and helpful :)

I dunno....
I just... dont want anymore passives for now I guess.....
I dont want more dps... *gasp*

I wanna see those nice perty crits everyone else has, want kitty to crit like a machine gun, want more mana regen always.... but before other stuff was more important.  I noticed a good jump in proc rate from WA0 to WA1, so im hoping to get WA3 at least.... and see the same jump.

Pet affinity like you said... iffy....  but.. ever since the first day GoD came out, i wanted it for some reason... dont ask me why.

Thanks Tastian

I guess... after slow grinding def AA and ambi and not seeing.... that much from ambi.... I want something tangible I guess... something I can see....

LR5 was so vast of an improvement.....  ID5 was pretty good too, though its random... sometimes ill be in ldon and get 2 on me as tank, and neither hit me over 150, then the next single, he'll max 350s the whole time.... /shrug.

Just... ambi... didnt seem all that it was supposed to be... I want another, aa I can see, melee crit1 was nice and made me a little happy :)

Thats why I want pet crit5 or weapon affinity3-5, or pet affinity.
Those I think ill really see benefit from, kitty criting like mad, me lifetaping almost every round?, or kitty getting buffs on raids or tearing things up with bard buffs in ldon.

MC3, is just something I need to do sometime, because I do need the mana regen, just... been doing without it.

[Tastian]

Yeah I know what it's like and certain things you have to parse to really see.  It's also nice to have an ability you didn't have before a new hot key.  Pet mend, frenzy of spirits, suspend minion.  They are all more tangible in that before training you couldn't do it before.  You have a lot of the main AA's out of the way and even if you didn't I'd still say just have fun with it.  By that token you might want to train Feral swipe.  I don't think I've ever actually suggested it to anyone and well I'm not really now.  It's a minor dps boost (~1dps depending), but it's something new, it's a new button to push (1 min refresh so not tedious) and it has some eye candy.  My max feral swipe that I can recall was 861 or so.  Usual max is 297 or so.  Don't watch it too close or else the misses will drive you nuts, but it might be something you want to look into.  Pet affinity is definitely nice in spots too.  *shrugs* keep having fun with it and just wait until next expansion when you have even more choices!! hehe

[Vidyne]

Whelp I decided im going for pet affinity, 8 aa saved so far.


After that pet crit5, or mental clarity3,  then.... tough decisions again

Healing AAs(I assume gift first, then adept?)  or spell crit/melee crit, or resists or something... maybe even pet flurry or run5 for fun.

Sstrikes I decided will wait a good while on.
Waffinity I decided ill wait til i have 2-4 procs and not just one.
Feral Swipe is nice.... but heard bad about it.


Also....
What anyone's feelings on the chance to kill a target at 10% life, or double riposte, or fear resistance?   These arent much talked about.. and I assumed they werent that great... im just wondering.

I kinda feel im pretty uber now :)  *cocky*
So... i guess I want to make kitty uber :)
I figure pet flurry3 maybe if I can stand it, pet crit5, and pet affinity with a bard in LDoN and people's jaws will drop.

But.. as youve said in another post.... PP5, I think is a tad overrated... unless your a member of uber guild X and really like to have the extra stats... I just dont see much benefit from 305 instead of 280... half my guild tells me im crazy and PP5 shoulda been done at like 70aa.

Resists, ive always wanted to have super high magic, just for some reason.   I recently grouped with bard on raid, and with regular resist buffs(tribunal, seasons, GoD, Fero), I hit 500 all resists with resist gear.
So.. svmag would be nice, but for now ill get others first.

I might get mastery of the past1, just so i dont fizzle sow, I fizzle sow more than I do invis... /sigh

Lots of choices, lots of ways to go, but thats an update for ya.

[Tastian]

Nice nice...

Finishing blow is lame because the mobs it worked on are level capped by rank and it's just bleh imo.  Maxed out it can work on normal LDoNs, but that's a lot of points for random "utility".

Double riposte is @$$.  I've got numbers somewhere on the dps boost from maxing it + planar and it's just some crazy small ratio for points spent.  

Fear resistance is minor.  Very few fights where it'd matter and again you are paying a lot of points for minor/random "utility".