Hi all :)
57 Beastlord here wanting to do some AAs. Question is where to solo that will be easy enough to be a viable way to do AAs pretty fast. Can solo some in GE but the fights take 2-3 minutes and I have to rest after each one. Was looking for some ideas for places with light blue cons that will still give decent AA exp but that I can go through fairly efficiently. My weapons are good but my armor (990 AC) needs some work, this is my main. Any help would be great, and thanks in advance.
I would assume the best place for your level would be the Hole if your looking for a hot zone. Mobs should be light blue to dark blue and experience is supposed to be real good. Also the mobs don't hit hard and they have few hp.
I have always done Velks for that level range on my toons, but that's me. The spiders should still be LB until about 61 (I know they went LB at 61 on the old con system). Just rememebr that some are invis, so see invis is a must.
Hit up the old world zones, mobs have fewer hitpoints and hit for less. There is a solo section on the board. I would suggest perusing the ideas in there then going and trying each out until you find a place you like and gives decent aaxp/hr. Some of the suggestions might be off now though, since retuning of how aaxp worked.
Personally, at 57 I was plowing gnolls in JPF. Boring but fast kills.
I am doing Acrylia Caverns at 57 with my sk. All are light blue but still decent experience, and good cash to boot.
The Hole is probably better exp but since I need the acrylia anyways to work on tailoring.../shrug.
umm.. shiera.. I gotta ask.. why farm for tailoring anywhere but ssra, since you're vah shir?
I went from like 120 to 268 where I am, strictly from shissar scales. I read on eqtraders that cultural combines also have a bonus to skillup while doing them.
Simple economics...
1 acrylia boning + 1 wrist pattern + 1 paela tannin + 1 flawless rockhopper hide = 1 combine for < 5 platinum (assuming you farm all you can and make your own tannin)
Compared to...
shissar scales + vah shir needle + small spool of ancestral acrylia = 22 plat for swatch
swatch + vah shir needle + large spool of ancestral acrylia + pattern = 64 plat
Total of ~86 plat per combine.
Neither combine has much resale value, especially with TSS. The non-cultural stuff you can at least vendor or tribute.
We don't all have lots of cash to plug into tradeskills. I have like 8k right now, and I save it for healing potions or if I have to buy a rezz stone. I avoid the cultural combines because they are over ten times more expensive. If I were sitting on 30-40k I might choose a different path.
My tailoring skill is 222, and I'm not planning to work it. I did make note of a most interesting new recipe should I decide to do so, skill 268: http://www.eqtraders.com/items/show_item.php?item=26432 (http://www.eqtraders.com/items/show_item.php?item=26432).
Old Sebilis is also currently a hot zone. If you don't already have the key that could be a problem, and getting around is a bit of a pain as well. Sucks that that port-out is in a heavily populated area, but I think you can Invis around safely.
Before you go, I'd suggest getting your Worker's Sledgemallet (http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=473) if you haven't already. Provided your Dex is decent, and you're not swamped with anymore than 2 enemies trying to beat on you--Unless you're able to take 2, in which case disregard that statement--it could get you out safely. Just be careful once you hit OT, as you'll land in a possibly hostile area, and have to run past a Cliff Golem to get to PoK.
Fastest way I could suggest getting hammer is to level up a Chanter shroud, and charm the foreman before doing turn-in.
If you don't like the Hole there is always Nurga. Plenty of posts about that place in the hunting sections.
/derail on :-D
Quote from: Shieara on December 21, 2006, 11:38:15 PM
Simple economics...
1 acrylia boning + 1 wrist pattern + 1 paela tannin + 1 flawless rockhopper hide = 1 combine for < 5 platinum (assuming you farm all you can and make your own tannin)
Compared to...
shissar scales + vah shir needle + small spool of ancestral acrylia = 22 plat for swatch
swatch + vah shir needle + large spool of ancestral acrylia + pattern = 64 plat
Total of ~86 plat per combine.
Neither combine has much resale value, especially with TSS. The non-cultural stuff you can at least vendor or tribute.
We don't all have lots of cash to plug into tradeskills. I have like 8k right now, and I save it for healing potions or if I have to buy a rezz stone. I avoid the cultural combines because they are over ten times more expensive. If I were sitting on 30-40k I might choose a different path.
I made the same calculations up to that point but went further and in the end came up with a different take.
You have to factor in the farming time for the superb/flawless hides and the acrylia. I tried going after the hides and I just couldn't find a place where they drop often and where mobs are plentiful.
My base line is this: I can get about one to two stacks of shissar scales in Ssra in two to three hours. (This is at level 67 so your total would be higher since at 73 you'd kill them faster, but let's stay with myself as an example.) Let's say I sell half of those in bazaar I end up with maybe 15 scales and enough plat to cover the cost of the combines (enough and then some, and I'm talking barter offers not the money I could get by putting them on my trader).
Now here comes the fun part: The 5% bonus for master cultural is, to put it mildly, misleading. It's 5 percentage points nor 5% for crying out loud. That means once you hit 268 raw skill it's a 100% bonus and, at your skill level, it's still a mighty 50% bonus. So those 15 scales would be worth 23 combines using traditional stuff.
So the big question is: can you come up with enough acrylia and hides to do 23 combines in 3 hours under the worst imaginable circumstances? If this is the case stick with Luclin tailoring, else it's another option - likely cultural.
Why likely? There are other options out there that I have not touched yet. I could go into details but that would be the start of another rambling post. :lol: Let's just say my own skill-up path was LoY dyes to 188, cultural augs to 222, hynid manes and solstice robes to 252 then master cultural all the way to the 292 where I am now.
/derail off
I have 4 guildies that have been grouping in the Hole all in the 30s except for a 56 necro who's is using a level 30 shroud. Currently the group makeup is a warrior, monk, necro and ranger. If 4 level 30s can solo there, with a ranger healer, then a level 57 Beastlord can easily solo there. Grab some healing and haste potions from the PoK and you will be set. Just remember you will need a gate potion to get out if you drop down into the pit or you will have to log out and wait 6 hours to use the Return Home button.
Quote from: Gunzak on December 22, 2006, 06:56:10 PM
I have 4 guildies that have been grouping in the Hole all in the 30s except for a 56 necro who's is using a level 30 shroud. Currently the group makeup is a warrior, monk, necro and ranger. If 4 level 30s can solo there, with a ranger healer, then a level 57 Beastlord can easily solo there. Grab some healing and haste potions from the PoK and you will be set. Just remember you will need a gate potion to get out if you drop down into the pit or you will have to log out and wait 6 hours to use the Return Home button.
I stayed in the Hole solo from about 53 to 57. This was before it became a hot zone and the xp was decent even then. Just curious, though. I keep reading about dropping into a pit. Did I just miss it? What pit are you talking about?
[Edit]: Wait a sec... Are you talking about the water passageways? Just remembered those...
Quote from: Gunzak on December 22, 2006, 06:56:10 PM
<snip>
If 4 level 30s can solo there, with a ranger healer, then a level 57 Beastlord can easily solo there.
<snip>
Not solo if they are grouped.
Typo I have 4 guildies who are grouped there in the 30s. By the pit I mean droping down to the second level. There is no way to get back up. You can't climb it and lev doesn't work in the Hole.
Quote from: Gunzak on December 23, 2006, 02:28:52 AM
Typo I have 4 guildies who are grouped there in the 30s. By the pit I mean droping down to the second level. There is no way to get back up. You can't climb it and lev doesn't work in the Hole.
You mean where those big guys are? Before getting to the undead? You can go back up through their fortress. It's a maze and a huge pain in the butt, but you're not trapped. ^_~ I once took a couple of people working on the enchanter epic to that Spirit of Kindle mob and one of them was a paladin with no gate potions, so he followed me all the way out.
Your right I forgot there is a gate out deep inside the Hole. I haven't been that far in for quite a long time.
Quote from: Gunzak on December 26, 2006, 07:03:12 PM
Your right I forgot there is a gate out deep inside the Hole. I haven't been that far in for quite a long time.
Actually, I'm talking about running back through the elemental fort and going back to the entrance of the zone. Nothing in there sees invis, iirc, since the undead section is past that. In any case, if you're cheap like me, it's certainly possible to leave the Hole without a gate potion or a port. If I leveled my Shaman and worked on alchemy... Well, in addition to being cheap, I'm also lazy...lol.
Well if you do not mind doing Dain missions from POR I think they would be the quickest. I grind Dain 1 and for every 4 missions I do I get 3 aa's. Each mission takes, with timer, about 1/2 hour.. So figure 3 aa's for every 2 hours of play.
I thought Dain had a 45 minute lockout timer so that even if you beat it quickly you still had to wait till the 45 min was up. I know I did Dain 1 several times and we would usually beat it in 25 minutes but had to sit around and wait to start another one.
It has a lockout timer if you finish it quicker than 45 mins I believe, so if you finish it in 23 you can do another in 22. It's not a normal lockout from when you complete it.