Suitable solo spots for a sub-standard 75 Pally?

[Gorblimey]

Hello Chaps

Looking for some advice on where to solo as a substandard lvl75 Pally.

Firstly to put things into context:

I returned to EQ a few weeks ago having last played probably about 1.5 to 2 yrs ago and that itself was me 'returning' from a period of inactivity and I think I just ran around playing on a few alts for while.

So my last intensive EQ experience was some time ago when I was playing catchup in PoTime, DoN and GoD raids and could hit over 12k hps buffed! <cough>

I came back to EQ as a lvl70 Pally with 160-something AA and a bunch of mostly GoD raid armour.

Have now hit lvl75 and just over 400AA and have replaced just about every piece of gear with significant upgrades (from new Guk, new BB, the baz) whilst still still lacking decent AC augs. So currently at just under 2.5k ac and just over 13k hps unbuffed.

Have had fun in some old zones such as BoT and CoD due to a) nostalgia, b) both soloable and useful benchmark for me to measure improvements, c) BoT very popular and easy for me to group and meet new peeps, d) convenience of location.

I'd like to pick up the pace a bit though and grab a couple of hundred more AAs fairly swiftish and to that end I did venture for the first time to find the Golems at Direwind Cliffs but to be honest I was finding it hard work before the add came along at which point I got a complete kicking!

So......

Do you have suggestions of where can I go to burn through a bunch of AAs whilst solo, hopefully taking advantage of Slay Undead (currently at 7/9).

Gorblimey Kindheart
(75 Pally - Saryrn)

[Genadinee]

Arcstone for the undeads, would be my first suggestion.

WoS murkgliders would be 2nd suggestion.

Both are easier than Direwind as they should be singles and on AB at least its almost never camped.

Edit

I see you have a Druid box, so yes go to Arcstone

[Cromagnon]

Don't play a pally myself, but there are undead in The Buried Sea (the zone, in the TBS expansion) which might work well for you, druids also get a port directly there, and Guild Hall portal can take you to Katta which is just a short click away from being in TBS (the zone). Ruins of Illsalin is another undead zone, though might be a bit to tough for soloing, just make sure to dispell anything on incoming as DoD mobs like to buff themselves and others.

[Gorblimey]

Thanks for the advice, did have a quick look at the undead in arcstone and they're certainly doable.

Just to be clear the SK and Dru are alts on same account so not 2 or 3 boxed - used to do a bit of 3 boxing with friends accounts after they left EQ years ago but I'm not inclined to pay to revive those accounts at present.

Will probably also hit the murks in WOS, for nostalgia, but also I may as well try to pick up the ac aug.

Cheers

Gorby

[Beregorn]

Go non-instance version of the nest - there are undeads too - and really NEVER camped ^^

[Gorblimey]

That would be the "Accursed Nest" in DoN I'm presuming?

[Normy]

Arcstone is silly easy xp at your level. Not always the fastest, but the pulls are always single unless you want more, nothing else in the immediate area will agro you unless you wander, and the respawns are fast enough to always give you something to kill.

Also, since you mentioned AC augs, you could probably solo the AC aug mob in RSS, the Pyrilian something or other. Can get 4 +25 ac augs to fit your wrists, legs, and chest. It would be slow though, so if you can grab a DPS friend to come make things faster you'll have better results.

There is also a named in MPG that drops a +20 ac aug. Ground Murkglider Eye or something. Can probalby solo him as well, be ready to root though, a running mob can ruin your day.

[Merx]

I highly doubt he could solo that camp(RSS), between SI that is up occasionally on the way there, the pather that comes near, the mobs are outdated but not pushovers at that hp/ac, going to need more than solo. I think the named will also try and charm you. I would get the DoN ac augs,you can use like 4 of em, each is 10ac. THen id go after the old hotzone ac augs, try and get a group together and do the DoD mission for the Illsallin templar medal(30ac aug), there is also another mission for a 20ac aug. There are 2 monster missions that give 20ac augs with asome hp on em, one is brrraaaiiinnsss, the other starts in emerald jungle. These are very easy ac augs to obtain off the top of my head. Arcstone is goign to be good aaxp/xp at your level, and if you dont have slay maxxed get on that pronto because it helps our solo soooo much. My 6cp lol

[varutia]

Nest is ok for anguish level geared toon, I did a lot of xp there around 75, and grind my way up to 78 after coming back after not playing for almost two year.

RoI right now is where you need to be, I get about 4 aa per lesson without trying, did get 6 aa one time during lesson when really pushing it. Buried sea is ok but xp rate no where near RoI as it is hotzone now. I also did most of 78 to 80 there. Another good option to earn xp are those solo taskes in SoF, you can buy some gears to fill out certain slots with the rewards as well.

[Gorblimey]

Thanks again for the advice.

Arcstone did prove to be remarkably good xp and for 99% of the time I was the only person in the zone. It wasn't quite as much fun as pulling multiple mobs in CoD and not as rewarding in terms of cash or tribute loot but I did pick up 3 Arcblades (couple for baz one for the young SK).

Respawn seems quite fast in Arcstone too which is quite handy, it is boring but good and steady xp.

Have now maxed SU out and got another 3 ranks of CS (only a few more to go).

From my memory of RSS I also would be surprised if it's soloable by me at present - I seem to recall helping out a guy boxing 4 toons there ages ago and I'm sure his War beats my current AC and AAs and it was still no pushover. But have been doing favours for the peeps in my current guild as they've needed assistance so I can call in some favours and try to farm augs there - that definitely does seem like a good call.

I am running with a couple of the DoN Vendor AC10 augs and a couple of the LDoN AC10 augs.

I know I should do MMs but I have a big big problem here which is that I just absolutely hated the concept as soon as I heard it! I have never actually done one as the idea of people who couldn't play their class XPing rapidly just seemed crazy - I like playing each class that I've chosen (warts and all) and would rather play them than dress up as another. Perhaps I need to get over my moral objections.

Aim now is to hit 76 with around 600 AAs and then probably put more xp into levelling, exploring and focussing on remaining "gaps" - Epic / Spells / Augs whilst trying to get a toehold back into the world of raiding =)

Thanks again for advice - this forum has been absolutely marvellous for helping me to find my feet.

Cheers

Gorby

[varutia]

I grind most of aa at 75 in nest but the stuff in there are a little undercon due to the some nasty spells they can cast, overall it is not bad and easy to get to also can single just about everything.

Most of grind from 75 to 80 is in RoI, truely a good place, but now it is not a hotzone I am flundering a little on where to get good AA. I have tried undead skeletons in TBS as well, not too bad xp but pulling is a hassle compare to other places. My gear is pretty average as well after my 2 year vacation, so the new SoF undead really gave me a new one when tried them. Right now I am just doing some tasks and trying to get factions up in SoF for those higher rank spells, doesn't hurt those tasks also give some xp.

I also did find doombug in dragonscale is a push over, just not enough of them around.

[shiftie]

Just for the sake of knowing - I went back to Illsalin to test the xp post hotzone. I still made 6 aa in 30 minutes soloing with lesson. Don't be turned away by the fact that it isn't a hotzone anymore the kill rate is still quite nice.

As for other zones if you can handle it, the mobs at the top of direwind near the gate guardians still yield nice xp. I also made a quick 6 aa from them with lesson on. Just beware the ratcallers spawn 4 or 5 adds. Sometimes it is hard to get a single on pulls but you can do it if you are a little patient and if nothing else you can root pull. These mobs are way more difficult than illsalin imho but they do stun which can simplify things. For me I was bored of illsalin so going back up to direwind was a nice change. The mobs can sometimes drop 30pp or so and some tradeskill drops also which is another incentive for fighting up there. I prefer the challenge of the mobs in dire but the xp in illsalin is just about the same. I believe those are the 2 best solo spots currently because FC mobs just have too many hp and the mobs in HoS just aren't worth the trouble.

Oh and I forgot to add the mobs in lower direwind at the boneyard are casters - therefore they don't melee that much until they run out of mana. You will have to split them because they are 2 on each pull but as is the same with the top they can be stunned giving them the advantage over other undead camps.


cheers,
shiftie

[Merx]

A spot i really like is the skeletons near HoS in LP. All of them can be pulled single, they dont summon, have pretty low resists,about 90khp. They are not stunnable, but if you get in trouble you can hightail it to HoS then come back in under a minute. Its rarely camped, the only people i run in to there is a couple of other paladins there burning their lessons. There is a named skeleton at both the east and west groupings of skeletons, called Debillitated Skeleton. The one at the east camp drops faendes swagger stick and faendes something(earring that is pally useable). That loot is trash, but the named at the west camp drops a 15ac aug so that might be worth checking out, i havent camped that one. When i go to burn lesson there, i box a shaman and zerk oog and crank out 7aas. You can get some decent plat there too, and a few spell drops.

[varutia]

Upon reading shiftie's post, I went back to RoI and had a go at it, ended up about 2.5 to 3 aa in half hour a lot worse than before, but a lot better compare to RSS, probably because my dps is double on undead and easily make up the difference of higher xp in RSS.

Since I took a two year vacation, consider my gear now bazaar level. This xp rate is not too dissimilar compare to me at 75 doing nest. So I will probably pstick around until new expansion come out. I am really hoping to get a new weapon to improve on the epic 2.0, that should help a lot.

[Carmaris]

I tried the graveyard in LP last night; couldn't give the attempt a lot of time as it was getting late. It's a bit harder than Merx made it sound, at least for a 78 paladin in Guk/BB gear with ~700AA. Several of the skeletons conned yellow, didn't even try those. Got adds on a couple pulls (aggro range seems pretty large). The one single pull I got happened to be a cleric...at 20% mana with that damned unstunnable CH'ing skeleton at ~50%, I got a wandering add and called it a night.

[shiftie]

I was going to comment on Merx post - if you read it closely he boxes that spot and should not have listed it as a place to "solo" as boxing def doesn't = soloing. While I understand that one person is running all the toons, to me soloing = 1 toon and as you quickly figured out 3 toons > 1.

[Normy]

Yea, I wanted to say something about that spot as well, but since I've not actually tried camping that part in particular I figured maybe I shouldn't. I have camped in the crypts of decay against the vamprye mobs there. They are hard hitters, and more than 1 can really test my healing unless I get lucky with the slays right away. They have healers, and those are annoying as hell.

I just assumed that since he was talking about it, that the skellys came a bit easier. Maybe if he has a good way to always pull a single that might be the key to the camp.

[Gorblimey]

Thanks for the advice chaps.

Am now 76 with 502AAs - decided to garb 76 for spell upgrades.

RSS has given me a few good groups, only one AC aug so far and at times a great deal of waiting around for an invite or somebody to invite. My attempts at soloing weren't pretty at all.

Did have a quick run back to CoD to see what difference the AA and gear upgrades had made - the answer was a BIG difference!

I'm going to try some of these suggestions - I did pop in to ROI when I came back and got creamed fairly quickly but it's probably time to have another go.

Meanwhile I am of course debating the relative merits of AA vs Levels vs getting that bloody epic before I hit 80!!

Cheers

Gorby

[shiftie]

just keep in mind that levels > all
secondly defensive aa's and then healing ...everything else will fall into place after that

good luck,
shiftie

[Normy]

Would agree with Shiftie on this, only because people see a lvl 80 and are more likely to invite to group than a 76. The downside is as you level, you have to take harder and harder mobs in order to get the same AA xp, but the most consistant group offers should help with that.

[Carmaris]

True about levels < AA's, but I understand where Gorblimey's coming from. Was way undergeared and under AA'd when I came back...spent a couple months grinding from 72 to 77, + ~400 AA's and gearing up a bit. Feel a bit better about my toon now and am grinding to 80, slowly but surely.

Of course, lack of 79 & 80 spells has me wanting to grind AA a bit more...have never been comfortable leveling without one or two (or decent opportunities to get) spells, since that's part of our "balance."

[Brohg]

Why lack of 79 & 80 spells?

Brell's Earthen Aegis
Bthur's Mark
Mark of the Saint
Wave of Absolution
Force of Timorous
Oathbound Protector
... all vendored

[Carmaris]

Heh, yeah, should have clarified...lack of spells is due to the fact that I've been doing almost nothing but grinding since I came back at the beginning of the Living Legacy event. I really need to break away from that and go faction.

More on topic, though, went back to RoI last night, been a few weeks since I tried my solo grind there. First time I didn't get chased out of the zone, so feel good about that But turns out that it was right around the exact same (maybe a little less) xp under Lessons that Arcstone currently is (about 2 blues at 90/10). Reason being that in Arcstone I can pull nonstop for the entire 30 minutes keeping 2 - 4 mobs on me at a time...RoI requires med breaks every couple of mobs.

[Gorblimey]

Thanks again for the advice / tips.

Over the last few days I’ve found that I can solo the RSS trash mobs near ZI.

Does require a fair bit of healing during fight but at least it’s something to do whilst waiting for a group and the xp not bad with the current hotzone status. A full set of nice shammy buffs helps considerably but I’ve done it self buffed too. Worst problem I’ve had is down to lack of snare, so grabbing a snare proc weapon has been moved up “The List”.

Arcstone is still working out nicely as a spot to grind away when things are quiet (shame about the Arcblades rotting up there though) but I’m going to have a look at the Nest in the next day or 2.

I’ve decide to forego the epic for now – 1.5 wouldn’t help me hugely over my Darkened Mithril 2 Hander so the plan is to grab just a few more DPS AAs (they’ve become addictive!) and a couple of boosts to healing – this should take me a bit over 600AAs and then if all goes according to plan, it’s a rush to 80, new Guild and getting the Epic underway.

Meanwhile I’ve actually managed to prise one more 25AC aug out of RSS – at this rate I should be finished there by about March!! Unfortunately the Riftseeker camp is often free but I’m lacking a couple of people to group with and farm the aug

[Normy]

The only snare proc weapon I can think off equipable by paladins is the Anklesmasher. Its a long camp. I spent a week there at about 5 hours a night before I finally got mine. Sometimes you can find them for sale, but they are expensive.

[Zorbee]

I have 3 anklesmashers. Everytime I've been to Chardok to hit for King, they have been up.

I use it every single day, it is invaluable.

I have bandoliers set ups for:

DPS (two hander)
Tanking (best shield/boff)
Snaring (anklesmasher)
Slowing (Willsapper)
OH Shit (OT hammer)

When I solo I basically have hot keys that I click in order after my gamtext trigger fires.
Slow --> Snare --> DPS

I do it mindlessly now.

For Murks in WoS, I wouldn't use slow because they weren't that tough, but I'd use snare --> DPS. Once snare proc'd I could switch to DPS then walk away, come back and the mob would be dead.

Now that I'm 75 and almost 900AA though, I don't use snare since it usually only takes two or three swings once they turn to kill them anyway. (And I use Last Rights constantly.)

I've been trying lots of places out for AAXP. Even at 75 over the "AAXP bonus" levels, I'm still digging murks. It takes me about 13 minutes to clear out a full spawn. So I just camp out to an alt, move stuff on my trader for about 10 minutes, come back and clean up the second spawn usually finishing up the last one when the timer runs out. (This is with sub 2.0 weapon from rage.) I'm still getting 10-11% AAXP per murk (no low level aa bonus) and that's with the murks 10 levels below me. I can take 4-5 murks at a time without breaking a sweat and perhaps only bursting once or twice. (I use WoT however.)

It comes out to about 4.5 AA per lesson, with a non 2.0'd paladin, I think it's pretty sweet. When I was at 70 I was getting 19% murk but I was skipping the 5-6 in the room by itself and by the time I got to the last one that was solo, the first one was spawning again.

I just can't stress how lovely the murks are. There really isn't enough of them to spend hours XPing on them, but if you want some decent XP even at 75, go murks!