Mercs, gear, experience, and other questions

[Paraclete]

Hey all,

I played EQ since 1999, but called it quits about two years ago and have returned in just the past month to give it another go. A lot of things have changed for the better (and many for the worse, but I don't want to digress...), and so far I'm having fun.

My main has always been a paladin, but even in those ~eight years I played, I never got him past 61. I worked a lot on tradeskills, questing, exploration, and just miscellaneous "playing the game" without concentrating on levels too much. So I returned to find a 61 paladin with ~25 AAs who is, at this point in the game's life, quite far below the standard. Pretty much everyone is level 85 and seems to spend their days in zones that I've never even heard of, while I've kept myself to the old familiar environs - PoK, the Bazaar, then a bit of exploration of the Old World, Kunark, and Velious to reaquaint myself with the world and revive some old memories.

But enough rambling. I have a few specific questions, but they're diverse enough that I'm posting here in the general forum rather than choosing one of the more specific forums. I'll number them, for your ease and mine...in no particular order:

1. What's the story with mercs? I've always preferred soloing (and clearly chose the wrong class for it), and it was cool to see that things have suddenly become much easier now that I can have an NPC tag along. But what are your specific recommendations? It would seem intuitive that a tank class like pally should be toting a cleric, but I've had a lot of success with a journeyman fighter instead. I let her tank mobs while I smack them on the back of the head, and I find it easier to heal when she's the tank because I don't have to worry about interrupts if instead I were the one with aggro.

But I guess the question is, would I have more luck with a cleric merc? Paladins' DPS seems to be as sorry as I remember it, so the merc's output is definitely a boon, but I haven't seen things from the other side so I don't know if a healer would make my life any easier.

2. How about exp spots? For a day or two I was camping in Nadox at the Hate's Fury zoneline pulling undead troll zombie pirates, but most were light blue cons (with only the odd dark blue). It was a real trudge, and got boring quickly, so I did my research and delved into Veksar. The highborns are all dark blue, and the occasional commander, which cons yellow, is no problem at all with the merc. But this is a rather safe camp, considering the ingenious way that those wooden planks are set up to allow you a quick route to the zoneline - and also considering that my merc and I handle single and even double pulls quite handily. I'm willing to take a bit more risk if there is a hunting spot that'll get me better experience - so, is there?

3. AAs. Before I left EQ, I'd only had enough for the prereqs and Holy Steed, but since I came back I've been hunting exclusively for AAs and have earned the first three ranks of Combat Fury and Slay Undead, and the first two of Combat Stability (I think that's the one - the AA for avoidance, not mitigation). Since I'm going solo, I imagine anti-undead AAs are what I should be keeping my eye on, especially since I've been letting my merc tank and I haven't had much use for defensives. Where should I go from here? Surely there are diminishing returns on SU at this point.

4. Gear. This Defiant stuff absolutely stunned me when I saw it - I was in mostly Magnetic, and the prospect of picking up a Time-level breastplate for 3.5k in the Bazaar is both awesome and kinda horrible. (Mudflation at its worst, after all. I've never raided in my life, let alone broken into Time, so in some way I wondered if I "deserve" this kind of gear. But that's another story.) So I've been decking myself in mostly Defiant, which is emotionally difficult (haha) because I then get to resell all the armor that I replace for, like, a tenth of what I once bought it for - if it will even sell at all, considering how cheap and available Defiant is. (And the Magnetic is attunable and therefore no-drop, so I can't resell and just have to eat that loss.) But what about other slots? Defiant is good for all the visibles, I guess, but what about jewelry, face, shoulders, etc? I think my weapons are ok for the moment - Blade of Disruption / Brightstar Buckler and an Edge of Envelopment - so it's mostly armor and jewelry that I'm thinking about.

5. The age-old AAs versus levels debate. With a double exp weekend coming up, should I put my effort into leveling past 61 so that I am just a little bit closer to the bulk of the population? Or should I keep working on these AAs, which will certainly be falling like rain when I have my merc + the double exp + Lesson + all this crazy gear that never existed when I used to play EQ? What's the common wisdom about AAs versus levels for someone in my situation?

I'm sure I have more questions, but I've already made your eyes bleed with this wall of text, so I will keep them to myself for now. Thanks for reading.

[Brohg]

You've already reached the conclusion most paladins arrive at eventually. For exping the healing of a cleric mercenary is wasted on a paladin, who can maintain themselves (or the merc tank) just fine on their own. If you use a mercenary at all (remember they eat exp like a full party member), it'll probably be a fighter one for extra dps.

Veksar is a super place to be exping at 61. If it seems a bit lightweight for your capabilities as you accumulate power, pull more multis.

Definitely max out SU and all the double/triple attack AAs for higher dps if you're exping (which you will be for a nice long while yet ). Cap Slay for your level, cap Punishing Blade, Ferocity, Knight's Advantage, Knight's Speed, all of that. Any increase in dps is a direct increase in the exp you get out of your playtime.

There is Defiant gear available for non-visible slots, but you'll have to venture away from undead to get it. Do quests for Franklin Teek in PoK.

You're not on a deadline level wise. Definitely don't spend any extra time at each level buying bullshit AA, but as long as there's good stuff to get (dps & tanking passive AA, looking at you!), taking time with levels is just fine. It'd be different if you were focused on joining a raiding guild or something.

Free extra answer to something maybe you didn't know to ask about: you know about Haste potions vendor sold in PoK, right? 50% haste potions are sold by a vendor in PoK, don't leave home without them!

Oh, and welcome back!

[Paraclete]

Thanks. Reading my original post again, I'm a little embarrassed that I let myself get so painfully long-winded. So I'll keep this short.

The merc seems like such a big boost that I'll probably keep her around indefinitely. (Yeah, it's a she - I find it easier to tell whether I'm getting beat on from behind if my merc has a different voice than I do and I can distinguish our yelps of pain from each other.) When I came back, I pretty much just assumed that a merc is necessary for a paladin, so I didn't do too much fighting without one - but maybe I will go solo just for a bit and see if the net exp gain is better, even if the average fight lasts longer.

I didn't realize Slay was worth spending immediate points after the first three ranks - from what I read, it's like the tanking AAs in the sense that any ranks beyond three return much less than those original three do. But I'll keep at SU, as long as it's useful and as long as it will keep giving me big numbers to read in the combat window...hah.

I have no designs on joining a raiding guild, but I would like to break away from soloing eventually and incorporate just a bit of grouping and maybe even join a casual guild. Do you think I'd look a bit silly to try to tank in a group setting when all my AA is sunk in DPS? I've read all the vitriol on this board and others about how paladin AA is very weak, and God forbid I appear to be overcompensating by buying all the offensive AAs while neglecting those defensive AAs that let me do my job in a group.

Didn't know about the haste potions, so thanks for the heads up. Will they still do me any good if I'm wearing a Fabled FBSS and use Valor of Marr? (It's been a while since I played, and the haste stacking mechanic escapes me at the moment.) What other potions or miscellaneous enhancements can you suggest that I may not be aware of after two years' absence?

[Brohg]

Base attack rate call 100% dps. Normal additions to that are best_worn_item+best_buff haste, capped at an additional 100%. You're wearing Fabled FBSS for 36% in that column, and using Valor of Marr for 25%. Total of 161%

Haste potion is 50% and takes the place of Valor of Marr, boosting you to 186%. 186/161 shows us a 15.5% gain in dps from switching to potions over Valor. If you're soloing, that's 15.5% more exp per minute/hour/day/etc. Call it 10%ish more exp with a merc involved since the potion doesn't boost her dps.

If you have available the Vet AA "Steadfast Servant" that's a good substitute once each day. The imp summoned by that AA will cast Swift Like The Wind (60% haste) on both you and the merc while it lasts.

Also,

[knytul]

[Brohg]

Just summarizing the ones I've talked to. All my guildmates' main & alt paladins have tanks. That's half a dozen or so, plus some random unguilded guys. Paladins, and Clerics, and Rogues, and a surprising number of Enchanters I know, who apparently appreciate the haxor merc Taunting, use tank mercenaries, from what I've seen. Druids and Shaman really should by rights use tanks, too, but we all just want to play support & dps :/

[Peaky]

[Wyvernwill]

[Kashta]

My thoughts:

1.) I can't say I really know what its like to use mercs at the level you're at. Nearly all high-level Paladins I know keep a Cleric-merc, but use it very rarely- only for taking on stuff that couldn't be done solo, or for occasional group use. Never for xping. And I don't know any who keep a Tank-merc, as having to heal it instead of yourself wastes a lot more mana and the dps it adds in no way overcomes the xp loss of splitting XP. I'd certainly suggest trying soloing for a while and see if you get better xp overall. If you don't then keep using the tank merc, but I'd continue retesting as you gain levels and AA as I think you will reach a point where the Merc isn't worth it. For XPing a cleric merc really isn't worth it, you'd always be better off doing content you can solo than content you need the Cleric merc for.

2.) For XP-spots, all the ones I could think of have already been given. I LOVED the Hole.

3.) There are diminishing returns on slay undead in that later ranks aren’t as powerful as the first ranks. But they are still easily worth it. Max SU first always. Then probably "Speed of the Knight" and so on down the list of offensives. These will do the most to help you solo. If you start to find the merc tank being less worthwhile it may also be worth your time to invest in some defensives. And if you do plan to start tanking for groups you'll probably want to pick up Shield Block as well, though that won't be much use to you when you’re solo since you’ll be using a 2hander.

4.) Peaky hit on everything I'd have to add.

5.) Again, as long as your soloing its better to stay lower level and fill in the AAs you want before moving up. If you want to start grouping, your going to have to both be at the right level for the content the group is doing and have "enough" AAs. I know neither of those is particularly helpful generally. The level is really going to be controlled by who you’re grouping with and what you’re doing. If you have a set of friends you want to group with and they're all say level 80, you'll need to be close to that before you have a solid shot at tanking most content around that level. You can take a 15 level low rogue along and they'll just do crappy dps; you take a 15 level low tank and it just doesn't work. As for "enough" AAs, having Shield Bock maxxed and CA/CS maxxed for the level your at is a pretty good goal. There are loads of other stuff that help, but those are the biggest.

6.) Brohg gave you all the math, but the answer is use haste potions not Valor of Marr. Check the potion vendors in PoK or Crescent Reach and see what you think would be useful to your style. If you run out of mana fairly fast grab clarity and beast-regen potions, and maybe some heal potions you can use to save you a heal here or there. None of these but haste are absolutely necessary, but if you want to spend the plat on them they all can make things a bit easier. You may also want to check the bazaar for damage shield potions (Distillate of Skinspikes ___ )- if you can find ones about the right level for you they can add a nice bit of dps, especially if you're doing multi-pulls. You can also check for rogue-made poisons while you're there "Spider Bite ___", but unlike the DS potions you'll need to get the highest level one for it to be effective, otherwise it will just resist all the time.

Goodluck,

~Kash

[Abazzagorath]

[Wyvernwill]

[Coupdvil]

[Brohg]

I know we haven't spoken in game for nearly ... ever(?) , let alone played together, is that enough of a disclaimer with regards to you? edit - thought of once, was during OoW I think, wasn't positive. So about five years.

[knytul]

The ONLY time, i would use a tank merc, is when im camping something and the mobs are gimp enough for a merc to handle. 1 good example is the ph'ers for Vaniki. Pop a tank merc in the waterfall room and leave him there and go camp another pher. if my merc somehow dies, then i know Vaniki's up. Thats about the only times i would use a tank merc as a pally. Pallies should be using the Healer merc because then we can concentrate less on our healing, and use what offensive tools we have. 1 example here is Beguiler Chandra in Precipe of War instance. i hit this named up every so often for Tier 5 group essences. While merc is keeping me alive ill burn my panther click, epic, and nuke hard. When merc goes oom, ill passive her and go defensive while healing myself. Been pretty effective so far.

[Paraclete]

[Lisene]

[Huurgh]

Well the thing is that all the paladins answering warriors mercs are probably 80+.

They do not know that the war merc at high 50s and into the 60s is quite highpowered in regard to the old world mobs and zones you visit, simply because there were no mercs when they were at that lvl.

[Sylvia Sunhair]

At level 61 your probably better off to use a war merc than a cleric merc, the dps they put out is quite good and their tanking ability will likely outdo yours.
At higher levels you will want to swap to cleric merc.

I dont know if you found gear for non visible slots but you can get some dwerium gear (player made) who is pretty good.
http://www.kyros.info/Tradeskills/JC-Calc/
the gear you want will likely be a palladium setting / Taaffeite / Opal / peridot as you gain a few more levels swap it for Dwerium.

[Brohg]