The Spirit Realm

Greetings Shamans!

Thinking of making a return. And looking around, I see that you guys get this question from time to time. I promise I've looked through the other threads on the same subject, but I want to bend your ear(s) for a moment if you'll indulge me.

I enjoyed the heck out of EQ way back when. Left for a couple of reasons - most of my friends jumped ship, and there were a couple of expansions that, to me, seemed kinda crappy (OoW, GoD). Recently I've had the urge to fire up EQ again, and do a little gaming! So I thought I'd consult the wise old Heyokah's at the crucible for some advice...

What I'm hoping to do is level up to max, grind some AA's, and then start to dip my feet in group content, and maybe eventually raid again. And I'd also like to do some of the content I've missed, probably solo as much as possible. (as an aside, what 'endgame' is possible to solo now?)
But the first step is to level. I don't think I know a single person who still plays (was on Rodcet Nife, then Quellious, now Povar, thanks to merges). So I think I'll be largely soloing, especially at first - I don't imagine there's much grouping going on at my level? I hear something about "missions" being insane experience... that's what I"m after, all right Would that be something viable? How about soloing the old-fashioned way, either root-rotting (in PoP? SOmewnere else?) or tanking "in teh face" like old times. What do you reckon the best way to max out levels and pick up some AA is?

I did have a ton of veterans rewards and a few thousand plat, so I'll probably deck myself out in that defiant stuff (as an aside, wtf gearflation).

Thanks for reading my ramble!

-Beurlom Spiritwalker, 66 shaman


TL;DR
I'm looking to advance to max level and grind some AA's, what's the best way for an 66th level shaman to do this solo? I will have all expansions.

Hello

I'm a returner myself, but returned at a higher level.

If you have friends left who would be willing to take you for a ride, you should consider staying at 100% AA for periods of time to get lots of abilities and boring AA's before moving on to leveling full time. AA's goes wtfomgfast if youre getting "powerleveled". Either by joining higher level groups, or for example having a crazy paladin pull the entire crypt of decay for you.

If it's just you left amongst your friends I would recommend pushing on, whilst stopping only briefly to get the new Canni, Slow and Malo AA's and maybe VP and spell gems. A shaman has the ability to still contribute to a group with slows, cougar, and great buffs without being fully kitted.

As for soloing, root rotting has been replaced with mercenaries more or less. Just get a tank merc and dot your brains out.

Edit: Oh yeah you might want to Find the HOT zone guy in Plane of Knowledge to find out what zones give you extra exp at the time. For instance, im leveling my low level SK in Lavastorm now wich is a current HoT zone for around lvl 20.

Thanks for the info! Tanking mercenary is the plan then,as I am pretty sure I have exactly zero friends still playing.

Any suggestions as to where to go? I'll probably start with somewhere familiar to get the hang of this again...

Tank merc rk. 1 is quite sufficient for up to SoF mobs with you healing. Doing all the progression to get the tier 5 mercs is just not going to happen, so once you exahust worthwile xp in a zone such as Gyrospire Beza, I'd suggest root rotting in Old Bloodfields, then moving on to Ferrott (House of Thule) and up for grouping.