Greetings from a noob -- armor and quest questions

[RedLionGroo]

<DIV>Hello everyone, I've decided -- after a lengthy stint with SWG and a not-as-lengthy stint with WOW -- to come over to EQ2 and see what's up.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I've managed to relatively quickly level my 14 warden to 20 tailor on Blackburrow and had some questions about outfitting him with armor and equipment.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My questing experience is, as you can imagine, quite limited -- I've never been in the catacombs and have killed in Antonica to finish a couple of quests while focusing mainly on gathering materials for crafting  (crafting questions I'll post in that forum).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Enough with the preface, and on to the questions.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>1.  Should I concentrate on equipping my character with armor that I make myself, player-crafted items and provisions -- or -- should I group up (which I will do eventually anyway for the fun of it) to outfit my character with looted armor, items and, I suppose, provisions?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>2.  What kind of role is best suited for a Warden?  Am I more suited as a primary healer or should I look for a party that already has another healer?  I haven't much tried to group yet so I do not know what a Warden is typically considered.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>3.  Pre - lvl 20, are there more interesting areas that Antonica that are solo-able?  If so, where?  If not, what are the more popular grouping areas?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>4.  Finally, how important is it to upgrade my spells at this level?  That is, should I be spending my money and time looking for adepts for all of my spells, or should I wait until I get better versions before upgrading?  I don't have a lot of money, as this is my main and I have very little experience selling my crafted wares as of yet.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thank you everyone in advance for any help, and I hope to enjoy this game as much as the others I've played.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Sincerely,</DIV> <DIV>Ryspite</DIV>

[sythys]

/me eagerly awaits answers as well....<span>:smileytongue:</span><div></div>

[Runt712]

<div>Enough with the preface, and on to the questions.</div> <div> </div> <div>1.  Should I concentrate on equipping my character with armor that I make myself, player-crafted items and provisions -- or -- should I group up (which I will do eventually anyway for the fun of it) to outfit my character with looted armor, items and, I suppose, provisions?<font color="#ff0000">I would say as you level you'll have a combination of looted and crafted items. *Most* looted iitems are better then crafted, but crafted is still good when you are unable to get that rare drop.</font></div> <div> </div> <div>2.  What kind of role is best suited for a Warden?  Am I more suited as a primary healer or should I look for a party that already has another healer?  I haven't much tried to group yet so I do not know what a Warden is typically considered.<font color="#ff0000">Typical groups run with 1 healer, 1 tank and 4 dps. We are just as good primary healers as the next priest class, if not better.</font></div> <div> </div> <div>3.  Pre - lvl 20, are there more interesting areas that Antonica that are solo-able?  If so, where?  If not, what are the more popular grouping areas?</div> <div> <font color="#ff0000">Blackburrow for levels 14-19 and Stormhold for 18-26. </font></div> <div>4.  Finally, how important is it to upgrade my spells at this level?  That is, should I be spending my money and time looking for adepts for all of my spells, or should I wait until I get better versions before upgrading?  I don't have a lot of money, as this is my main and I have very little experience selling my crafted wares as of yet.<font color="#ff0000">Upgrading spells are not as important pre-40 since levels come so fast. I wouldn't spend too much money on spells.</font></div><div></div>

[Jayad]

<OL> <LI>Generally, in the early levels, cheap stuff on the broker and drops from the mobs tend to be sufficient.  If you can craft and it's convenient, then sure do that.  The regular crafted stuff isn't that great, though.   The rare crafted is better (at least until wednesday) and worth making if you find some rare crafting harvests.</LI> <LI>Wardens make great primary healers (any healer does, really).  Also, wardens make great backup healers because you can do some DPS.  In tough groups, you make a great pair with a warder (non-fury/druid) because you can replish HPs fast while they handle the big bursts.  But, really, you can feel comfortable filling any roll as a healer in grouping.  </LI> <LI>Antonica is probably your best bet for soloing.  There are a few other areas here and there, but its hard to beat the masses of mobs in antonica.  Soloing is very slow for healers, though, so I would suggest grouping if at all possible.  Even a duo with a dps or tank class is *much* faster xp, and wardens make great duo partners.</LI> <LI>I think your major heal lines (single HOT, group HOT, big heal, small heal) are always worth upgrading.  The difference between app1 to app4/adept1, app4/adept1 to adept3 or master is huge.  That extra 15-20% bump each step offers makes a very big difference when you need it.  If the warden is your first character, you probably don't have a lot of money so you can't buy the pricey ones.  Sometimes, adept1s are cheap and other times they overcharge.  My suggestion is you spend time harvesting.  You can make a lot of money selling just about everything you harvest of the common variety, and the rare drops you can use or sell.  Use the money to buy the spell rares and upgrade your heals if at all possible.  If you solo a lot, then upgrade your damage, if you can.   I agree with the other poster in this thread that in good groups, the levels can go very fast so don't spend a ton of time on it.  I would upgrade the HOTs since they are the bread and butter heals.  You will notice a difference.</LI></OL><p>Message Edited by Xney on <span class=date_text>06-13-2006</span> <span class=time_text>11:48 AM</span>

[sYnEclip]

This thread delivers <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> thx for the post and responses, helped me out aswell

[sythys]

<div><blockquote><hr>Xney wrote:<div></div> <div></div> <ol> <li>Generally, in the early levels, <font color="#ff0000">cheap stuff on the broker</font> and drops from the mobs tend to be sufficient.  If you can craft and it's convenient, then sure do that.  The regular crafted stuff isn't that great, though.   The rare crafted is better (at least until wednesday) and worth making if you find some rare crafting harvests.</li></ol></blockquote>Does this actually exist? Every single adept or appretince lvl spell I see on the broker that I can actually use, Is somewhere in the range of 30Gold to 5 plat. This is absurd. I just barely broke the one gold mark... what a joke. </div>

[Jayad]

Some spells are cheap.  But some will not be.  I was referring more to equipment.  As far as spells go, you can probalby get by with adept3s on the heals and whatever you can find cheap on the rest in your early levels (1-20).  If you know a sage you can have your others made.  Many times, a sage leveling up will do them for a bit above cost if you can buy a batch.

[sythys]

maybe its just the nagafen server but low lvl armor is usually in the 30 gold range as well. GAH!<div></div>

[RedLionGroo]

<DIV>Thank you very much for the responses.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Apparently, as far as equipment goes, I can stick with what I can make -- leather armor-wise -- unless I find something better looted.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And also -- again, apparently -- pre level 20, it seems to be easier to level a scholar to keep my spells up to date.  Only took me minimal time to lvl my tailor to 20, so I figure it won't be so tough to lvl a scholar to there in order to save money on spells.  Then, hopefully, I can make enough money as a tailor to get my heals lvld.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Going to go out and look for a group tonight, hopefully gain enough lvls to not be slaughtered in TS while harvesting for materials.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Again, thanks a lot everyone for your responses, they are all both thoughtful and informative.  Much appreciated!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>See you on the other side!</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>- Ryspite</DIV>