I need a mentor (not the in-game type)

[Andok]

<div></div>I have been playing EQ2 for less than a month.<span>  </span>Even though I played EQ1 and have read a lot in these forums and on several other sites, I am still a little intimidated and confused with the game.<span>  </span>I am hoping that a fellow ranger will help guide me.<p>First, a little about me and my situation.<span>  </span>I don’t have the free time I had back when I played EQ1 (babies have a way of eating up your free time), so I can only play a couple hours on Friday and Saturday nights.<span>  </span>I spend about half of my time playing solo, and the other half ‘duoing’ with a paladin (a real-life friend).<span>  </span>I play ‘for fun’, so while I love leveling, I’m not racing to level 70 so I can raid (I’ll probably never have time to raid anyway).<span>  </span></p><p>I am currently level 27.<span>  </span>My paladin friend is an armorer, so he already set me up with some nice armor with some rare ores that we harvested.<span>  </span>I am working on becoming an alchemist, but it is slow going (level 15?).<span>  </span>Most of my spells/CAs are Apprentice IV or Adept I.<span>  </span>I have about 5 gold.</p><p>Now that you know a little about me, here’s the advice I need from a mentor:</p><p>-<span>  </span>Since Adept I books have been pretty inexpensive (less than 1gp) up to now, I have been buying all that I can find (some on the fence).<span>  </span>Unfortunately, I am hitting the level where Adept I books are starting to get expensive (for me).<span>  </span>Should I blow my 5gp on my next few Adept I books, or should I hold on to that gold for now and buy Apprentice IV or lower books instead?</p><p>- Last weekend, I looted an Adept I book for one of my CAs that had just been replaced by the latest in the progression when I leveled.<span>  </span>Will scribing that book do me any good, or should I try to sell it?</p><p>- I am currently working on the Stormfire quest in Stormhold.<span>  </span>I also have the Dwarven Workboot and my second class-armor quest on the backburner.<span>  </span>Is there any other must-do quests that I should be working on?<span>  </span>I just started adventuring in Thundering Steppes when I am playing solo, and Stormhold when my paladin friend is online.<span>  </span>Are those good places for me to be, or should I be adventuring elsewhere?</p><p>- I got my first AA this weekend and spent it on our base ability.<span>  </span>I plan on working my way up the AGI line.<span>  </span>My thinking on this is that I want to ‘accentuate the positive’ and make my bow attacks as powerful as possible.<span>  </span>Am I making a poor decision?</p><p>- My first two Master II choices were Hunter’s Instinct (and as Master II, it is still better than the spell’s replacement) and Shadow Lunge (I get to use this often when grouping with my paladin friend).<span>  </span>When I hit level 34, I plan on mastering Salvaged Arrows (I read that it is the best choice at that level).<span>  </span>Any advice here?<span>  </span>Should I have chosen differently?<span>  </span>Is there a better choice at level 34 (or beyond)?</p><p>I have a 100 more questions, but I better cut this ‘short’.<span>  </span>Thanks in advance to any kind ranger with helpful advice.<span>  </span>I have been pretty good at doing my own research, but I often find that I don’t even know what I should be looking for.</p><p>Finally, I’d appreciate any other advice that you throw my way.</p><p>/bow</p><div></div>

[meridith1]

<DIV>1. I personally recommend if you can afford to buy the adept 1s to do so. I have at every level. </DIV> <DIV>2. Look at the stats on the lower level adept but if your current higher skill is at adept 1 it is going to be better. So sell the loot. </DIV> <DIV>3. Stormhold is a good place for you though try to get in pick up groups there if you can. TS is not a bad place either thougt at your level it is dangerous. Egg quest there for gryphon is a good one once you have evac you can do fairly easily. </DIV> <DIV>4. Agility line is a good one. Get all the exploration and collection quests you can completed as they in my opinoin are free AA XP for the efort. I am lvl 70 and I still try to complete collections as I am not maxed on AA. Also note any named you kill first time give good AA if they con for it. </DIV> <DIV>5. I always took salvaged arrows it saves much time making them for me or in your case buying them. For normal exploring they are fine. There is debate on what to use for raiding you get more damage out of crafted arrows but cost for them are quite high. Though the crafter really is not making lots off them. sale price -Time/cost to produce = low profit. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Need any more advice I am on Nejena (spelling) name is Meridith </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Jay]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <P></P> <HR> Andok wrote: <P>I am currently level 27.<SPAN>  </SPAN>My paladin friend is an armorer, so he already set me up with some nice armor with some rare ores that we harvested.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I am working on becoming an alchemist, but it is slow going (level 15?).<SPAN>  </SPAN>Most of my spells/CAs are Apprentice IV or Adept I.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I have about 5 gold.</P> <P>Now that you know a little about me, here’s the advice I need from a mentor:</P> <P>-<SPAN>  </SPAN>Since Adept I books have been pretty inexpensive (less than 1gp) up to now, I have been buying all that I can find (some on the fence).<SPAN>  </SPAN>Unfortunately, I am hitting the level where Adept I books are starting to get expensive (for me).<SPAN>  </SPAN>Should I blow my 5gp on my next few Adept I books, or should I hold on to that gold for now and buy Apprentice IV or lower books instead? </P> <P><FONT color=#ffff00>If you're that low on cash, I'd buy the Adept 1 books as you need them. Spend some time harvesting for rares and see what you can sell to earn some more money. Being limited to duoing kinda hurts your earning potential, b/c you'll get better drops in a dungeon zone, which tend to require a full group.</FONT></P> <P>- Last weekend, I looted an Adept I book for one of my CAs that had just been replaced by the latest in the progression when I leveled.<SPAN>  </SPAN>Will scribing that book do me any good, or should I try to sell it?</P> <P><FONT color=#ffff33>Don't bother scribing it unless you can't find the upgrade for the current skill. Even so, the App 1 of the current version may be better than the Adept 1 of the prior one. </FONT></P> <P>- I am currently working on the Stormfire quest in Stormhold.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I also have the Dwarven Workboot and my second class-armor quest on the backburner.<SPAN>  </SPAN>Is there any other must-do quests that I should be working on?<SPAN>  </SPAN>I just started adventuring in Thundering Steppes when I am playing solo, and Stormhold when my paladin friend is online.<SPAN>  </SPAN>Are those good places for me to be, or should I be adventuring elsewhere?</P> <P><FONT color=#ffff33>You're on the right track. For variety, you can also hunt in Nektulos Forest in the 20-30 range. As you get closer to 30, start venturing into Ruins of Varsoon, in Steppes. Keep on those Heritage quests, they're a lot of fun and they'll net you some nice gear. I suggest looking up the HQ list on </FONT><A href="http://www.eq2.ogaming.com/" target=_blank><FONT color=#ffff33>www.eq2.ogaming.com</FONT></A><FONT color=#ffff33> for details. Also, in the 28-30 range, you can start going to Enchanted Lands and Zek to do solo quests around the docks - these will net a surprising amount of XP at that level, and you can earn some cash from the repeatable ones. </FONT></P> <P>- I got my first AA this weekend and spent it on our base ability.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I plan on working my way up the AGI line.<SPAN>  </SPAN>My thinking on this is that I want to ‘accentuate the positive’ and make my bow attacks as powerful as possible.<SPAN>  </SPAN>Am I making a poor decision?</P> <P><FONT color=#ffff33>Well, two things: yes, the AGI AA line is a must-have for rangers, but STR is the stat that increases your bow damage. Keep that in mind as you level. (We rarely have a problem with low AGI, due to self-buffs and gear.)</FONT></P> <P>- My first two Master II choices were Hunter’s Instinct (and as Master II, it is still better than the spell’s replacement) and Shadow Lunge (I get to use this often when grouping with my paladin friend).<SPAN>  </SPAN>When I hit level 34, I plan on mastering Salvaged Arrows (I read that it is the best choice at that level).<SPAN>  </SPAN>Any advice here?<SPAN>  </SPAN>Should I have chosen differently?<SPAN>  </SPAN>Is there a better choice at level 34 (or beyond)?</P> <P><FONT color=#ffff33>It really depends on your playstyle. You may favor melee attacks b/c you're often soloing... in fact, unless you find yourself regularly running low on arrows, I don't know if I'd go for Salvaged just yet. There are several threads about Master II choices, see if you can dredge those up. </FONT></P> <P>I have a 100 more questions, but I better cut this ‘short’.<SPAN>  </SPAN>Thanks in advance to any kind ranger with helpful advice.<SPAN>  </SPAN>I have been pretty good at doing my own research, but I often find that I don’t even know what I should be looking for.</P> <P>Finally, I’d appreciate any other advice that you throw my way.</P> <P></P> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE> <P>You didn't mention poisons - you want to use those at all times. At least a damage poison, like the Caustic variety that's available at your level. Note that you can stack a damage (red vial), debuff (purple vial), and special effect (blue vial) poison; they're color-coded now so it's easy to tell how many you can use. Don't worry too much about buying debuff and special poisons yet, until you have some extra cash. Just make sure you have a basic damage poison on.</P> <P>BTW, what's your character's name and what server are you playing on? I'd be happy to help out in-game if you have questions while playing, just type "/tell Butcherblock.Kaeros" and say hi. Apologies in advance if I don't respond right away, as I'm usually raiding on weekend evenings. If you happen to be on BB, definitely get in touch and I'll set you up with some gold and/or upgrades to help ease the early levels. Good luck.</P>

[Andok]

<div></div><div></div><div><p>Thank you both for the advice!</p><blockquote><hr>Jay42 wrote:<div></div><blockquote>You didn't mention poisons - you want to use those at all times. At least a damage poison, like the Caustic variety that's available at your level. Note that you can stack a damage (red vial), debuff (purple vial), and special effect (blue vial) poison; they're color-coded now so it's easy to tell how many you can use. Don't worry too much about buying debuff and special poisons yet, until you have some extra cash. Just make sure you have a basic damage poison on.</blockquote><hr></blockquote>I always have 1 level 20 (merchant bought) damage poison up.  I tried stacking poisons I purchased at the merchant, but I guess they only sell the damage poisons.Oh, and I thought of one other quick question -<p>In EQ1, I played a cleric, and I found it very therapeutic to play a warrior alt for either a nice change of pace or if I was having a frustrating day as a cleric.<span>  </span>What class(es) in EQ2 would you consider a good therapeutic alt for a ranger main?</p></div><p>Message Edited by Andok on <span class=date_text>12-26-2006</span> <span class=time_text>09:29 AM</span>

[Deml]

<DIV>The guys above both gave some great advice.  The only thing I'll add is to </DIV> <DIV>/join butcherblock.worldranger when you get in game next.  That puts you in the world ranger channel with all of us and then you'll be able to get immediate answers/help in game from folks across all the servers.</DIV>

[Finora]

<DIV>Some good advice here from more experienced rangers =) Mine is only 38 and an alt.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I however opted NOT to take salvged arrows as my master 2 choice at 34. I forget which I did (was a damage one though). I found on my server that master 1 of the arrow summoning spells sold really really cheaply and I believe the master 2 only summons 5 more arrows (65 as opposed to the 60 of the master1).</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>5 gold isn't much cash though. Give that bounty ability a workout =), harvest and sell anything you don't need (collection bits included). Loot everything from mobs even if it's just 'trash loot'. 5 gold won't go very far in the levels you are getting close to.</DIV>

[Andok]

<div></div>Update:<span>  </span>Even thought my paladin friend has been AWOL, I’ve been able to solo my way up to level 30!<span>  </span>Thanks to some of the advice you guys gave me, I actually had enough gold to upgrade some of my stuff.<p>I need another quick bit of advice –</p><p>I have enough gold now that I can afford a lower-priced master spell upgrade, but it seems like a waste of money since my levels are advancing so rapidly (even as a casual player).<span>  </span>At what level does the game slow down enough to make spending gold on the big spell upgrades (Adept III or Master) a reasonable investment?</p><div></div>

[Jay]

Probably you want to be at least in your 40s. Storm of Arrows (50) definitely deserves an upgrade, if nothing else. Keep in mind that your Combat Arts (CAs) tend to be upgraded every 14 levels, so if you get an Adept III of a CA right after you level, you can still get a lot of mileage out of it. But you're right that anything you upgrade now will be replaced eventually, and you'll continue leveling pretty quickly for a while yet.

[Ranja]

<div><blockquote><hr>Andok wrote:<div></div>Update:<span>  </span>Even thought my paladin friend has been AWOL, I’ve been able to solo my way up to level 30!<span>  </span>Thanks to some of the advice you guys gave me, I actually had enough gold to upgrade some of my stuff.<p>I need another quick bit of advice –</p><p>I have enough gold now that I can afford a lower-priced master spell upgrade, but it seems like a waste of money since my levels are advancing so rapidly (even as a casual player).<span>  </span>At what level does the game slow down enough to make spending gold on the big spell upgrades (Adept III or Master) a reasonable investment?</p><div></div><hr></blockquote>Depends on how fast you level. The general consensus seems to be to wait until the final tier to master out your CAs. But consider this, each CA is upgraded every 14 levels. If you level slow and have a chance to get a master of a CA that was just upgraded (meaning it wont be replaced for 14 levels), it might be worth it. Especially if it is a class defining skill. In general, most poeple wait unless they are twinked out alts. For me, my Ranger is my main, and I did not pick up my first master until I was 55. Now, I have a bruiser too that is level 30 and he is all mastered out because of the cash my ranger throws him<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></div>

[TaleraRis]

<DIV>You said you primarily solo? I would wait on Masters. I just hit 59 (rofl, I forgot my level and my sig reminded me)  the other night and the only Masters I've worried about are the Master II choices. My past two choices there have been the stealthed ranged shot line (ie hidden Fire, Stealthy Fire, etc) because if I can get a starting hit on them that takes half their HPs (on solo mobs) then I'm doing pretty good.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Also, since we finally have a CA that has a root on it, I am using tons more ranged as a soloer than I did previously. I was hunting djinn and harpies the other night in Pillars of Flame for language and L&L and I started with a full 16 slot backpack. By the end of the night, even with being able to summon every 10 minutes and doing so, I was down to 3 stacks. My primary mode of attack now is ranged. I use melee to clean up. Not something you have to worry about quite yet, but I've found it's much more effective to do as much damage as possible from a distance rather than be up there to get hit. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>And addendum to that in terms of gear is that since I'm not up close and personal so much, leather has worked so much better for me soloing. It didn't really matter if I had good mit or not, because toe to toe I was going down. But I get hit a lot less in leather when I do have to go in for melee to clean up, or if I want to kite something. I used to crumple with a single add and the other night I was being beaten on by 4 no arrow blues and managed to survive. So definitely don't underestimate the avoidance you can get from leather.</DIV> <P><SPAN class=time_text></SPAN> </P><p>Message Edited by TaleraRis on <span class=date_text>10-03-2006</span> <span class=time_text>03:55 PM</span>

[Teksun]

Look at the chart stickied at the top <a href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=39&message.id=28443" target=_blank>(HERE)</a>Any ability at the end is well worth the upgrade to master because they won't be upgraded again for a long time...For example:<font size="1"><span>(1) Searing Strike...............(<img src="/smilies/b2eb59423fbf5fa39342041237025880.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> Blazing Strike.......(16) Shocking Strike.............(29) Lightning Strike...(43) Blazing Thrust..(57) Shocking Thrust<font size="3">Upgrade Shocking Thrust</font></span></font><div></div>

[Andok]

<div></div><div>Thanks again for the advice, everyone!  <span></span><blockquote><hr>TaleraRis wrote:<div></div><div></div><div></div> <div>And addendum to that in terms of gear is that since I'm not up close and personal so much, leather has worked so much better for me soloing. It didn't really matter if I had good mit or not, because toe to toe I was going down. But I get hit a lot less in leather when I do have to go in for melee to clean up, or if I want to kite something. I used to crumple with a single add and the other night I was being beaten on by 4 no arrow blues and managed to survive. So definitely don't underestimate the avoidance you can get from leather.<span class="time_text"></span></div><hr></blockquote><p><span></span></p><p>Ok, my true newb colors have come out on this one.<span>  </span>I had no idea that leather armor gave you avoidance rather than mitigation.<span>  </span><span> </span>Am I better off armoring myself with leather?</p></div>

[TaleraRis]

Leather has lower mitigation than chain, although it still gives you some, and you get an extra oomph to avoidance from it that you don't get from chain. If you get hit alot, you want chain. You would think a soloer would get hit a lot, but I endeavor not to and since I am rarely toe-to-toe with a full health mob without tools like Cheap Shot at my disposal, not getting hit at all has been the better deal. <div></div>

[Teksun]

On the leather thing... wait 'til November... It's all changing and we won't know for sure until it gets tested... and YOU KNOW there will be some testing going on <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /><div></div>

[xandez]

<P>for the OP, tl dr really... sry... </P> <P>hope ya enjoy the ranja class thou <img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>(heh)</P> <P>++Xan</P><p>Message Edited by xandez on <span class=date_text>10-08-2006</span> <span class=time_text>12:05 AM</span>