Newbie advice for a lvl 18 crusader, soon to be paladin:)

[Mrhan]

<DIV>Hey all</DIV> <DIV>I am very new to this game as this is my only char, a lvl 18 crusader. Anyway last night i was so lucky to find some coral, and well i want to use it for a new skill of some kind but here is the question: </DIV> <DIV>What skill is worth upgrading(want to be sure its still any good in a copple of levels...)?</DIV> <DIV>What skill level can you upgrade to with a coral(adept 1 or 3?)? I know its a tier 2 item, but what excactly does that mean when it comes to upgrading skills?</DIV> <DIV>Atm the only skills who aint apprentice 1, is power cleave and blessed weapon(both adept 1)</DIV> <DIV>any advice is highly appreciated...</DIV> <DIV>Croanid</DIV>

[Boli32]

The skill levels are (in order) <blockquote><font color="#cccc00">Aprentice 1</font> - Standard skill level <font color="#cccc00">Aprentice 2</font> - Bought from scribes in the city <font color="#cccc00">Aprentice 3&4</font> - Player made - look on the broker for these - normally you only find Aprentice 4s (app4) <font color="#ccffcc">Adept 1</font> - Loot Drop - look on broker sometimes you are lucky and find many adept1s <font color="#ccffcc">Adept 3 </font>- player made with a rare - a coral will make tier 2 Adept 3 skills. <font color="#ffccff">Master 1</font> - Drop... very rare and very expensive </blockquote> with that in mind, lets review the skills: <b>10 - Blessed Weapon</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Last untill: Glorious Weapon (</font><font color="#ffcc00">24.5) <i><font color="#ffffff">Not really worth, you find yourself casting 2x vigor of trusts, and while the proc is a nice bonuc getting a small bponus to proc isn't really worth it.</font></i> </font></blockquote> <b>11 - Righteous Blow</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Still on a uniqe timer it seems at lvl 36 <i><font color="#ffffff">You'll find yourself using this ability even after it goes grey as when we are moving up the "mid twenties" when our DPS hits rock bottom untill we get "oath strike" at lvl 28 </font></i></font><i>Divine Vengeance at 25.6 was meant to follow this upgrade path but I don't seem to have a problem in using both. I had this on my primary hotbar untill Implacable Wrath came along. An Adept 3 verstion of this would be well used.</i> </blockquote> <b>12 - Demonstration of Faith</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts untill: 26.5 - Faithful Zeal <i><font color="#ffffff">While wards are was has kept you alive thus far thwe further you prgoress into the twenties and you may even see it now. Our wards arn't up to much, I don;t think it is worth upgrading this one whatever you may think now. </font></i></font></blockquote> <b> 13 - Righteous Anger</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts until: </font><font color="#ffcc00">27.5 - Omen of Battle</font> <i>This nuke is you main hard hitter and will be used for another 10 levels, additional damage with each hit will certinaly help with the rut you face in DPS in mid twenties. An Adept 3 version of this spell should scale well and be well used. </i></blockquote> <i><font color="#ffcc00"><font color="#ffffff"></font></font></i><b>14 - Cry of Conviction </b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts untill: 28.5 - Unyielding Conviction</font> <i>I use once a fight if it is a mob fight, rally your best use for our AoE attack is to clear up greys in questing - compared to other classes a Pallys nukes arn;t worth the bother of upgrading past App4 (or Adept 1 if the market is feeling generous).</i> </blockquote> <b>15 - Power Cleave </b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts Untill: 29 - Holy Sunder</font> <i>A nice little ability but limited but limited by the fatc you need to weild a 2H weapon, I found that as I pregress not much past 18 I was able to use my 2 handed less and less needing a shield to survive in the thunder steppes and other places. Since you already have this at Adept 1... not worth the upgrade.</i></blockquote> <b>15.5 - Faithful Swing </b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts Untill</font><font color="#ffcc00"> </font><font color="#ffcc00">29 - Blazing Faith</font> <i>Ahhh old faithful, used to progress HOs, and for a time it will be one of your TWO normal melee attacks that advance a HO that isn't a AoE attack. This will be well used, and the heal is a nice bonus - a solid if not spectacular choice for an Adept 3 upgrade.</i> </blockquote> <b>16 - Knight's Stance </b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts Untill: Shining Beacon 30.5</font> <i>This keeps you alive and is relaly paramount to keep upgraded - only problem I may see with slapping you round the head and telling you to get this an Adept 3 is I'm not sure how it will SCALE... i.e. what is to say the difference bwteen an Adept 1 (or App4) version of the skill would be like - you would gain far more in gained in the racial trait +5 Def than you would in getting this Adept 3 - I have a feeling the difference betwene Adept 1 and Adept 3 is going to be aroudn the order of +1 Def.. great in theory not so good in practice unless you are overflowing with coral.</i> </blockquote> <b> </b><b>17 - Offering of Armament</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts Untill: </font><font color="#ffcc00">31.5 - Grant of Armament</font> <i>As you start on the Armour quests you'll find yourself moving away from the MT role more and more and casting this spell more and more often - saying that though it doesn't actually do THAT much, unless you allways group with the same peopel and play an off-tank role all that time it is not worth considering for Adept 3.</i> </blockquote> <b>17.5 - Inflame : Taunt </b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts untill: </font><font color="#ffcc00">31 - Noble Tone <i><font color="#ffffff">This is an ability you should try to get Adept 1 at the least, it last far longer than up to 31 as for a few levels I had an Adept 1 Inflame better Noble Tone - even a few levels after I swictedh over (finally) Inflame is still a contender. If you MT and group regually this is a SERIOUS contender for an Adept 3, you'll find holding agro a lot easier with this upgraded and will last you well into the mid 30s if my experiance was any guide.</font></i><font color="#ffffff"> </font></font></blockquote> <b>19 - Vigor of Trust</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts untill </font><font color="#ffcc00">33.5 - Pious Belief</font> <i>Straight off the bat I woudl have said this skill upgrade to Adept 3. after all it is a buff you not only have up on yourself all the time but often loose the proc to buff someone else with it. Unfortunaltly this is a stat buff, and while I know it scales well up to Adept 1 beyond that to Adept 3 or Master I I'm not sure how well it will scale - you may only get an additional +1 STR in the end.  So while it is good on theory my advise is to keep this Adept 1 or App4 </i> </blockquote> <b>19.5 - Charge</b> <blockquote><font color="#ffcc00">Lasts Untill: 33 - Vengeance</font> <i>Out of all the upgrade this will get the most work out of it, and the knockdown is very useful against the skeletons you come across in Stormhold, a soild Adept 3 will give you an additional bonus to your damage. </i></blockquote> I have the sneaking suspicion I have missed a couple out - but I hope this give you enough information to decide on your upgrade - Congratulations on harevsting the coral anyway. <blockquote></blockquote> <div></div>

[GilfalasElaandrin]

<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> boli wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE><B>16 - Knight's Stance<BR></B> <BLOCKQUOTE><FONT color=#ffcc00>Lasts Untill: Shining Beacon 30.5</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>As a quick note, Knight's Stance is actually SUPERIOR to shining beacon. At 36 I still use it while tanking since it give more defense and shield skill that Beacon does. Beacon LOSES the shield bonus to add 1% more aggro, which to me is a very poor trade off at best.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I would say use the coral on that. You may not get the biggest UPGRADE from it but it will give you the absolutely longest USE from that coral bar none.</DIV>

[WAPCE]

<blockquote><hr>GilfalasElaandrin wrote:<BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> boli wrote: <BLOCKQUOTE> </BLOCKQUOTE><B>16 - Knight's Stance<BR></B> <BLOCKQUOTE><FONT color=#ffcc00>Lasts Untill: Shining Beacon 30.5</FONT></BLOCKQUOTE> <BLOCKQUOTE></BLOCKQUOTE> <BR> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR> <DIV>As a quick note, Knight's Stance is actually SUPERIOR to shining beacon. At 36 I still use it while tanking since it give more defense and shield skill that Beacon does. Beacon LOSES the shield bonus to add 1% more aggro, which to me is a very poor trade off at best.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I would say use the coral on that. You may not get the biggest UPGRADE from it but it will give you the absolutely longest USE from that coral bar none.</DIV><hr></blockquote>You'd be doing your group a much bigger favor if you used Shining Beacon + Aegis of Hope (32.5).

[Boli32]

<blockquote> <div>As a quick note, Knight's Stance is actually SUPERIOR to shining beacon. At 36 I still use it while tanking since it give more defense and shield skill that Beacon does. Beacon LOSES the shield bonus to add 1% more aggro, which to me is a very poor trade off at best.</div> <div> </div> <div>I would say use the coral on that. You may not get the biggest UPGRADE from it but it will give you the absolutely longest USE from that coral bar none. </div> </blockquote> A shield bonus isn't <i>that</i> effective, a +10 shiled bonus sounds great but it means that you use your equiped shield as if you were 2 levels higher if you are using a blue or worse shield this means you gain nothing... with most orange shileds you gain... nothing also, it is only yellow shields that are close to the its "upgrade stats" will you gain any difference to it and only if you mananage to push it over the required level. Beacon edged out Knight's Stance in its +def bonus at about lvl 31 (I had app4 knights stance and adept1 shining beacon), and Aegis allowed me to get back my shield bonus but since my guard of gromm is still orange, it doens't make a difference one way or the other to <i>me</i> if it is up. Knight's Stance though at Adept 3, as I said before I'm not to sure how well it would scale going from Adept 1 --> Adept 3, If the scaling of Shining beacon is any guide "Adept 1 is EXACTLY the same as Master 1". I think it scales better than beacon, but out of your choices I would choose one of your combat arts over knights stance. <div> </div> <div></div>

[Titali]

<DIV>maybe faithful swing? i would probably sell the coral myself. on another note, knights stance is the best stance until benediction in your 40s as far as defense is concerned. the agro modifier on beacon/benediction seems to have little if any affect.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>actually now that i think of it, demonstration of faith, our first ward is actually pretty [expletive ninja'd by Faarbot] mana efficient. moreso than blessed aid (our heal) until its lvl 30 training upgrade. that would be a solid choice as well.</DIV> <P>Message Edited by Titaliss on <SPAN class=date_text>05-20-2005</SPAN><SPAN class=time_text>01:28 PM</SPAN></P><p>Message Edited by Titaliss on <span class=date_text>05-20-2005</span> <span class=time_text>01:28 PM</span>

[kdg68b]

<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>My suggestions would be:</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Knight's Stance - Great for soloing, and when Tanking a Group.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>At level 32 i I have Knight's Stance (adept 1) up at all times.  With it up i can solo any green or blue heroic encounter i come across, with the exception of certain named mobs.  This was the case through my late 20's as well.  You will find that your healers in Stormhold groups also will appreciate you taking less damage (you will be spending quite a bit of time there soon).  And with the new gear you get from the AQs starting at level 20 you will be just about untouchable to anything that cons blue or green to you.  Betweens levels 30 - 32 i used Knight's Stance to speed pull groups of 3 Catapult Operators in Zek (all yellow/white to me at the time with single down arrow) netting 1% xp per group.  I made two levels off of these guys in a very short ammount of time, as well as gained some good Guild Status.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>Inflame - Great for keeping aggro when tanking for a group.</FONT></DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2></FONT> </DIV> <DIV><FONT size=2>In your 20's you will be spending a lot of time in groups in Stormhold and TS.  Your DPS is terrible until the late 20's so you will rely on groups to finish off your AQs.  As a pally nothing is harder than regaining lost aggro in the lower levels, your group members will really appreciate your ability to hold aggro and prevent total group wipes deep in SH.  My tanking routine in SH went something like this.  Pull, Group Buff, Taunt/Inflame (depending on number of mobs).  Every so often I would just fire off additional Inflames just to ensure that I kept the attention of all of the mobs in the encounter.  All it takes is one group member to target the wrong mob and take aggro from you for a few seconds for things to turn out bad for everyone : )  With Inflame you tend to see a little less of that happening.</FONT></DIV> <DIV> </DIV>

[Mrhan]

thanx a lot for all the replies, especially to you boli, thats some amazing stuff<img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /> I ended up ordering a charge adept 3, gonna get it in a few minutes cant wait<img src="/smilies/283a16da79f3aa23fe1025c96295f04f.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />

[SanJ]

<STRONG>11 - Righteous Blow<BR></STRONG> <BLOCKQUOTE><FONT color=#ffcc00>Still on a uniqe timer it seems at lvl 36<BR><I><FONT color=#ffffff>You'll find yourself using this ability even after it goes grey as when we are moving up the "mid twenties" when our DPS hits rock bottom untill we get "oath strike" at lvl 28 </FONT></I></FONT><I>Divine Vengeance at 25.6 was meant to follow this upgrade path but I don't seem to have a problem in using both. I had this on my primary hotbar untill Implacable Wrath came along. An Adept 3 verstion of this would be well used.</I><BR></BLOCKQUOTE> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>This bad boy is still on it's own timer at level 50 and consumes so little mana you don't even notice a power pool drop.  I use it like mad to finish HOs when everyone is out of mana and trying to get off just one more HO to finish a mob.  This little gem will remain on my hotbar even if a new orange spell arrives in the expansion pack.  I don't believe you need to make it adept 3 however unless you just have spare coin.  The concept is not damage in tier 3-5, but HO completion at extremely low (very efficient) mana cost.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>When I MT a very difficult mob even in a party of 6 where I know beforehand the battle will prolong, I'll work aggro management very hard and use this attack to complete sword HOs.  I let the dps do their job and better do my job by keeping as much power available as I can for long-term aggro management.  Of course, you'll learn to recognize when to do this stunt and when to unload the heavy hitters.  If you have a lot of power cables plugged into your toon through other classes feeding you mana it might prove more advantageous to issue a little more dps for assistance, but it's still a very handy attack that last a "lifetime."</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I suspect this attack will have even more use after the dps reduction proposed in testing.  If we take a heavy hit to dps and get bumped from 1-3 on the dps list down to 5-6, this attack will merit even more attention for HO completion simply due to the low mana cost.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV>Kalen</DIV>

[SanJ]

<P>Oh I forgot to answer your question <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" /></P> <P>I upgraded my Charge spell to adept 3 using my first coral harverst.  This attack might seem like a really strange choice upon first glance but the answer boils down to -- playstyle.</P> <P>During my mid teens through mid 20's, I spent a great deal of time duoing exclusively with a Swashbuckler friend.  We always tried to take down the hardest double up mobs we could handle with me healing myself and tanking and he dishing out damage.  We became very fine tuned at HOs so our efficiency was very good.  We learned the nuts and bolts of the Fighter/Scout HO opportunities and quickly learned of three available HOs.</P> <P>Luck's Bite - (common) does an additional 50% to 250% piercing damage to a single target.  If you start the HO and have the scout advance the opportunity, the combat wheel opens usually to our "boot" icon (i.e. charge attack) and the "cape" icon of the scout which is usually a backstab attack, but could be an array of options.</P> <P>Swindler's Gift - (uncommon) augments the party with two levels of increased accuracy.</P> <P>Raging Sword (rare) (I love the special effect from this bad boy) - boosts attack speed by 10% for 90 seconds, as well as 400% damage and increased taunt!</P> <P>The real concept here is that scout can flip or change the combat wheel should you desire to "go for" a different HO.  We usually started with a gift to increase our accuracy and then attempted to "flip" other HOs to Luck's Bite for the increased damage in the encounter.  After working together for a short time, even before they made HOs easier, we were chaining HOs as fast as my counter would reset and we were killing mobs that were very questionable for our level.  We would usually see Raging Sword (random) about 3 times per hour.  </P> <P>The other nice feature with the Charge attack is it included a knockdown which my buddy could chase with his spells/skill to reduce mob speed.  I seemed to have a good deal of trouble with my "kick" or "charge" while main tanking until I learned to shield bash first and then kick.  Once I had the adept 3 version, I seemed to miss much less frequently and I did a fair amount of damage with the spell not to mention to HO bonuses.</P> <P>It's usually easy to find the adept 1 taunt upgrade on the blackmarket, but no one would fault you for upgrading your taunt to adept 3.  DOF is a great aggro management tool as well and could/would certainly merit an upgrade possibly to adept 3.  Vigor of Trust was never on the broker in adept 1 and was missing in the crafter books for ages so I was stuck with apprentice 2, until my buddies low level alt got a loot drop killing rats outside NQ gate one afternoon and saved it for my Paladin.  I could see Vigor of Trust going adept 3 as well.</P> <P>Good luck on your decision.</P> <P>Kalen</P> <p>Message Edited by SanJun on <span class=date_text>05-25-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:31 AM</span>

[SamtheSmall]

<P>Wow.  This really helps a bunch.  Im obviously new to EQ and am trying to maintain the Pally name...</P> <P> </P> <P>I have no idea what coral is or how to get it...however, I appreciate all the posts about the Combat Arts and Spells.  I have 3 toolbars full of stuff now (lvl 22) and am always trying to figure out what needs to go, this helps a ton.  Have there been any posts about peoples hotbar preferences, or Knowledge preferences would probably be a better way to pose the question?  What arts/spells are completely useless and what ones must be kept and upgraded?  </P> <P> </P>

[Boli32]

Coral is a RARE harvests that Scholars(and later alchemists) need in making our Adept 3 spells. You'll find these rares in the stones lieing around most maps and you mine them (harvest) them out. "...I have 3 toolbars full of stuff now..." Sounds about right, I tried to keep my skills on 3 hotbars for a while... finally bit the bullet and got a much needed 4th out, None of our arts are "useless" some are needed less than others though...  for example the gift of aramament line some people will find these spells USELESS as they NEVER offtank... yet they are still useful, most pallies will have this in their hotbar but tucked away with the 12 hour buffs (knight's stance etc), but as SanJun pointed out - a lot of what you use indeed HOW you set them out depend SOLELY on playstyle. Remember these simple rules though - upgrade what you find yourself using the most often - upgrade if you see it going cheap on the broker - no spell isn't useless - you just haven't found a use for it yet<div></div>

[SanJ]

<DIV>If you haven't already, try moving your hotkey bars from the bottom right corner to the top left corner under the location of your group member names.  This really helped me a lot not having to scan up for a health check or aggro steal, look back down again to push an attack, look back up, look back down, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>It took me awhile to get used to the new location (was early 20's when I moved mine), but now I love the new layout.  It allows me to constantly monitor the condition of all my party members as well as quickly and easily see recast timers on my spells.  I do have five hotkey bars open, but I have gaps between keys for organization.  Likewise, I have my resolution turned up to the cap.  I did this after I found a guide on the forum from someone that specializes in video settings for cards like my NVidia (ultra 5950 w/256MB RAM).  I'm using about 10 percent of the screen real estate at the top of all my hotkey bars, compass, eq2 button, 5 hotkey bars, my group listing, myself and what is targeted. </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have 3 chat windows running hortizontal along the bottom of the screen each 25% wide followed by a 25% wide, fourth quest journal helper.  The bottom of my screen takes around 15-20% screen real estate leaving 70% for game view.  I keep the transparency turned really down on chat until I mouse over the window, so this works very nicely for me.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>As far as the hotkey bars go, I use hotkey bar 1 for all my single attacks and single taunt.  I use the second hotkey bar for my aoe taunt and aoe attacks.  I also have a single button gap which then goes to my constant wards/buffs like call to glory, our prayer, our blessing and sacrement line, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I use my third hotkey bar to all my heals, several blank spaces and then all my OT buffs for a MT like armament, redemption, unwavering faith, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The fourth hotkey bar is a left side filled with mastery attacks like orc, skeleton, giant, goblin, lizardman, etc.  After another gap on that bar I have all the long term self buffs for solo play or group play like benediction, aegis of hope, crusade, etc.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>My fifth hotkey bar is a mess <img src="/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" alt="SMILEY" />  I have several custom macros that reduce my downtime on typing like ....</DIV> <DIV>"/gu gratz!"  and "/afk I'm afk for 10-20 minutes--leave me a message" and "/gu our guild website is http://blah.blah.blah" and "/gu our Vent server information is blah password blah"  I also have the last spot for a constant rotating attack.   If I'm MT that last button contains judgement strike.  It requires a two-hander I don't use when MT'ing.  If I'm OT'ing, it contains my shield bash.  I can quickly and easily interchange those two keys depending on my role.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>One of the things I plan to do now that I'm almost 50 is follow a guide listed on the tips/tricks section of this forum that talks about loading and saving multiple hotkey configurations on the fly!  That's right on the fly!   I was thinking I might make files like kalen10.dat, kalen15.dat, kalen20.dat, ...... kalen45.dat  Each of these would be preconfigured hotkeys I could load quickly when I mentor based on a five level gap.  No more having to use weird hotkey bars and configurations that change a lot when you mentor.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Update ::: the URL for the guide on saving/loading hotkeys is - </DIV> <DIV><A href="http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tips&message.id=1779" target=_blank>http://eqiiforums.station.sony.com/eq2/board/message?board.id=tips&message.id=1779</A></DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>Thanks,</DIV> <DIV>Kalen</DIV><p>Message Edited by SanJun on <span class=date_text>05-26-2005</span> <span class=time_text>10:36 AM</span>

[SamtheSmall]

<DIV><BR> <BLOCKQUOTE> <HR> SanJun wrote:<BR> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>I have 3 chat windows running </DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>The fourth hotkey bar is a left side filled with mastery attacks </DIV> <HR> </BLOCKQUOTE><BR>Well, the question left for me is, how do you do it?  If you run multiple chat windows there must be a way to limit what type of chats enter the window.  You can set up a chat window for just guild chat or group chat for example?</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>You named a number of mastery attacks.  Is there any other way to get them other than leveling?  I chose gnoll and ghost mastery when given the option after I reached a certain level.</DIV> <DIV> </DIV> <DIV>SanJun you should write a book...I'd buy it, you're a wealth of information.  Thanks for sharing it.</DIV>

[Giland]

<P>right clicking on a chat window will allow you specify what goes to it.</P> <P>I have 2 chat windows on the left bottom and 4 hotbars on the right bottom. I put my bars in a 3/4 configuration and play the game in letterbox. The 3/4 configuration allows me to stack them right next to each other and group them as I press them with 3 fingers. I tradeskill also, so it is really good for that (tradeskill buffs come in sets of 3).</P>

[Titali]

<DIV>yea right click, go to chat options. if a box is checked it goes there. by default everything goes into what i call the "bs window" if you right click and create a new chat window. any box you check in that one, becomes unchecked in your bs window. i personally have 4 windows. 1 for tells, 1 for guild, 1 for combat and 1 for bs, stuff i dont pay much attention to (everything else, yes that includes group chat ;P)</DIV>

[Karlen]

<b>>>>12 - Demonstration of Faith</b> <font color="#ffcc00">Lasts untill: 26.5 - Faithful Zeal <i><font color="#ffffff">While wards are was has kept you alive thus far thwe further you prgoress into the twenties and you may even see it now. Our wards arn't up to much, I don;t think it is worth upgrading this one whatever you may think now.<<<  </font></i><font color="#ffffff">I upgraded this to Adept III when I was around 20 and have never regretted it.   Adept III DoF wards for 284 (compared with 243 at Adept 1 and about 190ish at App III). This is enough to keep the spell useful through your 20s.   I am level 32 now and still use it in preference to Faithful Zeal App IV.  FZ wards for about 50-60 more points but for about 1/3 more power expenditure.  I will probably start using FZ, especially if I can get it upgraded soon. The nice thing about DoF is that it makes it less important how good your armor is -- because it absorbs the damage before it gets to your armor. It is also very handy when you are in a group -- you can throw it on whoever is getting the aggro.   What I often do when duoing with a wizard, for example, is let him do the pulling and then ward him right after the pull -- this usually draws the aggro onto me so that I can tank it.   This lets the mob die faster because otherwise the wizard needs to wait for a while after I pull or be in danger of drawing aggro onto himself. I have 2 Adept IIIs: DoF and Blessed Aid.  This is enough that I can be the main healer in small groups (2 or 3 people) when there are no healers about. </font></font><div></div>

[SanJ]

<P>If you right click a chat window two important options are available:</P> <P>Open a new chat window or Add a Tab.</P> <P>If you don't like the look of multiple chat boxes dancing around the screen, it's possible to now add a "tab" that keep chat limited to the same text box, but organized into a tabbed area.</P> <P>The key to either approach has already been listed by several posters and that's to right click and choose chat options.</P> <P>You'll have the ability to control what is displayed in both the different chat windows as well as the chat tabs you set.</P> <P>I have 3 chat windows.  Window 1 is a normal chat, /ooc, /shout window.  It also includes a tab labeled as Combat (which I named myself through the chat options feature).  I have all my combat information displayed in that special tab when I want to track damage closely.  My second chat box is for group messages, raid messages and personal tells.  I elected to display heroic opportunities in this window so I can quickly check the name of the HO and each stage as it progresses.  My third and final chat window is for guild chat only.</P> <P>Probably the "slickest" detail I have on chat is "custom colorization."  Setting each of my chat windows with custom color has helped immensely!  Click on your EQ2 button and enter "Options" to control you chat/text color.  In a nutshell, I configured all names in the game (the link field) to appear as white text.  Next, I configured guild chat to appear in green, group chat to appearin cyan/blue, personal tells to appear in purple, raid text to appear in yellow.  I have custom channels like crafting and the Paladin channel displaying in an off blue and off green.  GM messages and shouts appear in red.  The important part for me was setting everything I say (no matter which window) to orange.  It allows me to quickly and easily "glance" down to chat and notice when I last said something verse a possible reply from a guild member, group member, etc.  I really like having player names, NPCs etc. appear in white with custom colors after names.  Experiment with your setup and you'll probably find a nice combination that works well for you.</P> <P>Thanks,<BR>Kalen</P>