Let's start by clarifying some things. I've never played EQOA, so I don't know what you've had to experience vs here. But I'm going to go out on a limb and say that there's a big difference.That being said. I don't know if you picked up the box with The Shadow Odyssey, and honestly, I can't remember how that affects AA abilities down the line. So let me take a few and go into a brief explination of things:AA points are awarded through the killing of most (not all) "named" encounters, the completion of quests/collections over level 10, discovering certain "rare" items (defined as: trash drops off of mobs, such as the personal status items or various pieces of random things), and discovering certain regions (you'll get a lot of these). Anything in that list over level 10 will grant you an award of some kind. Don't be afraid to level-lock! You have the ability to get 200 points in this game, and they don't come quickly after about 160 or so. If you think you're moving along too quickly and that you have too few points, stop! Lock your level, turn off combat exp, and go hunting. Explore other zones, do other quests, get your AA up! I like to be at "pairity" by level 30 or so, ie: the point where my AA is the same level as my actual level. From there, it can only go up.
As a necro, what should you take first?I have an 80 necro, I've been playing the game since launch (even tho I didn't start him until around KoS). I may not be the greatest but I do have a general idea of what I'm doing at any given time. My eq2players profile is http://eq2players.station.sony.com/...terId=530897205 if you want to look at / laugh at me. I do raid some, but I am not a heavy raider, so my setup is designed for soloing/grouping. My personal qualifications being said (so you can judge me worthwhile or not), here goes. (Oh, note, I'm still in the 175 AA region due to two factors: I changed mains to my guardian when I joined my guild, and focused on him instead. Shortly after I changed back to my necro due to the former not being needed, I decided to upgrade my computer.. and thus, I can't log on and am on my spare. I hate doing hardware work.)
Unless I'm mistaken, the very first point goes into "Possess Minion". This is just one of those things.Next up: What the other said. Tainted Heals is your friend. Click the "Necromancer" tab.Enhance Chain: 5pts, Enhance Necromatic Mark: 5pts, Enhance Grasp: 5pts, Enhance: Grisly Mark: 5pts, and then Tainted Heals. As stated above, Tainted Heals automatically adds a 18% heal to almost every debuff you have. This includes Chain, Grasp, Drawing of Souls, Horrifying Mark (I think - the other debuff with the faster casting time), Dispell Magic, and even some of your actual pet buffs. I can't stress how important this spell is; cast correctly, it can make your pet almost invincible against some mobs.(Tip: you can click off a debuff and recast it. Just click the icon again in your hotbar once it's landed, it'll pop off, and as soon as it's able to be recast, you can throw it again. Makes for some really nice heal-cycling.)
After that? Go back to the "Summoner" tree.Your next round should be in STA. I say this because as a necromancer, you are going to be soloing quite a lot. It's quite honestly in your blood. But what does STA offer? Three very, very nice things.Point spread:4 points into "Stamina" - required.4 points into "Shockwave" - this gives your fighter pet the ability to score an out-of-encounter AE knockdown that stuns mobs and generates a lot of agro. You just have to be careful about using this in certain dungeon situations...8 points into "Perceptor's Command" - this is a taunt! Even better, YOU decide when it's used, NOT your pet! It has a 10-second recast, and is an utter life saver.
Jump to the "Necromancer" tree again.Look at the gravecalling line. Eq2players isn't showing this, but there's an AA there that lets you modify your tank pet. Take it to 5 points.Back to Summoner.Take 8 points into "Perceptor's Bodyguard". Extra tank pet health. This is the final modification you'll be giving it until you hit the Shadows line.. but it'll be fairly beastly at this point. Now it's time to work on /your skills. Note that these abilities will boost your spell-casting power a bit, but if you take the tank pet modifications first, it'll have a better time keeping agro.Look at the "Rotting" line in your Necromancer tree. Take 5 points into each ability, one after another. Bleeding Ritual is not one of my favorites, but it is required for one of the ultimates in the necromancer tree: Lifeburn.Lifeburn is one of those spells that'll take you a while to get used to. It has a 5 second cast time, a 5 minute recast, the mob has to be made at you first, and when it lands.. it eats away your health FAST. Every 1hp it takes from you it does 4hp worth of damage to your target. So the more health you have, the better it'll land. Now, this is not usually a soloing spell, as it can pull a LOT of agro. It's more of a group ability, but by the time you have it, you'll be doing some grouping anyways. Make sure your healers know! It doesn't hurt to make a hotkey for it: "Lifeburn in 5 seconds, HEAL ME NOW". Tell them how it works and the like if they don't know.. it'll save both you AND them some grief.
Whew. What next?By now you should have some idea as to what you're doing. If you're not doing a lot of grouping yet, take STR. If you are, take INT. Why do I say this?The STR line increases your spell crit abilities. Frankly though, the other abilities in that line aren't worth mentioning, so it's 4 into STR, 4 into Dagger, 4 into Parrying, and then 8 into Wild Channeling. You will notice a pretty hefty increase in your spell crits at that point, which is good.But if you're grouping, you're going to be putting your mage pet to use. Although without the final ability in the INT line, you'll find it's rather limited. Why?Your goal in this line is to get the final ability: Empower Servant. Don't get me wrong, you can't hurt yourself by putting 5pts into Intel, then 4 points into Leash. Then you can split it as you decide between the next two (I went 6/
. But as son as you have enough points spent to pick up Empower, get it!Empower effectively reduces a decent portion of the power cost of each of your mage's nukes. This means it can nuke longer. A lot longer. It also gives it a small heal every cast. This is great. Also keep in mind that the current endgame weapon for a necromancer (you won't see this for a while, but just keep it in mind) summons a mage pet for us.Oh, you'll find that once you take STA, STR, and INT that your ability to get the WIS line goes away. That's fine. The WIS line is overrated compared to the abilities in the other trees. Fairly simple, that. Spell crit and mage effectiveness is =! some minor pet defense.. since you really only need to worry about defensive skills if your pet is tanking, at which point, you have the STA line to compensate... and you get a taunt for your efforts.Ok, so at what point should you consider taking the Shadows line?If you look at the tree, it'll tell you how many points are required to be spent in any of the trees before you can unlock each tier. When you see those become available, consider how they'll effect you. Keep in mind that the first line is 10 points of suck - so you get a bit of health, or power, or a god-pet mod. Yippie. Let me constrain my excitement. Quick, get a ziploc bag. Things don't get interesting for us in that tree until the summoner line, and even then, it's not that great (exception: Summoner's Soothing. Anything that decreases our hate gen is NOT a bad thing).
Anyways. Once you get those lines done, you should have a really strong idea as to what will and what won't work. Consider taking the mage / scout pet mods in the Gravecalling line. Consider Shadows. But most of all, find the AA setup that works best for YOU. Grouping a lot? Get the mage buffs first. Soloing a lot? STA and Manipulations!Hope this helps.~Ak.