The search for the mentoring aa sweet spot

[percival33]

• Mentoring other players grants greater achievement reward for the mentor.
  • 0-5 level difference: 0% bonus
  • 6-10 level difference: 50% bonus
  • 11-20 level difference: 100% bonus
  • 21-30 level difference: 150% bonus
  • 31-50 level difference: 200% bonus
  • 51+ level difference: 300% bonus
  • This bonus is only applied to achievement experience gained through combat or loot items, not through quests or exploration.
• Mentors also receive experience even if their apprentice has disabled combat experience.

I'm looking to grind aa, and I look at the chart above I'm wondering is there is a known sweet spot to level lock to grind aa, while I mentor another account. (I'm doing the raf but forget that for now) I just want to get the best aa for the mentor.

So there is no confusion ... the "sweet spot" im looking for is not a place but the best level to lock in and grind aa.

Is it better to stay at the 51 level difference?  When I mentor down to the 20s and 30s I can handle ^^^ 2 or 3 levels above me which I assume gives me much better aa. But at the higher levels I won't be able to handle the higher content. Hard to say what will work better. Also, how much more aa do you get if you turn off combat expiernce for the apprentice?

Thanks!

[Ambrin]

You could mentor to ~40-45 and run Temple of Cazic Thule. There are a lot of mobs there and they respawn quickly, it should be pretty fast XP.

[Alvane]

Runnyeye

[Warpax]

Even mentored down. dont you ONly get AA exp off of mod w/ a Star and only the first time? Im so confused.

[percival33]

Sorry for the confusion, but I don't mean an actually place to grind but what level is the best to lock in when mentoring.

Is it best to be 51 levels above to get the 300%?   

Thanks

[Ravaan]

how about instead of people looking for the Mentoring "sweet spot", Level locking or getting RAF accounts all to try to level AAs quicker, SOE gets off their lazy a**es sees this crappy game mechanic and fixes the problem.

you already made leveling easier from 1-70 why not make getting AAs easier from 1-200, I should NOT have to do anything special in order to make sure my AAs are up to par with my level. I should get them as a natural progression of the game without level locking or even SLOWING my leveling at all.

[Eveningsong]

The thing with mentoring is to keep in mind the amount of exp/AA you'd get at the level as well as the % bonus you get.  If you are mentoring 51+ levels you'll get 300% sure, but if its a low amount of exp to begin with, you'd potentially get the same results mentoring a tier higher but with a smaller bonus, just because the base exp/AA is going to be that much higher.

Personally I've done a lot of self-mentoring and have had good results at all tiers.  I'd suggest doing what some folks have suggested and just find a good area with a lot of mobs and fast respawn and go at it, even better if there are some quests you haven't done yet or some first time named AA as well.

[percival33]

Eveningsong wrote:

The thing with mentoring is to keep in mind the amount of exp/AA you'd get at the level as well as the % bonus you get.  If you are mentoring 51+ levels you'll get 300% sure, but if its a low amount of exp to begin with, you'd potentially get the same results mentoring a tier higher but with a smaller bonus, just because the base exp/AA is going to be that much higher.

Personally I've done a lot of self-mentoring and have had good results at all tiers.  I'd suggest doing what some folks have suggested and just find a good area with a lot of mobs and fast respawn and go at it, even better if there are some quests you haven't done yet or some first time named AA as well.

I see what your saying. The set them all up to give the same exp. So It does come dowm to finding the right spot that makes the difference.

Thanks

[Alvane]

Ravaan wrote:

how about instead of people looking for the Mentoring "sweet spot", Level locking or getting RAF accounts all to try to level AAs quicker, SOE gets off their lazy a**es sees this crappy game mechanic and fixes the problem.

you already made leveling easier from 1-70 why not make getting AAs easier from 1-200, I should NOT have to do anything special in order to make sure my AAs are up to par with my level. I should get them as a natural progression of the game without level locking or even SLOWING my leveling at all.

Hey - one better - why not start the game at cap! That way you don't have to bother doing any leveling at all.

If you can pwr level in 2 days to cap, perhaps you deserve to have cap AAs at the same time. That way you can complain about having nothing to do for the next year to two years waiting for the next xpac!

In 3 days, my level 15 character has 37AAs - and she handles yellow and orange mobs - even a one up orange heroic! She's part of a static group that meets once a week. I, amoung many others, enjoy the game and it's content. I enjoy not only the leveling of adventure but the leveling of AA and the leveling of crafting, tinkering, adorning and harvesting, too. It's nice to work them at different rates depending on the goals of the individual.

[Maggyar]

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

Ravaan wrote:

how about instead of people looking for the Mentoring "sweet spot", Level locking or getting RAF accounts all to try to level AAs quicker, SOE gets off their lazy a**es sees this crappy game mechanic and fixes the problem.

you already made leveling easier from 1-70 why not make getting AAs easier from 1-200, I should NOT have to do anything special in order to make sure my AAs are up to par with my level. I should get them as a natural progression of the game without level locking or even SLOWING my leveling at all.

Hey - one better - why not start the game at cap! That way you don't have to bother doing any leveling at all.

If you can pwr level in 2 days to cap, perhaps you deserve to have cap AAs at the same time. That way you can complain about having nothing to do for the next year to two years waiting for the next xpac!

In 3 days, my level 15 character has 37AAs - and she handles yellow and orange mobs - even a one up orange heroic! She's part of a static group that meets once a week. I, amoung many others, enjoy the game and it's content. I enjoy not only the leveling of adventure but the leveling of AA and the leveling of crafting, tinkering, adorning and harvesting, too. It's nice to work them at different rates depending on the goals of the individual.

Yes, well its EASIER to get achievement points at 15 than at 75. You may be using the slider which was not even available when my alot characters were made. I have my old main and some alts from when AAs came out. There is no way in hell im going to soloquest all of my toons to 200+AA.

I am glad you enjoy what the game has to offer, but we all enjoy different aspects. Maybe you like running Fallen Gate every day, but after 6 years its not that fun to me. I want to play the new zones but sometimes my main character is not needed and it would be nice to have an alt to catch up using reasonable mechanics. As they change the curve for adventure xp, AA should follow. There is no use being able to level that fast and not have the AA.

[Yimway]

I can't tell you the best spots, as there isn't enough of them to go around.

Here is one I'll give for free though.

In Splitpaw, gain access to the raid zone.  Go into the first room and there is a post you can click to do a puzzle. 

Do the puzzle wrong and you get mobs that spawn in the room as a penalty.

Click the post as often as you like more mobs, be that every minute or every 10s if your group kills fast enough.

This is tedium with only global SP corpse loot as reward, but it is a reliable way to get as many mobs as you want all to yourself.

[Grumble69]

Are you looking to grind the AA for the mentee or the mentor?  If it's the mentee, level lock him at 20 and go to FMG.  Have the mentor come in and mass kill the zone.  The higher level the mentor is, the better--because he'll have better spells, AAs, and gear to do the mass killing.  The AA will fly on the mentee. 

If you're grinding the mentor and already have 100+ AA under your belt, then you want the highest level heroic mob that you can mass kill quickly.  PoA is probably the sweet spot for most people (chrono'd to 70).  When you start getting into RoK content, the mobs have substantially more HPs and hit way harder.  i.e. the fight takes a lot longer.  The goal here is to mass kill.  If you don't have a class that can do that, then this is a dull way to go and you're better off questing.

-----------------

It's really sad that it's come down to this.  The AA system is really [Removed for Content]'d at the moment.  Even if you spend a lot of time doing quest content, you end up woefully short of the 250 mark.  That means you spend a lot of time grinding out the same dang missions over & over.  I'm not sure what nitwit thought that would be fun, especially if you play more than one character (which many of us do).

But if you don't have a lot invested in your EQ2 characters, you're better off just closing your account and then coming back on a RAF.  Have a friend or guildmate jumpstart 2 or 3 classes for you.  Get them up to 100AAs.  It won't take that long at all.  And then go from there.

[Alvane]

Grumble69 wrote:

It's really sad that it's come down to this.  The AA system is really [Removed for Content]'d at the moment.  Even if you spend a lot of time doing quest content, you end up woefully short of the 250 mark.  That means you spend a lot of time grinding out the same dang missions over & over.  I'm not sure what nitwit thought that would be fun, especially if you play more than one character (which many of us do).

None of my characters are "short" of 250 mark for their levels. Once again - it's how you plan things out that makes a difference. You can pwr level up to 90, then go to places like Atan or what you suggested in order to grind up AAs - that's your choice. I wouldn't dummy down a system just for pwr levelers to have their cake and icing on top.

All my characters are questers and all are just fine on their AAs vs adventure level because I plan it out - my choice. I have yet to grind out "dang missions over & over" in order to get the AAs I need. Dummy down the AA system and you have open invitation for more peeps to skip doing quests be they HQs, sig quests, timelines just because you make it so easy not to quest.

Solution for all those who pwr level or w/e and lack AAs is - either do the AA quests as listed in wikia - or grind mobs to death with mentoring. The latter is very popular with peeps who pwr level without questing - particularly those who have max accounts and or several accounts.

[CoLD MeTaL]

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

Grumble69 wrote:

It's really sad that it's come down to this.  The AA system is really [Removed for Content]'d at the moment.  Even if you spend a lot of time doing quest content, you end up woefully short of the 250 mark.  That means you spend a lot of time grinding out the same dang missions over & over.  I'm not sure what nitwit thought that would be fun, especially if you play more than one character (which many of us do).

None of my characters are "short" of 250 mark for their levels. Once again - it's how you plan things out that makes a difference. You can pwr level up to 90, then go to places like Atan or what you suggested in order to grind up AAs - that's your choice. I wouldn't dummy down a system just for pwr levelers to have their cake and icing on top.

All my characters are questers and all are just fine on their AAs vs adventure level because I plan it out - my choice. I have yet to grind out "dang missions over & over" in order to get the AAs I need. Dummy down the AA system and you have open invitation for more peeps to skip doing quests be they HQs, sig quests, timelines just because you make it so easy not to quest.

Solution for all those who pwr level or w/e and lack AAs is - either do the AA quests as listed in wikia - or grind mobs to death with mentoring. The latter is very popular with peeps who pwr level without questing - particularly those who have max accounts and or several accounts.

And i only quest, hate grinding, yet I got to 80 with 120AA (before the slider was introduced) and currently AA is such a grind even with RaF and mentoring that it just makes me shudder to log in.

[Yimway]

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

All my characters are questers and all are just fine on their AAs vs adventure level because I plan it out - my choice. I have yet to grind out "dang missions over & over" in order to get the AAs I need. Dummy down the AA system and you have open invitation for more peeps to skip doing quests be they HQs, sig quests, timelines just because you make it so easy not to quest.

Solution for all those who pwr level or w/e and lack AAs is - either do the AA quests as listed in wikia - or grind mobs to death with mentoring. The latter is very popular with peeps who pwr level without questing - particularly those who have max accounts and or several accounts.

At this point, I've done every soloquest around more than one time.  I have no desire to continue to repeat soloquests to AA alts.

An alternative form of AA progression would be a healthy addition to this game.  Cause mentor grinding isn't particularly compelling either, but for me at least it beats doing the same unchallenging soloquest to go one shot whatever mob and come back fo Sally Soggybottom for my reward.

With grinding, I can atleast challenge myself by seeing if I can pull more things than I can survive or not.

In truth though, I'd like to see something else out there, not sure exactly what it should be, but I do feel the kill xp conversion at 90 should be that just the kills of a given mission should net ~5% aa at say 200.  Kills in general, particularly heroic+ kills do not feel like they add enough advancement.

[Aule]

It's a sad state of affairs that if your character is 80/200 (or lower aa) and you have a fighter friend who is willing to PL you, then the most efficient way to get to 90/250 is to delete your char and make a new one.

[Obadiah]

Aule@Guk wrote:

It's a sad state of affairs that if your character is 80/200 (or lower aa) and you have a fighter friend who is willing to PL you, then the most efficient way to get to 90/250 is to delete your char and make a new one.

That would be a sad state of affairs if it were true. Pretty fast to get from 80/200 to 90/250. Less fast to get from 1/0 to 90/250.

[CoLD MeTaL]

Kurgan@Everfrost wrote:

Aule@Guk wrote:

It's a sad state of affairs that if your character is 80/200 (or lower aa) and you have a fighter friend who is willing to PL you, then the most efficient way to get to 90/250 is to delete your char and make a new one.

That would be a sad state of affairs if it were true. Pretty fast to get from 80/200 to 90/250. Less fast to get from 1/0 to 90/250.

80/200 might be close, but 80/130 having already done 2000 non repeatable quests (including all Hqs etc) before AA was introduced.  Then yeah his sttement is true.

[Grumble69]

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

None of my characters are "short" of 250 mark for their levels. Once again - it's how you plan things out that makes a difference. You can pwr level up to 90, then go to places like Atan or what you suggested in order to grind up AAs - that's your choice. I wouldn't dummy down a system just for pwr levelers to have their cake and icing on top.

All my characters are questers and all are just fine on their AAs vs adventure level because I plan it out - my choice. I have yet to grind out "dang missions over & over" in order to get the AAs I need. Dummy down the AA system and you have open invitation for more peeps to skip doing quests be they HQs, sig quests, timelines just because you make it so easy not to quest.

Solution for all those who pwr level or w/e and lack AAs is - either do the AA quests as listed in wikia - or grind mobs to death with mentoring. The latter is very popular with peeps who pwr level without questing - particularly those who have max accounts and or several accounts.

I didn't powerlevel my character at all.  I haven't done every single quest in the game, but I've done a lot.  That got me up to about L80 & 160ish AAs in TSO.  Then I did a TON of missions and eventually ended up L80/200AA.  Right now I'm lvl locked at L89 and have 220ish AAs.  It's been a complete pain in the butt.  I'm so sick of the quests & missions that I'm embracing any other means possible.

And now I look at my alts.  Some of them I like to play.  But for them to really flourish, they need about 180AAs.  The thought of that really turns my stomach.  I'm just about to the point of finding another game rather than climb that AA mountain yet again.

If AAs were simply for prestige, I really wouldn't care.  I would have quit worrying about them a long time ago.

[Alvane]

Grumble69 wrote:

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

None of my characters are "short" of 250 mark for their levels. Once again - it's how you plan things out that makes a difference. You can pwr level up to 90, then go to places like Atan or what you suggested in order to grind up AAs - that's your choice. I wouldn't dummy down a system just for pwr levelers to have their cake and icing on top.

All my characters are questers and all are just fine on their AAs vs adventure level because I plan it out - my choice. I have yet to grind out "dang missions over & over" in order to get the AAs I need. Dummy down the AA system and you have open invitation for more peeps to skip doing quests be they HQs, sig quests, timelines just because you make it so easy not to quest.

Solution for all those who pwr level or w/e and lack AAs is - either do the AA quests as listed in wikia - or grind mobs to death with mentoring. The latter is very popular with peeps who pwr level without questing - particularly those who have max accounts and or several accounts.

I didn't powerlevel my character at all.  I haven't done every single quest in the game, but I've done a lot.  That got me up to about L80 & 160ish AAs in TSO.  Then I did a TON of missions and eventually ended up L80/200AA.  Right now I'm lvl locked at L89 and have 220ish AAs.  It's been a complete pain in the butt.  I'm so sick of the quests & missions that I'm embracing any other means possible.

And now I look at my alts.  Some of them I like to play.  But for them to really flourish, they need about 180AAs.  The thought of that really turns my stomach.  I'm just about to the point of finding another game rather than climb that AA mountain yet again.

Even if you didn't power level, it's obvious you did not plan for the AAs which will range freom 2.25 to close to 3AAs per XP level by 90. The less you have at a particular level, the more AAs you need to gain per level increase.

My level 81 character has about 215 AAs and still has more than half of TSO quests to complete, plus the SF quests. My level 90 character has about 244AAs and quite a number of quests to yet complete in SF. She has completed close to about 3000 quests. On the other side, my level 18 character now has 42AAs after completing over 400quests plus disco, names and about 10 collections. So far, none of my characters have been reduced to the "grinding" techniques employed by many players.

---

---

You can earn a max 250AAs if you have SF xpac but can only spend AAs with restrictions as noted:

Up to level 70: max 150AAs with 50 for each of the 3 trees

71-80: max 200AAs with 70 for first two trees and 60 for TSO

81-90: max 250AAs with 100 for first two trees and 70 for TSO and SF restricitons however, can only spend the 250 out of the maximum 270 points available to choose from.

---

There are over 2600 quests that give AAs, plus AAs for first kill on names, live events, world events, and prolly more that I can't recall atm. You also get AAs for collections, discos, rare items (llot) such as ancient treasures and status; using the AA slider wisely so you can convert combat XP into AA (unless you are capped in which it is automatic).

Also in gaining AAs, keep in mind, the max AA gain is most effective at level - IOW, green, blue, or white quests vs yellow and orange/red quests.

Just like XP, the higher level you are or the more AAs you have, the slower the gain of getting XP/AAs becomes. IOW, at 25AAs, you will gain AAs facter than if you have 200AAs. Same with XP, at level 25, you will level faster than if you are level 80.

Missions are a very slow way of grinding AAs, but doable which is why you consider it pita. Another method is to use the chronomage down to the average level of a zone, then go around and kill every NPC you can find. DoF is notorious for NPC killing areas such as in POF at the NPC hubs.

What every plan you decide to utilize for you characters to level and obtain AAs is always your choice. If you choose one route and find yourself in a situation you don't enjoy, then you have the freedom to change things up. Since you now hate questing and missions, I suggest you use the chronomage method of working first name NPC kills in each zone.

What ever you decide, I hope you achieve your goals - and good adventure to you.

[CoLD MeTaL]

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

Obviously you didn't start with a 60/0AA character who had already done close to a 1000 non-repeatable quests when AA was 'created'.

[JoarAddam]

Is all of this leading you you guys wanting them to add AA  "Research Assistants"?  Or how about being able to choose 5 AA instead of one of your t9 masters every 28 days...

[CoLD MeTaL]

JoarAddam wrote:

Is all of this leading you you guys wanting them to add AA  "Research Assistants"?  Or how about being able to choose 5 AA instead of one of your t9 masters every 28 days...

Personally I am hoping for an adjustment to the XP Curve as has been done to Adv XP more than once.

[Valdaglerion]

Ravaan wrote:

how about instead of people looking for the Mentoring "sweet spot", Level locking or getting RAF accounts all to try to level AAs quicker, SOE gets off their lazy a**es sees this crappy game mechanic and fixes the problem.

you already made leveling easier from 1-70 why not make getting AAs easier from 1-200, I should NOT have to do anything special in order to make sure my AAs are up to par with my level. I should get them as a natural progression of the game without level locking or even SLOWING my leveling at all.

If this was the case you would be maxed everything in 10 hours of play time if you have the right tools at your disposal. Hmmm, maybe thats why they made those 3 day account subscriptions now . . . you can log in for 3 days every 2 years to keep your toon up to level and such.

[CoLD MeTaL]

Artemiz@The Bazaar wrote:

If this was the case you would be maxed everything in 10 hours of play time if you have the right tools at your disposal. Hmmm, maybe thats why they made those 3 day account subscriptions now . . . you can log in for 3 days every 2 years to keep your toon up to level and such.

While some people can level amazingly fast, do not confuse that with normal people who are just playing the game.

A raider with multiple mentors in amazing gear, with RaF and pots etc. etc. yes can level quickly effeciently and get AA amazingly fast due to the OP-ness of that playstyle against normal stuff.  Regular people who group etc are having a far different experience and AA grind is a bad part of that right now.  Easing it up for normal people will ust help the other side anyway as they don't care about leveling only being max level.  It really works for everyone.  Someone who can level 1-90 in 7 hours like the person on ZAM is not your average player.

[JackBurtonBTLC]

and you hit that on the head, "regular" and "normal" people.  I fall into the category of full time job, family, hobbies, commitments, a profession, as well as a life gamer.

Last thing I want in a game is a horrible grind... and even worse is the grind of as someone else once said of "Raiding so I can get gear, so I can raid so I can get gear..so I can..."  A buddy of mine at work here recently quit, basically, he said to me that  he was in another endless raid, and suddenly, just said to himself... "[Removed for Content]..am I doing!!!, what is the point of this?" I laughed as I have been there many times and so have learned soloing, and exploring , and if I can get a cool group great, and if I have time an occasional RAID. I prefer to group... but then there lately are the issues of groups that won't take ya if your AA are enough, or the group where every fight someone is dumping a DPS ranking list. I don't play to push progress bars, I play to have fun.

And for me...I personally want to advance at a reasonable pace, see and explore new content.  I want to be able to group with other players, and not have to worry about my AA score being to low...or my gear not being good enough, or my DPS not being UBER enough.

[Korhallen3]

Give 1 AA per level-up past 10. Problem solved. 

[erin]

I'm always impressed and frustrated by the folks that don't seem to share this problem.  I want to know their secret.  I had several max level chars when AAs came out, so I feel like I've been lagging a long time.  I also don't like to have to level lock, I like to just keep doing quests and see where I end up.  Unfortunately that means I have a 90/230ish char and a 83/150ish char.  Its going to take a long grind to get the second to 250.  I know I'm skipping some of the content, I don't raid for example, and that's going to limit me, but I do all the quests I can find and yet still struggle.

Some people don't have these problems, but they don't really share what they are doing differently than us "normal" people.

I think I'm more common than the folks that just get to 90 with 250 AAs and don't see any problems.

[Alvane]

CoLD MeTaL wrote:

Alvane@Unrest wrote:

Obviously you didn't start with a 60/0AA character who had already done close to a 1000 non-repeatable quests when AA was 'created'.

Hmmmm.... I think I had two characters - or was it three when AA was created and I was capped on 1 and near capped on the other two. So, obviously, you guessed wrong.

The difference is - you chose one path - I chose another. The path I took gave me many more AAs than you - with each xpac - due to the commonly known information.

I've had characters capped with each xpac and had to not only level up adventure but AAs. And I've done it every time without problems, nor grinding. And I have yet to use chronomage as a path, though it is a choice for many and viable, too.

The more you narrow your choices, the harder it will be for you to cap AAs at 90. It's your choice - SoE has provided many paths to obtain cap AAs. Whether you wish to use them or not................

good adventures to you.

[Alvane]

Korhallen3 wrote:

Give 1 AA per level-up past 10. Problem solved. 

Ok, then you would have 90AAs at level 90 with 250 cap.