Grinding out AAs

BetaFlame · 06-07-2010, 03:29 PM

Hi.

I'm a level 26 Necromancer (fae), and I've only been able to afford the Adept version of my tank pet. I'm still on only 28 AAs, and have been questing alot to build up to there. But what I was wondering is are there any areas I could go to grind out AAs just as fast, as well as pickup some Legends and Lore Quests? I've done Vampires, Orcs, Golems and Shadowmen so far.

If I could find another place like the Shadowmen with a half dozen or so quests packed into the same place, that would be amazing SMILEY

I've got a ton of the +combat experience potions too.

Shareana · 06-07-2010, 03:43 PM

The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest.

If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee.

BetaFlame · 06-07-2010, 03:49 PM

Shareana wrote:

The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest.
If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee.

Mainly, I have no idea where to look to get them. I'd like to have my Master Spell's list filled out in the next dozen or so levels if that is even possible. I am gonna work on the elementals in Nektulos next, I think. They have Goblins near them too, if I remember right.

I take it they used to be harder? I played EQ1 before in the RoK era, but never after that

Shareana · 06-07-2010, 04:11 PM

BetaFlame wrote:

Shareana wrote:
The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest.
If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee.
Mainly, I have no idea where to look to get them. I'd like to have my Master Spell's list filled out in the next dozen or so levels if that is even possible. I am gonna work on the elementals in Nektulos next, I think. They have Goblins near them too, if I remember right.
I take it they used to be harder? I played EQ1 before in the RoK era, but never after that

L&L are every level.. some you can only get when higher level.

There are a few sites that you can use to look info up on.

Lore and Legend (eq2i)

Zam

Keep in mind that both give Locations of a book, but the book is no longer needed to start the quest. You can see though where the mobs would be as well SMILEY

BetaFlame · 06-07-2010, 06:13 PM

That is insanely helpful, thank you SMILEY

I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing.

So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number.

The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that.

Shareana · 06-07-2010, 06:19 PM

The AA's are just a way to make your character different then others that are the same class. It will make your charcater better so to speak....

BetaFlame · 06-07-2010, 06:26 PM

Shareana wrote:

The AA's are just a way to make your character different then others that are the same class. It will make your charcater better so to speak....

I didn't realize how vital they were when I started, so I basically ignored AAs till about level 20, and now I have to play catch up with it.

Would it be faster to find one of the Chronomages, drop my level to like 10 and quest in Darklight Woods to get AA exp faster? Or does it not work that way? Is AA exp based on your level or on your AA level..? I don't really understand the mechanic, so I can't figure out to best way to play catch up on it. Right now I am just sitting at level 26 questing in Nek Woods, then going to move to Thundering Steppes, then turn it to 50% and hit up Butcherblock.

Wastura · 06-07-2010, 06:27 PM

AA were a way to make you different. Now a days, most people run with roughly the same spec, and there in enough AA's to allow most people to get more than 1/2. One or two lines is usually worthless enough that very few go down it. Maybe on RP servers you'll meet a cleric that goes around only killing undead and has spec'ed exorcist, but generally it isn't happening.

Eveningsong · 06-07-2010, 06:39 PM

The amount of AA required to gain a point goes up as you gain AAs, similar to how the amount of exp required to get your next level goes up the higher you are. That said, the amount of AA you will receive for a particular quest or AA mob is fixed, it doesn't matter if you are 90 or 20 or 10, you'll get the same amount. How far that amount will take you towards your next AA point just depends on what AA you're on -- if you have say 10 AAs, a quest completion might earn you 20% of an AA, but if you have 110, it might be 1% or not even noticeable.

Personally I've done a fair bit of chronomaging to get AAs and exp on higher characters and I've certainly found it worth doing, but that has included questing as well as just killing mobs/named. If you are only 20, I would suggest just setting your AA slider at somewhere between 50-100% and go about your usual business. You'll level a little slower, but you'll start more AAs. I will often put myself to 100% AA when I take a lower level alt into a new area, and leave it there until I start running out of quests. Then I'll drop it down and let them level a bit to open more quests or finish off the area, locking AA again if the quests start to grey out before I'm ready to leave. There's a great thread in the General Gameplay section that discusses various players' experiences in locking AA.

Alvane · 06-08-2010, 01:47 PM

BetaFlame wrote:

I'm a level 26 Necromancer (fae), and I've only been able to afford the Adept version of my tank pet. I'm still on only 28 AAs, and have been questing alot to build up to there. But what I was wondering is are there any areas I could go to grind out AAs just as fast, as well as pickup some Legends and Lore Quests? I've done Vampires, Orcs, Golems and Shadowmen so far.
If I could find another place like the Shadowmen with a half dozen or so quests packed into the same place, that would be amazing
I've got a ton of the +combat experience potions too.

AAs - set your slider to 100%, then hit every quest in T-1 and T-2. If you use wikia they have timelines for each area of Shattered Lands. Each quest you check will state if it will give AA. At level 26, you will get AA for the quest even if quest is grey. You will not get AA for XP conversion if the mobs are grey unless you use the Chronomage and self mentor down.

Run through every zone you can - won't take long - even if grey you'll gain quite a few AAs. Oh, and go to Neriak and do the Citizenship quests as if you are changing from FP to Neriak - you get nice AA plus faction - just don't do the final step where you accept Neriak as your final home. Or do the opposite if you are a Neriak citizen - do the citizenship quests in FP - Gorowyn, too.

I have a character now level 24 with 51AAs and haven't yet used any XP potions of any kind.

Remember, as your AAs rise, it will take longer to fill up the jar until you get enough to gain one AA. If you have your slider bar at 100% you will not gain XP combat as all your XP for combat gets converted into AAs. Some people prefer to level lock around 22+, 32+ etc, get master crafted gear (use of rares - so harvest as you go along), then put slider to 100%AA and work the AA quests in the area, then level up again, rinse and repeat.

Others prefer keeping AA bar at a percentage - since you need 2.25 - almost 3AAs per adventure level, some set their slider around 60-75% and leave it there. So experiment with how you wish you gain your AAs.

BTW, since you are improving your harvesting skills as you adventure, pick up A Gathering Obsession from a small boy swimming in a pond (below the tower of 4 winds) in the village of Shin on Isle of Mara. You not only get crafting xp, but also AA and a Harvest cloak with reduction of falling speed, increase mount speed - at the end of the series.

vanillachinchilla · 06-08-2010, 01:48 PM

taFlame wrote:

That is insanely helpful, thank you I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing.
So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number.
The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that.

Thats exactly the same feeling i have. The AA system in this game has to be the worst leveling mechanic I have encountered in any game. Any mechanic that leaves the possibililty of a player leveling up their character to level 90 and being gimped because of lack of AA is not good.

The system relies on playing and fiddling around with a slider bar to maximimize AA gain at all times, which new players arnt going to know the best ways to do that. I really dont want to get to lvl 90 and find out that I dont have enough AA and then have to go back and spend weeks grinding and redoing low level content to get more AA. My whole time playing im always wondering if im getting enough AA. Im always thinking, is my slider turned up enough? Could I be doing more??

The AA system basically creates about triple the grind for any character you create. Not only do you have 90 "adventure" levels to grind, but you have 250 AA levels to grind!!! This means for every character you make you have 340 levels to grind to max level!!

This is more levels to grind then any game out there. At least in WoW you get all the talent points you need just from leveling up once from 1 to 80 and there is no chance of gimping yourself if you dont play around with a slider bar and you dont have to go back and redo low level content to get missing talent points.

As well from what I hear from other players AA levels are not an option. You MUST have at least 200AA by lvl 90. But that is probably only if you are going to raid, so maybe if you are just doing regular content its not that important. Im not planning to raid either so who knows how much AA I might need.

Maybe im worried about nothing but right now the AA grind looks very steep right now. From many posts I read on the forums the common theme is the terrible dreaded AA grind. im really hoping that AA doesnt turn out as bad as it sounds SMILEY

Alvane · 06-09-2010, 01:25 PM

vanillachinchilla wrote:

taFlame wrote:
That is insanely helpful, thank you I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing.
So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number.
The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that.
Thats exactly the same feeling i have. The AA system in this game has to be the worst leveling mechanic I have encountered in any game. Any mechanic that leaves the possibililty of a player leveling up their character to level 90 and being gimped because of lack of AA is not good.
The system relies on playing and fiddling around with a slider bar to maximimize AA gain at all times, which new players arnt going to know the best ways to do that. I really dont want to get to lvl 90 and find out that I dont have enough AA and then have to go back and spend weeks grinding and redoing low level content to get more AA. My whole time playing im always wondering if im getting enough AA. Im always thinking, is my slider turned up enough? Could I be doing more??
The AA system basically creates about triple the grind for any character you create. Not only do you have 90 "adventure" levels to grind, but you have 250 AA levels to grind!!! This means for every character you make you have 340 levels to grind to max level!!
This is more levels to grind then any game out there. At least in WoW you get all the talent points you need just from leveling up once from 1 to 80 and there is no chance of gimping yourself if you dont play around with a slider bar and you dont have to go back and redo low level content to get missing talent points.
As well from what I hear from other players AA levels are not an option. You MUST have at least 200AA by lvl 90. But that is probably only if you are going to raid, so maybe if you are just doing regular content its not that important. Im not planning to raid either so who knows how much AA I might need.
Maybe im worried about nothing but right now the AA grind looks very steep right now. From many posts I read on the forums the common theme is the terrible dreaded AA grind. im really hoping that AA doesnt turn out as bad as it sounds

Yea, you are right - you MUST have 200AA plus at level 90 IF you want to get into a raiding guild, but then those are the guild's requirements, not SoEs.

AAs do give a character additional abilities to fine tune how a peep wants to play that character, but it isn't a requirement of having this amount of AAs or that amount at any level. It's totally up to the person how they wish to utilize the AAs and how they wish to obtain them.

There are many peeps at all sorts of levels with all sorts of AAs. So if you wish to buy into the dreaded AA grind, you are welcome to do so. I know peeps at T-6 levels with AAs in the 30s, and I know peeps at level 90 with about 160-190AAs, and I know peeps at level 25 with 76AAs and some even more.

Now, if you want to get into a guild that requires a bottom line AA, hey - go for it and do what you need to do to meet your goal of joining that guild. But I bet my bottom copper that 98% of guilds have absolutely no AA requirement. And I bet my bottom copper you can still play the game at level 90 with 50AAs as you can at level 80 or what every level with what ever amount of AAs you do have.

AAs are an additive to your character for what ever direction you wish. If you don't want any more additional abilities, well, nothing wrong with that. If you do, well, then you have a goal. As for being gimped? If you expect to join a raiding team with no abilities, yeah - kinda ridiculous goal. It's like expecting to play the NBA when you can't even dunk the ball.

Pay the dues - get the experience and raise up your AAs to meet the goals you wish for your character. Two different systems? Yes and no - one deals with adventure, the other deals with abilities. You can work them both together if you desire, or you can work them totally separate and feel the grind if that's what you want to do.

As for new players - experiment what works best for you. This isn't a cookie cutter game, this game asks you not to look up everyone's AAs specs and copy that, not knowing why or what you are doing? The average player does just that, then they wonder why they don't have high dps as a wizz, yet that other player does and you both have the same exact AAs and selections - after all, you did copy theirs. This game asks you to think for yourself. Yes, read what other peeps do, read the discussions and debates. The final choices are yours and all depends on what goals you have decided upon for your character.

The basics of AA runs from about 2.25AA per level to about 2.85AAs per level. So, if you wish to run the XP and AAs together, then work from those ratios. Anyone can figure that out. How to do that is up to you. You can copy someone else's forumula or figure what works best for you and your character. IOW - think for yourself.

If you feel overwhelmed by the AAs and XPs and scare yourself by thinking OMG - I got 12 characters and I have to do WHAT? Then keep to just one or two characters - do you really need 12 characters? Or instead of working each character as fast as you can, try slowing down some - who cares if you take your wiz to 90/250 in a week or if it takes you 5 years - or perhaps you never do go to cap. Play your game, no one elses.

I have characters that I play on keeping below cap - I have characters that I keep at cap or just below. I have characters at low levels. Guess what? None of them are "gimped." They are all doing very nicely for the goals I've set for each one. I have characters that will prolly never raid. I have characters that will only raid perhaps T-3 of T-4, etc. I have characters that have raided T-8, and maybe sometime T-9. Guess what? I'm having fun playing them. And I laugh a lot.

So yea, the AA is a terrible grind - if you wish it so. You can dread it by letting other people do your thinking for you. Give into the pressures and one sided opinions without doing your own checking and thinking. Then, yeah, you'll stop laughing and having fun. Then you can complain a lot until you are fed up and quit the game.

Instead of negativity, work something out that meets your goals. It's all very doable - including leveling adventure and AAs. There have been many posts - very positive about different methods of gaining AAs. Have you read them? Or do you just read the negative ones?

06-07-2010, 03:29 PM	#1
BetaFlame Hero Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7	Hi. I'm a level 26 Necromancer (fae), and I've only been able to afford the Adept version of my tank pet. I'm still on only 28 AAs, and have been questing alot to build up to there. But what I was wondering is are there any areas I could go to grind out AAs just as fast, as well as pickup some Legends and Lore Quests? I've done Vampires, Orcs, Golems and Shadowmen so far. If I could find another place like the Shadowmen with a half dozen or so quests packed into the same place, that would be amazing I've got a ton of the +combat experience potions too.

06-07-2010, 03:43 PM	#2
Shareana Lead Volunteer Moderator Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,921	The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest. If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee. __________________ \|\| Forum Guidelines \|\| Knowledge Base \|\| Tech Support \|\|

06-07-2010, 03:49 PM	#3
BetaFlame Hero Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7	Shareana wrote: The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest. If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee. Mainly, I have no idea where to look to get them. I'd like to have my Master Spell's list filled out in the next dozen or so levels if that is even possible. I am gonna work on the elementals in Nektulos next, I think. They have Goblins near them too, if I remember right. I take it they used to be harder? I played EQ1 before in the RoK era, but never after that

06-07-2010, 04:11 PM	#4
Shareana Lead Volunteer Moderator Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,921	BetaFlame wrote: Shareana wrote: The L&L are soooo easy to get now. All you have to do is examine one piece of them and you gain the quest. If you are a person that likes to harvest, you can harvest the rare needed to make the Expert spells that you need. Often time, if you ask for a crafter and have the rares needed, they will craft for a small fee. Mainly, I have no idea where to look to get them. I'd like to have my Master Spell's list filled out in the next dozen or so levels if that is even possible. I am gonna work on the elementals in Nektulos next, I think. They have Goblins near them too, if I remember right. I take it they used to be harder? I played EQ1 before in the RoK era, but never after that L&L are every level.. some you can only get when higher level. There are a few sites that you can use to look info up on. Lore and Legend (eq2i) Zam Keep in mind that both give Locations of a book, but the book is no longer needed to start the quest. You can see though where the mobs would be as well __________________ \|\| Forum Guidelines \|\| Knowledge Base \|\| Tech Support \|\|

06-07-2010, 06:13 PM	#5
BetaFlame Hero Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7	That is insanely helpful, thank you I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing. So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number. The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that.

06-07-2010, 06:19 PM	#6
Shareana Lead Volunteer Moderator Join Date: Jun 2008 Posts: 3,921	The AA's are just a way to make your character different then others that are the same class. It will make your charcater better so to speak.... __________________ \|\| Forum Guidelines \|\| Knowledge Base \|\| Tech Support \|\|

06-07-2010, 06:26 PM	#7
BetaFlame Hero Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 7	Shareana wrote: The AA's are just a way to make your character different then others that are the same class. It will make your charcater better so to speak.... I didn't realize how vital they were when I started, so I basically ignored AAs till about level 20, and now I have to play catch up with it. Would it be faster to find one of the Chronomages, drop my level to like 10 and quest in Darklight Woods to get AA exp faster? Or does it not work that way? Is AA exp based on your level or on your AA level..? I don't really understand the mechanic, so I can't figure out to best way to play catch up on it. Right now I am just sitting at level 26 questing in Nek Woods, then going to move to Thundering Steppes, then turn it to 50% and hit up Butcherblock.

06-07-2010, 06:27 PM	#8
Wastura Loremaster Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 141	AA were a way to make you different. Now a days, most people run with roughly the same spec, and there in enough AA's to allow most people to get more than 1/2. One or two lines is usually worthless enough that very few go down it. Maybe on RP servers you'll meet a cleric that goes around only killing undead and has spec'ed exorcist, but generally it isn't happening.

06-07-2010, 06:39 PM	#9
Eveningsong Tester Join Date: Nov 2004 Posts: 3,844	The amount of AA required to gain a point goes up as you gain AAs, similar to how the amount of exp required to get your next level goes up the higher you are. That said, the amount of AA you will receive for a particular quest or AA mob is fixed, it doesn't matter if you are 90 or 20 or 10, you'll get the same amount. How far that amount will take you towards your next AA point just depends on what AA you're on -- if you have say 10 AAs, a quest completion might earn you 20% of an AA, but if you have 110, it might be 1% or not even noticeable. Personally I've done a fair bit of chronomaging to get AAs and exp on higher characters and I've certainly found it worth doing, but that has included questing as well as just killing mobs/named. If you are only 20, I would suggest just setting your AA slider at somewhere between 50-100% and go about your usual business. You'll level a little slower, but you'll start more AAs. I will often put myself to 100% AA when I take a lower level alt into a new area, and leave it there until I start running out of quests. Then I'll drop it down and let them level a bit to open more quests or finish off the area, locking AA again if the quests start to grey out before I'm ready to leave. There's a great thread in the General Gameplay section that discusses various players' experiences in locking AA.

06-08-2010, 01:47 PM	#10
Alvane Server: Unrest Guild: Old Timer Guild Rank: Member Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,363	BetaFlame wrote: I'm a level 26 Necromancer (fae), and I've only been able to afford the Adept version of my tank pet. I'm still on only 28 AAs, and have been questing alot to build up to there. But what I was wondering is are there any areas I could go to grind out AAs just as fast, as well as pickup some Legends and Lore Quests? I've done Vampires, Orcs, Golems and Shadowmen so far. If I could find another place like the Shadowmen with a half dozen or so quests packed into the same place, that would be amazing I've got a ton of the +combat experience potions too. AAs - set your slider to 100%, then hit every quest in T-1 and T-2. If you use wikia they have timelines for each area of Shattered Lands. Each quest you check will state if it will give AA. At level 26, you will get AA for the quest even if quest is grey. You will not get AA for XP conversion if the mobs are grey unless you use the Chronomage and self mentor down. Run through every zone you can - won't take long - even if grey you'll gain quite a few AAs. Oh, and go to Neriak and do the Citizenship quests as if you are changing from FP to Neriak - you get nice AA plus faction - just don't do the final step where you accept Neriak as your final home. Or do the opposite if you are a Neriak citizen - do the citizenship quests in FP - Gorowyn, too. I have a character now level 24 with 51AAs and haven't yet used any XP potions of any kind. Remember, as your AAs rise, it will take longer to fill up the jar until you get enough to gain one AA. If you have your slider bar at 100% you will not gain XP combat as all your XP for combat gets converted into AAs. Some people prefer to level lock around 22+, 32+ etc, get master crafted gear (use of rares - so harvest as you go along), then put slider to 100%AA and work the AA quests in the area, then level up again, rinse and repeat. Others prefer keeping AA bar at a percentage - since you need 2.25 - almost 3AAs per adventure level, some set their slider around 60-75% and leave it there. So experiment with how you wish you gain your AAs. BTW, since you are improving your harvesting skills as you adventure, pick up A Gathering Obsession from a small boy swimming in a pond (below the tower of 4 winds) in the village of Shin on Isle of Mara. You not only get crafting xp, but also AA and a Harvest cloak with reduction of falling speed, increase mount speed - at the end of the series.

06-08-2010, 01:48 PM	#11
vanillachinchilla Master Join Date: Mar 2010 Posts: 17	taFlame wrote: That is insanely helpful, thank you I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing. So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number. The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that. Thats exactly the same feeling i have. The AA system in this game has to be the worst leveling mechanic I have encountered in any game. Any mechanic that leaves the possibililty of a player leveling up their character to level 90 and being gimped because of lack of AA is not good. The system relies on playing and fiddling around with a slider bar to maximimize AA gain at all times, which new players arnt going to know the best ways to do that. I really dont want to get to lvl 90 and find out that I dont have enough AA and then have to go back and spend weeks grinding and redoing low level content to get more AA. My whole time playing im always wondering if im getting enough AA. Im always thinking, is my slider turned up enough? Could I be doing more?? The AA system basically creates about triple the grind for any character you create. Not only do you have 90 "adventure" levels to grind, but you have 250 AA levels to grind!!! This means for every character you make you have 340 levels to grind to max level!! This is more levels to grind then any game out there. At least in WoW you get all the talent points you need just from leveling up once from 1 to 80 and there is no chance of gimping yourself if you dont play around with a slider bar and you dont have to go back and redo low level content to get missing talent points. As well from what I hear from other players AA levels are not an option. You MUST have at least 200AA by lvl 90. But that is probably only if you are going to raid, so maybe if you are just doing regular content its not that important. Im not planning to raid either so who knows how much AA I might need. Maybe im worried about nothing but right now the AA grind looks very steep right now. From many posts I read on the forums the common theme is the terrible dreaded AA grind. im really hoping that AA doesnt turn out as bad as it sounds

06-09-2010, 01:25 PM	#12
Alvane Server: Unrest Guild: Old Timer Guild Rank: Member Loremaster Join Date: Aug 2006 Posts: 2,363	vanillachinchilla wrote: taFlame wrote: That is insanely helpful, thank you I love the LL quests... the decorations and stuff are amazing. So far I like everything about EQ2 but the two different leveling systems. I don't like having to gain exp twice for the same number. The only thing I need to do now is find a good social guild... I don't want to get into raiding or anything like that. Thats exactly the same feeling i have. The AA system in this game has to be the worst leveling mechanic I have encountered in any game. Any mechanic that leaves the possibililty of a player leveling up their character to level 90 and being gimped because of lack of AA is not good. The system relies on playing and fiddling around with a slider bar to maximimize AA gain at all times, which new players arnt going to know the best ways to do that. I really dont want to get to lvl 90 and find out that I dont have enough AA and then have to go back and spend weeks grinding and redoing low level content to get more AA. My whole time playing im always wondering if im getting enough AA. Im always thinking, is my slider turned up enough? Could I be doing more?? The AA system basically creates about triple the grind for any character you create. Not only do you have 90 "adventure" levels to grind, but you have 250 AA levels to grind!!! This means for every character you make you have 340 levels to grind to max level!! This is more levels to grind then any game out there. At least in WoW you get all the talent points you need just from leveling up once from 1 to 80 and there is no chance of gimping yourself if you dont play around with a slider bar and you dont have to go back and redo low level content to get missing talent points. As well from what I hear from other players AA levels are not an option. You MUST have at least 200AA by lvl 90. But that is probably only if you are going to raid, so maybe if you are just doing regular content its not that important. Im not planning to raid either so who knows how much AA I might need. Maybe im worried about nothing but right now the AA grind looks very steep right now. From many posts I read on the forums the common theme is the terrible dreaded AA grind. im really hoping that AA doesnt turn out as bad as it sounds Yea, you are right - you MUST have 200AA plus at level 90 IF you want to get into a raiding guild, but then those are the guild's requirements, not SoEs. AAs do give a character additional abilities to fine tune how a peep wants to play that character, but it isn't a requirement of having this amount of AAs or that amount at any level. It's totally up to the person how they wish to utilize the AAs and how they wish to obtain them. There are many peeps at all sorts of levels with all sorts of AAs. So if you wish to buy into the dreaded AA grind, you are welcome to do so. I know peeps at T-6 levels with AAs in the 30s, and I know peeps at level 90 with about 160-190AAs, and I know peeps at level 25 with 76AAs and some even more. Now, if you want to get into a guild that requires a bottom line AA, hey - go for it and do what you need to do to meet your goal of joining that guild. But I bet my bottom copper that 98% of guilds have absolutely no AA requirement. And I bet my bottom copper you can still play the game at level 90 with 50AAs as you can at level 80 or what every level with what ever amount of AAs you do have. AAs are an additive to your character for what ever direction you wish. If you don't want any more additional abilities, well, nothing wrong with that. If you do, well, then you have a goal. As for being gimped? If you expect to join a raiding team with no abilities, yeah - kinda ridiculous goal. It's like expecting to play the NBA when you can't even dunk the ball. Pay the dues - get the experience and raise up your AAs to meet the goals you wish for your character. Two different systems? Yes and no - one deals with adventure, the other deals with abilities. You can work them both together if you desire, or you can work them totally separate and feel the grind if that's what you want to do. As for new players - experiment what works best for you. This isn't a cookie cutter game, this game asks you not to look up everyone's AAs specs and copy that, not knowing why or what you are doing? The average player does just that, then they wonder why they don't have high dps as a wizz, yet that other player does and you both have the same exact AAs and selections - after all, you did copy theirs. This game asks you to think for yourself. Yes, read what other peeps do, read the discussions and debates. The final choices are yours and all depends on what goals you have decided upon for your character. The basics of AA runs from about 2.25AA per level to about 2.85AAs per level. So, if you wish to run the XP and AAs together, then work from those ratios. Anyone can figure that out. How to do that is up to you. You can copy someone else's forumula or figure what works best for you and your character. IOW - think for yourself. If you feel overwhelmed by the AAs and XPs and scare yourself by thinking OMG - I got 12 characters and I have to do WHAT? Then keep to just one or two characters - do you really need 12 characters? Or instead of working each character as fast as you can, try slowing down some - who cares if you take your wiz to 90/250 in a week or if it takes you 5 years - or perhaps you never do go to cap. Play your game, no one elses. I have characters that I play on keeping below cap - I have characters that I keep at cap or just below. I have characters at low levels. Guess what? None of them are "gimped." They are all doing very nicely for the goals I've set for each one. I have characters that will prolly never raid. I have characters that will only raid perhaps T-3 of T-4, etc. I have characters that have raided T-8, and maybe sometime T-9. Guess what? I'm having fun playing them. And I laugh a lot. So yea, the AA is a terrible grind - if you wish it so. You can dread it by letting other people do your thinking for you. Give into the pressures and one sided opinions without doing your own checking and thinking. Then, yeah, you'll stop laughing and having fun. Then you can complain a lot until you are fed up and quit the game. Instead of negativity, work something out that meets your goals. It's all very doable - including leveling adventure and AAs. There have been many posts - very positive about different methods of gaining AAs. Have you read them? Or do you just read the negative ones?