Solo AA xp, what lvl is the sweet spot?

[Viko]

I play a necro as an alt, something fun to do since my main is mostly maxed. I was considering getting up to 75 asap, and then working aa, but because I want to solo I realized stopping for AA earlier may be better.

Based on a full knowledge of spells+exp spots, what lvl would be best to stop and work AA? I know atiki is a good place, but could I solo there efficiently at lvl 70?

Also, at lvl 75 what spell setups do most people use on atiki mobs?

thanks in advance

[Todwelt]

With the changes that were implemented to the AA system in TSS, there is no real "sweet spot" for earning AA's anymore. There are some like Death Peace AA, Mnemonic Retention, Run 5, and the Critical Affliction line that you should get as they become available to help earn AA's faster.

At 75, I stand by the fire+poison lineup for Atiki mobs.

And remember the following trick for dealing with Malo/Tash ... wish I could remember who gave this tidbit on here .... put up three to four junk buffs/clickies, finish off your normal self buff lineup then open up the first buff slot. This gives Malo/Tash a slot to land in and then after the fight or when you feel the need ... Annul yourself to get rid of Malo/Tash. I know it works for Malo and afaik, it should work with tash.

[encephalitis]

Long time beastlord (played 3 to 65+) short time necro (only been 65 for a week or so).

I can't comment much on necro "sweet spots" for aaxp, but I will say, that with the rennovations SoE made to the aaxp system, I have found that at 65, my necro can net between 2-4 aa points per Lesson of the Devoted (or potion charge) while soloing yellows and reds (about 2.5 minutes per kill). He has around 7khp with Tenacity, and about 6.5k mana, and only about 36aa thusfar, so YMMV.

I would say find a level range below 70 that is comfortable for you. Level 70 is the balance point that aaxp gain rate is centered on, so past that, unless your killing efficiency while solo'ing yellows and reds spikes dramatically after 70 (I wouldn't know yet).

What I will say is that at 70+ I think most people do Nest instances or something similar, which is a PITA (or darned expensive if on FV) as you always have to find 2 other toons to begin the mission. My necro aaxp grounds are easy to get to, and require no outside assistance at all.

That's why I'm gun-shy to move on from 65. I will someday, but probably not until I'm in the 500aa range. I'm in no hurry to be the highest level, as I can't devote time to level grinding, and remember the arduous journey from 65 to 70 all-too-well to want to embark upon it once more.

Again, I don't know necros past 65. What I can say, is that my soloing grounds on my beastlord shrank dramatically between 66-70, and at 70+ were almost completely gone unless I wanted ultra-boring, highly-inefficient places to solo like GE, or just ultra-boring places like WoS.

As a side note, I've loved every minute spent on my necro, and will probably never go back to a beastlord as my main.

NECRO POWAH.

Edit: Also, I agree with the above post that there are some aa's you should get immediately, regardless of whether you intend to stay at your current level to aa grind for a little while or not. Those are (in the order I would recommend): Run 3, SCM 3, Critical Affliction 3, Death Peace, Run 5, Theft of Life 3 (or more), Regen 3.

[Felicite]

What I will say is that at 70+ I think most people do Nest instances or something similar, which is a PITA (or darned expensive if on FV) as you always have to find 2 other toons to begin the mission. My necro aaxp grounds are easy to get to, and require no outside assistance at all.
FV Represent.

As I understand teh AA change.. you can earn AAXP (and therefor AA points) at pretty much any level at pretty much the same rate I enjoyed at 70 back in DoDH?

It would seem to me there might be some good times at Grieg's End and some other Luclin or older spots (Chardok springs to mind) with much lower hit point mobs. Especially once you got Seduction of Saryrn, a PoP pet and some DoTs. Do Hot Spots apply to AAXP (I am thinking no.. but I am old)?

Maximum level you could get spells for was always my manta. (FV made that easy =p) I dunno.

Most of the posters here were max level way before this became an option.. or haven't farmed 1000+ AA (I said most!). So.. maybe you will write the ultimate leveling guide.

[Viko]

So where do you solo 2-4 aa per lesson at at 65?

As far as GE, it used to be an insane exp spot, but its not hot anymore... Most of the higher mobs turn LB at lvl 61-62 so I wouldnt think that would be a super efficient place, especially without access to higher AA's.

Exactly how good is 69.1 ? Can it be done at lvl 65 or is 70 the most efficient?

[Aaeeldar]

Plane of Fire ftw.

[Viko]

Dont have access to fire :(

[Torvail Daylarone]

Icefall leopards will yield about 2-3 Lesson AA. But at 71 you can do Atiiki or Thalassius for the same AA, bout 2-3 per lesson.

[encephalitis]

Icefall leopards will yield about 2-3 Lesson AA. But at 71 you can do Atiiki or Thalassius for the same AA, bout 2-3 per lesson.

As I said, there are probably spots outside DoN that a proficient necro can easily get what I'm getting per lesson. But, I will say, you have a wider variety of "lower hit point mobs" which will be DB to Yellow/Low Red con at level 65 than at 71.

Again, most of my experience on this comes from the beastlord world where the solo horizon drops off into an abyss of nothingness if you're a casual gamer with gear from more than a couple expansions ago. My favorite grind haunts as my beast are PoP (when solo) because they fit the character's abilities, and there is a plethora of DB mobs with relatively few HP as compared to OOW/GoD/PoR/TSS etc.

My necro solo's about 10x more efficiently than my beastlord, and can easily handle things I could never do with my bst, so take that with a grain of salt.

What I'm saying is this. You'll gain AA points extremely fast at 65, and it will make the death march to 70 or 75 much easier to take care of some of the biggies (such as SCM and Crit Affliction).

[Schaeffer]

i can see where it would get more difficult for a melee to solo since they have to deal with the increased amount of dps and hp's that higher mobs have. Necro's don't have the limitation of having to get hit. The other limitation mentioned was increased HP's. Since necro DPS correlates to spells and increased level = higher spell dps, for us lower level mobs do not necessarily = faster aa xp. Like was mentioned before the only aa's worth stopping for are the ones in which will help you kill faster: run 5, mneumonic retention, death peace aa, and crit affliction. All the other aa's won't help you kill faster than higher lvl spells as a necro, bottom line, period the end.

[Rorthoz]

Get 75, I can get over 2 AA in less than 30minutes WITHOUT lotd.

[zdrastvicha]

i find 75 a good level to grind aa can get 4 aa an hour without lotd so long as u dont take to long of breaks between mobs. although i would recomend getting the dot crits, fd, and run5 as they become available also mana preservation and gom/gorm are a big help in efficiency.
zdrastvicha 75 necro of fv

[encephalitis]

Zdrastvicha!!!

Good to see another HoB'er on here. I'll take your advice. Maybe just leave my bst at 65....

I'm just afraid that I won't find any spots for aa grindage as sweet as the Icefall leopards. I get 16-18% per 2.75 min kill without lesson/potion (10% each toon if I duo). That's at 65.

Now, if I level to 70 or 75, these go from yellow/red to all DB, I'm guessing the aaxp will drop below 10%, probably to about 8-9% per kill. So unless my kill time drops to about 1.25 min or less, or I find another place where I can solo for 16-18% per kill in less than the current 2.75 min/kill, then I've lost ground.

Also, I can do 2-3aa per half hour with lesson with only 45aa's. I'm guessing those who are saying you can do 4aa/hr or 2-3aa per half hour without lesson have a truckload more aa's than me. Wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to max out my DPS aa's at my current level and then level up in order to maintain the same kill rate ratio?

[Schaeffer]

Wouldn't it be more beneficial for me to max out my DPS aa's at my current level and then level up in order to maintain the same kill rate ratio?

Not necessarily. Technically, pet crit's and flurry's are a dps upgrade. They equate to something along the lines of 3% added pet dps. That's not 3% of your total dps, just your pets. It is not worth it to get them until you run out of more useful aa's. Like most said here, crit dots is always good to have maxed as it scales with you as you level (bigger spells land bigger crits). Mnuemonic retention and the Death Peace AA, free up a spell slot for another DPS spell and that's why they are invaluable to get them as soon as they are available. Run 5 helps you kite better, and CoS AA is a huge help if you don't have the pre-nerf clicky. Gift of Mana can and will help your mana costs to kill faster as well. Crit Taps is kind of a coin toss. I don't DD tap that much and when I do it's not for DPS (at least not when soloing), so I'd probably wait on it. I'd max out your level before crit dd's and then get your defensives asap.

Most folks are saying the same thing, and there's reasons for it. I'm sorry if we weren't convincing enough at first, at least it seems that way since you reluctant to take our word for it until your friend arrived.

[Rorthoz]

Dot Crits and GoM/GoRM are great. Pet DPS is over rated IMO. SPELLS MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE. If you don't have your DoD spells get them. Get your Katta faction up for RK2 DoT's. DoT Extention Focus and Damage Focus are great as well.

[Desh]

Edit: Also, I agree with the above post that there are some aa's you should get immediately, regardless of whether you intend to stay at your current level to aa grind for a little while or not. Those are (in the order I would recommend): Run 3, SCM 3, Critical Affliction 3, Death Peace, Run 5, Theft of Life 3 (or more), Regen 3.

Regen 3? Nearly worthless, in addition to the fact that you need to spend it between Run3 and SCM3 in your list as you can't buy Archetype AAs until you've got 6 in general. If I could go back I would have gotten Meta3. In the post-TSS world of OOC regen, ToL and HP regen aren't very important for kiting.

[encephalitis]

Regen 3? Nearly worthless, in addition to the fact that you need to spend it between Run3 and SCM3 in your list as you can't buy Archetype AAs until you've got 6 in general. If I could go back I would have gotten Meta3. In the post-TSS world of OOC regen, ToL and HP regen aren't very important for kiting.

Not to be contrary, but you no longer have to spend points in general to buy archtypes, and you no longer have to spend points in archtypes to buy class. The only dependencies now are for same-series aa lines, and maybe a few odd others.

Worthless is as worthless does I guess. I like regenerating 76hp/tick while FD.

[Shaddowmaster]

I tried Atiki at lvl 72. Was after the genies for the mask quest. That lasted all of 10 sec, they run fast enough after snare they killed me before any DoTs finished casting. I went back with a 75 druid. He pulled with his snare and died 2 of every 5 pulls. I ran out of EEs rezzing him. What is your technique in Atiki?

[Todwelt]

I tried Atiki at lvl 72. Was after the genies for the mask quest. That lasted all of 10 sec, they run fast enough after snare they killed me before any DoTs finished casting. I went back with a 75 druid. He pulled with his snare and died 2 of every 5 pulls. I ran out of EEs rezzing him. What is your technique in Atiki?

Interesting .... I never had any problem with them running too fast. Of course, I have run5 which may be part of your problem if you do not have it, just a guess. What I would do is cast the TSS snare (OoW snare should be sufficient), coruscating darkness(?) then disease dot, severan's rot, then finish off the rest of my dots and refresh as needed.

Never had any problems and could kite like that all day. Not much in the way of splitting camps since their agro radius is so small. But I have not been there for at least a month

[Siluuael]

Between 65 and 70 I spent a lot of time at the murk stingers camp in NC. This was before the revamp to AAxp, so I'm not sure how it stacks up to the icefall leopards now.

Assuming your resists are decent, you might want to consider the normal versions of the 68.1, 69.1 and Lost Gnomes DoDH missions.

[encephalitis]

As an update, I have learned that TBS has a plethora of places in which the 70+ necro can flourish. I made about 25aa yesterday in the span of a few short hours with the use of lesson and exp pots. I expect to be able to complete Affliction Mastery and GoM this week, as well as perhaps Run5 (have fabled jboots so not ultra critical) and the FD aa (I have so seldom needed to FD in my 70 levels).

Anyways, thank you all for your advice, and I would have to say that I would concur that necro's do not face the same "stay at 65" incentive for grinding aa's that beastlords do.

[Fazzeel]

and the FD aa (I have so seldom needed to FD in my 70 levels).

Am I the only one shaking my head here? Has the game really gotten so easy that you never need to FD? The FD AA was purchased as soon as I got the level required.

[Xislaben]

Am I the only one shaking my head here? Has the game really gotten so easy that you never need to FD? The FD AA was purchased as soon as I got the level required.

I can see it if you just always kite whatever you agro, no matter how many come, but in practice that's a bit, unusual.

[Fazzeel]

If nothing else, you'd think the Death Peace AA would give you an extra spell slot. I seriously could not imagine not having Death Peace available (either spell or AA).