Question - Aug / Gear Farming 110+

[tomahawkeer]

My group makeup is currently 111 SK, mostly Snowsquall gear (all access), and 5 FTP bots consisting of 1 bard, 1, shaman, 1 cleric, 1 mage, and 1 wiz, not great gear, some Snowbound gear scattered and various Con gear, however some still have heroic 85 gear. SK is auto granted and doing 20% AA xp atm, and spent roughly 300 AA so far after completing auto grant (ac / hp aa so far).

I am looking to try to start hunting / farming someplace that I can help gear them up and possibly get some AUGs for my SK. Would I be best to focus on CoV content or someplace else? All of this content is new to me, but im up for any location that might help me smoothly upgrade gear for my bots all the way up to 115. I have kronos to eventually turn on all access / auto grant for my boxes, but I want to maximize them. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

 

[hytiek]

My group makeup is currently 111 SK, mostly Snowsquall gear (all access), and 5 FTP bots consisting of 1 bard, 1, shaman, 1 cleric, 1 mage, and 1 wiz, not great gear, some Snowbound gear scattered and various Con gear, however some still have heroic 85 gear. SK is auto granted and doing 20% AA xp atm, and spent roughly 300 AA so far after completing auto grant (ac / hp aa so far).

I am looking to try to start hunting / farming someplace that I can help gear them up and possibly get some AUGs for my SK. Would I be best to focus on CoV content or someplace else? All of this content is new to me, but im up for any location that might help me smoothly upgrade gear for my bots all the way up to 115. I have kronos to eventually turn on all access / auto grant for my boxes, but I want to maximize them. Any recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

Just a recommendation, in my signature you will find gear and aug matrix, use or don't use. It might help you.

 

[knave23]

I would stay in ToV if you can handle it until you get everyone geared out with the important pieces. Griklor is good for quick gear, but not sure where your dps is. Might be worth your while to drop to RoS for some tank augs and random gear to fill out everyone's slots if ToV gives you trouble.

 

[dewey2461]

For the last several years the best way to get gear is from the heroic missions.

When you are first starting out your group is going to likely get WTF owned by any kind of AE damage. You might have to go back an expansion or two and work your way up.

It really depends on how good you are at controlling your boxes, and how well they are automated. I was trying to help someone a couple weeks ago get started up and he had his healers using powerful but slow heals. He'd die before they landed. Got him to change the cleric to using fast heals and he stopped dying (as much)

 

[Silverspaceman]

COV is going to be noticeably slower than TOV for you. Here's my mental flowchart for EXPing:

• Can I kill normal T1? [Yes] max level, grind AA [No] back to easier content for AAs &/or gear
• Can I kill named T1? [Yes] gear tank->dps->support [No] back 1 step
• Can I kill named T2? [Yes] gear tank->dps->support, max AA [No] back 1 step

I also keep a rough gauge on my exp/hr in an expac. Usually I'll stick in the 1st xpac (TOV) for exp before moving on to the next for gear. I also normally just keep my tank subbed all the time, but when I move up an xpac, if I need those AAs, I'll break out KR on the others to grind out AA for that xpac.

 

[tomahawkeer]

COV is going to be noticeably slower than TOV for you. Here's my mental flowchart for EXPing:

• Can I kill normal T1? [Yes] max level, grind AA [No] back to easier content for AAs &/or gear
• Can I kill named T1? [Yes] gear tank->dps->support [No] back 1 step
• Can I kill named T2? [Yes] gear tank->dps->support, max AA [No] back 1 step

I also keep a rough gauge on my exp/hr in an expac. Usually I'll stick in the 1st xpac (TOV) for exp before moving on to the next for gear. I also normally just keep my tank subbed all the time, but when I move up an xpac, if I need those AAs, I'll break out KR on the others to grind out AA for that xpac.

Yeah....ive kind of done this in the past myself, at least mentally as its always made sense. I play on FV so i'm sure I can find a lot in the bazaar, and may pick up a few augs in general. Years ago when I was still playing the heroic augs were in place, but i wasn't high end at those times, and was on the way out so ive never worked on getting them before. Normal augs yes, but very little have I focused on augs for heroic stats. At this point I have 0 dedicated (type 5) for my SK, so I will need to look into getting him started. I may sooner than later actually krono my boxes so they can help with the 110-115 grind and get the auto grant that they need since they only have around 4kaa each atm.

 

[Silverspaceman]

FV would definitely make the gearing part quicker! If you're already planning on it, I'd just KR everyone at once and plow through content with the auto-granted AAs tripling your DPS output & healing. I just AG'ed a newly leveled 115 ROG the other day and the autogranted AA moved his DPS from ~50k to ~150k (CWTN plugin) in group. Probably won't be able to max COV AA with the time it'll take to level you to 115, but you should have a much easier time in general.

 

[dewey2461]

Ros ( Ring of Scale ) is when they really doubled down on the mission grinds:

You get 125 Bathezid Trade Gems / per mission.
For 500 Bathezid Trade Gems you can by type 5 augs that are +45 to your primary stat.

Its a super fast way to get SOME type 5's to fill in the empty slots if higher level heroic missions like Griklor are too hard.

[BGCOLOR=initial]Fell Foliage mission: https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/quest.html?quest=8854[/BGCOLOR]
hDex aug : https://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/item.html?item=131670

 

[tomahawkeer]

FV would definitely make the gearing part quicker! If you're already planning on it, I'd just KR everyone at once and plow through content with the auto-granted AAs tripling your DPS output & healing. I just AG'ed a newly leveled 115 ROG the other day and the autogranted AA moved his DPS from ~50k to ~150k (CWTN plugin) in group.

Once I find a good grind at 110 that will take me to 115 with my current gear, I may just krono everyone up and grind it, and maybe buy some augs for my tank as they level up.

 

[Silverspaceman]

Once I find a good grind at 110 that will take me to 115 with my current gear, I may just krono everyone up and grind it, and maybe buy some augs for my tank as they level up.

Sathir's Tomb or GMM are both easier xp grinds than TOV up to 112/113 + more AA for your tank.

 

[knave23]

Sathir's Tomb or GMM are both easier xp grinds than TOV up to 112/113 + more AA for your tank.

even though I love it and have spent a lot of time there, here's the obligatory "ST is a known botter spot on a lot of servers so beware"

 

[dewey2461]

even though I love it and have spent a lot of time there, here's the obligatory "ST is a known botter spot on a lot of servers so beware"

I spent a fair bit of time in Sithir Tomb this weekend PL'ing up a new rogue+bard and no one but me and a guild member.

I think most of the people who used to AFK XP there have moved on to GD caves.

 

[Kyle]

I would recommend using your magician pet as a tank. I am sure your tank dies on named fights, whereas, your Magician pet if it is air or earth should handle the named just fine.
I would go to Windchill camp in ToV (Eastern Wastes) these mobs have relatively low hitpoints and avoid pulling the mammoths as they're a little bit harder to kill.
Get 115 here, get your Mage the pet earring from Great Divide and grind away.

This suggestion is assuming your bots do not have the other expansions. If they do, move forward, just use your mage pet as a tank until your tank gets up to par.

 

[tomahawkeer]

Sathir's Tomb or GMM are both easier xp grinds than TOV up to 112/113 + more AA for your tank.

I am going to try GMM soon, just haven't gotten around to it.

I finally got around to trying GMM last night. The XP is definitely better than the gob missions. I am running into the same issue I had there though, which is mana. By the time I get to position 5 in GMM, the mana of several of my toons is very low, especially my cleric and wizard. I think at this point my biggest issue(s) are probably the fact I haven't krono'd my bots. Most of them have less than 5k AA. I can grind pretty easily in the gob mission to at least position 10 at which time I begin to have mana issues again. Gear wise, im slowly adding full Snowsquall gear to all of them, I actually add 6 pieces to my wizard, hoping it would help his mana issues, it helped some but not a lot. Ive slowed his nukes down as well.

Grind worked well, my guys just suck still.

 

[Sic]

I am going to try GMM soon, just haven't gotten around to it.

I finally got around to trying GMM last night. The XP is definitely better than the gob missions. I am running into the same issue I had there though, which is mana. By the time I get to position 5 in GMM, the mana of several of my toons is very low, especially my cleric and wizard. I think at this point my biggest issue(s) are probably the fact I haven't krono'd my bots. Most of them have less than 5k AA. I can grind pretty easily in the gob mission to at least position 10 at which time I begin to have mana issues again. Gear wise, im slowly adding full Snowsquall gear to all of them, I actually add 6 pieces to my wizard, hoping it would help his mana issues, it helped some but not a lot. Ive slowed his nukes down as well.

Grind worked well, my guys just suck still.

5k AA in the 110s? big mega ultra super wtf yikes

krono them, autogrant, then spend 30 days grinding

 

[Silverspaceman]

The game is balanced around AAs (DPS, tank EHP, healing output), so not having any is going to make a miserable playing experience in the modern era.

Low DPS, low EHP tank, and basic healer is going to significantly increase the time your already long grind is going to take. From a TVM perspective, the KR is well worth it if you have any ability to earn income.

 

[tomahawkeer]

5k AA in the 110s? big mega ultra super wtf yikes

krono them, autogrant, then spend 30 days grinding

Yup, that is the plan, this evening / weekend more than likely. Ill give /grind for GMM another shot after I do that as im sure it will dramatically increase mana, dps and healing efficiency!

 

[tomahawkeer]

Oh and just to clarify, my SK is autogranted / all access (30k+ AAish) and griding 20% AA since level 110, the rest of the crew is FTP / AA granted to 85 Heroic.

 

[Squirrely]

Great post because I am there with my little group. Nice thing - we all can take different paths. My path is going the aug route ROS coin route then going to do the missions in Droga and Cactili before moving to TOV. Group makeup about the same
War,Beast,Cleric,Enchanter, Mage , and Necro. A bit further in the aa dept . Plus work on Hunter Achievements.

 

[Granditos]

Great post because I am there with my little group. Nice thing - we all can take different paths. My path is going the aug route ROS coin route then going to do the missions in Droga and Cactili before moving to TOV. Group makeup about the same
War,Beast,Cleric,Enchanter, Mage , and Necro. A bit further in the aa dept . Plus work on Hunter Achievements.

I’m same but shaman and bard. Working pretty well so far. God speed.

 

[tomahawkeer]

I did the auto grant for the rest of my group last night and it made a big difference. After doing that and tweaking my SK configuration, the chew through GMM with ease. I just wish loot was better. That place lacks a solid amount of diamond / blue drops. Definitely gonna grind a little in GMM but want to find something better for my 111s!

 

[Silverspaceman]

I didn't have much in the way of augs @ 110 when I finally landed in TOV. I started after the ROS release and hit 110 a couple months before TOV hit. I jumped straight to TOV on release and didn't have a ton of trouble. The dot/snare really hurts at first. I'd hit up the Windchill camp in EW.

 

[tomahawkeer]

I didn't have much in the way of augs @ 110 when I finally landed in TOV. I started after the ROS release and hit 110 a couple months before TOV hit. I jumped straight to TOV on release and didn't have a ton of trouble. The dot/snare really hurts at first. I'd hit up the Windchill camp in EW.

I will have to find out where that camp is and see if I can do it now. SK is 112 and boxes are 110 / 111

 

[tomahawkeer]

I dropped a couple of named in EW and GD yesterday, then one of them dropped me after I tried to drop him again. I noticed he seemed to hit a little harder the 2nd time (50kish) but I think its because I didn't have def disc up. I may spend more time there for gear. How hard is Griklor compared to named in zone?

 

[durango773]

I dropped a couple of named in EW and GD yesterday, then one of them dropped me after I tried to drop him again. I noticed he seemed to hit a little harder the 2nd time (50kish) but I think its because I didn't have def disc up. I may spend more time there for gear. How hard is Griklor compared to named in zone?

Gonna be rough if the general named are challenging you. Though, if you where fighting the EW dragoliches or GD/Kael Giants, they do hit harder then say the bear or the dwarfs (dragons and giants).

 

[knave23]

Gonna be rough if the general named are challenging you. Though, if you where fighting the EW dragoliches or GD/Kael Giants, they do hit harder then say the bear or the dwarfs (dragons and giants).

Agree with this, Grik will be difficult for you if the regular nameds are. When ToV launched, I had skipped TBL so I rolled into it with mostly conflagrant gear on my toons and didn't struggle too much. If you tradeskill, the components are plentiful via overseer or it might be pretty cheap in bazaar

 

[tomahawkeer]

Gonna be rough if the general named are challenging you. Though, if you where fighting the EW dragoliches or GD/Kael Giants, they do hit harder then say the bear or the dwarfs (dragons and giants).

I think it was dumb luck that I lost it....this was a minotaur and I had already killed him once earlier. Im mostly in snowsquall / snowbound for my entire group at 112. SK isn't too terribly far from 113, and currently has about 250kish hps and 6.1k AC, 39k AA and defensives up to currently level. I just didn't realize a Minotaur was gonna hit for 50k since he didn't the previous fight.

 

[tomahawkeer]

Did an EW camp earlier today, dropped a named again a few time, was waiting on Coldears to spawn but he never did, still no Aug drops

 

[RobRenfro]

You won't get aug drops in The Coldears camp, at least not the kind of Augs you need. A couple of 4 slot Augs drop there. That's about it.

 

[tomahawkeer]

You won't get aug drops in The Coldears camp, at least not the kind of Augs you need. A couple of 4 slot Augs drop there. That's about it.

yeah I was mostly concerned about just handling the camps more than anything. I was able to pick up some bracers, a chest, a weapon (useless for me) and some shoulders without much of an issue. I'm gonna keep poking around EW and GD camps just enjoying the content every chance I get. I do need to start aug farming though.

 

[RobRenfro]

Keep us posted!!!

 

[tomahawkeer]

Keep us posted!!!

Sure....probably won't be back on till this evening if I get time. I'm just enjoying the content of what i've missed over the years and that's my goal. I drop a few more named in EW / GD and ill start trying to find some good AUG camps to try to finish up my SK before he hits 115. Got about 3 weeks left on my box crew to get to 115 and as many AAs as possible

 

[Silverspaceman]

For pure XP/AA grind, I like GD more than EW before you're geared/max level/AA. There's a spot on the South(?) end of the zone below the caves, near the end of the frozen river where you can pull a ton of lower-level (112-114?) mobs, kodiaks & whirly bone things, with no named and no obnoxious debuffs. There are a lot of mobs in TOV that drop a DOT/snare on you that really sucks to deal with when you first get there. Also, just for some rough info for you, I KR & autogranted a couple new DPS @ 115. They went from ~50k DPS geared for 115, no AA, to 150k-250k autogranted to 250k-450k COV-max AA all on trash mobs level 112-115. That would all depend on your classes and group buffs and stuff.

 

[durango773]

For pure XP/AA grind, I like GD more than EW before you're geared/max level/AA. There's a spot on the South(?) end of the zone below the caves, near the end of the frozen river where you can pull a ton of lower-level (112-114?) mobs, kodiaks & whirly bone things, with no named and no obnoxious debuffs. There are a lot of mobs in TOV that drop a DOT/snare on you that really sucks to deal with when you first get there.

There is a named bear right at the frozen pool however, it is a easy break in camp for GD (Tizmak also good, if you have CC).

 

[Silverspaceman]

There is a named bear right at the frozen pool however, it is a easy break in camp for GD (Tizmak also good, if you have CC).

You're right: I assumed he has Brewalls/Goods maps with named labels there's plenty of room in that area without named spawns between the Gerton Dumkin camp and Bloodmaw.

 

[Squirrely]

Silver - thanks for your reality chart on moving forward. It has help me and eliminating alot of frustration that I am not moving fast enough-

 

[Kingkiller71]

I got a quick question, I'm at around 120 on my main chars now (Druid, Rogue and Mage, Mage). However, I haven't really geared them through the expansions - they're all in the Shadowscale armour (because I can buy that), but I have poor jewellery and next to no decent augs.

How far back in earlier expansions should I go to do the progression / missions to get the augs?

 

[tomahawkeer]

Im kind of in the same boat, but my guys are all 115 atm. My plan is to start doing progression starting in either EoK or RoS. My guys don't necessarily have the best gear (all snowbound / snowsquall) but that's kind of what is available for 5 non-prestige wearers. My SK does have blizzard gear and ill eventually upgrade him, especially once I buy LS when it will unlock all expansions. I guess you just have to get started. I'm not a fan of progression, but it will make you better. As far as non-visible, I'm not dug into the game like I was 15 years ago so it will take me a while before i've researched what I want etc. So for me at this point, bazaar and the raid loot site are your friends especially if you happen to be on FV.

 

[Redmonkey]

Just a thought about when to start progression. COTF is when the Heroic stats awards kick in. Those can help along with armor and augs. And at higher levels are quite easy.

 

[Kingkiller71]

thanks for the responses. I'm spending the month catching up on collections and getting some AAs along the way. Then I guess I'll bite the bullet and get cracking on progression. It's going to be hard knowing there won't be much 'visible' differences, but I think I'll see the difference in the long run.

I think I may get a mez / slow class upto speed so I can do GMM as I hear that drops some nice 110+ jewellery?