Question - Question on planning out my chars

[Bami]

Hey all,

I just started my fresh 6 man group (SK - gold, rest FTP right now, CLR, ENC, WIZ, WIZ, WIZ) and they're up to 48 after a weekend of leveling (probably could've done much faster, but whatever). As I'm getting close to 75 I'm starting to think about AA's and whether I should heroic a guy. I've looked through the forums but a lot of advice recommends LC and that's nerfed now (right?). So, I'd appreciate a little advice with the following (money is not an issue but I'd rather not heroic everyone if I don't have to and I'd like to only krono when I have to):

1) Should I heroic my SK? If so, what level do you recommend I do it? I could then PL the others using hatching a plan, right?
2) I know the strategy for AA intensive classes that its good to grind out the AA spend bonus on non-autogrant AA's first and then auto-grant. But I also heard your char sucks without AA's, especially a tank, and I'm assuming many of the auto-grant AA's are crucial to a char. I'd like to push off the auto-granting for as long as possible so I can use the bonus but also am struggling to find a balance. I'd appreciate any insights into how I should handle this.
2a) Do the heroic auto-grant AA's count against the AA spend bonus or are they just assumed to be granted already and you still have the full AA bonus going forward?

Sorry for all the questions, just want to make sure I'm taking the most efficient route.

 

[LurkMcGurk]

1. Heroic the SK because it will give him DoN + MPG trials done too which are essential for tanks. He's a no brainer for the heroic char. Also, you'll wanna heroic him the second he can group with the others. which I am too lazy to do the math right now, gotta leave some work for you =P

2. autogrant them all. The extra bonus before the autogrant is POINTLESS. Especially if you aren't powerleveling. The only time the non autogrant bonus matters is if you're powerleveling and big picture the bonus only saves you 2hrs or so but is a lot more labor intensive to do it that way. A lot of people like to brag that they PL super super super fast but their version of PLing is usually them only doing a single task at a time AND that task being very labor intensive. So, while they may finish in 8hrs they spent 6hrs of those 8hrs "working" and only playing EQ. Someone else may finish in 18hrs but they only spent 2hrs of those 18hrs "working" and watched TV/played a Steam game at the same time. - Whose option would you rather have?

3. I'm not sure what you mean honestly, but if you get auto granted AAs they are counted towards everything, Pretty much no matter what whatever achievement you have is how many AAs you have and that's what tier of the bonus you get.

 

[Inkie]

+1 for Heroic'ing the SK,

beyond that, it depends on your playstyle.

to me, an SK / Clr / Ench & 3 wiz group looks like a group that is focused on obliterating nameds & doing progression type activities and not doing a lot of grinding / farming.

Of the 3 other classes, I'd heroic the Ench: level 56 mez won't work against lvl 70+ mobs and the SK & ench can pack cleric mercs / dps mercs as needed.

Heroic SK
DPS Merc / Clr Merc if needed or Wiz #2
Heroic Ench
Cleric Merc
Wiz (rotate between the 3 to get level)
Cleric

I might suggest swapping 1 wiz for a mage (CotH is nice, mage toys are nice, and a short term backup tank is nice)

I also would want to eventually Heroic out the Wiz to get the big bags (port to merchant to sell and port back works best with DPS class, it's bad when the healer / tank does it)
http://www.redguides.com/community/...tchel-of-the-Adventurer-(free-heroic-upgrade)

 

[Warl0ck45]

Yes, the autogrant AA count against the low AA boost/bonus, which is why some guides will tell you to max out the non autogrant AA first (taking advantage of the bonus) and then autogranting. Of course if I understand rightly, this is primarily the tradeskill AA... so if you really want to work on those first, go for it!

Others suggest leveling to max autogrant level (I believe it is 100 now) before turning it on, IE put all your efforts into leveling. As you noted though, the toons are very fragile and weak going this route. This is best done when you are PLing with higher level toons, not working your way up.

This of course all depends on you and your playstyle, and what you want to get out of it. If you aren't worries about being the quickest, I would just turn on autogrant and let nature take it's course. I personally never worried about hunting down AA/Levels specifically, but rather farmed items and did quests... and XP just happens. If I get 30AA or 300AA for the day... I had fun getting it... and that is after all what I am paying for =)

 

[hoosierbilly]

I would typically heroic the tank and possibly the cleric, the others might slow you down a bit but they won't get you wiped. Buy krono to get autogrant AA's when you start running into trouble killing mobs. I usually do an autogrant about level 80ish and again at 90ish. Usually I will autogrant the entire group, if I can, but at least get the tank/melee and healers.