Is maxing AAs really worth it?

[Mindrix]

With a few exceptions, no AA is really "worthless", so there's always some benefit to finishing out AAs. That being said, some AAs are pretty pointless. Base stats, for instance, after about lvl 66, don't really do much if you have any gear.

But, especially the more odd AAs, do add something. Its just that "something" gets more and more expensive/time consuming. Going from Omens AAs to SoD AAs, you probably get 50% of the power increase for close to four times the amount of AA investment. But the totality of the upgrade is pretty good. Someone with maxed Omens AAs can be dwarfed by someone with max SoD AAs. The AAs just make your gear that much better and give you so much more utility. Though a lot of them will never really pay back in the amount of AAs they took.

Take Servant of Ro. Nice little AA. By maxing it in SoD takes like 150 total AAs. You don't get a lot out of it for all of that AA amount. You probably get less than any 1 rank of the pet flurry or crit AAs. But if you have the other ones done, it's a useful AA you can use every 9 minutes. Or Combat Agility/Stability for casters. It definitely helps. But it's 400 AAs that really aren't going to save you all that much, unless you already have a whole lot of gear to go with it.

The one nice benefit of "finishing" AAs though, is that you're done with them. I've maxed my AAs in DoD, TSS, SoF and SoD. I do like finishing them. There's a nice feeling to it. You've "beaten" EQ. Then you're out of things to do on the main, lol. And the last about 500 AAs of things that aren't very useful is sort of painful.

In the end, AAs are more powerful than level increases, for the first 2,000 to 2,500 AAs. It's simply how strong the AAs are and how much trouble you get from focuses and leveling up. So sitting at a spot where you can get good AA exp is very much advised. If you're out of useful AAs to buy, store up 30 then level up some, then spend them on the useful stuff when it becomes available.

[Zacatac]

I wonder how many AA's are useful now if you start from nothing

I recently made a minimum requirement list for a group I raid with.


Innate Run Speed 5/5
Natural Durability 3/6

Fury of Magic 5/12
Gift of Exquisite Radiant Mana 1/1
Gift of Mana 1/3
Gift of Radiant Mana 1/1
Mnemonic Retention 2/2
Persistent Minion 1/1
Pet Affinity 1/1
Secondary Forte 1/1
Spell Casting Fury 3/3
Spell Casting Mastery 3/3
Spell Casting Reinforcement 3/3
Spell Casting Subtlety 6/12
Summon Companion 1/1
Suspended Minion 2/2

Advanced Pet Discipline 2/2
Call of the Hero 1/1
Companion of Necessity 1/2
Elemental Alacrity 4/17
Frenzied Burnout 2/3
Group Perfect Invisibility 1/1
Host of the Elements 1/12
Malosinete 1/1
Mend Companion 1/1
Pet Discipline 1/1
Quick Damage 3/3
Quick Summoning 2/3
Replenish Companion 4/6
Servant of Ro 1/12
Shield Block 3/3
Reinforcement Mastery 1/1
Turn Summoned 1/8

= 352 AA

[Ghem and Boo]

Just got back in the game myself about 2 weeks ago on luclin. I am now level 79 with about 270 aa. my goal is to get to 81+ for the new sod gear and aa farming options. Firen i am in the same boat as you in the aug department. Been trying to get AG groups for those augs but it seems most of my guild has already snagged those and don't wish to camp it again. I hope at 81 i could solo that camp with a merc healer.

[zinophate]

Ghem, I assume this is the aug you are refering too from AG....

Clergyman's Stone of Purity
MAGIC ITEM NO TRADE AUGMENTATION
Augmentation type: 7 8
Slot: HEAD ARMS WRIST HANDS FEET
HP: +90 MANA: +90
SV CORRUPTION: +15
Required level of 75.
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Class: CLR DRU SHM NEC WIZ MAG ENC
Race: ALL

If so, I was about your same AA (maybe a little less) at 79 and I could hold the camp down with just one of my friends (Level 80 Necro at maybe 350 AA's at the time). We did use one merc at all times just to make it easier with less med breaks since we weren't there for exp and primarily just to farm the 4 ph's. I would imagine at 81 the same could be done but without the Necro friend and maybe just a few more aa's.