The Magician's Tower

Hello guys! (read the following with a semi Russian semi Hispanic cold era accent)

I'm a returning mage, back when I played wall of slaughter was cool.
Before I decided to write this I did read the wiki post for players coming back and was able to learn a few things, (yay out of combat regen!). But there are a few that I'm still missing.

At the moment I'm level 78 and have 400 AA's, most of them if not all of them were gained in BoT back in PoP when I was raiding with the best of them (do you see a sad melancholic pattern yet?). Well I'm just got back like 3 days ago and found out to some of my friends recently decided to come back! I own 14/18 expansions (so no rent a cleric) and I'm looking to re-learn my class while I get some AA's as I don't really wish to level up due to lack of PP and gear.

Well enough pleasantries lets get down to business.
Goals:
-to obtain 1k AA's and hopefully better gear,
-to learn about the new zones and quest/adventures what ever they are called today.
-to learn what other mages use spell wise on their pet and as nukes.

Achieved:
-I randomly spoke with people in pok trying to get some one to play with me, I was able to get a very sexy gnome to show me her favorite spots and duo with me.
-We went to the minotaur tunnels, while inside a left took me to a zone with a farm camp(light blue) and right took me to a zone with bears frog and goblin camps (this are my level). So I now have access to decent xp although I've died in both places due to a 4 mob pull and me not being able to find mend pet in my AA's to hotkey it...
-Gear wise I've only bought 2 items both of them are pet Foci I felt it was the best place to put my PP into seen as how I will be soloing and don't have enough to buy a full set of new gear of the bazaar.
+Elaborate Summoner's Ear Stud (Minion of Darkness) it replaced my old foci (Minion of Eternity)
+Shards of the Jungle Sentinel (EMV) I bought this thinking I was going to rush to 80 and farm AA but im not sure about it any more(what do you guys think?).
-spell wise I'm using my air pet to tank equipped with pop armor and lvl 78 weapons (i just found out I forgot to give it a muzzle, so from now on ill do that) For buffs I do strength of mar, burn out and ds.
-For nuking I spam flickering flame and my servant when gom procs.

I'm sure I can do much better but for that I need your input if you could correct me or give me some tips I would really appreciate it.

Welcome back. (I am hispanic myself! )

There is going to be an overreaching quest (Hero's Journey) that will be going live with the F2P launch on Friday. There is also an achievement tool that lets you track where you are in the game and what you should do next to level and obtain the best gear from loots. Check out this post and player comments in the thread for more details: http://forums.station.sony.com/eq/posts ... _id=183877 and by levels on alla: http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/ques ... quest=5553

Hero's Journey Achievements: An Overview




This is a list of "Hero's Journey" achievements. Links point to the individual achievement listings.

NOTE: These achievements are expected to go live on March 16, 2012. They are currently unavailable on live servers.

Links will fill in here as achievements are entered into the database.


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Progression

1-5: Welcome to Crescent Reach
1-5: Ready for Combat
6-10: Important Errands
11-15: Making a Name For Yourself
16-20: Becoming a Hero
21-25: Welcome to the Moors
26-30: Battling Blightfire
31-35: Champion of the Moors
36-45: Welcome to Stone Hive
36-45: Short Sharp Sting
41-45: Welcome to the Mesa
46-50: Pranks and Research
51-55: Moving Up the Ranks
56-60: Ascending the Roost
61-70: Conquering the Steppes
65-75: Crusader of Scale
70-75: Disrupting the Mines
70-75: Exploring Vergalid
70-80: Monkey Island
70-80: Redfeather Isle
70-80: Maiden's Grave
70-80: Jardel's Hook
70-80: Deadbone Reef
70-80: Suncrest Ridge
70-80: Blacksail Folly
70-80: Assisting the Ak'Anon Strike Force V
76-83: Assistant to the Fangbreakers
76-83: Assistant Fangbreaker
80-85: Agent of Ak'Anon Strike Force V
75-80: Herald of Oceangreen Hills
75-80: Herald of Oceangreen Village
76-85: Champion of Blackburrow
80-85: The Army of Light
80-85: The Army of Obliteration
80-85: From the Fields to Kaesora
80-85: Storming Kaesora and Kurns


Advancement

1+: The Council of Six
1+: Love in the Air
1+: Boawb's Jealousy
20+: Job Offers
20+: Two Gnolls With One Stone
20+: Stemming the Threat
30+: Battling the Bixies
30+: Makesn's Plight
35+: Botanical Busywork
35+: Cooking With Honey
35+: Working for Warwing
40+: Dorina's Love
40+: Madu's Armor
45+: Ciodaru's Love
45+: Bring Friends
50+: Ekaterina's Lament
50+: Centaur's Troubles
55+: Lucian's Vengeance
55+: Adrian's Calling
55+: While You're Roosting
60+: Steppe Right Up
60+: Rebuilding the Portal
65+: Cleansing the Springs
65+: Rites of Passage
65+: Assisting the Crusaders
70+: Togswell's Experiments
70+: The Depths of Vergalid
70+: Shield of the Otherworld
70+: Jonas Dagmire's Skeletal Hand
75+: Challenges of Dragonscale
75+: Ladies of the Light
75+: Heirlooms and Loved Ones
75+: Cleansing the Loping Plains
75+: Vrald's Lost Brother
75+: Purified Flawless Faycite
80+: Disrupting the Fortress
80+: Serving the Spymaster
80+: Initiate of Ak'Anon Stike Force V
80+: Gearing Up
75+: Curing the Corruption
75+: Defending Oceangreen Village
75+: Darkpaw Defender
75+: Cleansing the Temple
75+: Bayle's Heraldic Crest
80+: Infiltrating the Armies
80+: Efforts of a Mercenary
80+: From East to West Commonlands
80+: Refugee Rescue
80+: Blood of the Fallen
80+: Phara Dar's Grand Illusion
80+: Intercepted Messages
80+: Gain Audience with Jaled`Dar
80+: Jaled`Dar's Request
80+: Baron Yosig's Skeleton
20+: Wayfarer's Brotherhood Adventurer's Stone
45+: Choosing Sides
45+: Norrath's Keepers: Gift of the Keepers


Special

1-20: Graduate of Crescent Reach
21-35: Conqueror of Blightfire
36-45: Slayer of Stone Hive
41-55: Magnate of the Mesa
56-60: Raider of the Roost
61-70: Journeyman to the Steppes
65-75: Emissary of Sunderock
70-75: Spelunker of Vergalid Mines
70-80: Captain o'er the Buried Sea
70-80: Explorer of Dragonscale Hills
76-83: Champion of the Loping Plains
80-85: Strikeforce Insurgent in Mechanotus
75-85: Herald of Old Antonica
80-85: Tactician of Bloody Kithicor
80-85: Hero of the Field of Scale
65-70: Defender of Norrath


Conquest

75+: Reconstructed Werewolf Head
75+: Model XLII Spatial Temporal Oculus
1+: Serpent Seeker's Charm of Lore
15+: Wanderlust Guild Loadstone
20+: Wayfarers Brotherhood Emblem
65+: Breakdown in Communication
65+: Tome of New Beginnings
65+: Assistant Researcher's Symbol
70+: Trials of Mata Muram
70+: Slipgear's Gem
70+: The Depths of Darkhollow
75+: Efreeti Death Visage
75+: Katta Castrum Portal Activation
75+: Tsaph Katta's Urn of Rejuvination
70+: Arena Champion's Badge
65+: Coldain Historical Seal
65+: Black Orb of Scrykin
65+: The Chalice of Life
75+: Ancient Faycite Bone Circum
75+: Blessed Celestine Faycite
75+: Cursed Obsidian Faycite
75+: Valthun's Memory Shard
75+: Lantern O' Wisps
75+: Rallosian Battle Figure
80+: Dark Soul Crystal
80+: Timeshear

naltena wrote:At the moment I'm level 78 and have 400 AA's, most of them if not all of them were gained in BoT back in PoP when I was raiding with the best of them (do you see a sad melancholic pattern yet?). Well I'm just got back like 3 days ago and found out to some of my friends recently decided to come back! I own 14/18 expansions (so no rent a cleric) and I'm looking to re-learn my class while I get some AA's as I don't really wish to level up due to lack of PP and gear.

Well enough pleasantries lets get down to business.
Goals:
-to obtain 1k AA's and hopefully better gear,
-to learn about the new zones and quest/adventures what ever they are called today.
-to learn what other mages use spell wise on their pet and as nukes.

Easiest route for you would be to head to Splitpaw and grind to 80. Once at 79 get your earth pet and use that along with all your other spells. You'll have some spells specifically used for summoned mobs, use them. When you get to level 80 get your gargoyle pet and work on your gift of mana line. Now stay in splitpaw and focus 100% on AA's. Once you ding 82 splitpaw goes green/gray and you'll nevel see aaxp rates like that again. It'll be easy for you to grind out 1500+ AA's in splitpaw. In the House of Thule expansion Feerrott is a hotzone; splitpaw is better aaxp than Feerrott. Do Feerrott for gear and progression; don't expect it to be better aaxp than splitpaw.

New zones, use Dan's suggestion.

During the anniversary event some Althai and Othni quest gear will be readily available in the bazaar; it'll hold you over pretty good until you can get some House of Thule stuff. When the game goes free to play in a couple of days you'll be able to group up in House of Thule and get better gear. Check the bazaar for gear upgrades but really don't expect a lot until your level 85 or higher.

Spells.....it all depends on where you hunt and what you want to blow up. If you stick with splitpaw you'll want to use your two anti-summoned nukes and gargoyle/servant pets. If you use traditional nukes things will change a bit. Head to everquest.allkhazam.com and use their spell database http://everquest.allakhazam.com/db/spelllist.html

If you're going to solo heavily, you want that pet focus upgraded big time. From my last few months as a returning mage and currently at 76, here's my suggestions.

Very short term goal - get the lvl78 spell Spell: Summon Cauldron of Many Things. This will let you summon on occasion a Shard of the First Minion which will give you a Spire Servant focus buff for a few hours or until you die.

Short term goal - get the Energized Wire Coil or Kraxz's Earring of Command. Both give Spire Servant focus. Both can be rarely found in the bazaar, otherwise do tasks/errands received in Dragonscale Hills to earn Faycite crystals to buy the Wire Coil from the loyalty vendor. Takes about 10 days of repeating three trivial tasks/errands to earn the required crystals.

Alternate shorter term goal - buy an Elegant Summoner's Earring from the PoK vendor to get Servant of Chaos focus.

Otherwise, level to 80, equip your Shards of the Jungle Sentinel, summon your new pet and laugh maniacally as you chew stuff up.

The difference in tanking ability is huge with each upgrade. Highly recommend getting a healer merc to handle tougher stuff. The hp buffs and rez on tap is great as well.



If you plan to stay under 80 and aren't raid flagged for any Solteris or SoD content, get yourself an Energized Wire Coil asap or Kraxz's Earring of Command. That gives you Spire Servant focus which is decent for sub 80 group level. Then beg or borrow a summoned Skull of the Spire Servant (lvl83 cauldron summon) to get temporary EM1 focus. Since you are 78, you can get the lvl 78 cauldron spell and occasionally summon yourself a Skull of the First Minion. That will give you

Bah, where's an edit function when you need it. Disregard the final paragraph in my last post, was an early edit.

Miphon wrote:If you're going to solo heavily, you want that pet focus upgraded big time. From my last few months as a returning mage and currently at 76, here's my suggestions.

Very short term goal - get the lvl78 spell Spell: Summon Cauldron of Many Things. This will let you summon on occasion a Shard of the First Minion which will give you a Spire Servant focus buff for a few hours or until you die.

Short term goal - get the Energized Wire Coil or Kraxz's Earring of Command. Both give Spire Servant focus. Both can be rarely found in the bazaar, otherwise do tasks/errands received in Dragonscale Hills to earn Faycite crystals to buy the Wire Coil from the loyalty vendor. Takes about 10 days of repeating three trivial tasks/errands to earn the required crystals.

Alternate shorter term goal - buy an Elegant Summoner's Earring from the PoK vendor to get Servant of Chaos focus.

Otherwise, level to 80, equip your Shards of the Jungle Sentinel, summon your new pet and laugh maniacally as you chew stuff up.

The difference in tanking ability is huge with each upgrade. Highly recommend getting a healer merc to handle tougher stuff. The hp buffs and rez on tap is great as well.

I do have the Servant of Chaos focus from the earring, also I decided to follow your advice and bought the cauldron spell. On my first try I obtained Shard of the First Minion and i proceeded to click on it just to read later that I had to target my self > > so wasted that. At any rate is only one level higher than Servant of Chaos em I correct?

Easiest route for you would be to head to Splitpaw and grind to 80. Once at 79 get your earth pet and use that along with all your other spells. You'll have some spells specifically used for summoned mobs, use them. When you get to level 80 get your gargoyle pet and work on your gift of mana line. Now stay in splitpaw and focus 100% on AA's. Once you ding 82 splitpaw goes green/gray and you'll nevel see aaxp rates like that again. It'll be easy for you to grind out 1500+ AA's in splitpaw. In the House of Thule expansion Feerrott is a hotzone; splitpaw is better aaxp than Feerrott. Do Feerrott for gear and progression; don't expect it to be better aaxp than splitpaw.

New zones, use Dan's suggestion.

During the anniversary event some Althai and Othni quest gear will be readily available in the bazaar; it'll hold you over pretty good until you can get some House of Thule stuff. When the game goes free to play in a couple of days you'll be able to group up in House of Thule and get better gear. Check the bazaar for gear upgrades but really don't expect a lot until your level 85 or higher.
l

Thank you very much, back in my day split paw was filled by gnolls cute little wolf things and scary maces. oh and flying horses right outside of it! I will make sure to check out that camp I also bought my new rank II elemental nuke and my new gargole (the level 75-76ish one rank II) So I should be able to do much better than I do in the farm (I did 30 AAss today and loved it). Later tonight I will go into split paw and blow stuff up!.

From what you guys and Dan are telling me seems my best option would be to lvl up to 80 equip the EM5 and go nuts grinding AA. I will do so, one more question before I leave you guys and try the new gnoll place, do I have to feed my pet a muzzle? I hear that they now come fully geared thanks to my foci and I only need to give it weapons. Also is the improved pet mending worth it? I have it ona 9 min cooldown but I'm yet to invest in the improved form.

As for the muzzle.....in theory your pet is supposed to come summoned with one but there was a thread about that and there seems to be a possible bug so it may or may not come summoned with one.

I have the improved pet mending but can't really comment on if it's worth it or not; sorry.

You mentioned the Elaborate earring - MoD focus, hence my comment. Yes, Spire Servant is one up from Servant of Chaos. The Library forum has an excellent post detailing all the available pet foci. For a solo/molo mage, pet focus means everything. DPS wise, the difference may not be too much, but for tanking tough mobs and multiples, huge. No doubt the invisible cloak with mod2s from the better foci counts for plenty.

I am on AB if u wanna look me up. Can get u pet toys and some advice if u need.

Miphon wrote:You mentioned the Elaborate earring - MoD focus, hence my comment. Yes, Spire Servant is one up from Servant of Chaos. The Library forum has an excellent post detailing all the available pet foci. For a solo/molo mage, pet focus means everything. DPS wise, the difference may not be too much, but for tanking tough mobs and multiples, huge. No doubt the invisible cloak with mod2s from the better foci counts for plenty.

Oh I didn't mean to sound disappointed I'm happy to have one extra level of pet foci for sure! not to mention I love the pet weapons and random things that come from this bag. Thanks again for the tip! I'm a bit confused though I dont understand your last sentence. What invisible cloak? I'm not sure what you mean but all of a sudden I MUST HAVE IT!!! hahaha pls do explain/elaborate.

Conjurous wrote:I am on AB if u wanna look me up. Can get u pet toys and some advice if u need.

Thank you Conjurous, I will take you up on that offer I'd love to chat with some one about mages and raiding. I was part of the raiding core of SoD and Darkwind? cant remember the name of the last one.

PS: My surname is Spamage and is not because I'm a mage at a SPA .