The Magician's Tower

I am still fairly new to playing a mage, though I've been reading this site religiously since I created the mage. My old main was a raid bard, but I don't have the time to do much more than solo anymore. I've been thoroughly enjoying my mage, and really haven't played my bard since starting the mage (I am really sick of soloing the bard, and the mage seems to be a much better fit with the new play style I've been forced to adopt as my family has grown, but I digress...).

Anyhow, I've been fairly conscious not to out level content too swiftly to significantly reduce the capability of my mage to grow at said new level. I am currently level 79 with about 765 AA. I am mostly geared in the best gear money can buy me from the bazaar (with a few level 80 drops I can equip from SoD when I get to 80). I am levelling to at least level 80 currently, but I am trying to decide whether to stop at 80 and get another couple hundred AAs before progressing, or to level to 81 and stop there to get AA for a while.

The big decider for me is pet power. I currently only possess the pet focus from the Elaborate ear from PoK, and my pet's current max hit is 307. I've mostly been killing in a mixture of Paw, Katta, and Fire C2, and I don't believe any of those 3 spots will drop to green whether I stop at 80 or 81 (though c1 in fire will turn green when I reach level 81, but that's not a big deal). I see I get a decent upgrade to my fire bolt at 81, which is nice, but not the deciding factor whether I want to level to 81 or not.

So after my history there, I get to my question. How much of an increase in pet power will I notice from my 76 air pet to my 81 air pet? Is anyone able to tell me from what I've posted here a rough guestimate of how much a level 81 pet would hit for for me? If it's a fairly substantial amount (substantiated by some numbers if anyone could provide them, all I can find are base values on this site for the level 81 pet, not 76), I will level to 81. If it's not much of an upgrade, I will stay at 80 to receive more AA per kill.

Thank you for any help you are able to provide me,

Infernos

I found a significant jump in power from 71 to 76, and again 76 to 81. If i'm in your shoes, advancing to 81 to aa is the correct move. And whats more, having the 81 air pet should allow you to molo (or box at worst) yourself the pet focus from Crystallos (EM1), which again is a big step up from the PoK summoned ear.

Can I molo Crystallos access with my current gear level (keeping in mind I only have a level 1 Journeyman cleric Merc)?


Unfortunately, I can't link my magelo here atm because Magelo is down.

I'll echo what the other two said about level 81 and the new pet. Not only will the pet hit harder but it will also mitigate a lot better; especially if you deck it out in defiant armor. The basement of splitpaw will give really good aaxp at 81. However do NOT do what I did and think that getting the next anti-summoned nuke will speed things up. Yes it's another nice nuke but when you are able to get the spell splitpaw will turn green and the aaxp will go in the toilet.

So basically get to 81 and live in splitpaw until you can't stand it. After that you'll be hard pressed to find better aaxp.

Get the 81 Air Pet.

For so many reasons, it is not even a question worth considering.

Sued...

BTW, I remember solo, no merc, exp in Fortress Mech at lvl 80 being pretty good

Thanks for all your input. Looks like I'll be rushing to 81. I've been able with my limited play time over the last 4 days to average between 40 and 55% for a level per evening. Wife's going out of town this weekend, and she's taking the kids. Hopefully I can be 81 by sometime on Sunday.