Coming back again... again!

[The Hyena Shaman]

Hey y'all. With Mayong opening I decided to come back to play good ol' EQ with my secondary (EQ2/ SP) account. Since I was having so much fun, I decided to fire up my main account and bring Gandwer back into the game. Hurray!

So, I'm level 67, bazaar-geared, and of course, stumped. Though the population of Saryrn seems to be a little denser since I last played, getting a group is still pretty hard, and for some reason by solo ability is in the tank - I tried entry mobs in Tactics, and ended up with 23% health, 9% mana, seven minutes gone from my life, but hey, 13% AA... I tried Steppes, and got killed by a moss snake. Some sort of snake. It killed puppy, then resisted root and VP until I flopped over.

So... Looking to solo, obviously, and hopefully pick up my 66-70 spells along the way. I haven't picked up SoD for this account yet (May do that tonight) so moloing isn't really an option at the moment, and I have no idea how to two-box with her and my 62 BL on the second account... But wouldn't mind trying.

So, if anyone has any gear tips, or sage advice, or solo / BL Boxing tips, I'd love to hear 'em

[Whitman]

[Samanna]

I've been told that it's never been easier for a skilled Shaman to get right back into the thick of things, regardless of gear level, due to excellent gear availability.

I'll see if that's the case myself!

[Kruzar]

I would definetly grab a tank merc.. and if you are gonna drag the BL along as well.. get a cleric merc there. (I would recommend grabbing the J1 merc if you can...) Yes it is an investment to get the expansion, but you then basically have a pretty decent group. Take said group to an appropriate zone and just watch the fun. Even if your boxing skills are not that great... you will get some advantage by not really having to step in and heal. Slow the mobs... send in the pets, and then DoT up on the shammy. Level up just a bit.. and then look for the 70 rec Defiant gear, and just keep on trucking.

I would also recommend grabbing the hot zone tasks and going to those as you can. CoD is good xp even at 69 for AA, and it is a hot zone right now. The kill quests there are really easy, and if you have the quest you can get a free belt, cape, or shoulders piece. It is more recommended for the 60ish range toon, but it is something that you could possibly trade, sell, or give to the BL to use. Get high enough, and then do the 70 hot zone quests, and so on.

Nice thing also about the hot zones is not only the xp somewhat better, but there are normally people there to group up with... and there is a random hotzone aug, which is not too bad to help out the gearing situation.

Good luck out there....

[Mendler]

Make a mage on Bst account and never look back. Ease of use for boxing, better dps, more utility since you have a shammy anyway......

[The Hyena Shaman]

Well, I did Stoneroot Falls task without a merc, got a shiny new belt... then they went and changed the Hot Zones, so I had to go do Ascent for new shoulders... But this time I went with a Merc. This is the easiest thing I have ever done. Literally. I pull, merc and DogDog jump in... I toss out a Daluda's and two Jaguars, and that's it. I was quite impressed.

Of course, pretty much everything I came across in the Ascent was light blue, and I only left because I was at 10% mana and the adds kept coming. But I'm going to try Valor and Tactics, Maybe WoS or even log in my BL so I can start some tasks or bottomfeed LDoN's.

Now, my next couple questions to you all...

1) I understand the game's focus has changed quite a bit. Back when I last played "for real", at the start of OoW, the formula was still HP > All. What's the new setup? I.e, what stats should I be looking at?
2) What should my AA progression be? I just bought level 1 in both Natural Durability and Critical Affliction. Is there more to be looking at?
3) Embarrassingly enough, I still lack my Epic 1.0. Could it be possible to solo this at my current state? The plan would be to clear a path to Terror's Temple, gating outside hte portal as need be, then using VP (Or a goblin Scouted Beastlord...) to bypass the locked rooms in CoM

[Scalia]