AA help please: How to get my first 3 points

[BuilderOfCastles]

Good day all

I have grand mastered Pottery and now want
to GM smithing; my first love.

So I got myself to level 51 through much experience
grinding. From other peoples accounts, AA points are
easy to get. So now I have been playing with AA
esperience and I am not finding them easy to get.

So, my understanding of AA experience is wrong and
I would like to ask advice on it.

It appears now that 1 AA point is about the same as
going from level 50 to 51. (The AA bar goes up ever
so slightly faster then my experience bar at lvl 51 when
set to 50%)

So, would it be faster to get to level 54 (100% to exp)
and then switch to 100% AA? Or leave the AA at 50%
and just keep grinding?

Thanks

Marriel on Fennin Ro
Shaman of the Frozen North, 51 Winters
<hr>Brewing-184 | Baking-191 | Fishing-200 | Fletching-180
Jewelcraft-185 |Pottery-250 | Tailoring-154 | Smithing-194

[Thorme]

1 AA cost the experience to pass 51, not 50...
And yes, it's faster (in my opinion :) ) to level first, then switch to AA. We will have to do 3 times the level 51, and it's faster with mobs that gives a better xp

[Jhavon]

If *all* you want to do is get 3 AA for tradeskilling, then just put it on 90% AA and go for it. The same amount of XP is required to fill up the AA bar whether you're 51 or 60, so going to 54 won't make a difference there.

If this is a "played" character and you want levels as well as AA, then your best bet is to get a couple levels on ya so it goes quicker (well, actually it doesn't, but it seems like it cause you can kill the same MOB a lil quicker)

[Verdandi]

It's faster to get the levels first. There is a fixed value of how much exp it takes a character of your race and class to get through a level, including AAs. Say for the sake of example it takes 10,000 units of exp to get from 50 to 51. Mobs also have fixed amounts of exp that they each give, and those levels generally increase as the level of mob increases. At level 50 the mobs that are blue and soloable might only give 50 units of exp each while at level 60 soloable blue mobs might give 80 units of exp each. (Again, I'm just making these numbers up to demonstrate the idea.) At level 60 you can be killing higher level mobs that will give more exp in the same amount of time it'd take to be killing the easier mobs you can fight at level 50. After you spend 1 hour killing 30 mobs at level 50 you've gained 1500 units of exp while 1 hour killing 30 mobs at level 60 has gained 1800 units of exp. Same amount of time, same amount of effort, but more actual exp netted. Regular levelling seems slower with higher levels because it takes more exp overall to get a regular level. But AA exp is always the same fixed amount to get each point, no matter what level you are while you're collecting the AA exp. So getting more levels will indeed make AA exp come faster.

[Jannelle Silverthorne]

AA XP goes faster if you can kill harder mobs or kill the same mob faster. That requires that you level.
Prior to PoP, the general Ranger consensus was to level to 60 then do AA XP, the only skill that might be considered valuable enough to slow down for was Run Speed 3.

If, leveling up doesn't interest you, then you need to find the easiest blue mob to kill for your current level. Said mob needs to be plentiful so you don't have any downtime due to lack of something to kill and preferably something you can kill non stop. Lightblue mobs are not worth the effort as you take a reduction in xp for killing them.

[Zacatac]

At that level, AA is going to take awhile. At level 60, it takes me about 6 hours of soloing with KEI buff to get 1 point. If you really want it to go up faster, set it to 100% for awhile.

[Angelsyn]

You might want to be sure you've got a full bubble of xp into the level before you start saving up AA xp. ;)


Also, for die-hard Paladins like me who don't know any better (I've already got a weapon that's nearly as good as my Epic!), AA xp is a great way to stay at level 52 (for Vox/Naggy raids, for the Books).

[Fyste]

Your problem is perception.

AA is a LOT faster to get them regular experience... if you are 60th level. What people tell you is based on thier level / playstyle / etc. At 51st level, AA exp will be ( almost ) EXACTLY the same at normal exp. I say almost because there's a slight variation between AA and 51st level, I believe AA is a tad faster than 51st level exp and therefore should be faster still than 52nd level... but not much. And that's assuming you put 100% into AA.

When you hit 55th or 60th level, it will SEEM like AA is a lot faster, because ( as mentioned above ) the exp required for one bar of AA is still the same ( just below 51st level ). Thus, it will fill faster when killing those 55+ mobs.

So... depending on who you ask, AA exp may be a LOT easier to get... or really no different at all. Right now you're in a tough spot.

Personally I did what you're doing. I hit 51 and put 100% into AA. My guild hated it... I basically stopped levelling for weeks. But... there were specific AA points I wanted and I got them.

It's your call... but it's not going to seem any faster until you get a few more levels under you :(

[kiztent]

I can make AA at 55 pretty quickly (12-20 hours an AA or so 2 boxing). An AA is about as much exp as all of 51.

The thing about levelling to 60 is that stuff starts to green out at 60, so it's harder to find solid blue mobs and solid blues are harder to solo than at 51 (just like you can solo red cons at 10 but not 20).

I've heard, 55 is the sweet spot where you are powerful enough to kill quickly, but not so much that too much 'easy' stuff is green. I just don't feel like regular exping now though.

I've also heard that you should have AA either all on or all off, since there's 'rounding loss' if you split exp between normal and AA.

AA at 51 is tough, but run 3 is worth it.

[Craftah]

I've actually stayed at level 51 for AA. Even to the point of killing myself twice to come down from 52 to 51 when I accidentally leveled to 52, after getting those two points in Meditate and memming all my level 52 spells to save on bank space.

Why?, you might ask...

Tailoring! Above 158 the best way to level tailoring is Studded Acrylia which requires rockhoppers. While farming mobs for tailoring drops is its own special hell, farming green mobs for tailoring drops is even worse. By far.

At level 51 the rockhopper/sambata caves in DSP give exp. Most (about 80%) of the rockhoppers are dark blue. Many (about 60%) of the Sambata (which do drop Acrylia, and you will need to kill to switch to rockhoppers) are dark blue. The rest are light blue. Nothing is green.

At level 52, many of the rockhoppers turn light blue. Most of the sambata are now light blue, and some are green.

At level 51, the Grimling Miners in the Grimling Forest are dark and light blue.

At level 52, the Grimling Miners in the Grimling Forest are light blue and green, with an occasional dark blue.

Since I was very curious about the 'how much exp does AA take' thing, I messed around with my AA exp percentage when I had 4 yellow of regular and 1 yellow of AA exp.
[list=1]
As soon as I got four full yellow of regular exp, I went 100% AA exp.
As soon as I got one full yellow of AA exp, I went 50% AA exp.
As soon as I got to two full yellow of AA exp, I took a screenie.
[/list:o]
Here is the regular and AA exp portion of the screenshot:

As you can see, one yellow of AA exp is just a bit less than 4 blue of regular exp.

I am now working on AA exp number 8 (runspeed 3, regen 3 for soloing) with 100 percent of my exp going to AA. I'll continue to level when my tailoring is 242 or higher, or when I have enough AA to fill all the level 51 abilities and all the level 55 abilities. I'm really hoping that 242 comes long before then...

[ianwenie]

after what i know 1AA points is the same exp as lvl 49. and form lvl 60 to 65.. lvl 61,62 and 63 = 5 aa points in exp eath lvl, lvl 64 and 65 (65 fully) is = 10aa points eath lvl.. get 60 and make some aa points at 60 the nomail zone u fight in give 0,5 to 1% aa exp a kill ( in UP and CT ) and u just kill faster at 60 then u do at 59 so u make the aa point faster. but when u 60 and move to a POP zone then u can make Exp a lot faster if u get lvl 65. it will take cupel of week's work to get 65 but u will make it a lot saver exp and have better cance of getting group's and kill faster and then u get faster aa point's on a GOOD day in pov i make abotu 4 to 5 aa points no 10houres of playing.. only problem is a good group dont allways keep together and PoV is allmost allways over crudet....

but get 60 or 65 and make AA points faster.

[Saruton]

1 AA point = 15.000.000 Expirience Points. The variation different people expirience is the fact that not everyon gains XP at the same rate, as the XP Penalties are still in place for races.

A_Mob_XYZ gives a set amount of XP. The formula for this one is MobLevel * MobLevel * ZoneModifier * RaceModifier.

So getting AAs is going to be faster the higher your level is, because you will kill higherlevel mobs an thus recieve more XP per Mob.

So best thing you could do is level a bit more. Best thing probably would be to go to 60 or even 65. Groupeing at 60+ in PoS or PoV can yield one AA per 1.5 hours.

[Jannelle Silverthorne]

Craftah's idea is a good one if you're not in a raiding guild where you're expected to level up so you're more effective on raids. He's killing two birds with one stone in getting tradeskill supplies and alt xp. While it may be true he could kill a bit faster at higher level, he'd not be getting any xp from the mobs he'd be killing and the extra alt xp is worth more than the few extra kills per hour that leveling would grant in my opinion.

[Ndaara]

My plan was to level Noppity from 55 to 59 for Cabbage and mana regen, then go full aaxp for my 3 points to raise brewing above 200. But the RNG actually liked me and i hit 200 brewing too fast! i got 12% into 56 (enough to keep level if i died & couldn't get rez, i like the 56 druid root) and did 100% aa so i can brew again (friends want their darn drinks!). but now i'm back to leveling.

I was just horrified at the thought of losing any skill ups with all those tea leaves i've been hording! So i just refused to do any more brewing until I got the aa points. My friends think I'm nuts, but... well, they're right :P i'm pretty happy to be back at the brew barrel though!

[Felonna]

ok get a few more levels

Pop exp= Very good
Pop AAexp= Mind Boggling

You will be able to get your AAs so fast, it will be well worth it. Shaman can solo mad exp in the plane of disease

[bana-zir]

There are 2 rules to faster exp (Verant gave us these details).

1) kill mobs no more than 5 levels below your current level (know the zones that fit this model).

2) kill mobs that are at least level 51 while your at least level 51.

If you follow these rules you can increase your AA rate from 50 percent to up 500 percent when killing way RED mobs.

Leveling to 60 if you want AA is the old method. It was the best method prior to the next EXP nerf/bonus.

Keep in mind at level 60 and killing anything but the higher level planes (PoN) you will notice a significant decrease in EXP from the nerf they installed a while back. Based on the math, at level 60 and killing a level 55 mob you will get 125 percent of the NORMAL exp that you would get pre-nerf. At level 60 and killing a level 54 or lower mob will result in 75 percent of the old NORMAL exp for that kill.

The best way to get EXP I have found is to be about level 55 or 56, kill mobs that are at least level 51, go solo or group with people ALL LOWER level than you but at least level 51. If you do these things you should see AA dings every hour or so solo or grouped (it is assumed your killing 5 to 6 times faster grouped).

I am currently testing a level 51 warrior and am on 100 percent AA. I can acquire AA dings every 2 hours to 3 hours in CoM solo. Mostly because the mobs are all under level 51 and about a third of them are light blue or green.

I can state as *fact* that the group makeup has an effect on the rate of exp. If you are the only level 60 in a group, you can greatly increase your exp if you group with people far lower than you (it is asummed they can do their job). This is also backed up by Verant giving us the exact formulas when they balanced the EXP back in the early part of 2002 to remove hybrid exp tax. My share is (my level plus 5)/(each person in the group level including me plus 5 times the number of group members). Clearly if I am level 60 and I group with a group of 5 level 51 players, it is as if I am grouped with only 4 other people (I get 1/5 of the exp) and the poor level 51 players appear to be in a group of 6 other people (they get 1/7 of the exp.)

I have also done a fair bit of testing with grouping just a level 60 and a level 51 while playing in PoI (about half of the mobs are blue and the other half are white, yellow, or red to the level 51). As a group and both at 100 percent AA, they obtain AA exp at the exact same rate. Going solo with each, it appears the level 51 gets AA exp at about 50 percent more per kill than the level 60. I suspect that while grouped the exp multiplier is done before the exp is split and using the average group level to determine the multiplier. It would appear that if there are any member below level 51, this multiplier is not applied.

Summary: Stay at level 55 and solo in PoP should mean no more than 2 hours an AA.

Banazir

[Ozmandias]

"Keep in mind at level 60 and killing anything but the higher level planes (PoN) you will notice a significant decrease in EXP from the nerf they installed a while back. Based on the math, at level 60 and killing a level 55 mob you will get 125 percent of the NORMAL exp that you would get pre-nerf. At level 60 and killing a level 54 or lower mob will result in 75 percent of the old NORMAL exp for that kill. "

That is half true and half false.

Killing the 55+ mob at 60 *will* give you more exp than it used to, actually it's any 51+ mob, but the lower level mob gives the exact same exp as it did before the code was changed. It was as you say for 3 days though, then all servers were re-patched to change this due to everyone screaming bloody murder. The best way to maximize this is to group in a zone killing these level monster. This is why so many Luclins zones are screaming exp.

That said, aqua mobs give less than blue mobs. 1 level of aqua gives it 75% exp, and 2 levels of aqua give 50% exp. This has not changed since aqua was put in, and works the exact same way as it did when these mobs used to be exp giving greenies (for you really old timers like me who remember those things).