What are AA points?Follow

AA points = Alternate Advancement points.

You have to be level 51 to start accruing them, at which point you can divert a percentage (between 10% and 100%) of your normal experience to AA experience. To get one AA point you have to earn the same amount of experience as it takes to go from level 51 to 52. So while you can start accruing AA experience at level 51 some people wait until they hit 65 to start getting AA's, other people divert 10% or more of their normal XP to AAXP from 51 to 65. Just so you know, if you divert 10% of your xp at level 51, it will take you until level 56 until you see your first AA point, if you divert more it will obviously take less time. It's all a matter of how fast you want a couple of extra abilities, and whether or not you are willing to take extra time to make it through those levels.

I know it is the conventional wisdom within EQ to get to 65 first and then work on AA's. But among the group of people I play with, anyone at 65 without at least the basic AA's would be suspected of being an eBayer or PLed "noob".

I think there are many strong arguments for starting on some specific AA's in the mid 50's, 55 or 56 I would suggest.

Aside from having that "Baron" title (and a non Baron in PoV and higher is definitely treated with suspicion in many circles), most clases have one or two important class AA's, Druid for example gets Dire Charm, Exodus and Innate Camouflage, I doubt that many Druids would really want to wait to 65 to get these.

Any buffing type caster who raids a lot would be seriously thinking about MGB. And Rangers would be nuts to wait to 65 before starting on AM3 and Endless Quiver.

I guess it depends on how you play the game, but I do believe that people who rush to 65 without developing their character and exporing along the way really miss out on most of the fun.

Last night my friends and I went to Akheva in pursuit of a particular named. It was a major challenge and great fun (actually we wiped in the end, so I don't know why I'm saying it was fun ), but if we had all been 65 and planes equipped and still going there, it would be not much more fun than a level 35 farming Blackburrow.

I guess you could be 65 and not planes equipped but that thought has me lost for words. :Iluien scratches his head