Forum Settings
       
« Previous 1 2
Reply To Thread

Bankable AAFollow

#1 Oct 01 2013 at 6:29 PM Rating: Decent
12 posts
Someone asked what the bankable number of aa's are at level 96, and I was surprised to hear 70 answered in chat. I didn't know that was possible as 30 was what I always knew. Anyhow, what level does the number of bankable aa's go up, and when was this implemented? Thanks
#2 Oct 02 2013 at 12:02 AM Rating: Decent
Scholar
*
178 posts
I have always said they should let you bank at least 100 but that is just me.
#3 Oct 02 2013 at 5:03 AM Rating: Good
Sage
Avatar
**
756 posts
I believe it should be unlimited. Like plat, you earned them you decide what to do with them and when. Makes no difference gamewise.
#4 Oct 02 2013 at 6:50 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
KC13 wrote:
I believe it should be unlimited. Like plat, you earned them you decide what to do with them and when. Makes no difference gamewise.

Well, it does because when they release a new expansion, they want to prevent everyone from having all the AA rewards on Minute One. In fact, I believe they first capped unspent AA when they were preparing the launch for Planes of Power from Luclin. Since Luclin only had so many AA, people had a crapton of them banked before PoP launched and Sony didn't want everyone just buying through all the new AA's immediately.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#5 Oct 02 2013 at 12:53 PM Rating: Good
When you reach level 91 your bankable aa increase to 50. If the chat comment was correct then I would suspect it becomes 70 at level 96.
____________________________
Fight smarter not harder.
#6 Oct 02 2013 at 5:16 PM Rating: Good
Avatar
****
4,580 posts
Jophiel wrote:
KC13 wrote:
I believe it should be unlimited. Like plat, you earned them you decide what to do with them and when. Makes no difference gamewise.

Well, it does because when they release a new expansion, they want to prevent everyone from having all the AA rewards on Minute One. In fact, I believe they first capped unspent AA when they were preparing the launch for Planes of Power from Luclin. Since Luclin only had so many AA, people had a crapton of them banked before PoP launched and Sony didn't want everyone just buying through all the new AA's immediately.



Newer games have taken it even harder with full currency resets/freezes prior to new content. *currency as in alternate things such as pvp points, raid honor and such... which are basically the AA of nonEQ games.

AA systems (EQ2 has one as well) are a catch-22. They tune the new content so that you need a baseline of AA, and they want you to earn the AA in the new content as that is part of the planned grind of the expac. In EQ the result is the massive gap for returning players which they have tried to address with the AAxp curve... If players don't catch up and find the playerbase, most of them quite rather than long-term sub (sure some are happy dabbling on low characters, but lots of those type ...cough me... come back anyways). Basically, the players most capable of padding the aa bank in EQ would be the players SoE least wants not needing to go grind xp... as they already have the least to catch up on.

EQ2 has a marketplace item that lets you gain a very large % of the total possible AA. They are introducing "heroic characters" in that game... (like WoW's deathknight only greater in scope...). Heroic characters are going to be 10 levels off end-cap with good gear and AA count... think of it as Mayong 51/50 server on steroids if you will.

I think this (heroic characters) will come to EQ before next summer. It will be a novelty to anyone with even a character over level 95... but very appealling to jump up the casual/returning potential masses that might commit more time in new content. I also won't be surprised if they create an autogrant scheme for AA that content was tuned for... example: dinging 66 gives you all the combat agility/stability (and so on) that GoD content was tuned for. If you don't want the autogrant (slow-play casual) then you hold at 65 till you earn them all the hard way.

#7 Oct 02 2013 at 5:52 PM Rating: Excellent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
I think that the bank limit on AAs serves a useful purpose. It ensures that abilities are largely gained as a result of actions taken by the character in or near the level the abilities apply to. The whole point of AA is that they are "alternate advancement", and not just a normal result of improving the level of a character. Obviously, the extreme example of this is someone sitting at the level cap and grinding out thousands of AA points, then rushing through the levels when a new level increase occurs and just spending the points on each level of ability as he goes along. But this applies to working up within existing content as well. The player is presented with a choice in terms of ratio of AA to leveling exp. If he levels up fast, he wont be able to get the AA abilities appropriate for those levels. A bank limit means that he has to apply this choice all the way through as he levels. If he choose to just plow through some levels, he may find it harder to stop and grind AAs because he doesn't have those AAs he may have gained along the way.

It's a play balance thing, and I think it actually works quite well as implemented. You're not required to gain AAs as you level, but you'll find yourself seriously underpowered relatively speaking if you don't. I suppose you could argue that this slows down the ability for new/returning players to "catch up", but honestly catching up in EQ has long since been about gear levels more than AAs and exp levels. It's not hard at all to catch up in terms of levels and AAs. Just takes time, but generally not so much time that you can't get to the top (and likely with multiple characters) if you want to. The real issue is gear, and honestly I'm somewhat happy with how they've managed tiered gearing in the last several expansions. It's much less an all or nothing affair for the more casual players, while still giving measurable benefits to those who spend the time/effort in the raid game.

For those of us who remember a time period where if you couldn't raid you were more or less stuck in terms of gear, this is a massively huge improvement. And by "stuck in terms of gear", I don't mean "couldn't get the best or near best stuff in the game", but "couldn't get gear sufficient to handle solo/group content well". They went through a phase where they tried to address this with trade skill gear, then they introduced defiant, which helped. But it wasn't really until they started introducing tiered gear, with the lowest couple being available via solo/group activities that they really "fixed" the problem. Today? You can play a group effective character all the way from 1 to 100 with nothing but gear you purchased in the bazaar. And that gear is sufficient for group play that can get you tier2 stuff as well. So plenty of possibilities and things to work towards without having to be a hard core player.


Dunno. I'm kinda happy with the changes they made. I originally quit playing precisely because it felt like I was stuck without any real objectives to strive for. That's not nearly as much of an issue today IMO. And as to AAs? I think they add a fun bit of extras to the game. It gives you something to gain along the way. It might take some time to gain a level, but I can always look forward to gaining enough AAs for that next ability. And that makes it good. The bank limit is fine IMO, since it forces you to make those decisions as you go along. Which is a good thing.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#8 Oct 02 2013 at 6:04 PM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
Don't forget too that from Luclin to PoP to LDoN/LoY to GoD until Omens of War (so from Dec 2001 until Sept 2004) the level cap was 65. So you had a LOT of people with nothing to do for years but grind AAXP. So the desire from the developers to keep them from banking 1,500 AAXP and buying all of the GoD AA on Day One was different than when you have a level cap increase and you can't spend your AA on new skills until you earn the new levels. Capping banked AAXP was the only real way to accomplish that short of even more draconian measure like limiting how many AAXP you could spend per day.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#9 Oct 02 2013 at 7:11 PM Rating: Good
Avatar
****
4,580 posts
Gbaji and Jophiel say brilliant things just above this post.

I agree the system as currently is... is probably the best they have ever done it, certainly post Luclin till now. I won't be surprised if they continue to tweak, as any effort that gains back some players is worth them doing --and realistically "closing gap" measures do nothing to the existing playerbase except make alts faster to endgame.
#10 Oct 03 2013 at 2:21 PM Rating: Good
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
I think that the level cap was bumped to 65 in the PoP expansion (that's when they introduced the ethereal/spectral parchments, right? Still a long time until GoD bumped it to 70, but not quite so long as that.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#11 Oct 03 2013 at 2:26 PM Rating: Good
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
You're right. AAXP was introduced with Luclin and the cap bumped to 65 with PoP. So two years and change before the next cap increase. But there was also a lot fewer AA skills to get back then so you could cap out on AA's a lot sooner.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#12 Oct 03 2013 at 2:32 PM Rating: Excellent
Encyclopedia
******
35,568 posts
Far far fewer. Even as a hybrid, it was basically run 3, 8 levels of CA/CS (or lighting reflexes or whatever), 12 or so on hp increases, a few levels of combat fury, healing AAs (and I don't recall how much of that was available back then either). After that, you were into minimal gain for the cost territory. To be fair they did add some more AAs with LoY/LDoN expansions, but I don't recall the same kind of "OMG, I need 20 points on this, and 50 points on that" condition that exists now. Of course, AAs were much much much more time consuming to get, so I suppose it washed out.

I do recall doing a lot of leveling on my wiz when my pally was maxed at 65 and had pretty much all the AAs he wanted during that time period though. So there is that.
____________________________
King Nobby wrote:
More words please
#13 Oct 03 2013 at 4:11 PM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
Worth noting as well that the cap was 60 in Kunark/Velious so Luclin really only offered AA's as new advancement. So while it wasn't a solid 3+ years at 65 as I mistakenly said at first, the period between Luclin and PoP was filled of people who has been at cap since Kunark and, again, had nothing to do between Luclin and PoP besides gain AA's. Then a 5 level jump with PoP followed by another 2+ years of sitting at cap, collecting the (comparatively shallow) pool of available AA's.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#14 Oct 03 2013 at 6:35 PM Rating: Good
30 posts
While there was lots of time for the high-end folk to gain AA's, I also seem to recall that it took me around 30 to 45 minutes per AA back in the Luclin days...I could be wrong on how long it took me, but it took significantly more time than it has been the past 5 or so years.

Edited, Oct 3rd 2013 8:36pm by QuigleyWigley
#15 Oct 03 2013 at 7:10 PM Rating: Good
Avatar
****
4,580 posts
QuigleyWigley wrote:
While there was lots of time for the high-end folk to gain AA's, I also seem to recall that it took me around 30 to 45 minutes per AA back in the Luclin days...I could be wrong on how long it took me, but it took significantly more time than it has been the past 5 or so years.

Edited, Oct 3rd 2013 8:36pm by QuigleyWigley



All levelling took much longer, but you are bang on with AA. Some players have always found higher efficiencies (I wasn't one of those)... for example what Plane of Fire offered keyed folks was waay better than several expacs of casual-access tiered content that followed for xp.

Early aaxp being snail slow was brutal, but at least the aa were worth it. So few AA post PoP are truly essential, or at least the bang-for-buck that the Luclin and some PoP aa were (I know there are exceptions, but out of the total AA count I don't think I am off-base).
#16 Oct 03 2013 at 7:33 PM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
snailish wrote:
Some players have always found higher efficiencies (I wasn't one of those)... for example what Plane of Fire offered keyed folks was waay better than several expacs of casual-access tiered content that followed for xp.

Sure, and things like the Grey farming back before they nerfed it, bard AOE swarming, etc. But the primary concern for these things was always the end game people farming in Plane of Fire and the like, not the level 65s who still found Greigs End to be a challenging evening.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#17 Oct 03 2013 at 8:07 PM Rating: Good
Avatar
****
4,580 posts
Jophiel wrote:
snailish wrote:
Some players have always found higher efficiencies (I wasn't one of those)... for example what Plane of Fire offered keyed folks was waay better than several expacs of casual-access tiered content that followed for xp.

Sure, and things like the Grey farming back before they nerfed it, bard AOE swarming, etc. But the primary concern for these things was always the end game people farming in Plane of Fire and the like, not the level 65s who still found Greigs End to be a challenging evening.



Agreed. They could give me a new race, I would roll 4-5 classes probably, and I wouldn't get into level 70 content on them for a year at least... I don't need new aa or high level zones.

However, I totally see the need for development to be endgame focused. (at least primarily).

Call of the forsaken NOT upping the level cap is a good thing in my view... a widening of the game at the 90-100 range could be a good stabilizing move.
#18 Oct 10 2013 at 7:02 AM Rating: Good
Sage
***
3,008 posts
I think they could raise the saved AA level cap well beyond 70 without hurting anything.

I had 70 saved on all 6 of my primary level 100 toons anticipating that I might like to buy some new AA abilities right off the bat with this new xpac. Well, I did but it hardly resulted in any kind of overpowering. You should notice that AA costs have soared, with many upgrades costing 15 or 18 for one level. My druid blew through his "stash" of 70 by buying Tertiary Bind, Bind Affinity, one level of Natural Durability and 3 levels of Storm Strike. All gone! I felt like the first (and only) time I went to Atlantic City with $100 and lost it all on a couple of spins of the roulette wheel!

They could easily raise the cap to 100 or even 150. I think the main reason they do NOT is to discourage unattended AAXPing, using boxes and mercs.

BTW, I'd have bought this xpac for Tertiary Bind ALONE. I'm a sucker for lazy travel enhancements. LOL

Edited, Oct 10th 2013 9:03am by Sippin
____________________________
Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#19 Oct 10 2013 at 9:53 AM Rating: Decent
*
218 posts
I think with as fast as AA's come at level 90 the limit needs to be way higher than 30. I bump into that cap all the time just doing dailies and grinding xp. Forget about AFK xping. I'd be at my 30AA in an hour. Seems like every half hour I'm having to open my AA window and buy stuff. I'm not complaining about the speed of getting AA's mind you, I have a ways to go to get caught up, just sucks when your running two accounts at the same time, rebuffing short duration buffs, pulling, cc'ing, etc.
#20 Oct 10 2013 at 10:33 AM Rating: Good
Sage
***
3,008 posts
Agreed. Even at 90 aaxp flies. I've lost considerable number of AAs because of forgetting to spend down and not noticing the "You can't earn any more AAs until you spend some" warning messages inside fight spam.

Very annoying!
____________________________
Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#21 Oct 10 2013 at 10:34 AM Rating: Excellent
Liberal Conspiracy
*******
TILT
FWIW, I was just referring to why the bank caps existed. I'm not high enough level in the modern game to have a credible opinion on whether or not they're too low.
____________________________
Belkira wrote:
Wow. Regular ol' Joph fan club in here.
#22 Oct 10 2013 at 10:50 AM Rating: Decent
they should of just kept the policy to delete all AA not spent right before the next game release.
#23 Oct 10 2013 at 11:10 AM Rating: Good
Sage
***
3,008 posts
Larth wrote:
they should of just kept the policy to delete all AA not spent right before the next game release.


That would be heartless, thoughtless, cruel, mean and contemptuous of their best customers.

Surely Sony would never do anything like that!

Smiley: eek


____________________________
Sippin 115 DRU **** Firiona Vie ****Agnarr
FV: 115 WAR ENC CLE MAG WIZ SHD SHM Master Alchemist ROG Master Tinkerer & Poison-Maker
Master Artisan (300+) * Baker * Brewer * Fletcher * Jeweler * Potter * Researcher * Smith * Tailor
Agnarr: 65 DRU ENC SHD MAG CLE ROG WIZ BRD WAR
#24 Oct 15 2013 at 10:41 AM Rating: Excellent
44 posts
Quote:
For those of us who remember a time period where if you couldn't raid you were more or less stuck in terms of gear, this is a massively huge improvement. And by "stuck in terms of gear", I don't mean "couldn't get the best or near best stuff in the game", but "couldn't get gear sufficient to handle solo/group content well". They went through a phase where they tried to address this with trade skill gear, then they introduced defiant, which helped. But it wasn't really until they started introducing tiered gear, with the lowest couple being available via solo/group activities that they really "fixed" the problem. Today? You can play a group effective character all the way from 1 to 100 with nothing but gear you purchased in the bazaar. And that gear is sufficient for group play that can get you tier2 stuff as well. So plenty of possibilities and things to work towards without having to be a hard core player.


Dunno. I'm kinda happy with the changes they made. I originally quit playing precisely because it felt like I was stuck without any real objectives to strive for.


This. This right here 1000%. I played EQ in its heyday and had a tight knit group of friends that always played together. We had set times we would meet and play as much as we could before one of us had to log. We had great times and ended up playing more and more often until it reached the point that we would be online grouping every night after work and dinner. We eventually got frustrated because none of us raided, and even though we were all very skilled players, it came to a point where we could not handle the content we needed to get upgrades we needed as we did not have the gear to allow us to do that. A few of us hung on, but we all eventually quit sometime during the Omens of War Expansion (after barely hanging on through the over tuned disaster that was Gates of Discord - but that is another story). I was then away from the game I loved for far too long, and am so glad I am back. I have tried to convince my friends to come back but the ones who could were too burned and I honestly think they do not believe me when I tell them how much SOE fixed things. Oh well, their loss. I have made some wonderful new friends and am happily back to my favorite game. Been back since right before House of Thule dropped and will probably be here til they shut the servers down. But gbaji hit the nail on the head and just wanted to chime in. I would guess these words have a familiar sting to many who have returned.
#25 May 04 2017 at 7:07 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
41 posts
As of today, May 4th 2017, my char on Stromm/Luclin has 200 AAs. Will repost how many when I see I have to spend some.
#26 May 04 2017 at 8:17 PM Rating: Decent
Scholar
41 posts
210 bankable AAs now, at 105
« Previous 1 2
Reply To Thread

Colors Smileys Quote OriginalQuote Checked Help

 

Recent Visitors: 127 All times are in CST
Evilel, Anonymous Guests (126)