Ok, new question for me, so new thread. I am sure this question has been asked in the past, but I didn't want to be looking at answers that could be months out of date. I am currently level 58, working my way towards 60 (slowly). I am currently set for 90%/10% level vs AA. At what point should I shift over and do pure AA? And at what point should I shift back? Do I wait for level 60? Or go 50/50 now? (Am I already behind the curve and should have shifted already?) Etc, etc, and ad nauseum. I know that opinions will vary greatly on this question, but I am curious to see the answers, experiences and explanations as to why (or why not).


May Nature never call upon you at the worst possible time,
Gwynafear Fenrisoul
Amazonian Pride
Torvonolous Server

Last night I dinged 59. I have 8aa. I usually either go 90/10 or 10/90 depending if I want to level or if I want to get a few aa. I got my title around 57 and then I did the two extra aa to get the chance for a dd critical. BTW it doesnt go off hardly at all with only a 2% chance for a critical. Now I need 1 1/2 yellow to get another aa and then I will need a whole other aa to get the next level 55 class ability. I might take mental clarity or spell casting mastery which is the main stream. You know, most people will say level over aa. This is probably true, but I linger around doing aa because I want to see more high 50s content before I wiz by it all and also because spells cost so much money it can take a bit to acquire them. Thats my 2 cents, I hope you find it useful.

There are of course an infinite amount of options in the argument, I myself have always done the Level > AA. Heres my reasoning:

1. If you plan to start flagging your druid, you get AAs from them. Free AA - cant argue. And several of them can be acquired pretty easily with a group or so. (PoJ trials + BoT Askr quest) Medals often rot, and the rest can be grouped with decent toons.

2. Groupage. Since there are soo many people on each server these days, good solo camps are hard to come by. They exist, but you will find them camped by a necro or wizzy more often then not. When both your best camps are taken, you have few options. If you want to get a group - you need to level. The 58 CH helps a ton with this, but once you get to about 60ish you become pretty blacklisted as a MH until you hit 65 (BoT comes to mind).

3. The first level of most of the "fun" AA's are pointless. First level crit, heal crit are a waste if you wont be upgrading them again shortly after. At lower levels, AA are harder to come by and thus slower to obtain. Nothing worse then spending AA and then have them feel useless for another 3 weeks.

4. Content. Unless youre getting flags early, you wont be able to see upper tier content until you're 62. And boy, does that open up your grouping options at that point. Heck, even soloing you get HoH at 62 which is a goldmine of experience.

5. Stats - simply put youre stats (especially wisdom/mana) are greatly improved over where you are now at 65. Gives you much more room to do whatever you want.

6. Storm Warden is such a cool title. The 2 below that are the suck.

7. Farming spell money is MUCH easier at higher levels. Its easier to go higher then the spells you can afford and make up the cash then it is to stay at that level until you manage to acquire them all. You just have less incentive to do so. Plus you have more opportunity at parchments (turn ins for high level spells) in normal experience groups so you may not need to farm at all.

Thats a good head start I think. =) I think the formula many suggest is 3 or 4 aa for Run3 and MC1, and then level to 65 before acquiring anymore. It certainly worked for me.

Personally I also go for level over AA. Theres no AA skill (except maybe innate camo) which will give you as big a boost as a level. Even if you cant afford all the spells the increase in mana/hps and resistance to mob dmg/spells is bigger than any AA will give you :)

please stop getting AA before 65. its a stupid idea seriously. You may be a casual player ...you may want AAs. but seriously ..get lvl 65 ..and once your there you dont have to worry about weather or not to go AA vs Level anymore ..cept for when OoW comes out ..but seriously get 65 before you AA ...some people stop for Run 3 ..thats their choice ...you asked us for Level Vs AA...my opinion ..your an idiot if you get more than run 3 before 65 ..ive had 4 chars to 65 now ..yes sure i play too much ..but theres nothin better than getting 65 and then all you need is AA ..not juggling both ..plus Aa is waaayyy easier to get at 65 in like BoT or ldon

level >> AA

Specialy if you look at what spells are in store for you. With spells as pot9 summerflame and NI you will become a lot more powerfull then with any AA.

Not to mention it is easier getting groups as a 65 then a 58/59 and as mentioned before access to better xp zones

although I did stop at 56 and get my run3 and regen3, (strictly because I thought the aa's were cool and wanted a title). Then I turned aa to like 10% and leveled most of the way up. I didn't get my venerable title till 63. I was doing raids... and on raids I would turn on full aa until I died.. then would go full norm to make up for the 4% that reviv... doesn't cover. All in all...get your levels. They are MUCH more an upgrade than anything else.

please stop getting AA before 65. its a stupid idea seriously. You may be a casual player ...my opinion ..your an idiot if you get more than run 3 before 65 ..
Nice personal attack Zaakk, nothing called for you to be like that.

When PoP was first released, AA > lvl, if you knew what you were doing and where to go. With the release of a couple expansions since then, the lowering of spell prices, and the amount of lvl limitations on gear, I would have to say lvl > AA's at this stage of the game.

Nice personal attack Zaakk, nothing called for you to be like that.

I don't believe he intended it to be a personal attack. He's simply stating, as you quoted, it is his opinion that it would be foolish to take that route.

And, to stay on topic, I'll recommend levels over AAs. At least until 63 when you get Command of Tunare. Then you have HoH and PoS frogs available for AA farming if you wish. But even then you still get plenty of benefits from capping your level (more mana, more hp, more innate mana regen, more spells, fewer resists, etc.). And it only takes a few three-hour days (estimate) in HoH or PoS (if you get the camp and hold it religiously) to ding 65 from 63. Sure you could get a bunch of AAs in that time, but you still wouldn't be able to use Karana's Renewal, Blessing of the Nine, or nuke for more than 1150. Get your levels, man, then hammer out the AAs.

Just a brief point:
I got my title around 57 and then I did the two extra aa to get the chance for a dd critical. BTW it doesnt go off hardly at all with only a 2% chance for a critical.
Well considering that a 2% chance means it will usually go off 1 in every 50 casts, I'm not surprised...


On topic: do whatever the hell you want, and ignore people who don't agree with you. It's your gameplay, not theirs.

There are plenty of druids who picked up a lot of AA before 61, myself included. Of course, pre-PoP, levelling wasn't an option at 60.

I'd recommend levels over AA, but some AAs are really worth picking up whenever you feel like it: SCM3, MC2, SotW1. Generally, if your gear and tactics aren't cutting it at a certain level, and you're feeling overwhelmed by the levelling/spell-searching grind, a break for AA may be in order. Good AAs make level-appropriate content easier, and the great ones make the game more fun.

Back when the 61+ level curve was busted (as in mobs greening out way too fast), there was some merit to not leveling if you couldn't get access to higher tier zones and the non-green/cyan mobs, but now that they fixed the level curve and opened the floodgates to the unwashed masses via level access, such issues are moot, and there's no real benefit to getting aa before 65 (other than run3 for non-sow classes, and possibly regen3 or metab3 for people who want a title.)