Returning player looking for advice on Shaman level 49+

[SirAlvarex]

Hey everyone! I've played off and on over the past 5 years and just recently hit another "on" streak. A few weeks ago I started playing again and leveled up my Shaman from 42 to 49 and have had a blast doing so. However now that I've out leveled Hill Giants and Spectres I'm off to find new places to get my XP. I also have questions about getting faction for epic and who to talk to when I get the cash to buy a MQ.

1. I've read the Evil Shaman guide and saw a lot of mentions for CoM for 49+. I'm okay with heading there again (did some of the 42-49 in CoM) but am wondering if there are other places within Velious or Kunark for a good combination of Plat and XP. I'm guildless (2 year break will do that to ya) so any location that is light on PUGs will be hard.

2. How hard is it to get a PUG to kill Black Dire? I'm at that point in the epic quest but trying to find a bunch of folks who are willing to help me out is kind of daunting. I've met a few awesome folks who said they'd help but coordinating has been hard. Would it be possible to coordinate through the forums? I've seen a few posts like that but don't want to be a nuisance.

3. I've been told the Shaman epic is pretty much camped 24/7 for the MQ. However I don't see a bunch of WTS for it so I don't know what the going rate is nor who I'd speak to about buying one. I'm a fair bit off from affording it but knowing if I'm completely out of luck as a guildless Shaman in acquiring the Tear. Prior to taking my break I'd commonly see tears handed out to any Shaman hanging around the Fear Portal when my guild did Fear Raids. I presume since the revamp this doesn't happen anymore?

4. Which is more important: A Fungi Tunic or the Epic? This is coming from an Ogre Shaman.

Any other advice for a returning player? Thanks for any help!

[RDawg816]

Hey everyone! I've played off and on over the past 5 years and just recently hit another "on" streak. A few weeks ago I started playing again and leveled up my Shaman from 42 to 49 and have had a blast doing so. However now that I've out leveled Hill Giants and Spectres I'm off to find new places to get my XP. I also have questions about getting faction for epic and who to talk to when I get the cash to buy a MQ.
SolB is pretty fun. Killing guards is also good stress relief. Seafuries are an option if you like that sort of thing....

1. I've read the Evil Shaman guide and saw a lot of mentions for CoM for 49+. I'm okay with heading there again (did some of the 42-49 in CoM) but am wondering if there are other places within Velious or Kunark for a good combination of Plat and XP. I'm guildless (2 year break will do that to ya) so any location that is light on PUGs will be hard.
You could go to CC and get some cash. Spiders for silk, geos for gems, orcs for ore...

2. How hard is it to get a PUG to kill Black Dire? I'm at that point in the epic quest but trying to find a bunch of folks who are willing to help me out is kind of daunting. I've met a few awesome folks who said they'd help but coordinating has been hard. Would it be possible to coordinate through the forums? I've seen a few posts like that but don't want to be a nuisance.
That is an easy fight. Post on the forums would probably be the best option.

3. I've been told the Shaman epic is pretty much camped 24/7 for the MQ. However I don't see a bunch of WTS for it so I don't know what the going rate is nor who I'd speak to about buying one. I'm a fair bit off from affording it but knowing if I'm completely out of luck as a guildless Shaman in acquiring the Tear. Prior to taking my break I'd commonly see tears handed out to any Shaman hanging around the Fear Portal when my guild did Fear Raids. I presume since the revamp this doesn't happen anymore?
They are farmed heavily. If you're looking for one, check the forums and ask around the raiding guilds.

4. Which is more important: A Fungi Tunic or the Epic? This is coming from an Ogre Shaman.
That's up for debate. Fungi will help a lot pre-torpor, and can be passed on to alts or resold.
Your epic will help you solo more than in groups.

My advice, get your epic if you can. If not, the fungi can always be sold if you find a tear for sale.

Any other advice for a returning player? Thanks for any help!
Get a mage focus item if you haven't already.

[jarlerop]

1. I think i was in SolB/CoM at that level. Hard to find both pp and good exp, focus on exp.

2. See the above post.

3. I payed 30k for my tear and had my guild do the fight. This was 3-4 months ago.

4. Both are immensly valuable. I would buy fungi if you can and then sell it once you find someone to sell you the tear MQ.

Focus on exp. Lots of good camps open up around 55 :)

[Fishbait]

Something in my wheel house...I recently just did the 50 to 59 grind and still going strong to 60 and also speaking from an ogre shaman perspective.

Step 1: Forget epic, forget fungi, your first immediate purchase needs to be a Jaundiced Bone Bracer(JBB) if you don't already have one, for about 10-12k. The rest of my answers reflect having this.

1. Wakening Lands. Not the best xp, not the best money...but it is a decent combination of both. The cave network where Geonid's are. With JBB at 49 you can start with Fairie Dragons, around 53 you can switch to Tar Goo's in the same network cave. This runs a little dry around 55-56. The bonus though is Faerie Dragons can drop quest gems(in value from 75p to 1k), and high vendor value plat items(Ruby Crown, Sapphire Necklace etc.) Tar Goo's as well, but without the quest gems.

Once you are around 53'ish, if you see any solo Necro's, Mages/Melee's, you can duo with them to kill the actual Geonids by slow'ing them and letting the pet/melee go to town. Careful on the Geonid Shamans...they can get out of hand.

For pure XP there are much better options, CoM, HS(Charasis), etc.

2. Small group for this needed, but as previously posted, people are more then willing to provide help, all you need to do is post and ask. I've seen multiple guildless people get help with fights even some guilds taking them to raid level fights for help if the item isn't in demand and would rot anyways.

3. Unlike answer 2, the tears will be heavily camped either to be sold or for a guilds own use. The price has sky rocketed to reflect this, the average cost last I checked being about 60k.

4. I would rate the most important purchase order as JBB > Fungi > Torpor > Canni IV > Epic. I only throw Canni IV in there as a sanity saver. Torpor and to a degree Epic are definitely more important then JBB/Fungi, but JBB/Fungi retain their value decently, and you get great and immediate use out of them. Resell later even at a few K plat loss is worth it to buy Torpor/Epic which you will then use to re-buy another Fungi and possibly JBB if you wanted.

I reiterate JBB as an immediate purchase because of the high cost of doing the Epic MQ now, I would rather save the 60k i'd spend on it and instead ding 60 and use those funds for Torpor first then use that to go for Epic.

JBB is not as good as Epic for leveling....but many people underestimate it's uses post 54'ish. And it is still vastly superior to root rotting without Epic. It's a tool you can still definitely use to solo to 60 with.

[SirAlvarex]

Thanks everyone for the comments :) I'll make a post about the Black Dire help!

I do have a JBB and Fungi right now from playing so much. Had the Fungi for years and the JBB was a quick buy with funds already sitting around. So I could probably repurpose the Fungi into an Epic if needed - Sounds like the Epic is that much of a difference maker. If I find a seller who will take the Fungi (or a fungi plus cash) I'll give it strong consideration.

For leveling I'll stick to CoM to get some more faction turn-ins for epic. But after that I like the idea of heading to the Wakening Lands. I've never leveled in Velious so just to have fun in new content sounds like a huge plus. If the money is good (plus quest gems to sell or keep for armor turn ins if I get to that) and XP at least decent I'll be happy.

I'll also look into the Mage focus items. I hated doing that on my Mage many years ago but the consume pet sounds like a great plus on a shaman.

Thanks all again for the help!

[Crede]

I can't help you much on the leveling, my shaman is 51 and I'm still looking for different places to hunt. But I recently dealt with some of your questions...

Black dire is cake. I found a 60 monk and healed him on my 52 cleric. Find a high lvl war or monk for tanking, I donated a bit to him, and a healer and you're good.

Granted I am a troll, I gave up my fungi plus like 5k for epic to give you an idea of the going rate. That was paying for them to help fight too. Was totally worth it IMO. I missed fungi at first but you adjust. I too was told JBB is better than epic and so is fungi. I don't believe this at all. JBB is a nice supplement to have, but you just can't beat a 1400 clicky dot.

Get epic, forget everything else until you have the money maybe down the road. So the order for me is epic > And then either jbb or fungi depending on your money situation.

[SirAlvarex]

Thanks for the info! I'm looking around now for a Child's Tear hoping to find a seller. The ones who have sent PMs to me are significantly more expensive than the example you gave so we'll see how things develop.

JBB is awesome since you can use it at such a low level. It's made farming for my Epic way faster and was able to recoup the entire cost of the JBB within a few weeks at cash camps with casual camping. I can see how having both would make the grind to 60 super easy.

[fishingme]

In order of importance. Epic then fungi. I found jbb to be a worthless trinket. Not bad for 45- 50 but not good enough to drop more than 5k on