17 Sham Having Trouble Leveling

[Ballaorf]

I'm nearly 18, but I've been stuck at 17 for a while and I'm looking for a little guidance on what I should be doing. Some more background:
- I'm not really twinked out. Someone was kind enough to gift me some gear and a little plat, but it's far from optimal and I haven't been able to find any affordable gear for sale yet (I only have around 650p in the bank): I still have cloth sleeves, a couple of pieces of banded, two raw hide bracers, and the Tribunal Symbol necklace.
- I guess because of this gear, I'm having a lot of trouble soloing. I can only take one blue before I need to heal and med up for 5+ minutes - and the blues take me down to 30-40% HP.
- I've consulted a few leveling guides I've found, but I can't solo most of the spots it recommends (I did make a full level soloing the sisters bandit camp, but then died three times to roaming brownies, so I'm scared away from lfay). I've tried finding groups in Oasis, Unrest, and Highpass; I got an Orc Highway group in Oasis once, but otherwise have come up empty-handed every time I've looked.

I have a group of friends to play with, but my schedule rarely aligns with theirs, so they are starting to outlevel me quite a bit.

Am I doing something wrong? Are there better zones I can find groups in? It doesn't seem like soloing is going to work for me at this point.

[Yetizod]

Make new friends. Join groups. Soloing is lame.

[kjs86z]

Jump on the XP superhighway.

Unrest, Guk, Mistmoore.

Also /who monk 15-19 (+/- 2 levels from your own) and hit these dudes up for duo. Make many monk friends.

[Ballaorf]

I have been trying to group, just haven't had any luck.

Unrest has been a deadzone every time I've gone in there. Or it's being camped by solo players.

I haven't tried Guk or MM, though. I can give those a shot!

[Legidias]

LFay is still good. Just pull sisters up the wall behind them instead of fighting them on the flat. Its the most plat you can gain at that level (and beyond) too.

[Ballaorf]

The sisters themselves weren't the problem - I was actually able to solo them pretty easily. It's the rest of LFay since the brownies that wander are much higher level and can cast.

After starting this thread, I took a look at the guild wiki page and I'm considering joining one of the casual guilds to hopefully have some more luck finding groups.

[Raev]

I have been trying to group, just haven't had any luck.
Shaman shine in duos and trios, and you don't have to hold out for Monks either. Enchanter, Necro, SK, Magician, Warrior, and Ranger all work very well with a Shaman. Trios are even better: you + any melee + any int caster other than a wizard = wrecking crew. Don't walk into a zone and /ooc 'shaman X LFG'. Send tells and make your own small groups.

Also, remember that shaman are very weak at low levels. You don't have regen, you don't have haste, you don't have a pet, and your slow is quite poor. In the end, I think shaman just get better and better all the way to 51, and then of course there is another huge power jump at 60 with Torpor, Malo, and Avatar.

[Ballaorf]

Also, remember that shaman are very weak at low levels. You don't have regen, you don't have haste, you don't have a pet, and your slow is quite poor. In the end, I think shaman just get better and better all the way to 51, and then of course there is another huge power jump at 60 with Torpor, Malo, and Avatar.

Yeah, I'm just struggling a bit at the moment. I considered rerolling to a melee character, but seems like I'd just be in the same situation if I did (I was thinking of SK). I REALLY want to stick it out and get this guy to 60. I love the class and I want to see some of the content I've never seen before (I only did Vox and PoF once each on live and I had no idea what was going on).

I do think I'm going to roll an Iksar Necro to mess around with as an alt because they seem more self-sufficient all the way up and, in reading about them last night, I didn't realize that they can do just about everything...

Anyway, I want to stick with my Shaman, just a little disheartened right now because the last few play sessions have been so unproductive and it seems like so many players are twinked out the butt, so they aren't interested in grouping.

[Jimjam]

Upload a video of how you play so the Internet can tell you the ways in which you are wrong.


I suggest focusing on mobs the lower end of blue ; a level sixteen mob is going to kick a lot more ass than a level 13.

Get yourself a weapon with around 1:2 ratio and a couple of platinum fire wedding rings from ec will help.

Cap your defence skills each level. Any mob you get XP off will let you earn skill ups.

Also: solo a blue then med up for 5 mins; welcome to soloing on Everquest.

[Legidias]

It's the rest of LFay since the brownies that wander are much higher level and can cast.


pull sisters up the wall behind them instead of fighting them on the flat

But for real, sisters is the best camp you can get at that point since oyu need money for spells and gear. Until like 40's, sisters is still th ebest cash you can get.

[bub99]

Can do wisps/lightstones in North Karana. Just have to watch for the high level griffons.

[loramin]

I guess because of this gear, I'm having a lot of trouble soloing. I can only take one blue before I need to heal and med up for 5+ minutes - and the blues take me down to 30-40% HP.

I doubt the problem is your gear. Shaman really don't care about gear very much, except for key items like the JBB. Your primary weapon does matter a little bit, and obviously a suit of chain armor will help a bit more than a suit of leather, but really the gear you have isn't a big factor in your soloing success.

However, the simple truth is that whatever your gear (unless you have a Fungi), soloing is going to be a bit slow at your level. You're using your level 9 Poison DoT and your level 4(!) Disease DoT, so naturally your DPS is going to be a bit weak.

Things will speed up when you get a new Disease DoT at 19, and then they're really speed up at 24 when you get your first Cannabalize spell (and a new Poison DoT, new DD, first regen buff, a bunch of other buffs, etc.) Until then, you just have to "afk" solo a bit.

Go somewhere like Lake Rathe, where you have a bunch of single root/rot targets around. Root/rot one (or two if you can manage to do so without dying), then just sit down, meditate, and go do something else for a bit, maybe even something productive IRL. Within a few hours you'll find the XP feels like it's coming much faster, and your house will get cleaner (or your dinner will get cooked, or whatever it is you do while AFK).

Keep at it for a few days and you'll be 19 in no time, and if you enjoy the AFK root/rot style you can keep doing it until 24 or beyond (although again, with Cannabalize and the other spells you get at 24 you should need less AFK time).

I've consulted a few leveling guides I've found, but I can't solo most of the spots it recommends (I did make a full level soloing the sisters bandit camp, but then died three times to roaming brownies, so I'm scared away from lfay). I've tried finding groups in Oasis, Unrest, and Highpass; I got an Orc Highway group in Oasis once, but otherwise have come up empty-handed every time I've looked.

I strongly recommend checking out the Per-Level Hunting Guide (http://wiki.project1999.com/Per-Level_Hunting_Guide) (levels 15-19 section (http://wiki.project1999.com/Per-Level_Hunting_Guide#Hunting_Spots_15-19)). It's for all classes, but I first started it when leveling my Shaman so it has tons of ideas for places for Shaman to hunt. You can even narrow it down to Shaman-recommended places by going to the top of the page and clicking on the Shaman filter.

[Ballaorf]

Post

Ahh thank you so much for the thoughtful post!

I actually have that guide bookmarked and was using that, but I totally overlooked the filter at the top! I also realized that when I was saying I didn't have luck in Unrest earlier, I was actually thinking of Befallen... Doh! I did get a couple of groups in Unrest and could solo some yard trash.

I'll give Lake Rathe or the Karanas a shot. I've been a little reluctant to go back toward the Qeynos area since my friends have been hanging out in the FP area for a while - plus, being near EC is nice. I don't want to spend a bunch of plat getting ports, especially not while I'm not really making a ton of money at the moment. Regarding the sisters: Yeah, I know it's an awesome camp if I can get it, but losing 35% of a level and almost losing my corpse to roaming brownies was enough to scare me off. I figure if I need to go back and farm it just for the cash later on, I can do that pretty easily when I'm higher level.

[loramin]

I'll give Lake Rathe or the Karanas a shot. I've been a little reluctant to go back toward the Qeynos area since my friends have been hanging out in the FP area for a while - plus, being near EC is nice. I don't want to spend a bunch of plat getting ports, especially not while I'm not really making a ton of money at the moment.

The good news on ports is that WC is a sort of hub: it constantly has new Druids and Wizards zoning in. If you politely say "hey, I'm level 17 and broke, but I'd really like to go kill in Lake Rathe, any chance I could get a free NK port" to each new Druid/Wizard as they zone in, I strongly suspect it will take less than five tells to get you a free port. Just don't forget to bind afterwards :)

Alternatively it's not that long of a run, even just with SoW (since unfortunately you don't have Scale of Wolf yet). Take the tunnel to NRo, run through Oasis, SRo, Innothule, Feerrott, and Rathe Mountains, and you're there. While you're passing through Rathe you can even get your epic started by killing Blind the Cutpurse (http://wiki.project1999.com/Blinde_the_Cutpurse), and if anyone is willing to help you kill Taliban and Glaron you can get that part of your epic (http://wiki.project1999.com/Shaman_Epic_Quest) out of the way as well.

You could also just run through Kithicor to Highpass, then to East, North, and South Karana. The canyon part of East is long (and don't forget to use SoW and Invisibility because of the bandits), but whether you go that route or the desert route, running from EC to Lake Rathe should only take maybe twenty minutes.

But there's plenty of good places to hunt near you also, although I haven't done them all myself so I can't guarantee every spot is good for Shaman. I think most things in Lavastorm (near the zone line from Kithicor) should be blue to you (or if not they will be soon). Befallen, as you mentioned, is kind of a pain, but the better you learn it the safer it becomes. Orcs in Kithicor have a bonus XP item, although you can only hunt them half the time ... but then Highpass also has Orcs (and Gnolls). And then there's also the entrance to Upper Guk.

In other words, whether you want to travel (either by begging a port or running <20 min) back to Lake Rathe to do Aviaks like I did, or whether you want to try exploring somewhere close by, you have plenty of options to choose from, and if it were me I'd just explore them all until you find somewhere you like.

[kjs86z]

Ahh thank you so much for the thoughtful post!

I actually have that guide bookmarked and was using that, but I totally overlooked the filter at the top! I also realized that when I was saying I didn't have luck in Unrest earlier, I was actually thinking of Befallen... Doh! I did get a couple of groups in Unrest and could solo some yard trash.

I'll give Lake Rathe or the Karanas a shot. I've been a little reluctant to go back toward the Qeynos area since my friends have been hanging out in the FP area for a while - plus, being near EC is nice. I don't want to spend a bunch of plat getting ports, especially not while I'm not really making a ton of money at the moment. Regarding the sisters: Yeah, I know it's an awesome camp if I can get it, but losing 35% of a level and almost losing my corpse to roaming brownies was enough to scare me off. I figure if I need to go back and farm it just for the cash later on, I can do that pretty easily when I'm higher level.


Stick to the XP superhighway. Unrest, Guk, Mistmoore.

These zones are busy for a reason (XP modifier).

If you move from zone to zone at the appropriate level, there will be spots you can solo if the zone is empty...and stuff you can "move up" to w/ a group.

Explore when you make your necromancer later on.

[Ballaorf]

Thanks again for the suggestions! Really appreciate them!

I'll try those zones mentioned for groups (I had forgotten about Unrest and hadn't tried Guk or MM). Failing that, I'll give Lavastorm a shot or maybe Kith if I can catch it in the day. If those don't work out, I'll bite the bullet and head to the Karanas/Lake Rathe.

[ScaringChildren]

and if anyone is willing to help you kill Taliban

https://i.imgur.com/pXXQ31Q.gif

[Amyas]

I'm nearly 18, but I've been stuck at 17 for a while and I'm looking for a little guidance on what I should be doing. Some more background:
- I'm not really twinked out. Someone was kind enough to gift me some gear and a little plat, but it's far from optimal and I haven't been able to find any affordable gear for sale yet (I only have around 650p in the bank): I still have cloth sleeves, a couple of pieces of banded, two raw hide bracers, and the Tribunal Symbol necklace.
- I guess because of this gear, I'm having a lot of trouble soloing. I can only take one blue before I need to heal and med up for 5+ minutes - and the blues take me down to 30-40% HP.
- I've consulted a few leveling guides I've found, but I can't solo most of the spots it recommends (I did make a full level soloing the sisters bandit camp, but then died three times to roaming brownies, so I'm scared away from lfay). I've tried finding groups in Oasis, Unrest, and Highpass; I got an Orc Highway group in Oasis once, but otherwise have come up empty-handed every time I've looked.

I have a group of friends to play with, but my schedule rarely aligns with theirs, so they are starting to outlevel me quite a bit.

Am I doing something wrong? Are there better zones I can find groups in? It doesn't seem like soloing is going to work for me at this point.

/friend Amyas and send me a tell in game. I love helping lowbies and will get you out of your level rut.

[loramin]

https://i.imgur.com/pXXQ31Q.gif

ROFL I'm glad you caught that as I totally missed it. Tabien (http://wiki.project1999.com/Tabien_the_Goodly).

[Ballaorf]

/friend Amyas and send me a tell in game. I love helping lowbies and will get you out of your level rut.

Oh thank you! I will give it another shot the old fashion way, but if I'm still stuck, I will take you up on this!

[snyder43]

I'm not sure what you're weapon is, but you should be able to afford a Club of the Ice Ocean (14/27 dmg/dly, ~500pp) or a Slime Coated Harpoon (10/25, ~200pp). The Harpoon also gives +5 wis so it would help with your mana pool.

[Ballaorf]

I've got a Sharkbone Warhammer (8/26, +5 wis). Sounds like maybe that's not very good haha

[Zipity]

Duo with a magician with a fire pet -> cast inner fire -> sit to catch mana tick -> cast inner fire pet will destroy and never die you will not have to med hardly ever this will work well until lvl 29 at which point you will be able to do treants until 35 and be able to afford iksar regen no and fungi staff

[snyder43]

I remember when Sharkbone Warhammers were pretty much BiS for the classes that could use them!

If I were you, I would try to get two (2) Platinum Fire Wedding Rings (5 AC/55 HP, ~250pp) and a Slime Coated Harpoon. If you can haggle with a seller you might be able to get the Harpoon for 150pp, and it would increase your DPS by >20%. with the extra 10 AC and 110 HP from the rings, I think these items would be your best investment at this time.

There is a damage cap prior to level 20, so the Club of the Ice Ocean wouldn't be worth it until then.

Edit: Also, Inner Fire (2.0 HP/mana) is more mana efficient to use for heals than your actual heal spell (Light Healing, 1.3 HP/mana) at your level. Iirc, nothing beats Inner Fire in terms of mana efficiency until you get Superior Healing at 51. Although, at higher levels it's just better to cast Healing or Greater Healing once than Inner Fire 5 or 13 times, respectively.

[Legidias]

Also, obligatory go to KC and loot Jarsath armor for free reply

[Lurgort/Sseri]

"I only have around 650p in the bank"

Buy Giant Scalemail Arms and 2x 5 AC/55 HP rings for armor or if you want weapons, skip on giant scalemail arms and buy a slime coated harpoon & springwood club + the 5 AC/55 HP rings.

Look for a port / buffs / invis from a druid to EJ, zone to FoB, then hit up Kurn's Tower until level 24, where you gain Canni, regen, better dots, more buffs, and a better cold nuke. Duo with a melee class, you'll fly through the levels: 150 ZEM for Kurn's Tower. If you haven't attacked a burynai, these should be dubious. If dubious, you can free-roam Kurn's Tower to kill undead.

Lesser Char/Icebones are still DB from 19-23, and majority green out at 24. You'll also have gained back half or so of your money in stacks of bonechips to sell and have a chance at a 1kpp wizard wand or Iksar Berserker Club and if the skeletal cook is up, turn a glowing skull in from greater scalebones or lesser ice/charbones for a necklace you can sell for 250pp.

I can't say enough good things about Kurn's Tower.

[Ballaorf]

I haven't killed and Burynai. My friends went to Kurns, though, and had a really rough time. They also died a bunch in the overworld zones trying to sell and get around (one almost lost his corpse in FV).

I think the rings are out of my budget at the moment, but I'll keep those in mind since they keep coming up. I think I have some +wis ones right now. I'll look out for a Slime Coated Harpoon.

I spent a little time in Lavastorm this afternoon. It was a little rough, but I was able to take down some blues. I finally finished off the last 10-15% of level 17 and am officially level 18 (unless I die and delevel lol). Close to those new spells (that I can probably cast once each before running oom lol).

Thanks again for all the insight here. It's still rough going, but I'm feeling a lot more encouraged after reading this thread.

[Lurgort/Sseri]

I haven't killed and Burynai. My friends went to Kurns, though, and had a really rough time. They also died a bunch in the overworld zones trying to sell and get around (one almost lost his corpse in FV).

I think the rings are out of my budget at the moment, but I'll keep those in mind since they keep coming up. I think I have some +wis ones right now. I'll look out for a Slime Coated Harpoon.

I spent a little time in Lavastorm this afternoon. It was a little rough, but I was able to take down some blues. I finally finished off the last 10-15% of level 17 and am officially level 18 (unless I die and delevel lol). Close to those new spells (that I can probably cast once each before running oom lol).

Thanks again for all the insight here. It's still rough going, but I'm feeling a lot more encouraged after reading this thread.

Seems like you know what's up, and the 5AC/55 HP rings can be had for 400-500 plat for a pair, you can also pick up one or two weapons depending on how well you haggle.

[Baylan295]

The single most cost-efficient item for any low level toon is 5/55 AC rings. I won't start a character without them now because they are so cheap and so efficient and effective. I'd recommend that over pretty much anything else you can buy for bang for your buck. They're wearable to 60 for most classes, too, because it's just hard to find that much hp on an item anywhere close to that cheaply.

[Kubaton]

17-23
Go to Guk - form a group or join one.

[Ballaorf]

The single most cost-efficient item for any low level toon is 5/55 AC rings. I won't start a character without them now because they are so cheap and so efficient and effective. I'd recommend that over pretty much anything else you can buy for bang for your buck. They're wearable to 60 for most classes, too, because it's just hard to find that much hp on an item anywhere close to that cheaply.

For real? For every class?

[YendorLootmonkey]

/friend Amyas and send me a tell in game. I love helping lowbies and will get you out of your level rut.

Also, /friend Yendor

If Amyas isn't available and you're in the Lfay/MM area, send me a /tell.

[kjs86z]

For real? For every class?

Yeah, pretty much.

[snyder43]

Yeah, pretty much.

/agree

How much HP do you have unbuffed right now? Around 400 HP? If so, those rings will increase your total HP by ~25%.

Also, I totally forgot about the Springwood Club (https://wiki.project1999.com/Springwood_Club) that someone above mentioned. It's almost as good as the Slime Coated Harpoon, and only costs ~100pp.

[Pyrion]

If you want a nice leveling spot that's usually uncontested, try the gorge hounds (and later crag spiders) in East Karana. They are pretty weak for their level with lots of them in zone. Use the mountain next to the bandit camp as your pull spot, nothing pathes there. For spiders just be at the ramp.

[Ballaorf]

Also, /friend Yendor

If Amyas isn't available and you're in the Lfay/MM area, send me a /tell.

Thank you! I'll add you both. I'm Ballajorf in game.

/agree

How much HP do you have unbuffed right now? Around 400 HP? If so, those rings will increase your total HP by ~25%.

That's actually exactly what I have haha I had 390 yesterday at 17, I think it's like 423 or something at 18 now.