New 15 shaman with some questions

[DrKvothe]

Hey y'all. My barb shaman is level 15, currently soloing wisps in Erud's Crossing for some plat. The exp is abysmal, since the hourly madman spawn kills me occasionally (super under-conned, wth?), but the plat is respectable imo. After I get a few hundred plat from this place, I need a new place to go, preferably somewhere I can easily find a group and also make some decent $$.

What would you recommend? Unrest?

Also, are there any other safe and profitable root/rot solo spots around my level?

[BlkCamel]

If your not too afraid jump a port to DL. Get a lev and an invis and run to FV then over to LOIO to FoB and into Kurns. You can get a bind at Kaesora ruins. Can solo root rot the skells on the first floor. Bone chips sell for 5pp-10pp a stack. I left at 19 but can ride it out longer (had 25 stacks). Best xp modifier you can do. Can't sell don't worry about the other loot. After that can go to Oasis and solo crocs on the beach. Or head there now and group at orc highway can get nonstop mobs and loot to sell at gypsy's.

Hey y'all. My barb shaman is level 15, currently soloing wisps in Erud's Crossing for some plat. The exp is abysmal, since the hourly madman spawn kills me occasionally (super under-conned, wth?), but the plat is respectable imo. After I get a few hundred plat from this place, I need a new place to go, preferably somewhere I can easily find a group and also make some decent $$.

What would you recommend? Unrest?

Also, are there any other safe and profitable root/rot solo spots around my level?

[Estu]

Unrest is good. Not sure about money spots. I wouldn't pay much attention to money until higher levels. You should have enough to buy spells regardless, and you're not going to pick up game-changing gear like a JBB or fungi tunic based on stuff you farm at low levels anyway.

[Izor_01]

you can also try the following :

Nybright Sister camp in Lesser Faydark. 6 min timer. Located next to the entrance to Mistmoore. Easily breakable camp even at level 12, has 4 very low HP rogue mobs that drop bronze weapons in addition to low level gems/stones. To easily break the camp, hit Kayla Nybright, then Shayla Nybright, and finally the other two sisters: Jayla Nybright and Tayla Nybright. The weapons vendor for almost as much as fine steel does. If this camp is taken there is another bandit camp up north, but with 3 spawns who are warrior mobs so they take longer to kill. There is a vendor right there in the zone as well if you are a good race, if not, I suggest binding yourself at the merchants in Steamfont and run back and hope no one has taken the camp. I made over 2k plat doing 12-18 here and was able to purchase a full set of Necro gear along with all my spells.

[DrKvothe]

So I managed to get a Lfay sister duo last night. I got really lucky, since there was a actually a queue for the camp spot. I duo'd with an enchanter and it was a blast. Even splitting the loot, I made about 250pp in a few hours. I got to about 3 blue bubbles from lvl 17 before the server went down. When I went to vendor, I ran through an orc camp on the way back, accidentally pulled the chief with me, and managed to get the tongue for totemic boots =D.

I've heard that unrest is also overcrowded, but I'll probably try that for a bit then head to high pass and see if I can get a group.

I spent my wisp farming savings on Goblin Parrying Spear. What a fantastic weapon considering the damage cap. Even once I can get my hands on better ratio weapons, the spear fits into the range slot and offers some pretty nice stat bonuses!

I made a list of smart purchases, and I'd love any advice on it. From reading through this forum, I've noted the argument that improving mana pool doesn't help you level faster (since you shouldn't be topping off often), while stats that effectively improve your mana efficiency or killing speed do. Outside of health regen, that leaves AC and strength as the most important stats. Strength helps me lug loot and high weight equipment and helps me dps whenever a root breaks or a mob runs, while AC reduces the amount of mana I need to spend healing myself. With that in mind, here's my list:

back- totemic cloak (~lvl 25?)
chest- tree weave (700pp)
ear- golden amber earrings (30pp each)
face -sarnak hide mask (100-200pp)
feet- jaundiced bone boots (400-500pp)
finger- platinum fire wedding ring (300-400pp each)
hand- jaundiced bone gauntlets (400-500pp)
head- jaundiced bone helm (400-500pp)
leg- totemic greaves (~lvl 25?)
neck- ivory imbued collar (300-500pp)
shoulders- bloodstained mantle (100pp)
waist- straw spun belt (30pp)
wrist- totemic (~lvl 25?)
primary- Goblin Parrying Spear (got it)
secondary- bark shield (20-50 pp) then paw of opolla quest (~lvl 29)
range- (i'll put goblin parrying spear here when I upgrade)

Bought from cheapest to most expensive. What do y'all think?

[Estu]

Honestly, there's not much that's going to help you much level faster with the money you can afford. This is why I suggested not to worry so much about gear. Assuming you're only/mainly soloing here; if you're grouping, WIS and mana would come in handy so you have a bigger reserve for sticky situations (as a soloer you generally have more control over what kind of trouble you get into, so you don't need a large HP or mana pool unless you're doing something difficult).

If you're root-dotting, you shouldn't be taking hits very often, though you're right, if anything will make a difference to leveling speed root-dotting (anything less than a fungi or other regen item or a JBB), AC would be that thing. Strength will matter even less so because you shouldn't be meleeing particularly often. Even if a monster is running, it's almost certainly faster to cast a cheap spell to kill it, and have extra med time, than it would be to run after it meleeing it for however long that would take. Hauling loot is I guess somewhat of a concern, though personally I find that while leveling it makes sense to just stack up research components and gems and ignore stuff like fine steel or bronze when I'm close to max weight. Not really worth running back and forth to sell that stuff when you could just continue killing.

[gotrocks]

AC is reportedly very broken on this server, so it may not be wise for us experienced shaman to be recommending it anymore. I'll leave that up to you guys, but after seeing some numbers I believe that going for high hp would be a better choice.

That being said, estu is correct as usual. The gear you can buy, or will be able to buy soon won't make too much of a difference in your ability to solo/group kill. Honestly shamans are beastly regardless of stats, you just have to get to 24 and learn to use the tools you have. It's a big toolbox.

Now, contrary to what I just said above, I do have a suggestion for a purchase that should make a big difference for you when leveling. It did for me, and I wish I'd gotten it sooner because once you hit level 50 you have to ditch it. Pick up a Poison Wind Censor for 1-2k (if you shop for a bargain 1k or less should be easy to find), its a meaty 2hb weapon that swings shockingly fast once you can haste yourself. And it hits hard. Using this weapon, melee/slow/dot to tear through mobs is actually a very effective combo. I highly recommend it.

If you'd like to find +str gear you can, but to be quite honest if you're just a little patient pretty soon you'll have str buffs that will make you feel silly for buying +str gear. As a barb you're not exactly lacking in str anyway, so just tough it out and remember to always have up regen/hp buff/str at the very least. Good luck!

[Estu]

Regarding AC being broken, this recent parse (http://www.project1999.org/forums/showpost.php?p=1081237&postcount=7) suggests that AC does make a noticeable difference; if it is broken, it's broken in that it perhaps does not make AS big a difference as it should.

[Zeonick]

I recently found out too that meleeing will just reduce your efficiency when soloing. For awhile I was getting the giants down to 17% hp then meleeing them to death to "save mana" but really I could gain about 20% MORE mana by medding/canni dancing while the mob root/rotted. Glad I figured it out because it made my soloing much more efficient.