[Atheka]

My gear is so-so in terms on stats but is very lacking when it comes to important focus effects for a cleric.

I’m at about 8100 hp, 7900 mana, FT 18, important stats maxed when buffed, but I am running on tribute focus effects mana pres V, improved healing V and extended enhancement V.

I have been really hoping to have an item or two drop during AH raids that could give me a hand here but my luck has been bad in terms of seeing drops I could use or are upgrades.

Anyway to make a long story short, does anyone know of single group content that I can try to put groups together for that can help me out with the three focus effects I have listed above? I know the MPG trials have an extended enhancement item but nothing for the other two.

Thanks for the help,
Atheka

[Ghraa]

Sounds like you really need to be hitting the DoN Creator missions. Every one of those focii can be purchased for 250 - 285 crystals apiece. Your gear sounds pretty good already so even if you find OOW gear that has the focus you want you may take a hit in HP or other stats. Using the Augs from the Dragons of Norrath Merchants means have more control over the gear you use and as your gear progresses you can take your augments with you.

The improved healing V aug is 285 crystals.
Mana pres V is 285
Extended Enhancement V is 250.

Ground Healer's Stone
MAGIC ITEM NO TRADE AUGMENTATION
Augmentation Type: 7, 8
WT: 0.0 Size: TINY
Focus Effect: Improved Healing V

Restrictions -
Slot: HEAD FACE EAR NECK SHOULDERS ARMS BACK WRIST RANGE HANDS PRIMARY SECONDARY FINGERS CHEST LEGS FEET WAIST
Required level of 70.
Class: ALL
Race: ALL


A handy script for viewing all the merchant items is found here: http://plurpage.com/everquest/don.php

[Atheka]

The issue with the DoN stuff is it is the same as the tribute effect. So there is no plus from using it. If the DoN augs were better I would purchase them. They are all the level V low end focus effect, unless I am missing somehitng =(

[Korinne]

Atheka....Focus V = the best there is aside from raid level focuses that are specific to certain spells (from what I know). I use IH V and I love it. Mana pres V is worth its weight in platinum! I highly recommend that you at least try it. 285 crystals takes no time to get and the benefits you will reap from them is definitely worth it. I would be happy to help you out on crystals. I probably have over 100 just sitting around on Kor and Naylyn.
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It takes talent to lose oneself. Now where was I?

Korinne Neverfound, Lost Druid of Norrath

[Shieara]

For Improved Healing V don't buy the one you can get with crystals. There is an aug that drops off of a named in normal Stillmoon that you can camp. I've gotten it for two characters so far. It's called the Mark of Focused Life and drops off of a named drake.

What you do is zone into Stillmoon and go straight past the stairs to the second floor. You will be in that corridor that goes left and right. Left goes to the gardens and the baths, right leads you towards a room with sand. Go right. The named PH pops in that large room that has the statue in it on statue missions. His name is, uhh, Stoneskin I think. Might be Stonewing.

What I usually did is go past the room he is in to that smaller room with only one statue that pops in it. That little room is safer then camping out in the hall as there are no roamers. You can pull singles if you are careful. I am pretty sure you could solo the mobs if needed, though a duo partner will speed things up for you. Just watch runners and gaters like always...a good stun or two loaded will take care of them.

The IH5 aug is Stonething's more rare drop. I think I popped and killed him 6 times or so before I managed to get it to drop. However, I found it to be a better solution then spending crystals. You may find, as a cleric, it's easier for you to put together Creater groups or something, but this is a way to get this focus effect without.

Anyways, that is my info.

[Celephane]

For several of my focus effects, I went with the DoN aug until I got gear that improved on it...the nice part about the augs is you can sell them back at 75% of what you paid. If you have the time to research it, you can use AllaKhazam to figure some things out also, even if you don't have a membership. I don't have one, but I know how to go around things there. On their front page, look at the left side, scroll down until you see Spells... Focus Effects... click that. You can view every focus effect in game and see a list of what items have that effect. Make yourself a list of items and crossmatch it to the targets that we do and targets you can get a group for. Some things to watch for, that I've seen with effects...some effects work up to say lvl 67 then scale down, they may still override an effect that is a V (lvl 70), because the scaling really isn't that bad. I'm not going to work out all the math, but a 25% at 67 will still beat a 15% at 70, because 3 levels of 10% loss aren't very much.

[Olidan]

I have some leet augs on my trader that would rock for you.

one is 45 HP with Imp Healing 5

one is FT 3 with Mana Pres 5

one is FT 3 with Ext Range 5

Might be some others - can set you up on a layaway plan if ya like
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[Atheka]

Thanks for all the info guys I really appreciate it. But again I think I may be missing something here. All these options posted are equal to what I already have. Tribute is basically free and doesn't cost me an Aug slot that can be used for mana or stat augs.

So basically what I am getting from this thread is that there is no viable single group content to upgrade from grade V effects? In order to upgrade my focus effects I need to join a raiding guild?

Which is crazy because all I am looking to do is improve my ability to single groups in the higher level zones and events (such as the MPG trials) where I feel under powered

This just seems way out of wack to me.... the best I can do is 20% on my healing when raiders get 50%+. They really need to fix the current gap it's getting way to large, Sony need to address this issue. I don't expect to be equal in level with a raiding cleric, but I should be able to get to at least a 30% or 35% imrpoved healing effect.

Sorry for the rant it's just starting to bug me a bit.

Atheka

[Suegar]

So basically only a 20 percent mana savings for free isnt enough for you? I am in a high end raiding guild, and yes the focuses you want do drop. But they are damn rare and when they do drop tend to go for several weeks worth of points.
http://www.magelo.com/eq_item_info.html?num=70327 thats one groupable and drops in rss randomly. But only a 13 percent savings on mana. If you truly are not satisfied with the focus effects available to you at this point in time, you might want to think about going to a raiding guild.

[Celephane]

You also have to consider expansion content, the level 5 (V) focus effects didn't even exist before the level cap was raised to 70, there was simply no reason for it to. So for that level of focus or better to drop, it has to be Omens or later. As I stated already, sure some of the named focus effects are better than the level 5 effects, but again the content is going to determine where this stuff would be...some of the PoP level stuff we've been getting is pretty nice and will only get better as we progress.

[Ladile]

I'm afraid that about all I can think of for item upgrades and focii have been said. MPG trials drop good stuff in general, and while not many have a focus effect, they do have stuff such as DoT shielding, Spell Shield, etc. that it can't hurt to have.

Very rarely, there's a belt that drops from Creator missions (Manabore Waistguard) that naturally has a Spell Haste V effect on it, but it's probably more of a luck thing on if you get one or not.

You sound like you're doing good to me though; I've got about the same mana as you when buffed and maybe 200-300 less hps when buffed. Though I'm sure you already know this, AAs can also make a real difference in how you can handle various situations.

Sorry I'm not of much help

[Auldaen]

I am unsure of what you are wearing atm - but when OoW came out, I got a BIG improvement from the tier 1 Loyalist quests, i think I got 4-6 new items, each one with an effect on it, they tended to be IV or lesser, so they may not be an upgrade for you (nor have I looked at the cleric stuff for tier 1). I know Tier 2 stuff is quite a bit better, but does take Anguish access to complete.

-Auld

[Atheka]

Suegar,

The 20% number was improved healing not mana pres. The focus effect for man pres V is 10%. The issue for me is that I have had the same level on that stuff for 3 years and 7 expansions now. When I first got these effects they were from items I won with my DKP, I switch to tribute because it allowed me to upgrade the slots with much better stat/mana/hp items without losing the focus effect.

Yes, there should be a difference between top end guild, lower guilds and single level content. But at this point if there is no path to upgrade effects I would say things have become a little out of balance and the difference has gone to an unhealthy extreme. I really think DoN should have elemetal focus effects that scaled to level 70 spells, but instead sony topped things of at type V effects. Give nothing more than another path to the same place.

Anyway just my opinion. I have almost 400 AA and 200 days played with my toon and I play a few hours a day. So I am far from a casual player. I am just looking for a way to progress in a game I love that fits into my real life shcedule.

Atheka

[Mogaba]

the breastplate i won on wednesday has 30 percent increase to heal, which is 10 percent more then improved V
its called: precision-crafted chestplate, dropped from the sharpshooters in RCoD, hope that helps some
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Mogaba Woebegone
71st Paladin of Quellious